The Loveshade Family Blog

In the past, if the government wanted to shut down freedom of speech, they had to work diligently to find the press that was printing what they didn't like, and shut it down.

But in the modern era, if the government wants to shut it down, all they have to do is tell IP providers, "don't let anybody in our nation connect to these websites." That's what's happened in China, and now it's what SOPA and PIPA intend to do in America.

Their stated reason is to stop piracy and protect trademarks and copyrights, which we support. But it would mean sites like Facebook, Wikipedia, Twitter, MySpace, blogs, and many other sites would have to police every single post under threat of their site being cut off from every single person in America. There would be no right to a jury, no right to a trial, no "innocent until proven guilty." Besides that, those sites couldn't afford to do that and stay in business.

Currently, someone who sees a violation can report it, and the violation can be removed. But under these laws, a violation could mean blocking the entire website. Even Wikipedia, which has worked since the beginning to remain objective, is going black on January 18 in protest because this could mean a threat to the Internet as we know it.

If you live outside of the United States but post or visit any internet site in America, or you access any part of the internet from America, SOPA and PIPA could affect you too.

For more details, go to https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/how-pipa-and-sopa-violate-white-house-principles-supporting-free-speech. To see the bills, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act of HR.3261) is at https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/how-pipa-and-sopa-violate-white-house-principles-supporting-free-speech and PIPA (Protect IP Act of 2011 or S.968) is at http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s968/show.

The following sites associated with The Loveshade Family decided to go on strike on January 18 in protest: The Loveshade Family, Alden Loveshade, Lorien Loveshade, Discordian Division of the Ek-sen-triks CluborGuild, and the associated Miley Spears.  We chose not to put the Loveshade Family Blog on strike because it specifically addresses this issue and allows people to make comments.

While the Order of the Pineapple site decided to place a banner with a link to the protest, it decided not to go on strike because January 18 is Pat Pineapple Day and the day the Order is presented.

Posted by The Loveshade Family at 05:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

In Texas they said a woman couldn't breastfeed at Target even though the law said they could. So women protested Wednesday by having "nurse-ins" at 250 of Target stores.

Breastfeeding is natural and not something that has to be hidden. Before people invented baby bottles every human being breastfed.

Some people make breasts sex objects. Who decided women's chests are sexy and not men's? Not me! If you believe in God would he make something a sex object that he wanted babies to suck on?

I believe in God and Goddess and the human body is a beautiful thing. We should not force people to hide it.

http://healthland.time.com/2011/12/29/target-nurse-in-did-it-change-perceptions-of-public-breast-feeding/

Photo uploaded by Aexrefous under GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 and Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Breastfeeding_child.jpg

The opinions expressed by an individual member of The Loveshade Family do not necessarily reflect the views of the whole family.

Posted by Lorien Loveshade at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

All too often bad systems cause good people to do bad things—or stop them from doing good things.

In South Fulton, Tennessee, firefighters stood and watched as a family's home burned to the ground.  Why didn't they fight it?  Because the family hadn't paid a $75 protection fee.

If you have a system where people have to pay to get fire fighters to save their home, then you can't give it out for free, can you?  Of course renters could lose their possessions because their landlord didn't pay, and people struggling to buy food who can't afford the extra money may be out of luck--and a home.  And a fire could spread from an unprotected home to a protected one.

So why make such a system to begin with? Should we have to pay a fee specifically for the police or they won't investigate if we're assaulted, robbed, or raped?  And if we don't pay does that mean we can't get arrested?

In much of America, essential services have been paid out of taxes.  That's what tax money is for.  Protection money is for gangsters.

Read more at http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/tennessee-family-home-burns-while-firefighters-watch-191241763.html

See an earlier case where three dogs and a cat died in a fire in an unprotected home at http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39516346/ns/us_news-life/t/no-pay-no-spray-firefighters-let-home-burn/

Image of a house fire using gasoline by Kpahor, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported.  For details see http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:House_fire_using_gasoline.jpg

Posted by The Loveshade Family at 01:48 AM | Permalink | Comments (5) | TrackBacks (0)

It may be hard to believe.  But a recent survey reported that regular Fox News viewers actually know less about current events than those who don't watch news at all.

Fairleigh Dickinson University asked 612 New Jersey adults how they got their news and then asked them about current affairs.  Most of the results didn't surprise me as they backed up a previous survey. Watchers of Sunday morning shows that discuss public affairs and national newspapers readers scored relatively high.  Fox News viewers scored at the bottom.

What I found amusing was that viewers of the comedy "The Daily Show" with John Stewart were actually better informed on some issues than those who got their news from Fox News or MSNBC.

Note that the poll tested a relatively small sample and thus has a relatively large margin of error.

See the Los Angeles Times article by Michael A. Memoli at articles.latimes.com/2011/nov/21/news/la-pn-fox-news-poll-20111121

On a side note, after Megyn Kelly told Bill O'Reilly on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor that pepper spray was essentially "a food product," a petition went up for her to eat it.  Not just her words, but the pepper spray.  In response, Sam Seder of Majority.FM pointed that peach seeds contain what is essentially a food product, cyanide.  See the petition at www.change.org/petitions/fox-news-anchor-eat-or-drink-a-full-dose-of-pepper-spray-on-national-television.

See Seder's openly biased report at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zE2Nxjv6gwM.  The previous survey is discussed at http://loveshade.org/blog/2010/12/are_you_smarter_than_a_fox_new.html. 

The image of Megyn Kelly on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor is a screen capture.  This is intended to help illustrate the article and no threat to any copyright is intended. 

Thanks to Vernon Avaritt III for pointing out these stories.  An opinion expressed by an individual member of The Loveshade Family does not necessarily express the views of the entire family.

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As someone asked before where I get my news, I get it largely through the Internet, primarily Associated Press, NPR, Christian Science Monitor, Yahoo!, and online national newspapers.  I also get news from the openly-biased ACLU.  If I'm really interested in a story, I check more than one source and try to account for bias. -- Alden Loveshade

Posted by Alden Loveshade at 05:22 PM | Permalink | Comments (8) | TrackBacks (0)

They are at it once again. In the name of protecting corporate interests, a new bill is being considered in Congress. Among other things, if this bill passes "The government can order service providers to block websites for infringing links posted by any users." This could include blogs like this one, in addition to Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook. It could also mean blocking sites from other countries so Americans couldn't see them. This isn't what's happening in China, but it's a step in that direction.

Now we're all in favor of individual creators having the right to their own work and are against people stealing an individual's work in the name of "free speech." But as usually happens when the government goes after something big, this bill goes too far.  Let's stop censorship before it begins.

For more info including how to contact your representative, go to http://americancensorship.org/

To see the bill, go to http://judiciary.house.gov/hearings/pdf/112%20HR%203261.pdf

Posted by The Loveshade Family at 02:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

"Blood Lust and Innocence" is a "poem in prose form" I wrote simply because I was inspired to write it.  Fortunately, it found a publisher.

As far as I know the story appears in Issue 13 of Hungur Magazine which just came out.  The issue also features ''"Luftgeist" by David Lee Summers of Tales of the Talisman; "Against The Fall Of Night" by Tyree Campbell; "Drifters In The Void" by Jay MacLeod; a poem and art combo called "Bad Alice" by the Marge Simon/Sandy DeLuca consortium; and interviews with Brian Lumley and the a4mentioned David Lee Summers.'  It's available at Sam's Dot Bookstore at http://sdpbookstore.com/hungur.htm.

Much of the magazine deals with vampires on other worlds, but also features some of the home-grown variety.

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Update: I received my copy of the issue and my story does appear as flash fiction.

The use of a small, low resolution of the cover of the magazine is intended to promote the publication and in no way its use be considered a threat to its copyright.

Posted by Alden Loveshade at 02:31 AM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)

I just got my advance copy of GURPS Social Engineering.  I was one of the playtesters of the book, which is primarily for the GURPS roleplaying system but has lots of useful information for any roleplaying game that deals with social interactions from intimidation to sex appeal.  Frankly, it's a good source book period.  The author, William H. Stoddard, has written several books and knows his stuff.  I appreciate him and Steve Jackson Games giving me credit in the book for my little contributions.

Posted by Alden Loveshade at 08:15 PM | Permalink | Comments (9) | TrackBacks (0)