marriage = one man + one woman? who's to say?

opponents of same-sex marriage say that marriage is only between one man and one woman. this is usually a result of religious beliefs. but who's to say they get to decide in law? if we're in the US, or another jurisdiction with no established religion, one religion (or more, for that matter) shouldn't get to determine the law on marriage.

when I'm talking about marriage, I'm referring to a legal union, rather than a religious or social one. if a certain church or religion doesn't want to recognize a certain union (such as a same-sex one) as "marriage", that's totally okay. but that doesn't mean a same-sex couple should be denied the benefits afforded by legal marriage

civil unions (many aliases; see the Wikipedia article) are the solution afforded by some jurisdictions to same-sex couples. but sometimes these don't afford all the same rights to "civilly united" couples as to married couples. but even if they did, why not just call it marriage? again, religion shouldn't get to decide what constitutes "marriage" when church and state are separated. i suppose maintaining this difference in terminology creates two separate but equal institutions...

wait a minute, doesn't that last phrase sound oddly familiar...? here's the Wikipedia article on that phrase to jog your memory. we've got quite some way to go...

126: apparently not a unique moniker

I suppose a simple 3-numeral sequence would be expected in others' usernames as a coincidence. but come on! I might dismiss things like "<name here>126", but a quick search on Google reveals multiple "someguy126", as well as "anon126" (my username on Wikipedia (see my user page), user accounts that don't belong to me.

I don't mean any hard feelings, but it's a little frustrating. especially because I don't use my real name, I'd like to use this post to unify my online identity

these belong to me:

Update: my accounts are also accessible at anon126.tk, and that will probably replace this as the authoritative reference

• Blogspot: someguy126.blogspot.com (what you're reading now)
• Twitter: @someguy126
• Wikipedia: Anon126 (already mentioned)
• YouTube: see below
• SoundCloud: as of 24 Apr 2013, I have an account under the name 126mix, though the URL path is still "someguy126"
• Tumblr: as of 20 Aug 2013, I have (another) blog, someanon126.

specifically on well-known sites, these do not belong to me:

• Blogspot: anon126.blogspot.com
• Twitter: @anon126 (seems to belong to the same person as the Blogspot blog; the same slogan and picture are used)
• YouTube: someguy126 and anon126 (both! this sucks because I was thinking of making a YouTube account. I might have other plans)
  • as of 23 Feb 2012, I have a YouTube channel, someanon126. lame, yes, but I figured I should combine the two, especially since both individual ones were taken

SOPA and PIPA protest

(yea, this is my first post in a while. i'll have more coming up soon)

as you may have heard, many websites are "blacking out" to protest the bills in U.S. Congress called "SOPA" [Stop Online Privacy Act] and PIPA [PROTECT IP Act, actually standing for something else; see below]. my personal website, which currently resides at anon126.net78.net, is a participant.

let's get down to it. what are SOPA and PIPA? and how/why are they so bad?

1. well, they are bills currently in Congress that will require websites to be essentially blocked (as well as removed from ad serving, etc.) if they are found to be engaging or facilitating copyright infringement.
2. the main issue is that they could potentially allow an entire site to be blocked even for some illegal content that constitutes a small part of the whole. (this is unlike the DMCA [Digital Millennium Copyright Act], under which sites would only be required to remove certain content that was deemed illegal.) in addition, it could threaten services such as proxy servers, which are are so far legal and have legitimate and legal purposes, simply because they can be used for illegal purposes. okay, so what's a proxy server again?
   1. a proxy server, or simply a proxy, is a system that allows a computer to connect to it to exchange data between it and a certain destination, such as a website. instead of the computer connecting directly to the destination, it connects indirectly, through the proxy. this way, the computer can avoid being tracked or monitored directly, given that the proxy server is good enough to prevent different measures used to monitor

so, for those who are curious for whatever reason: "PROTECT IP" stands for "Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property". this is similar to the also quite controversial "USA PATRIOT" Act ("Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism")