giza | Friday Five!

Not to sound bitchy, but I must say that this week's Friday Five questions are kinda um, shallow. They really don't require any serious thought on the part of the person answering them or any soul searching. Oh well, I'll figure something out.

At this moment, what is your favorite...

1. ...song?

I figure it would be something by the band Rush. Their songs tend to be deep and inspritational, and the band themselves is just timeless. I can (and do) listen to songs from the early 80's and still find myself liking them. Contrast this with other early 80's songs that I listen to, and I get an "ick" sorta feeling from them. Two songs that really stick out are Limelight (from their Moving Pictures CD) and Virtuality (from their Test for Echo CD).

2. ...food?

Anything with fish in it. Tuna right out of the can works. I'm a cat, you know.

3. ...tv show?

I don't watch TV anymore. If I have to think back to my childhood, I would say that Night Court was one of my favorite shows that I would watch as a kid. It had a lot of well, downright bizarre courtroom situations, and some *really* over the top characters. It was insanity, done right.

4. ...scent?

Vanilla is nice. I've been experimenting with various scented candles around my apartment lately, and vanilla doesn't seem to be overpowering or annoying, but it's a nice smell to cover up whatever else might smell. :-)

5. ...quote?

"Talk is cheap, because supply is greater than demand." I think that's appropriate to our online culture, because there are a lot of people who talk a lot of trash online.

There is a sub-section of talking trash which is a bit of a hot topic for me, and that is the subject of legal threats. Oh, I've had lots of them sent my way in days past, mostly from spammers who would like to spout off, "You complained to my ISP, that's libel!" I cannot understand why in our society that if you threaten to beat someone up or kill them that you can be arrested, but if you threaten to sue someone, nothing happens. I have seen people been intimidated and bullied by silly legal threats that have no basis in law, and I find it repugnant.

If you are not a lawyer, I highly recommend reading Cyberspace Law for Non-Lawyers, a series of articles written by lawyers in layman's terms that anyone can understand. It covers such issues as copyrights and trademarks, and my personal favorites: libel and slander. For example, one neat aspect about libel law is that it says that you may not spread falsehoods about another person that cause injury to their reputation. However, when a company wants to make a libel claim against a critic, they have a much higher standard of proof to adhere to so as to prevent abuse on their part. Whereas if a sole person is making a libel claim against someone, all they have to prove is "injury to their reputation", which could be as a simple as them receiving hatemail based on what the defendant said about them.

Law is fun!