I have been gearing up this week – more on that later.

But I am not the only one, gearing up. Washington has been gearing up, while Internet providers are attempting to tighten their fist around the lines that hold together the global village.

Tightening the fist

This morning’s news feed included an item from Politico.com that Congress is busy tightening their fist around the internet . Regular readers will know about what is now called the “Lieberman-Collins-Carper cyber security bill”.  The Senate Homeland Security committee is, apparently concerned over the mistaken impression it feels that the public has that the bill gives the President of the United States a kill switch.  Politico.com is reporting that “the three lawmakers will offer a manager’s substitute that would require the president to obtain Congress’s permission in order to declare a cyber security emergency and take control of crucial IT systems for more than 120 days.”  I am sure that we don’t need to belabor the point (but I guess we will) that this of course means that the bill would give the President of the United States permission to simply shut down the internet…

Oh pardon us, “take control of crucial IT systems” for FOUR MONTHS without anyone’s permission at all.

And who, I wonder, gets to decide exactly what constitutes a “crucial IT system” – and we are still wondering about what is no doubt the myriad “hold harmless” clauses in the bill.   It sounds like the bill gives Carte Blanche   to a handful of power hungry politicians..  

Opening Closed Doors

Remember those “public” hearings held early this month by the FCC to decide on what action should be taken to regulate internet providers intent on bring scaling rates to their customers (read charge what they please, and shut down who they will).  It seems that it only took an advertisement in the Washington Post by a group called Free Press to bring the meeting out in the open. Here is an excerpt from an article you can read here:

“FCC Chairman Julius Genachowski’s top deputies are meeting behind closed doors with industry lobbyists to cut a deal that would effectively hand over control of the Internet to Verizon, Comcast and AT&T,” the Free Press statement said. “President Obama, you promised to take a ‘back seat to no one’ in protecting Net Neutrality and free speech online. Don’t let our Internet go the way of Wall Street and the Gulf of Mexico.” – Game Politics.com

 What do you call a football stadium full of lawyers?

Sounds like the start of a joke doesn’t it?  The answer in this case would be attorneys for the defense.  An article that recently crossed our news desk () has us wondering if court would be held in a football stadium as the judge uttered what would be history making words:

“Will the defendants in rows A through F please rise?”

It seems that a group of Virginia lawyers calling themselves The US Copyright Group, has told a Federal Judge that “they ‘see no problem’ with suing 5,000 Bittorrent users as John Does.” Here is an excerpt from the article:

“The firm also said that it is doing all these John Does a ‘favor’ by giving them the ability to defend the case in one jurisdiction, combine or join other Doe Defendants’ filings and the ability to receive ‘uniform decisions by the Court.’ Lawyers doing people “favors” seems as alien as clowns doing roadwork.” – Game Poltics.com

Gearing up subscriber rates

Move over Blizzard…Gamasutra reports  that Wizard 101 has reached 10 million registered users in 20 months. The catch, is that this does not equate to 10 million paying customers.  There is no denying, however, that Wizard 101 is a tremendously popular game (one member on staff here played it for one day…but we will never tell who) – and as long as the bottom line stays in the black, the game is gold.

Getting My Ass in Gear

Welcome to the family…welcome words as long as it is not being said by someone with connections to a certain criminal organization which I am certain does not really exist.   But when those words are accompanied by a big hug, and spoken by someone who is not referring to a recent marriage, they are especially comforting – especially if you have ever reached the point in your life when you had no family (I have).  One of the best qualities, about what is sadly the most least appreciated aspect of life, is that family is what, and who, you make it.

So what you might ask, has any of this got to do with mules with gear shifts?

Quite simply this…recently the words above gave me pause to consider other definitions of “family” no matter how nebulous or even, perhaps, dubious.   A guild (at least those few rare shining examples) can be like a family – even if only in some tenuous way (and if you don’t think those particular ties that bind are tenuous, tell a guildie you live near him and ask him to help you move).  You might also extend this thinly stretched definition down to a roster of characters (especially in those of us who have very prominent cases of “alt-it is”).  

Think of it this way: the first character in your roster to the level cap is like the patriarch or matriarch of your virtual family, doling out the virtual dough as the character supports the alts coming up through the ranks.  But what happens when someone who normally abhorred the horde suddenly discovers the friendly faction  that has all the action?  When Blizzard creates faction transfers, those matriarchs that supported the alts suddenly “bleed away” leaving the lower ranking characters in the lurch.  Now this may not be a problem for many a month, if ever. But there is always the possibility (as I discovered) that one day you will be waxing poetic about the reminiscences of places like Ironforge and Stormwind – places which would now hand you your ass, but not until wearing it around as a hat for awhile.

Such are the circumstances in which I found myself upon my recent return to World of Warcraft (WoW).  Our regular listeners to the No Prisoners, No Mercy Podcast know that my cursor has hovered perilously over both the delete character and close account keys on many occasions.  However it was not badgering, beleaguering, or bemoaning  by my co-host that brought me back. Rather it was show 64, recently recorded with Saylah from Mystic Worlds about why people continue to hear the siren song of WoW and return again and again. And so I found my level 45 “super, mega, ultra lightening gnome” warrior suddenly cast into the cold harsh world of the Alliance side, forced to fend for herself.

Ah but it is the challenge of getting my gnomish butt in gear (and good gear at that) which serves as the impetus for many an enjoyable hour of gaming – that, and the fact that my co-host, who is my own dear sister, sister, mother superior, spends many an hour gaming with me.

In the end, family is who you make  it, especially if it is a level 38 night elf druid played by your own sister.

See you online,

Julie Whitefeather

(posted for Julie Whitefeather by The Webmaster)

UPDATE:

Here is the latest from Politico.com regarding the fiasco going on with what is now called the “Cybersecurity” Bill (I call it the “Big Brother” Bill):

MCCAIN’S MOVE ON CYBERSECURITY – The Lieberman-Collins-Carper cybersecurity bill may have cleared the HSGAC unanimously on Thursday, but that didn’t stop one of the committee’s members from signaling his concerns with the bill. John McCain said he ‘had to be convinced’ that cybersecurity reform requires an expansion of government.

The senator took aim at two items in particular: the bill’s creation of a White House-level cybersecurity position and its hiring and training provisions. McCain then filed amendments that would scrap the first position while requiring DHS to deliver a report on its hiring needs. Curiously, the senator did not officially pitch either amendment for a vote; an aide to McCain said Thursday he planned to ‘wait until the floor to try to amend the bill.’