We're joining these fine folks in blacking out our site on Wednesday, January 18th in protest of the SOPA (H.R.3261) and PIPA (S.968) bills pending in congress.

The site will be back up late Wednesday night when we post page 21 of Henson ex Machina. In the meantime, here are some SOPA related activities that you may enjoy:

• Read the bills.
• Contact your congressperson and senator.

  We thought that, living in a hippie city in a hippie state, our representatives would already be doing the right thing on this one. No such luck -- our senators are co-sponsors of PIPA. If you vote in California, let senators Boxer and Feinstein know what you think of the bill (be nice, they've supported a lot of good bills as well).

• Read some commentary on the bill:
  • A whitepaper by Paul Vixie "Cron" and friends on how PIPA's DNS provisions will break the basic structure of the internet.
  • Tom's Hardware on how the bills will affect sites that host users' reviews.
  • The Dresden Codak's Aaron Diaz on SOPA and PIPA.
• Make some art and share it with someone.

  The basic premise of bills like SOPA and PIPA is that art is created by the few, under the aegis of the RIAA and MPAA, and consumed by the masses, who can not be trusted to consume without paying. We believe that we live in a world of artists, weaving culture through the exchange of our creations, regarding art highly enough to nourish it, intellectually and financially, of our own accord.

  So go ahead, put something new into the world.