I found something for Ben, Andrew, Michael, Dave, and all the other guys that like soccer.

The record industry is dying. We all know it – Rolling Stone wrote an [article][1] and Fake Steve even [chimed in][2] (amongst others) – but the Record Industry is determined to go to the grave kicking, screaming, and suing [dead people][3]). Artists don’t see much of the money that the RIAA collects (and apparently piracy is [good for the artists][4]) and I’m pretty sure that “illegal” downloading is here to stay (I’m not stopping). In fact, Prince [gave][5] [away][6] his latest CD with copies of a British newspaper (which really [pissed off the record labels][7]).

I was visiting some friends in Columbus last night when this little tidbit crossed within earsight (not an exact quote):

It seems the great “internets” have brought us a pre-release copy of the latest Harry Potter book , snagged with a digital camera. I won’t be reading it because I haven’t read any of the other books and I really don’t care all that much – no offense. Apparently the quality is kinda low in some places (after all, its a bunch of pictures of the pages), but from my understanding, it’s readable.

Okay so I must admit, I’ve been slacking a little the past two days. No new fuzz from me (since I know your just dying to hear it). Ever since I installed the sub in my BMW, I’ve been hounding the BMW forums hunting down other modifications for my car… and they’re all outside my budget.

To kill Harry Potter, or not to kill him, that is the question facing J.K. Rowling. Of course everyone is wondering and speculating as to which she will choose has chosen, but I’d like to take a more in depth look at this. I see the real question here being would she like to continue making bank on the cash cow that is Harry Potter, or will she seal her fate as the renowned author of the classic Harry Potter series.

After a quick run through the accumulated news of the weekend, I’ve filtered out some of the more interesting tid-bits for your reading pleasure:

And now for a quick post from the “road.”

![The Newtons: Live!][1]

Today marks the invasion of [David Beckham][1]. He will grace the roster of [Major League Soccer][2]‘s [LA Galaxy][3] and hope to pique this nation’s interest in the international phenomenon that is soccer (and the international phenomenon that is himself). The Galaxy have just released a [new uniform and logo][4] in celebration of their new aquisition in hopes that the design will be classic and withstand the test of time (something that doesn’t favor the MLS). How will the United States react to this invasion? Well, if [jersey sales][5] are any indication, there will be 250,000 fans lining up at the gates for his [debut match][6] against [FA Cup][7] holders [Chelsea][8] on July 21. Beckham comes over to our side of the pond after a brilliant year with his former club [Real Madrid][9], who he [helped win the Spanish League title][10]. The Galaxy were allowed to acquire Beckham when the league revised their rules to allow teams to have one player who would not count against their salary cap (henceforth known as the “Beckham Rule”). We can only hope that this event will help accelerate the popularity of soccer in the US.

My peanut butter sandwiches taste much better now.

I know this is kinda off topic, but I figured I’d post it since it’s rather relevant to me (and many of my fellow Mercerians). HR 2269, the College Cost Reduction Act of 2007, has just passed the House with a vote of 273-149. The bill promises to invest around $18 billion dollars into the college funding program, making education much more affordable to many Americans. Some changes are to include:

Ok, I know this is rather random, but some dude out in Oregon [strapped a bunch of balloons][1] (105 to be exact) onto his lawn chair and proceeded to take a 193 mile flight – with a bag of chips and a great view (oh and a parachute)! What a great way to spend a lazy weekend afternoon…

This is important: Microsoft has been busy getting their version of the office XML standard written (basically an open format for storing documents like excel spreadsheets, power point presentations, and word documents). However, it seems they got in a little bit of a hurry and really screwed up the mathematical formulas for spreadsheets. What does this mean? Left uncorrected, data stored in this format would return incorrect results – really bad news for anyone storing important information in their spreadsheets. And we don’t know anyone who does that, now do we? [Read this][1]. Sounds like [ODF][2] is still the best choice. ([via][3])

Don’t think [Sergey][1] and [Larry][2] haven’t noticed [Mark Zuckerberg][3]‘s latest move: opening the [Facebook Platform][4] to anyone willing to develop. Sure, [Google][5] has the market on what people are looking for, but [Facebook][6] has the ace up its sleeve, that is, the social network. Some may argue that [MySpace][7] is bigger, but [Facebook][8] is gaining ground and has an arguably better network. Now, you might ask what advantages would having this network give [Facebook][8] over the search giant? The answer is distribution. Every new application and feature becomes instantly viral, no advertising needed. Once somebody has added something, a friend will notice and follow, and then their friends, etc. creating a huge snowball effect of distribution. With this sort of power, anything is possible. Perhaps the suits at [Google][9] (they have suits?) don’t consider direct competition with the social networking crowd just yet, but as they [expand their ventures][10], you never know where they will end up.

Tomorrow begins the madness that is E3. Ok, maybe not quite the madness it used to be, but it will still be exciting. The difference is this year’s festivities are “invitation only” and will be held in several hotel conference rooms in Santa Monica, CA as opposed to the Los Angeles Convention Center. The viewing crowd will be reduced from 30,000 to around 5,000, and although the event will be scaled down for the most part, we are all still expecting incredible announcements from our favorite game and system developers. I will be reading the reports and will sum up all you need to know afterwards, or if you just can’t contain yourself, I’m sure you will be able to find some sort of press releases at any of their websites: Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo, Sony Playstation, Activision, Electronic Arts, Midway, Konami, or you could check out the site apparently covering the conference: E3.

According to a recent [survey][1], record numbers of developers are moving from Windows to Linux this year. Could this be the [year of the Linux Desktop][2]? While I’m not sure that it’s completely ready for the big time, there’s never been a better time to at least try Linux; there are several easy to use distributions out there – most recently I’ve been using [Ubuntu][3].

Imagine my surprise when driving down the street I notice the signature Red Hat logo adorning a local building. Now, if I lived in Chicago, New York, or Atlanta, this would not be so surprising. I live in Tullahoma, population 18,000. Red Hat is one of the biggest companies developing and supporting the open source software movement. Oh yeah, and they are the largest distributor of Linux. I have no idea what this local office is up to, but I intend to find out.

As [promised][1], I spent a few of my precious weekend hours watching [Michael Moore’s][2] new documentary [expose][3] ([Wikipedia][4]) on America’s health care system.