Sopa, sopa, sopa. I’m really hoping it is voted out as it is able to potentially impact anyone in the world. I just don’t get why the people for it are the ones who are so inexperienced with the IT world. It’s like a history major claiming to know what’s best for the medicinal world. But yeah, it definitely is good to get away from the internet world for a while, and just appreciate the smaller things in life.

“It’s always “three thousand people were killed when a ship ran aground on the east coast of Whatchamacallit. About fifty of them are believed to be Australians”. The latter sentence always ticks me off, because for some reason, when a large number of people have died, the fact is always put forward that so-and-so Australians have died.” hah! This is one of my biggest pet peeves about our media, too! So much so that I used it as an essay topic last year on one of my assessments. “Is Australian media too patriotic?” And proud moment *drum roll* I scored 95% I think (it was the highest in the class anyway, as I received a certificate saying so /donk my moment at the top hahahah)

ANYWAY ♥ ♥ HOPE YOU’RE DOING WELL!

Hey Georgie!! How’re you doing? I’m so sorry I haven’t been by lately to comment on anything. Been busy with a lot of homework and school things to do. I had to change my schedule on Tuesdays as my Friday morning class interfered with my dropping off time. Now that’s taken care of, I won’t be seeing my two friends in two of my classes on Fridays. Only at the 1-5 class. Oh well; we all have to make sacrifices right?

Now about that SOPA bill. I didn’t realize there was one, until yesterday afternoon when I went in search of a new idea for a layout. I browsed and saw tons of posts stating they went on block out due to the SOPA act. Well; last night my friend in a band has actually stated on Facebook that the bill did not pass and we all can relax. I only think that if the SOPA bill were to pass, it’d just take away the illegal downloads everyone’s doing. I could be mistaken, but people are doing a LOT of illegal downloads. I’m one of the guilty parties. I used to, but ever since finding that bill out, I realized it’s better to be safe than sorry. Ya know? Plus, I’m sure blogging won’t go out of style. They were trying to make the internet safer. If you know what I mean. But the bill did not pass.

So anyway, I don’t keep up to date with the current affairs either. I only keep up to date on the weather and then I change the channel. If that. I usually get a pop up on my phone saying what the weather’s going to be for today. And I dismiss it. So I don’t hardly ever watch t.v. anymore. Not even Steve Wilkos. Once in a while I will when I get an opportunity to do so. But, hardly ever.

So yup, I’m in my second week of college. We had Monday off due to it being Martin Luther King Jr. Day. I didn’t have my Typography class, so Tuesday, my adoptive dad and I did some errands got my schedule changed, and got my book for my class. :). I’m happy. The guy only wanted $10.00 for it. Can you believe that? A $100.00 + book for $10.00!!!! So we did that, and like I said above, no longer have two classes on Fridays, it is now all on Thursdays, first English (which I love the teacher) and then my design class with a different male teacher. So hopefully I won’t be too far behind. I never did receive an email from the teacher but oh well. I’ll talk to him before class or something like that to let him know I’m in his class now. So yup that’s my weeks now. Homework, homework, homework. Now I know why you’re so stressed out all the time :P. We go by 12 week periods. Not entirely sure how it works over in Australia. But, 12 weeks and that’s it. Well; in 12 more days I will be 29 years old. Man, time sure flies doesn’t it? I’ll be going to Disneyland on my birthday as that’s what my little sister asked me if I wanted to do. So we’re gonna try. If not, we’re gonna do something else. Of course my birthday falls on Wednesday so I’ll be dead tired for school the next day, but I’ll deal.

In the US, the media will just say “30 people were killed at [place] in [something else]”. They’ll never mention how many of those died were Americans. I guess that it’s just the way things are here.

I think it’s good that you’re not as attached to the Internet as you used to be. Checking email every two minutes = not healthy. But personally, as an American living in the country where SOPA and PIPA are under consideration, I hope that those two bills do not pass, given my country’s history with the law and abuse of the law. What concerns me is not really the part about messing with the DNS registry – because plenty of ways around that will appear – but the fact that sites will be taken down without a court trial and that it’s not hurting the people that are actually doing the infringing directly – it’s hurting the often innocent middlemen. I could rant all day because the things that the US Congress does is going to make my life more difficult.

If SOPA and PIPA pass, then I sincerely hope that it gets shoved up the a***** of the f***** who thought it up.

I thought SOPA was mainly for the United States, but I guess it’ll be for Australians if you visit American sites. This has been a huge issue in my life right now. In my IPLE class and AP U.S. Government (both political classes), we talked about SOPA. The detailed issues are a little hard to understand. I hope it doesn’t happen. Likewise, everything would be gone, if the users think so. It would probably change the internet forever. I don’t know what would happen to my site if they think that it’s acting a right of piracy. I heard that the bill might not be passed because a lot of people protested and called yesterday (when google and wiki were on strike). Also Obama is running again in 2012, and he wants to keep his young fanbase (who oppose SOPA). I am glad you are informed about this because it is good to get foreigners involved in the congress bill. The internet affects everyone because it’s a place for communication and sharing. It’s good to educate your family on this because just like the economy what happens in one part of the world may cause harm to another.

One of my friends posted on his Facebook that if this gets passed, he thinks people would be on FB and the internet less, which might be a good thing. Like what you said, sometimes I know I should do homework, read or watch tv (I love futurama), but I get caught up in the internet. If we limit the internet maybe we can all enjoy life more. I do think it’s hard to take away something we always had though.

Yea I applied to 12 colleges lmfao I got into 6 of them already and am waiting to hear from the others. In America college is a big stepping stone so I am excited to see where I’ll end and what I’ll do.

Hi :DD
I feel the same way. Everyone is tweeting aggressively about sopa (and then megaupload). It does breach our freedom of speech and all that jazz, but to be honest, I seriously find that the internet has gotten a very annoying. For example, this whole phenomena thing call “youtube.” Like you mentioned, it isn’t a community, it’s really a bunch of stuff mash together flashing us with stupidity—yes, it’s funny the first time, but seriously, just stop. It’s just way too much and I miss the old youtube where it was… less human involved (if that made any sense). I still love the cooking channels and cat channels because I do learn about from the cooking channels XD And I’m just obsessed with cute little furry creatures :)

I use to be like you and I was uninterested in current affairs, but since I majored in International Relations it opened a whole point of view and discoveries that you cannot get from watching the news. The news hide so much and sugar coats a lot of things so I don’t trust these form of sources anymore. I got to dig and uncover truths and what the worlds on the other side is actually like and what our government has been hiding and all sort of stuff.

I think the only thing that would suck most is if SOPA were to be passed then the major factor contributing to globalization may reverse.

Hey, have you ever listened to The Good, The Bad & The Queen? I’m checking out this album for the first time :)

I mildly support SOPA. I haven’t gone out of my way to sign anything, but if it works that would be nice. After all, I think that (most of the time) it’s a good thing that the internet isn’t censored. I mean, the average person in America uses the internet so much, myself included, of course. The internet should belong to the people.
I am quite guilty of downloading music for free on the internet. I try to pay a lot of the time, especially when the artist isn’t as successful as, say, Muse or Radiohead. But I’ve spent hundreds of dollars in buying music. That stuff adds up real fast. Ideally, music should be free. Too bad that’s not how the world works :(
I also hate listening to the news. Only about 10% of the time do they talk about something I like. It makes me upset sometimes when they’re able to deliver bad news like it’s nothing. It feels like people are just statistics, and not actual people. And several days after some sort of horrible accident, it’s like the world just forgets about it and moves on.

Haha, Youtube really does have a horrible community. So many people there just act horribly and are quick to pick fights. It’s so silly!

Anyway, I’m glad you like that song :) Since you like it I think you should check out more of their stuff! They really are a great band.

This whole SOPA thing is pretty ridiculous. SOPA itself, of course, is ridiculous, but so are the people talking about it. So many people are talking about it as if they’re experts on it; I just don’t listen, because it’s so hard for me to know whether or not what they’re saying is actually legitimate.

The only time they mention how many Filipinos have died in an accident I think is when majority of those who’ve died are Filipino.

I do love the internet, but my online life will never be a priority. It’s not healthy to get too attached to the internet.

I try to do other things when I can – like write on a piece of paper instead of on a laptop, or play with my little brother instead of playing on the computer.

It’s hard not to have terrible people on the Internet, considering basically everyone’s on the Internet! It’s nice to take a rest from those people every once in a while though.

I used to download music for free, but, when Limewire was closed down, I took the opportunity to stop and just buy CDs. I love CDs. I’ve gotten so many this past year. Sometimes, it feels nice just owning them, even looking at them for inspiration, aside from listening to them.

I think most of the sites will be at a risk if the SOPA thing gets through. I’m about 60% sure that SOPA won’t happen, though. But there’s always a risk. I mean yea sure, after we download all those illegal material (I mostly download songs/albums) it’s like we’re getting punished for that, and I understand that. But looking at it as a whole, most websites might get offed and I don’t want that.

There’s not much freedom of speech in Malaysia, so the Internet is like our safe haven (semi-safe since our government will take down blogs that diss the government/politics/country/etc. written by Malaysians). And I certainly do not want my fansite to be shut down, after spending 4 years working on it :(

I hope SOPA never passes. It was designed by a guy who has never used the internet. It’s pretty much the only tool that gives freedom of expression for some people while being an outlet for others. We’re allowed to be faceless and rude because it’s fun and noone gets hurt, mostly.

W4NNA MAKE L0V3 LAST LOOOOOONGER?
Che4p V!AGRA!

The internet has brought out the worst of us, but hey. It can be used for great things. Like a hammer can be used to pound a nail in yo ass (i’m not really up to date on contemporary American language) or make a house. :3

(Y)

I think SOPA and PIPA are bad, but our country passes a lot of bad bills. I’m glad people are finally angry about one of these bad bills, but just because the bill can be interpreted in a way that gives our government the power to destroy the internet, doesn’t mean they will. They just want the power to take down whoever they want, whenever they want for whatever reason. It’s not about the possible destruction of the internet, it’s about censorship and freedom of speech. I will not vote for anyone who supports this bill. Any politician that does is being influenced by corporations rather than the people they’re supposed to be representing.

Surprisingly, SOPA was a big happening at my school. Kids were talking about it all over the place, and teachers were bringing up the subject to us and asking about our opinions. I blame this on the fact that 99.9% of my school is on Twitter (which is why I have my Twitter protected and my profile incognito so no one can tell it’s me), and so they’ve seen all the SOPA updates. They even started calling it StOPA. I blacked out my website for the day, just because I feel like I needed to protest. I’m not attached to the Internet, but I use it for a lot of things. I use Wikipedia, Google, and YouTube frequently. I’m always on Twitter or checking Facebook (although I’ve become recently less attached to that one). Not to mention my new addiction to MangaReader.net, where I can save images and put them on my Kindle to read manga chapters on the go. I understand what they were trying to do with the act, but in the end it was stupid. It just opens more doors to hackers who want to get around the system.

I understand about your work situation. O_O Even though I’m going to school, I come home tired and not wanting to reply to comments or write blogs anymore. I usually come home, grab my Kindle and phone, and sit down to read manga or a good book. I’m usually on Twitter, too, but that’s it. I just feel absolutely no motivation. /argh

I really liked what you had to say, though. Probably the first blog I’ve come across that isn’t about how horrible SOPA is and how your life depends on the internet and it being “alive.” I did hear that SOPA is dead now, though. But that’s just through Twitter and I’m far from motivated to check the news (because it’s just like you said: dull).

Cheers! ♥

I’m tired of talking about SOPA, so let’s talk about other things…

I, personally, must always be updated on “current affairs.” I don’t HAVE to be, but I choose to want to know what is happening outside of U.S. soil. I mean, I could live a life without really knowing what is going on elsewhere on Earth, but I just don’t want that! :P I like knowing things and learning things about other countries’ situations/history and all that. I feel it keeps me “updated” and I sometimes I hate it when someone mentions something happening elsewhere and I’m over there being all clueless. >_>

Yeah, some news reports/articles can be dull, but then there are those that are pretty interesting and good to know about (especially current news on what’s happening in Cambodia). Also, right now in the U.S., we have elections coming up soon, so it’s good to know who’s dropped out or still in the race (for voters voting for the Republican candidates, that is).

Without checking the news and what’s going on in the world today, I wouldn’t feel the need to think politically or deeply or learning how to form my own personal opinions on a certain topic – and I don’t want that. I want to be able to do that all that ~thinking~. :P

I blame being on such a long winter break for my 24/7 internet usage. And with the rainy weather coming, I no longer want to go out or do anything. Luckily, spring semester begins on Monday, so now I’ll be occupied with math, history, english, and computer-related work.

Hey Georgie!! I get what you feel about just wanting to read or sleep after a day’s work. Man I experienced that in my Internship last year and I’ll probably experience that forever right after college. And the news that ends with the line ___ number of ____ died. It happens here. I think it’s because every government wants to show that they care for their citizens. They do have to keep up because they want to save their citizens so I understand why they want to put that on the news. I on the other hand like reading the news just because I want to know other things in the world and here (it’s not all about deaths too! haha there are births, creations and other things. Well some are boring stuff but I like to read the business sections too. maybe it’s because I’m bored with my own life and looking at other people’s lives will help me. IDK XD). Well that’s just me I guess XD

I just recently blogged about SOPA too. It’ll affect me so much not just because I use the Internet almost everyday or that I don’t like the offline world (I love traveling and nature!) but because some of the things (such as films, books) aren’t accessible in the Philippines and the Internet is the avenue where I can get them. It’ll affect independent companies too because… where else can they upload their work once the government has shut it down? What will happen to the Megaupload webmasters and designers who have placed their files there for clients? The corporate companies now just want to protect their own assets and forget about the rest of them. This is what really ticks me off that’s why I blogged about it. Sighs… it’s a good thing SOPA was scrapped…. but it’s only for now. But this didn’t stop the FBI.

SOPA/PIPA I’ve been following because as you know, I keep track of government issues and such. I do have to say I enjoy seeing so many people talking about both bills – the good thing is for now both bills are “dead”, they’re putting them on hold. Which is – in a way – a win for those who protests both online and in person because you have an amount of time a bill can stand open on the floor and not have been voted on, not to mention a bunch of supporters are now against it due to the amount of calls and emails they got.

Okay, I’m sure that was boring to read, sorry! Ha ha. I am passionate about issues I’m fighting for or against. Which I do enjoy seeing people being passionate about things, it can be a protest or their job – not many people in the world have passion for things any longer.

I really do watch the news too much. Ha ha. Recently though I’ve started reading again. Which is awesome because I have a few books – okay I ended up buying about 10 books when the bookstore went out of business late last year.

SOPA’s just a big deal because it has the potential to take away a lot of our creative freedom. Like, let’s say a musician wants to just post a cover of a song to YouTube to get some attention. Even though he didn’t make any money off of it, SOPA would have made that illegal. Or, some parents want to post a picture of their daughter’s birthday party online to share with family — the “Happy Birthday” song is actually copyrighted, and they would have been sentenced with a huge fine.

All those forums online focusing on fandoms? Shut down. I role play a lot, and use song lyrics and stuff as the titles of my threads, and that could’ve been made into a felony. I’m not making any money off of it, so what’s the big deal? You also use pictures of celebrities as “play bys” for your character, and that would have stopped, too. Most celebrities don’t mind (because it’s pretty much free advertising for them) and if they do and ask us to stop, most role players are very good about minding their wishes.

I guess SOPA’s just a big deal to me because, back in middle school when I had so many depression and anxiety problems, what got me through it was a Harry Potter fan forum. If SOPA had existed back then, I don’t know if I would ever have emerged from that dark hole I was in. And, nowadays, I use role playing for my anxiety. It has also helped me a lot.

Personally, I’m glad so many sites shutdown, and so many people are talking about it. It raised awareness like crazy, and today Congress dropped it. I’m glad everyone was able to unite, and it’s something that, for the first time in ages, united Republicans and Democrats. I know piracy is something that needs to be fixed, but SOPA was too extreme. And, honestly, we have bigger concerns right now. Let’s fix the economy first (SOPA would’ve also gotten rid of a lot of jobs and would have left thousands of people unemployed) and THEN fix internet issues.

That’s just my humble opinion, though.

Aha you hate (or have hated) Tumblr. ^/_^

A few days ago I saw a message about SOPA on Wikipedia. Even then I only ignored it. I tend to block out current events, online or offline. My mom says I know nothing more than what happens in Naruto or what is going on with the band FT Island. -/___- Even one of my professors at school is noticing I know absolutely nothing about news.

Only yesterday, January 19th, did I find out what SOPA is. I was tempted to black out my website for fun even. What the heck is wrong with me? Right now I’m looking it up as well. Huh, I’m always interested in news AFTER it happens.

But, I think maybe SOPA’s got a point. If everyone downloads illegal music that’s a countless amount of money lost. Why should internet crime be different from offline crime? I actually don’t know the details of what would happen if the law is passed but I just hate people who plagiarize. I one time was even tempted to give up my favorite domain because I came across a girl owning a website of a similar name, making celebrity graphics (of namely Lee Hongki). F*cken person.

Sometimes I think SOPA and PIPA were half-hearted attempts by movie and music executives to hold onto their analog view of distributing music and movies. The internet has changed the world and they need to adapt their business practices to it. I don’t like how much big companies have influenced our laws. Money talks, as they say :(

I feel like every country does that bit where they mention a big catastrophe elsewhere and how many nationals died, like everyone else matters less because they’re not a national. I don’t like that disregard.

One of the things that annoyed me about the whole thing was that some people tweeted, talked, posted, etc. their feelings against it to ride the tide of popularity, but never really did anything about it. They didn’t sign the petition against it, or made it known to his/her Congress representative, if the representative supported it. Thank goodness mine didn’t, but I still signed petitions anyway.