Weblog

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Monday, August 04, 2008

  • For lack of anything better to say....

    ... here is the latest round of shtuff that I got from eMusic:

    • Some Racing, Some Stopping by Headlights - If you are the guy in Monster Magnet, I'm sorry. I know, I used to rock out to you guys, but lately mostly I listen to stuff like this. On one hand, WTF? But on the other, I don't care... happy indie pop-rock makes me smile inside :) (like that, but inside) (ok, outside too)
    • Mentor Tormentor by Earlimart - again, not teh rawk, but nobody can see me out here anyways
    • Ones and Zeroes - Immaculate Machine - this is the second album I've purchased from this band, and I'm still not totally warmed up to them. I think it's the guy who sings lead, something about his voice I just don't like. Still, it's listenable filler that I can use to keep from burning out on the stuff I really like.
    • Heretic Pride by The Mountain Goats - I'm liking this one a lot. Lead singer's got an odd voice, but not like the guy in Immaculate Machine. IM guy sings like he thinks he can sing really well, when he actually can't, while TMG guy is just distinctively quirky, sort of like TMBG guy, which totally makes sense, since the abbreviations are only like one letter off.

    Speaking of TMBG.. I'm ashamed to say that I dipped into the DRM cesspool that is the iTunes music store to pick up a copy of Flood, which I hadn't listened to in over a decade. Musically, it was worth it, but to cleanse my soul I had to burn it to CD, rip the burned tracks to MP3, then actually delete the DRM'd tracks. And there's still a karmic deficit, because my money went to support sucky DRM. But, on the other hand.. Flood!

    Currently Listening
    Some Racing, Some Stopping
    By Headlights
    January
    see related

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

  • datingish@datingish wants to connect to me!

    Wow cool! Except, it's not cool!

    This is what happens when you click on a recommendation that points to one of Xanga's new "Xanga-powered" properties.. i.e. sites that use Xanga's backend, but carry other branding. You click, read it over, and go on about your business.. and then a little while later you get an invite from them.

    Not a problem, right? I can just decline the invite, so no big deal. Except that "datingish@datingish" should have never known that I visited his site, because I've got footprints disabled, which according to the privacy page means that I'm browsing Xanga anonymously.

    Since disabling footprints, and thus browsing anonymously, is the only so-called "privacy" feature offered by Xanga that actually provides a modicum of privacy, I expect that when I use it, I'm actually, y'know, browsing Xanga anonymously.

    And I definitely expect that when I go to a site that doesn't even have "xanga.com" in the URL, I'm anonymous there as well.

    When I set an option that says I'm browsing anonymously, my expectation is that I'm afforded the same degree of anonymity as someone who is not logged in to Xanga, nor to any of its properties.

    The fact that I'm actually not anonymous is. not. cool. at. all.

    Xanga, how can you guys casually disregard privacy settings in the interest of promoting your new sites and not expect people to notice? You guys have bent over backwards to implement crap like "footprints lock", arguably the most anti-privacy of all of your "privacy" features, but you've completely disregarded and misrepresented the one feature that I rely on for actual privacy, just so you can build up your new brands.

    Seven years I've been with you guys. I'd hate to leave it all behind, but right now I feel really betrayed. And yeah, I know it's just a fun website and all that, but privacy is a serious issue, and I was under the impression that you guys took it seriously. I guess I was wrong.

    Later that day... Xanga's been sincerely responsive regarding this issue, and they have taken immediate action to correct the problem. Of course, this makes me feel like a complete tool for taking such a severe tone about the whole thing.

My Themes