In my last post, I referenced my NAS server and FLAC rips. I didn't address the weight that might lie ahead: ripping HUNDREDS of CDs in a context when my favorite ripper, Exact Audio Copy has no native Linux version. I've read of the success of using WINE to run it, but it's the sort of thing that I really want to run native. That said, even in the best of conditions, it's about 5-15 minutes for each each CD. Pull out your Mr. Hailey Handy-Dandy Number Cruncher and the math will tell you that ripping stack after stack of CDs is a BIG timesuck.

Management of large collections is always an unwieldly thing. Gotta keep the ID3 metatags clean and consistent! And while having customized categories are fun, I used to have to remember what hard drive I kept genres—accessibility was always an issue, which made it feel pretty cool when I used to access my home collection while at work in 2002.

And the thing is, all of this was culturally bleeding edge—or at least consistent to being a geek at the turn of the millennium! CDs became an archived file thing as opposed to something to flip through in a car. I had an INCREDIBLE collection: people would make requests and like any DJ, boom, there it was!

Fast-forward to today and that capability is ubiquitous through a streaming service with a monthly rental fee with an extra helping of overt manipulation; we give up control for ease.

Today, it's more of a question of time investment. Lessen the choice = lessen the involvement. Back then, I did what I did because it extended my opportunity. Am I only seemingly keeping pace with what's out there? That would be a decidedly deplorable option, albeit require my subjugation to a system with a flurry of tangents of what that would entail.

And at what point does my reaching back to the old ways the 1998 equivalent of running a turntable with the BeeGee's...though there's something so delightful about that era, the perfect genre to get up, out and move!

Again, it's a question of timesuck. Do I give up freedom so that I can be freed from having to make a choice? Thus, this leads to evaluation of needs vs. wants. And then sometimes we don't invest a moment to consider practice vs. theory: what is the role that this widget plays and how necessary is its existence? Do we tack on expense just to retain its (never-applied) use, reminiscent of the cable TV model of having access to 100s of channels while only watching five, maybe? Or does choice matter?

Something I might ask: perhaps I ought to reconsider my revulsion of social control and dark ideology of what's cool these days because I MUST BUY INTO THE SYSTEM AND SUBMIT FOR APPROVAL TO OUR GRACIOUS OVERLORDS...

...and yet, I want to lead a simple life. Free. Left to just be. See, I haven't changed: when I think of the world, I think of America with everything beyond her borders to be a soul-surge adventure.

When I think of America, I think of the 80s, a time of exploration and new tech, not just another version update of the SAME piece of software released 20 years ago where we're stuck in a Bill Murray Groundhog Day of Windows ME releases. It was the time of Reagan: we were the powerhouse of freedom, the fruit of a singular moment in history when a group of people started a country that was something new—not run by a despot. We were a free people who finally beat the Communists after a protracted resolution to World War II. We actualized that when people had freedom with all the curves, rises and drops of choices therein, life was just better!

These days, there's just more despotism. A government that grabs more societal control over economics and peddles propaganda of fear mongering.

When I think of America, I think:

"...Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness..."

But, what do I see? Forced masking (lost individuality), pedagogical control of lies and identity badges, the vipers of propaganda slithering for our submission to the state. Makes for great dystopian fiction, but for reality? The masses cheer wildly over it—well, when they aren't catatonic in the national pastime of FaceDownTime with cell phones or filtering their selfies on platforms that limit choice.

Something I once heard a long time ago...far, far away...

In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized...for a safe and secure society.

So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.

For what? To feel safe? From what—safe from choice? It sure ain't from the effects of fat butt disease! Safe from the ONE thing that separates us from the animal kingdom? We do not have claws or sharp teeth; we are not poisonous or thorny; and we are slow and do not fly. No, we are the masters of thought. Why do we so willingly give this up to feel safe—regardless to its validity?

Well, look: chase after a command economy. Control your citizens. And when you realize and prove once again that it just doesn't work—just like the Soviets and the entire Soviet bloc did, you'll come back to freedom.

I haven't changed; I'm still that guy I always was...

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