Peon's Place

Wikipedia goes black tonight to protest SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECT IP Act). Both are looking to be passed through Congress to give the government control of what we do on the internet, what websites we access, and who can view that access at any time.

The Stop Online Piracy Act, considered the broader of the two bills, will not be introduced in the House, according to a statement from Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), who has co-authored an alternative proposal to SOPA called the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act. “Majority Leader [Eric Cantor (R-Va.)] has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote,” Issa said in a news release.

View the Wikipedia statement regarding it’s blackout in 12 hours:  Read the rest of this entry » Wikipedia blacks out

The 25-year-old allegedly turned down an initial offer of $750,000 for the legendary men’s magazine, and agreed upon a figure closer to her initial asking price of $1 million. Nothing says “serious actress” like posing for a spread in Playboy. Her rep is neither confirming nor denying the reports, so at the moment, we live in a world where this is an actual possibility.

However, Lindsay’s decision doesn’t come as a total surprise. Lohan is not the most modest of celebs; we’ve seen A LOT of her skin as it is. The forum is just different here. There’s also the Marilyn Monroe emulation syndrome at play: Lohan has repeatedly aligned herself with the icon (and former Playboy model, herself). Her company 6126 is named for Monroe’s birth date, and remember when Lohan recreated Monroe’s last nude photo shoot for New York magazine?  Read the rest of this entry » Playboy + Lindsay Lohan =...

You have your home/personal cell phone. Some have work cell phones, some have pagers. You have the 3g contract for your iPad / tablet / notebook / wireless card. It doesn’t quite surprise me that for the first time, the number of wireless devices connecting to cellular networks in the United States and its territories over the past six months has surpassed the country’s total population.

A semi-annual survey conducted by the CTIA found that wireless subscriber connections now total 327.6 million while the population of the U.S. and its territories is now 315.5 million people. This means the wireless penetration rate in the U.S. in now 103.9% according to the CTIA, marking the first time that wireless penetration has surpassed 100% in the U.S. The CTIA also noted that wireless data connections increased 111% compared to its previous semi-annual survey, and wireless service revenue in the U.S. totaled $164.6 billion during the 12-month period ending June 2011, up 6% from the same period in 2010.  Read the rest of this entry » Outnumbered by cell phone...

Wonder why Steve was a no-show at the Apple convention this week? Steve Jobs 1955-2011.

Jobs co-founded Apple Computer in 1976 and, with his childhood friend Steve Wozniak, marketed what was considered the world’s first personal computer, the Apple II. Industry watchers called him a master innovator — perhaps on a par with Thomas Edison — changing the worlds of computing, recorded music and communications.

In 2004, he beat back an unusual form of pancreatic cancer, and in 2009 he was forced to get a liver transplant. After several years of failing health, Jobs announced on Aug. 24, 2011 that he was stepping down as Apple’s chief executive. ”I have always said if there ever came a day when I could no longer meet my duties and expectations as Apple’s CEO, I would be the first to let you know,” Jobs wrote in his letter of resignation. “Unfortunately, that day has come.”

Read the rest of this entry » Steve Jobs passes away

It’s been a decade since the tragic death of R&B star and budding actress Aaliyah Dana Haughton. Just 22 years old at the time of her death, she was in the Bahamas heading back to the States after wrapping up her 2001 music video, “Rock The Boat.”

The twin-engine plane crashed shortly after takeoff. Aboard were Aaliyah and eight others — including her hair stylist, Eric Forman (29), hair/makeup artists Anthony Dodd (34)  and Christopher Maldonado (32), security guard Scott Gallin (41), video producer Douglas Kratz (28), Blackground Records employees Keith Wallace (49) and executive Gina Smith (30), and the pilot, Luis Morales III. In an instant their lives and Aaliyah’s promising career were gone.

Read the rest of this entry » Age Ain’t Nothin...

Why can’t we all just get along? Are you SURE that you want the San Francisco 49ers and the Oakland Raiders sharing a new stadium, down in Santa Clara? Really? I wouldn’t think so.

Thanks to the hopeless fans that have very little sense of reality and competition, Raiders versus 49ers have been suspended until further notice, in the preseason. It was all fun and games until a few bullet holes killed a couple of fans.

With the slogan, “Topless equal rights for all or none,” Gotopless.org is summoned men across America to cover their chests yesterday in the name of equal rights. For the fourth consecutive year, the U.S.-based organization will stage a national Go Topless Day protest to proclaim a woman’s constitutional right to go bare-chested in public. During the protest, while participating women go bare, male participants will cover their chests with bikini tops or bras to proclaim equal rights for both genders. “It’s no more ridiculous than women having to wear tops at all time in this double-standard, topless battle that’s being waged in public and in the courts,” said Nadine Gary, president of Gotopless(.org). For Rael, spiritual leader of the Raelian Movement and founder of Gotopless(.org), the equation is simple: “As long as men can go topless, either women should have the same constitutional right or men should also be forced to wear something that hides their chests.”

So, what are your thoughts?  Read the rest of this entry » Happy “Go Topless&#...

I’m starting to see random stories regarding this, and as funny as it is, I’m throwing up a blog article as well.

A team of American researchers have produced a range of scenarios in which aliens could attack the earth, and curiously, one revolves around climate change. They speculate that extraterrestrial environmentalists could be so appalled by our planet-polluting ways that they view us as a threat to the intergalactic ecosystem and decide to destroy us. Maybe NASA believes that the little green men really are green – one of its scientists has collaborated on a report suggesting that the Earth’s rising levels of greenhouse gases could provoke an alien attack.  Read the rest of this entry » Aliens will “save&#...

The autopsy of Amy Winehouse done today showed inconclusive results and that additional toxicology tests were needed. So what killed her? I’ll tell you, in case you don’t have time to wait for the further coroner reports.

No, it was not the DRUGS, SMOKING, AND ALCOHOL that killed her. It was the curse of 27. Or, rather, the 27 Club, or even the Forever 27 Club. The years and years of abusing her body wasn’t what put her under. Now, please don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed Amy’s music, and found her to be one more body in an ocean of celebrity retardation from time to time.

Other members of the 27 Club include Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, Jim Morrison, and Curt Cobain.

MTV has a nice collage of Amy throughout the years.

Click photo for larger view

Pluto might not be a planet anymore, according to the definition of planethood adopted by the International Astronomical Union in 2006, but the icy little orb on the edge of the solar system still has a lot going on. Today NASA’s Hubble telescope has discovered a 4th moon around the new non-planet. The space telescope was searching for rings around the planetary oddball at the edge of our solar system when it came across P4, the temporary name for the newly discovered moon. With an estimated diameter of 8 to 21 miles, P4 is the smallest of Pluto’s four moons, the U.S. space agency said in a statement.