On Wednesday, I cleaned out Peanut's cage. Well, as it happened I set the water bottle incorrectly or something because he wasn't able to drink any, and we didn't notice…for over fourteen hours. The poor thing was so dehydrated and in great pain, barely moving the next morning. Fortunately Hero Material found Peanut and started giving him liquid-rich food. Our little hamster's doing much better now, and let me just say that they don't call Hero “Hero” for nothing.

On the writing front — I'm now done with the fifth step in the revision process for All's Fair!

chapters: 21 / 21 (100%)

And I sent out the revised draft to my 1st beta, so now I'm done with six out of nine steps.

steps: 6 / 9 (67%)

I just finished Jeannie Lin's Harlequin Historical Undone The Taming of Mei Lin. Despite its length, it was excellent. I recommend it highly.

In this rather discouraging outcome, it looks like you don't own the digital products you buy from iTunes. You “license” them.

…a three judge panel of the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals held that iTunes downloads (even the DRM-free variety) are encumbered by enough restrictions that they can't be considered sales at all.

There will be appeals, but if the number of restrictions can make something “licensed” versus “owned”, technically this ruling can apply to any digital product you buy from anywhere else, not just iTunes.

I'm not sure how I feel about “licensing” books or mp3s and so on. If they're merely licensed, I'd like to see digital product prices drop. I'm not spending $7.99 or more on a book I don't even get to own.

I'm sure by now many of you who follow figure skating have heard of the Yuna/Brian breakup. It's strange since it's only been six months since their amazing triumph in Vancouver, where Yuna set the world record score to win Korea's first gold medal in figure skating.

Why did they break up…? Who knows? It's been mostly he said, she said, but I suspect that Yuna's mom had a part in the entire affair. Regardless, I wish both Yuna and Brian the best.

Anyway in one of his interviews, Brian revealed that Yuna's new long program will feature Korean folk songs, including “Arirang”. Here's an orchestral version performed by the KBS Orchestra in Osaka.

P.S. You can listen to another orchestral / choral version here.

Masato Akamatsu's Catch

Amaya Soichiro's Catch

They're both Hiroshima Carp players. Aren't they amazing?

I know times are tough and local governments are looking for a way to get some extra cash, but extorting demanding money from bloggers smacks of thuggery.

The Washington Post wrote:

…Philadelphia, where the city has been asking bloggers with any sign of a business model to pay for a “business privilege license.” [emphasis mine]

Of course, the definition of “any sign of a business model” is a bit broad. It apparently includes having an ad on your blog. So what about writers who have their book covers on their blog? Or maybe bloggers who don't have ads but affiliate links to places like Amazon?

Philadelphia City Paper reports:

After dutifully reporting even the smallest profits on their tax filings this year, a number — though no one knows exactly what that number is — of Philadelphia bloggers were dispatched letters informing them that they owe $300 for a privilege license, plus taxes on any profits they made.

Many of the bloggers who are being extorted — yep, I said it — don't make anywhere near $300. A lot of them are doing it just for fun / as a hobby with an ad thrown in there.

In a way it's sad since people can't just decide to boycott this ridiculous fee. The government has the power to jail or fine you or whatever to get the money it wants. (Unless you run like hell to another country or something.)

My solution to the bloggers in Philadelphia — Form a union of bloggers. Then demand a bailout from the federal government on the basis of “too big to fail”.