Welcome to my life in digital form

I Am Not Reassured

I'm guessing GoDaddy has more on their plate today than worrying about branding. If you've missed the news, the domain registrar suffered an attack that took down a pretty sizable chunk of the Internet. I haven't been a huge fan of the service for a number of reasons. The previous owner/president holds some pretty outspoken political views that he has injected into the corporate politics in a way I never felt was appropriate. What always bugged me most, though, was their marketing. They embodied the old school idea that tech folks were men. All of their big campaigns include half dressed women doing little but be half dressed. As a result, while I followed the story today I had trouble finding an article that didn't include a photo from one of those campaigns...lots of models unzipping their shirts while the company desperately tried to reassure customers that they were on top of a difficult problem. It was bizarre, but it was absolutely the image the company had created for itself. On the one hand, it was entertaining to see the PR spin undermined by the company's sex kitten persona. On the other, so very frustrating that we are still here in the tech world. When the DNS dust settles, I would hope that GoDaddy takes a hard look at how their self created identity hurt their ability to deliver credible information during a crisis. Do [more]

Ravelry Finds

Sometimes I find things on Ravelry that are so awesome, I just have to share them.   Piper's Journey Because I can't seem to stop making Shawlettes.     Hitch Hiker's Guide Charts   There must be something I can do with these.     Annie Hooded Vest Sometimes I close my eyes and whisper... "I will learn how to set a zipper, I will learn how to set a zipper..."     Wanderlust Cardi I have 1300 yards of this luscious yarn.  I call fate.     I just want to know why it's green and then I never want to discuss it [more]

Open Internet Good. Censorship Bad.

Welcome back internet. I missed you yesterday! I hope a number of folks were able to get up to speed on the SOPA/PIPA legislation that will soon resurrect like a zombie and again start working it's way through the House and Senate. Still not sure what it is? You can find a simple explanation here. I urge you to contact your Senators and Representative to express your concerns over this damaging bill. Signing online petitions is all well and good, but the people whom you have elected need to hear from you directly! Not sure how to do that? This should help get you started. Here is the letter that I sent to my Senators and Representative on SOPA/PIPA. I modified it slightly for each one. This is the Feinstein version. The version I sent to Rep. Howard Berman expressed NO surprise that he might be swayed by Hollywood money. ------------------------------------------------------------ Dear Senator, I am a professional that works for an audio/video/technology company. We are in the unique position of creating media that we certainly are interested in protecting from piracy, however we also rely heavily on an open internet to disseminate it. I am extremely concerned about the proposed PIPA and SOPA legislation that is before the house and the senate. I have read them and I see clearly the potential for abuse. The effect such abuse would have on the internet would be real and devastating. Most importantly, I see no concrete structure in the bill for effectively dealing with piracy. I am unhappy that [more]