Wikipedia "blackout"

So Wikipedia decided that today it would make itself (the English part anyway) sort of unavailable for 24 hours, to protest some piracy bill that the US govt is considering. Well, it's hardly a blackout when it's so easy to bypass. Just press Escape!!

(It's also still available on mobile devices, and also on your computer if you disable Javascript, so it really, really isn't a blackout.)

Allow me to clarify.

Going to the Wikipedia home page still works no problem, so you can still use the search box. Or perhaps you're following a link from another website or from a Google search result.

Well, the Wikipedia page you want does actually load, but it then proceeds to forward to their blackout page shortly afterwards. All you have to do is stop the loading process before it starts forwarding to the annoying blackout page. So, as soon as you run the Wikipedia search (or load a Wikipedia page from an outside web page like Google search), just click the stop button in your browser. Easier yet, press the Escape button. If you're too slow and see the blackout page anyway, hit F5 to refresh and try again.

Maybe some Internet connections are so insanely fast that there's no time to cancel the forwarding once your desired content is loaded, but it works well for me.

Thanks, Wikipedia, for not truly blacking out. I'd be rather lost without thee.

2012 already

Hmm, a new year already. And not a blog post in months! Looking at 2011, I see I posted more than in either of the previous two years. Of course, slightly better than dismal is still pretty dismal... also, about a third of 2011 posts covered one single holiday! For shame...

Perhaps I'll do better this year. And perhaps not.

In just under a month, Carrie is off to Costa Rica for work. And in just over a month, I'll follow her there for a little sunshine break. (Not that there's never sunshine in Ottawa, but I rarely end up outside to actually enjoy it.)

We've conned talked another couple into coming as well, so we'll have a boatload of fun (and hopefully something to write home about).

Time to dust off those old español lessons!