Useless Conversation

[Trippy]

I like cane sugar.  It's something we know doesn't have side effects and unless you're eating bags of the stuff doesn't add that many calories.  Seems like the more sensible option.

I don't think I disagree, however, where do you get unprocessed cane sugar that doesn't taste like ass? If you use the bleached stuff, I think there are other problems with that (extra chemicals?).

You don't like raw sugar?

[Oban]

I like Splenda, go figure, but I have not tried it in anything other than tea and coffee.  According to the package you can bake with it which seems a bit too adventurous for me.  I prefer using plain old white and brown sugar when baking.

Oh, and raw sugar is great in espresso.

[Murgos]

What if it's GM cane sugar?

Well, then I guess the customary response is to run in circles screaming at a high pitch while waving our hands in the air until we knock ourselves out by running into a wall or from oxygen deprivation.

[Yegolev]

Trying to buy causeway launch tickets at KSC is a lot like buying concert tickets.

[Yegolev]

Except the ticketing web site is crap-ass slow.

[Yegolev]

I didn't want to see the launch anyway.

[Signe]

You never got tickets?  Because if you did, that's awesome.  For real.

[Brogarn]

Splenda gives me tummyaches.  As I discovered when we briefly switched from Diet Coke to Coke Zero at work.  Vile stuff.

Never heard of stevia giving anyone any problems, though.  I have a couple of family members who LOVE stevia because it's the only sweetener, including cane sugar, that they aren't allergic to in some way.

Sorry to get on this conversation late.

I tried Truvia (which I think is stevia) and did not like it at all. Left me with a funny after taste and just didn't taste good to me, especially in coffee but also tea. I see a couple people here have had physical reactions to Splenda, which surprises me. That's usually my preference and tastes just fine to me and I've never had any kind of reaction to it. Next in line of preference is Equal then Sweet 'n' Low if it's the only thing available. Fears about saccharin were pretty ridiculous from what I've read and it tastes just fine to me.

The thing to read up on, though, is that these sweeteners can cause the body to have the same diabetic reaction that normal sugars do. I'm not sure on the specifics, but I think it's a more recent (as in the last year I think) study. Might want to look that up to see if it's complete bullshit or not.

[Engels]

This is NWS, and probably NMS, you have been warned.

I ran across a pretty interesting 10 page article on current state of the porn industry. Has interviews with directors and actresses/actors.

Its early morning so I may not be reading clearly, but that article must be a bit old. It describes Jenna Jameson as 'just a girl'. She's 36 now.

[Sky]

Trying to buy causeway launch tickets at KSC is a lot like buying concert tickets.

Fuck ticketmaster. Fuck 'em. We've got a stable of venues where you can buy directly from the box office, I prefer to do it in person. I'm old school, I'll wait in line for an hour to get front row seats. And I usually get front row seats from box offices. Ticketmaster we have to use for larger venues, which also sell to their memberships (goddamned SPAC), but even without membership I don't think we've ever done better than 50th row via Ticketmaster.

Also, seeing shows as a casino is soooo nice. No fees, no taxes. A $50 ticket is $50, not $65.

[Murgos]

This is NWS, and probably NMS, you have been warned.

I ran across a pretty interesting 10 page article on current state of the porn industry. Has interviews with directors and actresses/actors.

Its early morning so I may not be reading clearly, but that article must be a bit old. It describes Jenna Jameson as 'just a girl'. She's 36 now.

The article clearly starts with a 10 year flash-back to when the reporter first started writing about porn in an effort to show how the industry has changed in 10 years.  Yeah, that right, it's the point of the article, and you missed it.

[Yegolev]

You never got tickets?  Because if you did, that's awesome.  For real.

Weeeellll.....

The great "eat breakfast with an astronaut and watch from the causeway" tickets sold out in less time than it took for the web site to load.  Actually, there were adult tickets remaining but no child tickets, which is very irritating.  I worked my way down the list toward the least-desirable tickets, got through the order process for the "watch from the visitor center" and my tickets have NOT VALID FOR SPACE SHUTTLE LAUNCH DAYS printed on them.  Naturally the phone lines are jammed up so I cannot immediately rectify this, and it is causing me a very undue amount of stress.

I'll give them some time before I go the credit-card-block route.  Also thinking about giving everyone here at the office the finger and not coming back from lunch today, since the atmosphere around here is also giving me undue stress.  All I can say is that it is fortunate for me that the part of my brain that responded to nagging has died, otherwise there would be some exciting news on FOX 5 Atlanta tonight.

[Signe]

Trying to buy causeway launch tickets at KSC is a lot like buying concert tickets.

Fuck ticketmaster. Fuck 'em. We've got a stable of venues where you can buy directly from the box office, I prefer to do it in person. I'm old school, I'll wait in line for an hour to get front row seats. And I usually get front row seats from box offices. Ticketmaster we have to use for larger venues, which also sell to their memberships (goddamned SPAC), but even without membership I don't think we've ever done better than 50th row via Ticketmaster.

Also, seeing shows as a casino is soooo nice. No fees, no taxes. A $50 ticket is $50, not $65.

Which might work unless you're traveling long distances for the show and Ticketmaster isn't the only avenue of sales - which happens sometimes.  Major concerts seem to have become corporate in regards to tickets.   I also dislike hearing that Walmart is the only place you can buy some music.  Walmart and Ticketmaster should NEVER be your only choice for anything!  Ever.  I'm also reading that tickets for some venues are being offered at ridiculous prices.  If you have kids, just die now.   Mylie Cyrus tickets in Atlanta are being sold for anywhere between $200 and $5000.  How does this even happen?  I think she might be one of those Walmart thingies, too.  Seriously, parents will be happier if they just die now.

PS  To demonstrate how out of touch I've become with the heinous in you anus world of the nasty music industry - up until this past year, I thought Hannah Montana was a real person and made no connection between her and the Achy Breaky Heart man.  

PPS  If you're going to give everyone in the office the finger, do that Hitler finger thingy.  That was adorable.

[Yegolev]

Or, maybe, parents can tell their kids NO once in a while.  I mean, maybe.  If nothing else works.

[Signe]

I should that most parents HAVE to say no to something like this.  The point is that this sort of stuff which is very attractive to kids is so completely out of reach for their parents.  It doesn't seem right to me.

[Yegolev]

It is probably not right, as in "bad parenting", but I'm not going to comment on hypothetical situations as if they were real.  Not right this minute.  I do know that I'd not let my son go to a Hannah Montana concert.  So far I'm successfully herding him toward They Might Be Giants.  So far those tickets are somewhat reasonable... last I checked.

[Righ]

The major labels and their cartels of ticketing agencies, venue chains and radio empires seem determined to turn the artists with major back catalogue sales into jesters in the courts of the plutocrats. It's very short-sighted, but these companies and their executives are lost and will not be part of the future of music, so why care? It was certainly safe to assume that The Rolling Stones, Genesis (particularly without Hackett) or The Police were not about to do anything new on their last tours, and the resulting DVDs, CDs and paraphernalia confirmed this. You did not have to be there, because nothing special happened. Where the problem exists is with the established but less corporate artists - they still have to play venues run by the same cartels, sell tickets through monopolies and get airplay from more cartel members. So now it costs you $50 to see them rather than the $20 that it should cost.

The sooner the existing recording, distribution, promotion, broadcast, management, booking and ticketing cartels are washed away the better. There's definitely an upside to the catastrophic death of the music marketplace. Think of it as detox.

[Yegolev]

I'm all for it, if only because I'm tired of seeing one "good" song hidden among eleven crap ones.  Really, though, the only part of the music industry that bothers me greatly but I'm not able to avoid is the ticket monopoly situation.  I'd like to be able to just buy some tickets for a show since they come around more frequently than, say, a shuttle launch.

Seeing Electric Six on the 26th, by the way.  Or so I'm told since I'm not securing the tickets.

I finally, a few minutes ago, got some proper and real tickets to see STS-129 launching.  I plan to find a KSC employee while I am there and seduce them so as to ensure I can get some causeway tickets next time.  Maybe I should have PMed Morat20.

[Murgos]

Bring earplugs.  We went to watch a couple of launches when I was little.  It's a lot of boring followed by "OOOOOHHHHHH". 

[Yegolev]

I bet they sell them in the gift shop.  Also, I'll be in the Visitor Center with the homeless and secret muslims, not out on the causeway.

[Draegan]

So why does my Realtek Audio Manager keep popping up telling me that my I have unplugged then plugged in an audio device constantly?  Even with the latest drivers.  wtf

[schild]

Because it's a piece of shit.

Next question.

[Draegan]

How do I fix it for free?

[schild]

You withdraw the money for a soundcard from your bank account. You convince yourself it's for food. You put it in a box, you open the box next week and go buy a soundcard saying "The money was already spent."

[Draegan]

 

[Sky]

It was certainly safe to assume that The Rolling Stones, Genesis (particularly without Hackett) or The Police were not about to do anything new on their last tours, and the resulting DVDs, CDs and paraphernalia confirmed this. You did not have to be there, because nothing special happened. 

This really goes beyond promotion at that point, though. Many bands will just get up and play material like it was on the album, and with those acts, you're just going to see the people that have given you that enjoyment over the years. Or a band like Skynyrd, with a whopping two original members (one drummer playing guitar, no less), playing more or less straight versions of their tunes. But it's a wicked good time, so worth the admission.

But going to see real live artists, who mix up the set and improvise, that's what live music is really about. At 73, Buddy Guy is worth every cent of a ticket, he draws on soo much material in blues, rock, soul and funk, and his band is always on point because he rarely finishes songs, and launches into another song in the middle of the first one. Watching the amazing Allman Bros (we buy the live cds after the show, every show), you never know what you're going to get, just that it'll be good. Watching Tom Petty play after the Allmans opened was pretty wild, a jamming improv show followed by an off-the-album greatest hits show (and I like Petty, but it was pretty meh after ABB).

[lamaros]

I got tickets to see Lightning Bolt. I am happy.

[Johny Cee]

I got tickets to see Lightning Bolt. I am happy.

Say hi to Brian for me.

[Signe]

So if lamaros says hello to Brian from Johnny Cee will Brian even know who he's talking about?  And if he does and says hi back, won't Brian be jealous?  This could break up the band. 

Brian Chippendale went to school with one of my relatives and lived about a block away from him.  I think they trick or treated their houses. 

Also - it can't be very hard to get tickets for them, can it?  And I shouldn't think they'd be especially expensive?

[lamaros]

No indeed, it was more a matter of I just found out (because I had been avioding gig info and trying to focus on uni stuff) and they'd sold out online and the store that had tickets only had a few left so I had to go in today and get them before it was too late.

And a matter of it likely being fun.

[Signe]

It'll definitely be fun.  Way more fun than having to force yourself to focus on uni stuff, I expect. 

[Johny Cee]

So if lamaros says hello to Brian from Johnny Cee will Brian even know who he's talking about?  And if he does and says hi back, won't Brian be jealous?  This could break up the band. 

Brian Chippendale went to school with one of my relatives and lived about a block away from him.  I think they trick or treated their houses. 

Also - it can't be very hard to get tickets for them, can it?  And I shouldn't think they'd be especially expensive?

I had to think, since Johny Cee is a nickname I got hung with in real life.  Maybe, maybe not.  I actually haven't hung out with Brian Gibson in a long time, though I've seen most of the rest of his family in the last year or so.

[Yegolev]

[Raging Turtle]

Rasix, how close are you to KSC?  I'm staying on Merritt Island right now, and my sister's boyfriend actually works at NASA on the software/hardware for the new rocket, so I *might* have some of the really really good seats.  We'll see.

They (sister and her boyfriend) want to get me a job at one of NASA's contractors as a technical writer.  It sounds fairly soul sucking, but hey, Florida and being able to say you work for NASA (kind of)! 

I may run off to South America instead.

[Rasix]

Is this confuse Rasix day or something?