The new American business model

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(Via arstechnica)

A well-known American photographer has now sued Getty Images and other related companies—she claims they have been wrongly been selling copyright license for over 18,000 of her photos that she had already donated to the public for free, via the Library of Congress.The photographer, Carol Highsmith, is widely considered to be a modern-day successor to her photographic idols, Frances Benjamin Johnston and Dorothea Lange, who were famous for capturing images of American life in the 19th and 20th centuries, respectively.

Inspired by the fact that Johnston donated her life’s work to the Library of Congress for public use in the 1930s, Highsmith wanted to follow suit and began donating her work "to the public, including copyrights throughout the world," as early as 1988.
According to the lawsuit, Highsmith's gift continues “to the present” as she continues to take new photographs.

[SNIP]

According to the suit, Getty and its affiliates have not only sold unauthorized licenses of Highsmith’s photos, but they have sent threatening letters to people that they believe have infringed the copyright. 

One of those recipients was Highsmith’s own non-profit group, the This is America! Foundation. The copyright enforcement entity, License Compliance Services, demanded $120 in payment. LCS is believed to be connected to Getty Images, which has developed a reputation for aggressively pursuing claimed license fees over alleged afoul publication.

So this is how it works in our "Free Market" system. Basically, it's not wrong to rip people of as long as no one catches you. This is the same shit the "patent trolls" try to pull. They create nothing and then charge people for it.

I hope Getty gets destroyed by this. It couldn't happen to a nicer thief!

I spied a spider . . .

I am really semi-phobic about spiders, but for some reason I look them as subjects for my photos. This is a specimen of a common breed around our yard who loves to hang out on a patch of calla lilies.

"What're you looking' at?"

Getting ready to grow sumpin'

The posts lately on my little piece of the blogosphere have been few and far between, but here's one that shows what happens when the beast come out of winter hibernation.

My wife and I constructed a new garden bed, using some scrap wood from our refurbished back deck. We are planning to expand our food growing this year, and this is the first stab at it. The black plastic is to slow the redwood and other roots from invading the bed, and the mesh underneath the box is to shut out the voles and gophers. We filled the bottom with some goat manure from one of our neighbors, then soil from a local nursery, then compost from our compost pile, and then more soil. My wife has already transferred scallions from a large pot into the new space, as you can see.

The endeavor took us most of the afternoon, but it is so satisfying to begin a project that will yield edible rewards. And my wife and I do make a pretty good team, if I do say so myself.

Repurposing an old trash can into a hive

A few days ago I noticed some activity around the handle of an old trash can we have in our yard. We use it for small items we will eventually take to the dump, but some bees had another idea:

The hole in the handle is big enough for them to get in, and apparently them are now calling this can home. We have a neighbor who keeps bees, and my theory is that these are refugees from her hive. Whatever the case, the are doing their thing now in our can. 

Don't fawn over them . . . .

I spotted some new additions to our backyard preserve.

Mother . . . .

 . . . . with child.

They were actually pretty tolerent of me and my nosiness, but they finally departed. The fawns looked very small, and at first I thought they were dogs. Now, if we can just keep them out of the garden.

A walk around the backyard:

I love to just stroll around our backyard to check out the sights, and no matter how many times I do, I am rewarded with surprises and treats:

I call this guy "Lily Spider", because he is uniquely adapted to hide in and on our lilies to catch his dinner.

"What're you looking' at?"

Our neighbor's tree is in the middle of the slowest escape from her backyard ever . . . .

This is the kind of shit I do for my wife---literally. One of our neighbors has goats, and I got a load of the end product of their digestive process for our compost pile, eventually to be added to our garden. Potent stuff!

Our salad bar, though I wouldn't eat the jade plant at the end---it's only for display.

Pictures of Spring and Things

The world outside our backdoor is full of life and color, that's thanks to Mother Nature and my wife. Here's a sampling:

Plants awaiting planting

Twin poppies and friend

Day lily on the day shift

Onion in bloom

Cecile Brunner rose

Bed in progress

Spiders normally have me screaming like a girl, but I do like taking pictures of them.

The wild rhodies are in fine fettle. 

This fat fella is obviously making good use of symbiosis with a lily.

Abbey deCluny rose

Potatoes in a barrel.

Mystery rose from a start dating back years.

It is definitely going to be a colorful summer!

Some drivers are real turkeys!

 Okay, I know I live in California, which is an unusual place, and in Northern California at that---which is the more edgy part of the Golden State. But when I saw this sight in the Safeway parking lot in Fort Bragg, I was mystified . . . and charmed!

As you can see, many folks got out their photographic devices, and Mr. Turkey just watched with a slightly bored air. It was awesome, and made me remember why I love living here.

Scenes from September

We had some substantial rain this week (finally!) and I went out afterwards to catch some of late September's scenes in our backyard:

The jays will take any opportunity for a wee bit of seed . . . .

 

Mother and child reunion . . . .

 

Past its prime, but still pretty . . . .

"You lookin' at me?"