Peter's Place

To: The United Nations General Assembly, All Governments and Political Authorities, Holders of Content Copyright Living in the Age of the Internet, I am deeply puzzled over the ineptitude, unnecessary overcomplication, and (at times) outright hindrance of certain organisations to broadcast content over the Internet internationally simply because they're unable to successfully navigate the myriad complications in securing such permissions at a global level and must do so jurisdiction by jurisdiction. The very idea and notion of building a global community has never been closer to reality than in today's Internet Age; villages in poverty-stricken, rural outlays are able to communicate with the entire world thanks to solar-powered laptop computers and wireless broadband. The major obstacle to completing the global community is the deprecated notion of copyright legalities. While I recognize that the originators and creators of content should have mechanisms in place to pro...

I just read this opinion piece, Cal Thomas: Polygamy precedent applies to gay marriage | The Salt Lake Tribune , and I write this in response thereof. Cal Thomas is the author of the aforementioned piece, which was published by the Salt Lake Tribune. I don't know about you, gentle reader, but this blogger really wonders how an opinion piece advocating that same-sex marriage be denied on the same grounds as, and because, anti-polygamy laws were held constitutional and not an intrusion on the fundamental right to marry, ends up published in the primary newspaper for the Mormon Capital of the World , Salt Lake City, Utah. Mr. Thomas proclaims himself to be "America's #1 nationally syndicated columnist" and syndicated commentator. He has been an outspoken opponent of equality and opposes even tolerance of "homosexuality": What we tolerate, we get more of, and we have been tolerating a lot since the Age of Aquarius generation began the systematic destruction...

Some thoughts were just running through my mind and I thought I'd share them, to see what others think. I'd recently been accused of being "one of those arrogant, rude New Yorkers" and so I've been focused on why this misconception of New Yorkers being rude and obnoxious has come about and it has lead me to the exact opposite conclusion: New Yorkers are, by and far, more friendly and more intimate with each other than citizens of other big cities and small towns alike, because they've taken the time to get to know one another through assimilation. Being The Center of the World has its advantages (there are so many things to do!) and its disadvantages (there are so many things to do!). Because of this, New Yorkers are perennially wandering about from place to place and from event to event, to get to that "next thing to do" that's on their "list" (virtual or stone tablet). With all this running, walking, jogging, skating, biking...

Someone recently asked a question of me on the Fabulis site and my answer wouldn't fit in the space provided, so I'm providing it here. The question was: Q: Describe a perfect day. A: Here's my answer: Hrm, I'd have to say waking up to watch the sun set in the arms of a man I've fallen 1001% for. Walking to the balcony in his arms while the servants start lighting candles about the palace, bringing in juicy bits of fruits & other organic, delicious, sweet foods along with some granola and whole grain cereals. Feeding each other as we begin our day, laptops on the table, checking in around the world and seeing what's going on. Interacting with others on-line, blogging, printing out coupons for sales, checking prices, seeing what's going on. Watching the snow fall on twinkling lights around the city from the balcony, then running out to catch a musical concert featuring the best of Béla Bartók, Smetana, and the rest of the best of the Romantic comp...

I've become quite annoyed that we, as a nation, are complacent with calling today's holiday "the Fourth of July" instead of its traditional, more meaningful name, " Independence Day ." Today's holiday celebrates the signing of the Declaration of Independence , which marks the birth of our great nation. Like Christmas, it is one of the few holidays we celebrate here in the USA that occurs on a specific date, as opposed to a specific day (such as the last Monday in May, when we celebrate Memorial Day, or the fourth Thursday in November, when we celebrate Thanksgiving). We don't wish people a "Merry 25th of December" or a "Happy 11th of November"; why then, have we resorted to this downgrading of Independence Day by wishing folks a "Happy Fourth of July"?

I wrote this on 30 March 2010 but just haven’t had a chance to post it until now. But then, something happened today (a few conversations with a few different TweePALs) that made my memory job back a few months and remember what I had written, and realize that now would be a great time to finally get this up on my blog: I had to go into the City today and forgot to bring a book along with me to read on the train ride. While the ride isn’t that long (50-minutes tops, from my sister's home) it’s long enough to get through a few chapters of a good book. I did, however, have my trusty laptop computer with me so I’ve brought it out as the train is departing and am just going to write down some of my thoughts until a few minutes before my stop, when I’ll have to start the process of hibernating the computer (it takes a few minutes to go into hibernation mode because writing 3,221,225,472 bytes (3GB) of data to a hard disk drive – no matter the speed and/or interface – still takes a...

Found this awesome video clip from one of my favourite famous women who do not work in the field of entertainment, Suze Orman: Here is a partial transcript of quotes that I thought should be transcribed for all to see: Back [in the 1980s], there were ethics. There were ethics with money, believe it or not. You couldn't buy a house unless you had 20% down. They didn't give you credit cards unless you had the money to get out of credit card debt. They didn't give you a financial rope so that you could hang yourself. Today's economy is based on the ignorance of the people everywhere in the hopes that you're going to make some serious financial mistake that makes these people over here be able to meet their earnings reports for the stock markets and the this and the that. Way back when, money made sense. You could go to the university and pay $100 a semester to attend. Now we have kids graduating college with more student loan debt than they have any idea ...

I just wrote this to my supposed best friend: We met almost two years ago and have been through a lot together. However, our friendship cannot continue. You have destroyed any and all trust that I had in you by your actions. If I speak to you about this, instead of writing, I will be using words that you do not want to hear – language that you, or any person of your race, would want to hear. That is how upset I am. So instead, I leave you with this letter. It does not matter how much you took, or what you took. It matters, simply, that you took, without asking and without informing me (after the fact), period . And you didn’t take just once, or twice, or thrice—you took multiple times. After I confronted you about it and left for my mother’s, you continued to take. That’s all that matters. I wish you well; I do not wish you any ill will. I will try to help you when I can, but we are and can only be acquaintances now. I don’t know if you’ll ever repay me the money that yo...

AS OF MAY 2004—the last time this analysis was conducted, six years ago—there were ONE THOUSAND, ONE HUNDRED and THIRTY-EIGHT FEDERAL LAWS where martial status is a factor in determining rights , benefits , responsibilities , obligations , protections , etc. In the past ten years alone, the IRS code ( Title 26 of the United States Code ) has grown by some 35,000 page or approximately 50% (thanks to Dorian Davis for this video factoid); if we presume that the IRS code grew 3,500 pages per year over the past ten years (using simple math--not trying to do complicate things), then we can say that it grew 21,000 pages over the past six years. In those 21,000 pages, how much would you like to bet that there are some new laws where marital status is a factor—and that's just in the IRS code, which constitutes only a portion of the United States Code surveyed to determine the number of laws where marital status is a factor. How does this affect the every day individual—"Joe Sch...

**le sigh** They just don't make'm like this anymore ... At this moment we are passing through a period of great unrest—social, political, and industrial unrest. It is of the utmost importance for our future that this should prove to be not the unrest of mere rebelliousness against life, of mere dissatisfaction with the inevitable inequality of conditions, but the unrest of a resolute and eager ambition to secure the betterment of the individual and the nation. So far as this movement of agitation throughout the country takes the form of a fierce discontent with evil, of a determination to punish the authors of evil, whether in industry or politics, the feeling is to be heartily welcomed as a sign of healthy life. If, on the other hand, it turns into a mere crusade of appetite against appetite, of a contest between the brutal greed of the “have nots” and the brutal greed of the “haves,” then it has no significance for good, but only for evil. If it seeks to establish a ...

I read the memo that Obama wrote in its entirety, and I have to disagree with all of the hoopla that's being made about it--not with anything that he said but with how people are characterizing this as such a monumental change, etc. This is not an order; it's a memo, and there's quite a big difference between the two. If Obama wished to place impetus into his words, he would (or should) have issued an Executive Order, NOT a memorandum seeking advice from the Dept of HHS on how it should be doing its job. In other words, it's a request, a comment, a call to action--not the action itself. Yet, people continue to create fanfare and hoopla and praise Obama for barely lifting a finger. IMHO, this is not NEARLY as big as people are making it out to be. Essentially, this is Obama saying something along the lines of, "yes...well, people shouldn't be discriminated against and they should be allowed to have visitation rights but I'm not going to force the issue and ...

A friend from the UK recently sent this as an explanation of their tax system: This topical explanation may be of help in understanding the recent UK budget! Suppose that every day, ten men go out for beer and the bill for all ten comes to £100... If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this... The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing. The fifth would pay £1. The sixth would pay £3. The seventh would pay £7. The eighth would pay £12. The ninth would pay £18. The tenth man (the richest) would pay £59. So, that's what they decided to do.. The ten men drank in the bar every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve ball. "Since you are all such good customers," he said, "I'm going to reduce the cost of your daily beer by £20". Drinks for the ten men would now cost just £80. The group still wanted to p...