The Ohio legislature has applied its governmental boot to the vulnerable fundament of the payday loan industry. The payday loan shops, which have been springing up like weeds (an apt comparison) in poor neighborhoods nationwide over the last few years, are nothing but loan sharking with a snazzy logo and a formica countertop.

Charging victims $15 for a loan of $100 for two weeks, the shops do not tell their prey that the annual percentage rate of those terms comes to 391%.

The new law limits interest rates to 28% annually, and the payday places are dropping like flies (also an apt comparison).

I would like to say a few things to the payday loan industry:

1. YOU SUCK. You knew exactly what you were doing when you set up in those poor neighborhoods, enticing folks into unpayable and ever-increasing debt. You are evil. You are criminal. You make the world worse everyday by getting up and going to work.

2. HA HA. You lose. Your stock prices are plunging and you are losing a fortune. 1,600 of your debt traps will close in August in Ohio. It is so beautiful when evil is brought to justice.

Read the full story here.

Howdy, folks. Just so’s you know, our new CD “Made from Scratch” is on iTunes as well as CD Baby. They even give you these cool buttons. Look what happens if you click them…

Yep. “Made from Scratch” is up on CD Baby, both as CDs and mp3 downloads.

Looks like this.

What we got here is a vid from St. Patrick’s, in which The Demerits mix a trad favorite with some heavy metal tunes.

Download if you dare. (mp4)

This was, of course, the rollicking annual St. Patrick’s gig, and we were joined by past guitarists Ben Kibbe and Chris Brubaker.  Nice big hoot fun.

A mighty snow it was.

Here is a vid for you, filmed by the steady (?) hand of my son Christian. The tunes are Brian Boru’s March, The Key to the Convent, The Earl’s Chair, and Drag Her Round the Road.

See it here.

In other music news, we have preliminary artwork selected for the CD, and it’s right purdy. Designed by the one and only Dave Sizemore. See example above.
The Demerits’ new CD “Made from Scratch” is now in production and will be released on April 10 at a super fun CD Release Party Concert Event and Tupperware Show. Advance orders are now open. Why order in advance, you ask? Excellent question.

Two reasons:
Reason Number One: You’ll get the CD five bucks cheaper. Saving money = good.
Reason Number B: You will help The Demerits fund the project. Helping = good.

To order, go therefore to this website do all that is written therein:

http://people.cedarville.edu/employee/johnmortensen/demerits.htm

Institutional Disclaimer:

The Demerits function under the austere governance and draconian whims of the Department of Music and Art.

Financial Disclaimer:

The Demerits receive product placement fee income from Tupperware, Alpo Dog Food, Spiff Shine Hair Ointment, and Toothless Earl’s Bodacious Banjo Parlor and Tractor Repair Emporium.

Once again The Demerits will take to the Hive and play a gig.  This is one is Tuesday 5 February at 9 pm.  The official approved authoritative announcement reads as follows:

Tuesday 5 February at 9 pm in The Hive:

The Higher Education Research Institute has placed The Demerits on probation as “of questionable academic value”;  The Demerits have placed the Higher Education Research Institute on probation as “more boringer than wet leaves”. 

In other news, the group has been rehearsing quite a lot in preparation for the next recording.  The CD will be called “Made from Scratch” because we are going to record most of it in our kitchen.  Is that not a cool idea?  Yes.  It is a cool idea.

A design contest is underway among the graphic design majors, and as usual their ideas are diverse and sundry.  We hope to have a preliminary design chosen within a week or so.

Also, I have bought me self a blackwood Irish flute.  After obsessive and extensive online reading and listening, I chose a Copley and Boegli flute, mainly because they sound wonderful, but also because the maker lives here in Ohio.  Buy local and stick it to the empire!

Here are four films by the kids:

1. “Potato in a Golf Cart”, by Ian Mortensen

2. “Misadventures of Potato Guy”, by Ian Mortensen

3. “Lego Misadventures”, by Ian Mortensen

4. “Ninja Movie”, by Sophie Mortensen

At the instigation of Ian, several in my house have embarked on a project to make some stop-motion films. This is the first of (one hopes) several installments.

I call it “Bear Attack.”

And here is another one called “Hoover and Morgan.”

In these modern times we must speak on the phone, at times, with computers. They ask for our ID and credit card numbers. We tell them. They repeat it and ask us if that was right. YES. They sound almost human, especially when they make quasi-small talk like, “OK, I’m looking up that information for you; alright, I have it right here,” when in fact all that happened was that a computer without a soul went and got a file. It is only a matter of time until they start calling me Dude or Honey.
I have noticed, recently, that they are getting way better at understanding me. I no longer have to enunciate. I rarely have to repeat myself.

Therefore, in the interest of Science, I propose an experiment; all readers are invited to participate and comment. The question is: how much can these computers understand? Can they tell if you are angry? Sarcastic? Can you say Uh-huh instead of Yes? Nope or Nuh-uh instead of No? Can you insult them? Can you say Yes, Idiot?
In order to start the experiment, I tested an automated prescription refill service. The scientific test was to determine whether it could understand a human speaker who replied H-E-Double-Hockey-Sticks No instead of plain regular No. The results: The computer understood completely.

Now, your turn…