What to do when excuses run out

Watching Monday’s Annual Virginia Tech Invitational Gator Bowl, Marcus Vick’s disgusting behavior, intentionally stepping on Elvis Dumervil’s knee after a play ended, angered me. At Virginia Tech, we do not condone or engage such thuggery. I expect our Athletics Director, Jim Weaver, to deal with this harshly. Giving the finger to WVU fans earlier in the season was inappropriate, but mostly funny. For this, Vick should be suspended.

I assume Mr. Weaver will suspect Vick for the first game of next year’s season, but I’d be just as content if he suspended Vick for next season. Given that Vick only has one more year of eligibility, that would mean he’d have to declare for the NFL draft in April. Let’s see how well that kind of nonsense is rewarded, especially after including Vick’s prior off-field incidents and his poor play in the two big games he played as a starter this season. I’ve defended him through everything, and even believed he’d matured because he spent last season with his brother in Atlanta. I’ll never abandon a Hokie for poor play, but this is unacceptable and pisses me off. Ass.

Business shouldn’t fear customers

This article about peer-to-peer file-sharing networks shutting down in the wake of last year’s Supreme Court decision holding companies liable for copyright infringement on their networks is interesting. Specifically, this quote:

Mitch Bainwol, head of the music industry trade group Recording Industry Association of America, concedes some file-sharers will find other means of obtaining pirated music online.

“There will always be new technological challenges,” Bainwol said.

I’m surprised that the RIAA seems to concede what was apparent to everyone else almost from the moment Napster showed up. Technology changes the way people live and consume culture. Change is inevitable. It’s one of the most tedious (and useful!) features of capitalism. Those who anticipate, or even play catch-up on the back side of a change, will succeed. When customers start using a product in a way unexpected and/or unintended by a business, understanding and adapting are the most effective responses.

In the case of downloading music and the RIAA, it’s okay to be surprised at the rise of the mp3 player. It’s not okay to exclusively treat customers as criminals (even when they are acting as such) because the new technology won’t go away. Figure out a way to give them what they want, and do it fast. The legal profitable behavior has a better chance of supplanting the illegal unprofitable behavior. A shorter way of saying that goes something like this:

“The company or companies that find the most effective method for transforming downloaders into consumers will be the biggest winners in 2006.” [- Morpheus founder Michael Weiss]

Replace 2006 with 2000 and that’s what smart people were saying when this nonsense started. Only fearful economic dinosaurs don’t know that.

For further thoughts, see this entry at Catallarchy. The premise of the argument and its eventual conclusion are preposterous, but it’s worth noting that someone entertains such a position.

I hope the bridge is constructed better

Since I’ve highlighted in the past writing I admire, the kind of phrase, sentence, or paragraph that makes me wish I’d written it, it makes sense for me to highlight the opposite. It’s very rare that I come across something that makes me groan, since something like that is usually bad from start to finish and not worth mentioning. This article about highway repairs in New Orleans has a sentence that mars an otherwise good job of reporting. Consider:

I-10 is one of three coast-to-coast interstates that link the entire nation, stretching from Jacksonville to Los Angeles; the broken spans were an affront to the Jack Kerouac sensibility of a vast nation united by its long ribbons of concrete.

I’ll concede that “long ribbons of concrete” is an interesting phrase. But does the nation as a whole possess the “Jack Kerouac sensibility” regarding its roads? We like our cars, but really, has all traffic west stopped because a bridge is out? There has to be a better way to buttress “long ribbons of concrete” with a phrase as interesting. There has to be.

A quick note to catch up

I’ve been away the last week-plus do to my first vacation from work in twelve months. I’d like to say I was lazy, but mostly I was just busy doing catch-up stuff – visiting family, mostly. Danielle and spent a day in Richmond and four in Buffalo, so not much time for The Internets. The break probably served me well, although the withdrawal systems were awful. But I’m back.

I’d intended to do a longer entry today, but I shut my car door on my thumb this morning, so my hand is throbbing. Typing isn’t fun. Thus, two short entries today. I’ll be back to all the normal explanations of why I’m right in the next day or so.

Happy New Year, regardless.

Dreaming of a libertarian daily newspaper

Peggy Noonan has an Opinion Journal column today about near universal support for our troops, regardless of varying opinions on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. That story is interesting, but I believe the angle she uses to approach her point is worth noting. Consider:

We all criticize the mainstream media, regularly and with reason. More and more and day by day the MSM is showing us that its response to the popularity of conservative media and the rise of alternative news sources is to become less carefully liberal. What in the past had to be hidden is now announced.

This is not necessarily bad: it makes things better by making them clearer. I didn’t enjoy their ideological smuggling. Now they’re more like free-market people: Here are my liberal wares, if you want to buy them buy them, if not the Fox News stall is down the street, buy their faulty product and curses on you!

Fine with me, except that as a consumer of news I think they’re making a mistake. In a time of endless opinion, fact is king. Fact is rarer, harder to come by, more valuable. If only the MSM understood what money and power there are to be had from being famously nonideological, from being a famously reliable pursuer and presenter of fact. Wouldn’t it be great if that were the next new thing?

I don’t often agree with her columns, but she gets it right on that point. As I’ve said many times before, the mainstream media is a marketplace. Rather than complaining about universal bias, which is a blunt tool at best, news customers should find a source that makes them happy. As I’ve said and as she states here, if The Washington Post is too liberal, read The Washington Times. The business side of it will work itself out, whether it’s through a shift in strategy by the publisher, bankruptcy, or sufficient population acceptance of the status quo. It’s just an extension of the marketplace of ideas, which keeps American political thought vibrant. And it works better than mere complaining.

Take me out to the corrupt government

I don’t know what’s more egregious, Major League Baseball preventing bidders from offering to cover cost overruns or this political pissing contest within the D.C. City Council:

[D.C. Mayor Anthony] Williams continued to meet with council members yesterday to try to win support for the stadium lease agreement. He stepped up the pressure on the council in a statement criticizing council member Jim Graham (D-Ward 1) for supporting the use of public money to help build a parking garage for a future Target store in his ward while opposing public funding for the stadium.

“His actions are inconsistent and shortsighted,” Williams said. “It’s time for Mr. Graham and other council members to stop holding up our agreement with Major League Baseball.”

Graham said the Target project was different because the costs are much lower and the use of public funds far less. “I hope the mayor is not in meltdown mode,” he said.

How can two people be so far apart on an issue, and be so wrong in the same way? The size of the infraction doesn’t matter, since they both have their hands in the City’s fiscal cookie jar to offer private businesses a free gift. Qualitatively, both are stealing from the taxpayers for inexcusable bribes to businesses. Who cares if one does it to buy votes and the other to buy a legacy?

How to handle a “bad” employer

Reading this story on the Transport Workers Union strike in New York City proved why I despise unions. Consider:

Union President Roger Toussaint said the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, an agency with a $1 billion surplus, can do better by 34,000 workers who typically earn $35,000 to $55,000 annually while operating the nation’s largest mass transportation system.

“This is a fight over whether hard work will be rewarded with a decent retirement, over the erosion or eventual elimination of health benefit coverage for working people,” Toussaint said in a written statement. “It is a fight over dignity and respect on the job. . . . Transit workers are tired at being under-appreciated and disrespected.”

Every day that I go to work is a fight for dignity and respect. Not because I don’t get it; I do. It’s a fight for both me and my client because we have this crazy notion that if either of us is ever unhappy with the working relationship, we’re free to terminate it. Either one of us.

As an example, that scenario led me to becoming self-employed in early 2004. For several years leading up to starting my own business, I’d noticed a declining level of “dignity and respect,” to use Mr. Toussaint’s words, from my previous employer. Working conditions were fine, but I hadn’t had a raise in more than two years, my promotion path stalled, and broken promises concerning future opportunities mounted. I hated it and wished it hadn’t come to that. But the business culture changed and I didn’t like the new direction. I sought new career options, finally uncovering an option to become self-employed. It was scary and I had to earn that dignity and respect again, but I haven’t regretted it. If my current situation deteriorates, I’ll figure out something new. And so it goes.

Also, as I’ve seen some people discuss, dignity and respect extends to transit customers, too. I don’t live in New York, so I can’t vouch for how transit workers there treat passengers customers, but I wouldn’t be surprised if such reports as gleefully shutting doors as people visibly approach are true. It happens in D.C. on the Metro, so I see no reason to believe it doesn’t happen in New York. I generally experience this at lunch time, when trains are timed to let passengers off without time to transfer to other incoming trains in the station. Instead of bitching, though, I’ve decided to walk the short distances between the stations I travel. I lose the convenience, but I respond to poor treatment with my wallet.

There are legitimate issues in this strike, of course. It’s a shame the TWU is on the wrong side of them, which only makes it look stupider. In the 21st Century, hard work isn’t rewarded with a decent retirement, especially when the demand is that it begin at age 50, funded by taxpayers. Employers (or clients) reward hard work with compensation. The worker can then use that money for whatever he wishes. A smart person will direct a portion of his earnings to a decent retirement. He’ll also pay for health insurance appropriate for his situation. He won’t wait for someone to give him a one-size-fits-all solution designed to satisfy the common worker’s needs. Bartering hard work for a decent retirement and health insurance is less efficient than exchanging hard work for money. Money is excellent since it can then be exchanged for items the earner decides are useful. It’s an amazing power built into capitalism.

This strike illustrates how the need to be taken care of by others is a quaint relic of decades past. Unions should be a quaint relic, too. It’s unfortunate that the striking workers appear immune to such useful lessons.

I want my police state onscreen only

Here’s an interesting story on a trade group’s efforts to improve the movie-going experience:

The National Association of Theater Owners, the primary trade group for exhibitors, is pushing to improve the theatrical experience by addressing complaints about on-screen advertisements, cellphones in theaters and other disruptions, while planning a public relations campaign to promote going out to the movies.
…

Some of the proposed solutions may not be so popular. The trade group plans to petition the Federal Communications Commission to permit the blocking of cellphones inside theaters, Mr. Fithian said. That would require changing an existing regulation, he added. But some theaters are already testing a no-cellphones policy, asking patrons to check their phones at the theater door.

A spokesman for a cellphone lobby said the group would object to any regulatory change. “We’re opposed to the use of any blocking technology, because it interferes with people’s ability to use a wireless device in an emergency situation,” said Joseph Farren, a spokesman for CTIA-the Wireless Association, based in Washington.

Hypothetical situation: Movie theaters entice couples back to the movies with a “no babies” policy. Their marketing works! But to accommodate this newly rediscovered date night at the movies idea, the couple needs to hire a babysitter to watch their kids. Everything so far falls into a normal scenario. Now twist this to include the “ticking time bomb” (aka highly improbable, particularly distressing) scenario. The babysitter needs to reach the couple because their child is having a medical emergency. They can’t receive the call because the cell phone signal is blocked. This is wise?

I can understand a desire to make the movie-going experience more pleasant, but are cell phones that troublesome? Only once have I been watching a movie in a theater when a rude person interrupted the film with a ringing cell phone not set to vibrate. The individual answered the call and conversed for several minutes, to much vocal complaint from other members of the audience. I’d have no problem with a business policy of removing guests from the theater who engage in such unacceptable behavior, as the theater should’ve done with that gentleman. But that occurred more than six years ago. Perhaps people are still too stupid to put their phones on vibrate or turn them off. My recent experience suggests not.

But for a moment, I’ll assume it’s more frequent, since I don’t see that many movies in the theater now. (An indictment against movie quality, not movie-going experience, by the way.) What’s wrong with a “no audible ringtone” policy? I’d accept a “no cell phone” policy, too, but I’d accept it by hiding my phone or not bothering to go to the movies. It’s never been a problem, but I’ve been to concerts where patrons had to check camera phones at the door, verified by metal detectors. I hated it then, and I refuse to attend such concerts in the future. I won’t trust a business which doesn’t trust me. But that involves private transactions. Blocking cell phone signals is so far beyond that standard, I’m stunned anyone has the gumption to request such nonsense. Clearly the FCC should reject this. Otherwise, the trade group might as well lobby Congress for a tax on Netflix to stop the devastating impact of DVD rentals.

(Hat tip)

Anyone care to imply that Joe Gibbs is washed up?

I can’t let the Redskins’ glorious demolishing of the hated Cowboys last night fade away without linking to a story about my new favorite basketball player, Darrell Armstrong. Behold:

The Redskins wrapped up a 35-7 victory over the Cowboys shortly before the Mavericks left the locker room to play the Timberwolves.

As part of the pregame ceremonies, guard Devin Harris wished the crowd a happy holiday. Then Armstrong, who wasn’t scheduled to speak, asked for the microphone. He added his holiday wishes, then made his fine-inducing proclamation, a twist on a famous line by former Cowboys coach Jimmy Johnson.

In Dallas (Mr. Armstrong plays for the Dallas Mavericks), he exclaimed “How ’bout those Redskins!” Mr. Armstrong is my new hero.

Misdirection quote of the day

Smarter people have already skewered the President’s faulty logic on allowing NSA surveillance of domestic communications without a court order, so I won’t pile on unnecessary commentary other than to say that President Bush is wrong. Instead, I want to highlight this quote from Vice President Cheney where he refutes the notion that Congress didn’t know that’s it legislated this in 2001. Consider:

“It’s been briefed to the Congress over a dozen times, and, in fact, it is a program that is, by every effort we’ve been able to make, consistent with the statutes and with the law,” Vice President Cheney said yesterday in an interview with ABC News “Nightline” to be broadcast tonight. “It’s the kind of capability if we’d had before 9/11 might have led us to be able to prevent 9/11.”

I remember a little something about the FBI being tipped off that something big was going to happen and that information sitting around unused. Yet Vice President Cheney is saying that We didn’t have that kind of capability before 9/11. He’s lying spinning. He should just be honest and say that we’re too lazy now to bother with the Constitution and civil liberties. As long as we’re safe, that’s what matters. I’m not buying it, but I’d respect the honesty. Instead I’ll roll my eyes at the farce he’s perpetuating.