Sen. Barbara Mikulski - Still waiting for a reply.

Information about SOPA and PIPA and why it matters can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SOPA

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act

EDIT 1.24.2012

I’ve received a response from Sen. Mikulski to which she basically responded that she understands the needs for stronger laws preventing piracy. She also understands that PIPA may not be the best way.

Thank you for writing to me about copyright law. It’s good to hear from you.The PROTECT IP Act (S. 968) would give the Department of Justice (DoJ) authority to identify and take legal action against websites that market counterfeit or pirated goods.  Illegal downloading of movies, TV shows and music is a real problem that harms industries, kills jobs and hurts our economy.  We need strong copyright laws to protect the creative property of artists, and it is important that these laws be followed.  However, I share your concerns about this bill.  We need to make sure that the solution isn’t worse than the problem.  Any efforts to strengthen the protection of copyrighted materials must be well planned, avoid unintended consequences, and must not stifle free speech or innovation.There are a number of provisions in the bill that I am concerned about, particularly language affecting Domain Name Servers (DNS).  Legislation as wide-ranging as this needs a more open and thorough review from all sides of the debate.  I am pleased that Senator Leahy — the author of the bill — has said he is open to changes to address this and other issues.  The current language in the bill needs to be improved before I could consider supporting its final passage. S. 968 has been passed out of the Judiciary Committee and is awaiting action by the full Senate.  Knowing of your views is helpful to me, and I will keep them in mind as Congress continues to debate this issue.Thanks once again for writing.  Please let me know if I can be of assistance in the future.

Sincerely,  Barbara A. Mikulski United States Senator 

I have a user at the place where I work who was having an issue with their Comcast provided Internet and phone services. She had called them because all of her phones were dead, but her Internet was working. First off, I thought that the phone system by Comcast was a priority service for 911 purposes? I guess not? Finally the tech showed after the user had no phone service for a weekend and then proceeded to tell the user that they needed a business line in order to use VPN. This struck me as strange since we have a large number of users that use VPN to access our system here at work. I asked her to call the tech back so I could talk to him to find out more information. Before I even had a chance to ask him my question, the tech decided to reprimand me, telling me I did not know Comcast policy and how I could even question him if I did not know Comcast policy. I did not even have a chance to question him! I finally asked for his name and all he would tell me was his first name, would not give his last, or any additional information to use to contact Comcast about this, and then hung up.

This is why I am happy with my Verizon FiOS! Hell, I was using DSL and Satellite TV before FiOS because I have always had poor service with Comcast!

Having signs of discontent of this magnitude among a countries citizens is a sign that there are problems. Just because they all don’t have a single voice doesn’t mean that there are plenty of issues at hand. This is a melting pot protest where all those involved can freely voice their discontent without having to be herded like cats after a single cause.

Having two ghost pepper plants that have produced about 50-100 peppers a plant has proposed a few challenges, namely: what do you do with so many peppers?!

Today I decided to do a pepper jelly.

First off, if you’re not familiar with ghost peppers, they are one of the hottest peppers in the world. I got two little seedlings from a friend and figured I’d give it a shot growing them. Turns out they love the sun and weather here! The ghost pepper, or Bhut Jolokia, reaches about one million on the Scoville Heat Units scale. In comparison, the habanero is around three hundred thousand at its hottest. When working with a ghost pepper it is always important to wear gloves, have a well ventilated area, and in some cases a mask and eye protection is a good idea. I can’t stress how important the gloves are.

To start the pepper jelly I needed a few things, first was a recipe. I always start my cooking with a base recipe. This is a recipe that doesn’t have a lot of flare or uniqueness. The reason is that I want to try to add my own personality to the recipe, if it succeeds. After some Googling, I found a pepper jelly recipe from Paula Dean which was very basic and specific. From this recipe and from my own adjustments, these are the things I needed.

• 3 – 8oz (1/2 pint) canning jars with lids and tops
• 3  2 ghost peppers, the redder the hotter
• 1 2 medium, fist sized, orange
• 3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 ounces pectin
• small food processor. I used the magic bullet which had a real nice small top for this kind of processing
• rubber gloves, medical latex or non-latex gloves work best.

All of these ingredients were obtainable from Grauls, the local super market near me in Cape St. Clare.

I started the recipe by getting two large pots out. I filled one with water to a level that would cover the tops of the jars. I removed the lids ( the part with the silicon seal) and the tops of the jars, placing the tops (this is the metal circular piece) and the jars in to the water and turned the water on to boil*.

*Watch the pot through out the process, you want a steady boil, you don’t want it to boil over.

The order of which you do this is important only in respect to clean up and lessening your chance of getting the oils from the peppers on or around you.

1. Take the orange and slice it in to quarters, remove the skin and save for later.
2. in a small food processor squeeze the orange, being careful not to get any pulp in it pulp is fine, it should blend out.
3. next cut the orange peel in to strips as wide or thin as you want to make them. I put one peel in each jar and then put a few in to the pan that we’ll later boil the ingredients in to add flavor.
4. Next, carefully cut your peppers down the middle and remove all seeds and/or veins. This is where a lot of the heat is so if you don’t want crazy heat, remove seeds and veins. I removed the seeds and kept the veins.
5. put the halves in to the food processor along with the squeezed orange juice.
6. Depending on your food processor, if it doesn’t have a complete seal, put the food processor on blend and cover with a towel. This will prevent the ghost pepper from permeating in to the air and causing any discomfort.
7. At this time take the apple cider vinegar and the sugar and mix them in to the empty pot, bringing it to a near boil. You want the vinegar and the sugar to become a liquid. Careful of it boiling and bubbling.
8. When the pepper and juiced orange is fully blended, pour it in to the sugar and vinegar mix, stirring regularly.
   * It’s good to have a fan and a window open if you can as the steam from the mixture, combined with the ghost pepper, can cause discomfort when inhaled.
9. At this time its recommended to turn the heat down on the jars and lids and remove them, draining them. Put tops in to the water and keep it somewhat boiling, you want to do this for about 5 minutes to sterilize the jars.
10. Continue to stir the mixture till it looks completely mixed, maybe a few minutes.
11. Remove the mixture from the heat and immediately combine the mixture with the pectin, stirring it in.
12. Place the liquid, with either a funnel or through spoon, in to the jars. You can take the orange peel and place it in the jar if you wish. Be careful as the jars should still be very hot.
    *Leave about a quarter in at the top of the jar when filling it
13. Wipe any excess spill from the tops of the jars
14. place the tops and lids on to the jars and place them back in to the water and bring the water to a boil
15. Proceed to boil based on the proper time for your altitude
16. After the proper time, pull the jars out and place them on the counter to cool. You should hear the lids pop about 10-15min after they’ve been pulled from the water, meaning the seal has been made.

This is my first attempt at Ghost Pepper Jelly. I have no idea what the flavor will be like or how hot the jelly will be. I’m

going to let the jars sit for a week and then see if I can work up the nerve to try it. I’ll follow up with results!

Here’s a panoramic shot of Baltimore for everyone. Enjoy!

Sunset Full Size

At almost 2pm on the 23rd of August, the Univ. of Maryland area felt a rumble. Possible earthquake in Baltimore?

Can you please allow the mini-calendar in Outlook 2010 to be used to set the date for the list of emails I’m viewing? It’s much easier to select a day last week through the mini-calendar then having to scroll through 10 pages of emails to find the first one. Thank you.

Blog Baltimore

http://www.blogbaltimore.com/2011/05/state-of-maryland-says-no-more-to-buying-cigars-online/

I contacted Michael Vorgetts, who is the analyst for this bill, who was unable to take my call. I also contacted a popular online vendor of cigars who informed me that if I wanted to purchase cigars from them that I could only do it via wholesale. The bill is very vague in what it actually wants to do. From what I could understand from reading it, they want to tax vendors of OTP, but only if they are whole selling.

I personally would never consider buying cigars from a local store vendor. The rates they charge are often times 30-40% more than what I would pay online. This has been the practice of many cigar store fronts and it is probably the reason there aren’t that many around. It is not that I don’t enjoy going in and talking with the vendors, its that they need to work on their prices. Also the selection options in a store front are significantly less then that of the larger vendors.

Today was a good day because Marylanders can now order wine online and have it shipped to them, but now we cannot have cigars ordered and shipped to us? What kind of hypocrisy is this?

http://mlis.state.md.us/2010rs/fnotes/bil_0008/hb0088.pdf