Blog
November 2008
Obama needs to give his speechwriter a raise, and other election thoughts
I have held my tongue about politics all year, so now that results are coming in, I’m going to spout off.
So we all know where I stand, let me put it out there for the record: I’m an Indepublicrat. I’m liberal on some major issues, conservative on others, conflicted on others, and sometimes change my mind. I’m no party robot. Both major presidential candidates have views I support. Both scared me just a little with their platform. I am not going to say how I voted. I am neither despondent nor ecstatic when it comes to a Democrat being in office. Outside all party lines, however, I am very pleased the the U.S. has elected an African American. It was time and more than time.
But at nearly 1 a.m., I am sitting here waiting for results from Alaska. Say what? Who cares about Alaska? It has three electoral votes and always votes Republican. Neither candidate ever goes up there, not even the Republican candidate in a “thanks for your support” kind of way. In fact, the TV station just announced Alaska for McCain, and the reporter couldn’t figure out what to say about it. I paraphrase: “Alaska goes to McCain. That’s, uh, three votes. It doesn’t really matter much.”
No, if you’re watching Alaska, you’re watching it to see what happens in the Stevens vs. Begich campaign for Senate. Stevens, as you should know, was recently found guilty on seven counts of ethics violations. And he is, right now, winning his race at 49-46%. How does that happen? I think it’s difficult to comprehend the loyalty Alaska has for Stevens. I also think that, to an extent, Stevens is getting votes by Republicans in an attempt to secure the possibility of a run-off election. If Republicans do not vote for Stevens, and the Democrat secures the seat, that seat is lost. If they vote for Stevens—even if they think he should step down—and he ends up being forced to step down (a certainty, unless he wins his appeal), the Republicans have a chance to keep that seat in the resulting run-off election. So votes for Stevens may not be votes for Stevens, per se. They may be strategic votes aimed at maintaining party control of the Senate seat.
You know what would be fascinating? If Stevens wins the elections, is forced to resign, and then Palin runs against Begich. The media likes to talk about Palin in 2012, and one of the biggest complaints about Palin is her lack of experience. This scenario would give Palin that experience. I would not be surprised to see that scenario play out. And although I believe Begich has been one of the strongest threats to Stevens in recent years, I am not sure that he could pull off a run-off election against Palin—any other candidate, and Begich would have it wrapped up, but Palin will have the aura of the VP nomination behind her, as well as a state that heavily trends Republican and is going to be very, very nervous about the Democratic sweep. I mean, right now Begich is losing to a man who was found guilty of seven felonies, whether because support for Stevens is just that strong, or Republicans are just that intent on maintaining the seat for their party.
It’s fascinating.
On a related note: Obama needs to give his speech writer a raise. I haven’t paid much attention to the speeches during this whole campaign process, but I did listen to his acceptance speech. His speech writer is very, very good. I’m excited about this. I hated Bush’s speech writer. Their (ab)use of rhetoric grated on me like fingers on a chalkboard. Obama’s speechwriter, however, plays rhetoric like a finely tuned instrument. This, people, is wordsmithing. Whether you like what he’s saying or not, realize that this stuff is crafted within an inch of its life.
Of course, it helps that Obama has much better delivery and stage presence than Bush. But still—well done, speech writer.
Copyright Part I: You need to register your copyright
Ever since I discovered my copyright had been infringed, I have been carefully researching and documenting everything I can to better understand copyright law and my rights under it. When I spoke with a lawyer last week, one of the things he suggested was sharing what I have learned with other people. I think this is an excellent idea. I am still pursuing certain actions as a result of the infringement of my text, but nothing I say in these posts will reflect on my situation in particular. This is good, general knowledge that I wish I’d known three years ago—knowledge I think every blogger should know.
Note also: Standard disclaimers apply: I am not a lawyer, this is not legal advice. There may be errors in my understanding or interpretation of the law. I’ve linked to resources at the U.S. Copyright Office to show where my conclusions are grounded; in most cases, these links are to sections of the copyright law so you can do your own research. You should take any specific questions to an attorney.
Part I: You need to register your copyright. Not “should.” You need to register your copyright.
It’s true you don’t have to register your copyright in order to establish your rights (Section 102). You don’t even have to put a copyright notice on your work for the copyright to apply (Circular Three: “Copyright Notice”).
However, if you want to pursue your case in court, you must register your copyright. I’ll say it again: copyright registration is a prerequisite to court action (Sections 411 and 412).
All copyright cases fall under the jurisdiction of the federal copyright law (Section 301), and, although this is conjecture, I believe mandatory registration establishes the federal jurisdiction. This means you can’t take someone to small claims court over a copyright case, by the way. If you’re pursuing legal action, you’re pursuing it as a federal case.
Now, the interesting thing about all of this is that you do not have to register your copyright before your rights are infringed. You only have to register it before you pursue legal action. You can discover your rights were infringed, register the copyright, and then pursue action.
However, if you do this, you can only sue for actual damages and you cannot sue for attorney’s fees (Sections 412, 504 and 505).
On the other hand, if your copyright was registered prior to infringement*, you can sue for statutory damages of up to $30,000 ($150,000 for willful infringement) and attorney’s fees (Sections 412, 504 and 505).
The difference between having to pay attorney’s fees at a federal court level and being able to sue for them as part of the judgment will, I believe, for most average bloggers determine whether or not we can afford to take someone to court. In addition, I believe you’ll be more likely to find an attorney who will take the case on a contingency basis if you can ask for statutory damages rather than having to prove actual damages. Statutory damages may exceed actual damages, especially in cases where “actual” damages may be hard to find but you can prove willful infringement.
*There is one caveat to having to register prior to infringement. You have three months from the time you fix your work in tangible form to register your copyright. If your work is infringed during these three months, you can still pursue legal action and sue for statutory damages and attorney’s fees. However, if you discover an infringement during these three months, you must register within the next month in order to sue for statutory damages and attorney’s fees (412).
Confused? I think this is how it works:
Say I write a post March 1. I have until June 1 (three months) to register my copyright. If I discover in September that in April someone infringed upon my rights, I can still sue for statutory damages because I am protected by the three-month clause.
However, say I write the post on March 1 and discover on April 1 that someone has infringed my text. Now I have to register the copyright by May 1 (30 days) in order to retain my right to sue for statutory damages. The thirty-day period will expire before the three-month period. Remember, though, that this thirty-day period applies to the discovery of infringement. If I don’t discover the infringement until later in the year, but register the copyright within the three-month period, I am still protected.
But say I write the post on March 1 and don’t register my copyright until July 1, and later discover that someone infringed upon my rights back in April. I can register my copyright and take them to court for the infringement of my rights, but I cannot sue for statutory damages or attorney’s fees because I did not register in that three-month window.
The message I take away from all of this is: register your copyright now, before your work is stolen. And reregister your copyright every three months if you are adding content (such as to a blog). This way, you are always protected by the three-month clause. In the meantime, if you ever discover someone has infringed upon work written after your last copyright registration, reregister immediately so that the registration will fall in the thirty-day window.
Currently, copyright registration is $45. That’s $180 a year ($45 every three months). Think of it as insurance: for just $15 a month, you are securing the right to sue for both statutory damages and attorney’s fees. Unless you are absolutely confident that you will be able to prove actual damages and those damages are high enough to warrant paying for a federal court case, that $15 a month may be the difference between your decision to pursue legal action and allowing a plagiarist to walk away.
Part II will cover how to register your copyright. It’s easier than you might think, and, honestly, at only $45, it’s one of the most affordable government fees I’ve ever seen.
As observant as a turnip
When it comes to non-critical things, I am not the most observant person in the world. When I was in high school, someone asked me if my brother had gotten his braces off. I said I didn’t think he ever had braces. My best friend slapped me upside the head and told me he had, and they’d come off a week before. I’m sure I knew all of this on some level, but it wasn’t mission critical to my life, so it hadn’t really sunk in as something I needed to remember.
So, when I got out to the barn today, I did the usual critical checks: horse outside? Yes. Trainer in the indoor? No—must be at the dressage ring. I went into the paddock to get the horse, reflexively looked down to check his legs (habit from the Super Saint), and nearly had a heart attack. It looked like the legs had been severely scraped up, and then copious amounts of green medicine applied.
I had a major deadline at work on Friday, with several more in the upcoming weeks, so I hadn’t been at the barn much this week and I hadn’t had my cell phone on, either. I was sure his owner had been in touch with me about whatever this was, but I hadn’t gotten the message.
And then, as I kept staring at his leg, I realized a fly was crawling all over it and he clearly didn’t care. He was busy trying to find out why I was holding a halter and not putting it on him. I bent down to see what was happening, and realized it wasn’t wounds and medication at all—it was paint.
Oh, right. Halloween.
I forgot about Halloween. Really. On my way home from work Friday night, I remembered long enough to swing by the store and pick up some candy (total failure—all they had left were Reeces, and I wouldn’t subject Reeces on anyone. I abhor that candy). But no trick or treaters came by, so I settled back in to work some more and… forgot.
Rogue’s owner told me 6,000 times that her kid was decorating Rogue for Halloween. I even talked with her kid earlier in the week. But it completely escaped my mind.
And to make things worse, once I realized it was just paint on his legs and looked over the rest of him, I realized there was paint all over him. You’d have to be a blind bat to miss it. So even given that I’d forgotten about Halloween, I should have seen all the other decorations before I saw his leg and had a minor heart attack.
Good grief. I know there is medication to help ADHD people focus; surely there’s medication to help people like me become more observant?
October 2008
Is that a zebra in the road?
The other night as I was cooling out the horse, I stopped to talk to another rider who said she couldn’t believe I was wearing a t-shirt.
I kind of laughed; I had just been thinking how perfect the weather was: cool enough that I didn’t have to worry about overheating, not so cold that I had to worry about frostbite. Somewhere in the 50-60 degree range. It’s what I consider ideal riding weather, and I was really enjoying the fact that the temps had finally dropped somewhere reasonable.
This is the point where people start saying, “If you think that’s reasonable, why the heck did you move to Texas?” and I change the subject.
Like this: a couple weeks ago, I was driving down the street and saw a zebra on the road. Actually, the first thing I saw was a tiki bar, and then I saw a zebra. And no, drinking was not involved. Apparently there was some car art exhibition going on somewhere, so there was an entire cavalcade of decorated cars: the tiki bar, one covered in what looked like ping pong balls on wires (why?), a car painted like… I don’t know what. I’d guess it would make sense if it were parked and you had time to walk around it. And the zebra.
The zebra was kind of cute. It was a jeep-like vehicle and the tail was bolted to the roof rack, so it waved back and forth as the car moved. It looked like two ears were fixed to either side of the windshield, too, because I could just see the tips flipping in the breeze.
I thought about taking pictures—I had my cell phone with me—but then the idiot in front of me dived down into the passenger seat of his car and almost side-swiped the ping pong ball car. A few seconds later he popped back up and almost rear-ended the car in front of him while wildly waving his camera out the window, trying to take pictures. Or get videos. Or kill someone. I wasn’t really sure which.
Fortunately, we all—Doofus driver, me, the cavalcade—got caught at a red light, so I thought the idiot would get the pictures he wanted and we could all be on our way, right? I mean, the zebra car was cute and all, but we’d been driving 5 mph on a road where the speed limit was 40, and I was really over it. I was really hoping that he would turn back into a normal driver when the light turned green.
All of a sudden, Doofus with the Camera darts forward. Squealing tires and everything. I check the light, because I was pretty sure it was red. Yup, still red. I turned my radio down, thinking maybe Doofus heard sirens somewhere. No sirens. I check the red light again. Is it blinking? Maybe it’s a four-way stop and I missed it. Nope. Solid red. So… Doofus stopped for the light and then ran it? Why?
More tire squealing up the road answered the mystery: Doofus swung a hard right into a school parking lot, whipped the car around, and about fell over himself trying to get out of the car. Ah. He wanted to film the cavalcade again. I guess that’s a good reason to run a red light at an intersection with cameras on it. I hope the pictures were worth the ticket he probably got.
Fortunately for me, that meant he was no longer ahead of me, and that meant I could resume normal driving speeds Yay!
And the joke turned out to be on him, because a couple miles up the road I saw some other decorated cars turning into a parking lot, where there was clearly some sort of event going on. If Doofus had only been patient enough to wait… but then, given his reaction at seeing just these four cars, it’s probably best that he didn’t know. I think the excitement might have killed him.
But since I don’t have pictures of the actual zebra car I saw due to having to keep two eyes on a guy who could barely keep his car pointing in the right direction (forget about maintaining speed or staying in the same lane), check out pictures of other zebra cars I found around the web:
I like this one best; be sure to check out the detail shot.
A collection of zebra cars. I don’t know; after the first one I linked to, painting stripes on a car and calling it a zebra car feels about like throwing a sheet over your head for halloween and entering the best costume contest. Yawn. (Speaking of which… I think I’ll be a ghost for halloween).
Here’s another one, with little zebras glued on top.
I was going to find a picture of a lion art car and make a clever joke about having the lion car chase the zebra car, but apparently, while zebra cars are a dime a dozen, lion cars are not very popular.
There’s probably a metaphor here about wild horsepower and men who love metaphors, but if there is, it couldn’t be anywhere near as funny as this.
A company that got it right
I thought, since right now I feel like I am surrounded by individuals and companies who can’t do the right thing, that I’d take a moment to point out one that did.
You know all the times I griped about companies that want me to promote their products out of the goodness of my heart? The whole “Post my Post” fiasco? And how I kept saying that if they wanted to do it the right way, they’d send products for review or pay for advertising or similar?
Well, CuffLinks.com recently contacted me via another site. They asked if I would be interested in a sample for review or to use as a giveaway prize. And that was it: no strings attached. The cufflink they contacted me about was even relevant to the other site.
Unfortunately, since I don’t do product reviews there and I am certainly not going to dive into the legal morass that surrounds sweepstakes/product giveaways, I was not able to take them up on their offer.
I thought I’d mention them here, though. I don’t know them from Adam—never ordered from them, no idea what their customer service is like, no experience with their product quality. But I appreciate their professionalism when it comes to marketing their products.
And no, they haven’t paid for advertising here or anything like that. I doubt they know this blog exists. This is just the flip side of all the company gripes I like to do: when a company approaches me in a professional manner, I remember it. Favorably.
And I don’t mind saying so.