Alex H, from Sydnie, Australia, suggests a great idea based on data from the book Freakonomics.

In the book, there is a story of a man who puts boxes of bagels in offices and asks for a donation price. The Bagel Man found that on average, 87% of the people where honest.

Alex H says instead of filing lawsuits against a few people who use peer-to-peer networks (such as Kazaa or iMesh), those music downloading programs should include a paypal link. And then they should make public how much you were willing to pay.

I think that’s a great idea. I would be willing to pay iTunes’s asking price of $0.99 for a song from a band that I really liked, but I won’t pay that for a song that I just kind of like. So, less popular bands would not get any of my business, because I don’t want to pay that much. If they had a donation thing going, sure I’d be willing to pay $0.50 for a song, or how about 3 for $0.99. Something is better than nothing, right?

If I was in a not-so-well-known band, I’d like that idea too. They would get more exposure if people are more willing to download their music, and therefore they would be making more money. Sure they wouldn’t be hauling in as much as say, U2, but also look at the difference between the price of U2’s concert tickets and and The Plain White Tees’s concert tickets. The difference is between $20 and $35 (guessing $10 for TPWT and $30-45 for U2).

Maybe you see what I’m saying, and if you read the article, it will make a whole lot more sense.

Director: Breck Eisner
Starring: Penelope Cruz, Rainn Wilson, Steve Zhan

It’s Indiana Jones, National Treasure, James Bond, and Flight of the Phoenix all rolled up in one. It’s corny. It’s [very] predictable. It only gets two stars.

I saw Sahara at a dollar theater. It’s one of those movies you only need to watch once. You only need to watch half an hour of it to know the ending. If you happen to have a room full of 12-year-old boys, this would be a great movie to watch.

There are funny parts to it, but most of it is unrealistic. These guys are better at dodging bullets than James Bond. In fact, they seem to be able to dodge everything from bombs, blasts, bullets from all types of weapons, to nuculer waste explosions. The one thing they can’t survive: a black-tie affair.

The plot? I won’t tell you too much, because then you wouldn’t have to watch the movie. A couple of guys who work for a treasure hunting company have dreams of finding a Confederate Ironclad ship in Africa. They take their boss’s yacht and sail over there. Meanwhile, a girl who works for a global humanitarian aid agency is sent to Africa to discover what is causing a plague. If the plague is not stopped, the whole world’s drinking water will be affected and everyone will die. The girl and the other two guys meet up and help each other out. You can guess the rest.

Here’s a link to see some of the goofs that were caught. Something I noticed was at the end, the girl is up on a helicopter launch pad fighting bad guys, and she’s wearing white. She has been wearing those clothes throughout almost the entire movie. They are still clean. She was crawling around in the desert for a week and her white clothes are still white? I don’t think so.

The Bottom Line: Watch the movie if it’s on t.v. (and nothing better is on), or if you want a nice action film for your 12-year-old son’s birthday party.

Yucky stuff nobody likes.

The Best Album to listen to: U2: The Best of 1980-1990

The Best Place to listen to Polka Music: Leavenworth, Washington

The Best Place to Drink Coffee: Seattle, Washington

The Best Place to find a Book: Powell’s Books, Portland, Oregon

The Best Place to see a Shark’s Belly: Oregon Coast Aquarium, Newport, Oregon

The Best Place to eat Breakfast: Camp 18, Oregon

The Best Place to get dashed to pieces on a rock: Oregon Coastline

The Best Place to find a Horse: Boise, Idaho

The Best Movie to watch relating to a tourist activity: Escape from Alcatraz

The Best Place to watch Whales for Free: Freshwater Beach, California (40 miles north of Eureka, at Redwood Forest Visitor Information)

The Best Place to make a plan to Take Over the World (muahuahua): The Presidio, San Francisco, California

The Best Place to find Pinky and the Brain: The Presidio, San Francisco, California

The Best Way to offend a San Franciscan: Call a cable car a “Trolley.”

My aunt suggested that I re-search the amount of Starbucks in the area of Seattle. Before I had done the search with a Bothell zip code and a 20 mile radius. It ended up being 185 stores. Aunty said to do it with the 98101 (downtown Seattle) zip code and a 50 mile radius to get all of the everywhere. I did the search and it came up with much more exciting results.

There are 341 Starbucks stores in Seattle.

Nice. I wonder if it counts the one on top of the Space Needle, because it isn’t an actual Store; it’s in a partnership with the mega-company. If it does not count, then there are actually 342 stores. Maybe I’ll look through the results some day and find out.

Remember, there are only 341 Starbucks stores. This excludes how many other coffee shops there are. Like Maxi Java, Dizzy Beans, etc. I noticed, just around the Space Needle, that there were 2 stores only devoted to coffee, but there were several other places that also had diferent types of coffee available. Just around the Space Needle. Inside the Space Needle, there were 3 different spots you could buy coffee also.

We were talking about how Starbucks doesn’t offer a rewards system. They don’t give you punch cards. Or other stuff like that. The only exception would be with the ones in Safeway–and you have to use your Safeway card.

I should start a quest to find out the total amount of coffee shops in Seattle. I think that it would be impossible to find out.

It’s like carrots and peas. Guitars and picks. Sun and Shine. It’s Starbucks and Seattle. There are at least 185 Starbucks shops in the area. For all the coffee around, people really aren’t that hyper. The city’s smog is composed of frozen breath, coffee steam, and the other stuff that smog is made out of. But it’s mostly coffee steam.

My friend pointed out that people aren’t that excited because it’s the capital of grunge. He may be right. I said that that is a part of it, but the cold could also be another part. The summer is colder than an Arizona winter. And cats. Cats are like the Seattle people. Cats aren’t happy animals. Dogs are happy animals. But you never think of dogs when you think of Seattle.

Keep having fun…in the meantime, I’m going to try to get a shot of me playing some grunge with my aunt’s boyfriend’s guitar. I’m working on it…

Is it possible? A UFO caught on Google’s pictures? It’s pretty convincing to me.

Las Vegas is stinky, noisy, and boring. Don’t go there. Ever. Save yourself a headache or too. See! I’m not even using grammer write because of that place.

Boise, Idaho is a nice place. It’s clean, quiet, and has a small-town personality. Plus, I have family there. I rode horses (English) and stayed up late.

Wenatchee, Washington is nice too. My mom grew up here. We are staying with some of my dad’s friends. They have an orchard (pears, and their house is decorated with a pearish decor. Interesting enough..). And they have a a street named after them.

Next stop: Seattle! Home of the most famous coffee shop–Starbucks!
Then Portland, Oregon; Oregon Coastline, San Francisco, California; and lastly back home.

Quick note: I saw Sahara when I was in Boise. It’s a a movie that you can only see once. The heros are better at dodging bullets than James Bond. It’s like a James Bond, The Flight of the Phoenix, National Treasure, and Indiana Jones all rolled up in one. Better review comming soon.