y.st./source/pages/en/weblog/2015/04-April/24.xhtml

<?php
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$xhtml = array(
	'title' => 'The merger is off!',
	'body' => <<<END
<p>
	<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/24/business/media/comcast-time-warner-cable-merger.html">Comcast is giving up its plans to merge with Time Warner.</a> This is awesome! Both Comcast and Time Warner are known for having over-priced yet poor service.
	Their ability to stay in business despite this is likely due to their monopolies in their respective areas.
	They are the only major cable providers in the country, and they have vowed not to overlap their territories as to avoid competing with one another.
	Both companies are far too powerful and have shown that they have no plans to use this power for good.
	In addition to generally ripping off customers in terms of service quality and price, they are even attacking net neutrality.
	Had these two companies merged, they would have combined their power and become an even worse threat to the Internet and to customers.
	The next thing that needs to happen, of course, is that these companies need to be further split, breaking up the monopolies in the areas they already control.
</p>
<p>
	I&apos;ve updated this site&apos;s build script to permit updating to accommodate new pages without rebuilding the entire site.
	To force the recompiling of a given page that already exists without recompiling the whole site, the given file can be deleted before the build script is run.
	Any pages that exist in the source code but do not exist in the compiled copy will be built.
	In addition, all indexes will be rebuilt in case new pages have been added to the directory they represent.
	The <a href="/a/canary.txt">canary</a> page will be updated when the <code>--canary</code> flag is used with the script.
	All other paged will be left alone.
</p>
<p>
	I bought <a href="http://kelleemaize.com/">Kellee Maize</a>&apos;s <a href="https://kelleemaize.bandcamp.com/album/age-of-feminine">Age of Feminine</a> album today, mostly to get my hands on a copy of the Struggle track.
	PayPal was being a pain again, but after about five attempts to use the same credit card, they finally accepted the card.
	Bandcamp allows you to send a note to the artist if you buy an album, so I took the opportunity to point out that Age of Feminine and <a href="https://kelleemaize.bandcamp.com/album/aligned-archetype">Aligned Archetype</a> are available under reasonable licenses {$a['CC BY-SA']} and {$a['CC BY']},respectively), but Owl Time and Integration are both under licenses that disallow modification and sale ({$a['CC BY-NC-ND']}).
	I then politely asked if she would consider releasing those two under {$a['CC BY-SA']} or {$a['CC BY']}.
	Assuming the note reaches her, I think there is a high probability she will go for it, as her website lists all of her albums as being covered by {$a['CC BY']} (so though no actual downloads are available in a place that lists all of them under that license, it is probably her intent that they all be free).
</p>
<p>
	I also took the opportunity to download most of <a href="https://www.jamendo.com/en/artist/367301/mate">Mate</a>&apos;s music (everything except the single proprietary album).
	I can&apos;t find a place to buy his music, but it is beautiful and I appreciate him making it available My favorite of his songs is probably Ellen.
	Apparently I&apos;m not the only one to like that song either, as his newest album is mostly remixes of that song.
	I&apos;d love to hear what people have done with the song tonight, but I have work early tomorrow and should get to bed.
</p>
<p>
	I was in a meeting today advocating a bond be granted to the Marcola school district to be used to tear down their quite literally hazardous old elementary school and rebuild it up to code.
	The school has broken pipes, a heating system that is unsafe for them to even turn on, and it sounds like the school is in several buildings, which they fear is too hard to keep safe with modern creeps running around.
	It sounds like they need the money pretty badly, and they say now is a great opportunity due to low interest rates, but the question is this: why are people so short sighted that they won&apos;t put the money toward these sorts of things <strong>*before*</strong> they are needed? If the money was stashed away beforehand, the interest could be used as an asset instead of a hurdle.
	To be clear, this isn&apos;t the school&apos;s fault.
	From what I understand, it&apos;s the taxpayers&apos; fault for waiting until the last minute to even consider having their taxes raised.
	By being so short-sighted, they are insuring that they actually have to pay <strong>*more*</strong> than they otherwise would have had to.
</p>
END
);