Randomness, randomness, randomness is the order of the day today.

So, random ramblings and links.

CNN is reporting that Microsoft has announced they are giving a limited number of American consumers a limited opportunity to obtain cheap upgrade copies of Windows 7. After that date American consumers will have to pay full price for the OS that Vista should have been. As per usual, there will be a slight price break for those upgrading from the previous OS, and it looks as though they are extending this pricebreak to those who decided not to downgrade from the perfectly usable XP to the broken Vista. However holdouts using older versions of Microsofts Windows OS will need to pony up a little extra for the full version. Unless of course they are in Europe where, in order to comply with anti-monopoly statutes, Microsoft will provide browser free versions of the full software for the upgrade price.

Thanks for screwing your countrymen over during a recession Bill! We appreciate that! I mean, first you let us have Vista before its ready (at a princely sum, natch…) and now you’re gonna let us subsidize the bonus cash your losing for being forced to provide Europeans upgrades at a fair price. Thanks AGAIN! Capitalism rocks!

In other news, Michael Jackson may or may not be dead. TMZ (a source nearly as reliable as Vista is stable) has been reporting the King of Pop passed away last night after suffering a heart attack. Other news outlets refuse to confirm his death, but seem to have no problem leading off with headlines that read “Jackson Dead: according to unverified reports”.

We here at Anomaly won’t believe he is dead until we see the death certificate in news sources with just a touch more legitimacy than TMZ. But if it turns out reports are true, we are expecting a trend where Jackson death deniers claim he wanted to escape fame for obscurity, a la the King of Rock, and faked his death to that end. We’ll also expect reports of Jackson sightings to start pouring in from Las Vegas before the end of the month, (hopefully sharing fried peanut butter and banana sandwiches with the other King.)

*Update, CNN has confirmed that Jackson has indeed passed away. Our thoughts are with his family and children at this time.

Time now to go home, pull out the vinyl, put on “Off the Wall” and try to forget the controversies of the last two decades while the sheer unadulterated talent washes over us.

Join us for the first-ever
CITIZINE MUSIC SHOWCASE!

SATURDAY, AUGUST 2
SPIDERHOUSE - Outdoor Stage
2908 Fruth St. // Austin TX 78705
Map to venue

DOORS OPEN AT 8 PM

Featuring The Black Irish and
special guests The McMercy Family Band

PLUS! DJ Skooley spinning psychedelic,
soul, and experimental music till 2 am!

Enter CITIZINE

Recall that back in late 2001 the RIAA wanted Congress to pass laws allowing them to hack into your computer (aka “Break the Law”) so that they could snoop around your hard drive for pirated materials (and who knows what else they might find and turn you in for). Well now a training video has surfaced that supports the RIAA’s privacy invasion campaigns because … they can lead to discovery of evidence of other non-piracy related crimes.

Hat tip to Disinfo.com & Slashdot.org

Leaked RIAA Training Video: Find Pirates and Also Find… Crack Dealers and Terrorists? There’s a leaked RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) training video produced with the NDAA (National District Attorneys Association) floating around the web that argues U.S. prosecutors should pursue piracy cases because it leads to bigger and badder wares, like handguns, drugs, terrorist organizations, and hardcore repeat offender criminals. In other words, in their minds, music and video piracy is the new gateway to the criminal underworld…

www.disinfo.com

Leaked RIAA Training Video - “Gizmodo has a clip of that RIAA training video produced with the NDAA for US prosecutors that was leaked to torrent sites a few days ago. It argues they should pursue piracy cases because it leads to bigger and badder wares, like handguns, drugs, terrorist orgs, and hardcore repeat offender criminals. It’s kind of sad how far they’re stretching to bring law enforcement into the matter.”

yro.slashdot.org

I was recently tipped to an MP3 of David Lee Roth’s isolated vocal track for “Running with the Devil”

You can find it here.

Enjoy!