Gotye/ Walk off the Earth Mashup

The Internet blacked out

The world has been blacked out

I've written recently about SOPA, and there is a similar bill called PIPA that is in the works. SOPA was recently shelved, as numerous people, companies and organizations spoke out about the Draconian rules that SOPA was proposing. PIPA, however is still in the works. If either one of these acts become law, the damage to the open and free internet will be immeasurable.

The new laws will violate numerous personal rights in the name of corporations. The acts also make internet providers and websites responsible for their user's action. As well, the simple act of linking to a site that holds pirated material makes the linker guilty of piracy as well.

Several different websites have blacked out their homepage only to display a message about how SOPA and PIPA will harm the web, the internet community and innovation in general. I know I live in Canada, so I have very little influence about this, but because I live in Canada, I know that our government will soon follow whatever the US does. Not only that, but several of the websites that I use on a daily basis, including Wikipedia, Reddit, and dozens more are located in the US so they will be affected by these two bills.

Talk to anyone you can, tell your elected representative, and just stay informed. These two acts will help to take down the free and open nature of the internet so that a few companies can make more money.

Jam Session 2

Here is the second video I made of the jam session we had on New Year's. I really wished I was able to record the entire night, but there was no way my phone would have been able to record everything. I think next time we do this, I'll see if I can get an actual camera to set up.

Not Your Typical subway ride

Some kind soul captured this on a NYC subway ride. I don't know if this really was spur of the moment or planned, either way its pretty cool.

Jam Session 1

So for New Years last night, I was at a friend's house. The Friend in question is a music teacher, and alot of his friends are musicians as well. We had an 8 hour jam session going for most of the night, people would pick up instruments, play, put down the instrument, move to the next one, or others would pick up where they left off. Possibly the greatest New Years ever. Here's a clip