Yes, I know I’m slacking and i’m 3 days behind on posts, but i dunno, saturday and sunday i was not home all day, yesterday and today i just let it slip away from me…so…expect some sort of post tomorrow…
This time, the year is 2001, the month is August, and the place is Houghton, Michigan, specifically Michigan Technological University.As our tale begins, it is orientation week for all new Freshmen, the week before classes actually start up.
Coming to MTU was a big decision for me, I mean heck, it would’ve been a big decision for anyone from southwestern ohio, considering it was the same travel distance there as it was to sunny Orlando, Florida. I went from a town where I had gone to the same school system my entire life, and new pretty much my entire graduating class, and was known and liked by nearly all, to a college where I knew no one, and had really no clue what to expect.
The week started with us being divided into groups by our major, and there were probably 15 or 20 of us in the geology/geological engineering program, compared the the hundreds in most of the other programs. I’m certain that I probably alienated myself right from the beginning from my fellow majors due to my beliefs in Christianity and Creationism, however, the thought never even occured to me at the time. Throughout my life, I’ve never hid any aspects concerning what I believe and try to be rather transparent about my thoughts at all times. As a result, I didn’t have a single friend in my major. On top of this, the primary activity at MTU during orientation week was to get “oriented” with the various fraternities and go and drink the nights away there. I wanted nothing to do with this, as I had long ago decided I had no desire to have anything to do with a frat. So the week went on, and I still had zero friends, something that i was VERY unaccustomed to. There were a couple guys i had met, and we hung out briefly at meals and whatnot, but they always were going to the frats at night, and i had no desire to do that. So finally, on Thursday of orientation week, after knowing really no one, I decided, fine, i’ll go to a frat party with them.
As I was walking out of my dorm building, on my way to meet them, an attractive girl stopped me and said “A bunch of us are heading out to the breakers, you wanna come?” For those of you who don’t know, the breakers is one of the beaches near MTU right along Lake Superior. I was stunned and told her sure, sounded like fun. On the trip there, I found out that she was with Intervarsity Christian Fellowship. FINALLY I had met some of the Christians on campus! I wound up having an amazing time, and got to know some really great men and women of God some of whom I still talk to.
So, during one of my darkest thinking times and most depressed times in my life, God was right there making sure I didn’t make a stupid decision. I can think of few other more clear examples of His providential guidance in my life than me going out to probably ruin my reputation and any future witness I might have and God sending someone along and waking me up, essentially saying to me “Hey you! Dummy! Don’t screw your life up, there are cool, people here!” The bottom line here is simply this: God looks out for us even when we don’t look out for ourselves!
So, the year is 1999, my sophmore year of high school. It’s February, President’s day, and due to the amount of snow days we had already had in Franklin, we had to go to school on that particular federal holiday. As a result, me and the 2 other friends that I rode to school with decided we didn’t particularly want to go. Instead, we went to Frisch’s and ate at their breakfast buffet. After that, seeing as it was only about 9:30 in the morning, and we hadn’t eaten up nearly enough time, we drove out to where we (my family) were building our new house, so I could show them the site. From there, still early in the day, we went to the car wash to wash my friend’s car, to further kill time. It was at this point that we ran out of things to do, and bored as we were, decided to go back to school.
We had it planned perfectly, we all forged parental notes and, being students who were generally trusted, we would be believed. We set it up so we all entered roughly 10-15 minutes after each other. I went first, got to school, faked my best “I’m still kinda sick, but here anyway” act, and signed in and went to the end of my 4th period math class. Leaving there, I was on my way to 5th period choir. A path whcih led me past the office. As I walked down the hallway, shortly after I passed the office, I felt an iron grip on my shoulder. I can still feel the fear I felt when that hand clamped down and i heard Mr. Gregory say “Elijah, come to my office for a minute.” in eerily friendly tones. As I walked in, I saw my two accomplaces sitting there, and my stomach leaped into my throat in an effort to escape the impending doom that I knew was coming. So, I sat down, with the other two, and awaited the executioner’s axe that I knew was imminent. Mr. Gregory then sat down and said this: “You three skipped together, the mandatory punishment from the school is saturday school. Elijah, I had a very interesting talk with your father. He told me that you were flat out lying and that I had the right to do whatever I wanted to you. I’m only giving you a Saturday school, but you’re gonna probably be in big trouble when you get home.”
From there, I went to choir, sang worriedly, and then went to lunch. The entire time I was in the lunchline I was muttering over and over to myself, “Oh man, i’m dead, I’m dead, why did I do that, oh crap I’m dead…” At this point allow me to interject that I had some amazing friends back then(and still most definitely do!). They tried to say everything they could think of to comfort me, but I was entirely inconsolable. One particular acquaintance, who was one of the most annoying guys in the world, but hung out with us for some reason, tried to comfort me, and I finally told him, quite rudely, what we all thought of him(which he didn’t take seriously and just assumed it was my bad mood that made me yell at him). I told him “WHY DON’T YOU JUST SHUT UP?! I DON’T LIKE YOU, NO ONE HERE LIKES YOU, WE DON’T EVEN KNOW WHY YOU HANG OUT WITH US!!!” That was not my proudest moment, but when stressed, filters tend to be shut off. The rest of the day was largely similar to this, but that was my only explosion.
When I arrived home, I walked very slowly to my house from the corner of the street where my bus dropped me off. I walked into a darkened house, and hoped no one was home. I set my backpack down, walked upstairs, looked into the kitchen, and there at the dining room table sat my mom with the saddest, most disappointed look on her face that I have ever seen in my entire life. She proceeded to hand me a stack of sever 3x5 notecards and told me that my dad had written out my punishment on them, and that i was to read them and then comply.
Here is what the cards said.
So, I wrote my paper, which I no longer have a copy of, and badly wish that I did. To my knowledge, It still hangs in Mr. Gregory’s office, or at the very least, it still did a year after I graduated.
Now, you’re probably wondering how God’s providence factors into this tale, right? Well, basically it works like this, as a result of what I did, I built up a pretty good rapport with Mr. Gregory, and probably garnered more respect from that than I had in the first place. So, I went from being a virtual unknown in his book to being someone that he genuinely liked, this wound up working quite well when he and his wife took over as advisors for the Academic quiz team, because I got to know them even better then. So, I had a rough row to hoe for a few weeks while enduring my punishment, but in the long run, it turned out to be beneficial, and hey, I have a good story to boot.
The next post I write will continue on this theme of God’s Providence, and will be considerably more obvious as to how it pertains to that.
Alright, so, i’m finally posting again, i’m going to start doign this with more regularity(i know i seem to say that every time i post) but I intend to stick it out this time, i will post something, everyday, be it a pic, a link and a discussion of said link, or an actual honest to goodness post. Anyway, here we go…
What do you own that you don’t own? What is yours but it is ILLEGAL to do with as you please? Give up? The answers are your CDs, movies, and software! From the legal standpoint of the Recording Industry Association of America(RIAA) the Motion Picture Association of America(MPAA), and the Entertainment Software Association(ESA), and other software producers and manufacturers, you only own the right to use those forms of media which you have purchased in a way that they have dictated. This means technically, it is illegal to copy music which you have purchased from a CD onto your computer/iPOD/Zune/mp3 player of choice. That’s right folks, as far as the RIAA is concerned, changing the format of purchased music is illegal. Now, they aren’t going to prosecute anyone for this absurdity, but it IS the letter of the law.
Have you ever bothered to read the licensing agreement on a videogame, or the one that pops up anytime you install a piece of software and you blindly check the “I Agree” box? What, you haven’t? Well, to provide you with an example, here are some excerpts from Valve’s Team Fortress 2 licensing agreement:
YOU SHOULD CAREFULLY READ THE ENTIRE FOLLOWING LICENSE AGREEMENT BEFORE INSTALLING THIS SOFTWARE PROGRAM. THIS AGREEMENT CONTAINS IMPORTANT TERMS THAT AFFECT YOUR LEGAL RIGHTS. BY INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE PROGRAM, YOU AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE TO THE TERMS OF THIS AGREEMENT, PLEASE DO NOT INSTALL THIS SOFTWARE PROGRAM.
A. Valve hereby grants, and by installing the Program you thereby accept, a limited, non-exclusive license and right to install one (1) copy of the Program on a computer. … The Program is licensed, not sold. Your license confers no title or ownership in the Program or copies thereof.
B. You may not, in whole or in part: copy, photocopy, reproduce, translate, reverse engineer (with the exception of specific circumstances where such act is permitted by law), derive source code, modify, disassemble, decompile, or create derivative works based on the Program … You may not sell, grant a security interest in or transfer reproductions of the Program to other parties in any way, nor to rent, lease or license the Program to others without the prior written consent of Valve.
2. Ownership. All title, ownership rights and intellectual property rights in and to the Program and any and all copies thereof (including but not limited to any titles, computer code, themes, objects, characters, character names, stories, dialog, catch phrases, locations, concepts, artwork, animations, sounds, musical compositions, audio-visual effects, methods of operation, moral rights, any related documentation, and “applets” incorporated into the Program) are owned by Valve or its licensors.
Valve may, at its discretion, terminate this License Agreement in the event that you fail to comply with the terms and conditions contained herein. … In such event, you must immediately destroy the Program.
7. Equitable Remedies. You hereby agree that Valve would be irreparably damaged if the terms of this License Agreement were not specifically enforced, and therefore you agree that Valve shall be entitled to appropriate equitable remedies with respect to breaches of this License Agreement, in addition to such other remedies as Valve may otherwise have available to it under applicable laws…
So, there you have it, absurd legal jargon that says essentially that you have no rights to what you paid money for. As it states, you do not even own that piece of software, you only have a license to use it, install it, and play it! To top this all off, the mere act of installing the software means that you agree to the license, and the only way to remove your obligations to said license is to destroy that program! Under the license agreements, the company owning the software have the right to end your use of their product whenever they think you are breaking your agreement, and really, without any warning.
By this same agreement (with the help of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act(DMCA)), you have virtually no rights to what you purchased. You cannot reproduce it in anyway, you cannot back it up in case anything happens to the original, you technically can’t even loan it out to a friend for them to try out and enjoy.
These same policies apply to movies as well. You can’t back them up, you can’t loan them out, and legally, you can’t even watch it with more than 11 friends. That’s right! Ever watch a movie with more than 12 people in a room? Yes? Did you pay royalties or write to the company for express written permission to do so? No?! Well then you my friend, have broken the law.
I recognize all of these policies have been put into effect in an effort to combat piracy (which is still thriving quite well), but the stipulations put upon the normal citizenry are just ludicrus. Would anyone agree to purchase a lithograph or copy of a famous work of art if they were not allowed to photograph it, show it off, or even resell it? Would you buy a car if it was illegal for you, yourself to work on it, or even have a friend drive it? Would you buy vegetables if the farmer could take them back from you because he thought you were misusing them?! You wouldn’t? No, that’s absurd, and neither would I. However, these are the very underlying principles behind legislation and licensing in the realm of movies, music, and software. These regulations will never change without us as consumers giving them a reason to change them. Something must be done, what to do, I have no clue short of having an open dialog with the MPAA, RIAA, ESA, and other software manufacturers. Untill such a time occurs and consumers are taken seriously by these entertainment giants, we are stuck with being victim to their whims and there is nothing at all that we can do about it.
So, tonight I went to see Frost/Nixon at the cheap-o movie theater. We were running absurdly late due to having other things going on today, including the need of sustinence. The movie started at 7:00. We got there at 7:01. When we arrived, walking into the theater ahead of us was a man with a baby, a girl who was probably about 8 or 9, and a woman. We’re in a hurry. Walking in front of us, the woman does one of those door pushes that says: “I’m gonna open the door for myself, and push it far enough so that you might be able to get in too.” I did. I proceeded to stand in line behind this family, and as soon as i stop, the woman says “You’re welcome.” To which I reply, “Oh, thanks.” Not even imagining it was something that required a thanks, much less a rude you’re welcome.
So, they buy their tickets and move on. We buy ours and are walking briskly to get into the theater. They are stopped in the middle of the hallway that leads back to the theaters. I’m thinking, what the heck? I, still walking quickly, walk around them, with probably about a foot between myself and them. I notice as i go past, the lady step to one side as if avoiding me (who was no where close to touching her), and I hear her say under her breath “expletive-deleted-hole.” Now, I tend to think I’m a pretty nice, calm, and likable guy. That word is not one which I would think anyone would use a personal descriptor of me. Perhaps the woman had a bad day, perhaps she perceived me as rude, I don’t know what her deal was, but I know this; I was in a hurry to get to my movie, I was not about to crash into her or her family, and her family should not have been creating a bottleneck in the theater.
Where has common courtesy gone? Do people really feel justified to curse at people when they’re the slightest bit annoyed by them? Is terseness really neccesary in normal, everyday happenings? Can anyone answer these questions?
Just saw Frost/Nixon good flick, Langella did a great job as Nixon. Liberal friend afterwards said that the movie had him pullin for Nixon.
much like Rick Astley, I am never gonna: A. give you up; B. let you down; C. run around and desert you; D. all of the above.
Reading 52 makes me wish I had more of a DC background than I do, but truth be told, the Marvel universe has always been more interesting
RT: @shanajeanVideo: Jon Stewart illustrates the similarities between Bush and “change” minded Obama. http://cli.gs/UNmJnq #tcot #sgp
Gettin ready to go eat some delicious Japanese food and then play some board games…should be a great night!
Watchmen was quite good! Definitely plan on seeing it again…and really want to get the soundtrack on vinyl…
