The Open Author

My son is learning one of life’s hard lessons. And it’s good for him. He want’s a Nintendo DS. He’s tried to save up for one before, but like other kids he collects a wad of cash and decides that he’d rather buy something cheaper. Something more…immediate.

But this time I think he’s going to make it. He’s been saving, and not spending. He’s more than half-way to his goal.

But since he has a little of his Old Man in him, he’s also spent time trying to find shortcuts–specifically, shortcuts online. He’s found shady places that sell his unit for less. Since I offered to chip in for his purchase, I told him I would only chip in if he bought it from a reputable source such as Amazon or Wal-mart.

Today I get a frantic IM. “Dad, look at this, I found a DS for $3!”

They usually run $130. I figured the site he found was a scam, but it’s not. Well, sort of.

Swoopo is kind of like legalized gambling. It’s brilliant in a Lex Luther kind of way. Here is how it works.

Swoopo has a bunch of brand new stuff. Let’s use a Nintendo DS as an example. They sell it on their site for $1. They have a bid button, and a timer that counts backwards. When the timer runs out, the highest bid wins. If you’ve bid $1, you’ll get it for $1.

The catch? Every time you bid, the timer goes up by 15 seconds, the item goes up by 15 cents, and the bid costs you $1. If you don’t win, you’re still have to pay the money that you spent on bids.

This is exactly like gambling. With legalized gambing, the state makes a lot of money. Some lucky sucker makes a lot of money, and everybody else gets screwed. With Swoopo, the business is making bank (there is a TV up there right now that is selling for $66, going up in penny incriments. It retails for $1,900, so the company has already made $6,600), a few lucky suckers make off with a really good item for dirt cheap, and everybody else is out of a few hard-earned dollars.

So, my dissapointed son is going back to buying things the hard way. Working hard, saving money, and purchasing carefully. Hopefully, lesson learned.

Watched a great movie last night–Lars and the Real Girl–thanks to a recommendation from my sis-in-law. I think what I liked most about the movie was that no person played the antagonist. To be sure, there were things being fought by the protagonist, but it was great to see that every single person in the movie stand next to Lars, and fight with him.

I always feel bad when I miss these shows in the theater. I would have liked to thrown my $7 toward the folks who made the film.

Ever wondered how a book goes from the author’s brain, to a finished book? Well, behold this youtube video, and wonder no more.

I’m sure everybody who has played Guitar Hero or Rock Band has asked themselves, “why not make this for a real guitar, and teach kids how to play an instrument?” Well, somebody’s done it, and it’s coming this summer.

I’m saving my pennies right now.

If I was pressed hard enough to pick my favorite band of all time, it would have to be They Might Be Giants. I first fell in love with John and John after listening to Istanbul (not Constantinople) on their album Flood. It was such a bizarre song with crazy lyrics and a catchy tune, I couldn’t help but play it over and over again.

I’ve been a fan ever since, and have loved the wide variety of their songs. By variety I mean not only style of music, but also the breadth of topic. They sing about mammals, James K. Polk, astronomy, Homer’s Odyssey, palindromes, conifers, nightlights, Belgian Painters, and more. It’s just astounding.

Anyway, the reason I’m blogging about this is my son sent me a report he had written. The report was on Hammurabi, the great Babylonian King and lawgiver. Yep, you guessed it, They Might Be Giants sing about Hammurabi and the rest of the Mesopotamian kings.

So, the next time your kid is working on a report, don’t send him to the encyclopedia, don’t send him to the internet. Send him down to the local music shop, and have him pick up a CD by the Giants. There is a good chance they’ve already got it covered.

So apparently I have a contradictory sense of self.

“Psychologists in America have interviewed ten male members of the Latter-day Saints Church (i.e. Mormons) who’ve grown beards despite their church preferring members not to have facial hair. Michael Nielsen and Daryl White argue the stories these men tell provide rich material for exploring issues of social control and individual identity.

“The researchers say these cases show men attempting to manage “contradictory senses of self”.

“Faced with unnecessarily invasive requests to shave, requests that sometimes took the shape of ultimatums, some men expressed resentment at having to choose between a mere show of compliance and deeply felt, even intimate identities: discomfort, embarrassment, and shame are exchanged for a token show of obedience, with resentment likely to follow.”

I didn’t realize I was so rich and complex.

Can I get a Hal Uh Lou Yuh? Or a Hallelujah, if you insist on proper spelling.

Just watched a great move called The Visitor. I think my favorite line in the movie was when Walter said, “I sound a lot better when he’s playing with me.”

I highly recommend the movie.

Interesting read over at Book Oven.

“Imagine: what would happen if every publisher in the world went out of business tomorrow? If every book store closed it’s doors?

“Here’s what I think: I think we would see a flourishing of innovation and the kind of excitement the book business has not seen since the paperback was invented. These companies (sellers and publishers) aren’t all going to close their doors, but a good number might.

“Lamentable? Maybe. Or maybe this is a fabulous opportunity for something new.

“I’m optimistic. New technologies are coming along that change the economics of books: ebooks, ipods, print-on-demand, the web, and more to come yet. The readers are there: just about everyone I know loves books. The writers are there. And let’s face it, if the doom and gloom in the business is right, whatever model these companies were using hasn’t worked all that well.

“So it’s up to us — all of us who care about books — to figure out what the book business is going to look in the next decade or so.”

Dad: “I saw your Christmas list.”

#1: “Oh yeah?”

Dad: “Yeah. I saw the first thing on your list was a ‘fake eye’.

#1: “Yep.”

Dad: “Uh…why do you want a fake eye?”

#1: “So I can scrunch it into my eye, and when somebody pats me on the back, I’ll drop it on the floor.”

Dad” “Oh. Of course.”