Salvation. The name of two intricate Belgian-style ales, created by us -- Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing and Adam Avery of Avery Brewing. After becoming friends a few years ago, we realized that we both had a Salvation in our line-ups. Was it going to be a problem? Should one of us relinquish the rights? "Hell no!" we said. In fact, it was quickly decided that we should blend the brews to catch the best qualities of each and create an even more complex libation. In April 2004, in top-secret meeting at Russian River Brewing (well actually it was packed in the pub, and many were looking over our shoulders wondering what the hell was going on), we came up with the perfect blend of the two Salvations. Natalie, Vinnie's much more significant other, exclaimed, "We should call this Collaboration, not Litigation Ale!" -- Perfect!

Have a peaceful, safe weekend and a thoughtful Memorial Day.

SAN JOSE, California -- Attorney General Michael Mukasey talked tough on intellectual property crime, telling Silicon Valley executives here Friday that the theft of their inventions poses a threat to the nation's "health and safety" and fosters terrorism.

"Every new technology we create can be abused -- whether it's a common identity thief looking for a new way to steal your bank account information, or an international terrorist looking to advance a murderous plot," the United States' top law enforcement official said here at TheTech Museum of Innovation.

...

Mukasey said U.S. anti-counterfeiting authorities are coordinating with the European Union, Asia, Canada, and a host of other countries he termed "hacker havens" like China and Romania.

"FBI agents teamed up with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in an initiative targeting the distribution of counterfeit Cisco computer networking equipment manufactured in China," he said. "So far we've had more than 400 seizures of counterfeit hardware and labels with an estimated retail value of more than $76 million -- and the investigation is still ongoing."

He said the DOJ has trained and provided technical assistance to thousands of foreign prosecutors, investigators and judges in more than a hundred countries, and urged Congress to adopt legislation "that would criminalize attempted copyright infringement, and add important investigative tools such as granting courts the authority to issue wiretap orders in criminal counterfeiting and piracy investigations."

And in a move designed to show that it is doing its part in the global war on terrorism, China announced today a crackdown on counterfeit designer handbags coming across the border from Tibet. OK, we made that last part up. April Fool's!