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The Hear-The-Music Edition Sunday, March 6, 2016

Deaf Girl Makes Beautiful Music In Regent Park, by Christina Blizzard, Toronto Sun

She may not be able to hear the music. But she feels it in a way you and I never will.

Retrospect 13, by Agen G. N. Schmitz, TidBITS

The update improves the speed of the catalog rebuild process, as well as backup and restore (up to 20 percent faster).

The Man Who Made A Million Empires, by Colin Campbell, Polygon

Not many creators have the brazen audacity to slap their name in the actual titles of the things they create. John Lennon didn't call his 1971 album, "John Lennon's Imagine." Mrs. Dalloway isn't called "Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway." James Cameron has so far managed to keep his name out of all his movie titles.

But a lot of Sid Meier's games flash the words "Sid Meier" right there in the title. Most famously: the Sid Meier's Civilization series, which has sold more than 33 million units over the past 25 years. The most recent is 2010's Sid Meier's Civilization 5. It's one of the greatest strategy games ever made.

The Premature Death Of The Video Store (And Why It’s Worth Saving), by Jason Bailey, Flavorwire

All I’ve read, for months and even years, is that the video store is dead, and yet here I am at the counter of Video Free Brooklyn in the middle of a weekday afternoon, and I can’t get a word in edgewise. I’m there to interview Aaron Hillis, the film writer and enthusiast who took over the 13-year-old store in 2012, and we can barely exchange one question and one answer before we have to pause so he can check out another customer, or sell a gift certificate, or take a call and track down a title.

“This is right on Smith Street,” Hillis explains, “which has the best walking traffic because it’s the restaurant row of downtown Brooklyn.” The phone rings again. “Excuse me,” he says, reaching for the receiver.

It’s Discounted, But Is It A Deal? How List Prices Lost Their Meaning, by David Streitfeld, New York Times

The perception of a bargain is fostered by online retailers’ use of something variously labeled list price, suggested price, reference price or manufacturer’s suggested retail price. Whatever its name, the implication is that people are paying much more somewhere else.

But with many products online, you could not pay the list price even if you wanted to. That is because hardly anyone is actually charging it. It is a sales tactic that is drawing legal scrutiny, as well as prompting questions about the integrity of e-commerce. If everyone is getting a deal, is anyone really getting a deal?

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