Many things in our world don't make a ton of logical sense when we really think about them. After all, we drive on parkways and park on driveways everyday.
So here is my list of things that don't make sense this week:
1) The String Cheese Incident "reuniting" after deciding to go their separate ways less than two years ago. In my mind, this is the same thing Phish did: claiming they would never play together again, only to reunite a few years later because of boredom or economic necessity. Jam bands need to realize that it is OK to take a few months/years off touring without these epic dissolution and reunion tours.
2) In a somewhat related story, ticketing monopoly Ticketmaster has royally screwed up. It all started at around 7:30 last night. We were all hanging out on the back porch, eating crawfish and BBQ, when someone received a text message about Phish tickets for Red Rocks Amphitheatre in July going on-sale early. Even though early on in the ensuing chaos for an available computer someone commented that this was probably a Ticketmaster Phuck-Up, most of my Phriends were able to secure tickets. Or so they thought. Early this morning I read an article on Rolling Stone about the Ticketmaster Phish Gaffe. Turns out the sales were a Ticketmaster mistake and refunds and apology letters should be on the way any day now. I have so many musical, social and business attachments to Phish and Red Rocks at this point that I can't objectively comment on their involvement with this mess-up. But one thing I can say: Ticketmaster is an effective monopoly in the ticketing industry and stringent legislation about consumer protection should accompany the new Ticketmaster-LiveNation merger, if it's allowed to happen at all. When something like this happens, miffed consumers have nowhere else to turn for ticketing options. That's what I call a monopoly.
3) The Pope flying to Africa and condemning condom use. This has to be the most illogical news story I've heard in months, advocating against contraception in an area with 20+ million AIDS sufferers. Chalk one up for antiquated policies used by organized religion!
4) Records Companies. Taylor Swift can't sell albums, U2 can't sell albums... what does a record company do again?
Is this post a random rant about things that bother me on a very basic level? Yes. But I've included a link below about Science from the Wikipedia page that can help.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science
Wikipedia defines science as "any systematic knowledge or practice".
If Ticketmaster was just subject to the systematic practice of free market enterprise, Phish and String Cheese subject to systematic knowledge about their loyal and enduring fan-bases, record companies subject to systematically adapting to the Internet and file-sharing... heck, if The Pope even believed in science at all, we could all learn to make the world more efficient, profitable and compassionate for everyone.
2 comments:
Interesting, and confusing. . .although you seemed to have over looked the nation of South Africa denying the Dali Lama an entry visa as they don't want his appearance to distract from the country's World Cup publicity!
Unfortunately, science, and the arts, are outside of many people's 'worlds.' These are phenomenon sometimes associated with the greater Cosmos, and not anything that the majority of people believe pertain to their lives. Though it is undeniable that every facet of every thing in existence has an effect on one another (most notably, a gravitational force), many go through life assuming that their 'world' is composed of only that which they deem important*.
That's why world renowned scientists and artists are bestowed the honor of eternal recognition while businessmen, athletes and laymen are merely rewarded for their work with trophies, or, more commonly, money. . .
*For further discussion of these ideas, please check out Walker Percy's 1983 satire, "Lost in the Cosmos: The Last Self-Help Book."
Happy Spring
Science is as simple as trying one method, observing the results, altering the method and moving on. No cosmos involved,
Post a Comment