Must See Boondocks Strip

It’s been a while since I’ve mentioned The Boondocks. That’s not because the series has stopped being fresh and funny or any such unthinkable thing like that. I still get it delivered to my inbox every morning for a daily dose of humor. This past sunday’s color strip was a trip. If I hadn’t been at work when I first read it I probably would have laughed extremely loud out loud. I could have done that anyway since I was there all by myself as usual, (Ah the perks/downfall of working 3rd shift) but I still feel self conscious about expressing any sort of extreme emotion at work. I’m still rather new to the place (June 27th will make six months) and I want to delay showing them how crazy I truly am for a little while longer. Me laughing like a crazy person and rolling on the floor in amusement would look really weird on whatever cameras or monitoring devices they have. I can’t see them but that doesn’t mean they’re not there. I’m getting off the subject though. Check out this Sunday’s Boondocks Strip. You’ll laugh. I know it. If you don’t check your pulse.

We Do It For The Environment

I have found evidence that a branch of the US government supports Illegal File Swapping. Check out this link. It’s a poster (in PDF format) produced by the Environmental Protection Agency that shows the “life cycle” of CDs and DVDs. It talks about the materials used to create this media, the amount of energy and resources that are expended at each point of a their existence, etc., etc. We’ve all seen this type of poster before. While mildly entertaining for its informational qualities, the real informational gem comes in the section detailing environmentally conscious choices and decisions we as consumers can make with regards to purchasing CDs and DVDs. Here’s an excerpt:

Purchasing Decisions

You constantly make decisions about purchasing products. Yada, yada, yada. This poster provides information to help you become a more environmentally aware consumer by describing the materials and energy consumption required to make CDs and DVDs. Yada, yada, yada. (Now the good part) You might also want to consider whether the information you think you need on disc is actually available on the Internet. If it is, you might not need to buy the disc at all!

Wow. There’s a headline. The EPA supports pirating… I mean file swapping. How else can one interpret, “…consider whether the information you think you need on disc is actually available on the Internet. If it is, you might not need to buy the disc at all!”? To me that says don’t buy that new “Tricked Out” Edition Fast and Furious DVD. Its very existence is harmful to the environment and a waste of natural resources. Just download the content off the Internet. Don’t purchase that energy wasting, resource hogging Foo Fighters CD. Get a perfect digital copy of it online.

File swappers the world over should rejoice. Now there’s a valid reason for doing what millions and millions of us do the world over every day. We file swap because it’s good for the environment!! Think of all the energy and natural resources we save each year. The reduced gas consumption and air pollution from not driving to the store alone has probably added decades to the long-term environmental viability of our planet. The EPA should purchase the rights to the Napster brand (or just seize them since they are the government) from Roxio, re-release the service in its original form, and promote it as the greatest environmentally friendly invention since CFC Free hairspray canisters.

I wonder if the ‘I did it for the environment’ defense will hold up in court when the RIAA takes us all there for copyright infringement? Don’t laugh. It’s going to happen. They’ve already gone after a poor college student and fleeced him of his entire life’s savings, which amounted to $12,000 dollars. We’re all next. We need to have our defense prepared so that we can present united front against the environment hating music industry and it’s wasteful attack dog the RIAA. And let’s not forget about their equally bloated, backwards, and money hungry cousin, the movie industry. If we don’t protect and standup for the environment, who will?