Tag Archives: SOPA

Soap and croutons

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I’m ending my SOPA/PIPA protest because those bills are dead, yo. Banner was cool, thanks to wordpress for making it so easy.

Watching the SOPA funeral feels like the first time I’ve helped create success since my teaching days. As a writing professor I worked hard on critical thinking lessons, and enjoyed watching students have breakthroughs learning to identify logical fallacies. That was nice. Dead SOPA is nice, too. Better, really, since teaching has limited results until they let me teach everyone on the planet.

Now can we get everyone who blacked out for SOPA to protest the U.S. ag/food policy, toxic chemicals, child abuse, overfishing, and croutons, please?

Okay, break over.

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Aside from the fact that I can’t be quiet (like, ever), I found some interesting articles for your consideration while doing my hour of Sunday Internet time. Guess that thought about maybe abandoning the blog was foolish talk. My Internet limit, though, means you’re in for a wild ride this post…

Fascinating article on Trader Joe’s, the highly secretive and mum company that supplies 75% of my family’s food. The LA Magazine piece is quite interesting and revelatory, though the last two paragraphs are almost the lamest conclusion I’ve ever read. And given that I taught freshman level English at a community college, “lamest” is saying a lot.

The controversy swirling about LEGO’s horrific decision to create pink and purple LEGOs for girls in which the characters lounge poolside and drink frothy beverages has me so angry I can barely speak. I’ve already ranted about Melissa and Doug‘s disgusting choice to have career dress up dolls for boys and fashion dress up dolls for girls, the hatefulness and ignorance of which made me stop buying their toys (a decision on which I doubled down when I realized how much of their stuff has PVC in it.)

And, in the interest of public service, a good read on how to affect public policy</a. I found Information Diet searching for a list of which companies support PIPA and SOPA, the terrifying congressional attempts to regulate the Internet that will make American access to information a lot more like so-called access in countries with overt government-sponsored censorship like China and Iran.

So. Learn about Trader Joe’s, debate toy pinkification, and wrangle with your legislative representative about the Internet. These are my contributions to your first day of 2012. What do you think?