Sony to Begin Producing Vinyl Records Again

Sony Music, the world's second largest producer of recorded music, has announced that by March 2018 it will begin production of vinyl records in-house once again after ceasing production in 1989 because of the public's apparent lack of interest and demand for CD's. The move comes in response to an unexpected new massive demand that appears to have begun just a few years ago.

Now, vinyl record sales are skyrocketing! According to Time Magazine, over 9.2 million records were sold in 2014. Then the number jumped to nearly 12 million in 2015, which was the highest sales total since 1988. Now, this past year, sales of vinyl records were actually higher than CD's for at least one month in Britain.

Sony has announced that they have "found" a cutting lathe for its Tokyo studios so they can produce master discs which are needed to manufacture vinyl records. In the U.S., NPR has reported that there are only about 16 operating presses still remaining in the country. Most of them are now overloaded with the new demand.

According to the BBC, Sony is now faced with a problem of being able to find engineers who are still alive who remember how the manufacturing process works to create vinyl records in the first place. Holy Cow! Who would have thought this would happen after CD's came along?

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$500 Million Poppy Field Accidentally Discovered in N.C.

Talk about bad luck, this happened last week in Catawba County, North Carolina, and boy, the guy who was arrested must feel stupid as you-know-what.

Sheriff's Office deputies got a phone tip last week about an unrelated charge and knocked on the door of Mr. Cody Xiong. Xiong opened the door and thought the deputies were there about the illegal plants in his back yard, so he said, "I guess you're here for the opium?"

When authorities walked to Xiong's back yard, they discovered around 2,000 plants with an estimated value of about $500 million. The actual value will depend on how much the plants actually weigh. When processed, the opium is usually turned into morphine or heroin.

Opium plants are quite illegal to grow in the U.S. and most other countries. The field was about an acre in size and is located near Claremont, a Catawba County town located about 40 miles north of Charlotte. Claremont has a population of about 1,300 people.

Xiong, 37, is also suspected of being involved in a cockfighting operation. The deputies found quite a number of chickens around the home with unusual wounds. A total of eighty chickens were confiscated.

Xiong was charged with manufacturing a Schedule II drug and trafficking in opium. He has been released on $45,000 bail.

Activist Wants To Publish Politicians' Browsing Histories

Last Tuesday our beloved U.S. House of Representatives proposed legislation to wipe out the landmark online privacy protections that were approved by the FCC during the final days of the Obama administration. The Senate voted the same way last week. Now the resolution goes to President Trump's desk for his signature. The White House has said that it "strongly supports" the repeal.

The rules, which had actually not yet gone into effect, would require Internet service providers to get your permission before they can collect and share your personal data. You did know that your service provider has data on everything you do on the Internet, including your browsing history, application use and even your satellite location, right? And they would also have been required to notify you about whatever types of information they were paid to share about you.

Well, there's this guy in Chattanooga who's really upset at all of this and knows enough about how the Internet works that he can actually do something about it. Adam McElhaney has decided that when this law goes into effect, he's going to turn the tables on everybody who voted for it and purchase the Internet histories of every single legislator, congressman, and executive who voted for the bill, along with their family's information, and make it easily searchable on the web.

Yup, everything from their medical, personal, financial, infidelity, porn searches, etc. Whatever he can find, he's going to publish it for all of us to see and enjoy. And he's asking for donations, "to restore our right to privacy."

So far, his campaign, which was seeking $10,000, has raised something over $160,000 and the figure is rising fast. Adam's website is https://www.gofundme.com/searchinternethistory.
Sounds like a pretty good idea to me.

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