I received an interesting email from Christopher Boylan earlier and was going to share it, before I stumbled on to this: Manufactured Diamonds. It is an old article, but very interesting nonetheless. It shows how diamonds are soon going to be cheap and readily available. Aren't they too rare to be cheap? No, they are not as rare as you would believe. They are so expensive simply because one company (DeBeers) owns all diamonds mined in the world. When you own all of them, you can decide to release only a few and jack up the price. This is why it is morally wrong to buy diamonds. They are the product of marketing and a company that exploits third-world countries and supports the violent dictators that supply them with product. In a related story... CDs are much the same. While not propping up evil governments, CD makers are themselves money-grubbing bastards that have no interest in the rights of artists. While I understand that file-sharing may be morally dubious (there are successful arguments for it), the music industry crying for help is a plea to which I will never listen. All of this comes from Slashdot, a confusing but very interesting place.
Hey, I posted this as a comment to an earlier blog entry... but in case you don't see it, here it is again. P.S. I'm the bastard. Hello, Other Chris Boylan. I was ego-surfing an found your site. Nice domain name! In reference to your comment about being ranked 147th on Google for "chris boylan" - well, now you're up to #5. So that should make your day. The reason you're not currently #1 is probably because I am currently #1, 2 and 3 - my sites include enjoythemusic.com (I write for the magazine), boylanfamily.com, web-search-engines.com, a Vassar alumni Web site, and a few others. I freelance as a Search Engine Optimization consultant so, while I never actually optimized my sites for my (our) name, it just kinda happened. But you have a huge leg up since you have "chrisboylan" in your domain name. If you can get a few more folks linking to the site (build your Google PR) then I would not be surprised to see you knock me out of the top 3 one day, if that's your goal. Anyway... best of luck with the site and the blog. Later, Chris -------------------------------------------------------- As you can see, I have climbed up a bit since the email, but it will only last as long as this other Chris Boylan sees fit. His job is to make websites appear first in search engines. My job is to fix broken radio things and generally appear busy. Thus, if he puts his mind to it, I could tumble back to the bottom. C'est la vie. (My google page rank has improved tremedously thanks to my link from my employer, RockyAllen.com.) Also, he and I have written further and it appears that he is awaiting the birth of his first child. He promises me that I will soon be a proud... nom-uncle? I don't know what you would call it.
Well, I certainly thought my interest would have waned by now, but look at me! I'm still typing!

Anyway, the reason for the week gap in entries has to do with the hectic nature of the last week at work. Starting Monday, The Rocky Allen Show - the place of my employ, will begin broadcasting live to our two newest affiliates. Unfortunately, if you do not live in Abilene, TX or Billings, MT you will not be able to hear this over the air. You will, however, be able to hear us over the internet - live from 6-10 AM ET. Check us out, we kinda know what we're doing.

Also, in case you haven't noticed, the Giants take on the St. Louis Rams on Sunday. I expect Big Blue to emerge victorious - they are very underrated and the Rams are overrated. I'd type more on the situation, but not now.

However, I will give a season prediction for the Giants' record. 12-4, and NFC East champions. They'll be in the running for home-field advantage, but it's way too early to guess if they'll get it. It's going to be an exciting year.

I am a very happy man this week as mine own New York Football Giants were victorious over the hated St. Louis Rams. Not as strong a victory as I had hoped (the offense only picked up one touchdown), but still impressive nonetheless. Next week, they take on the Dallas Cowboys on Monday Night Football in High Definition. The defense was better than expected, and the offense was not as powerful as I had hoped (which led to me losing in both fantasy leagues).

Alright, so you suffered through some football talk. Well, how about this. Warning: this story is not for children and not particularly new. Nevertheless. It comes from thesmokinggun.com, a site you should check out occasionally anyway. Check out the last paragraph. There are rumors that there is film of this event. Good times.

P.S. Anybody have an X-Box? I just found a way to play XBox online without paying anything to Microsoft and need somebody to check it out.