We Don't Walk Slow

8 Jan, 2016

Commenting to Comments

By Tom Stortz|2016-01-08T12:07:35-05:00January 8th, 2016|My Brain|8 Comments

I have 5 posts in draft right now and don’t have the time to complete any of them. This will be a new theme from me. I’m not going to rush posts. I’m going to take my time and develop them without the urge to post for the sake of posting…like this post.

I will comment on Alex saying that my comment on the last post is the reason people don’t comment. Laura has also made similar comments to me that she doesn’t comment because my responses to her comments can be snarky. Please understand that I’m well aware of this and thoughtfully consider if I’m being a dick in my comments before I write them.

To review my comment in the past post, all I was writing is that you were accurately correcting a mistake that I had in my post. It’s like when JC would use a word he didn’t know the right definition of, someone would correct him, and he’d say, “I was testing you to see if you picked that up.” Now, I’m not exactly sure how you were taking it but believe me when I tell you that shitting on people’s comments is the last thing I want to do.

Managing relationships through the computer can be challenging. Here is another example of a time when I know I can be construed as being a dick. I’ll share my thought process behind what I was doing because it doesn’t come across the computer. The example is when I wrote that you should hit me with a 2×4, ala Tommy Boy, if I took Sam’s rationale for blogging. If I read that and I was Sam, I’d think, that’s a pretty dickhead thing to write. Why would he write that?

If you’d rather me write, “I understand that Sam has his own reasoning for why he has a blog and I totally respect that. I however don’t fully agree with it”, this would be a nicer way of writing that. From my perspective though, Sam is my brother who I’ll be painfully truthful to because we have a close relationship where I say what I feel without worrying about hurting his feelings as much as I would with other human beings. I enjoy joking around with Sam because I think he gets that I’m not seriously comparing my opinion on his blogging take with actually getting hit with a 2×4. Now if Sam went home and cried himself to sleep because my comment was too harsh in my disagreement, I’d reconsider how I went about what I said in our relationship and sugar coat what I have to say. I can improve on this but than I wouldn’t be being the real me. The bottom line is that I’m gleefully overjoyed that he maintains any blog at all because I like reading his thoughts on matters.

Writing through the internet is not easy.

7 Jan, 2016

North Korea Explodes Hydrogen Bomb?

By Tom Stortz|2016-01-07T13:49:40-05:00January 7th, 2016|My Brain|4 Comments

Sam’s good post about the Fermi Paradox can actually be referenced here which shows what happens when you make a good post. I’m not going to reiterate the points he made about the Fermi Paradox but one reason we may not see other intelligent life forms is because “Intelligent life can’t help but destroy itself.”

2 days ago, North Korea created a 5.1 magnitude earthquake from what they claim was a “hydrogen” bomb. What is a Hydrogen Bomb? by CNN is where I will pull tidbits to give you an idea of the differences between Hydrogen and Atomic bombs.

Atomic bombs use fission. Hydrogen bombs use fusion.
The largest hydrogen bomb ever tested was by Russia in 1961. It measured 50,000 kilotons.
In comparison, the atomic bombs used by the US on Japan measured 500 kilotons. The 2 bombs killed more than 200,000 people.
North Korea is the only nation to have conducted nuclear tests in the 2000’s.

Scientist’s don’t believe that N. Korea tested a Hydrogen bomb because the blast was inconsistent with past results.

How Many Nations Have Nukes?

9 – USA, Russia, UK, France, China, India, Pakistan, Israel, and N. Korea

Who has the most? – Russia and the USA have about 7,000 warheads. The other 8 nations combined have a little over 1,000. North Korea has 6-8.

Would you have any idea that Russia and the US have this many? When did this happen? It’s like during the 60’s all these country’s did was produce nuclear weapons. It sort of makes sense though because the US is all by itself and Russia is so big they can test anywhere without worrying much. Having this many nuclear weapons must be making up for other deficiencies like a small penis.

Are We Scared of N. Korea?

I have never been this happy. If a submarine energizes him like this, think about what bombs do.

This is the question everyone should be asking and I for one should not be answering. To come full circle to the top of this point and human life blowing themselves up, yes, we should be scared. Nuclear and hydrogen bombs come with severe consequences and human emotions get tested. If a nation gets blown up, the only retaliation is to blow the other side up with more destructive results.

North Korea poses the question, “you all have nuclear warheads, why shouldn’t we?” Fair question. The answer of your a fucking idiot and you’ll blow yourself up probably wouldn’t go over well. This isn’t saying other nations are so well grounded either, but Kim Jung seems particularly happy to have nuclear weapons for offense instead of defense. On the rare chance that N. Korea fires one of these at the US or anywhere else, the retaliation damage will be so severe you’ll have to use a spatula to get his remains off of the bottom of the ocean. Good luck.

6 Jan, 2016

WhereWhitePeopleMeet.com Fights Reverse Racism

By Tom Stortz|2016-10-28T15:38:26-04:00January 6th, 2016|My Brain|2 Comments

Creating WhereWhitePeopleMeet.com sparks outrage

I guess she’s Spanish so she can’t join.

OK Kiersten Nunez. Looking good. There she is next to the “go fuck yourself” racism billboard. How did one man in Utah make local, and then national news by creating a dating site titled wherewhitepeoplemeet.com?

Reverse Racism Attacked

Sam Russell was home sick one day and noticed network TV being bombarded by ads for specific dating sites. He decided to do take matters into his own hands and give a huge fuck you to discrimination. What makes this story even more fascinating is he started this in a town in Utah that is 90% white.

Sam Russell, founder of Where White People Meet

How well did this promotion work? Well, there were 5 starting members…and now there are over 2,000. His servers have been flooded with traffic.

Love this. A guy got fed up with whereblackpeoplemeet, farmersonly, and hispanicswholovetacos.com. and used it to say that white people can do the same.

“This is 2016,” he said. “You think a lot of those issues we should be able to move past. We should be able to move past the sensitivity, not get offended every time we hear some word you don’t think is politically correct.”

The spokesperson for colored people said that she didn’t feel like it was a hate group. She’s right. It’s just a guy who used smart marketing to grow a business. If other groups can do it, so can white people.

The problem people have with this idea is that there are 390 million people in the US and over 290 million of them are white. This means that whenwhereblackpeoplemeet is created, they are in the minority and you can’t call them racist. Minorities can’t be racist. This guy basically said, well if you’re not racist, we’re not racist. Tell me I’m being racist because I’m doing exactly what you are doing. Is he committing any crime? Any one can join, as he says, but they probably won’t want to. He’s testing the waters and I, as a white person, really don’t give a shit. Neither should you unless your goal is to ban every group’s dating websites…which would be an odd life goal.

5 Jan, 2016

Blog in Limbo

By Tom Stortz|2016-01-05T21:53:43-05:00January 5th, 2016|My Life|2 Comments

I wish I wouldn’t have written the golf course entry as my first post of the year because I know writing trash rewards nothing. However, when I don’t publish a post for 5 days, people start getting antsy and stop going to the site. Just so it’s understood when I write “people”, the past 2 days bring ~100 people who land on this site from direct traffic or social media who I consider actual traffic (there are more who land on pages but it’s fake traffic). Although not a huge number, there’s an urgency to post even when I have nothing to write about. What I’ll do in the future is when I have nothing good to write about, I won’t post. This will lead to less updates but better content.

On top of that, I haven’t had time to sit down and write like I do right now. I’ve been busy at work and the Christmas and New Years kept me busy. I actually prefer the work week to holidays because I’m productive vs unproductive. I woke up at noon at least 3 of the days around the new year. It then takes me a few days to recover from the rough days and now I feel like myself again.

I was going to make a resolution post but I don’t like the idea of making stupid promises to myself that I’m going to break. Just kidding.

Be a better person. I constantly try to make good on what I say I’m going to do but I don’t. A friend had an open mic, invited me, I said I would go when I was drunk, when the time comes to go I was hungover and going to a bar to watch a performance was negative on my road to recovery. I chose my own well being instead but I don’t expect another invitation any time soon. Letting people down when you say you are going to do something is the best way to lose a friend. Those type of occasions kill me but I don’t do them with any negative intention but I chalk these up to you have to be a better person and not get into this spot.
I don’t respond to people fast enough which I’m not even sure how it makes you a bad person but in this day of age, it does. I’m not married to my phone. I’ll go hours without even looking at it. I know it’s insane to some people but I don’t care that much about messages. I’m not at my phone’s mercy so don’t wonder why I’m not responding because there’s a good chance I haven’t even seen it. However, sometimes I actually don’t know how to respond, so I don’t. “Do you want to do this next week?” I have no clue what I’m doing next week. People are looking for commitments. It’s like I do commit, then I can’t go, and I’m an asshole like scenario 1. Once again, I’m never trying to be a dick in these spots but when 3 people ask me to do something, it’s a juggling act.
I hate sucking at everything. Stay with me here because if you know me, you know I don’t suck at most things. However, to actually be “great” at any one thing, you have to practice it religiously. If I could not go to work for an entire year and just devote my time to these skills I suck at, I’m sure I could improve. I don’t have the time and thus swim in mediocrity. Howard Stern said, “I really like painting but I can’t do it all the time because I suck at it. I’m a master at radio, so that’s what I do.” I’m much better at my job than I am at bowling, chess, golf…. and even though I can slightly improve at these other games, I’ll never be able to take that next step and that sort of pisses me off. I don’t want to be good at work… it’s not life for me. The week I spent at the shore this year golfing, spending time with family and friends, and exercising was what I like doing.
I want to help people who work hard and don’t get appreciated. I see an employee at Dunkin who works his ass off for what I imagine is 10 bucks an hour. Maybe he’ll get promoted and make $15. Same in Wawa with this one guy who jumps behind the register when the line is long and cleans up when an idiot customer spills their slurpee. I feel like giving these guys $100 bucks and just saying, people appreciate your hard work. Thank you….but I never do.

To cap off this post with this whole blog and where it’s at because I did title that it was in limbo. I was drunk talking to Gourlay on New Years Day and telling him that I think he is making a mistake quitting on his blog because so many people were enjoying it. Then it strikes me that I’m being an asshole because what if its Gourlay who doesn’t enjoy it? I think I’m being a great guy motivating someone to do something that he dreads doing. The fuck? I have good intentions but why should I be spreading my opinion? Then you start getting into this thought and you decide to shut the fuck up because who cares about my opinion? I told people that What’s App is cooler in younger circles than Facebook. Guess what? Facebook OWNS What’sApp. Nice opinion. That’s how I feel about this blog. A few dozen people read this and I seriously ask, why am I doing this? This is where Sam and I differ in opinions. He would say he likes doing it because it documents his life and doesn’t care if people read it. I would want you to hit me across the head with a 2×4 ala Tommy Boy if that was my thought process. This blog is my life’s work. This is the heart and soul of my life and I’m looking for discussion. I want people to read it and say, “I completely disagree with you and you’re a fucking idiot.” If no one reads it I might as well keep a diary. That’s why when someone takes the time to comment it’s like, thank the lord someone reads this and actually thinks about what I’m writing. That’s not a plea for comments either, it’s only what it’s like from this perspective. I’ve sat here 2,415 times and wrote posts for free. Most likely no one would pay me anyway to write this but I understand why Gourlay says fuck that shit. So that’s my take to open up 2016. Everything will go exactly the same with my posting when I want to and trying to make better posts with better pictures and better titles and better verbiage and better content so that the people who read this enjoy coming to my site.

5 Jan, 2016

Golf Courses Under Fire

By Tom Stortz|2016-03-09T15:57:33-05:00January 5th, 2016|Golf Course Reviews|0 Comments

Cobbs Creek Burned Down Last Night

Lulu Burned Down on Oct. 18th

Why are golf course country clubs burning down?

I’ll take a stab that they are broke and want the insurance money. Golf courses are the ultimate waste of space. Huge amount of land that require enormous sums of money to maintain. Combine that with a game that is too expensive for most people to afford and you have country clubs burning down. Of course this is insurance fraud but when people get backed into a financial corner, they will do anything.

Yes, I am alive. Yes, I will continue blogging. Yes, I needed a break from it. Sorry for trying to persuade you to start blogging on New Year’s Day, Gourlay. We all know it’s a past time with little satisfaction.

30 Dec, 2015

“My Players Are Elite” – Chip Kelly

By Tom Stortz|2015-12-30T13:35:48-05:00December 30th, 2015|Sports|0 Comments

This is how I envision the conversation with Jeff Lurie and Chip Kelly.

The good old days.

JL: Bradford had the 28th worst QB rating this year (min 100 attempts) behind guys like Blaine Gabbert and rookie Jameis Winston. Is he the best we can do?
CK: He’s elite
JL: What about our WR’s and losing our best the last two years? Maclin had the 19th most yards this season with Alex Smith, a guy who avoids throwing the ball downfield like the plague. DeSean had 528 yards and 4 TD’s in 8 games. I think we may lack talent to spread the field thus opening up our run game.
CK: No. Matthews, Agholor, and Riley are elite.
JL: Agholor only had 21 catches all season (the same as Riley Cooper). Matthews had 943 yards and 261 came in the last 2 games which were essentially blow outs. Remember that big catch he dropped against Carolina? We are still talking about Riley?
CK: They’re elite talent just waiting to explode.
JL: What about the Shady for Kiko trade? Shady was 6th in the NFL in yards and even missed 3 games. Kiko had 34 tackles and 1 pick in 10 games. Didn’t seem to work out that well for us.
CK: Kiko’s elite.
JL: DeMarco was a real bummer this year only averaging 45 yards a game. What happened?
CK: He’s not elite.
JL: We’re finished here.

Shut up, Chip!

I want to chip in my opinion on this matter with absolutely no inside knowledge about the truth.

Chip is stubborn and doesn’t play well with others.
His “players” and “system” needed to develop.
Ownership didn’t have the Sam Hinkie time frame to wait.
Chip got fired for refusal to adapt to ownership’s viewpoints with the mindset that he knew what he was doing and wasn’t budging.

No longer bleeding green.

The Eagles are not a good football team talent wise. Chip Kelly is to blame for this. Some stats:

The Eagles avg 22.8 points per game good for 16th in the league
The ran the 2nd most plays from scrimmage this year (1037) behind only the Texans
Their TO margin was -4, good for 22nd in the league
The D gave up 26.7 ppg good for 28th in the league
The D gave up 394.9 ypg which was 29th in the league
They were outscored 342-400

Another shitty year for another Philadelphia sports team. Shocker.

29 Dec, 2015

Most Spotify Followers 2015

By Tom Stortz|2015-12-29T17:15:37-05:00December 29th, 2015|Music|0 Comments

This is the 3rd year running I’ll be updating which artist / band has the most Spotify followers. The cool part about this is seeing who makes the biggest leaps upwards from past years. This essentially shows if the artist’s career is trending up or down. Spotify being the biggest streaming music provider with nearly 80 million listeners is perfect for data dissection. Onward to the list. 2013 and 2014.

2015 Most Spotify Followers

20. Flo Rida – 3,721,124 followers

Your hair is cut too crisp to be taken seriously.

What the fuck. How do I start out with Flo Rida? I looked hard for someone to steal this #20 spot but couldn’t find anyone. Kanye. Imagine Dragons. I’d even take Vance Joy. Flo Rida, the king of the hook will not go away. It should be noted that he did go from #5 last year to #20 this year so this is most likely the last time we see him. Thank heaven. I’m listening to him right now to get the feel and his words are inaudible and then the hook comes. Dance music at its finest. Talent is not found here as he only added 300k followers which is negligible in comparison to the rest of the list.

19. Beyonce – 3,727,496 followers

Beyonce and Blue Ivy

Beyonce sort of makes me sad because she isn’t even trying anymore. She really doesn’t have to. She’s a mother to Blue Ivy and her past success will keep her near the top off of reputation alone. It doesn’t hurt that she’s married to Jay-Z. An ultimate power couple, unlike Kanye and Kim, who do it the right way with talent. The song 7/11 has 147 million listens and I remember hearing that being played this year which isn’t so shabby.

18. Nicki Minaj – 3,729,423 followers

Nicki failed to change her logo which we know is a no-no. Having a fake body has given Nicki more than her rat-tat-tat rap. I’ve read a few interviews about her in Rolling Stone and she seems like a no-nonsense, workaholic business woman. I respect her game, not her music.

17. Lana Del Ray – 3,824,581 followers

Um, nice hat.

I have virtually nothing to write about Lana Del Ray. Her album Honeymoon came out in September of this year and she mystifies me that she has this many fans. There must be a following in some country where all they do is listen to Lana Del Ray to pump up her numbers. She was 10th last year so she’s going the wrong way.

16. Adele – 3,849,997 followers

HALLLLO!

Adele released Hello on Spotify and is currently the 3rd most listened to monthly artist. Let’s face it, she’s huge. She not only has a booming singing voice, but she is working with Max Martin who is the king of producing pop. She is a bit overweight, recently a mother, and identifies with hundreds of million of females everywhere. Her album isn’t even released on Spotify and Hello already has 293 million listens. It’s historic. She added 1.5 million Spotify followers this year alone. More tracks to be pulled off of 25, I’m sure.

15. Skrillex – 3,913,451 followers

#9 on the list last year and only added 900,000 followers. The only news I’m aware of is that Jack Ü is a duo made up of Skrillex and Diplo which is new. He’s part of the Justin Bieber Remix as well. I was going to write about Skrillex and Ellie Goulding but it looks like they broke up in 2012 which just means I shouldn’t write any more about Skrillex.

14. Taylor Swift – 3,947,286 followers

Admit it, you got a boob job.

Not allowing her music on Spotify is such a power move that it’s sickening. It actually makes me dislike T Swift. Her hashtag is #justsayyes. How about doing that to Spotify music? Your songs are played all over radio so what’s the big deal? You’re just pissed because you’re only going to make $100 million this year instead of $110. Blank Space, Bad Blood, and Style were here huge smashes this year even though the album 1989 came out in 2014.

13. Bruno Mars – 4,000,306

How did Bruno Mars add 1.4 million Spotify followers to move from 14 to 13 on this chart? The answer is one song, Uptown Funk with Mark Ronson.

“HE IS THE BEST SINGER I’VE EVER HEARD IN FRONT OF MY FACE. I’VE NEVER BEEN PUSHED THAT HARD VOCALLY. – Adele

12. Calvin Harris – 4,165,949 followers

Dating Taylor Swift you SOB. Talk about a career move. How Deep is Your Love with Disciples (I could have swore it was Ellie) didn’t hurt his already strong reputation either. Calvin moved from #17 last year to #12, so I’d call that a solid year. He has also been the highest paid DJ the last 3 years. Plus you got Taylor Swift. What a life for a guy named after a comic book.

11. Katy Perry – 4,175,063 followers

You’ve got to change your Spotify logo, Katy. Who are you paying to do this because they are dropping the ball? Katy knows that touring is the way to make the big bucks and that’s what she is doing. No new music for most of the year but Katy stays in the spotlight by doing the Superbowl last January. No big deal. When Katy roars, people listen.

10. Justin Bieber – 4,291,818 followers

#prayforselena

Even with the bad boy image, and the hog that dropped, Biebs keeps producing hit jams. He is currently the most listened to artist with regards to monthly listens. This is because What Do You Mean and Sorry are blowing up the charts. His album Purpose was even met with positive reviews. Even if you hate Justin Bieber there is one certainty about him, he produces pop that gets played in clubs everywhere in the world and the ladies love him.

9. One Direction – 4,529,257 followers

Talk about tacking on followers. Adding on a cool 1 million 2 years ago and 2 million this past year, this called doing work. I’m not a teen girl so my information about Harry Styles and whoever the rest are is going to be weak. It appears that an album called Made in the AM achieved pretty good results based off of the amount of listens it received. Wasn’t their rumors of Harry quitting? Upon further research, it was Zeyn who quit. Who knew?

8. Drake – 4,630,880 followers

Drake and Kendall

Adding about 2 million followers and moving from #11 to #8 is a strong year from Drake. Buoyed by the success of Hotline Bling and the album called What a Time to Be Alive, Drake is earning checks and snapping necks. I read some reports he is seeing Kendall Jenner which is a scary thought. Rappers and Kardashian’s go together like white on rice. Didn’t change his logo though which is pretty weak.

7. Avicii – 4,559,028

Fire logo. Last year I wrote about health rumors about Avicii and I have no clue if that is still the case. I’m sure it’s easy to get caught up in drugs living the DJ life. I’d say this was a pretty successful year for Avicii considering it would have been impossible to top last year with Wake Me Up and Hey Brother. His 2015 hits Waiting for Love and The Nights were still decent. I haven’t listened to all of Stories but I bet I’d enjoy it.

6. Coldplay – 4,758,615

A Head Full of Dreams is a very good album. Adventure of a Lifetime and Hymn for the Weekend are already making waves and I predict Fun and Amazing Day will also produce singles. This band is the definition of adapting. I’ve learned to respect their early through today’s music and am not ashamed to say I enjoy Coldplay’s music even if Paul Rudd says they are gay. Let’s not forget they are performing the 2016 Superbowl which is pretty much the biggest gig on the planet.

5. Eminem – 4,806,521 followers

Eminem’s daughter Hailie

Still gathering crowds, Eminem is ageless. He’s actually 43. His song King’s Never Die was a colloraborative effort with Gwen Stefani done this year. He also produced the soundtrack for Southpaw. I like Eminem because his lyrics are well thought out and he spits rhymes in a manner that is unique to himself. Even though i’m not into his music like I was when I was in high school over a decade ago, I will always give his creative energy the benefit of the doubt.

4. Ed Sheeran – 5,333,595 followers

The #1 biggest mover on this list. He went from the #12 spot this year to #4 and added 2.6 million followers in one year. How does this red haired, pudge ball do this? He released an album called X. He makes the panties of every girl in the world drop. Have you heard Photograph? Thinking Out Loud? I See Fire? Christ, the album was 24 songs of heartache. At 24 years old, this Brit dominated 2015 unlike any other.

3. Rihanna – 6,003,159 followers

When you are Rihanna you don’t have to do much. She is working on a new album called Anti which has the songs FourFiveSeconds with Kanye and Paul McCartney and Bitch, Better Have My Money. She really is the queen and will excel at whatever she puts out because she sings like a cross between Fergie and Jesus. It should also be noted that she is into ODB and he doesn’t feel the same way. Her life is waking up in Barbados, getting high, singing some songs, getting drunk, doing whatever the fuck she wants. Not bad.

2. Maroon 5 – 6,313,086 followers

Adam Levine on the Voice

Overtaking Rihanna for the #2 spot is Maroon 5. This happens when you release an album like V which has smashes like Maps, Animals, and Sugar. Plus Adam Levine is on the Voice which has to soar his popularity as well as the band’s. It doesn’t hurt that every girl wants his nuts. I’ve heard him on Howard Stern and he actually seems like a nice guy. This band is not going anywhere so get used to them by the top.

1. David Guetta – 7,355,889 followers

The DJ who no one knows anything about. He’s French. He’s 48. I have to imagine his age and worldly appeal have a lot to do with his popularity. He also works with the most famous, talented artists such as Sia, John Legend, Ryan Tedder, and Sam Martin to name a few. I personally don’t know much about David Guetta. Apparently 7.3 million people do.

Biggest Climbers

Beatles – 1,433,045 followers

Being out for 1 week, hmmmm, we may see them top the list next year.

The Weeknd – 2,527,137 followers

Monster hit with Can’t Feel My Face and the album Beauty Behind the Madness is still popping hits with In the Night and Losers.

Hozier – 977,173 followers

A highly anticipated 2nd album can only bring Hozier more to the front. The self-titled album Hozier has wowed the music seen with thoughtful lyrics and songs you want to sing. I hope he keeps firing on all cylinders and doesn’t fall off like many other artists have when making their 2nd album.

Imagine Dragons – 2,894,258 followers

The 2nd album Smoke and Mirrors was a disappointment only because Night Visions was so good. I have a feeling Imagine Dragons will fight back with a fire breathing vengeance.

29 Dec, 2015

Heroin: Cape Cod, USA

By Tom Stortz|2015-12-29T11:44:05-05:00December 29th, 2015|My Brain|0 Comments

Just using the word heroin garners attention. HBO had a documentary on heroin addicts and I watched their struggle for 70 minutes. 2 of the 8 stories didn’t even make it through the documentary which was pretty sad.

There were 1,250+ deaths due to overdose from opiates last year in Massachusetts alone. Cape Cod was highlighted in this documentary to show that this happens in affluent, white areas as well as lower income places. Some stories started from car accidents which left the people damaged and put on painkillers, then moved to heroin. Although each story had its own flavor, each person found themselves being called back to the drug over and over.

[dropcap background=”yes”]Oh, what a nice drug.[/dropcap]

This girl was especially tragic. When she was going through her story I figured she was 30+, but it turned out she was 23. She rationalized why she stripped or (didn’t) steal in bizarre fashion. Just a lost soul who desperately needed help but there was no one there. Her explanation of how everyone abandons you was sad.

One of the worst stories for me was a guy named Daniel who not only ruined his life, but those around him. From what I could tell, hardly anyone had jobs and would deal to maintain their habit. Daniel in particular would deal just to get himself and people around him high. A repeating story from these addicts was going to detox and then relapsing.

As I watched, I felt myself thinking how lucky I was to not have to deal with what these people were going through. There were stuck in a black hole with little escape. It’s easy to see the drug encompassing their brain and life. You’d like to think that all they have to do is stop taking it but it’s not that simple. This video which I’ve embedded before is a great explanation. I strongly suggest you watch it.

28 Dec, 2015

NFL O/U Predictions Update

By Tom Stortz|2016-10-28T15:45:40-04:00December 28th, 2015|Fantasy|0 Comments

2015 Predictions

Currently my predictions will work out with 16 right, 8 wrong, and 8 undetermined.

Seattle, Indianapolis, and the Eagles were disappointing picks. Way off on Miami, Carolina, and the Giants. Made some nice calls with the Jets, Vikings, and Cardinals.

Sorry this post sucks but I have no Monday motivation.

24 Dec, 2015

Beatles Get Added To Streaming Services

By Tom Stortz|2015-12-24T13:00:31-05:00December 24th, 2015|Music|1 Comment

As of 12:00am Thursday, the Beatles can be streamed. They have been added to Spotify, Apple Music, Tidal, Deezer, Google Play,and Amazon Prime. What impact does this have?

Stream Your Music!

Your fans are happy as well.

I’m deleting every MP3 from my hard drive. I can’t think of reasons to have them except when I’m low on data which is rare. I use Sirius when I’m in my car so I understand that traveling could be an argument to why you shouldn’t delete them. I look at MP3’s as hoarding. You don’t want to get rid of them because you think at some point in time you’ll need them. You won’t.

With the Beatles finally making the move, there just aren’t a lot of songs that you don’t have available to stream. You pay $15 dollars a month, you can stream music from your phone to your wireless speaker, and you are a database of music that has never been felt before. You have access to new songs on the day of their release. There is no waiting to get the new CD. You have music at your fingertips.

So lame.

Of course you have cunt-inued artists like Adele and Taylor Swift who don’t want to play the game but they are the rare case. Streaming music is the only growing source of music. The music industry works like this. You become popular by streaming, make a little money as people play your songs, then make bigger money performing live. Eliminate the idea that album sales are going to be your main source of revenue. Fuck paying .99 per download. Here’s the financial breakdown of industry revenue:

Physical – In 2004 revenue was $12 billion from CD sales. It has since declined to $2.3 billion in 2015. Who still buys CD’s?
Streaming – Streaming has grown to $1.9 billion in 2015 and continues to grow.
Digital Downloads – Have averaged around $2 billion for the past 7 years but will decline rapidly once people realize they are retarded for paying for songs and albums.

Streaming is the only source that is growing. Did you know Spotify paid Led Zeppelin millions for the exclusive rights? Why do you think they are doing this? Duh. Recurring revenue is the best way to build a business and you need the most popular artists to bring in new subscribers. Spotify is up to 20 million paying subscribers and 80 million free users. That’s 80 million people who are listening to ads which is by far the dumbest waste of time when you consider it is $15 dollars a month. GET WITH THE PROGRAM.

As a Beatles fan, I’m happy that they have opened up their catalog. They are one of the world’s greatest bands and now I can listen to songs I never knew existed without spending hundreds of dollars on CD’s. Merry Christmas from The Beatles.