Now that I’ve broken that, I guess my second New Year’s Resolution would be to be more interactive with this blog, and post more material on my daily/weekly thoughts.

Hard to find time in the day to fit in everything you want to do in life…however when you’ve watched your 6th episode of Futurama in a row on Netflix, you might want to start rethinking what you actually have time for.

So, my focus for 2013 is to grow my blog, and hopefully create content that is interesting and share-able.

Cheers to 2013!

First of all – if you look at the two websites, it’s like night and day with respects to website design and user interface. The Oatmeal‘s is spiffy, fun, and highly detailed. Oatmeal Studios…well I’m sure it was all the rage in 2000.

Second – why would anyone want to sue The Oatmeal after the FunnyJunk ordeal? Mr. Inman has a throng of dedicated fans who could devastate this greeting card company’s web presence, just to make a point. I don’t agree with that tactic, but hey, this is the Internet Age; it’s what people do.

Third and last – who the hell follows greeting card companies anyway? How are people going to get confused? Do people really walk into their neighborhood grocery store, walk into the greeting card aisle and say “Oh boy! Can’t wait to see what new cards Oatmeal Studios has put out this season!” Who is saying to their friends “Bro, dude, bro, srsly, you need a funny greeting card for your grandma’s 70th? Check out TheOatmeal.com…wait I mean OatmealStudios.com…no, QuakerOats.com…damn I can’t remember. Just look it up. I promise you won’t be confused.”

I understand copyright infringement as I would want to protect my brand name as well. But I personally believe in this case, if anyone was to benefit from someone getting “confused” by the two brands…it would clearly be Oatmeal Studios.

Seriously.

The SOPA online piracy bill that helped spark this week’s unprecedented Internet protests will be redrafted, its lead sponsor said Friday.

The move came shortly after the Senate postponed a key vote on the companion PIPA bill scheduled for next week and amid calls for consensus before Congress moves forward on any legislation to address the problem of foreign piracy websites.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) had hoped to push his Stop Online Piracy Act through the committee next month. But in the wake of growing opposition triggered by Wednesday’s Internet blackout, Smith said the committee “will postpone consideration of the legislation until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

“I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith said. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”

Smith said his committee “remains committed to finding a solution to the problem of online piracy that protects American intellectual property and innovation.”

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) also said he was committed to addressing the problem. But he blasted opponents of his Protect Intellectual Property Act, which unanimously passed the committee last year and appeared headed for approval by the full Senate within weeks before the Internet protests caused several colleagues to withdraw their support.

Leahy said he respected the decision Friday by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to postpone Tuesday’s planned procedural vote, which would have brought the bill to the full Senate so it could be debated and amended. And Leahy said he was committed to revising the bill to address opponents’ concerns and getting legislation passed this year.

But he warned, “The day will come when the senators who forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem.”

“Somewhere in China today, in Russia today, and in many other countries that do not respect American intellectual property, criminals who do nothing but peddle in counterfeit products and stolen American content are smugly watching how the United States Senate decided it was not even worth debating how to stop the overseas criminals from draining our economy,” Leahy said.

Christopher Dodd, head of the Motion Picture Assn. of America, echoed Leahy’s concerns about the impact of the delay and said he hoped the additional time would allow “the dynamics of the conversation” to change.

“As a consequence of failing to act, there will continue to be a safe haven for foreign thieves; American jobs will continue to be lost; and consumers will continue to be exposed to fraudulent and dangerous products peddled by foreign criminals,” Dodd said.

Opponents of the legislation were thrilled with the retreat and called for a consensus on how to tackle the problem of foreign piracy websites.

“Over the last two months, the intense popular effort to stop SOPA and PIPA has defeated an effort that once looked unstoppable but lacked a fundamental understanding of how Internet technologies work,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Vista), who has introduced narrower legislation favored by the Internet industry.

The White House also has called for consensus legislation.

Internet activists said Congress should start over in gauging the true scope of the online piracy problem and redrafting the legislation.

“Simply tinkering with the details … is not the way to go,” said Harold Feld, legal director of Public Knowledge, a digital rights group.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/sopa-bill-sent-back-to-the-drawing-board-in-wake-of-internet-protests.html

“The average age of Senators at the beginning of the 112 Congress was 62.2 years. Great, so our parents want to run the internet. How could anything go wrong?”

The date is rapidly approaching, and I think a big party will be in order on that day. Let me know if you agree!

CLIENT: “I don’t want to download it. Just give it to me over the phone.”

ME: “It’s a computer program, I can’t give it to you over the phone. I can mail you a DVD, or I can tell you how to safely download it over the internet.”

CLIENT: “Look, I’m not downloading anything, and I’m not getting off the phone until you give it to me.”

ME: “…Okay, do you have a pen and a piece of paper?”

CLIENT: “Hold on…Yup, go ahead!”

ME: “0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1 0 0 1 0 1 0 (continued saying random sequence for about 20 seconds)”

CLIENT: “Okay, I guess you can mail it to me.”

http://clientsfromhell.net/post/11446576194/client-i-dont-want-to-download-it-just-give-it