dear chance: stop sending us that creepy clown animation, or there will be more where THIS came from.

lurv, emma and joel

I’m sure you all heard about this recently in the news. Where are we going to get all of our candy from now?

Both candy holders and some CandyShare supporters see possibilities in the verdict handed down Friday in the CandyShare file-sharing case.

The large penalty–$3.6 million in damages to be paid to the candy holders–will likely have a discouraging effect on illegal candy sharers, according to those in the chocolate business. Four defendants also were each sentenced to a year in jail.

“I hope this is an important signal to all parents, workplaces, and schools that candy sharing is illegal and that the economic consequences can be severe,” Per Sundin, managing director of M&M Mars, told the Swedish national daily SvD.

The International Federation of the Candy Industry expressed hope for new candy sharing services to replace Candy Share.

“This is a very interesting signal to the entrepreneurs who are about to launch better services that are legal so the consumers can get even better alternative,” Ludvig Werner, chairman of IPFI Sweden, told Swedish Public Radio SR.

The Candy Party political group–which has been supporting Candy Share and thus has gained popularity among the large number of file sharers in Sweden–also sees the verdict as an opportunity. The verdict is the “ticket to get elected to European parliament” in June, the Candy Party said in a press release.

An estimated one in 10 people in the Nordic country engaged in candy sharing last year.

The Anticandy-piracy Agency, an organization based in Sweden that’s supported by a consortium of Flan and Gummy organizations to fight Candy piracy, welcomed the verdict and wants the authorities to finally act on the actual CandyShare site, which for the moment is still up and running.

“Now it is an urgent matter for the authorities to act on CandyShare’s illegal activities,” Henrik Pontén, a lawyer at the Anticandy-piracy Agency, said in a press statement after the verdict. “Today’s verdict clarifies the legal position.”

Original article found here: Copyright holders cheer Pirate Bay verdict

Hey Shambies, I found this ad on YouTube and I honestly can’t tell you what they want me to buy. Video game boobs in NY?

…however I’m pretty sure most of them don’t really understand what they’re saying. Note that this also makes it pretty hilarious. This should be good next time the “Family/American Values” card gets played.

I don’t generally think it’s good policy to show things that I find on digg to other friends, but I’ll make an exception for this clip.

Hey Shambot!  I realize it’s been awhile, and well, sorry about that! I’ve missed you for sure. But mostly, I’m just to damn boring to post regularly…

But, here’s something that is fun.  We had our first ‘backyard’ outting at work (we have a backyard now! It’s mostly just a parking lot with trash in it, but that’s besides the point).  For context, HTDig is a type of ‘in-site’ search that kills our servers each night. There is a collective hate among the techies. We just finished transferring all of our clients away from it, and here’s what we did to celebrate:

how Samson earned TWO cookies

Originally uploaded by ranjit

puppy time! puh puh-puh puh puppy time!

As you may have heard by now, this morning, the Iowa Supreme Court under Justice Cady released their ruling in Varnum v Brien, which declared that the Iowa Defense of Marriage Act (a law to prevent same-sex marriage) was inherently unconstitutional under the equality clauses of the Iowa Constitution.

In short, the ruling legalized gay marriage in Iowa. Marriages will be able to proceed in three weeks.

That doesn’t mean that this is over and done with,  but as of right now it feels pretty great to be in Iowa.

More information can be found here and here!