Piracy

Music, movies, games and many other kinds of data are offered these days online for free. For the most part, this is without the consent of the party that actually manufactured the said product. This is called piracy in colloquial terms. I have been a user of such content for as far as I can remember, mostly without realizing it. I guess most of us have bought those pirated movie CDs, or those PS2 game disks, because the rates of the originals were very high. But has anyone actually thought about the loss that the manufacturers of such data face?

I’ll come straight to the point now. India has started blocking piracy sites. And we, as consumers, have raised such a hue and cry over it without thinking about the other side. By the other side, I’m talking about, of course, the creators of such content. Most of us just think about how we’ll get or weekly fix of that brilliant TV series that is being aired overseas. Or how we can lay our hands on the most awaited game of the year. Or even on the vast amounts of music on the internet. Bottomline is, we are feeding on all the free stuff on the internet which was made by those hard working producers and directors with their own money.

Think about it from your own perspective. Supposed you think of creating something. Let’s say, an invention that can reduce water consumption in coolers( I’ve taken this example ’cause I’m living in a hostel where they have coolers in rooms, and you have to fill them with buckets of water everyday). You would have spent your time, your money as well as your mind for making it. And then it turns out that someone just copied what you did and distributed it for free in the market. That’s how the producers must feel.

You may say that this way people are watching movies which they wouldn’t have spent money on watching in a hall. But that again doesn’t help the manufacturers of the content. After all you’re watching the movie for your self, and by watching the movie you won’t be obliging them.

I think that the music industry has somewhat understood that. Some music bands release their first album for free on the internet, and if people like it, then of course they tend to buy the new albums. So, according to me, what is required by the movie industry now is to meet us free stuff loving consumers halfway.

What can be done is, 1/4th, or a particular fraction of the movie can be released online. And if the people are really curious about what happens in the movie, then they can go to the movie theaters and watch the full movie. Or buy the original DVD when it comes out. This should work out better for both the manufacturers as well as the consumers. The viewers will never feel that they have spent money on a movie that they didn’t want to watch, as they would have gone to watch it only after watching a part of the movie before. And for the producers, it will lead to an increased turnout as compared to the conditions now.

A similar thing can be done for Music, with artists releasing say the first 2 tracks of a 10 song album for free. The gaming industry already has this in place in the form of demos of the games being released.

A blanket ban cannot work, as the consumers can and will seek out new ways to try to fool the authorities, so this measure should work in a better way.

 

The Linchpin

Reblogged from Mera Zeitgeist mahaan. . .:

Note: This article is based in part on an episode in Castle and the rest on Seth Godin's book called "Linchpin", so read carefully and assess for yourself from which angle you wish to look at it.

The Butterfly Effect is this extremely curious scientific theory that tells us that the flapping of a butterfly's wings in some location could lead to the formation of a tornado far, far away due a series of occurrences that are too long and slightly far-fetched to elaborate upon.

Read more… 423 more words

GOOD stuff!

 

Watermelons and Wine

DISCLAIMER: Don’t mean to piss anyone off, especially the Ethiopians, so everything written here is a work of fiction(sort of) and no offence was meant to anyone alive, dead, black, brown, white or wheatish.

This incident actually starts from last semester, when we were randomly discussing a very mundane topic, seasonal fruits. So this is how it goes.

One of my esteemed friends is from a state in India (I’ll refrain from using the name of both the person and the state) where it is generally very hot in the summers. He proclaimed that he ate watermelons, which according to me are seasonal fruits, all year round. He said that they have so many watermelons that the farmers often have to throw them on the roads because of so much excess. Naturally, being a model citizen of the world, I thought that it would be better if these watermelons be used in such a way that others benefit from it. And naturally, my thoughts turned to the poor starving children in Ethiopia. I don’t really know if everyone is malnourished there or not, but from whatever media I’ve come across (read: South Park), it’s pretty much true.

Ideally, this conversation should have stopped then and there and never been brought up again. But somehow, this semester the same point was raised again, and I still stood by my point that the excess watermelons should be shipped off to Ethiopia. By the way, I’ve never seen any pic on the net, or read news reports that point to the fact of watermelons being thrown and smashed on the roads of said state.

Anyway, back to the topic, you must be wondering what the title of this post actually means. I and a couple others just randomly started thinking about what could be theoretically done with excess watermelons. And we came up with the following idea –

1) Buy a ship. A cruise liner preferably.

2) Stock all the watermelons on board, in one of the lower decks.

3) Use the upper decks as a passenger ship to ferry people from one way to the other. This could be the source of revenue.

4) In the lower most decks, make a distillery, which converts watermelon into alcohol. This is where the title comes from. You’ll be halfway to becoming Jesus, if you can convert a watermelon into wine, won’t you?

5) Use half the melons in the aforementioned distillery.

6) Sell the remaining watermelons to the Ethiopians for fuel. (Eventually, with technological modifications the ship can be made to run on solar energy, in which case the said melons will be sold for money).

7) If no such technology is in sight, buy a couple of slaves and make them run on those guinea pig contraptions, just in case the fuel finishes, to make the ship move.

8) Live like kings(and/or pirates), by sailing the seas, drinking watermelon wine and getting profits from selling melons and ferrying people.

Comment if you think this plan seems as whackydoodle to you as it did to me.

PS: Thanks Aniket Pant, Akshay Vikas and Dishin Shrimankar for your contributions.

PPS: To the guy with whom I had the original discussion (the one from the melon throwing state), no offence mate, but the whole thing seemed kind of funny to me.

 

New Ragecomic ^_^

PeeNinja

 

Random Babble: Of gods and their relations

         Random babbling really doesn’t come easy to me. Writing in such a way is even more difficult. But I think I’ll take a shot at it now. I’ve just finished reading the Son Of Neptune, by Rick Riordan, so my mind is full of Greek and Roman gods at the moment. Images of mythical monsters circle my head, as I try to write this short article… thingy. A minotaur flying on the back of a griffin fighting a Satyr sitting pretty on the huge shoulders of a Hyperborean giant, doesn’t paint a picture does it? Well, to all those people not that well acquainted with mythology, I’ll just reiterate the monsters I just mentioned:-

1) Minotaur – Half Man, Half Bull, head of a bull on a humanoid body, so to speak.

2) Griffin – Half Eagle, Half Lion

3) Satyr – Half man half goat.

4) Hyperborean Giant – As the name suggests, a giant, like OHMYGODITCANKILLMEWITHITSFARTS big. They are supposed to be huge, and if that wasn’t scary enough, they also have a breath of ice.

          Don’t even ask me how these kind of monsters could have been born, because to tell you the truth, the amount of incest and bestiality I have read about in the Greek myths, I’ve never heard of anywhere. The Greek gods were a very horny folk, it seems. I mean, come on, half man half goat? Half man half bull? Not really something a respectable god would do, right?

          And talk about incest; oh lord the incest in those myths. Sure, you might call them a big happy family, but the thing is, that’s what they exactly are, a big, happy incestuous family. According to the myths, almost every kind of incestuous relation that you can think of has happened here.

          I think I’m veering off topic here. Oh wait; there was no topic to start with anyway. This post should be ended here though. My mind is sort of shutting itself down now, and I don’t have the patience to think of and finish this post later. Cuz think of it, it is random baable, and it won’t stay random once I think about it, will it?

Another post when I find some inspiration for it. Till then, ta-ta.

 

Saturday Evening Blues

I’ve been here so long, still I feel alone
2 months gone past
How much more, is this
Gonna last

Started with fervour
Moved through the rain
After all this time though
It just gives me pain

Bored of the campus
Bored of my life
Now I need something
To deliver me from this inner strife

Day in and day out
I want to jump up, and just shout aloud
But it refuses to leave me,
This dark, black, gloomy cloud

I see them laughing
I see them happy
This makes me wonder,
Would I mind something that sappy?

I think the answer is no,
Not after all these years alone
I don’t think I would mind,
A loving ear on the other end of the phone.

 

Two months gone past

It’s been almost two months since the day I came back to campus, and, inexplicably, boredom has started to creep onto me. I’ve almost been counting days for the session to end, while the others around me are having a gala time as seniors. It’s not that I have nothing to do. On the other hand, this semester is much more hectic than my previous year was. What with joining DOSM, and actually working for it; T1; the little work I did for E-Dorado and downloading and listening to music (which is not really work, as you can guess), I’ve been keeping pretty busy. Well, at least busier than I was last year. Oh, even though it’s a little late for this, but juniors have arrived on campus. Most of those who I met have been fun, and a lot of them have been interesting, both guys and girls, even though I haven’t interacted much with the girls this time. Wonder why that is though… Oh well, there’s a whole year left for that, and I don’t know whether to be happy or sad about that, once I think of it.

Elections happened, and Kushal won. Woohoo! Now the chap keeps so busy, he doesn’t have time for anything else. I’ve started to go to Bogmalo on a regular basis, and by regular I mean once a week. Nice place to chill after a hectic… well, sort of, week. More people from the batch are getting hitched, well that seems like a regular thing now. Haven’t been able to write in a long while, lack of inspiration I guess. Comics also have been few and far between, and I haven’t the faintest idea how to use Photoshop, so converting the hardcopy to softcopy isn’t something I’ve done either, lazy bag of bones that your majesty is. The most regrettable thing is the lack of reading. I brought SO MANY books here, haven’t read a single one of them. This reminds me, Kriti, RETURN MORT!!! Nah just kidding, I don’t have time to read it at the moment anyway. Oh, and get me those elephant poop shorts next time you go to Pune . Hmmm.. what else, oh yes, I’ve rediscovered Bush(no pun here, you perverted bastards). Nice band, hadn’t listened to them in a long time. BTW, if you are into alternative music, listen to Sound of Winter by Bush, awesome song. Coming from a metalhead, this is a huge compliment.

Met some juniors whom I had known before. Nikita, good to see you after an year; Apurv, good to see you after a month. Have to tell you, your batch is pretty nice, lots of interesting people, good to know you guys. Hope we’ll interact more in the coming years.

Oh, and old friends, Kushal, Aniket, Nikhil, Raghu, Maneesh, Dishin, Chauje, Ardra and Leo, good to see you guys. And Leo, you wily, secretive woman, I’m still a bit pissed about, well, your wily secretiveness. That’s not a very good sentence, is it?? Oh well, screw it. And new friends, Akshay Vikas, good to know you mate, can’t believe you lived 4 doors from mine and we didn’t talk in the past year. Have I missed anyone? I guess I’ve missed many, anywho, it was nice seeing you all back in one piece, after the insane amount of vacations you took this summer. Especially to Kashmir, a place where even I have never been.

I’ll be signing off now, will write another post when I feel like it, till then, ta-ta.

PS:80 days left 0.0.