I found myself leaving very large comments on a couple of my blogs today so I'm going to leave a long blog entry as well. Both, I felt, for good reason. I'm going to continue my ranting here…
First thanks to Jess for sparking the malice that has been building up inside.
On the whole court ruling on the RIAA's ability to use subpoenas to get names of music downloaders.
The US court system made the right decision here. Copyright law doesn't allow the RIAA to subpoena any information from an internet service provider. I bet a lot of you are breathing a sigh of relief right now, right? Well, don't breathe too long. It is still possible for the RIAA to sue the ISP because of copyrighted material traveling into, out of and within their network. You can bet your bottom that as soon as an ISP is slapped by one of these lawsuits, they will plea to the RIAA to not sue them if they turn over the names of the individuals participating in the illegal activity. This is not illegal. Most ISPs require you to sign a contract upon the start of your service which allows them to revoke your service and turn you into the proper authorities if you are participating in illegal activity. Better start hiding your music downloading again… or better yet, why don't you just download iTunes or Napster and get your music the honest way, the legal way. It's not even that expensive through these services… Check them out. it will save you a lawsuit. One of these days, everyone will be caught, unless you are an uber-skilled hacker.
On netiquette
Nothing more than what my good friend Jess has already said. Check it out at Clever Lines.
A few ammendments to her posting…
Things change a bit when you get to college. It becomes acceptable to IM someone when they are away. Examples of just causes for this: Waking them up to go to class, or better yet, an exam, Leaving them a sort of "IM voicemail" to let them know what's going on, and to ask them to help you with some task when they return.
Also, puting a cell phone number in an away message, acceptable at times: When leaving the number because you are awaiting someone's call, When moving forward with the evening's plans without someone who planned to attend, etc.
Blogging, not much, just one thing. It's ok to comment on your own blog when participating in a dialouge. If you're going to start a whole new rant, make a new entry.
Tom's Netiquette
1) Do NOT under any circumstances design a web site using bright, harsh-to-the-eyes, contrasting or otherwise offensive colors on a web site. Contrasting colors are those that lie opposite each other on the color wheel.
2) Make your font big enough to read! Nobody should need to increase the font size on their browser to read your web site (unless they are viewing it at 1400×1360 resolution).
3) Don't steal web designs if you are perfectly capable of making your own. Part of the expression of the internet is how your information is presented. Be yourself! Now there's nothing wrong in using a site as inspiration, or in using other sites to learn about HTML, shoot, that's how I did it. I have a problem with flat out stealing without giving credit where credit is due. dont' do it!
4) If you are going to have floating layers or whatever they're called, make sure they are wide enough and display enough of your content that we do not have to scroll down for five million days to read one section! This goes for both blogs and regular informational sites.
5) If it's hard for you to read, it's hard for me to read too, DON'T USE THAT DESIGN!
I was going to insert a new rant here, but this post is already long enough…
*sigh*
Ok, now that that's out of the way… I think…
I went to an interesting site linked from Jess's blog, Political Compass. It had a quiz to see what political orientation you are. I am most definitely a Libertarian Lefty. Check it out and see what you are 
.
I didn't get to go climbing yesterday because I slept too late. I did, however, get to go on a nice run. I ran four miles, and man am I dead from it. I haven't run that much since the end of the summer. I was so excited that it was 60 degrees outside today that after my run, I just sat on my roof and did some internet surfing… oh the joys of wireless. I just wish the weather would have stuck around for New Year's.
News from the digital camera store… Apparently for "security reasons" the company I orderd from will not ship to my bloomington address unless it is a part of my credit card as well. So I had to call the bank and have them add it as a secondary address… I dont' want to jump through hoops, I just want my freakin camera! And it better be here before New Year's or I'm going to be very, very upset.
I finished the Kappa Kappa Psi, Alpha Zeta web page. Have a look! Now all I have to do is collect some pictures from the chapter and post them. Also, update the calendar that I thought was broken, but I was able to fix.
Although I'm not in class, I'm keeping myself pretty busy, as you can see. I think I may head up to Galyan's today (this afternoon) to purchase a campus board. Not sure where I'm going to put it in my house yet, but I'll figure that out when I get some free time… oh yea… right after I get home 
Anyway, I think I've chewed your eyes enough, I'm outta here for the day. I will write more tonight.
Song of the Moment – Drug Ballad – Eminem
Hero of the Day – Jess for giving me something to rant about
Villian of the Day – The Auditor's computer at work… I HATE THIS MACHINE!
Quote of the Day – "Everything is broken" – Me when answering a question about something being broken tonight. I'm in an awesome mood, believe it or not.
ˇQuedo de Uds. muy atentamente!
ˇHasta luego amigos mios!
