File Sneaks

So I hear they want to change the term piracy, as it is too " adventurous" a word [1]. Funny, I always thought piracy gave the impression of some cheap, scummy group of people but I guess we have to thank Johnny Depp for giving them some good PR.

How about "file sneaks"? For those who don't know, it's inspired by a much earlier term in the 1930s called "book sneaks". The publishing industry that time was looking for a "pejorative word for the book borrower, the wretch who raised hell with book sales and deprived authors of earned royalties." (The Late Age of Print, pg. 35)

Yes you read right. If you lent your book to someone, you are depriving authors of badly needed royalties, you dastardly thing.

Thankfully, this is not 80 years ago. And 80 years from now piracy and its enemies will be a historical relic. Remember all the complaints about radio killing album sales? Say what?

The copyright advocates (at least, those who advocate copyright in its present form) know they are losing. I'd say they are going down in a burning, sinking ship. It's not going to be survival of the fittest, but more like change or die. The future will be (mostly) free, thanks to piracy. Only those who can afford it and want to will pay for content. In the meanwhile, let the others enjoy their Photoshop CS3.

That's just my opinion, although me working on a book-length treatise in defense of file-sharing (a.k.a. piracy) probably has something to do with it.

Misc. 18/03/10

Woke up to this:

Hoteliers should not offer rooms at too low a rate as it will give an impression to foreigners that their services and rooms are of poor quality, said Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak. [Source]

Now I don't know where our Prime Minister seems to be getting his advice (assuming he is advised on these matters), but it doesn't make good sense. Low prices are a natural result of competition, especially in the hyper-competitive KL city centre hotel business. And most hotels are franchised anyway - a Hilton is a Hilton wherever you go, as with Westin, Ritz Carlton etc. And if the 5 stars are not willing to lower their prices, then the comparable 4 stars (e.g. Impiana) will.

The PM also notes that such an approach will not increase sales - wow, is he spending his time looking at the hotel books? Obviously, he does not understand why the grand 5 star hotels, who have been in this business for quite some time, would want to lower their prices (hint: to attract sales)

As a former purchaser, I dealt with innumerable hotels and I can say that if he is refers to hotel rack rates as under-priced, then the corporate rates we MNCs are getting would make these hotels looks like mamak shops.

Now if he means that low prices by themselves give foreigners an impression that hotels are of low quality, then are we going to ask our restaurants, shopping centres and private hospitals to raise their prices? Unless I'm mistaken, foreigners come to our country precisely for these "cheap" things. If they wanted expensive + high quality things they'd go to Europe.

Alright, /rant.

Misc. 10/03/10

Alice in Wonderland - enough with the post-processed 3D already. Not sequel or reboot. Fan fiction. Also note the bizarre feminist ending. Disney has both lost and gained my respect.

Flu. Does this have to happen everytime I go to a shopping centre? One thing about staying at home is that you don't get viral flu often.

Also, asked what I wanted to do after this again. After this as in, get a job you're grown up already. This is what you get when you start college 3 years early.

Rest.

Daydream nation.

Currently juggling literature, history, philosophy, theology all at one go. As usual. In my readings of Japanese fairy tales, I can't help but note the marked contrast with say, that of Aesop or the sanitized tales from Old Europe. But I suppose that's the keyword, sanitized. Consider this story, which puts many a Hollywood tale of vengeance to shame.

But really, besides that, most tales lack what some would call coherence. But again, I view this from a (Western?) perspective where characters have motivations and purposes and plots have tidy endings. Some of the stories (Japanese) that I've read are rather baffling - with one part seemingly having no connection to another.

I've begun on theology again, after a long while. Looks like I'm slowly working my way from burn-out. I'm pretty much fed up with most of the churches I've attended - and as a result my empathy with the emergent critique on today's mainline evangelical churches has increased. But throughout the years, oh, about five of them, my theology hasn't quite budged. Perhaps my empathy/sympathy for other perspectives have. But that's healthy, I think.

This is still my model of a comprehensive confession of faith which I subscribe to, and probably won't change anytime soon.

Misc. - 2/3/10

Well, now that the wrath of politicians and certain consumers are directed towards Toyota, Honda and now GM is into the recall business. Looks like it's an okay thing to do now that Toyota has come out. So what's the big issue? (Answer: There isn't.) It's not like Toyota is selling HIV infected blood and the good news for consumers is that they're going all out to win back the business.

College assignments are moving forward. Slowly. The nice part about writing about business but not actually doing it? You can pull "facts" out nowhere. Really, it's okay to do so. Call it best estimates and informed guesses. Some are writing about their own companies. I ground my work in the organization with the most information possible. Double the tedium as sources are external (if it's your own company, you're your own source) but I suppose actual learning is tripled.

I realize that sometimes you can't just know everything. I've been averaging 3 books a week, and while I can clearly see that my abilities to grasp certain issues have been getting better, I likewise can see more clearly that nothing beats going out and seeing/doing it. Indeed, in my 6 month stint at an MNC, I learned more about business than 3 years at college.

Parting note - I have an almost Hegelian obsession for synthesizing propositions. Which might be bad, but I still like the smug feeling it gives me to know that I am smarter than both sides. Try it sometime.