Babylon 5 as a philosophy tract

[Happy birthday to gra_is_stor!]

I am amused to realize that, not only is the most accurate description of my personal religion probably "Minbari", but there are days when my personal philosophy might be best described as "Vorlon". Well, okay -- they are a bit too orderly for my taste. But I was thinking this morning about how deeply I agree with the statement "Understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth"...

Babylon 5 as a philosophy tract

[Happy birthday to gra_is_stor!]

I am amused to realize that, not only is the most accurate description of my personal religion probably "Minbari", but there are days when my personal philosophy might be best described as "Vorlon". Well, okay -- they are a bit too orderly for my taste. But I was thinking this morning about how deeply I agree with the statement "Understanding is a three-edged sword: your side, their side, and the truth"...

I hate hidden "tracks" on CDs

Hate them, hate them, hate them. You've probably encountered this: where the final track seems to end, but actually has a bunch of silence followed by another song, to see if you're going to keep listening, or just give up and switch albums.

They were a cute gimmick back in the days of LPs, but they're just plain irritating when I'm doing most of my listening on a shuffled iPod. It's especially annoying when it's a really good last track, ending with several minutes of silence, and then a cutesy final song that isn't nearly as good: this often makes ripping the track more trouble than it's worth, since I don't want that silence to show up in Shuffle Play. (Yes, I can snip it at the start of the silence, but it's a hassle I'm tired of.)

Really: enough is enough. It was clever the first thousand times, but it's an idea whose time has long since passed...

I hate hidden "tracks" on CDs

Hate them, hate them, hate them. You've probably encountered this: where the final track seems to end, but actually has a bunch of silence followed by another song, to see if you're going to keep listening, or just give up and switch albums.

They were a cute gimmick back in the days of LPs, but they're just plain irritating when I'm doing most of my listening on a shuffled iPod. It's especially annoying when it's a really good last track, ending with several minutes of silence, and then a cutesy final song that isn't nearly as good: this often makes ripping the track more trouble than it's worth, since I don't want that silence to show up in Shuffle Play. (Yes, I can snip it at the start of the silence, but it's a hassle I'm tired of.)

Really: enough is enough. It was clever the first thousand times, but it's an idea whose time has long since passed...