The fiasco continues

Originally posted by electricdruid at The fiasco continues

ACTA in a Nutshell –

What is ACTA?  ACTA is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. A new intellectual property enforcement treaty being negotiated by the United States, the European Community, Switzerland, and Japan, with Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Canada recently announcing that they will join in as well.

Why should you care about ACTA? Initial reports indicate that the treaty will have a very broad scope and will involve new tools targeting “Internet distribution and information technology.”

What is the goal of ACTA? Reportedly the goal is to create new legal standards of intellectual property enforcement, as well as increased international cooperation, an example of which would be an increase in information sharing between signatory countries’ law enforcement agencies.

Essential ACTA Resources - 

• Read more about ACTA here: ACTA Fact Sheet
• Read the authentic version of the ACTA text as of 15 April 2011, as finalized by participating countries here: ACTA Finalized Text
• Follow the history of the treaty’s formation here: ACTA history
• Read letters from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden wherein he challenges the constitutionality of ACTA: Letter 1 | Letter 2 | Read the Administration’s Response to Wyden’s First Letter here: Response
• Watch a short informative video on ACTA: ACTA Video
• Watch a lulzy video on ACTA: Lulzy Video

Say NO to ACTA. It is essential to spread awareness and get the word out on ACTA.

Via Tumblr

Aurgh!

Sometimes I really hate FF.net. I've been holding off on posting chapter 15 because I was waiting to see if a couple of my other regulars would comment on 14. Tonight I finally decided to put up 15 and see if they would review both chapters. And FF.net decides it would be the perfect night to have a processing error. Stupid, stupid thing.

I actually have the entire story done, I believe. I realized the epilogue didn't resolve enough stuff by a long shot, so I inserted another chapter after 15. Now, after a burst of insomnia yesterday that resulted in some more material, I think it's done. I've transferred it to WordPerfect in preparation for printing. It's 211 pages! (Double-sided, of course.) That's even more than I thought. I only have enough sheet protectors because I had a few left over from something else, in addition to the two packages bought Wednesday.

I also think I know what the next story will be, but I'm not totally sure. I believe that the fandom will accept it, but I'm not sure I have enough of an idea about the plot to propel it forward to the end. So I'm debating what to do. The idea keeps poking me, so I'll have to start it, but I don't think I want to say anything about its plot until I see if I can get chapter 1 out of it. Since I think The Broken Ties is done, I may try starting the new possibility tonight or in the morning. And meanwhile wait for FF.net to stop screwing up again.

Sometimes I wish I could still get inspired by theme comms. 31_days is continuing its seeming tradition of featuring amazing, incredible prompts for February. I just adore their line-up for next month, but I'm just not inspired. I can't think of any fics to match the prompts. I had an idle thought of taking out another 10_hurt_comfort claim, as they're the only prompts halfway inspiring me right now, but I just can't see my way clear to writing fics for all of them. It's really quite aggravating and discouraging. I remember the thrill of being inspired by prompts, getting a clear image for a scene in a fic, and then being able to write an entire fic based on that. I miss that.

And I was thinking about the ratio of shows I like/have liked per major network. Assuming the major ones are CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX, CBS has always been my favorite. In the past, so many shows I watched were CBS: The Andy Griffith Show, Gomer Pyle U.S.M.C., M*A*S*H, Perry Mason, Touched By An Angel, I Love Lucy (I think), My Three Sons.... And so many shows I've been getting hooked on in the past year are also CBS: The Wild Wild West, Mission: Impossible, Hawaii 5-O (old version), The Mod Squad, The Dick Van Dyke Show (I think), Have-Gun Will Travel, Gunsmoke.... And I watch A Gifted Man and The Twilight Zone.

On ABC, I can't even quite think of anything other than The Patty Duke Show. And the new shows Once Upon a Time and Pan Am. Oh, and I find that they aired The Outer Limits and Kolchak: The Night Stalker.

NBC has The Monkees and Get Smart. And Dragnet (both versions). And Ironside. And Bonanza. And Riverboat.

I think the only FOX show I've ever really liked is The X-Files.

Then there's syndicated shows from Ziv, which MGM owns the rights to now. Highway Patrol, Sea Hunt.... And Mike Hammer is syndicated too, but not by Ziv. And ... haha, it aired on CBS.

I'm amused that my love of CBS's awesome shows has continued to the present day. So many, many wonderful series. The other networks had some good ones too.

I also have a hang-up on what to do with my latest Amazon giftcard. I would like to use some of it to buy one of the Columbia House Perry Mason tapes with episodes from the later seasons I love. They only released a handful from seasons 7 8 and 9. All the tapes are out of print and very rare in new condition. I do not want used video tapes. (I would make an exception if a fan offered some to me and they were in excellent condition, but otherwise I want them new.)

Right now on Amazon, there's one tape I want for $14.95 and another for $11.75. The problem is, each tape has two episodes. Each tape has one episode I really really want, and also has one episode I already have in some format. And the episode I want most, which is on the more expensive tape, comes with an episode I have uncut. The episode I want second most comes with one I have in a cut syndicated format (which I recorded off the TV, of course). Amazon also tells me there's only one of them from that seller. I don't know if that means the seller with the more expensive tape has several copies of it or not, since that listing doesn't say there's just one.

Logically, I should get the cheaper one. I'd get an episode I love, along with the uncut version of another I like. And there's supposedly only one copy.

But I can't get away from wanting the other episode more. But it seems so impractical to buy it, at least at the price for which it's being offered, when I have the uncut of the other episode on it.

I wish I could get both tapes, but I can only get one. And I can't choose. Gah.