A great explanation of SOPA and PIPA  titled Why SOPA is a bad idea, by Clay Shirky on TED

Just spreading the word so we are all informed.

Happy New Year! Over the holiday break I photographed a set of china from Gien, a French dinnerware provider. My objective was to make the colors pop sharply and to have a noticeable reflection in the photograph. 

This shoot took up most of my day. I set up the studio with my table, lights and diffusers. Went to a Modern Store Fixtures + Designs Inc on 29th Street in NYC to buy some small stands so that the plates would stand up tall, returned to the studio, styled the plates and tea cup, lit the products, added + moved around reflectors, focused, zoomed in to check for dust particles, checked the white balance, shot, shot, shot and came up with the composition above. After photographing it, I spent a few hours retouching the image in Photoshop. I think I reached my objective. Do you?