So we all are hearing about the horrible laws that threaten the internet's freedom of speech, SOPA/PIPA. (And if you haven't, take some time to read this article)
However, there is a newer problem bill that has been quietly ushered in: ACTA. What is ACTA? click here for more info.
A lot of this just shows that money-making assholes can control the government. One may ask how can we fight this? Sure there are online petitions you can sign, you can write your congressman, hell, you can tweet the crud about it or join a facebook group, but how much will it matter? There are many that still don't know about this, or just don't care to read despite the answer in front of them. Thus, I plan to do something else.
This plan is far from foolproof. In fact, it isn't even that particularly useful, but it will make me feel like I'm actually doing something. First is to get a list of the supporters of SOPA. Next, get a BUNCH of sticky-notes, preferably larger kinds and gotten from somewhere that doesn't support SOPA. From there, I plan to go to places of business that support SOPA and put a sticky-note on entrances of their buildings, stating "This company supports SOPA." Maybe include something that they don't like freedom of speech, but generally the message is to make these proud supporters of the bill more apparent to the general public.
Sure, such an idea is hardly effective; one could simply take the note down, many ignore such listings. My plan is more to get people's attention. One idea I've thought of is go to a mega store, let's say Target, and go product aisles that support SOPA. One example would be REVLON, the make-up company. So just head to their aisle, grab a stickynote, and post it on their section. Maybe spread it around anywhere I see REVLON.
But not all the businesses that support SOPA are ones selling products (not so directly as make-up anyway). Look at the Motion Picture Association of America. In this case, I will probably no longer watch movies in the theater (unless I have one of those free passes, old giftcards, or otherwise get in at no cost for myself. And only do so two weeks after a movie's opening) nor purchase them on DVD. Instead, I'd take routes that lower their income, such as renting, or perhaps pooling money with friends so we jointly (AND LEGALLY) all own a copy of the movie that we can share, should I desire to see a movie so badly. Buying used DVDs on Amazon isn't a bad idea either. Have some movie parties with friends can be fun and recreate the theater experience, but with people you know and hopefully like!
A message needs to be sent to such companies. They can lose a lot more money than what they claim pirates are taking away from their business.
One of the supporters of SOPA that hurts me some is Nintendo of America. I love Nintendo; they give back to their consumers with free games and items on Club Nintendo, excellent customer service, and fun products I enjoy. What I think I'll do is simply buy games used only should I desire them. I really hate to do that, since I want to support some games, but some sacrifices need to be made (Granted that really isn't much of a sacrifice).
Essentially, if you hate SOPA/PIPA and the new ACTA, but don't know what you can do, try writing your congressman, tweet awareness, or even sign an online petition or two. The biggest thing you can do is boycott supporters of SOPA, AND let them know you are. Yes, SOPA and PIPA were shelved, but that doesn't mean they are gone for good. It just means they will reintroduce the idea when it's not a hot button (or, god forbid, ACTA passes so they don't need it). Less companies supporting it can help make it go away, and show said companies their clients have voices they need to listen to!
Monday, January 23, 2012
Monday, January 9, 2012
Holiday update.
I never got to my Christmas present this year. Unlike last year's post, this one contains quite less clothing related presents. Unlike last year though, here's two pictures of my Christmas Tree this year!
The biggest thing I got this year is a mountable flatscreen tv with built in USB and DVD player. I didn't exactly ask for this, but mom and dad claim they managed to get a deal. They were getting my sister one sis her room at her place is kind of small, so they figured to get me one. The USB one excites me some though; I can put videos from like youtube (and porn I guess lol) on a flash drive and watch on my TV! There's also a hook up so if I have a certain wire, I believe I can make the TV my monitor. That could be fun for some games I suppose. also notable is an SD card slot too, so I could take a video and instantly view it on TV!
As it turned out, they also got another TV for the living room (HUGE!) and a TV for my sister's old room to make it into a den! I cleaned up the place a little to make it a great video game/movie hang out place. I even brought down my old TV so we can play two different systems at the same time should we need to. Not like we have guests over so often we would need it, but I might try and change that.
I also got some games: Fortune Street (Wii), Kirby's Return to Dreamland (Wii), Starfox 64 (3DS), Mario Kart 7 (3DS), Super Mario 3D Land (3DS), Golden Sun: Dark Dawn (DS), and Bowser's Inside Story (DS). I haven't had a chance to buy games regularly considering my financial situation, but these games should last me awhile. I have been playign some of the free games given to be for being an early buyer of the 3DS, but I was getting rather annoyed/bored of them fast. Actually, I already got all the medals in Star Fox for the N64 mode!
My number one thing I wanted this year and got was a 1.5 Terabyte external hard drive! My old 250 GB one was getting really full, mainly because I like to back up so many things, not to mention all the online and offline games I download (Ragnarok Battle Offline and its English patches and expansions took a lot of space for instance). I also like to back up my computer's data and save webpages and posts in case they go down or something... Basically, I really need this! I doubt I will fill this up for at least 5 years unless I get more online games or something, haha.
I also got jumbo Reese's. I ate them already but they were pretty impressively sized. It was pretty fun and made me miss the old Jumbo kit kar bars that used to be in vending machines. Those hurt my teeth though...
And last but not least, I also got a book. The fourth book in the Eragon series. I still have other reading to catch up on at the moment, but I've been waiting to read this one. :)
The holidays went pretty well, too. With Faith around, things felt much better. Some annoyances are my aunt on dad's side wanting to take pictures of me when she knows I hate that without asking first... (she tried taking a picture of me eating... and left the lens cap on heh). Also on my mom's side, my grandmother had just gotten some new furniture and wanted to get rid of her old pieces. My cousin Olivia's mother was insisting to give it to Olivia, who wanted no part of it. When I said I could probably use it for our little den, everyone thought it was a good idea except this aunt. I got also annoyed with them saying, "Well, if Olivia doesn't want it, THEN you can have it." Way not to play favoritism here or trying to call dibs before everyone knows of it... Bleh. But I've learned to expect that from my extended family really, so it wasn't THAT bad.
New Years irritated me some too because Sierra told me this year that unlike previous years where she gets frightened to stay at people's houses at night, she didn't want to hang out this time because if she stayed up too late, she'd feel groggy in the morning and she didn't want to feel groggy. I mean, what's feeling groggy for a few hours compared to hanging out with someone who is supposed to be your best friend? I mentioned in a post last year about her fears at night that bothered me, but this was even worse since she admitted basically, "...because I don't feel like it, even though I kind of want to!"
All things said, the holidays were fairly decent to me.
The biggest thing I got this year is a mountable flatscreen tv with built in USB and DVD player. I didn't exactly ask for this, but mom and dad claim they managed to get a deal. They were getting my sister one sis her room at her place is kind of small, so they figured to get me one. The USB one excites me some though; I can put videos from like youtube (and porn I guess lol) on a flash drive and watch on my TV! There's also a hook up so if I have a certain wire, I believe I can make the TV my monitor. That could be fun for some games I suppose. also notable is an SD card slot too, so I could take a video and instantly view it on TV!
As it turned out, they also got another TV for the living room (HUGE!) and a TV for my sister's old room to make it into a den! I cleaned up the place a little to make it a great video game/movie hang out place. I even brought down my old TV so we can play two different systems at the same time should we need to. Not like we have guests over so often we would need it, but I might try and change that.
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| The Den set up. Old TV on left, main tv center, my old IPod dock above old tv with a vcr/dvd player next to it. Wii game behind New TV, charging station for wii mores on upper right shelf (along with some gamecube controllers). The plastic bag is the garbage, wii accessories inside the shelves, and the blue yoga mat to the right is for when I get back into excercising. As my main seat source for the moment, it is the cut off cooler top there. Not seen is some floor chairs meant for when sitting outside... We'll be getting some old furniture soon to make this a little more comfortable. |
My number one thing I wanted this year and got was a 1.5 Terabyte external hard drive! My old 250 GB one was getting really full, mainly because I like to back up so many things, not to mention all the online and offline games I download (Ragnarok Battle Offline and its English patches and expansions took a lot of space for instance). I also like to back up my computer's data and save webpages and posts in case they go down or something... Basically, I really need this! I doubt I will fill this up for at least 5 years unless I get more online games or something, haha.
I also got jumbo Reese's. I ate them already but they were pretty impressively sized. It was pretty fun and made me miss the old Jumbo kit kar bars that used to be in vending machines. Those hurt my teeth though...
And last but not least, I also got a book. The fourth book in the Eragon series. I still have other reading to catch up on at the moment, but I've been waiting to read this one. :)
The holidays went pretty well, too. With Faith around, things felt much better. Some annoyances are my aunt on dad's side wanting to take pictures of me when she knows I hate that without asking first... (she tried taking a picture of me eating... and left the lens cap on heh). Also on my mom's side, my grandmother had just gotten some new furniture and wanted to get rid of her old pieces. My cousin Olivia's mother was insisting to give it to Olivia, who wanted no part of it. When I said I could probably use it for our little den, everyone thought it was a good idea except this aunt. I got also annoyed with them saying, "Well, if Olivia doesn't want it, THEN you can have it." Way not to play favoritism here or trying to call dibs before everyone knows of it... Bleh. But I've learned to expect that from my extended family really, so it wasn't THAT bad.
New Years irritated me some too because Sierra told me this year that unlike previous years where she gets frightened to stay at people's houses at night, she didn't want to hang out this time because if she stayed up too late, she'd feel groggy in the morning and she didn't want to feel groggy. I mean, what's feeling groggy for a few hours compared to hanging out with someone who is supposed to be your best friend? I mentioned in a post last year about her fears at night that bothered me, but this was even worse since she admitted basically, "...because I don't feel like it, even though I kind of want to!"
All things said, the holidays were fairly decent to me.
Friday, January 6, 2012
Faith pictures!
As I promised in the past, I planned to have a post full of pictures dedicated to our new American Eskimo dog, Faith! She's been with us for more than a month (close to two), and has been growing fairly well!
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| Image heavy post! Click below the stick to continue on. Unless you were directly linked to this entry... then you get to suffer the image loading! |
Monday, January 2, 2012
Freedom was fun while it lasted... AKA FUCK YOU, OBAMA!
I was planning to show a bunch of pictures of Faith, but goddamn this just pissed me off. If I had money I think I'd move to Canada.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/02/ndaa-historic-assault-american-liberty?newsfeed=true
"President Barack Obama rang in the New Year by signing the NDAA law with its provision allowing him to indefinitely detain citizens. It was a symbolic moment, to say the least. With Americans distracted with drinking and celebrating, Obama signed one of the greatest rollbacks of civil liberties in the history of our country … and citizens partied in unwitting bliss into the New Year.
Ironically, in addition to breaking his promise not to sign the law, Obama broke his promise on signing statements and attached a statement that he really does not want to detain citizens indefinitely (see the text of the statement here).
Obama insisted that he signed the bill simply to keep funding for the troops. It was a continuation of the dishonest treatment of the issue by the White House since the law first came to light. As discussed earlier, the White House told citizens that the president would not sign the NDAA because of the provision. That spin ended after sponsor Senator Carl Levin (Democrat, Michigan) went to the floor and disclosed that it was the White House and insisted that there be no exception for citizens in the indefinite detention provision."
Well, Obama... Hope you enjoyed your stay at the white house, cause fuck you for taking away our freedom. I suppose this means SOPA is a shoo-in. Maybe the Mayans were right; 2012 IS the end of the world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2012/jan/02/ndaa-historic-assault-american-liberty?newsfeed=true
"President Barack Obama rang in the New Year by signing the NDAA law with its provision allowing him to indefinitely detain citizens. It was a symbolic moment, to say the least. With Americans distracted with drinking and celebrating, Obama signed one of the greatest rollbacks of civil liberties in the history of our country … and citizens partied in unwitting bliss into the New Year.
Ironically, in addition to breaking his promise not to sign the law, Obama broke his promise on signing statements and attached a statement that he really does not want to detain citizens indefinitely (see the text of the statement here).
Obama insisted that he signed the bill simply to keep funding for the troops. It was a continuation of the dishonest treatment of the issue by the White House since the law first came to light. As discussed earlier, the White House told citizens that the president would not sign the NDAA because of the provision. That spin ended after sponsor Senator Carl Levin (Democrat, Michigan) went to the floor and disclosed that it was the White House and insisted that there be no exception for citizens in the indefinite detention provision."
Well, Obama... Hope you enjoyed your stay at the white house, cause fuck you for taking away our freedom. I suppose this means SOPA is a shoo-in. Maybe the Mayans were right; 2012 IS the end of the world.
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