SOPA Black Out and a positive Supreme Court Ruling

I don't know how anyone could not know this, but Wikipedia is doing a "black-out" today in order to raise awareness over the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) issue.  Here is what they say on their black-out page:

Imagine a World
Without Free Knowledge
For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more.

I would link to an article about the SOPA, but I can't get to Wikipedia!  Basically, the act is aimed at stopping the piracy of things like unreleased movies and such.  I guess the big companies are worried that this would give the government too much power.  With that, I agree. The government already has too much power.

Google is doing something similar.  They have blacked-out their Google Logo on their main search page.  Here is a picture of that as well:

On a positive note, the Supreme court ruled in favor of churches that they have the right to fire people based on the Church's beliefs.  Here is how the Huffington Post starts their article on the topic:

Employees of religious organizations whose job duties reflect "a role in conveying the Church's message and carrying out its mission" are barred by the First Amendment from suing over employment discrimination, said the Supreme Court in a unanimous opinion handed down Wednesday morning.

Lots of interesting news.

Music Beta by Google

Yesterday I received my invitation to Music Beta by Google.  So far I am really loving it.  They offered some free music to get things rolling.  There were several categories of music to choose from, or you could select "add all". Since I love free stuff, I added it all.  Little did I know there would be 271 free songs!  (Yes, there is a 27 in there...)

This morning I downloaded the Music Manager on my home computer.  Once it was installed, it started uploading all of my music in the background.  It will continue to upload everything until it is complete. If it gets interrupted, it will pick up where it left off.  Hopefully my wife keeps the computer plugged in and turned on today!

After a day of using it (and using it while I type) it seems to work really well. As with all things Google, it is simple and easy to use. I can upload up to 22,000 songs without having to worry about adding additional storage.  There is an Android app available, but I will have to wait on that until I get an Android phone.

The Khan Academy

Really, really getting closer to finding ways to incorporate the Khan Academy into my math curriculum.  There is so much to this site, that it is hard to explain.  So, instead of trying to explain it, I will let you watch a video of Salman Khan, the founder of the Khan Academy.

Roku

Just bought my wife a Roku video player for her TV.

I had heard about these through Netflix, but hadn't really considered getting one yet.  But since I wanted to get her something that she would really use for her birthday, this came up again in my mind.

I did a little research, found a good price for one... the cheapest one they had... and made the purchase.

So far I really like it.  Here are some of the "channels" that I have added so far:  Netflix and Hulu Plus, which we already had a subscription to.  Amazon Instant, which is pay per use.  You can rent movies for anywhere from $.99 to $3.99.  I added a free newscaster channel which has news updates from CNN, NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox, NASA, and a couple of others.  My wife watched the Today show this morning.  I also added Pandora, a Facebook Photos channel, Picasa photos, and a few others.  It is almost like watching a regular TV, except everything is "on demand".  For those of you that care, there are also several sports channels...

If something goes sour with it, I will make sure to let you know.