Save Your Ads For The Will-Challenged

Man or Astro-Man MAY be a decent band...but the repeated "forcing" of this band into the rotation of my Real/Rhapsody SUBSCRIPTION music playlists is driving me nuts.

Good thing I don't own a gun...I might ignorantly shoot my own PC, should this band find its way onto my station: The Day Disco Died--ever again.

I'm not sure what lame-ass metrics cause this band to reappear again and again, but I'm thinking that the Rhapsody music service should add the following metric:

"If you play this album ever again, I'm canceling my subscription".

Obviously, if some nitwit at Real thinks that adulterating personally-programmed music channels with the WRONG bands might somehow cause the CUSTOMER to buy those bands' (questionable) music, Real is gravely mistaken.

I think the point here is clear.

--mattergy

AUTHOR'S ADDENDUM:
Subscribers are ostensibly given a six-point scale to rate any given album (1-star, 2-stars, and so on, AND one empty-set label [seeming to indicate a minus -1 star rating, but not really])

AUTHOR'S ADDENDUM 2:
I suppose it's a bit unfair to single-out Man or Astro-Man as the only band that errantly appears in the rotation of The Day Disco Died:

Other Acts that I can't seem to shoo-away are Kraftwerk and (God help us) Morrissey.

I know some kids and record-producers alike are attempting to fuel a disco-revival, but I WAS THERE THE DAY DISCO DIED, way back in 1981. ;)

AUTHOR'S ADDENDUM 3
I am NOT referring to the (illegal) Juvenile-Adult DISCO DEMOLITION event at The Chicago White Sox's Comiskey Park preceding a regular-season game in 1979...I respect that the social and economic stresses in Chicago at that time led to that...but are far too complex to discuss here.

Again, remember that those of us experienced in American investment-banking have perspectives on such displays of "macho" that most folks can't see. So I'll kindly spare you the social-psychology behind DISCO DEMOLITION NIGHT.

But be assured that disco didn't really "die" that night...It wasn't until the influence of the New York "punk" scene convinced the American Record-industry that a new wave of music was beginning to take hold--therein laid the TRUE death of disco...in 1981.

Stealthophiles

Yesterday, a (proximate) passerby on the footpath totally freaked-me-out...because I -didn't- hear him approaching.

I have exceptionally acute hearing...and I DID NOT hear the guy's footsteps...something that rarely (if ever) happens to me...

So unfortunately, despite the guy's polite hello upon passing, something struck me as odd about the guy's stealth.

Sorry if I've cast you in the possible-late-night-intruder role...if in fact you would never do such a thing, dude.

--mattergy

Self-Deluding Game-Server Administration

I've been an administrator on various Internet game-servers since the mid-1980s. And every once-in-a-while I encounter issues with the game-servers I play to while-away these endless hours of immobility thrust upon me by Multiple Sclerosis by playing games.

Unfortunately, the staff responsible for maintaining one of the games I play most frequently has curiously cut-itself off from feedback with the REAL World (tm)...and because of errant changes made by the game-providers, game-play has been suspended WITHOUT fair-warning to the players.

So, realizing that some bonehead errors had been made in updating the game, I decided to post the memo I had intended for the game-staff HERE where one of them might see it and fix the problem:

To: Smallball Baseball Staff

From: ParkingGarageSyndicate MGR

Re: Program Miscode

I play SmallBall Baseball every day. But this morning I noticed (because the game kept reporting a "CONNECTION" problem nonsensically) that a possible error was made on YOUR side because the executable continues to search for a nonexistent file--seed.setup...the nearest matches I can find are "seed.update" and "update.setup", but no "seed.setup".

The game in its current state is NON-FUNCTIONAL...but I suspect that if no changes had been made on your side, the game would have been fine. Could you please fix the problem, or advise as to a user-updatable procedure to make the thing work again?

[name] aka Andy Romy, PGS Manager

So hopefully someone in authority will read this blog and solve the problem soon.

--mattergy

update Sat Mar 6, 350 PM PST:

Sorry, guys/gals/w/e at Smallball.org.

I received a courteous email after I had sent an email to the honorable COMMISH. :)

Not trying to suggest that my email had anything to do with it... ;)