Day: September 12, 2004

Alright – this is fairly serious and it seems no one is hearing about it.

 The Betamax VCR died more than 15 years ago, but the Supreme Court decision that made the Betamax and all other VCRs legal lived on. In Sony vs. Universal (known as the Betamax decision) the Court ruled that because VCRs have legitimate uses, the technology is legal—even if some people use it to copy movies. Of course, the movie industry was lucky it lost the case against VCRs, because home video soon became Hollywood’s largest source of revenue. And the freedom to use and develop new technology that was protected by the Betamax decision set the stage for the incredible growth in computer technology we’ve seen in the last few decades.

 The short version: We’re organizing a call-in day to Congress on September 14 to oppose new legislation that would undermine the Betamax decision (INDUCE Act).

There’s two days left. Get to it.

http://www.savebetamax.org/

Put me in a dark room full of people. A loud room where talking is difficult. Let the crowd be drunken and let them be respectful with their wandering hands. My radar has powers that I am continually surprised by. Listening to it seems the best solution. I will capture the one person I would find fascinating and fun against insane leatherclad odds. Things are getting kind of ridiculous because I’ve been learning to again. I like it. Interesting times are the ones I like living in, even if they’re small.

I went home with a lad named Alistair last night. Slightly unintentional, but it was either his place or my place. There’s nowhere open for food at four in the morning. Stepping into his room though, I was suddenly quite distracted from the original plan. Bed and a desk covered in editing equipment. Bare bones AV room. Part of me sighed, happy to be home. I even used to have that exact preview monitor. We met in the open air, part of the huddle of people smoking on the back deck that overlooks Blood Alley. When the sun rose, we may have still been awake. I wasn’t going to sleep over. My usual modis operandi is to put them to bed and walk home. Almost snuck out too, the boy lying warm under his covers, when I got sideswiped by sympathy. “Please don’t leave”, the accent thickening as he speaks closer to sleep. He’s curling up, trying not to crash. “It’s just nice to have someone here.”

Certainly, as soon as I click off the light and curl up, he’s awake again. Beautiful conversation in that one. Honesty lilting, lit by the green of computer towers. I think I slept well for the first time in a month.

My friends make me happy. Oh – and you! The scintillating genius! You send pictures like that and you’ll destroy me. Just be warned.