SOPA/PIPA Update

Yesterday, We the People won a small victory. In light of both physical and online protests, as well as thousands of emails and phone calls from concerned citizens, at least 18 senators, 3 bill co-sponsors, and President Obama himself have withdrawn their support of SOPA. We cannot celebrate just yet. This victory was not by any means complete. The bill is not dead - the House of Representatives will revisit the issue next month. PIPA is still on the table; the next Senate vote is scheduled for January 24th.

Google says 4.5 million People Signed Anti-SOPA Petition

U.S Senators Withdraw Support for Anti-Piracy Bills

Were SOPA/PIPA Protests a Success? The Results Are In

Unfortunately with yesterday's victory, we also suffered a loss. Apparently the Supreme Court ruled that the US could take works out of the public domain and put a copyright on them. I wasn't even aware of this ruling, but apparently this is the third case that was meant to challenge US copyright laws as a violation of the 1st Amendment.

Supreme Court Chooses SOPA/PIPA Protest Day To Give A Giant Middle Finger To The Public Domain

We need to continue the vigil. Yesterday, 4.5 million people signed Google's anti-SOPA petition, and 350,000 emails were sent to Congress via Fight for the Future's various sites. It's a good start, but with just over 300 million people in the US, it's far from the best we can do. If you haven't already, sign Google's petition. Visit http://americancensorship.org/ and fill in your info. They'll send an email to your Senate rep. for you. It's just that easy. If you like a more personal touch, look up your representatives and write them a letter or give them a call. If we don't stand up for our rights, we won't have any.

I HATE CENSORSHIP!

Today is the day for SOPA/PIPA protest blackouts. Wikipedia is down, as well as other sites to raise awareness of the dangers of SOPA/PIPA and the dangers of internet censorship. If you'd like to get involved you can sign Google's petition here: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/


This site will help you find more ways to join the protest: http://sopastrike.com/


Would you like to boycott SOPA/PIPA friendly companies? If so, here's a list to get you started (it isn't comprehensive): https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xjisu18X6s7lPtAsIQg5Ol3KJjymPT2az1kasQVwGiw/preview?pli=1&sle=true

xkcd.com also has links to information about SOPA/PIPA and what you can do to stop them.


Let's not let Congress limit the freedom of the web!

Gelatin for Beauty

My New Year's resolution to cut down on prepackaged items, while starting with food, is meant to extend into all areas of my life. I'd like to become more self-reliant by being able to make my own food and household items. So when I stumbled on some do-it-yourself pore strips, I was stoked. I have used Biore pore strips in the past, and I absolutely love them. They work wonderfully and, unlike so many products today, actually live up to their claims. Unfortunately, they're SOOO expensive. Now don't get me wrong, I normally do not mind paying good money for a product that works, but times are tight, and nice pores aren't really a necessity in my line of work, so I can't really justify $8-$10 for a box of 14 strips. Considering I need three strips to do all my problem spots, that's a $1.71 every time I use them, and if I use them once a week (which is recommended), that adds up to about $89 a year. Yikes!

Anyway, on to the doing it ourselves! I found the how-to here: http://petitelefant.com/how-to-pore-strips/. All you do is mix a packet of unflavored gelatin with a couple of tablespoons of milk, microwave it for a few seconds, then slather on your face, and let it dry. When it's all dry, peel it off and behold your new, unclogged pores! No, it's not too good to be true, it really does work. However, after trying this per her instructions, I found a few helpful hints that I want to pass on for you:

• You may not need the whole packet of gelatin. I slathered this on nice and thick over my entire face, and I still had some left over. I will probably only use half a pack next time, maybe even less, because I only have a few problem spots and really don't need a whole face mask.
• Give this stuff a couple of seconds to cool off. I know the how-to says not to wait because it sets up fast, and she's right, but if you put it on too quickly, you might just burn the piss out of yourself. Use common sense and be careful.
• Don't spread this on too thick. If you do, it will take ages to dry. I was trying to use up everything because I hate waste, but in doing so I found that it took 30 min. + for this to dry, and even then, some spots were still gummy. Gummy spots are no good because they don't grab onto the blackheads as well. That being said, you also don't want to spread it on too thin, because it won't peel off very well. I figure after a couple of tries, you'll have the desired thickness down to an art.
• You will look like you starred in a porno while you're doing this treatment. You probably shouldn't answer the door while this stuff is on your face. (Or maybe you should, depending on your sense of humor.) Also, if your husband is like mine, a never-ending string of dirty jokes is in your future if he sees you like that. Fair warning.
• For the love of God, whatever you do, do NOT get this on your eyebrows or up your nose. Personal experience speaking here: this stuff could easily double as a bikini wax, so if you peel off a piece that has come in contact with these hairs - well, let's just say that childbirth is less painful.

Now for the math. I said before that it was roughly $89 a year for me to use the Biore strips. A box of 32 packets of gelatin costs me $7 dollars, or 22 cents a packet. Add in the cost of the milk, which where I live is about $4 a gallon, and there are 256 tablespoons of milk in a gallon, so that means the two tablespoons you'd use for this would cost you 4 cents. That makes our grand total per use 26 cents, which adds up to $13.52 a year. Wow.

Marmalade!

I have never eaten marmalade, but that did not stop me from making it yesterday! Following the "waste not, want not" mode of thought, I decided to use up some navel oranges that I just couldn't bring myself to eat as is. Luckily, pickyourown.org had a pretty easy orange marmalade recipe, and I just happened to have all the stuff to make it! (I made the version without the peels, 'cause I'm a sweets kind of gal.) Now when I cook, it's pretty much just controlled chaos, so things got a little sticky, but I followed the recipe, and when it was all done, I had seven half-pint jars of pure gold:

♫ Hallelujah! ♫

One week down, 51 more to go!

How is it that we are already a week into 2012? I never cease to be amazed at time's ability to slip right past me. At any rate, so far my resolution to purchase fewer prepackaged items is going well, in spite of me not being as well prepared as I had hoped to be. (I wanted to make up jars of homemade mixes so that I could still have the prepackaged convenience without actually having bought prepackaged foods, but that hasn't happened yet.) My trips to the grocery store will be shorter, no doubt; I'm finding I can skip past entire aisles. In the kitchen (which I am managing to keep clean, yay!), I have made a few dozen chocolate chip cookies for the hubby's work lunchbox. I also made granola cereal, apple chips for me, experimented with fruit leather, and made my own pudding pops. The pudding pops are yummy, and only 60 calories a piece! I only wish I had had popsicle sticks to use for handles; toothpicks work, but they're pokey. The granola cereal is very tasty, but my husband wishes it had more clusters. The apple chips I made in my dehydrator turned out awesome - just like the ones you buy at the store. The fruit leather also tastes wonderful, I just didn't have quite enough fruit puree, so it's a little thin and stiff. I think my dehydrator may just become my new best friend in the kitchen. My cookies were tasty, but could have been better. The recipe calls for "2/3 cup of shortening (part butter or margarine)," and I used all shortening. Normally this isn't an issue, because I use butter flavored shortening for baking, but I didn't have any this time. I totally should have used a half and half mixure of butter and shortening, because the cookies seemed to be missing something. Next time I'll remember.

Well, that's how my 2012 is going. How's it going for you?