RIP: Winamp

December 20th 2013 was supposed to be the last day of Winamp (as a subsidiary/protectorate/whatever of AOL) and possibly of the whole thing altogether – I don't know how it could ever become abandonware, I was startled by the announcement. I still don't know what exactly will happen and it is causing me some mild anxiety. I got the latest release, though, and I plan to hold onto it and use it until I die or audio formats change too radically for Winamp to keep playing them.

I will forever remember Winamp as the definitive .mp3 player – I highly doubt the format will outlive the association in my mind.  I've been using the program for as long as it has existed. For anyone not using iTunes, I assume it is the de facto media player, though I have seen the unironic use of Windows Media Player. Mp3 players and phones have also sort of reduced the need for a great audio player program, but I'll have the classic Winamp setup on a computer, because it's fantastic and not at all bullshitty and I like music enough to care.

Winamp is what I want in an audio player - low impact, versatile, plays all the usual formats without shitting itself or making a big deal about what it's doing. It is simple and basic in all the best ways. The playlist format is what I'm used to and I think it's fantastic, the newer and more modern Winamp is nowhere near as simple or painless to use. I hate browser style players, I don't need album art, and as long as I can use a keyboard shortcut to search I don't really need anything else, ever. It really whips the llama's ass even after more than a decade.

Fittingly enough, the Winamp community promises that plugin support will never die and that Winamp will continue to be functionally updated into the indefinite future. What would be best, of course, is if it was given to a not-for-profit developer (or back to its creators) and version 5.7 or 6 were to come out in a year or so. Personally I didn't like the AOL takeover and I wasn't at ease with how the installer was suddenly offering toolbars, paid versions, and free songs, but the program itself remained excellent, possibly without peer.

Frankly, I just hope it doesn't die. This is a sad day, regardless of the fact it wouldn't have happened if Winamp stayed purely independent. I don't think it will, to be honest, because it still has a sizable following. Its heartening to see that others feel the same way. Worst case scenario: it is over and everyone keeps using it for years before it inspires a modern remake. Best case scenario: it returns better than ever without corporate ties.

User Comment Rodeo: Multiple Choice City

The UCR Mk.II picked up a hugely lucrative article about a social studies professor who forced her entire second year sociology class into taking a geography pop quiz. Just a purely innocent decision which had no loaded stakes, made by a disinterested, scientific-minded professor with no agenda up her sleeve – forced on a classroom of modern students. Said class failed dismally at accurately labeling countries, provinces, capitols, and even broad geographical regions. The UCR Mk.II almost crashed analyzing the over 200 comments. The irony sensor burned out too many times, and I had to deactivate it lest I ran out of spares.

It seemed to me (and still seems to me) a monstrous project, but I will gladly take it on. There is nothing more entertaining than watching idiots go at their bogeys, and watching the poor moderates waste their time. What's really important, in the end, is that everyone tends to just have fun. So kick back, get a stiff drink, forget how old or young you are, and indulge in some senseless ageism. And remember: more than 200 hundred comments resulted from poor test scores about an unrelated subject in what is a small sample of post-secondary students. This is, in more ways than one, an example of why the west is withering and how the internet is making it worse (or making it appear worse). Don't get offended, let's go on a rodeo:

The comments flew in fast and heavy. Reading them almost caved-in my sense of hope. It was brutal. I missed some doozies, no doubt, but there is never time to think when it comes to a User Comment Rodeo. There is only action. There is only the lassoing of choice screengrabs, and hoping they turn out to be priceless. I warn ye who would read this: this is going to be lengthy and uncomfortable, and the levels of ageism, ignorance, and bigotry unveiled herein will drive you into hysteria. If you had any faith, in the young or old, turn back now. The world needs your optimism more than ever. As for me: I don't care, I'm not even paid to do this. Maybe I'll get a shot or two in.

You know what's kind of depressing? You don't? I – Ah, fuck it. I prefer cuss-words anyway, since they make a solid point, frighten puritans and squares, and require almost no intelligence to be used effectively. The internet can still educate. It can also mislead, trivialize, infantilize, and stupefy. Reader, mark well the words of these and following User Comments. Note the vast problems they bring up, and their generally piss-poor sentence construction. Ah, the familiar smells of lazy rhetoric and half-baked idiocy. Is this crisis in education new? Is this a beautiful moment in our collective existence? Will the bleating objections of the masses lead to a new era of mental rigor?

These were the 'upvotes' in reddit-speak (RIP Swartz, I never knew ye, but you deserved better). These were the king comments. These were choice, juicy, apropos, and insightful beyond all the rest. Observe the beautiful spectre of ageism rising from the rabble. One can hardly blame students who are prejudged en masse as morons, merely for existing in a troubled and complex era and for their casual use of advanced electronic devices. It seems as if everyone has given up on them. Everyone except for the oilsands, that is – and when one is scientifically illiterate, one eats up greenwashing with both hands, and feels great about it. The modern explosion of ideologues is due to lack of mental rigor, but if education was so impeccable in the 50's, 60's, and 70's then why are so many middle-aged people so insufferable in their harmful, hateful, and ignorant opinions – why are they so vulnerable to fast-food politics, misinformation, and ideology? Look what they threw away to live comfortably. It's cute, because the coming generations get to live in not only mental, but also economical, physical, and environmental squalor. No wonder they don't give a fuck.

RIP BTJUNKIE

The biggest news of the day, perhaps even the week, in the context of the internet is that BT Junkie shut down. Sure, it was a torrent site, but it was one of the few non-private torrent sites that was reliable and somewhat trustworthy. Now there are even less options, and even higher odds of some kind of meta-torrent site that will infect all users with some unimaginable bot-net-rootkit abortion and destroy the free internet anyway, before infecting all unprotected (AKA disconnected) government/corporate computers.

These are just the wild observations and speculations of a heartbroken supporter. Doubtless, BTJunkie made the right decision and defended themselves against future legal action/apocalyptic lawyering. They had a great thing, and no doubt were in the crosshairs of the repressive new copyright monster, and I will miss using their handy, responsive, and resourceful site. Now the internet is a colder place, and the individual's freedom to steal things is impacted, possibly severely. Probably not, as this is the internet, and no amount of hyperbole will change the truth about it.

Meanwhile TPB is still in existence as, well what exactly? A zombie platform, mildly trustworthy and the final remaining high-profile, semi-legit torrent site. For those of us with entertainment appetites bigger than our wallets, we may have to go hungry for a while or pray that private solutions find and accept us.

Ultimately, for a daily surprise this is a pretty bad one. RIP BTJunkie – thanks for the good times, and for being one of the good guys while you could.

The Fate of the Book

So much very subtle and quiet hype about the end of the bound stack of paper sheets known as 'the book'. There have been many books over the years, and I think everyone can agree that they were not always perfect, nor ever had an overwhelming reputation for improving the world. But there's a certain something to books and even if they are dying, take heart: our generation will be able to come by books cheaply for the duration of our existence, unless they begin burning bales of books.

If the global stock of books is significantly destroyed in the next twenty years, or publishing is severely repressed by economic or colluded forces, then at the very least books will have predicted that. Basic reading and communication skills will not likely be replaced, so language will continue, and the flow of ideas will merely take on another, potentially better form. Or our eyes will atrophy from an unmitigated hegemony of digital screens, flashing lights, and confused information.

Maybe there will be a tidal-wave of information in the future which will overwhelm us. Maybe it will get the better of us. We could be changed forever.

Or the book could go on well into the future, as some type of elitist symbol that nobody understands. Probably this view of the book's future is already some cliche that has been analyzed and exploited in hundreds of books. Maybe the book will suffer a renaissance in a few years, or maybe all the news sensationalism and existential dawdling will come to naught, and the book will be as ubiquitous and burdensome as ever – perhaps forever.

In the end, if it goes, the memory of the book will either be exterminated, merely forgotten, or enshrined by some freakish bibliophilia committee as the centerpoint of some futurist, knowledge-based cargo cult. And however it goes, the book will remain as at least a symbol.

But in the meantime there is all kinds of mawkishness about books and print media in general. It seems that the publication industry gets more fatalistic while the technology industry fills with empty hype. There is no real confrontation between the two industries. Largely, the recent history of the matter is that the print industry has had to accept and learn to work with tech, gadget, and electronics industries. It's not really the same as the music industry and the internet, though there are similarities.

So these publishers and maybe even some bibliophiles are very worried and the internet is very unconcerned. That's basically the gist of the story. In my mind television, the postal service, and radio are the real danger zones, and they're still around more than ten years after the internet. Writing killed or perverted most oral tradition anyway, so whatever happens at this point is fair and not unprecedented.

User Comment Rodeo

User comment boards are now-ubiquitous elements of the internet (or 'web 2.0' if you're an I.T. hipster) which allow spectators to wax sycophantic, display their ignorance, or attack their enemies. The historical precedent for the user comment board is graffiti, and how this obvious connection escaped the people who created and encouraged user comment sections is anyone's guess.

User comments are not entirely negative, nor entirely positive. Nor are they entirely like graffiti, because some people use these sections to engage in reasonable discussion. However, the percentage of society mature enough to post positive or non-offensive comments is often less than 25% – when anonymity is provided. User comment boards are repositories of hatred, anger, stupidity, and ignorance that display the opulence and redundancy of the world's internet. User comment boards are an overt concession to populism that often endorse only the forced sterilization and elimination of humanity, which makes them explicitly anti-populist, since they do not form an encouraging picture of the masses.

If you take the internet seriously, the existence and content of user commentary can bother you to a serious extent. It doesn't have to be this way: you don't have to be angry. I have been known to skim user comment sections and find useful information amid the proud declarations of idiocy, self-marketers, and trolls. For my part, I rarely post user comments, but I welcome them on this blog, and I don't mind their existence anywhere (including the famous, fractious YouTube boards). We all have to accept how they work, and that their problems are unlimited and difficult to solve.

For my example, I went to CBC.ca and read a story about the ONE and ONLY case of BSE in all of Canada this year. Considering the number of cattle raised in Alberta, let alone the country, the existence of one cow with a misfolded protein disorder is not very surprising. Considering the way livestock are farmed, it is even something to be expected, which means that the public safety organization is prepared to take necessary preventative steps and then publicize the case.

The story reads like you might expect: very basic, with plenty of nuance between the lines. It puts you at ease, but reminds you of the various threats of entropy, and the frightening class of afflictions that ravage the brain. That's it.

Then you look at the user comment section, just for the hell of it, already knowing what you will find:

There is the usual, know-it-all power user who is highly literate and knowledgeable but even more eager to display that knowledge and wisdom. Typical semi-activist user, between ages 15 and 30 (sometimes older), who will point a finger and throw as many affective terms into one sentence in order to let you know that things are scary, and that the powers that be do not care about crucial earth-shattering issues. Prions kill, but politics kill much more quickly.

Next:

There is another user, the anti-alarmist, who knows almost nothing beyond general information and disinformation and who likes to misuse logical arguments to try and force hideously biased or ignorant conclusions into your brain. In this case I will disagree with the post and write it out so you can see how user comments divide people: BSE does not exist in chickens, there are almost never bugs in cereal boxes because this is not the early 1900's, and we cannot simply trust inspectors, because inspectors are fallible and governments are fallible. Note the very high rating compared to the former poster: these are the populist types, who do not flog their own knowledge for the show, and who advocate obedience, power-worship and calm. These are people who, in all likelihood, work for an inspection agency or the government, or are lobotomized versions of the first poster, now used to placate the masses.

Next:

Ah, the common troll. The most distinctive, invariable, and prolific type of poster – the smoking gun of the internet. Trolls have loud, unashamed agendas that they flog at any opportunity, even if (as in this case) not a single opponent (animal rights activist - 'petafile' ) has posted in the user comment section. From hackneyed and rudimentary fact-arguments that are quickly abandoned for straw-man tactics to outrageous statements, the crippled mind of a common troll displays all the sorts of argumentative prowess that are not unknown to children, and therefore universally understandable: "Look at me: I'm right! Hey! Listen to me, I'm going to shout at these losers! Look how foolish they are: the facts speak for themselves. Let's lynch these losers!"
For trolls, context and timing never have to be right; only the feeling of perverse, stubborn righteousness.


Next:

This final post (from YouTube) is merely to place two types of posters in proximity. The upper poster is the 'average user' who posts earnestly to learn or sometimes merely to state an unoffensive personal opinion. These users do exist and sometimes form a majority. Often they post simple truths and maxims by which other users can avoid pain and suffering. They are friendly, responsive, and not particularly noteworthy.

The lower poster is a classic self-promoter. The classic self-promoter is often buoyed by his ability to confuse and dupe the unspoken 'idiot majority' who believe that ghosts, reversals of the law of conservation of mass, and free unofficial internet giveaways exist. Self-promoters are worth knowing if you have a million 'perpetual motion machines' to sell, or a warehouse full of decorative tacky china, or are yourself a Chinese businessperson looking to rip off westerners.

This is just the tip of the user content iceberg. These are just a few examples of the archetypal users you can find on the internet, and I hope it helps you stay cool when confronted with the multitude of unenlightened discourse available on the internet.

"Should Old Acquaintance be Forgot?"

This January has been a rough one. Between sleeplessness and the cold I've found a few sobering reminders of the natural law that all things must come to an end.

First is the end of Michael Steele's chairmanship of the RNC, which would be entirely unimportant if the Daily Show didn't exist. Wyatt Cenac's impersonation of Steele, in muppet style, is probably one of the greatest lampooning acts ever created on television. From the subtle nod to the unreal unfoldings of Michael Steele's time with the RNC to the 'bibbles', all of which were delightful, this was really one of those things which make an already great show undeniably awesome.

The other thing that finally came to an end is Superpoop, a webcomic that is known for taking a nonsensical stance on politics everything and being incredibly good at making amusing narratives out of disconnected images. Lately it became a bit more serious than usual, talking about the end of the world, and it just kind of ended there. Sure, there are mass animal deaths, and the poles may shift (good title for a stripper movie), and there are wars and rumors of wars, and rumors of famine to boot, but as deluded as our sense of stability is, the idea that the world will explode or somehow end in less than millions of years is ridiculous.

But January hasn't been all bad. I found a flash game powered by Java (and it's not Minecraft!) that has no point and yet is infinitely enjoyable. This game goes by several names: Dust, Powder Game, or something else. You'll know it when you see it, but here's a link to the game. It has no goal other than perhaps crashing the applet (by dropping the 'dot' counter to zero, which simulates, albeit facetiously, heat death via entropy) or creating an enduring equilibrium. Basically the game simulates particles, which the player throws into a space, and which behave according to certain rules, and eventually it all becomes madness.

A static image doesn't do it justice. This is just a weak representation of the sort of madness you can scheme up in this game, and I heartily recommend it. The trick is to start a kind of madness that you can leave alone for a half hour while you do something else, and return to find it still swirling. Inertia is the only enemy.