Scott, Stephanie, & Lily A'Hearn
Archive for October 2007
Fate and irony must be big fans of scottahearn.com. No sooner did I post about the Hardee’s Country Breakfast Burrito than I go in for a routine physical and come back with a prescription for Lipitor. Thankfully I’m otherwise pretty healthy, so it’s a few small lifestyle changes and better living through chemistry to take some of the bacon-filled goodness out of my blood. At least I’m not the only one.
Geeks have been all in a frenzy lately about the recent court ruling in favor of the RIAA. It seems Miss Thomas was found guilty of sharing some music online and now has to pay various record companies $222,000, pending a likely appeal. This case was big news in the dork world because it was the first of its kind to actually go to trial. Up until now, the RIAA has been happy with out-of-court settlements. Jammie Thomas, however, decided to reject such a deal and instead put her faith in ambiguous digital copyright laws and confounding technical arguments. Optimistic, reasonable, and noble, but alas. So much for that.
What now? Sadly, I’m betting there will be no end in sight to the RIAA and MPAA strong-arming middle America into settling out of further potential litigation. Knee-jerk copyright laws will probably be passed with more thought to profits than innovation. Quality content in the theaters and on the radio will continue to decline. And .. hopefully .. more mainstream and independent artists will realize that times are changing and, amazingly, fans will pay for entertainment that isn’t insulting.
With Oktoberfest upon us once again, we decided that it would be the ideal time to revisit Shenandoah Brewing and make up another batch of beer. So a few weeks ago Aaron, Drew, Stephanie and I stood around a giant, simmering kettle and thought longingly of the tasty Märzen that would be waiting for us on September 29th when we bottled. We arrived last Saturday with custom labels in hand, and came out with five full cases! German beer is delicious. And don’t ask what motivated us to come up with that label design – nobody knows.
DC commuters – it’s time to break out the tinfoil hats! All of you HOV cheaters will face tougher enforcement technology as the metro area prepares to expand portions of the beltway, I-95, and some other major roads. I’m hopeful that ultimately the new lanes will help alleviate the traffic nightmare in this town, but the HOV and HOT lane construction is really going to mess with my chi. I need to find a job with a two-mile commute, like Stephanie.
