Rant 126 / Ash Ketchum - He's An Ass Man

From the blog update by Geoff on www.purepwnage.com dated April 14th 2008,

"Adapting to the modern music business is going to be all about convenience. I've been in situations where I have wanted to listen to a particular album that I have bought on CD and I have to choose between searching through a folder/box full of CDs or the quicker and easier option of downloading it from an illegitimate source. Digital downloads are a must for my generation of music consumers.

I'm not advocating piracy, I'm illustrating the fact that media retailers have yet to match the convenience, simplicity, and quality of illegal sources."


This is what I've been thinking all along. Even though I don't listen to music much, I find it strange that people would want to go to a record store to buy music.

Steps to buying music from record store:
1) Find the store
2) Travel to store (Transport = $$)
3) Find CD/DVD from shelves
4) Pay (More $$)

Steps to downloading music from internet sources:
1) Google or find out about website from friends (Computer use of electricity = $$)
2) Search for album/song title
3) Click Download

Anyone who has heard of downloaded music cannot deny that the quality is the same from both sources. Yet the second choice is much cheaper and convenient. That's why iTunes is making so much money for Apple. That's why record stores are closing down one after another.

Stop blaming us consumers. If you can't adapt, if your goods don't sell well enough, why look at us? CDs and DVDs are no longer the best storage medium for small quantities of data. As broadband internet access gains popularity, even games are being so online via download, like through STEAM. If not for the limits of our cables, CDs and DVDs would have long been obsolete. And all the CD/DVD stores would have become museums/antique shops.






Can't stop thinking about the train journey across half the world! Since it is going to take a long time to prepare, I shall plan it for my graduation trip. RAWR!!! This trip will take about two months! If successful, it shall be one of the biggest event in my life.

The trip will be tough. Much of my daily routine will need to be adapted to suit the backpacking/train-riding life. Clothes will be a problem. Maybe I will buy new clothes during the journey while starting with my old clothes.

Personal hygiene will be another factor. I may or may not stop overnight often. If I do, I will still need to find somewhere to stay. I will need to do research on that for all the countries I go through.

And visas. Does the point of entry make a difference? I mean, for example, if I don't go directly to China, will the visa be different?

Sleep and safety. I will probably spend many nights on trains/train stations. This means I will have to sleep in rather uncomfortable places like on the train or on benches. Trains are uncomfortable. Benches aren't safe. The Middle East and/or India and China and Cambodia and Vietnam are not exactly low-crime zones, but I have to go through them all in the journey. I will probably need friends, though they are not necessary.

Not only that, I will be holding on to some cash. I will need currencies from every country, plus some extra money to change into local cash in case I run out of it. This either means some really convenient credit card, or loads of cash.

Personal safety. I will need to exercise a lot before going on this trip. And get some useful gadgets like bear spray. But then bear sprays are classified as ARMS under the law of many countries in the regions that the trip may go through, including Norway. So perhaps a Swiss Army knife is a better choice.

Handphone. I will need auto-roaming and the necessary services to allow myself to call anyone at anytime.

Camera. I want to have a digital camera and a conventional camera. The digital camera may not last as long as I want, and I may not be able to get the right batteries all the time. A conventional camera also gives a different feel to pictures of sceneries and such.

Transportation. I will definitely stop for a day or two in some of the countries I pass through and do some sight-seeing. This means a lot of walking, or looking for transportation. That needs to be researched and planned.





I was quite surprise to read that inflation is actually a healthy phenomenon. I've always had the idea that a society with 0 inflation rate has a perfect economy. This is because if it is growing and yet maintain at no inflation, or maybe deflate, its currency would get stronger against all other currencies. Why wouldn't it be good?

One basic reason is that when a currency gets stronger, it becomes more expensive for foreign companies to buy its goods. It lowers demands for its stuff.

When I used to play Europa Universalis III, I always strived to maintain a zero inflation rate until I can build tax assessment offices, which causes small deflations. This way, my inflation rate will always stay near to or at 0% p.a.. It cannot become a negative rate, aka deflate.

What's wrong with deflation?? With deflation, we may even get back to those days when a meal cost 5 cents or less. LOL!

Inflation seems like an incurable disease, unless one sees it as a relative term. In other words, if it is not seen as a relative term, inflation is when your noodles cost more than before. In relative terms, inflation is when noodles in other countries are also costing more than before.

Thus in the latter, everything is really costing the same everywhere, and it's only the numbers that are changing. But in this case, someday our numbers will grow too big, just like what Turkish Lira used to be before they made a new Lira.

Doesn't that seem like an incurable disease? If so, isn't deflation the cure?

But if that is the cure, it must be applied everywhere for it to work, i.e., deflation must occur in most countries. Woe to those that don't deflate!

Fat chance. It's more probable that I'll get laid within the next 5 hours than this ever happening in the rest of the 21st century.

People are greedy. They want more money. When more people get more money, prices go up. I mean, if you're selling stuff and you see your customers getting rich, won't you jack up the prices just to get your share of the pie?

Also, there really is only so much stuff in the world. Even if everyone has a billion bucks to spend, one can only snatch so much before everything runs out.




To end this post, here's an extremely entertaining post from 4chan: