text:
There's a jerk inside all of us: we roll our eyes when someone in line has a complicated order, curse at little old ladies who don't drive fast enough, and sneer at people who are just too happy. Over time, that snark kills our productivity and poisons our relationships. Here's how to keep your inner jerk in check.
Title quote courtesy of Anna Holmes.
There's a difference between being occasionally sarcastic and a little derisive in your head, but when negativity becomes your default reaction, you have a problem. You may have had a wake-up moment, much like Anna Holmes, founding editor of Jezebel, had when she realised she was sneering at someone for no reason other than that the person was happy. Here's what she said:
Just rolled my eyes at a woman skipping happily across 42nd Street. Then I realised I'M the asshole.
— Anna Holmes (@AnnaHolmes) May 31, 2012
How about a quick check. Do you:
- Roll your eyes at every "hipster" who, by most accounts, is just a person trying (successfully or not) to dress fashionably?
- Primarily complain about how horrible people/things are on Facebook/Twitter?
- Get angrier every passing moment that you stand in line at the supermarket or have to wait for your check to arrive at a restaurant?
- Find you're constantly frustrated with coworkers who don't "get it"?
- Comment angrily on blogs, videos and other websites (usually beginning with "ummm" and ending with "just saying"?
- Feel like it's OK to be a complete jerk, as long as you're "witty" about it?
Sounding familiar? You may have a problem. We sat down with Roger S. Gil, marriage and family therapist, and clinical psychologist Dr Jeffrey DeGroat, to determine when enough is too much, and what to do if you have a snark problem.
How Your Cynicism Is Hurting You
It may seem harmless if it's all bottled up in your head and not hurting anyone else, but that snark is actually doing damage to you in insidious ways. For example, cynicism and snark:
- Kills your productivity
- Drains your passion for your work
- Makes you hate what you do
- Makes you prejudicial and prone to leaping to conclusions without cause (PDF)
- Is linked to cardiovascular illness and heart disease [PDF]
- Closes your mind to new ideas and experiences (scroll down to Nature as the Cure for Cynicism)
- Poisons your relationships
- Erodes the foundations of democratic society (we're not joking!)
- Is unethical
Why Is This a Problem?
To be fair, it's natural to be a bit of a jerk in your own head. Unfortunately, every day we see examples of snark and rudeness as the natural response to even the most innocuous irritants. Over time, however, that snark erodes our relationships and makes it difficult for us to interact with others, but it also closes our minds to people who are different than we are, shuts us off from new ideas, and redirects energy better used improving our lives and doing our jobs towards being mean to others. Roger Gil says:
Snark/sarcasm/contempt is always an indicator that something else is going on in a given situation. When it's appropriate, it tells people that you're not going to let others push you around. When it's inappropriate it shows that you feel the need to make yourself "bigger" than others. That need to put one's self above others can be a symptom of depression or some personality disorders (of course, there would have to be other symptoms present to justify a diagnosis). That being said, perpetually putting others down can be indicative of insecurity, narcissism, negative thought patterns, or jealousy. If those things are present, then you definitely want to address it because it's likely to affect your relationships negatively.
Dr DeGroat agrees and notes that almost always snarky, contemptuous behaviour is the result of some other issue in our lives. Whether we're projecting our own unhappiness or other undesirable feelings onto someone else, or we're redirecting someone else's contempt that's directed at us off to someone else, the process quickly devolves into insensitivity, anger and resentment. We start being rude for no reason, we begin to feel we're the only competent ones around us, distrust others, reject their ideas or any ideas contrary to our own, and we stress ourselves out over silly things. Sound familiar?
We all know what stress can do to you, but if the fact that snark is self-destructive isn't reason enough to tame your inner arsehole, letting it take over your mind can destroy your relationships too. And, Gil reiterates, when your snark starts to hurt other people or you catch yourself being surprised by how snarky you've become, it's time to do something about it. Photo by Alan Levine.
How Can I Tell If I've Gone Overboard?
Figuring out whether you're just too snarky for your own good is actually pretty easy. Ask your friends — if they haven't already alienated you, good friends will be willing to call you on your crap. Sit down and really think about your natural reactions to others, then step back and think: If you saw this in someone else, would you think they were a nice person? Of course, it's different for you, right? That lady totally should have put on a different dress, right? Everyone thinks they have a reason to be judgemental, but the truth is we're all the hero of our own stories — just because you think you have a reason doesn't mean that reason is justified. Photo by zombieite.
"Inappropriate sarcasm is unprovoked and inconsistent with the mood/spirit of an interaction," Gil says. "It can also be a form of bullying because it's a way of going on the offensive and putting people beneath you. If you find that your go-to response to an otherwise normal situation is eye rolling or smirking on one side of your mouth (both physical cues of contempt) or a thought that basically says 'that person is an idiot', then you probably do have a problem." He also notes that looking back over your posts to Twitter and Facebook are a good way to tell what's really renting space in your brain. Since we use those services to vent — and they're a forum where others have to listen to us, they can often reveal a great deal about how we really think and feel. Look over your updates, comments, and replies as though you're reading someone else's stream. Would you think you're a nice person?
OK, I'm a Bit of a Jerk. What Do I Do About It?
Once the realisation has dawned on you that you could probably be a little nicer, it's time to get your inner arsehole in check. First of all, don't guilt yourself — you need to vent, and plenty of things in our everyday lives irritate us. The key is finding ways to deal with them or let them roll off of us without getting bent out of shape about them, or resorting to being snarky and mean just to make ourselves feel better. Here are a few suggestions:
- Enlist the help of your friends. Assuming you still have them, ask them to call you out when you're being mean or unnecessarily snarky. That's the easy part: the hard part is making sure you don't get defensive when they do. Gil says, "Make a note of your thoughts and emotions when you're being told you're "too sarcastic". Are you getting defensive? Are you dismissing the person's complaints? Before you act, note your response to your friends." Photo by Wetsun.
- Reward yourself for being nice. When you beat back the impulse to be rude or mean, even if it's in your own head, treat yourself. Gil suggests you carry an index card or use an app on your smartphone to make a note of when you felt the urge be mean and how you responded. Set a goal for yourself, even — after a given number of calm, normal responses, treat yourself to something nice or something you enjoy doing.
- Call a mental time out. If you're only an occasional arsehole, or your inner jerk only rears its head when you're stressed out, Dr DeGroat says a little time for reflection may do the trick for you. What else has happened to you recently? How have you been feeling? Maybe this snark is being triggered by something else in your life that needs to be addressed directly.
- Give yourself an "opposing script" to follow when you're feeling snarky. The best way to break yourself of a bad habit, says Gil, is to correct it as soon as it happens. Use a prepared script if you have to. He says,
Are you rolling your eyes at the young couple holding hands? Ask yourself why and tell yourself that being in the infatuation stage of romance is great regardless of the fact that you may have had bad experiences in the past. Do you feel disdain for people that laugh at those lame Madea movies despite their cookie-cutter nature? Remind yourself that not everyone has the same sense of humour as you and that your disdain is unwarranted.
- Talk to a professional. Roger Gil and Dr DeGroat both made no bones of the fact that if your snark and sarcasm are starting to alienate you from your friends and coworkers, you should talk to someone about it who can call you out on your behaviour in a non-judgmental, healthy way. Your raging snark may be symptomatic of some other issue you're struggling with, and as much as we try, it's exceptionally difficult for a person to change unconscious feelings without help.
Just Be Nice, OK?
If you take one thing away from this, it's that snark is the mindkiller. Sarcasm is fun and great in small, appropriate doses, but unchecked it not only alienates the people close to you — whether you care about them or not — and destroys your relationships. In the end, you wind up becoming the bad guy — that guy that thinks everyone else is so terrible and awful, all the while completely missing the fact that the problem isn't with them, it's with you.
Thankfully, it's an easy thing to correct. In most cases, all you have to do to keep your occasional inner arsehole in check is to be nice to people and treat them the way you want to be treated. Remember Wheaton's Law. Tamp down the urge to be mean just because someone's different than you are, has a different opinion, dresses differently, or just seems to love life or their work in a way you don't. Then, take all of that energy you would have spent being snarky, and put it to good use: like living your own live and doing the things that make you happy.
Roger S. Gil, MAMFT is a marriage and family therapist who helps individuals, couples, and families with their relationships, parenting skills and other mental health issues. You can follow him on Twitter at @rogergil79, check out his blog and podcast at luvbuzd.tv.
Dr Jeffrey DeGroat, PhD, LP, is a Clinical Psychologist specialising in family therapy.
Both gentlemen graciously offered their expertise for this post, and we thank them.


text:
Accounting Megan necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 28 diseños de 12 diseñadores freelance.
Weber Accounting & Tax Service
Our corporate mission to be accessible to help our clients on a timely basis and to provide transparent pricing so that new and existing clients know what to expect when using our accounting and tax services. We specialize in working with small to medium size businesses handling tax and accounting needs. We customize our services to meet our customer's needs. We are not a cookie cutter agency. We take time to get to know our customers and their needs. We treat our customers like family. Our goal is to make our customers KNOW they are in good hands.
Small and Medium size business with a focus on estate taxes as well as local retail establishments. Most of our clients are "Mom and Pop" businesses. We offer them the same services they could get at a big, corporate accounting firm, but without the high prices and the extra individualized attention we give them. We want to project a welcoming, friendly, knowledgeable, protective agency that can handled all our clients tax and accounting needs.
We are looking for a unique design that is modern, edgy and reflects our corporate mission to treat everyone the way we would like to be treated - welcoming, knowledgeable, and friendly. Use bright colors like turquoise, orange, and lime green. Needs to be extremely striking and bold. We want an icon along with the name Weber Accounting & Tax Service. Creating the icon out of a play on the acronym "WATS" is acceptable.
We currently do not have a logo so we are wide open to creative ideas.
We will be using the logo to create our brand identity on our stationary, website, and marketing materials. Need something that translates well in all mediums.
We do not care for logos that are basic or stock for accountant such as scales of adding machines, calculators, pens, pair of glasses or otherwise. We want something to do with our operating philosophy. We also do not want the font to be too hard to read. The logo should make a clear connection to the firm. We also do not want any unprofessional looking logos.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
This is the third installment in a three-part series.
PAKTIKA, Afghanistan – "I feel like the Taliban," Sergeant First Class Herring says. It's late January in Marzak, a village in remote northeastern Paktika province, near the border with Pakistan. Herring, a 38-year-old U.S. Army Military Policeman with a nasally Mississippi twang, is leading a patrol of U.S. and Afghan soldiers and Afghan police on a mission that makes the Americans decidedly uncomfortable.
Part 1: RevengePart 2: Rogue Cops Part 3: Volunteer – Or ElseTheir job: to assist the Afghan troops in doing whatever it takes to get the elders of Marzak, a once pro-Taliban village that lies astride a key extremist supply route, to "volunteer" another 25 young men to staff a new Afghan Local Police force that the International Security Assistance Force hopes will permanently secure the town and the supply route.
Herring tries the proverbial carrots, first. He mentions the monthly, $225 paychecks the ALP earn, and the weapons, ammo and supplies they get from the Afghan Ministry of Interior. He promises investment from Kabul if the police unit gets enough volunteers. He warns against the coming spring, when the snows will melt and the Taliban, recently pushed out of the area by U.S. Special Forces raids, will come streaming back into Marzak.
And he reminds village residents of the all the abuses the foreign-born Taliban heaped on them over the years: beatings, theft, extortion, banning music and dancing and, in August, murdering a local man suspected of being a spy for the Americans. (He wasn't.)
Plus – and this is critical – the Taliban forced men and boys to take up arms against the coalition. Several of Marzak's police recruits say they are unwilling Taliban "veterans." Two local men died along with at least 100 foreign Taliban in a huge firefight with U.S. Special Forces in July.
When American's carrots fail to work, the accompanying Afghan forces resort to sticks. That is, threats – not unlike those the Taliban used in its the own forced recruitment.
The forceful approach is effective. The coalition not only gets the 25 volunteers it needs to round out the local police force, it gets a few extra recruits, too – some of them mere teenagers.
That's when Herring shakes his head, says he feels like an extremist himself, and tells his men to follow him back to base.
Three weeks into the latest phase of a desperate, last-ditch coalition effort to secure a vital village, Herring and the other soldiers from the 172nd Infantry Brigade have experienced their share of surprises, setbacks and small victories. Struggles, comprises, half-measures – after more than a decade of war, the Americans are accustomed to these things. But from their point of view, the Marzak recruitment drive crossed a line.
The late-January recruitment is a Pyrrhic victory for the U.S.-led coalition. Herring gets his recruits, thus solving the short-term problem of an understaffed local police unit. But over the longer term, Marzak's ALP must be self-sustaining – an unlikely prospect as long as trainees have to be strong-armed into joining.
"We need to be thinking about how this thing looks in three years," Lt. Col. Curtis Taylor, Herring's commander, says of the ALP. But Taylor's battalion has just seven months left in Afghanistan. Afghan soldiers and national police will remain, of course – and another American unit is likely to take 2-28's place at least for another year.
Still, Marzak's direction momentum coming out of 2-28's mentoring will likely determine its long-term future. Not to mention, the Taliban are likely to return to Marzak in the spring, whether or not the local cops are ready ... or motivated to fight.
Coalitions, then a Coup ———————–
It's safe to say that, for Taylor, the Marzak campaign is personal. For six months it has been one of his top priorities. And it has tested one of Taylor's core command principles.
Since late last summer Taylor has slurped countless cups of hot, milky chai in scores of sit-downs with senior NATO and Afghan officials, military and police leaders from several nations and Marzak's elders, mullahs and military-age men. Relationship-building is the key to winning the war, Taylor says. "If you can't understand that, I have no use for you," he tells soldiers who gripe that they don't do enough fighting.
It took three months of negotiations between Taylor and his point-man Capt. Jim Perkins on one side, and Marzak's cautious elders on the other, just to establish a coalition facility in the village – and weeks of back-breaking labor in near-zero temperatures to build the base up from scratch..
But build it the Americans did, with a big boost from helicopter crews and cargo plane pilots delivering a steady stream of material to the isolated outpost. However, the base was pointless without a local security force to man it on a long-term basis. Recruiting local cops has proved at least as difficult as getting into Marzak in the first place.
The first batch of local cop recruits was a mixed bag. Some were true volunteers. Others ... not so much.
The initial consignment of trainees included a few fierce tribal warriors, some uneducated laborers who'd never before touched a weapon, plus a mentally ill man (who was gently eased out of the program) and another man, a squad leader, who tried using the police force to carry out some mysterious personal vendetta against village residents.
The squad leader, Mohamed Aman, marched his 11 cops into Marzak one night and ordered people he accused of being Taliban to leave town. They weren't Taliban – and besides, Aman didn't have the authority to kick out anyone.
Aman's attempted insurrection threatened to alienate the elders that Taylor and Perkins had worked so hard to win over. Perkins raced to mend ties ... and promptly fired Aman, a move that came causing another potential coup – this one by Aman's squad, as they threatened to quit unless their leader was reinstated. Perkins carefully talked the men down.
The clock is ticking. Spring will likely see hundreds of hard-core Taliban return to Marzak, itching for battle. Beyond that, ISAF has just two fighting seasons left before the regular American forces plan to depart Afghanistan for good.
There's no doubt Marzak needs cops, and fast. But how far is the coalition willing to go to bring in new recruits? And in the long term, does it do any good to enlist unwilling fighters?
Switching Sides —————
It wasn't long ago that Marzak's elders were promising full support for the ALP. That was a precondition for ISAF even attempting to stand up a police unit in the isolated village. "It's critical to the ALP that people say they want this," Perkins says.
In the year since the coalition stood up the first ALP unit, in nearby Logar province, some police recruits have stepped forward all on their own. But at least as many are forced to join by their tribal elders, as has occurred in Marzak. "The men say they don't want to be here," Taylor says. "But your dad made you be here!" is the coalition's response, according to Taylor.
"Conscription from within the tribe, sponsored by a local elder, is not a big deal," Taylor explains. In that sense, the elders' support is more important than the consent of individual police recruits. Never mind that Marzak's adult male residents, almost to a man, cite Taliban bullying as one of their major motivations for siding with ISAF. If the coalition bullies them, too, what's to stop them from switching sides again – or trying to take no side at all?
Many elders don't even seem to take into account recruits' feelings and wishes. "The ALP are volunteers," insists Ghulam Moidin, a Marzak elder and brother of Mohamed Amin, the man the Taliban murdered in August. A former Taliban booster, Moidin is now one of ISAF's top allies in Marzak.
The power of Marzak's elders over individual men guided ISAF's initial forays into the village. In November, company commander Perkins and one of his platoons marched 10 miles from their main base in the town of Sar Howza to attend a shura – a sort of tribal policy meeting – with senior elder Mullah Anwar and 400 other prominent Marzak men. "They stood up and said, 'We want the ALP,'" recalls Perkins, a stocky 29-year-old from suburban Detroit.
Spurred on by the elders' support, Perkins and company returned to Marzak in early January ... and stayed.
True to their word, the elders sent over around 50 people for the first round of ALP training at Perkins' newly-established Marzak patrol base. After weeding out the grossly incompetent, the mentally ill, the vengeful 13-year-old son of the man murdered in August ... and Aman ... the coalition was left with 46 policemen. Perkins says the Marzak ALP needs 100 men. Herring says 75 will do, in a pinch. Short of that, Marzak's defense could be impossible come spring, the Americans say.
But it would take the elders' continued support to bring in that many recruits. And like many long-lived Afghans in a country with a tradition of war and foreign invasions, Mullah Anwar and the other elders have been careful to hedge their bets. Some of the elders even asked Perkins to detain them overnight, so that they could plausibly claim the coalition had forced them to cooperate. Detention by the Americans is, after all, a form of Taliban street cred. "A lot of people are sitting on the fence," Perkins admits.
And after Mohamed Aman's insurrection, the elders' already-tentative support for the police program waned even further – to say nothing of the enthusiasm of the potential recruits. Suddenly, 46 men was looking like a manpower ceiling, rather than the floor. It was this erosion of support that spurred Herring's recruitment drive ... and the Afghan troops' rough tactics.
Aman's vigilantism probably accounts for much of the shift in sentiment, but there were possibly other factors. Most prominently, a tribal rivalry. Marzak's people hail from the Kharoti tribe, which nurses ancient grievances with the neighboring Zadran tribe. In arming Marzak, ISAF risks pouring fuel on a simmering tribal conflict – a danger Taylor says he weighed, and accepted.
The flipside is, it doesn't take 100 Kharoti fighters to deter the Zadran. In fact, traditional tribal protection forces called arbaki had a strength of around 40 men, coincidentally the number of ALP recruits Marzak initially offered up.
Marzak's first batch of ALP graduated from training on Jan. 23. The next day, Perkins flew back to Sar Howza to attend to his other platoons, leaving Herring and the platoon sergeant in charge. Herring was expecting the second batch of 50 men. Two days later, just 11 recruits had trickled in.
The next afternoon, Herring rounded up a mixed group of American and Afghan soldiers, Afghan national cops and ALPs and walked into Marzak, looking for an explanation. "We need good, strong men," he said to every military-age man he passed. "What about you?"
An elder intercepted the patrol. He made excuses for the young men. Some were religious students, others were too busy working in the local shops, he said. Nevertheless, he promised to send in the balance of the recruits by 11 in the morning.
When 11 comes and goes with no new recruits, Herring decides to take matters into his own hands. But it's his comrades in the Afghan security forces who push the boundaries of what's acceptable.
The Cache ———
For the Military Police, the moment for gentle recruitment and conversation is over. It's time for a harsher method of enlistment. The frustrated sergeant begins assembling a mission meant to put a little pressure on Marzak's elders. The Americans will lead the patrol; the Afghan troops will be the muscle. Everyone's accounted for except for Ali Mohamed, the short-statured, newly minted ALP platoon leader. Failing to find Mohamed anywhere, Herring gives up. The patrol departs without him.
Weirdly for a village with thousands of residents, practically no military-age men are out on the streets as Herring and his patrol march through. The Afghan troops question the older men who poke their heads from mud-walled compounds to gawk at the parade. Word is, all Marzak's young men are hiding in compounds on the edge of town – as if they didn't want to be dragooned into service a group of heavily armed soldiers. "They knew we were coming," Herring muses.
Climbing to the roof of a mosque that hosted shuras in the past and which offers a commanding view of the surrounding village and mountains, Herring settles in for what he knows will be a long wait. He sends out his Afghan soldiers and cops to round up village elders or, barring that, ALP-eligible men. The Afghan forces are supposed to bring the elders and potential recruits to the mosque for a good talking-to.
After an hour or so, Mohamed makes a surprise appearance, trudging into town with several ALP patrolmen, each shouldering a heavy backpack. Mohamed opens the backpacks and pulls out a two-foot-long artillery shell and more than 100 rounds of 14.7-millimeter ammunition.
He explains to Herring that, early in the morning, he got a tip from a villager that the Taliban had been hiding weapons in the mountains around Marzak. So he went to see for himself.
Herring praises Mohamed for his initiative but encourages him, next time, to tell ISAF what he's up to – one, so the coalition can help out; and two, so the Americans' Apache helicopters don't accidentally kill the ALP after spotting them stalking around the countryside with bomb-making materials.
Finally, the elders come wandering over, rousted from their homes and shops by the Afghan troops. Herring reminds them of their promise to send more recruits. "There are no more men," one elder responds.
"We can't do this alone," Herring shoots back.
Back and forth, the sergeant and the bearded elders repeat their positions. Herring ups the ante. "You help us secure the town, and the government will invest money in it." He cites the Taliban's abuses, including the regular beatings they doled out on Marzak's men. Herring sweetens the pot with all the supposed benefits of an ISAF alliance.
The American points to the Taliban weapons cache Mohamed discovered in the mountains. That, Herring says, is the kind of thing a strong ALP force can do.
Sure, the elders respond, but what about the Taliban? They won't just beat up any armed men they see when they return to Marzak in the spring – they'll kill them. The young men are afraid, the elders say.
"I'm afraid every day," Herring says. He explains that, with enough ALPs plus the backing of the U.S. military and the Afghan army and national police, Marzak can resist any invasion. "You need that critical mass," Herring stresses.
"You guys are not staying forever," an elder reminds him.
"No," Herring replies, "we're staying until our Army is gone for good. We don't know when that will be." That's not true, of course. Washington has already capped the overall U.S. force in Afghanistan and plans to withdraw all regular combat troops by the end of 2014. Combat operations might end as early as next year. The elders may not watch CNN, but they know the Americans have one foot out the door.
Ultimatum ———
It's cold on the rooftop. The sun is halfway to the horizon now, hinting at the even colder night to come. Tired, chilly and frustrated, Herring is doing his best to appeal to the elders' reason, sense of responsibility and their mistreatment at the hands of the Taliban. On top of that, he showcases Mohamed and his haul of confiscated Taliban weaponry as examples of what Marzak can achieve with a full-strength police force.
But the sergeant's soft sales pitch just isn't working, and the Afghan soldiers grow impatient with the impasse. Acting on their own initiative, they issue an ultimatum to the assembled elders. Cough up 25 men, or report to the patrol base themselves to become ALP, they say.
It's an ugly ultimatum the Americans can't voice on their own – and one they can't easily block.
On one hand, the ALP is officially a volunteer outfit. And while tribal troop consignments can blur the definition of "volunteer," for political reasons the Americans must be careful about endorsing forced enlistments, however common (and accepted) they might be.
On the other hand, the ALP is also officially an Afghan program, funded and equipped by the Ministry of Interior and managed on the ground level of Afghan soldiers and national police. In practical terms, that means the Americans are heavily involved at every step, as virtually no Afghan agency is yet fully independent.
But again, the fiction of Afghan control is important for political reasons. So when the Afghan troops start threatening Marzak's elders, there's not much Herring can, or will, do about it.
In any event, the threats do the trick. Elders and Afghan troops scamper off. Military-age men appear in doorways or come shuffling toward the mosque with soldiers or elders at their elbows. There's not much need for a sales pitch anymore. Herring counts heads ... and smiles. He's got his 25 and then some.
But the smile fades as he watches Afghan soldiers literally chase a young man down the street. The Americans are still trying to pretend that the ALP is entirely a volunteer outfit, but the Afghans have clearly abandoned all pretense. The Afghan soldiers even drag several teenagers into the patrol's cordon, intending to march them off into police service.
That's a step too far for Herring. He orders the boys released. "Too young!" he barks. As the startled teenagers scuttle away, Herring gestures for the patrol to follow him out of the village, adult ALP recruits in tow.
Thanks to some heavy-handed tactics, Marzak will have a fully staffed police outfit and, according to ISAF, the ability to resist a Taliban attack. But the villagers' continued ambivalence a decade into a grinding war that, for the Americans, is rapidly winding down, is a foreboding sign.
Marzak – not exactly a liberal town – entered into a tentative alliance with the U.S.-led coalition after the Taliban went too far stealing from, conscripting, and even killing village residents. While far gentler than the Talibs, the Afghan and U.S. troops sent to Marzak to help protect the village nevertheless use some fairly extreme tactics themselves. Under American supervision, Afghan soldiers essentially force unwilling men to join the local police. Boys, too, if not for Herring's intervention.
Of course, Marzak's elders did promise to staff the police unit – a promise they only halfway fulfilled, at first. That reluctance, more than any patrolman quota, should give U.S. and Afghan leaders pause. At the end of the day, the ISAF troops in Marzak are able to tease, nudge and ultimately strong-arm the village into keeping its word – but barely.
The recruitment tactics on display in Marzak that late-January day aren't pretty. From the American point of view, they might uncomfortably echo the insurgents' own coercive methods. But they're certainly more acceptable than the prospect of a Taliban takeover and subsequent bloodbath, the likely results if Marzak doesn't take steps to defend itself.
Questioned at his base in the provincial capital of Sharana, Taylor stresses the importance of the elders' support for the ALP, though not the consent of the individual recruits. He seems to acknowledge that standing up ALP units in restive eastern Afghanistan is like making sausage: As much as you desire the finished product, watching it being made isn't very appealing.
Moreover, the battalion commander voices the question that American military and political leaders and everyday citizens have been asking themselves for a while now – the question that Herring's experience in Marzak only underscores.
With Americans lending a little leadership and a lot of support, Afghan forces have managed (in their own unforgiving fashion) to staff a local police force in a vital town. As long as U.S. troops are there to train, supply and motivate Marzak's cops, it seems likely they'll fight to defend their homes, even if some of them are not strictly volunteers. ALP platoon leader Mohamed, stomping miles through knee-deep snow to dig up buried Taliban weapons, is a living example of that potential.
But, Taylor asks, "what happens when we leave?"


text:
Newlandnursery necesitaba un nuevo diseño de página web y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 69 diseños de 8 diseñadores freelance.
NewLand Nursery & Landscaping, Inc. (NewLand Nursery, NewLand Lanscaping, Dr. GreenLeaf Maintenance, NerwLand Florist)
NewLand Nursery & Landscaping, Inc. is actually 4 companies in one, established in 1985 on the coast of Maine. The corporation includes a design / build landscape company, a complete landscape maintenace company (Dr. GreenLeaf) that does residential and commercial properties, a garden center(Nursery) and a full service florist with a showroom. It has been difficult to market these companies individually under the umbrella of NewLand. We feel we are missing a huge market by not having a good interactive website. Our previous attempts at hiring individuals to assist us with moving into the IT age has been costly and ineffective. We have a professionally designed logo that has been a staple of this company for 25 years and probably the most identifiable component of our marketing.
Florist: Teenage to elderly, local to international customers fresh floral arrangements with same day delivery. Maine made products and collectible gift items for shipping. (wreaths, centerpieces, mustards, syrups, ornaments etc.)
Maintenamce: Year round and seasonal home owners and commercial businesses. Complete maintenance program for the outdoor environment. Gardens, lawns, trees & shrubs. Our moto is we keep you looking 100%, 100% of the time.
Landscape: Year round and seasonal home owners and commercial businesses. Capable of creating & completing the entire project from design thru construction. Services include walls, walks, waterworks, seeding & sodding.
Nursery & Garden Center: children to elderly, private sector to professional anyone who enjoys gardening.
I would like our site to:
1. Be easily accessible and clearly identified.
2. Be interactive, capable of placing orders with the florist or nursery & be able to maintain already established links with our local hospitals, Bloom Net & 1-800 Flowers.
3.Be able to view floral arrangements, especially our florists unique designs in live or silks, and be able to order directly
4. Be able to show examples of our landscape priojects & maintenance work.
5, Be able to display our product catalog for the nursery that I would like to be able to access on the web. It is currently on a CD.
6. Accommodate our company theme music
7. Possibly include the videos we have available for potential virtual tours of florist & nursery.
8. Project that we have the best products and informational resources in the business. We offer top quality.
9. Change pictures. We are a seasonal company and would like to be able to change out products choices according to the season. ie. At Christmas we have trees, wreaths, specially designed ornaments and centerpieces to name a few.
10. Include our logo
Homepage, floral page
We haven't seen any floral websites we like


text:
Go from data to insight to action with Power BI Desktop
Create rich, interactive reports with visual analytics at your fingertips—for free.
Report authoring made easy
Connect to your data, wherever it is
Access data from hundreds of supported on-premises and cloud-based sources, such as Dynamics 365, Salesforce, Azure SQL DB, Excel, and SharePoint. Ensure it's always up to date with automated, incremental refreshes. Power BI Desktop enables you to develop deep, actionable insights for a broad range of scenarios.
Prep and model your data with ease
Data prep can take most of your time, but it doesn't have to with data modeling tools. Reclaim hours in your day using the self-service Power Query experience familiar to millions of Excel users. Ingest, transform, integrate and enrich data in Power BI.
Provide advanced analytics with the familiarity of Excel
Dig deeper into data and find patterns you may have otherwise missed that lead to actionable insights. Use features like quick measures, grouping, forecasting, and clustering. Give advanced users full control over their model using powerful DAX formula language. If you're familiar with Excel, you'll feel at home in Power BI.
Create interactive reports customized for your business
Create stunning reports with interactive data visualizations. Tell your data story using a drag-and-drop canvas and hundreds of modern data visuals from Microsoft and partners—or create your own, using the Power BI open source custom visuals framework. Design your report with theming, formatting, and layout tools.
Author for everyone, anywhere
Get visual analytics to the people who need it. Create mobile-optimized reports for viewers to consume on the go. Publish from Power BI Desktop to the cloud or on-premises. Embed reports created in Power BI Desktop into existing apps or websites.
"Microsoft SQL Server 2016 with R Services, Reporting Services, Power BI Desktop, and Azure Machine Learning with Data Management Gateway give us an advantage by being able to provide advanced analytics close to customers' operations."Prabal Acharyya, Worldwide Director, IoT, OSIsoft
"We can quickly roll out Power BI to anyone who needs it, and, compared with other solutions that charge over $1,000 for a desktop license, Power BI Desktop is free."Rashid Khan, Director of Analytics, Fordham University
What's new in Power BI Desktop
Already using Power BI Desktop? Learn about the latest version. Power BI Desktop is updated monthly with new capabilities and improvements.


text:
For walls and ceilings metal stud systems offer a sturdy framework for plasterboard to be fixed. This is both a quicker method of installation and cheaper than using timber batons. Whether you choose to use metal stud frameworks in vertical wall partitions and wall linings or in horizontal ceiling applications, we can supply you with high quality metal stud products to suit your needs.
We supply metal stud wall and metal stud ceiling products from the best manufacturers in the market, so you can rest assured that your framework is of the highest quality at the lowest cost.
Metal stud frameworks are versatile in that insulation can easily be incorporated within the structure and plasterboard can be applied to produce a cost effective solution to building a new internal partition wall, lining or ceiling, or to improving and upgrading any existing wall or ceiling. Contact us today to discuss how we can supply you with a high quality, cost-effective metal stud wall and metal stud ceiling framework, and have whatever you need delivered anywhere in the United Kingdom.


text: Hi there librarians. The last time I made a post on Tame The Web was 628 days ago. Those six hundred and twenty eight days have come and gone by in a blur. It was a combo of my day-to-day work as a library director and my desire to spend […] Small Town Library Director by TTW Contributor Justin HoenkeThis entry was posted in Librarians, Libraries & the Profession TTW Contributor: Justin Hoenke and tagged Growth Journey Kindess Leader Leadership learning Librarian Libraries Library Library Director Patience Public Libraries Sharing Small Town Understanding on April 10, 2018 by Michael Stephens


text:
NEW YORK (AP) — Strong earnings from tech giants nudged the stock market higher Wednesday. Investors also drew encouragement from a vote by the House of Representatives to let the government keep paying all its bills for another four months.
Tech giants Google and IBM reported surprisingly solid fourth-quarter earnings late Tuesday, a hopeful sign for investors who expected tech companies to struggle at the end of last year.
An hour before the closing bell, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 79 points to 13,792, putting it on track to close at its highest level since October 31, 2007. IBM led the Dow's 30 stocks, surging 5 percent. Without IBM, the Dow would be flat.
The House passed a bill Wednesday afternoon to suspend the government's borrowing limit until May 19. The Senate's Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said his chamber would immediately move the legislation to the White House.
The Standard & Poor's 500 index was up three points at 1,495, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 14 points to 3,157.
The quarterly earnings season is off to strong start. Of the 83 companies in the S&P 500 that reported through Tuesday, 54 of them have beaten Wall Street's estimates, according to S&P Capital IQ.
The stock market has climbed so quickly this month that it will likely take more than good earnings to keep it heading higher. "This market is really stretched," said Clark Yingst, chief market analyst at the securities firm Joseph Gunnar. "We've essentially gone straight up since January 2. There's certainly room for people to take profits."
The S&P 500 index is already up 4.9 percent in 2013. That's more than half of what most stock-fund investors hope to make in a single year.
IBM's results beat expectations, thanks to its lucrative Internet-based "cloud" computing business and other software services. IBM also raised its earnings outlook for the current year. Its stock rose $10.12 to $206.19.
Google jumped 6 percent after its earnings climbed at the end of last year as online advertisers spent more money in pursuit of holiday shoppers. Google rose $44.63 to $747.60.
Another tech giant, Apple, is scheduled to report after the close of trading.
Slumping coal shipments have been a drag on railroad operators, but CSX and Norfolk Southern posted better revenue and profits than expected. The railroads managed to offset some of the hit from falling coal demand by getting more money from carrying car parts, building materials and other products.
Norfolk Southern rose $1.57 to $68.51 while CSX gained $94 cents to $21.74.
In the bond market, the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dipped to 1.83 percent, down from 1.84 percent late Tuesday.
Among other companies posting quarterly earnings:
— Advanced Micro Devices jumped 9 percent, making it the top stock in the S&P 500. The world's second-largest maker of microchips, behind Intel, posted a smaller loss and higher revenue than analysts had forecast. AMD rose 30 cents to $2.75.
— Coach plunged 16 percent, or $9.53, to $51.15 after the luxury handbag maker said a challenging economy and heavy price-cutting by competitors weighed on its results. Rivals like Michael Kors have attracted more followers.
— McDonald's Corp. eked out a higher quarterly profit with the help of its Dollar Menu and the McRib sandwich. The world's biggest hamburger chain plans to roll out new menu items this year to support sales, including the Fish McBites. McDonald's inched up 62 cents to $93.57.


text:
Power Stop Z23 Evolution Sport brake kits provide the perfect rotor and pad combination to match your sometimes-spirited, sometimes-mannerly driving needs. Also stylish, the Z23 Evolution Sport kits pair Power Stop's carbon fiber-infused ceramic pads with their performance drilled and slotted rotors with Tru-Cast technology. They are manufactured from the finest grade castings, precision-machined, and silver zinc plated to rotors remain cooler and increase performance. The brake pads resist fade up to much higher temperatures, while their premium shims and powdercoated backing plates make them virtually noise-free and rust-resistant. Whether you're taking an energetic drive on the open road or your more reserved daily commute, you'll experience maximum stopping performance with Power Stop 1-Click Z23 Evolution Sport brake kits.
Power Stop Extreme Performance Brake Systems has a brake system for any application. There is the Z36 Extreme Truck & Tow brake pads. Then there is the Z26 Extreme Street Performance Brake Pads for your daily driver. Power Stop also makes performance drilled and slotted Evolution Rotors. Each of these lines offers the highest in performance brake quality without the high price. Power Stop uses third party testing to certify that select brake pads offer 20% more stopping power than other leading aftermarket pads. So you get performance with peace of mind. Power Stop brake pads are manufactured with the company's own innovations such as positive molding technology to insure more consistent material density during fabrication. This gives you consistent, fade-free braking. Shop Power Stop Now
Lowest Price. Guaranteed!


text:
FICPAYou Are Here:
Quick CPE Search
How to Install And Uninstall Fonts In Windows
Share Printer Friendly
Text Size: A A A A
A Web search for fonts will yield plenty of sites where you can preview and download fonts at no cost. Avoid sites that bombard you with pop-ups or that ask you to install other software before downloading fonts; many low-hassle alternatives are available. Feel free to explore on your own. For this article, we'll demonstrate how the procedure works with the free fonts available in PCWorld's Downloads library.
You can download new free fonts from the PCWorld Downloads library.
1. Go to the Downloads library's fonts page. You can search for fonts by name, see collections that PCWorld editors have assembled, and check out the latest additions to our fonts collection from there.
2. Find a font you'd like to try. You can preview the font by clicking the font name.
3. Once you've found an attractive font, click Download Now.
4. Save the .zip file to your PC.
5. Unzip the folder. The font files (which will typically be in the .ttf, .otf, or .fon format) will appear.
Downloading free fonts from other websites typically works in a similar fashion.Installing Fonts
Installing a new font in Windows 7.Once you've found the perfect font, the hard work is done. In Windows 7 and Vista, adding a new font is very easy.
1. Right-click the unzipped font file.
2. Click Install.
Windows will take care of the rest. The font will now be available for use in programs such as Word.Uninstalling Fonts
Uninstalling a font in Windows Vista.Sometimes a font isn't as great as you thought it would be, or you'd like to clear out some fonts that have outlived their purpose. If you followed the installation procedure above, all of your fonts will be in the Fonts folder. Here's how to open the Fonts folder and delete a font.
Just right-click on the font and select Delete.
1. To open the Fonts folder in Windows 7, open the Control Panel, click Appearance and Personalization, and then select Preview, delete, or show and hide fonts. To open the Fonts folder in Windows Vista, open Control Panel, click Appearance and Personalization, and choose Install or remove a font.
2. Right-click the font you want to remove, and click Delete.Tips for Windows fonts
In the Fonts folder, you can preview the fonts you have installed; just double-click a font's icon.
If you download a font to use in a certain program and you have that application open during the font installation, the program might not register the font right away. If this happens, restart the application.
Don't save multiple fonts under the same name.
Don't hoard fonts. If you start to accumulate hundreds of fonts, your system will slow down significantly.
This Tech Tip is brought to you by the Business and Technology Section ... IT solutions for today's CPAs. For more information and to view an archive of previous Tech Tips, please visit us here.
Do you have specific topics you would like to see covered in Tech Tips? Email any suggestions to firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
"So, I have to tell you about Jena..." wrote Schiller on August 29th 1787 to his friend Gottfried Körner. This quote was at the same time the theme of a festive evening, which ended Schillerday in 1992. That was the first time this day has been organized by both the Friedrich Schiller University as well as its association of friends and patrons.
By now, it has become a nice and steady tradition of our university to celebrate Schillerday at the last weekend of June. This day provides opportunities to get acquainted with the multiple facets of academic activities, and to congratulate recipiants of science awards.
Dr. Horst Skoludek
Honorary Chairman
More about "Gesellschaft der Freunde und Förderer"


text:
Event detail
Mindfulness Meditation Group
Meeting | February 20, 2018 – January 5, 2021 every Tuesday | 12:15-1 p.m. | 3110 Tang Center, University Health Services
Tang Center (University Health Services)
The Mindfulness Meditation Group meets every Tuesday at 12:15-1:00 pm at 3110 Tang Center on campus. All campus-affiliated people are welcome to join us on a drop-in basis, no registration or meditation experience necessary. We start with a short reading on meditation practice, followed by 30 minutes of silent sitting, and end with a brief discussion period.
All Audiences
All Audiences


text:
Thank you. You should be receiving a reset link at the email address you provided shortly.
Fill out the form below
*First Name
*Last Name
*Email Address
*Phone Number
Best Time
Thank you for your interest in this program. We should be contacting you shortly.
This online course combines the best practices across ITSM, to help those new to IT learn about DevOps, ITIL and SIAM, with their benefits for organizations. With this IT Foundations bundle, you will learn the basics of IT service management and project management, as well as how approaches to IT are evolving. You will be prepared to pass the ITIL Foundation, SIAM Foundation, and DevOps Foundation certification exams, including videos, PDF study guides, quizzes, and a practice exam.
This course offers enrollment with or without a voucher. The voucher is prepaid access to sit for the ITIL, SIAM and DevOps Foundation exams upon eligibility.
Hardware Requirements:
Software Requirements:
Instructional Material Requirements:
The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.
There are no prerequisites to take this course.
Claire Agutter is passionate about all things IT service management and brings this to her role as an instructor. Using her background as an IT service management practitioner and consultant, Agutter manages a number of courses to ensure they directly support career goals.
Copyright © Education To Go. All rights reserved. The material on this site cannot be reproduced or redistributed unless you have obtained prior written permission from Education To Go. Education To Go and ed2go are registered trademarks of Education To Go, a part of Cengage Learning.
A password reset link has been sent to the email address you provided.


text:
It's all still kind of a blur to Brandon Crawford.
As he wiped the remnants of a shaving-cream pie from his face and uniform, he wasn't even sure which of his prankster teammates got him.
Welcome to the big leagues, kid -- and how!
Crawford hit a go-ahead grand slam in his first major league game, helping Tim Lincecum and the San Francisco Giants beat the Milwaukee Brewers 5-4 on Friday night.
"It was all unreal," Crawford said, recalling how he felt as he rounded the bases. "Awesome. I mean, I still kind of have the jitters about it."
Lincecum (5-4) gave up three runs in seven innings. The Giants won despite the ejection of manager Bruce Bochy, who argued a close play at home plate in the fifth inning.
Bochy admitted he might have lost his temper in part because it has been such a frustrating week for the Giants.
"I'll be honest, I couldn't really tell if he had the call right," Bochy said. "But there's frustration building up, with everybody."
With the Brewers trying to rally in the eighth, Giants catcher Eli Whiteside absorbed a big hit from Prince Fielder. It was reminiscent of the play that caused a serious injury to Giants catcher Buster Posey earlier this week, but Whiteside held on to end the inning and preserve the lead.
"You don't have any choice but to try to knock the ball loose," Fielder said. "But they made a great play."
Posey, the reigning NL Rookie of the Year, likely is out for the season. His jersey hung by itself in a locker in the visitors' clubhouse Friday.
Bochy stood by his assertion that baseball needs to make a rule to protect vulnerable catchers, but said Whiteside at least had time to catch the ball and brace for Fielder to run into him.
"It's a little different," Bochy said. "He had the ball, so he could set up a little bit. A catcher's got a better chance than when he's in the process of trying to catch a ball. That's when he's really vulnerable. Still, it's a big guy bearing down on you. 'Whitey' did a great job."
Brian Wilson pitched the ninth for his 14th save, striking out Rickie Weeks to end a potential rally.
Weeks hit a two-run homer off Lincecum and Shaun Marcum (6-2) took the loss.
Nyjer Morgan had a single and a double in his return from injury. But it wasn't enough to give the Brewers what would have been a franchise record-tying 10th straight victory at home.
"It's a good run," Fielder said. "We just have to start another one."
Until the seventh inning, it had been shaping up as another strong outing for Marcum, who has been the Brewers' best starter this season. The Giants finally got to him in the sixth when Freddy Sanchez singled home a run.
A fan sitting in the front row near home plate then earned the crowd's ire when he appeared to interfere with what could have been an inning-ending foul popup. The fan was off the hook after Marcum got Pat Burrell to fly out.
But Marcum got in trouble in the seventh, loading the bases.
Making his major league debut with a start at shortstop, Crawford came to the plate with the Giants trailing by two runs. He pounded a pitch from Marcum over the fence, giving the Giants a 5-3 lead with his first hit as a major leaguer.
"Very happy for the kid," Bochy said. "That's a debut he'll never forget."
The 24-year-old Crawford had his contract purchased from the Giants' Class-A San Jose affiliate Thursday. He missed several weeks to start the season after breaking his finger in spring training.
It was a boost to Lincecum, who didn't look quite as dominant Friday as he did in his last outing, a shutout against Oakland. Lincecum allowed six hits, striking out four with no walks.


text:
If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...
- Permission Culture Gone Mad: Worries About Proper License For 'Balcony Singing' Lead Collection Society To Say It's Okay, You Can Sing
- Attempt To Put Every Musical Melody Into The Public Domain Demonstrates Craziness Of Modern Copyright
- YouTube Takes Down Chanukkah Parody Of Old Town Road... Because It Infringes On A Date?
- Music Collection Org: Revenues Are Booming... And That's Proof Why We Need Even More Draconian Copyright Laws
- Not The First Rodeo: Lil Nas X And Cardi B Hit With Blurred Lines Style Copyright Complaint Over Rodeo
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
Rose M. Welch (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:02amThe band claims that it's because they want people to listen to the whole albums, not just tracks
Whoops! I've been listening the wrong way for years.
Hey. AC/DC, I'm listening to digital tracks of your music right now, as I type. Do you want money from me or not? If so, throw your tracks on Amazon and make it easy for me to pay you. If not, your loss.
PaulT (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 11:12am
Re:Yeah, indeed. Once you have an album, there's nothing they can do to force you to listen to tracks in the order they want. Hell, I remember CD players in the 80s having buttons to program or randomise a playlist. Whether you give me a CD, vinyl, tape or MP3, it's going to end up digitised and on my iPod, in the order I want, perfectly legally.
But, I don't want to do that because I'm a little lazy and my music needs are mainly satisfied by Spotify and the occasional legal freebie download or iTunes gift voucher. I'm not a big enough fan of their music to jump through these hoops. If AC/DC don't want to have my money, that's their choice, but their reasoning is faulty at best.
Anonymous Coward, 25 Jan 2012 @ 3:38pm
Look at the Chart Performance. I think they are doing ok.
Last album - Black Ice 5.3 Million sold with little main stream help and no digital downloads!! AWSOME!!
logan, 27 May 2012 @ 2:32pm
Response to: Rose M. Welch on May 9th, 2011 @ 10:02amSend like the band wants people pirate their songs!
paul, 11 Mar 2015 @ 9:23am
paul, 11 Mar 2015 @ 9:24am
Re:you look cute. I like ac dc they are a really good band
Josh in CharlotteNC (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:04am
Done Dirt Cheap"Dirty Tracks, Done Dirt Cheap" lulz - The Internet's Response
zaven (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:24am
Re: Done Dirt CheapSounds like someone's on a Highway to Hell.
Anonymous Poster, 9 May 2011 @ 10:34am
Re: Re: Done Dirt CheapYou have to say this, the Internet has some mighty Big Balls.
ChimpBush McHitlerBurton, 9 May 2011 @ 11:02am
Re: Re: Re: Done Dirt CheapWith this decision, I think AC/DC is basically saying, "for those about to download, we salute you."
Greg G (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 11:07am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Done Dirt CheapOr, more likely, "for those that want to download, screw you."
While giving everyone the one-fingered salute.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Done Dirt CheapOr, more likely, "for those that want to download, screw you."
While giving everyone the one-fingered salute.
c-c-c-combo breaker!!!
zaven (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 1:15pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Done Dirt CheapWhere's a facepalm picture when you need it. I feel like he completely missed the joke.
MrWilson, 9 May 2011 @ 11:10am
Re: Re: Re: Done Dirt CheapIf they would just release their albums online, their financials might be Back in Black.
FUDbuster (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 11:12am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Done Dirt CheapIf they would just release their albums online, their financials might be Back in Black.
Good one!
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Done Dirt CheapIf they would just release their albums online, their financials might be Back in Black.
Good one!
so good that i am thunderstruck.
Hephaestus (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 11:11am
Re: Re: Done Dirt CheapPlease stop Beating Around the Bush and tell us how you really feel.
harbingerofdoom (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 11:21am
Re: Re: Done Dirt Cheapwould have loved to have been a Fly on the Wall when they were discussing this one...
Squirrel Brains (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:09am75% of the songs on albums are crap. AC/DC wants people to pay for the 75% of the crap to get the 25% they like. Someone should tell them that people have already worked around that little problem.
Greevar (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 11:11am
Re:"75% of the songs on albums are crap."
Subjective statement is subjective.
PaulT (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 11:18am
Re: Re:Indeed, but that's been a major justification for years for a lot of people to download, rip CDs, create mixtapes and all the other things that AC/DC probably don't want them to do...
The Groove Tiger (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 3:17pm
Re: Re:Correct. The technical term is "filler".
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 3:43pm
Re: Re:Definitely true. 100% of AC/DC's songs are crap.
/There, I said it.
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 4:08pm
Re: Re: Re:Agreed.
G Thompson (profile), 10 May 2011 @ 1:48am
Re: Re: Re:Blasphemer!
The gods of rock will now eat you! ;)
Actually Though I like a fair amount of older (Bon Scott) AC/DC music they are really not the best Aussie band of that genre, just the one that got marketed more o/s.. The Angels, Rose Tattoo, Spy v Spy, and lets not forget the Oils (Midnight Oil for you ingrates) were a lot better with better music.
Anonymous Coward, 10 May 2011 @ 7:12am
Re: Re: Re:Agreed. Also, whats with the moronic outfits
Nick, Birmingham, 9 May 2011 @ 4:43pm
Re:But that's the point: A whole load of bands back in the 70s and 80s (including AC/DC, Pink Floyd and Led Zep) got togrther and decided that singles were the major reason why shitty albums were being released: People would make two or three good songs, release them as singles to build up hype, then release an album where the rest of the songs were half arsed. They were guarenteed a certain figure from the album because of the singles and, even if it was a flop, they still had the money from singles sales. These bands decided not to release singles in an effort to combat this.
Rose M. Welch (profile), 10 May 2011 @ 5:01am
Re: Re:Wow, it must be nice to have those kinds of problems.
Of course, the Law of Unintended Consequences has struck and they now have a new problem, as highlighted above. :)
exactly, 10 May 2011 @ 9:24am
Re: Re: Re:I find Led Zep complaining about stealing music or anything near this as funny but that's besides the point. Instead of "taking a stand" by refusing to embrace new technology - they should focus more on "taking a stand" by making albums worth listening to. As Rose points out in the end their "stand" only created more problems.
And as Gwendal and a few others have commented - single track listening was created long before the internet. Radio, MTV (and the music video) 45's and Record companies all have contributed to this trend. If anything the blogosphere & the internet has been a fertile ground for indie acts (who do make fully realized albums).
exactly, 10 May 2011 @ 9:24am
Re: Re: Re:I find Led Zep complaining about stealing music or anything near this as funny but that's besides the point. Instead of "taking a stand" by refusing to embrace new technology - they should focus more on "taking a stand" by making albums worth listening to. As Rose points out in the end their "stand" only created more problems.
And as Gwendal and a few others have commented - single track listening was created long before the internet. Radio, MTV (and the music video) 45's and Record companies all have contributed to this trend. If anything the blogosphere & the internet has been a fertile ground for indie acts (who do make fully realized albums).
Will, 9 May 2011 @ 9:13pm
Re:ALL of the songs on Back in Black are f-ing great.
Chuck Rocket, 10 May 2011 @ 8:50pm
Re:have you ever listened to the highway to hell album. never has a person been more wrong. same can be said for the dirty deeds album. top to bottom those are great. I personally do listen to things in their entirety. there are SO MANY albums that are great the whole way thru. your comment is stupid, but yes, they should make their stuff availible for download.
Gabriel, 14 Mar 2012 @ 3:42pm
LIE.No, don't tell me that. You aren't a true fan if you only listen to the popular songs. That applies to fans of any band.
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 10:11amGood luck with getting folks to agree to listen to the whole shebang at once. Something that AC/DC has missed out on looks to be the internet experience.
Somehow I don't think their desires will change the listening habits of a generation. There is a reason people buy single tracks and not albums anymore. The major labels got to where filler was what was served. No one wants the filler. Because they have been stung so long on that, the single song sale is back in fashion.
I wonder how long AC/DC will stay with this idea? Perhaps they haven't heard that the cd and dvd is being phased out. If they don't want to sell their music in singles, that's cool. Someone should remind AC/DC the pirates have a better model.
Gwendal, 9 May 2011 @ 10:49am
Re:The track-by-track listening is a CD era habit. The big CD revolution in the 80s/90s was precisely to easily switch between tracks...
Internet didn't invent every habit of its users ;)
Marcus Carab (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:17amOf all the bands that might take a stand against downloading on an "art of the album" basis, AC/DC is a weird one... their songs are all perfectly packaged singles. Bizarre.
Marcus Carab (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:22am
Re:You know what? I take it back. Just look at the track list from their 1979 classic Highway To Hell:
Side One:
1. "Highway to Hell"
2. "Girls Got Rhythm"
3. "Walk All Over You"
4. "Touch Too Much"
5. "Beating Around the Bush"
Side Two
1. "Shot Down in Flames"
2. "Get It Hot"
3. "If You Want Blood (You've Got It)"
4. "Love Hungry Man"
5. "Night Prowler"
That's not a one-hit-wonder album at all! Hell, I think I vaguely recognize like two whole tracks other than the single! That's the sort of album you listen to in full or you don't listen to at all.
zaven (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:26am
Re: Re:Actually, this was the first AC/DC album I owned. Most of the album was pretty great back in the day.
Marcus Carab (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:37am
Re: Re: Re:I'm not too familiar with it I guess - and I'm not at all surprised that it's pretty good, so I can see why they might want people to listen to more of their songs, but it's also pretty silly that they think they can force it. I'm sure there are plenty of superfans out there who love and appreciate their whole catalogue, but they have to face the fact that the only reason they are a global phenomenon and fabulously wealthy is because they have a roster of mega-hit singles - and it's a much longer and more impressive roster than many bands have, so it's not as if it's something to be ashamed of.
PaulT (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 11:28am
Re: Re: Re: Re:That's just another example of why artists can sometimes be poor businessmen. In this case, they value their art far more highly than a lot of other people would. A casual fan wanting to buy a 99c iTunes download of Highway To Hell's title track? Sold, with the possibility of upselling later. Forced to wait for delivery of a full CD with no way of listening to the songs in full before purchase? Either another band gets the cash or the pirates fill the gap in the market they're refusing to service.
tawsenior (profile), 10 May 2011 @ 10:32am
Re: Re:Actually, about 75% of this album gets regular air play on any classic rock station. Please pick another album.
Derek, 9 May 2011 @ 10:21am
This just in...Wow. More clueless than my great-grandpa. That's an achievement, AC/DC.
duffmeister (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 1:59pm
Re: This just in...Achievement Unlocked: Luddite
Anonymous Coward, 10 May 2011 @ 10:34am
Re: Re: This just in...+1
Nick Coghlan (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:22am
On a quick scan, no "Best Of" eitherThat attitude would also explain why I couldn't find anything when I went to pick up a "Best Of" CD from them.
(A recent TV show reminded me how many cool singles they had, but there's no way I'm going to pick up such an extensive back catalogue when all I really want are the hits that stood the test of time)
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 10:51am
Re: On a quick scan, no "Best Of" eitherhttp://bit.ly/kif0G3
The Best Of was top link for me
Nick Coghlan (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 6:40pm
Re: Re: On a quick scan, no "Best Of" eitherIndeed, but we're talking about *legitimate* means of acquisition here.
AC/DC seem to think that "the only way to legitimately acquire all of our hits is to buy our entire back catalogue of complete albums" is a reasonable way to conduct business. They're fortunate to have such a large fan base that already has all their old albums, since it isn't exactly a good way to encourage new fans to start paying for anything.
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 10:23am
In other newsAC/DC albums to be sold only in a specially enclosed record player that will play entire record and cannot be shut off once started until it completes the album.
halley (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:53am
Re: In other newsMan, I can see Steve Jobs on stage crowing about how many years it took to make this device possible, and how nobody wants those clunky old shuffle, pinch to zoom and clickwheel interfaces.
ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 12:04pm
Re: Re: In other newsMan, I can see Steve Jobs on stage crowing about how many years it took to make this device possible, and how nobody wants those clunky old shuffle, pinch to zoom and clickwheel interfaces.
Damn, I hope not. He'd be able to sell them if he chose.
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 10:25am"Rest Of Internet Laughs"
"Rest of the Internet" implies that they are also "in the Internet", which they clearly aren't, or else they wouldn't be saying such a stupid thing.
paperbag (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:26am
vocals...I can't stand the vocals. Like nails on a chalkboard. Just gives me another reason not to listen to them.
I'm an early 80s baby, so that might be the problem. :D
Rich, 9 May 2011 @ 11:00am
Re: vocals...Who's vocals? Bon Scott or Brian Johnson?
AdamPastor, 28 Sep 2013 @ 8:16am
Re: vocals...Don't you dare say that. You must not understand well enough. No respect at all.
DogBreath, 9 May 2011 @ 10:27am
AC/DC needs to visit Doc Brown & Marty McFlySo they can borrow the time traveling DeLorean and remove all those songs (singles) they officially released on 45RPM records. Unless they consider two songs "an album". Most of the B-sides of 45's were never listened to, unless you accidentally put the record in automatic changer upside down in the stack.
RemakeThey should do a remake of "Highway to Hell" and call it "Highway to Obscurity" :)
dougy, 9 May 2011 @ 10:38am
AC/DCI doubt a band that has sold 100 million + copies cares what anyone on this blog says about them missing out. NEXT. .
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 10:47am
Re: AC/DCI doubt anyone on this blog cares what AC/DC has to say about them releasing legal downloads. They will download them regardless. The only difference is that AC/DC will have less money this way...which they seem to be okay with. More power to them.
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 11:14am
Re: Re: AC/DCI love this mentality. "You better give us what we want,t he way we want it, or we'll just steal it from you"
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 11:40am
Re: Re: Re: AC/DCYou misspelled copyright infringement.
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 11:41am
Re: Re: Re: AC/DCI love your mentality. You better do things the way I say they should be done or I'm taking my ball and going home. Boo fucking hoo. You can't stop progress.
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 1:10pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: AC/DCTaking things without permission = progress. Gotcha.
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 1:35pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: AC/DCYup. That is exactly what I said. Fucking douchebag.
Gwiz (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 2:23pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: AC/DCTaking things without permission = progress. Gotcha.
Well, having to ask permission every time one engages in the basic human activity of copying certainly impedes progress, that's for sure.
While I agree with your basic premise that one shouldn't steal, I do not believe that copyright infringement equates to stealing.
I also believe that artists have the right to be compensated for their work, but I do not believe our current copyright system strikes a proper balance between that and the public good, especially in matters concerning the natural progression art (IE: creating new art by building on the works of others).
Jay (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 8:09pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: AC/DC"I also believe that artists have the right to be compensated for their work, but I do not believe our current copyright system strikes a proper balance between that and the public good, especially in matters concerning the natural progression art (IE: creating new art by building on the works of others)."
Bewary of "striking balances..."
Gwiz (profile), 10 May 2011 @ 8:40am
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: AC/DCOK, fair enough. Perhaps the phrase "proper balance" wasn't the correct way to articulate what I feel about copyright.
I just feel that the artists having the opportunity (thanks for correcting me on that below, SteelWolf) to capitalize on their work and the overall public good both are important and neither should trump the other.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: AC/DCAlso, artists do not have a "right" to compensation, only an opportunity. One that AC/DC is not taking full advantage of by refusing to offer what it is they're selling in a form their potential customers like.
techflaws.org (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 9:54pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: AC/DCAnd yet, magically it's still there and nothing stolen. Weird, ha?
Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:50am
Re: AC/DCAC/DC my or may not care, but this is a valuable lessen to anyone else who wants to still exist in the digital age.
Huph, 9 May 2011 @ 11:01am
Re: Re: AC/DCI don't know, AC/DC seems to be doing pretty well from where I'm sitting. It doesn't seem like the digital age is screwing with them too much. They're still in constant rotation on classic rock radio, which is far more popular than pop radio in much of the country. How many "digital artists" are getting mainstream spins?
And I can't walk more than a few blocks without passing someone in an AC/DC t-shirt. I imagine that they're doing just fine these days.
Also, Back in Black is the second highest selling album *in history*, so I think they might know a little about selling albums. (Let's not forget that they very recently put on the second highest-grossing tour in history as well)
And let's not even ask an Australian about this. AC/DC are practically national heroes over there.
Chronno S. Trigger (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 11:18am
Re: Re: Re: AC/DCSo since AC/DC succeeds at selling little plastic disks in the age of 1's and 0's everyone else can as well? Yep, out of the millions of bands out there a small handful of success stories (from before the Internet) negates all failures.
AC/DC is so engrained in our culture that they can get away with telling their fans to go fuck themselves (exactly what's happening here). How many other bands in the world can do that? A dozen? How many bands exist right now? Millions. So we're talking a vary small fraction of a percent success rate.
AC/DC may not care, but the lessen is still valid to millions of others.
G Thompson (profile), 10 May 2011 @ 1:55am
Re: Re: Re: AC/DCAnd let's not even ask an Australian about this. AC/DC are practically national heroes over there.
No they aren't actually.
and most Aussies (though we love a fair few of there songs) like a lot of Aussie bands A LOT more
and their music isn't as ubiquitous here as people might think.
Marcus Carab (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:51am
Re: AC/DCThe "NEXT" button is right up there near the top. You can actually click it before being a dick in the comments, if you like.
G Thompson (profile), 10 May 2011 @ 1:58am
Re: Re: AC/DCMike,
can we please get this printed in big red glowing letters down the bottom of every post just before the comments.
Please.. pretty please.. I'll send you Tim Tams ;) [bribery.. its a gift I keep on giving]
Switchhitter, 10 May 2011 @ 8:54am
Re: AC/DCEpic Fail self-prescribed internet police:
People are allowed to discuss this if they want to. No one on this random blog that I just found directly addressed AC/DC (except one tongue-in-cheek comment) nor did they think AC/DC was going to read their post. By your definition most topics in most forums would be useless. Its not about getting the band to hear you its about conversing.
I wonder Dougy did you get upset people were trashing AC/DC? I can't imagine any other reason why someone would get upset and use capital letters.
Spaceboy (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:45amI'm curious if their artistic integrity extends to their live performances. Do they only do albums at their shows?
Marcus Carab (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:53am
Re:No, but to be fair, their shows are pretty huge and awesome undertakings in and of themselves. The time I saw them they had a gigantic "stone" castle on stage which they toppled with a wrecking ball, which Anges Young proceeded to ride around on in the air while playing a guitar solo. They aso had 21 honest-to-god cannons loaded with blanks to fire off during For Those About To Rock, and a massive bell on a rope for more riding-around-in-the-air-while-soloing. It was one badass concert
Spaceboy (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 1:12pm
Re: Re:21 Cannons loaded with blanks? Posers.
P0RTERHOUSE (profile), 13 Nov 2012 @ 8:25pm
Re: Re:That sounds unbeliveabley gay. One more reason to weed out the bad stuff and only download the hits.
Brendan (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:49am
Provably falseHate to break it to them, but many of their songs are already available for download via at least one legit channel: Rock Band DLC store.
They're $1.99 and even include instructions on how to "play" the songs. How dare they encourage such flagrant copying?!
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 12:11pm
Re: Provably falseEven cheaper here: http://www.mp3va.com/artist/199/AC/DC
I'm not a die-hard fan, but it looks to me like a complete collection, including several "best of" offerings.
Nicedoggy, 9 May 2011 @ 11:03amBack in red I guess
Huph, 9 May 2011 @ 11:09am
Well What Do You Know...I'm always suspicious of an article that doesn't provide any quotes and instead decides to paraphrase something. What's the game here? Anyway, here's the actual quote:
"For us it�s the best way. We are a band who started off with albums and that�s how we�ve always been.
"We always were a band that if you heard something (by AC/DC) on the radio, well, that�s only three minutes. Usually the best tracks were on the albums."
Doesn't ring quite as nice as claiming they're against singles or digital downloads, does it? Basically, this is the story of a band who can afford to stick by their guns and make music on their own terms and release it the way they want. They want to stick to what made them successful and what feels true to their roots. AND THEY MAKE MONEY AT IT, TOO!
These are smart guys (or at least their handlers are). Who would buy an AC/DC single when all of them are already available via Youtube? Check out the music there, and if you like it, pick up an album. A marketing 'ploy' elegant in its simplicity.
Rich, 9 May 2011 @ 11:23am
Re: Well What Do You Know...It nice to cherry pick quotes, isn't it? Why don't you read the title of the article you are quoting, or better yet, here is the very first paragraph:
With even the Beatles now finally making their music available on iTunes experts say the rockers, whose album Back In Black is the second highest selling in history, are missing out on millions in lost revenue by refusing to allow their work to be sold in the digital marketplace.
techflaws.org (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 9:57pm
Re: Well What Do You Know...Who would buy an AC/DC single when all of them are already available via Youtube?
People who don't want to listen to them sitting in from of their computer but on their iPod, in their car, etc.?
Rob Pegoraro (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 11:19am
FYI, AC/DC sold their songs as downloads on MSN MusicI can forgive the band for wanting to forget that hideously awful business decision. (Here's Microsoft's press release, and here's my review from the time... please forgive the too-charitable assessment.)
harbingerofdoom (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 11:23amDear AC/DC:
already have everything digitized. but thanks for your statement. now that i know for sure that you dont want my money, ill avoid any "farewell" tours you try to stage as well.
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 11:31am
And yet, AC/DC albums have been selling very wellIf you look at sales over the past few years, AC/DC does better than almost any other band of its era. Obviously, they miss out on some dollars. But they also collect a lot of tens.
Prince, the Artist formerly known as Sane, 9 May 2011 @ 11:50am
Of course...Of course they won't be available!
rbry (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 11:56am
ROFLHey Lars, you want me to burn you some singles
TimothyAWiseman (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 12:01pmTransSiberian Orchestra (TSO) is one of the few bands that puts out actual albums where the whole is greater than the sum of the parts, and I have listened to their albums in order start to finish as a cohesive experience. And yet, even for them I tend to have certain tracks that I will also listen to in isolation.
For most other bands, there is no reason to listen in order and the album is a compilation of largely unrelated songs. for them, I don't even bother ever listening to the album as a whole.
My point, is the band and fans both are best served by permitting the fans to listen as they chose. This is true even if you are putting out real albums, and if you are putting out compilations of songs then you cannot even claim an artistic reason to encourage fans to listen to the album.
Togashi (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 11:19pm
Re:Epica is another I've come across. Design Your Universe has tracks that are great on their own, but come together to form something truly epic.
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 12:10pmAnd now they're going to start bitching about online piracy.
Glen, 9 May 2011 @ 12:15pmHere is funny one. I do listen to my AC/DC albums from start to finish on my iPod. I prefer to listen to the album from start to finish and I love them.
HOWEVER, how did I get them on my iPod? Simple, I had to borrow the CD's from various friends and burn them onto my hard drive. IF the catalog were available online, I would have simply purchased the albums. I'm still missing some albums and I am looking.
radar, 2 Jan 2012 @ 10:42am
Re:right on me too
Berenerd (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 12:56pm
I heard...Lars is going to be their new drummer...
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 1:57pmThe drugs have fried their brains. And the same could probably be said of anyone who actually thinks AC/DC has any sort of talent.
It's been said that AC/DC only wrote one song, and everything else they've done are simply variations of that song.
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 2:02pmThey license their music to games and movies all the time one by one. How very strange.
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 2:22pm"The band claims that it's because they want people to listen to the whole albums, not just tracks"
If that was really true, they wouldn't have released any greatest hits albums either...
Paul, 9 May 2011 @ 4:12pm
YoutubeThis is also inconsistent with THEIR youtube channel where AC/DC seem happy to rake in the ad income from playing.... single tracks! lol
The Impaler, 9 May 2011 @ 4:37pm
AC/DC's dumbshitI'm just gonna come out and say it... I've never seeded any torrents, but just now I'm gonna start seeding all of ac/dc i can find on piratebay. Go dl the beegeesus out of it. ha!
Dwayne, 9 May 2011 @ 5:31pm
They're all the sameAll of AC/DC's tracks sound the same. How many people except for die hard AC/DC fans could tell you which songs belong to which album even if you told them once, then blindfolded them.
It's the same stuff over and over again; EM / AM / C / G chords alternating with the occasional power chord thrown over the top and then a nice tapped solo with a few bends thrown in.
They're just a band of old men trying to hold onto their fame, they'll all be dead soon, then the new owner of their music will digitally release it and profit. That's sorta what happened with The Beatles.
Enlightenment, 9 May 2011 @ 6:25pmAfter all you punks on this blog have sold over 200 MILLION albums, then you can do what you want too. It is their songs, so they can do what the frak they want. If you don't like it, too f*cking bad. I'm happy they have earned the right to do what they want, because most bands lose all their rights to do what they want.
At least AC/DC isn't like the zillions of xerox copies of American Idol / Hip-Hop / Rap crap that comes out today.
Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 7:42pm
Re:I haven't sold any albums and I can already do what I want. Some people may find what I do to be stupid or short-sighted or even hilariously tragic. But selling millions of albums won't keep anyone from pointing out how much more music you could sell if you'd just use every tool that's available.
"Rap crap," eh? That's very pithy, but it kind of puts you into the "kids off my lawn" camp. "At least X isn't like Y" doesn't excuse limiting your market because you can't get over your own godlike "the album or nothing" image.
G Thompson (profile), 10 May 2011 @ 2:01am
Re: Re:Isn't there an old saying that "If your parents like your music you are listening to the wrong music" or something like that?
The eejit (profile), 10 May 2011 @ 3:28am
Re: Re: Re:I must be immune, I love 60s music.
Anonymous Coward, 9 May 2011 @ 9:36pm
Re:Oh, I love when people trot out this lazy fallacy.
Marvin, 9 May 2011 @ 8:44pmStrange explanation. I've never thought of AC/DC as an album band.
As the market buying becomes more and more all about downloading... this attitude is going to make them less and less money.
It's hard to imagine younger people who grow up in the download music world wanting to buy CDs.
techflaws.org (profile), 9 May 2011 @ 10:00pm
Kids beware!This only goes to show how (too much) headbanging can damage one's logic circuity.
G Thompson (profile), 10 May 2011 @ 2:02am
Re: Kids beware!Which one I wonder, the AC or the DC circuit?
G Thompson (profile), 10 May 2011 @ 2:16am
Dirty deeds... done with...baaaaaaaaaaEver since hearing this years ago I have never been able to listen to the real version with a straight face
And seems this can be downloaded and is for sale from original creator, Bob Rivers!
Warning: What has been heard.. cannot be unheard!
raisedonAseeDC, 10 May 2011 @ 11:11amHey when you rock that hard you pretty much can do whatever you want.
How about a concert stop in Oakland/San Francisco fellas?
Anonymous Coward, 27 May 2011 @ 2:33pmu suc
Christel, 15 Dec 2011 @ 10:08am
AC DC rocksCareless of what others think, I have to say I can respect a person or group of persons who stick to positive principles. Be what they may, still get my respect. Call me old-fashioned, but there are many tribute bands that can be downloaded playing the same music. Well and good, but to me they can't hold a candle to the original band and that style. And as for digital music downloads, sometimes they don't sound as good, and personally, if I am that needy of a digital music, I will digitize the CD myself. iTunes does do that, you know! I am an iTunes user. I also play CDs and DVDs and stream video. Oh, I play LPs too. Personally, I like the LPs better than CDs in some cases.
Go guys!
radar, 30 Dec 2011 @ 4:29pmguys just go to walmart or barnes and noble and buy the cd ok its not tht hard
Chris, 15 Jan 2012 @ 12:30pm
RE:Yea, um CDs are not on the way out ;). Digital Downloads of music suck. It compresses it to uncomprehindable levels and makes it sound like crap on a shtick! CD's and the higher resolution versions there of (such as DVD-A and the soon to be released I bet Blu-Ray-A (LOL)) are MUCH better. When you can take that and put it on your computer in lossless format such as say FLAC or WMA, with NO compression (or very little)... then I guess you're actually hearing it the way they wanted you to hear it, not how the company wanted u to hear it so they could sell it as mp3s... I will never buy an online Digital Copy of music unless it is lossless!
I still say the people who buy these damnedable MP3 files are the idiots that run around with little earbuds at max level thinking they're the shit lol. (I'm not the shit for saying that or for rocking the proper headphones... which is rare cause I listen though speakers as one should! (5.1 surround with 75 Watt sub... not huge but WAY better than headsets or those laughable buds!).... These people aught to be shot! They are the cause of the downfall of the sound quality in music!
This group should be elevated on all our shoulders!
Chris, 15 Jan 2012 @ 12:51pm
Re: RE:I should also add a few things here to clarify before I'm crucified!
I will buy Digital Downloads of music IF the following is done:
~Volume Normalization is taken out of ALL online ordering processes and sites (Amazon, iTunes, etc.)
~Artists can CHOOSE to put dynamics back into music with NO to VERY little Dynamic Range Compression applied! (compression is of course a choice... er it was at one time maybe sometime soon it will be again if (turn me up!) gets it going again)
If those 2 things are met, then I will purchase digital downloads of music... otherwise I will stick to Hard Copies of music made in the 90's and before. It was the 90's that you really started to see the loudness war start, though sources cite that it started in the 80's... but it was VERY rare at the time.
I think I have the right to belittle those that think that their fav. bands and artist's tracks/albums are better in the way they've been producing things lately. Why do you ask? Well, think about it, the more the ignorant ones buy and listen to these albums with no dynamics, the more the industry thinks they want it... while it's just that they don't know what's going on and just want to hear their favorite piece. Now I don't belittle those JUST for being ignorant... I belittle you for this when you CHOOSE to remain ignorant and just ignore what I and others are saying about this. It's like when people complain about gas/petrol prices and then go buy the most expensive gas they can just cause it's at the closest station! I mean come on.
Anonymous Coward, 15 Jan 2012 @ 1:06pm
Re: Re: RE:Wish as a non-member I could edit... anyways one last thing:
I should clarify that last part a bit better:
It's like when people go out and buy the gas at the closest station and don't know they are paying 3 to 5 USD for said gas/petrol. Then someone tells them that there is gas a few miles more down the road for 1.89 USD. Then said person responds: "I don't care, I can't go that far down the road just to pay a few pennies less!"
See my point? It's basically that these people don't care that their music is highly compressed due to dynamics compression, they just want to hear mr. Bieber turn out his (what I feel personally) cheap preformances. (that's personal opinion though so that really doesn't belong in this post... what am I doing here anyways? lol). They just don't realize how much better he and the band behind him would sound if they heard it uncompressed and through proper speakers.
I also don't think you shouldn't be able to go out with the convienent ear buds if you choose to. I just can't stand it when all a person has is an ipod/iphone/ipad and tiny little ear buds and that's their entire knowledge of the world of music for their entire life... almost never hearing it properly over the right sound systems... That's what I'm complaining about here. EVERYONE has the right to rock the tiny buds, but come on. When you're at home, rock a proper headphone or headset if you need to keep volumes for the rest down, and if you don't need to do so... then why the buds dudes/dudettes? If you don't need to keep the volume down at home, go out and buy yourself a proper speaker set. The people at best buy can help get you setup with a good sound system (if they know what their talking about, sometimes they will just try to sell you their most expensive product cause they don't know anything and are corporate rats), or any knowledgeable retail store that sells audio equipment. I'd recommend nothing less than 2.1
I mean if you don't have a sub-wolfer in there somewhere, then it isn't worth buying! You need that sepreate sub to play the low range stuff without that sub's signal messing with the mids and highs produced on the satilite speakers... even if said satilite speakers are HUGE... And I'd recommend no larger than 12" for the sub and speakers! Anymore and it get's flubby unless processed right (concert level processing which costs hundreds of thousands of dollars in the end)
Anyways... enough of this lol... it's gonna be TLDR for many I bet!
Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2012 @ 12:07pmYOU PPL HAVE NO SHAME, WHO THE HEL DO YALL THNK U R DOWNLOADING PPLS MUSIC FR FREE, WAT PROFITS DO U EXPECT THM TO MKEE, HPE U ALL BURN IN HELL FUCKEN WHORES, N U RNT EVEN ASHAMED OF URSELVES. SIES
PaulT (profile), 27 Feb 2012 @ 12:58am
Re:... and here we see the typical level of sense, maturity, intelligence, logic and reasoning skills those who defend the corporations possess.
Kind of sad, isn't it?
Anonymous Coward, 26 Feb 2012 @ 12:09pmYOU PPL HAVE NO SHAME, WHO THE HEL DO YALL THNK U R DOWNLOADING PPLS MUSIC FR FREE, WAT PROFITS DO U EXPECT THM TO MKEE, HPE U ALL BURN IN HELL FUCKEN WHORES, N U RNT EVEN ASHAMED OF URSELVES. SIES
Anonymous Coward, 13 Jun 2012 @ 8:57amYou mock them, but they have world records for how many albums they have sold, so it clearly works
Brad, 10 Sep 2012 @ 10:42amWhy dont they the songs they know people will download and make them album only
Adrian, 13 Oct 2012 @ 9:01pmThanks for the free music acdc... Cause it's not on itunes
ken z, 16 Oct 2012 @ 10:11am
dowloading ac-dc songsHey ACDC, I purchased the soundtrack to the movie "Heavy Metal" (around $10) for just one song - Don Felder's "Heavy Metal". I deleted the rest of the songs. I bought the album for 1 song!
Atleast make "album only" be an option to purchase.
James Carson, 18 Oct 2012 @ 12:33amI just want yo listen to there music - so wish I cld buy it on line with iTunes
Ken, 22 Oct 2012 @ 4:15pm
AC/DC has the MajicAC/DC can do whatever the hell they want to do with their art work! Have you kids ever thought that they are anti-corporate greed! They probably do want you to listen to their material for free! They don't want some 345lbs. slob, that worships money & loves the challege of screwing people out of their hard earned cash, profiting big off their creativity & hard work! I'm pretty sure the band members have more money than they'll need in this lifetime! Artist don't do it for the money, they do it for the passion of the art form! I'm just aggregated that I can't go to a record shop & buy the AC/DC tunes I want! I've accepted it & I have given itunes a small fortune so far! A lot of artist are holding out! The artist favor their fans over their product peddlers, I'm sure! Greed sucks! It's not members of AC/DC that are the greedy bastards!
brad in Oly, 9 Nov 2012 @ 2:12pm
Love ac/dcI respect their decision from an artists perspective, but the convenience of purchasing online (amazon for myself) and storing my music on the "cloud" makes this frustrating to me. Love their music, love that they stick to their convictions, but I don't want to go through the process of ripping certain songs I want to my phone after purchasing 5-7 CDs! Walkmans are gone, we're in the 21st century now, things change, think of your fans and how your decision impacts them!
TnT, 11 Dec 2014 @ 11:03am
Napster really did kill the music industryTo be honest, Internet killed the music industry. thats why all we get is lady gaga or all high synth kb music that you can basically karaoke at home.
glad ACDC stuck to their integrity. Metallica was right..Napster did kill the industry.
even if you think you "rebelled" and only do Single track DL now..its not any thing rebellous..all it did was kill the music industry. yea, CD's were Over Priced..at the time it all happened..but now..no new music..really nothing worthy
DJH, 25 Feb 2015 @ 4:02pm
music buff, 13 Jun 2015 @ 12:51am
music is dyingwhat options do you have when you can no longer find the cd or album in production, in retail or online, to listen to what you have listened to your whole life?
Add Your Comment