Sweet!!!

"After years of rejection, influential bands the Sex Pistols, Black Sabbath and Lynyrd Skynyrd are finally making it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, organizers said on Monday.

The 2006 class of inductees also includes jazz legend Miles Davis and New Wave group Blondie, while trumpeter Herb Alpert and business partner Jerry Moss, founders of A&M Records, will be inducted as nonperformers."

Link

Senator says Terrell Owens treated unfairly

"Sen. Arlen Specter has accused the NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles of treating Terrell Owens unfairly, and might refer the matter to the antitrust subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Specter, who chairs the Judiciary Committee, said at a news conference Monday in Harrisburg it was 'vindictive and inappropriate' for the league and the Eagles to forbid the star wide receiver from playing and prevent other teams from talking to him.

'It's a restraint of trade for them to do that, and the thought crosses my mind, it might be a violation of antitrust laws,' Specter said.

It is amazing the disinformation and misunderstandings on this. Let 's repeat together: "TO is under contract!" This means the Eagles have to pay him for the games he is deactivated. Contracts don't equire you to play TO, but they do require you to pay him. They also prevent other teams from talking to him.

Why did no one get this worked up when the Bucs deativated Keyshawn? The Vikings paid Sherrif Denny Green for two years and did not let him coach; where was the outcry?

Freedom of speech only grants the right to speak on topics, not the ability. Even US Senators need to remember that.

Here is the SI follow-up:

Some legal experts disagreed with Specter's view.

'To have an antitrust violation, you have to have a contract or conspiracy in restraint of trade,' said Robert McCormick, a law professor at Michigan State University.

Matthew J. Mitten, director of the National Sports Law Institute at Marquette University, said, 'We're in the labor arena, not antitrust.'"

Link

Shameless Plug -- Windmedia Store

The Windmedia Store is now open with items for Christmas and special offers on shipping. I plan on adding 20-40 items per night, so please check back often.

There will be a link on the blogs with the latest special deals and offers.

Thanks.

Wired News: Eat, Sleep, Work, Consume, Die

Tony Long writes:

"But that's the point. My expectations have been raised to this ridiculous level by technology running amok through my heretofore-bucolic existence. I used to be a laid-back guy. Now I'm impatient. I chafe. I get irritable when my gratification isn't instantaneous. And it isn't just me. The whole world is bitchier these days.

I'm old enough to remember when waiting a few days for a letter to arrive was standard operating procedure, even in the bare-knuckles business world. I recall a time without answering machines, when you just had to keep calling back on your rotary phone until someone picked up. (Which had the unintended benefit of allowing you to reconsider whether the original call was even worth making in the first place.) The world moved at a more leisurely pace and, humanistically speaking, we were all the better for it.

Just because technology makes it possible for us to work 10 times faster than we used to doesn't mean we should do it. The body may be able to withstand the strain -- for a while -- but the spirit isn't meant to flail away uselessly on the commercial gerbil wheel. The boys in corporate don't want you to hear this because the more they can suck out of you, the lower their costs and the higher their profit margin. And profit is god, after all. (Genuflect here, if you must.)

But what's good for them isn't necessarily good for you, no matter how much filthy lucre they throw your way.

Civilization took a definite nose dive when the merchant princes grew ascendant at the expense of the artists and thinkers; when the notion of liberty, agality, fraternity gave way to 'I've got mine; screw you' (an attitude that existed in Voltaire's day, too, you might recall, with unfortunate results for the blue bloods). In the Big Picture, the dead white guys -- Rousseau, Thoreau, Mill -- cared a lot more about your well-being than the live ones like Gates or Jobs or Ellison ever will."
link:

Interesting thoughts. I am obviously no neo-luddite, although I do love to turn off the laptop, step away from the cellphone, and pull out a camera or art pad and soak up the beauty of what is around me. Time stops, my priorities change, and I swear I become a better person. . .