How much are you willing to pay?
A few day ago I was perusing one of about a dozen sites I… peruse… when I
found another story about the corporations planning to strip you of your current
rights. Yes ‘”the” Corporations, like Hollywood and the Movie Industry, and the
Record Labels. In a world where alot of wingnuts fear “the government”, usually
without good reason, there is an issue where we should all be concerned, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counterfeiting_Trade_Agreement (aka
ACTA). What is ACTA you might be wondering? Well let’s look at wikipedia’s
first paragraph “a proposed plurilateral trade agreement which is
claimed by its proponents to be in response “to the increase in global trade of
counterfeit goods and pirated copyright protected works.”[1]
The scope of ACTA is broad, including counterfeit physical goods,
as well as “internet distribution and information technology”.[2]”
What’s that? It’s a secret internet treaty being negotiated in secret. If you
read through it, which you can’t because it’s negotiated in secret you’d see
the push for a global set of copyright rules that would have ISP’s respond to DMCA-style takedown notices under a 3 strikes rule. In
essence your ISP would be required to terminate your internet connection after
receiving 3 complaints against your IP address. Someone have a beef with you,
they complain 3 times and poof your gone, disconnected from the internet. Not
just you, but everyone in your household because they’re all at the same IP
address.
Safe Harbor? Forget about it. Due process? Gone. And ISPs would lose their
safe harbor status, so they’d be responsible for everything posted from users.
Now think about it, a company would complain against you, demand your user
information and your ISP would hand it over, why wouldn’t they? What’s the
reason to hold out for you and disrupt their business? So YouTube,
Photobucket, Flickr, MySpace, Google/BING/Yahoo… anything with user generated
content… gone. That just leaves “The Corporations” and their product. You
should be worried, you should be concerned. With most people now using the
Internet for fun, communication, sharing, and work it could all come to a
grinding halt. What goods a wifi connection when you can only watch what the
corporations want you to see? You hate ads? You like free software of any kind?
Be prepared for seismic changes if this goes through. Alot of people fear a one
world government, maybe they’re right, maybe they’re wrong, what they should
fear is a One World Corporation with the powers of a government. How much is
your freedom of expression worth? You may find out soon and you might not be
able to afford it.
Want to find out more? http://www.eff.org/issues/acta
Civil court (Or more accurately Revenge Court!)
I’m not a fan of Scott Peterson and yes, I’m one of those people that don’t care if O.J. did or didn’t do it but… whatever happened to be exonerated? doesn’t winning your court case mean anything anymore? Let’s not get into the sticky situation of whether you agree or disagree with a verdict, if you are found not guilty the topic should be dropped. I understand this is the American Idol generation, everyone wants to have a vote, everyone wants their say, but the law doesn’t work like that, the rules, as I always say, are the rules. Twelve people get a say in whether or not a person is guilty or not, thousands of dollars are spent on lawyers for the defense and for the prosecution, a judge, who is supposedly unbiased makes the ruling based on the heretofore mentioned twelve people and after all is said and done, a verdict is reached and that’s that. Well that’s how it used to be, now there’s the idiotic invention of civil (Revenge) court. Here’s a court that, were the law actually not being abused would be used for one purpose and one purpose only. A Civil Court, last I heard anyway, is supposed to be for small claims, private settlements that don’t necessarily need all the pomp and circumstance of a bigger court. lately, though, it seems that civil courts have been getting used to re-try, which I didn’t think was supposed to happen, a case where the verdict didn’t come out the way the prosecution wanted. So say in the case of O.J., the guy gets off, so then they sue him in civil and win, what the hell?!? Personally I think double jeopardy should apply across the board and you should only be able to pick one place to have your case tried. The courts aren’t a slot machine, you don’t just keep pulling the handle until you get the justice you want.
Did you know that Yahoo! has a womens’ section?
Completely with spiffy pink border!! don’t get me wrong I like pink, especially on women and girls, it’s a classic. Speaking of classics, there’s an article on a classic question Should you or Shouldn’t you? The question all about the last name when married. I don’t wanna seem like some type of macho chauvinist but, if I have to be branded with a ring (and yeah its like a branding, you’ve been marked fellas) then what’s the deal with a woman saying “I can’t be bothered to change my name?” Let’s put things in perspective. Most guys don’t want to get married. Say what you will but marriage is more a concession then something guys choose to do. You do it for two reasons 1.) Your girlfriend/fiance wants you to and 2.) It’s a “symbol of your unity (like your wedding ring). So, what’s the difference? A guy isn’t trusted to just tell people “I’m married.” In fact your not even given the opportunity to say anything, most women automatically do the hand check. I’m not against the tradition, it doesn’t hurt anyone and it kinda serves a purpose. The average guy gets used to his ring either loves it and cherishes it or forgets about it and in either case it just stays on. Some of the arguments in the article are laughable. “It’s just easier not too..”, “Some people think I’ve left the company because my name changed….”, etc.,etc.,etc. This falls into my personal “What the frak?!” category. Its an inconvenience? Well, allow me to retort in the slang of the ’30’s “So’s marriage toots!” I mean, I’m perfectly capable of regulating whether or not i sleep with someone and I’m perfectly capable of maintaining a relationship with an acquaintance without the artificial marking that’s been in place for years. If it’s all about convenience then why don’t we just get rid of marriages all together? They’re expensive, complicated, annoying at times, and impractical. Why don’t we all just declare, I’m staying with you!! Wouldn’t that be “easier?” Seriously, the “People don’t know I work here anymore” is lame. IF you are that important a client then maybe you should slip the married name change into an email or a conversation. Shouldn’t you be proud and excited about marrying the man you “love”. Here’s an example,
“Hello, It’s good to see you again! I’ve been looking over those proposals you sent over… oh yes, speaking of proposals I just got married last week, I am now officially Mrs. Blah-Blah-Blah….. Oh, thank you for the congratulations, I’m quite happy too. Let me get back to that proposal though <insert polite chuckle>….”
or in an email/letter,
Greetings Big Important Client,
I am just following up to clarify my response to your last message. I would be sincerely delighted to join you for lunch to discuss the plans for your new venture. I look forward to new discourse and hope we can come to a beneficial planning strategy that will bolster your fiscal profits for the coming quarter.
P.S.
I would like to inform you of my recent marriage and name change, I am now Mrs. Blah-Blah-Blah. I will continue to provide you with the service you’ve become acquainted with but i wanted to inform you of the recent name change so there is no confusion locating me or my offices. thank you for your continued business.
Mrs. Blah-Blah-Blah,
Director of Sales
Wow, that was surely the most complicated thing I’ve ever written, between writing that, making coffee, drinking a soda and watching MSNBC that took me all of 8 mins. I would also like to say, arguing that it would be expensive to change all of your cards is a blatant fabrication. If you are important enough or rich enough to have a card in the first place, trust me, you can afford to change them. They probably needed a facelift and updating anyway.
My wife and I actually had a conversation about this topic. Most couples do and should. I was and still am firmly of the opinion that if your too lazy (yes, LAZY) to change your name, then why should I bother being married to you? Why can’t we just continue dating exclusively? My wife is progressive, sometimes to her detriment in some areas, and I support her in everything she does, but even she changed her name. Her way was actually rather clever, I personally believe the hyphenation thing is crap, either “do it or do not, there is no try” to paraphrase Yoda. She dropped her middle name, moved her last name to the middle and took my last name. I’m quite pleased with the solution actually, so should most business women, you can go by your first and middle name or if you really are into the whole sanctity of marriage thing, you can use your husbands. In all honesty, if marriage isn’t important enough to uphold some of the most simpler tenants then maybe we should just do away with it altogether. Insurance and property rights arent really legitimate reasons to join a person, laws can be changed, rights can be amended, but if your only going to pick and choose the parts of an event like marriage that you “like”, then you cheapen the experience and the value you place on both you and your partners union
-
Flickr Photos
More Photos
