16 January, 2012

but I'll see better when the smoke clears, when the smoke clears inside my head

TuCows weighs in with why they don't like SOPA; ICanHazCheezburger commemmorates their fifth anniversary while also pledging to go dark January 18th; and Craigslist has put up a marvelous resource page about what SOPA is, what it does, and how it can be best stopped. I heartily recommend reading through these links if you have any interest in a free internet--and free speech in America, as far as that goes.

(UPDATE: SOPA is now either indefinitely on hold, or at least shelved until major rework is performed on the bill, and PIPA is being revised. Whether or not the revised bill[s] will pass muster with President Obama remains to be seen, but in their current forms, Obama opposes them both. I declare this a [very] minor victory, but the fight is far from over.)

Meanwhile, in news of the odd, let me present to you the Dyatlov Pass Incident. While I personally don't buy the theories of alien activity in the area, I'm thinking some of the more plausible theories out there concern avalanche, winter sun exposure, and thorium-dust radiation. Still, it's a fascinating story, however you take it.

Also, all hail the Mandelbulb, with the further notation that most if not all of those photos are suitable for desktop wallpaper use.

Might I also bring you the secret language of stamps? I had no idea there was such a philatelic language. Almost tempts me to go out and get some postcards.

The problem with a melancholy past is that occasionally, it sneaks up on us. To wit, a random search to discover a lost password on Google tossed up this in reply. And ooof, that was a gut punch I did not need this morning, considering that all three gentlemen in question are out of my life.

Well. I'm still in sporadic contact with the neko fellow. And I'm in nigh nightly contact with the third on that list, for all we're not dating anymore. I suppose it's only the fellow in the middle that still causes pain...and even that pain eases, as more time passes, and I move farther away.

If we are not limned by our regrets, we are lit by our successes, and sometimes, it's simply a spin, dark to light, cyclical. Maybe sadness is a season, and when winter leaves, I can bring out tender new shoots, and grow in new ways. Who knows? Anything, as I well know, is possible.

It's just not always probable.

Finally, here are five origins of movie sound effects--including the Balrog and the Ringwraiths from Lord of the Rings, and the Tardis dematerialization effect from Doctor Who. Fun.

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hide away, they say, 'cos we don't want your broken parts

Yeah, so...remember that thing I was recovering from? You know, last year ? Yeah. I did it again. So this is Em Faw Down Go Boom part ...