Travis Briggs

I had honestly never heard about this site until today. It's like wikipedia, except they actively encourage original research (see Wikipedia's "No Original Research" policy).

Although I am morally opposed to iframes, based on my belief that they break the web, this is the embed code that Google gave me. Apologies if this doesn't work in your RSS reader/Facebook note:

[Here's a link, and the code they gave me, for anyone who can't see the iframe]:
<iframe src="http://knol.google.com/k/travis-briggs/the-morals-of-us-copyright-law/3r5zt4813806y/1?embed=content" width="640" height="480"></iframe>

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Stand with the President on Wall Street reform

Jun 29 2010 at 02:07 EST

This is like the sixth of these that I've 'signed'. Presumably, some part of the Obama administration is collecting statistics on which districts have clicked 'yes' on these things and using that information when they talk to members of congress. I'm thinking something like that West Wing episode, "Down Five Votes".

Of course, it seems like the real reason they do these is because you're always redirected to the "thanks, but if you really want to help, donate!" page after you submit your name. Even if they don't have a very high conversion rate on that page, they're still making money. That's the cynical view anyways.

Congress this week is expected to cast final votes on Wall Street reform -- legislation that isn't just the toughest financial reforms since the Great Depression, but also the strongest consumer protections in history.

These votes in the House and Senate will come down to the wire. And special interests -- who have already spent more than $1 million per member of Congress lobbying on this issue -- are going into overdrive to kill the bill.

Will you join me and stand with President Obama in fighting for Wall Street reform today?

http://my.barackobama.com/WallStreetReformFinalVote-auto

Thanks!

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The Web's new red light district, .xxx top level domain approved!

Jun 26 2010 at 04:16 EST

ICANN has voted to approve .xxx TLD. I've always been a big supporter of this. I'm not of the opinion that pornography is something minors need "protecting from" in the first place. Not that I think minors should have wide and unfettered access to porn. The upside is that presumably this will make it so that public libraries don't have to resort to blocking web sites that explain how to do a breast self-exam.

Interestingly enough, the New York Times is reporting that the online pornography industry was joining with 'conservative groups' to lobby against this decision. Clearly the existence of http://www.tits.xxx diminishes the value of the tits.com domain. Ostensibly, they're opposed to the idea that porn could be easily filtered, which brings up an interesting issue regarding Net Neutrality: what do you do when your DSL provider, Christian Family Communications decides to drop .xxx from your DNS servers? On the other hand, concerned parents could call up CFC and get .xxx blocked with the same ease of a phone call to the front desk to block adult movies in hotel rooms.

The New York Times and Time.com have more.

And remember, the hottest .tv, .mobi and .info domains are available now! LOL.

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