Sometimes it just takes one news story to change your day. To go from grumpy about events around the world and right at work to remembering that not all the news is about people doing bad things. Found via shadow27's journal, an article in the Orange County register about a girl named Colby who wanted to see the movie Up. Only one thing was keeping her from going to the theater, a little matter of the vascular cancer that was killing her and leaving her to ill to make the trip to the theater. So when her mother called Pixar they sent an employee out with a copy of the movie on DVD for a private viewing, allowing her to see the movie hours before the cancer killed her. And from the article it sounds like if the family didn't decide to talk about it and thank Pixar we'd probably never have heard. No bragging press releases and no attempt on Pixar's part to take the public spotlight for doing something kind.

So thats what I mean by happy pain. You can't help but feel something when hearing about a kid dieing from something as cruel as cancer. But to also see that others stepped in to try and do something to help. It's good to be reminded that there's more going on in the world than acts of greed and madness.

So, I got to thinking about the issue of Orphan Works.

I think one thing I would require in an Orphan Works bill before I would approve of it is:

1a: Require that someone actually document what they have done to search for a rights owner, and
1b: You don't then just use the work, you take your documentation to (either court, or a panel set up specifically for this) and they review your search and say yea or nay to using it.

Okay, lie, more than one thing.

2: After ruling on whether or not the work could be used there would be an official government registry of Orphan Work requests, and the ruling would be entered into it.
2b: Anyone else could then skip the research stage if they add their use and contact information to the registry.
2c: Anyone else could review the registry and challenge a designation of Orphan Work status by presenting evidence to show who a rights holder was.

I don't like the idea of having multiple competing registries, unless perhaps they are split by media type (photo registry, written text registry, etc) administered by one office. Access to the registry should also be open and free. No one should have to pay to find out if something of theres is in it. There should also he a high standard required in the research. No, "Well, I looked up the magazine and it's out print now, so it's free to use, right?" You should have to show how and were you looked.

I also like another idea I heard. Sure, you get your initial copyright free and clear. But it should be for a length closer to older copyrights, and renewing it should not be automatic. If you can't be bothered to fill out a form saying, "I want to renew the copyright on my book X goes to Y and does Z" should the government really be bothered to smack people down for doing stuff with it?

There should also be very stiff penalties for presenting false evidence, and the panel that reviews claims should have the ability to levy at least a modest fine if it's ruled that you should have been able to find out who the rights holder was with even a modest search. "Why no, honest, I tried for months to find out who might own this movie called Muppet Treasure Island." I also wouldn't complain if there was a waiting period between "Hmm, yes, you did do a decent search" and "Alright you can use it" during which the item in question would be posted with a bounty should anyone track down the owner (pay the bounty with a combination of department funding, application fees, and "You wasted our time trying to claim Men In Black was an Orphan Work?" fines).

Your result for The 3 Variable Funny Test...

the Prankster

Norton is acting up on my Sister's computer and will be banished as soon as a replacement is picked. Which raises the question, what should it be replaced with? Anyone here on the interwebs have suggestions for alternatives to look at?

Between the public and the scum a villainy a thin red line separates and prote--

Wait. No. Wrong.

Actually the thin red line is a line that has suddenly appeared on the right side of my laptop's monitor. Running from top to bottom and remaining even after a reboot.

Damn.

Well, I was thinking about whether to get a new computer. But I had intended to wait longer. I'll just have to see how annoying the line is and whether I can live with it a few months while I save up some money.

From part 18 of A Thin Veneer:

"We get signal!"

Acaltha turned in his chair and directed a sharp look at his communications officer. "Mr. Vickers, I believe I mentioned something previously about a certain officer trying break the tension on the bridge by reviving three hundred year old Terran jokes?"

Mr. Vickers felt a vague unease. "Ahh.. yes sir. You did."

"And what was it I said at the time? Please refresh my memory."

"That if it happened again, I'd be assigned to Commander M'Zell as her sparring partner during personal combat practice?"

"That sounds about right. Now, you were saying?"

Vickers deflated slightly. "Subspace transmission directed to this ship, sir."

So, in a recent tweet (I suppose twit would be the proper shortening of Twitter, but who wants to say that?) I just said:


Annoying. Annoying. Annoying. And apache.org and Google is failing me in finding an answer. You'd think that when mod_userdir looks in the public_html directory in the home directory that it would set that as the DocumentRoot. Nope. That's left on the default setting.

I'm always a bit amused by these. No real psychological insight, but they are fun.




Oh, hey look, LJ found my correct set of icons. :}

As some of you know, my job could be described as being like a helpdesk job at times. Which leads me to an important question.

Would it be offensive if I said I needed to learn Yiddish so I could properly express the mental pain that such a job can sometimes inflict?

My Google-Fu is failing me. Possibly about two years ago I ran across a quiz that was supposed to decide whether you were worthy to be allowed on the internet. I recall one of the questions had to do with proper use of the apostrophe. I think another may have involved whether or not to replay to a chain/virus-warning email. If you passed the test it welcomed you to the internet and if you failed informed you that you were not yet smart enough for the internet. Now I want to show it to someone, but I can't figure out where the heck it is...

Spaceballs this evening. I'm planning on going, anyone else? I was going to ask people over IM, but I haven't been online away from work much this past week. If others are going, would you rather hit the 6:30 or 8:35? Should we eat somewhere before the movie or will it be the full theater experience with pricey hotdogs and pop corn?

Here is the original Spaceballs post on the THEM Community.