Nelson County Rocks

Seventy sounds scarily old to me, but it was still nice for Nic, Alison, Tim, Megan, John, Calista, Cally, and Dan to join me to observe this milestone, like it or not, along with our neighbors Frank and Derek, and also, via Skype, Sissi and family in Germany.  As always, we ate royally and copiously, thanks to contributions by all….along with thirty-plus bottles of Monika Wood Memorial Beer.  Saturday, March 15 was a nice early-spring day, sandwiched between snowstorms.

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Below: the view Monday morning

    

Whodathunk?  Imagine: my blog blocked in Russia!  143.5 million Russians won’t know what’s going on in my little corner of Nelson County!

This Breaking News insight comes from an interesting article in today’s New York Times, The Future of Internet Freedom, by Eric E. Schmidt and Jared Cohen, about government censorship of the internet and, more hopefully, the evolution of technologies and practices that can enable users to undermine and get around this censorship.  At one point the authors note that all WordPress blogs have been blocked at times by the Russian government.  Since my blog is a WordPress blog, that means me and Nelson County Rocks!  What a dastardly deed!

Seriously, another article in today’s Times points to what I fear may be an even greater threat, offering internet users fewer opportunities to resist.  In “As the Web Turns 25, Its Creator Talks About Its Future,” Tim Berners-Lee talks about the increasing corporate takeover of the internet and the increasing violations of the principle of net neutrality. Something that threatens us all.