If we were late, we didn't care. An elevator showed us out onto a floor where people gathered round a table blanketed in champagne and wine. We made our way, and caught attention.

Here's an article from <I>USA Today</I> about vendors selling fully loaded iPods on eBay. Is this a legitimate fair use issue? My gut reaction is no&mdash;if vendors were selling loaded iPods for market value or used value, it might not trip my BS detector. But when you are charging several hundred bucks extra for the 11,000 songs you've loaded on the iPod, it seems to me that you've crossed that fair use line in the sand&mdash;we've established what you are and now we're just negotiating price.

Great, readable essay by William Gibson on the season that changed his life. He has some fascinating thoughts on H.G. Wells that have made me want to dip back into that writer's work.

Set your irony scanner to high and read about the kerfluffle involving the MPAA making copies of a film submitted for a rating. Even better, if the film maker sues, the MPAA's defense will probably hinge on whether or not it intended to sell it. Does that mean if they argue successfully that intent to profit is the definition of piracy that we can make copies too if we promise not to sell them?

When I was hired to sell hi-fi almost 20 years ago, I figured I knew my stuff and I knew audiophiles. <I>How hard could selling good gear be?</I> I wondered. Phenomenally hard, it turned out. I began to learn how to sell and the crux of it wasn't trickery or fast-talk, but actually listening to what people wanted (and, granted, sometimes hearing stuff they weren't actually saying).

Get Internet Explorer! ROTFLMAO

<I>Artnatomy</I> is a really cool tool&mdash;for learning to draw faces, of course. I can't even draw a stick figure for Hangman, but stuff like this makes me dream about unleashing my (extremely) inner artist.