Music sharing

I just read an article where a Minnesota woman found guilty of file sharing was fined a massive $222,000. This fine was for sharing 24 songs over the internet. Is it just me or is that a bit excessive. I am not discussing the fact of what she did, you will have your own opinion's on that, but I am concerned . It doesn't seem just to me that a person should have to sell her home to pay a fine levied for no worse an action than lending your cd to a few mates. To quote from the article posted by Declan McCullagh in his blog 'The Iconoclast' .....

"Walter Block, an economics professor at Loyola University, is no fan of copyright law at all. (He'd abolish it.) But his suggested penalties for physical larceny are worth taking into account. "My view is two teeth for a tooth, plus expenses, plus cost of capturing, plus a scaring penalty" that would provide additional deterrence and avoid allowing the wealthy to flout the law, ..." . In other words, let the punishment fit the crime."

A view I agree with.

Rather out than in?

The names of my friend and I have been changed to protect our reputations!

Doris and Mavis had been friends for many decades. Over the years they had shared all kinds of activities and adventures. Lately, their activities had been limited to meeting a few times a week to play cards. One day they were playing cards when Mavis looked at Doris and said, "Now don't get mad at me....I know we've been friends for a long time.....but I just can't think of your name! I've thought and thought, but I can't remember it. Please tell me what your name is." Doris glared at her. For at least three minutes she just stared and glared at her. Finally she said, "How soon do you need to know?"

Happy 'Not Mother's Day'

The other day, my youngest son bought me some flowers. A couple of weeks earlier, my eldest son bought me Lemmings for my pc. Neither item was expensive and were given to me without much fuss and palaver, but with a hug and a kiss and with love. I love both of my gifts; the flowers are a joy to look at and the game is utter hilarity, but why I love them more is because they were given randomly. Not for Mother's Day, my birthday, Christmas or any other special reason, just bought for me because they thought of me and knew these items would make me happy.

I know that when the afore-mentioned special occaisions arrive, both my sons will ask me what gift I would like, where I would like to go to celebrate etc. and I thank the Gods for their thoughtfulness, but a random gift, costing no more that a couple of quid means more to me than a costly one bought for (mostly) commercial reasons. Nobody reminded them, there were no posters telling them not to forget to spend their hard earned money on ridiculously priced cards and expensive presents, they bought them because they just knew they would make me happy.

Such simplicity is precious and more valuable than Gold.