While I do believe that SOPA and PIPA are terrible bills threatening the very internet we enjoy today, I also understand that the need for information doesn't just stop just because Wikipedia is down in protest today (Katie Notopoulos is collecting the tweets of panicked college students wondering how they're going to write their papers, the sheer volume of which is causing me to worry about our country's future).

So, as a public service, I will be happy to answer any knowledge-based question that you might have ordinarily gone to Wikipedia for. Just ask in the comments. Keep in mind, I won't actually be doing any research in the answering process, but I have appeared on two game shows in the past, so I think I know a little bit.

Also, if you'd like to contact your Congresspersons to tell them to leave the internet alone, the widget below makes the process super easy.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Up With Chris Hayes is apparently a show on MSNBC, which airs on Saturday morning before they dive full on into their weekly marathon of shows about prison life, but the program this weekend did an excellent job of explaining the debate over SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), providing an opportunity for an executive from NBC Universal to explain why they're for the bill and for a founder of the link-sharing site Reddit to explain why many people online think it could cripple the internet as we know it.

Buzzfeed has been a nice collection of what's happening on the internet at any given time for awhile, and they're making in-roads into driving their own editorial content with the help of Ben Smith, formerly of Politico, but I'm 1) surprised they're actually making money and 2) trying to figure out if someone would give The Range some money if we ran more lists of 25 things.

Social media optimized and meme focused aggregator BuzzFeed has just raised a $15.5 million round of Series C financing, lead by New Enterprise Associates and followed on by Lerer Ventures, Hearst Media, Softbank and RRE Capital. In addition to the funding, NEA General Partner Patrick Kerins will be taking a position on the BuzzFeed board and Huffington Post co-founder Ken Lerer will be moving on up to BuzzFeed Executive Chairman.

[...]

When asked about the company’s future plans, co-founder Peretti tells me, “The biggest shift for us is refocusing under Ben [Smith] as an organization that does real reporting and original content.” After all, scoops and breaking news are just as viral as aggregation … Peretti hypothesizes that most successful content sites in the future will have a mixture of both light-hearted and compelling images, videos and lists in addition serious and emotionally impactful content.

I'm not so much concerned about getting one last sentimental message out to the world via Facebook after I die, although it seems like I should have one last topical music video ready to post, but who will take care of my carefully tended game of Farmville after I depart the earth? Is there an app for that, because I'd hate to have all of those Facebook credits and hours of relentless clicking go to waste.

[AdWeek]

There has been some discussion [here and here] on The Range about anonymous commenting, so this piece by Kee Hinckeley (which appeared on Google+, of all places) seems worth revisiting.

Here lies the huge irony in this discussion. Persistent pseudonyms aren't ways to hide who you are. They provide a way to be who you are. You can finally talk about what you really believe; your real politics, your real problems, your real sexuality, your real family, your real self. Much of the support for "real names" comes from people who don't want to hear about controversy, but controversy is only a small part of the need for pseudonyms. For most of us, it's simply the desire to be able to talk openly about the things that matter to every one of us who uses the Internet. The desire to be judged—not by our birth, not by our sex, and not by who we work for—but by what we say.

Pseudonyms are not new to the computer age. Authors use them all the time. Our founding fathers used them. Anonymous and pseudonymous speech have been part of democratic society since its beginning. What is new is that more and more strangers, whom we have never seen and never spoken to, know our names. What is new is that a name, with just a few minor pieces of information (birthdate, friends names, employer, industry, town…) can in a few seconds provide thousands of personal details about who you are and where you live.

[...]

I leave you with this question. What if I had posted this under my pseudonym? Why should that have made a difference? I would have written the same words, but ironically, I could have added some more personal and perhaps persuasive arguments which I dare not make under this account. Because I was forced to post this under my real name, I had to weaken my arguments; I had to share less of myself. Have you ever met "Kee Hinckley"? Have you met me under my other name? Does it matter? There is nothing real on the Internet; all you know about me is my words. You can look me up on Google, and still all you will know is my words. One real person wrote this post. It could have been submitted under either name. But one of them is not allowed to. Does that really make sense?

For what it's worth, I don't really have an issue with anonymous commenting and I actually like the online culture of the persistent pseudonym. I just would prefer that people not be jerks, even if I realize the impossibility of that ideal. After all, my name is on everything I write and I'm willing to expose aspects of my life, personality, beliefs, etc. as part of what I do for a living and I hope that's part of what people appreciate about my writing, but it takes about a minute for someone to respond to something I've thought about for a few hours/days/weeks with a curt "this sucks and you suck too" retort. It's sort of funny, because at this point in my online writing career, I'm not really phased by insults - someone beat you to whatever you're going to say, I assure you - but it sucks a little that someone won't assign even the most vaguely defined identity to their criticism. That doesn't suck enough to change the rules of interaction, but it does seem worth challenging people choosing to interact online to do a little bit better, to aim a tiny bit higher.

I'm terrible at compiling year-end lists of anything. Either I have wildly incomplete knowledge on a subject (I don't have HBO or Showtime at home and I keep forgetting to watch Breaking Bad, so take anything I say about the "best" anything on TV with a grain of salt) or I tend to forget what I watched or listen to over a span of a few months. So, when I saw that The Awl's list of the best internet videos of 2011 was topped by "Game Deaths", a BoingBoing compilation of life's end as seen through old video games, I assumed I had posted this brilliant clip on The Range at some point. I remember watching and enjoying it and I tend to post nearly anything I like, even if it's just for a few moments, but searching our archives, it appears it slipped through ether of internet time. So, in case this didn't make it to The Range already, here you go.

I don't know if there's ever been a better example of how useless/wonderful the internet can be at times than this, but Jotly, a fake app that was once just the subject of an amusing YouTube app, is now real and available on the App Store. There's no real point to Jotly that I can discern, but it is remarkably enjoyable to take photos of things and rate them. For example, if you go on there now, you can see that I gave this post a C+. Let's be honest, this isn't my best work, after all.

Christmas shopping is seldom an enjoyable experience, especially when you’re still frantically searching for that perfect gift this late in the game. Luckily, the magic of the Internet allows you to skip the need to even step outside of your home to make up for your gift-shopping procrastination habits.

Digital subscription services have made a huge splash on the web this year. Giving the gift of digital love is bound to make even the pickiest friend or family member’s eyes glow with holiday joy. Even better, these gifts can be purchased on the spot and shipping is a non-issue.

Here are a few suggestions that both the tech-savvy and technologically inept will enjoy this holiday season.

• Master Sgt. Gary R. Coppage/US Air Force

Keep your eyes peeled: A CV-22 Osprey from the Marine Corps Air Station in Miramar, Calif., is visiting Tucson for low-level training operations from Dec. 16 to Dec. 18, according to Senior Airman Shane Dunaway.

This looks like it would be a lot of fun in Rocky Point.