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Going on strike against #SOPA and #PIPA

I’m sure that some/most/all of you have heard about SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and Protect IP, bills that Congress will be voting on coming up on January 24th. I’ve posted some opinions about the subject on various websites that aren’t this one—no, I don’t know why I haven’t put them on here—but suffice it to say that I think the bills are bad. Very bad for many, many reasons.

I haven’t gathered a lot of in-depth information or done a whole lot of analysis about the subject and thus can’t share it with you, but tomorrow, the 18th, will be the perfect time for you to find out more. That’s because on the 18th, the Internet is going on strike, my blog included.

shawnbakken.net will send you to a SOPA STRIKE website (thus, your opportunity to learn more), but it’s only for a day and it’s a minor effort compared to other sites that will be shutting down as well: Google, Wikipedia, reddit, Twitpic, Minecraft, etc. (Consequently, if you need to look up something on the Internet tomorrow, you’re fucked.) Still, it’s my own little way of saying that the bills are bad. Very bad for many, many reasons.

After tomorrow, I’ll try to write a little more a little more often… writing a blog entry every day in November was only a temporary habit, it seems. Nevertheless, first things first—show Congress and the Senate that once again, they’re completely out of the loop and are listening to lobbyists more than the people they’re representing. (If we’re lucky, some of the bills’ supporters will try looking up something on the Internet tomorrow and be fucked, too.) Hope everyone has a pleasant January 18th and I’ll see you on the other side.

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And God’s birthday present is…

My older brother Brent works the night shift, so he called us while driving home at 8:00 this morning to declare that it’s 39 degrees on his 39th birthday. 39 degrees on January 9th in Minnesota. We haven’t had any sub-zero temperatures yet this winter. We are getting spoiled rotten and as soon as it gets back to normal weather conditions around here, I can only imagine how much people will be bitching about the cold and snow…

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Seeing with your eyes, not with your screen

For those who hadn’t heard, the Quadrantid Meteor Shower swept over the Northern Hemisphere in the wee hours of this morning. According to the local weather forecast, the peak viewing hours were around 1:30am, but we needed to wait until moonfall for the sky to be dark enough to see anything. Consequently, I bundled up and headed outside at 3:00am. (Even though Mom and Dad had talked about sleeping through it—that’s what happens when you’re not a night owl—they joined me about five minutes later.)

Part of me thought, “Hey, I could use my phone to get a video of this since there are supposed to be 60-100 meteors per hour!” Another part of me said not to, which turned out to be the better decision. For one thing, I spent close to 45 minutes outside and only saw two meteors, most likely because we’re only about a mile away from an interstate highway, so the sky never got really dark.

But perhaps the biggest reason for my not bothering with the phone is because I don’t like the sense of separation. Instead of sitting there and enjoying the moment, watching what’s going on, I end up thinking about what I’m doing with the camera. I had the same problem during my older brother’s wedding years ago—I agreed to use the video camera to tape everything for them, but because I attached it to a tripod that wasn’t sitting evenly, I had to hold it at a certain angle to make sure that it was recording everything (mostly) vertically. I spent more time being pissed at the tripod than I did enjoying such a happy moment in my brother’s life. (If there’s a bright side to that, at least I didn’t need to worry about crying in front of everyone.)

So no, no recording. And thus no long video of stars with a lack of white streaks flying across it. But I did get to check out a few more meteors thanks to NASA. They set up a live feed from a camera down on their base in Huntsville, Alabama—once it got dark enough down there, I saw three more on my computer screen. Yay for technology! (Okay, admittedly, that’s not seeing meteors with my own eyes, but at least I was staring at the screen instead of through a tiny pinhole and thus didn’t need to feel guilty if I missed recording an awesome one flashing across the sky. Yay for no guilt!)

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The final all-nighter of 2011

I’m attending a party at a friend’s house and thus don’t have access to my laptop… I’m not used to the teensy-weensy keyboard on my iPhone, so I’m just gonna pound out a quick post here to wish everyone a happy new year and I hope that 2012 treats you better than 2011. If 2011 was a good year… just think about how awesome life will be starting tomorrow. Take care and have fun tonight, everyone.