those who were seen dancing

So, half the people I've ever met? I apologize for being all what do you mean, you don't know what Marx said? because apparently no one - well "no one" is strong wording, but you get the idea - has ever read Marx, so indeed you did not know. [Heh. Makes a girl wonder if Mao didn't read Marx. That would certainly explain some things.]

As an olive branch, I offer you Volume 1 of Das Kapital in audio files [It's FREE!]. You can play it in your car! While you work out! You can choreograph dances to it. *

I asked in the first place because I'd like to have a back-and-forth sort of conversation about knowledge work in relationship to the sort of fulfillment and craft Marx talked about with the whole "ownership of the means of production" thing. People tend to look at me funny when I bring this idea up. But hey! Maybe not ALL people.

*Now I'm getting ideas.

[Poll #1302360]

I've been told this is a US regional issue, but aside from a few people from Canada, the Northeast US and Louisiana who use the second, freakier spelling ("ya'll" - what's that, a contraction of "ya" and "all"?), most everyone else seems to use the other.

Something amarama posted about her age made me think of this. You know the meme where you google your name and some verb? I tried it with my age.

Some things 32 is...
Magic Johnson's retired jersey #. Magic. Johnson! Get it?
The freezing point of water at sea level in degrees Fahrenheit (not that you needed to google that).
The number of places in the US with "eagle" in their name.
A full set of adult teeth.
The country code to phone Belgium.
A "happy number".

And then I thought about all the 32s I already know - encryption, chess boards, flavors at the ice cream shop.

HP does a camera with a slimming effect.

It makes people look further away, and slightly older. It doesn't actually make them look thinner. But I suppose the point isn't that it works so much as it is that you're supposed to want it to work.

Funny how much stock we put in how we look in photos, isn't it? The camera and the mirror and the eye only capture something vaguely related to reality as is. And apparently there's enough market for photos that prove us thinner than we are that at least one focus group must have bought on to the whole idea. What would you use a fake thinner photo for? Are these things mostly going to be used by Weight Watchers (you know, motivation... this could be you in just 8 short weeks)?

I have old versions of various design stuffs that can't be upgraded to OSX compatibility, and in looking at the shockingly high cost of such things, it occurs to me that there are situations where I don't find software piracy particularly bad. Not that every independent web artist should use stuff illegally, but I really don't have an ethical issue with 14-year-olds (or even underemployed 34-year-olds) using pirated copies of PhotoShop to design their blogs. It's a piece of software clearly priced with a corporate market in mind, but it's also the best tool for certain jobs. Basically, I'm a big commie, as I think software license fees need to do a better job of taking into account your usage and ability to pay - there's a difference between a hobbyist and a professional, a difference between one kid and an entire high school. Why not accomodate that? I'd give people software according to their need, and have them pay as they were able. In the meantime, 14-year-old budding designers have done really well at stealing according to their need, and I can't say I blame them.

What do you think? Is piracy a form of civil disobedience?

[Poll #451506]

I don't have any cigarettes, either.

( Cut so newly quitted smokers can ignore it; not so much about smoking as about quitting, but I'd hate to make anyone's day suck. )