Skinner
Skinner's JournalDemocratic Underground will go dark at 3am ET January 18 to protest SOPA and PIPA
Democratic Underground will go dark for 18 hours on January 18, from 3am ET until 9pm ET, to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). During that time visitors will not be able to read or post on the site. We know that you depend on Democratic Underground to be there for you, and we did not take the decision to join this protest lightly.
Democratic Underground is an open, community-based website that depends on content provided by our visitors. That includes original content created by our members, and excerpts and links to content published elsewhere. Because of the work our members put into their posts here, and also because of our dependence on excerpts and links from elsewhere, we have a deep appreciation for content creators, and we understand the importance of protecting their work. The DU Administrators understand the importance of protecting copyrights -- we have always made a good faith effort to respect copyrights on this site, and we expect our members to do the same.
However, we here at Democratic Underground have first-hand knowledge of what it is like to be unfairly harassed in the name of copyright enforcement. Over the last year we have been a defendant in a high-profile copyright-trolling case in which we were threatened with tens of thousands of dollars of damages and the loss of our domain name, because one of our members posted a brief five-sentence excerpt of an article. The experience has made us extremely sensitive to the issue of out-of-control copyright enforcement, and we feel that we have a responsibility to add our voice to the protests taking place across the Internet.
During the downtime, we hope that you will take a moment and contact your representatives in Congress to let them know that you support an open Internet, and you oppose SOPA and PIPA. You can look up your representatives on the EFF website.
Thank you,
David Allen
Dave Allsopp
Brian Leitner
DU Administrators
You Asked For It: Automatic Post Formatting Buttons and Smilies
We have added post formatting buttons and smilies to the posting form, so you can more easily format your posts. Now, whenever you write a post on DU, you will see this list of buttons just above the area to type your message text.
Clicking each button will automatically write the appropriate code directly into your posting form, at the location of your cursor. For most HTML tags, clicking a particular button once will write the code to open the tag, and clicking a second time will automatically enter the code to close the tag.
You can also use the buttons to automatically write the appropriate codes around a portion of text you have selected. Type in the text you want, select the entire text, and then click the appropriate button to write HTML codes at the beginning and end of the selection.
Clicking the "smilies" button on the far right opens a list of smilies. Click the image you want to automatically enter the code into your message.
Two new Groups have been created: Asian Group and Buddhism Group
Asian Group: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1250
Buddhism Group: http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=forum&id=1249
To subscribe to either of these groups, click the link to visit, and then click the big orange button that says "Subscribe to this group."
First civil union takes place in Delaware (And I have a family connection)
This is very exciting for me, because I am from Delaware, and also because Lisa Goodman (on the left in the picture below) is my sister's sister-in-law!
My two seven-year-old twin nieces were attendants in the ceremony. My parents and (of course) my sister and brother-in-law were also there.
First civil union takes place in Delaware
Two women became the first couple in Delaware joined in a same-sex civil union ceremony Sunday during a historic and emotional service at their Wilmington church.
Fellow Delaware attorneys, as well as judges, legislators, friends and family members witnessed the tearful exchange of vows between Lisa B. Goodman and Drewry N. Fennell at Trinity Episcopal Church on North Adams Street.
A friend of the couple, U.S. Sen. Chris Coons, delivered the sermon. During the liturgy, Lt. Gov. Matthew Denn and Superior Court Judge Jan R. Jurden each read from the Bible. Both know the couple from their days at the law firm Young, Conaway, Stargatt & Taylor.
At 10 a.m. Sunday, Delaware's law adopting same-sex civil unions took effect. After years of debate and hours of testimony in Dover, the General Assembly adopted the measure in April 2011. Gov. Jack Markell signed the bill in May.
More: http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20120101/NEWS/120101002/First-civil-union-takes-place-Delaware
Profile Information
Name: David AllenGender: Male
Hometown: Washington, DC
Home country: USA
Member since: 2001
Number of posts: 63,645
