There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.
Miracle Max – The Princess Bride (1987)
So we have lots of people and publications declaring SOPA and PIPA dead.
I have news for you: Cancel the parades, parties, and dancing. SOPA and PIPA are NOT dead. I repeat, SOPA AND PIPA ARE NOT DEAD.
What has happened to SOAP and PIPA, is that they are simply in a procedural hold in both houses of Congress. In plain English, the bills have been moved from the stack of crap coming up for votes to a filing cabinet drawer. At any time these bills can be pulled out of the filling cabinet and put back in the stack of crap. As a matter of fact, I suspect these bills will be pulled out at a later date when nobody is looking because SOPA and PIPA are not about stopping piracy, they are about control.
You hear supporters of SOPA and PIPA, such as the detestable hagfish that is Bill Maher – and oh yes, he supports SOPA - claiming it will have no effect on domestic Internet sites as it only targets foreign sites. This is not true. It is a bold faced lie. As a matter of fact, both bills have a disproportionate effect on domestic sites versus foreign ones.
Here’s a great video in plain English from the well known and well respected Khan Academy explaining exactly how SOPA and PIPA work and will destroy the Internet as we know it.
Khan Academy explaining exactly how SOPA and PIPA work and will destroy the Internet as we know it.
You see the picture and quote by Miracle Max from the Princess Bride up there? Under SOPA and PIPA this site could be taken offline WITHOUT my being able to defend myself or know who my accuser is, EVEN THOUGH I am using those items within US Copyright Law Fair Use Standards 17 U.S.C. § 107 (listed below).
Notwithstanding the provisions of sections 17 U.S.C. § 106 and 17 U.S.C. § 106A, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include:
-
- the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;
- the nature of the copyrighted work;
- the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and
- the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.
The fact that a work is unpublished shall not itself bar a finding of fair use if such finding is made upon consideration of all the above factors.
So let’s look at my use versus fair use:
- Well, this blog is non commercial and this post is definitely intended to be educational. We pass there.
- It is a movie that was released world wide and is well known. We pass there.
- It is a cropped image of a single character and a single line of text spoken by that character. All in all, a tiny fraction of the original work. We pass there.
- I would argue that it increases the value of the original work by keeping it in the public eye. It certainly does not detract value from the original work. Again, we pass.
So I am legal in under the current copyright laws, yet under SOPA and PIPA, I could – mind you, could – be taken offline by a single complaint. I stress the word could because this is a small site and would most like slip under peoples radar, but you never know. But for large sites like, um, oh I don’t know, YouTube for example, they are going to be gone very quickly after SOAP or PIPA passes.
OMGWTFBBQ! I wake up with a bad hangover and here we are TWO WEEKS into 2012. I DID NOT GET THE MEMO!
In the theme of not getting the memo, it seems Hulu , SOPA, and PIPA are still alive. AMAZING. Not only is Hulu not dead, it seems to be growing. As for SOPA and PIPA, WTF why are we even talking about these bills, they should have been dead LONG AGO!!!
The wife and I were early subscribers to Hulu Plus, however we put our account on hold last summer before we sailed from Hawaii to Santa Barbara because we were going to be gone for a month sailing across the Pacific. Once we got back however, we KEPT IT CANCELD.
Why?
WE DO NOT WANT TO PAY TO HAVE ADS PUSHED AT US AND WAIT WEEKS FOR NEW EPISODES TO BE POSTED. Especially the lame “what ad do you want to see now” crap style ads from the late 90’s. Stuff like this is why people like <cough>bittorrent</cough>. Content is ad free and they can get in *hours* versus days or weeks. Why pay money for shit service when you can stick it to man and get better product AND service…
Hulu, et al, your only hope is to open the floodgate. The consumers have WON. It is all over. Just give up, fuck SOPA and PIPA. Just let us pay for the shit we want, when we want it. And stop the bloody interstitial ads. Have you not learned anything from history?
SOPA, or the Stop Online Piracy Act, is another one of those bills that sounds like it's going to do something mildly positive but, in reality, has serious potential to negatively change the internet as we know it.
That is why you saw the censorship notice when you came to this blog – many websites could soon be shuttered due to this bill.
More on this horrible bill at the America Censorship Day website, here at Life Hacker, and lots more here at the Electronic Frontier Foundation Deep Links blog.
THIS BILL MUST BE STOPED!
Watch the entire video, it’s 9 minutes of economic and societal truth on so many levels delivered with absolute crystal clarity. Professor Epstein just absolutely hits it out of the park.
Watch Does U.S. Economic Inequality Have a Good Side? on PBS. See more from PBS NewsHour.
And that, my friends, is how the world really works. The egalitarian utopia where everyone is equal and everything is “fair” that Obama, the Democrat party, and the Occupiers constantly say we need cannot and will not work. Ever. Period. End of story. You get chaos. Thousands of years of human history teach us this. Professor Epstein compresses that knowledge into 9 minutes of brilliance.
Hat-tip to The Coalition Of The Swilling.
Updated 5:41 AM: James Pethokoukis of the AEI lays out 7 more reasons.
Operation Smile is one of those charities you don’t think about or even notice that is truly changing peoples lives for the better.
Want proof? Watch this:
Ok, now that you watched that and are done crying, go donate! http://www.operationsmile.org/donate
That’s going to leave a mark. Not as bad as the ones Chris left on Rihanna, but close.
Sure the state government has gone to hell, taxes are killing our company, traffic blows, we pay double the amount for electricity, and people are as rude as baboon’s ass.
But, by by God, she sure is a beautiful state.
A Day in California from Ryan Killackey on Vimeo.
So the wife and I were hanging out doing the rare watching of the local news (at least rare for me) and lo and behold – IT’S A CAR CHASE!
These are big time TV here in SoCal. So big they even used to have a paging service back in the day to alert you so you could tune in.
So of course we sat mesmerized by some idiot driving recklessly through the wilds of Pasadena. Great fun! Look at the (alleged) drunk going fast! Woohoo! Will the Cops beat him? Will he get spike-stripped? Will he just give up?
Well, it was all fun until the (alleged) drunk T-boned someone coming home from work.
It.was.bad – very.bad.
At that moment, all the vicarious enjoyment went away and was replaced by nausea in the pit of my stomach as I came to the realization: I just watched a live snuff film.
Saturday July 24th, my buddy Cameron Hausman and I are going to do our first ever Crew of Two around Catalina Race. We’ll be taking Charisma V – a 41 foot racing sailboat normally crewed by 8 to 12 people – out and around the island by ourselves.
I must admit that I am quite excited! I have that fizzing sensation in the pit of my stomach that I used to get as a kid the night before Christmas or on a really fun rollercoaster.
Cameron and I have done longer races on Charisma V, in particular the Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race, but this will be the longest race we have done with the least crew ever.
You may be wondering, besides a sea-worthy boat, what do you need to do something like this? As it turns out, you don’t need that much gear, but what gear you do need should be quality gear. After all, you are going to be in open water on the ocean over night and it gets cold and damp. There is nothing out there to radiate the heat and the boat, being made of aluminum, acts like a big heat-sink. As soon as the sun goes down, it gets very chilly in an instant.
First and foremost, the most important gear you need is safety gear – namely a PFD (Personal Floatation Device). PFDs come in types that range from ones that look like a water-skiing vest to advanced minimalist harness types that auto-inflate based on water pressure. The main differences between the various PFD types is comfort and cost. Wearing a vest type jacket for 24 hours is very uncomfortable, especially in the hot sun – but it’s cheap. Wearing a minimalist harness type for 24 hours is no problem, but it’s not cheap. A couple of other things to consider about PFDs is if they auto inflate and have a built-in safety harness and pockets. Why get one that auto-inflates? Very simple – what happens if you get struck in the head by the boom or in some other way are knocked unconscious and go overboard? Enough said. If you are going to spend the money, get one that auto-inflates and has a harness and pockets. After all, how much is your life worth to you?
So now that you have your PFD with a built-in safety harness and pockets (you did get one, right?) the next thing you should get is a good quality safety tether. At night, it is always a good idea to have yourself tethered to the boat that way if you do fall overboard, you stay with the boat. You would be amazed how dark it is at night on the open ocean – there is truly nothing like it – the words “inky blackness” fail to describe how truly dark it is on a moonless night. Trying to pick up a crew member who has gone overboard during the day in calm seas is tough enough, but at night in calm seas it is triply hard. Mix in some choppy seas and the difficulty starts to climb exponentially. In cold water like we have here off the coast of Southern California, a robustly healthy person with some meat on the bones has about an hour before they begin to succumb to hypothermia. Skinny people even less time. By the time someone has been in the water for two hours, they will be in a downward spiral and begin to be nearing death.
This is where the pockets on your PFD can help – you did get one with pockets, right? In those pockets I personally keep a strobe light, two glow sticks (one red, one green) and a safety whistle. At night, the strobe and glow sticks will help the boat find you visually. And if visibility is compromised, that is where the whistle comes in. If you do go overboard, regardless if it is day or night, blow that whistle ASAP! At night activate your strobe AFTER you have whistled and the keep on blowing on that whistle once your strobe is fired up!
Ok, so now that we’re safe, tethered to the boat, and able to found should we go overboard, the next step is staying comfortable and warm.
The most important thing to remember on a boat at night in cold water, much like anywhere it is cold, is to dress in layers. Being on a boat at night in cold water is much like being in the snow without all that pesky snow (unless you are a psycho Northeast Winter sailor). Unlike the mountains in winter where the air is dry, at sea it is always damp. Who would have ever guessed sitting in a giant puddle of water would lead to dampness? Go figure...
First and foremost for overnight races you need a good set of foulies. Sure, you could wear jeans and look fashionable instead of looking like the Gordon’s fisherman, but you’re going to freeze your butt off. I’ll take looking goofy versus being cold any day. One thing to consider when buying foulies is the color. I stick to yellow since it is highly visible. Second, you’ll need a good middle layer. Fleece is the preferred material but a good synthetic is also acceptable. Personally I am a huge fan of Under Armour ColdGear Base 2.0. Keeps you warm, dries fast, and wicks the moisture away. This brings me to the third layer and most important layer – the dry shirt and dry shorts. Again, I am a huge fan of Under Armour Long Boxerjock undies. They dry fast, prevent chafing on my fat middle aged thighs, and wick moisture away (and as a bonus are anti-microbial and stink less than cotton).
Ok, so all in all what does it come down to? Here is a picture and a list:
From the top left to the right:
- Neoprene back brace – my lower back gets cold this keeps it warm
- Crew hat
- Crew shirt
- The afore mentioned underwear
- Daytime technical sailing shorts
- Musto wind proof watch cap
- Minus 33 wool balaclava
- Socks – wool for night and cotton for day
From mid left to right:
- Dry shirt
- PFD, tether, and foulies
- Fizzy water for after the nervousness of the race start
- Light foulie pants
- Light weather jacket – Light colored for visibility
- Extra fleece top
- Under Armour top
- Under Armour bottoms
- Polarized sunglasses and yoke
- Four Diet Red Bulls – it is a 24 hour race
- A headlamp
- Dinghy boots – The best for keeping the feet warm at night
- Helly Hansen Technical shoes – gripy, cool looking, and they dry in no time
- Gloves, gloves, gloves and more gloves – from warm to cold; you’ll be using them so keep them comfortable.
On the bottom:
- The bag all this crap get packed in.
Ok, so – on this note – time to take my fizzy bellied self to bed.
…As if I can sleep…
Sailing – get into it – its salty crack.