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So upset about the MU takedown. [Jan. 20th, 2012|12:27 am]
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I'm furious at the timing of the Megaupload take down.

It's obviously intended to bolster SOPA and PIPA.

Megaupload is in serious trouble. Whenever MU was told of a copyright violation, they just killed the individual link rather than taking the copyrighted material down. That makes it clear they weren't acting in good faith.

But Megaupload isn't the problem. What's driving illegal downloading is not "criminals" but ordinary people trying to gain access to their shows in a modern format.

The television and movie industry is behind the times and still seems to think that they are putting out shows to a national market. They believe in the fallacy of regions.

Regions are old and dead. They've been dead since the late 90s. The internet killed them ten years ago. But the television and movie industry has yet to catch up.

American audiences are gobbling up British TV shows, and gabbing over the internet about those shows with their fellow fans in the UK. Movies released first in the US are being watched and discussed in Malta, the very day they come out in America. Because consumers are connected to each other globally, regions have become meaningless.

Ignoring this, Syfy shows the British series Merlin six months later than it's shown in jolly old England -- as if the English fans and American fans have no way to communicate with each other!

Theatrical companies do the same, releasing movies first in the US and only later overseas -- as if those foreigners have no access to Rottentomatoes.com and no chat buddies in NYC!

Cable companies and rental businesses like Netflix are doing better with TV shows and movies On Demand. They're starting to realize the quick, easy, and instantaneous access to shows on the internet is luring away their customers (especially the young, tech-savvy ones). Networks like ABC have episodes of popular shows on their website, so they're getting it, albeit slowly.

Strengthening the laws isn't going to make the illegal downloading go away. The horse has left the barn. Making it illegal for the horse to leave is stupid. So is trying to force the world of media back to 1999.

MPAA: don't repeat RIAA's mistake with Napster. Take over the Megaupload distribution model. Profit.

The real problem is that Megaupload is being used as a straw man in the debate over SOPA and PIPA. The Department of Justice of course wants SOPA, and this is a move to counter the protests and blackout of yesterday.

Here's my statement:
According to allegations, Megaupload, when informed of illegal copyright information, didn't take it down like other websites, such as YouTube and elsewhere, do.

The Department of Justice has taken a sledgehammer to the problem and taken down everyone's uploaded content, whether they violated the law or not. I tend to upload mp3s of interviews I've conducted -- and legal content like mine was destroyed in the take down of Megaupload.

If the DOJ can destroy legal content, then the laws are already too broad. SOPA must be opposed.


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Joining the internet strike. [Jan. 18th, 2012|02:27 am]
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This DW/LJ is on strike today to protest SOPA and PIPA.

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Two Boston Geeks with 2 Cats Looking for Housemate [Jan. 17th, 2012|02:49 pm]
A friend of a friend is looking for a housemate. Nice couple

You gotta love the picture.

If you know a likely candidate in Boston, please pass it along.

Their Craigslist ad.

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Shh. I'm hiding.... [Jan. 17th, 2012|01:32 am]
When "should" and "don't wanna" collide, I wrestle my conscience, but it's solvable.

How important is the should?
Are there valid reasons for the don't wanna?

But when "should" and "ambivalent" collide ... oh man. Now there's a fight I can't win.

(Brought to you by a weekend of guilt, chocolate, broken promises to myself, excuses, avoidance, no sleep, a cold ... and more chocolate.)

ETA: Ah well. I made my cats feel safe, taught kids how to write, fed the deer (unintentionally), and the birds (intentionally). So the weekend wasn't a total wash.


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Remember when BoA tried to foreclose on our temple? [Jan. 15th, 2012|01:13 am]
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Remember when Bank of America tried to foreclose on our temple? Now it's time to pay it forward.

They suddenly pulled the note and demanded we pay everything immediately or they'd seize the property. Thanks to a lot of support, we paid the note.

Now it's time for us to help another church. BB&T bank is doing the same damned thing:

BB&T bank is attempting to foreclose on one of the oldest churches in Dr. Martin Luther King’s old Atlanta neighborhood.

The Higher Ground Empowerment Center church was forced to take out a loan when a tornado devastated the property in 2008. BB&T bank has repeatedly ignored and refused requests to modify the church’s loan. All this while the bank benefited from a $3.1 billion bailout from the American people.

Want to celebrate Martin Luther King Day? I can think of no better way.

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So. Deer eat bird seed, do they? [Jan. 14th, 2012|03:47 pm]
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The bird seed mystery is solved.

Stepped outside to find the bird feeder totally empty again. But this time, the ground was frozen to reveal tracks.

Deer tracks.

I can see it now. Deer walks up to bird feeder tray. Lick-lick-lick-lick-lick and it's all gone. LOL!

On the one hand, I don't mind feeding the deer. On the other hand, I doubt bird seed is an ideal diet.

Time to buy more apples.

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FDR and the Second Bill of Rights. [Jan. 12th, 2012|02:18 pm]
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From [personal profile] peoppenheimer here:

“In our day these economic truths have become accepted as self-evident. We have accepted, so to speak, a second Bill of Rights under which a new basis of security and prosperity can be established for all—regardless of station, race, or creed.”

  • The right to a useful and remunerative job in the industries or shops or farms or mines of the nation;
  • The right to earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation;
  • The right of every farmer to raise and sell his products at a return that will give him and his family a decent living;
  • The right of every businessman, large and small, to trade in an atmosphere of freedom from unfair competition and domination by monopolies at home or abroad;
  • The right of every family to a decent home;
  • The right to adequate medical care and the opportunity to achieve and enjoy good health;
  • The right to adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment;
  • The right to a good education.


(Franklin Delano Roosevelt, January 11, 1944; quoted from Sunstein, 2004, The Second Bill of Rights, New York: Basic Books)

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Book meme: yes, giving in. [Jan. 12th, 2012|06:30 am]
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I've been resisting this one:

Pick up the nearest book to you.
Turn to page 45.
The first sentence describes your sex life in 2012.


Intentions and aims: You will achieve them.
(It's a divination manual.)

The other book is likely to be weirder:

From eastern Tibet I received word of a man who had a copy of the medium-length sadana.
(Yep.)

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Apologies [Jan. 12th, 2012|03:17 am]
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Sometimes I have a lot of respect for my ex, [profile] wildernessguru.

One of the things I learned from watching him was that ... you don't have to be 100% in the wrong to apologize. You just have to recognize that the other person is upset and care how they feel. The rest sorts itself out afterward.

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A call for spoofs of Chevron [Jan. 12th, 2012|03:05 am]
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Chevron's desperate spin of its dumping crude in the Ecuador rainforest for a decade:

"Uh... it's absolutely true -- I mean, untrue, untrue! -- that we did this, and, um, it's not really that bad. I mean, there's oil in my 100% rabbit-tested makeup, which is exactly the same as dumping toxic sludge in an ecologically vital rainforest. I'm a fragile flower."



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Any of you reading Sanctuary fic? [Jan. 10th, 2012|03:03 pm]
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Um. I may have kinda sorta started a Sanctuary episode tag.

Anyone out there interested in beta-ing?

*crickets chirp*

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Hungry birds [Jan. 10th, 2012|01:17 am]
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A little bird feeder hangs in my tree now, a red and white house complete with chimney and miniature wreath on the door. This was the Xmas gift I knew was coming, tu whit:

Me: "The birds seem to like the sunflower seeds. I figure I'll stop off at the bird place and--"
Mom: "No, no--don't!"
Me: *stares*
Mom (chagrined): "Um. Perhaps you might want to wait till after Christmas?"

It's as much entertainment for the (indoor) cats as for the birds, though I figure when you drop a townhouse on a piece of land, you wipe out a few food sources and have a responsibility to replace them.

Callie, the gray kitty, meowred herself silly the first day. She was zonked out by the time I got home, too tired to move. (She's learned moderation.) Rothy, one of the kitty boys, asked me to put a feeder in his backyard window. (Sorry, son, I'll never fill it if I have to bushwhack my way there.)

Anyhow, the birds and spectators are pleased and so am I. It usually takes three days for them to go through the seed.

Saturday night I ran out. Worked Sunday so I picked up more seed on the way home, this time a cheaper "Eastern US" mix. Cheerfully filled it up.

It was all gone by 11am.

Either they love the new mix, a squirrel's figured out how to get into it (though I'd expect more spillage, as a squirrel would have to work pretty hard to get it), or they were really hungry after a day of it hanging empty. It snowed today, so maybe they knew and stocked up on the bird equivalent of toilet paper and milk.

Or maybe the cheaper seed's like potato chips, and they're going through it faster? I dunno. So far today the fresh supply seems to be holding up.

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The kitty boys are getting on... sort of... [Jan. 8th, 2012|10:31 pm]
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I have a truce of sorts between the kitty boys. So long as they get to snuggle their human, peace reigns. Junior is spread across the top of the couch in his orange and white glory (he matches the decor) and is sleeping, eyes squinty-shut, smiling. Rothchild is in cuddleball position, relaxed and happy.

*beams*

The fireplace flickers away, bathing the room, and I like my new table.

Yes, indeed, Sanctuary is my new addiction. Expect new fic.

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The fight is not over: The Sun on the Twitter cyberstalking case [Jan. 8th, 2012|07:19 pm]
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A sharp eyed reporter with a handle on law says "Huh?" to ruling on Twitter case. She notes the judge cited no case law in the decision (except one case irrelevant to the judge's ipse dixit ruling), instead drawing a comparison between "colonial billboards" and Twitter. (No, I don't remember colonial billboards from my high school history class either.)

She ends: "But please, give the case the scrutiny it deserves. The medium here isn't the message here. The message is the message."


ETA: Already blocked one vitriolic Cassidy account (can tell by the name and who else he friended) that friended me on Twitter. And it begins again....

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Sanctuary Kali dance [Jan. 8th, 2012|05:54 pm]
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Tell me you don't want to write Sanctuary fic after watching this:



And I've got this one saved:



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Cyberstalker is back at it again. [Jan. 7th, 2012|06:12 pm]
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The cyberstalker, now released, is at it again. After being free of his presence for the better part of a year, I forgot what a distortionist he is. It's just ... creepy.

Having a cyberstalker is like being under perpetual cloud cover. It affects everything you do. He's not even stalking me personally (except on a few occasions as a temple member) but even so, as I type this I find myself choosing my words, back-spacing, rewriting, wondering if I should lock this post. I realize that while he was behind bars, I felt free to write fic, participate in SGA Santa, try out X-Men and new fandoms. Now that he's back online I'm ... cautious about every post, every fic.

Jetsunma, his target, has left town and has gone to ground. She's been supported by the Tibetan Buddhist lineage, and true to form, that's who the guy's smearing now. He always attacks supporters to isolate his victim. (Can you imagine how he treated his twelve former wives? They were prostitutes. I doubt they had anywhere near the support Jetsunma has.)

She says, "My vocation is over." Her job, her life is to reach out to others. And that's exactly what he's trying to prevent.

She also says, "I feel women’s rights groups should step up and speak out against such injustice, because it will very soon affect us all as well."

Signal boost request: Tell Judge Titus that calling a woman a 'Ho' isn't religious freedom.

These are ground-breaking cyberstalking laws, and usually take more than one appeal.

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Snowflake day two: Recs -- something new [Jan. 6th, 2012|02:51 am]
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Snowflake Challenge: Day 2

Okay, so I may be a little behind.

What to rec, what to rec... the ideas collided, freezing me in place. I'm this way in grocery stores. One glance over the ten million varieties of breakfast cereal and I decide, Eh, not so hungry after all and leave.

Well, why not two rec posts? Let's call it: "something old and something new."

Let's start with the new: SGA Santa. The SGA fandom is alive and kicking, and it isn't Christmas (or New Year's or the week after New Year's) without SGA Santa. I've been planning this post since Xmas.

Stargate Atlantis is the perfect fandom for light holiday reading because, let's face it, we never took canon all that seriously, the main characters John and Rodney both play for laughs, and the combination somehow resulted in a zealous glee that made SGA crack-and-AU central. Plus, John and Rodney are awkward enough in relationships to make a perfect light-hearted romcom set up.

Kaleb Miller and the Green Knight by [personal profile] saffronhouse
It seems that the closed SGA canon has resulted in gentle exploration of minor characters. There's a depth to this fic, as the author points out how we take for granted the heroics of Rodney and John -- as do they. I get this. [personal profile] saffronhouse is right. When my car was broken into, I was not a hero. I pretty much tried to take control of an uncontrollable situation by standing around making lists. The depth of detail in this story (and I believed every precious moment of it, right down to the bronco's t-shirt) makes Kaleb real to me, and left with a deeper respect for what the SGA characters do every day.

So Good To You by [personal profile] busaikko
"There," Vala said, nodding decisively after the priestess pronounced them two halves made whole by the power of Origin. "Now we're allowed to enter the sacred warehouse of very old things?" Snappy writing. Laughtastic details. Character voices spot on. This felt ... like an SGA episode I somehow missed, the one where Vala made the moves on the pretty boy Sheppard, who batted her "I'm not really serious about this" sexual banter back at her as easy as breathing. Why would she make a play for the clean cut farm boy, or the too-serious academic when breezy, deliberately cheesy Colonel Sheppard was at hand? I think they both are deliberately obnoxious, and I dread the day they start sending out Christmas cards.

Basement Cat Has Infiltrated Heaven by [personal profile] kisahawklin
Best. Title. Ever. And who can resist this summary: There was an unkempt, fluffy, obnoxious black cat in Atlantis. I was prepared for the cute. I was not prepared for the soft, cat-like tone of this fic. This story comes in like fog, on little cat feet. I quote Sandburg to prepare you for this story:

THE FOG comes
on little cat feet.

It sits looking
over harbor and city
on silent haunches 5
and then moves on.

And now you're ready to read.

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Snowflake day two: oh, god, how to decide what to rec.... [Jan. 3rd, 2012|04:00 pm]
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Snowflake day two: oh, god, how to decide what to rec....

Snowflake day two (yes, am fully aware I'm a day behind) is all about reccing stories by other people.

My eyes boggle at the possibilities.

Maybe I should rec the Stories That Lured. Or perhaps I should rec the incomplete WIPs That Are Worth Reading Anyway.

I'll be posting tonight, whatever they are.

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Snowflake challenge: The Stories That Live [Jan. 3rd, 2012|02:31 am]
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Snowflake Challenge Game Day One
Recs: The Stories That Live


I'm going to list The Stories That Live. These are the ones that, even seven or eight years after they were posted, people still comment on a fairly regular basis.

I don't know why it's these stories in particular:

Out Of Bounds, Stargate Atlantis Fandom, John/Rodney, figure skating AU
An utterly self-indulgent fic. John's a rebellious figure skater who after twelve years of competition has one last shot. Rodney's the former World Champion, shattered by defeat (can't you just hear the Olympic theme song?) who can make it happen. But first....

Cursed Artefacts For Sale, Harry Potter fandom, Harry/Snape, humour
Severus drags Harry to a Wizarding auction. "Collecting Cursed Artefacts is a registered form of madness in the Compendium of Wizarding Mental Disorders and Other Things That Make You Twitch," Severus said, "like most compulsions to collect. But it's a very popular one and I plan to beat everyone else to it."

Primer to the Dark Arts, Harry Potter fandom, Harry/Snape, novel-length
Harry learns he is to be given private (and secret) tutoring in the Dark Arts. His teacher? Professor Snape. Features ghost cats and cursed harps, spells that are supposed to go wrong and don't, a friendly sociopathic Death Eater, and Snape's naughty, naughty library.

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Having too much fun with this: markreads.net [Jan. 3rd, 2012|12:52 am]
Having way to fun with markreads.net's review/DVD commentary of Lord of the Rings, and, laughing till tears run down my face, Twilight.

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