Buy the new environmentally friendly R'lyeh playet for your children! Its patented non-Euclidian lock-together pieces allow you to assemble the sunken city in whatever composition you like. Secret hiding spots lurk behind impossible angles! It's mind-crushing fun for everyone!

I also find it interesting that someone reinstated the Microsoft logo in the body of the text again after removing it. I take it that was a non-negotiable part of the sponsorship deal? Because, let me tell you, I've seen it in three posts so far and its presence certainly hasn't got any less abrasive as the day's worn on.

I never thought I'd be saying "Hear, hear" to someone named Pukebazooka, but I've got to agree.

I remember when the first ads came in a few years back. I thought, "Uh oh," and waited somewhat anxiously, only to be reassured when it turned out that the banner ads were for things that I found interesting (or generally not distasteful, anyway).

I remember when the HP sponsorship came in. That didn't bother me overmuch because it's a tech hardware company (yes, also a large corporation) that was sponsoring a section of a pro-tech website, and (by and large) HP aren't universally reviled or repeatedly hauled out onto the carpet for their business practices.

I saw the Honda sponsorship go up recently and felt a little bit of a queasy sensation in my guts because a global auto manufacturer was sponsoring sections of the website devoted to Safety, Innovation and the Environment and that seemed more than a little ironic, not to mention contrary to the general philosophy behind the website, but I just eyed it warily and let it pass.

But I really have to wonder where the MS sponsorship is coming from. I know that Boing Boing needs money to survive and I realise that sponsorships are a good source of income, but MS is a corporation almost universally reviled by both BB posters and readers. TNH said earlier that without sponsorships from companies like MS, BB would survive, which then begs the question why this sponsorship specifically. I know she also said that the Boingers turn down tons of other sketchier sponsorship requests and I have no doubt that's entirely true, but that doesn't put aside the question "Why Microsoft?"

And like Pukebazooka stated before me, I don't think that question has been answered. There's been some dancing around it, but nothing that has addressed the readership's concerns directly.

I love Boing Boing. I read it in its print version, I recently bought (and proudly wear) the Coop shirt and BB is for all intents and purposes the home page on my browser, and for those reasons I'd like to have a straightforward answer that will allay my concerns about this sponsorship. Thank you.

From the article on Prentice overruling the Foreign Minister:

The new treaty policy came as a result of a Conservative promise during the 2006 election campaign. The policy says that House votes on treaties will not be binding, and that the government will maintain the legal authority to decide whether to ratify treaties.

So, am I to understand from that we can protest and petition our MPs as much as we want, but at the end of the day, even if the House votes on the issue and finds in favour of striking down the copyright bill (which would implement two WIPO treaties) the Conservatives can still pass it into law anyway?!

If you want to read a great book a few months ahead of everyone else, this is a great opportunity.

When Cory was in Vancouver a few months ago, the bookstore I worked at sponsored his talk/reading and as thanks, he gave copies of Little Brother to myself and my coworker. I had it read by the next day and is pretty much exactly what I would have wanted in a YA book back when I was a YA, and why I enjoy them so much now.

I remember watching Wargames when I was about 11 and thinking how cool it all was and how I wanted to become a hacker to explore and learn as much as I could. And I suppose there was always the thought in the back of my head that if you know their secrets, you can fight back. Well, Cory's book is about exactly that--kids who are stepped on (HARD) by the sytem and the steps that they take in order to fight back. The part that's really awesome, in the same way that Wargames was, is that all the tech is pretty much real. If he made any of it up, I don't think I spotted it, and that's darn cool, for at least a couple of reasons:

- It makes sci-fi material out of things we use every day, which is neat
- It makes the achievability of resistance (to anything!) matter-of-fact

And the second point is the big one, because if the kids who are growing up now realize (through Little Brother and other sources) that they can foil the Powers-That-Be when they go too far then suddenly the future is a little less dark than it was before.

So thanks, Cory, for both a great read and a force for positive change.

Oh right, and everyone else should put in a good bid on it, too.