I dated a girl a few years back who was proud to have dual Israeli-American citizenship. Like many people moving into the exclusively Jewish Israeli settlements on Palestinian land, she considered Israel her "second home." Her first home was in New Jersey.

The West Bank/Palestine is a first home and only home to Palestinians. And if you live in the US you can thank your government for supporting the ongoing Israeli occupation of Palestine. We donate $3 billion a year so they can continue the occupation.

The problem isn't with compulsory military service or your fetish with girls and guns. The problem is the occupation and colonization of land, or which there is no excuse.

I am in an industry that is eating itself from the inside out.

It started as a group of people putting thoughts together freely online to figure out ways to accomplish a task. As it grew, it was appropriated and made popular into something the masses could consume.

There arose superstars who, through marketing, claimed to posses the magical keys. Due to its very nature that the information wants to be free, even those magical keys were laid bare for what they are: good--maybe even great--but certainly not magical or unheard-of.

And now, everyone has seen everything. There are few hidden treasures to behold. The information is there for anyone to see. The services are available, but are certainly struggling compared to what it once was.

Those who throw up "barriers" to information products, those who sell rather than give their products away, at least benefit from the (admittedly) powerful notion that if it costs this much, then it must be worth more than the product that's free.

I give my product away for free. And the biggest question in my mind remains that perhaps I could be making a lot more from my work--I'm just too much of a pussy to charge for it. I am a philanthropist or an internet fame junky or a dandelion--but I'm not making any money. So I'm certainly not a businessman.

The site seems to be back online now.

Eric Monse

The barbershop is nice. But if you haven't heard holophonic sound, it is truly worth checking out. Listen with a pair of headphones and you will hear the sound move not only left and right, but up and down. Pretty amazing.

http://guymal.com/blog/2006/01/holophonic-3d-sound.php

Eric Monse

Not to rain on the parade but... JESUS CHRIST. We're bitching and bitching for these crappy corporations to stop using DRM. And so finally Amazon puts together a DRM-free operation. And all I hear is complaints that "they use a *pointless* mp3 downloader software."

Ask for improvements--no demand improvements on the system. But give them props for taking a giant leap in the right direction.

- Eric Monse