Alright people, come gather round in a circle and let’s talk.

Back in November we talked about taking care of your business, making sure that sex life of yours is intact, healthy and keeping everyone happy. Because if not, eyes start to wonder and as soon as the economy gets better the divorce rate will rise drastically and you my friend will be left buying plastic fakes to replace the real thing.

However, I did not tell you to go and make BABIES! You guys are procreating, not just having a good time between the sheets. Don’t you know we don’t need a baby boom! I know you’ve already started, I know I know, but spread the word children, there are alternatives. You can have fun without making babies! I promise!

I’m disappointed in you, I thought you knew better than that and that you can’t have nearly as much fun when there are little feet pitter pattering about in the house.

All you celebrities need to listen up too, now that you’ve all decided to have babies the magazines are making it cute and hip to have little tricycle motors – just stop it!
Our teenagers don’t need to follow the example of Juno, no matter how cute and touching the movie was, in real life it’s not that damn easy!

So your assignment is to check out the links I’ve given you, add some spice to your life as well as some sanity, and report back to me in the morning! If you don’t heed my advice you’ll be buying clothes like this and reading books like this.

You bunch of rabbits!

We receive a magazine Texas Lawyer at the firm where I work that had an article that caught my attention this week.

Topix.com is a news website that specializes in localizing your news and allowing commentary on that news, I have seen the site, and even registered and commented on numerous articles. It is really a great source for local news, and I used it for the purposes of receiving local news and commenting with other locals on it.

The case highlighted in Texas Lawyer however, talks about a lawyer and his wife who were charged with a crime reported on Topix.com in the Collin County, Texas area.

Apparently the article garnered thousands of comments on the website and at least 178 of them were disparaging comments that angered the couple so much that a lawsuit was filed in Tarrant County, Texas for defamation of character and libel. The couple were acquitted of the charges and indicate that their business was damaged financially by the comments placed on Topix.com.

They are seeking the identities of the commenters on Topix.com and recently served Topix with a subpoena demanding the IP addresses of those commenters. Further, they announced the lawsuit on a forum on Topix.com in an attempt to notify those commenters that a lawsuit is pending.

I don’t know about you but I think they just need to put it behind them. Sure they didn’t like the comments, sure they might’ve even been slanderous, but honestly, in the true scope of things, does this matter that much?

According to the couple, business has been picking back up since they were acquitted, he’s not doing so poorly that he had to shut down either of his offices and quite frankly – wouldn’t they want to move on from this and just forget it all? Who’s to say that the slowing of business was due to the comments, maybe it was due to the charges filed?

What do you think about the potential liability on the commenters part? Do you think it’s right that Topix will be forced by this subpoena, to turn over the IP addresses of their registered users?

What do you think about online anonymity? Should it be maintained or should people making slanderous, libelous comments be brought out into the open and punished?