Donations will be accepted through Feb. 29 at customer service at Chesterfield Mall, Mid Rivers Mall, South County Center and West County Center.

Gowns of all shapes, sizes and styles are welcomed. Gowns should be prom appropriate and on hangers. All sizes are welcome and sizes 14 and up are especially in demand (no velvet or velveteen).

Donated gowns will be available at a temporary Cinderella boutique, opening in March at Mid Rivers Mall, where VIPs (Very Important Prom Goers), referred by school counselors and/or social service agencies, can shop and select the dress of their dreams for free.

After the VIPs have made their selections, the boutique will open to the public and all gowns will be offered for $29. The project is sponsored by the Community Council of St. Charles County.

If you would like to help with the project, call  636-978-2277, or email Cinderella@communitycouncilstc.org.

(source)

What a crazy week it has been. First off last Wednesday’s blackout was a success. Sites all around the world joined together and blacked out their pages causing support to drop all across congress. And a it is now said that SOPA and PIPA will not see the light of day. We must remain diligent and keep other bills similar to SOPA and PIPA out of congress. Other big tech news is that a day after the blackout the federal government seized Megaupload and shut it down. Which further proves that the government doesn’t need more laws to get illegally operating sites shut down.

There has been some backlash with the site getting shut down. Legitimate users have used the site to host files for their websites and also to share documents between colleagues. I do feel bad for these users but a storage locker type website is not the best place for backing up documents. The group Anonymous took to using deceptive tactics to corral thousands of internet users into help shut down various websites in retaliation for the Megaupload shutdown. I can’t blame Anonymous for their attempts at defending internet freedom but I cannot get behind attacking and taking down other websites to get even. Especially the way they did it. I have read that not all members of Anonymous supported this event as well. But that is the nature of the beast, anyone can be in Anonymous and gathering a consensus of members I can imagine is pretty hard to do.

Piracy is a legitimate problem and content owners do deserve compensation for their hard work. I just think that policing the issue is not the best way to correct the problem. There are hundreds of ways content owners can change their business models and most likely make even more money than they would using traditional models. I have a few ideas but I doubt Hollywood would listen.

In other news I have a new project that I am working diligently on that I think is going to be an exciting new venture for Missouri Mobile. I don’t want to give out too many details just yet but I will say that it will be a new weekly installment on the web and is very different than what I normally do. So be sure to check back for more updates on this mysterious new project. I have also added pricing for the various technology services I provide. So if you are needing any help with anything check out my pricing. Prices can be negotiable, and if something is not listed just ask. Anyways, it’s time to go so I leave you with a concept logo for Missouri Mobile.

Use these pictures as your avatar on Facebook on January 18th! Thanks to redditor Gr1ml0ck for making them!

Opposition to the bill is becoming stronger as each day passes. Senator Leahy wants to make an amendment to the bill removing the DNS filtering section until further research can be done. While that is good news it is still not a victory. A win will only be when the bill is stopped dead and never becomes law. Those who oppose are becoming louder, with more companies making their voices heard. Tucows recently posted their opposition, as did nVidia. Even Jon Stewart promises to study up on SOPA.

The information and reporting on these two bills is overwhelming, just look at all of the blue links here in this article. It is important that as citizens of the United States you know and learn about this travesty that will destroy the internet you know and love. Check out SOPAOpera.org to see who in Congress is for and against the bills. Contact them in any way you can and let them know that this is your internet and you will not stand for this.

Read and learn about the SOPA Bill
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d112:h.r.3261:

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-h3261/show

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

Read and learn about the PIPA Bill
http://leahy.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/BillText-PROTECTIPAct.pdf

http://www.opencongress.org/bill/112-s968/show

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

Tools to Help Protest

Tumblr and Website censorship code
http://fffff.at/stop-sopa-blackout/

WordPress SOPA Blackout Plugin
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sopa-blackout/

WordPress STOP SOPA Ribbon Plugin
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/stop-sopa-ribbon/

Google Chrome SOPA Supporter Extension
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/jkiamcpjpeaceneehbjccpjjnhgcmpnd

Twitter Blackout Profile Image
http://www.blackoutsopa.org/

Additional Links

http://defendtheinter.net/

http://censoredbysopa.com/

http://americancensorship.org

http://keepthewebopen.com

http://fightforthefuture.org

http://demandprogress.org

http://stopcensorship.org/

http://publicknowledge.org/e-parasite-stop-online-piracy-act

http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/

Finally I will leave you with this very informative video that should be shared with everyone!

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner you can spend a nice romantic Sunday with your hunny bunny participating in Run for The Chocolate. It is a 5K/1 Mile run/walk on Sunday February 12 down on Laclede’s Landing to Crown Candy Kitchen, 1401 St. Louis Avenue, and back. It will begin at 9 a.m at the riverfront. Proceeds will benefit the Downtown Bicycle Station. There will be edible prizes for all of those who finish. Cost for the run is $30 per person or $50 a couple, plus a small online surcharge. Get more details here.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

Internet censorship is going to a vote in the Senate on January 24th (known as PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House). While Senators are in their home states for the January recess, we need to flood their public meetings and offices with our concerns about the bill.

Here’s a quick comparison chart from KeepTheWebOpen.com that breaks down how these bills would be applied:

What can you do?

Your participation really does matter! The boycott of GoDaddy successfully forced them to pull their support of SOPA and PIPA.

Get involved by visiting Stop American Censorship, which lists tons of ways that you can make an impact. Find out how you can get involved locally and take note of where your representatives stand on the matter.

Additionally, you can install the Stop SOPA Ribbon plugin on your WordPress-powered site (you can see it installed here at Missouri Mobile), which links to the American Censorship website. This plugin lets your visitors know where you stand.

*Some of the above content was copied from Sarah Gooding’s article on WPMU.org.