MPAA terminates town's community wi-fi network

link

Sony learned that a resident of Coshocton, Ohio, downloaded a pirated movie via the town's communal wi-fi network.

When the MPAA couldn't figure out which specific individual in town did the download, they responded by pressuring the ISP provider to deactivate the entire network.

A representative of the city said that for the time being, the 100+ residents of the town who used the wi-fi network will be left out in the cold as the city does not have the money to pay for the type of anti-piracy software that they need to put in place in order to get the MPAA to ease up.



If true, then the 99+ who got stiffed of their internet access because of the one probably have very good grounds to sue Sony and the MPAA for denial of service like that. I'd love to see what the courts have to say once this is all over.

Goldman Sachs saves kittens

yes. Really.

Stan Lee: How I Did It

link

This was in the recent issue of Inc. and I figured some people here might be wanting to read it.

Veteran's Day.

So that people remember the *real* holiday today.

Christmas chapter ideas

Each year, I try to do at least one Christmas-related fic.

This year, I've got four ideas, but I'm only going to be able to get one done; owing to stress and being sick, my mental state is such that I'll only be able to focus long enough to do one of the four before Christmas. As such, I was wondering which of the four people would be most interested in:


Armada / Energon -

(the past "year" in the verse was marked by a variety of significant occurrences, such as an epic battle in which several Autobots - most of which were fan-characters - lost their lives and the Autobots finally having to admit their existence to the world; thus, plenty of emotions going into everything).

1. A generic story in which some of the Autobots on Earth try to pull it together while contemplating on the holiday and what the past year has wrought.

2. Romance fic. I've moved the storyline ahead several years, during which adult Rad & adult Alexis have married. This would represent their 1st Christmas together.

3. Humor fic. Some human characters and a few of the mini-cons attend a holiday party at the nearby military base. A party in which Miss Suzuki has been hired to watch the kids (she hasn't quite finished college at this point, and so is still in the "I need $$$ phase")

RiD -

4. Koji, Ai-chan, Carl, and Jenny make a day trip via JR-X team in order to enjoy a snowy mountain. A mountain that Sky-Byte has staked out for his own vacation. The idea is derived from this piece of fanart I found a few years ago on a fansite entitled "Car-Robox".




Thanks.