tklancer's photostream  

I am a software engineer and a photographer, and my livelihood depends on intellectual property protections, but I oppose the misguided SOPA and PIPA bills. By now, you have surely heard of SOPA (the "Stop Online Piracy Act" in the House) and PIPA (the "PROTECT IP Act", or more properly, the "Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011", in the Senate), but if you haven't, it is an ill-concieved attempt to solve the piracy problem. There are so many problems that I genuinely don't know where to begin, but this is a good start:http://news.yahoo.com/sopa-vs-pipa-anti-piracy-bills-uproar-explained-013507326.html -- if you want more in depth information, try en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act or the technical blog.reddit.com/2012/01/technical-examination-of-sopa-and...

If you're an American citizen and you're as outraged as I am, please contact your Congressperson and Senators today. Senator Reid is planning on bringing PIPA up for a vote on January 24. If you're not sure who your representative or senators are, you can find out at whoismyrepresentative.com/

If you're not an American citizen, you can still have an impact -- this will still affect you if it passes. americancensorship.org/ has a petition for the State Department.

A self-portrait I shot a while back on top of Hawksbill in Shenandoah. Don't worry, it's not as dangerous as it looks!

I've been absent from all forms of social media of late, but now seems like a good time to remedy that with a new shot! I took this waterfall detail near Overall Run Falls on a wet day during a wet spring. It had been threatening on and off all day, but shortly after I took this shot the skies opened up. And when I say "opened up", I mean "does anybody have an ark"-type weather. The car was a mere 1.5 miles or so away on a trail that suddenly doubled as a streambed... I remember going on water hikes as a kid, but I don't think I've ever been that wet before.

Tomorrow, July 21st, is the 150th anniversary of the First Battle of Bull Run/First Manassas. It was the first major battle of the Civil War, and it was the one when the Union found out that ending the war was going to be a lot harder than originally thought. It was also the battle where Stonewall Jackson got his nickname, though if Wikipedia is to be believed it may have been pejorative...

secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/First_Battle_of_Bu...
secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Stonewall_Jackson

A few lonely wispy clouds over a brilliantly lit fall scene in Shenandoah. Had to wait a while for them to drift into just the right spot, but I think it was worth it!

On a side note, I've been getting into google+ lately and really enjoying it. There's already a great community of photographers there, so look me up!