Jeff's Stuff

I grew up near Atlantic City New Jersey. When I went to college, before had a car, if I wanted to return home on weekends I would have to take a casino tour bus. While this was economical (the casinos usually gave rolls of quarters to bus passengers as an insentive) it was a little annoying too.

For one thing, on the way to Atlantic City, whoever was sitting next to me always felt the need to share with me there "system" for beating the casino. On the way home however I found that those same people often had very creative stories explaining why they lost money.

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I'm planning to go out and have BBQ for lunch. That made me think of a story I first heard on CNN several years ago. I still find it hysterical.

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There are a lot of things that go on in the world that I just don't understand. I guess I'm just stupid. it is interesting to note that most of the things I don't understand seem to revolve around the law and politics. I wonder why that is?

One of the things I just don't understand is the concept of "hate crimes". Hate crimes, also known as bias crimes, are crimes that are committed out of dislike or hatred of a person or group. This differs from most crimes which are committed for other motives such as for money.

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You sit down to relax and enjoy a movie. You unwrap the plastic (don't even get me started on that) and you pop the DVD into the player. You push "play" only to be greeted with copyright messages. I just watched one DVD that played a series of messages and FBI warnings four pages long! The last two of these pages were in French. I doubt the French care about these messages anymore than I do.

You can't skip these messages. You can't fast-forward past them. Why not? Because the studios have coded the disks to prevent you from doing this.

I understand the need to display a copyright notice. I know that I am not allowed to make a copy (although I will discuss fair-use and the DMCA another day). Still, I contend that nobody ever actually reads these messages. Yet, we are forced to watch them.

The simple solution is to put the message on the video in a small and inconspicuous way. For example, roll it along the bottom of the frame during the opening credits, or better yet, put it at the end of the trailer.

Oh, wait a second. I forgot. They already put a copyright message at the end of the trailer. They also put one on the box and on the disc itself. So why do I need four pages of warnings at the start of the video?

Of course, it would be a different matter if anyone actually read these. But lets face facts. Nobody ever does. Do they add any value? They all say the same thing. The say that this video is protected under the applicable copyright laws. It is a federal crime to copy it, and the FBI will prosecute you if they catch you making a copy of this video. Did I miss any of it? Good! So why do I keep having to watch it each and every time I watch a movie?

I won't even discuss the numerous vendors I see on city streets selling copies of movies (most, still playing in theaters). These people saw the warnings too. They didn't read them either I suppose. I guess that means we should make them stay on the screen longer.

My wife recently took her fur her coat out of storage. This got me thinking about the arguments against fur and specifically some of the fanatics that, like fanatics are apt to do, take the issue to far.

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I just bought a bag of popcorn.the directions read as follows:

... add three kernels of popcorn, cover with lid and heat on medium-high.

When first kernel pops, lift lid and add one third cup of popcorn, cover with lead and gently shake pan...

What I want to know is, if I wait for the first kernel to pop, and open the lid, don't the other two kernels explode in my face?