Starters

Forgive me a moment of grandfatherly pride if you will, Gentle Reader. I got a nice e-mail from granddaughter Amanda last evening that included some new pics of the grand-girls on the SN2 side of the house, including a couple of great-grandbaby Taurean. And I thought I’d share.

The first pic includes all four grand-girls… Amanda on the left and Anastasia on the right; the “little” girls are Ava (left) and Angelina (right). The second pic is Mom Amanda and Baby T at Disneyland. As always: click for larger.

Cute, eh?

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A couple of items from new-to-me but oh-so-cool FailBlog… First: a nation of idiots?

Second (and especially for ASW)… yep…spell and grammar check IS the problem:

Some pretty funny stuff be there. (h/t: TechCrunch)

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This is NOT good (WaPo: “Will Pandora Play ‘The End’ Soon? Royalty Rate Hikes Could Be Its Demise”):

Some potentially sad news today for music fans who like their music free, but don't want to risk the recording industry's wrath. In a candid interview with the Washington Post, Pandora founder Tim Westergren said the company is "approaching a pull-the-plug kind of decision," a potential "last stand for webcasting" as royalty fee increases begin to take hold. Perhaps it's a well-honed ruse to drum up support from the company's million-plus users who listen to Pandora daily, but there are some dire economics standing in the way of web radio. Last year, the Copyright Royalty Board ordered per-song performance royalties to be more than doubled for use online. Rates will increase from 8/100 of a cent per song per listener to 19/100 of a cent per song per listener by 2010. Pandora's royalty fees this year are projected to hit $17 million, about 70 percent of its projected revenue for the year. The fee increases don't effect traditional or satellite radio, but SoundExchange, an organization that represents artists and record companies, is trying to up those rates as well. (Emphasis in original)

Dang… first Radio Paradise (which is still alive and well, no thanks to the Copyright Royalty Board), now Pandora. I’m really beginning to dislike the idjits at the RIAA and the Copyright Royalty Board. You’d think those short-sighted SOBs people would understand that exposure creates the market for new (and old) music. Every single music purchase I’ve made this year came as a direct result of hearing a new artist I liked on either Pandora or RP (and that includes adding missing albums to my collection from favorite artists, too).

There’s nothing quite like cutting off your nose to spite your face.