Showing posts with label Bigger Than Ourselves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bigger Than Ourselves. Show all posts

Sunday, October 06, 2013

Intellectual Theft And Big Fur Hat

It's not unusual on the web for other people to use images and stories created by other people.  Common courtesy calls for a link back to the original author or creator or at least some recognition.  It is normal for people who create images to put a logo on the image itself so if a picture goes viral the original creator will get credit.  This is important because in the event credit or a link back is not given, the author can still reap the rewards of the image's popularity with traffic to their website (and by extension the financial rewards from the additional traffic).

Those of us who aren't "Established" don't make much in the way of cash.  An image going viral could provide a decent surprise check which can help cover the bills for our passion for a bit.  Needless to say, it gets annoying when someone not only doesn't link back, but takes the time to strip the logo from a created work.

Take for instance one of my favorite IAMFAIL strips I've made:

 
Yeah, nothing special to it, I'm using Gonzo in a parody form and I thought the idea of him finding out he was a father while making breakfast (due to his relationship with his girlfriend Camilla) both dark and funny.  I liked it, so I decided to post it.  Please note the IAMFAIL logo and my name.  I don't mind people sharing it because a quick google search on IAMFAIL with my name will point them to my deranged corner of the web.
 
Now, if someone scrubbed my logo, my name, and possibly even my signature and posted this picture on their site, it went viral and they got lots of traffic because of it, that would not only be my opinion of theft, it would piss me off.
 
A guy I consider a buddy is BigFurHat over at iOwnTheWorld.com and he recently went through a very similar situation.  He posted a photo at his site a little while back poking Obama in the eye over his handling of the Government Shutdown (tm).  He made this little dandy:
 
 
 
Note the iOwnTheWorld logo in the lower left corner?  Another site called Free Patriot found the image and modified it:
 
 
 
 
Notice anything different?  Yep, Fur's logo is gone.  There is still the credit for "mr. pinko.bfh" in the upper right corner, but that's much less noticeable that the original red, white and black in the original.
 
Note:  The modified image on the original post is viewable using the Internet Archive.
 
Fur complained to the individual running the site and was told it was a mistake by an editor and to his credit, restored the original image (although he was pretty dickish about doing it).  Fur continued to press the point based on the fact that the genie was out of the bottle.  The article had already been shared on Facebook over 87,000 times by the time of the correction.
 
What does Fur get because he complained?  They removes Fur's original image and replace it with an out and out THEFT of his idea by placing this image on their page:
 
 
Yeah, new Rushmore, drones instead of helicopters, new curtain.  Yeah, how about a wise-cracking bunny rabbit who eats carrots celery and gets chased by a hunter with a shotgun crossbow for a cartoon idea?
 
Fur's prediction?  Sure enough, this popped up on Snopes:
 


 And then...
 
 
Even worse, FOREXLIVE doesn't even PRETEND to leave any accreditation, they Photoshop out both the logo as well as the "mr. pinko/bfh".
 
Fur chronicled the exchanges with Free Patriot on this post if you'd like the whole story.  Long story short, he got screwed several times.
 
So why am I griping?  Fur shared a video I had put on my blog, has linked to a couple of stories I've blogged about or shared and has even let me put up a guest post over at iOwnTheWorld.  I did the happy dance when this little hole in the wall made the blogroll over there.
 
In short, he's good people and plays straight.  Seeing him get screwed makes me angry.  It isn't the first time, nor will it be the last for him.  Of course don't feel bad for Fur alone, FrankJ at IMAO.us got the same deal on this picture he made making fun of Obama and the 3AM call:
 


Go do a google search for Obama upside down phone and look how may variations you get.  It also landed on Snopes, but at least FrankJ finally got acknowledged for making the parody image.
 

 
Personally Free Patriot is dead to me now and so is FOREXLIVE.  I'm sure they'll be crushed by me never clicking on their links again, but one small step...
 
(You guys know I didn't come up with the "One small step..." thing right?  That was Neil Armstrong for the record.)


Saturday, September 28, 2013

Miracles

My buddy, KT Cat over at The Scratching Post had a great write up on Miracles and his explanation really hit home:

When I hear atheists talk about there being no proof of God, I feel like I'm talking to a person who has never left Kansas telling me there's no proof that the Pacific Ocean exists.

"Dude, it's right here. I swim in it. I dive in it. One of our sons surfs in it."
"It's all explainable through science. You are only imagining it."
Sigh.
He's right, you can't explain the unexplainable.

I have a friend who was doing work in his attic years ago.  He made a mistake and fell, crashing through the ceiling and to the floor below.  His scull was bashed pretty badly and he wound up in a coma.  Doctors weren't sure he would ever wake up.

Then he did.

He opened his eyes up and began speaking to his friends and family.  He remembered who he was, who they were and was overall in pretty good shape.  He had some problems from the fall, but he was alive and could live normally.

He was a Miracle.

He's had a bad seizure recently. No one's sure what's going on, but everyone is concerned.  I wonder how people will react if God takes him home?  Will they be full of anger, railing against a God that can take a man from his wife and daughters?  Will they understand the Miracle?

The Miracle of a man that could have spent the rest of his life in a coma.  A constant source of regret and missed opportunities; or a man that had his appointment with death delayed for a decade so he could walk among us as a Miracle.

Death is not the end, but the next step in life.  We are non-physical creatures limited by the physical shell we wear every day so it's hard for us to release from our fears.  We fear the unknown and death is the greatest unknown.

But when you believe in Miracles...

Monday, September 23, 2013

Spiritual Attacks

Last week was a total crap-fest for me.

I don't want to share too much information, but work was a beat-down.  I felt ill at the end of the week, I had my umpteenth MRI and my back felt like crap.  Add on to that the normal stresses of life and I was ready to collapse.

THE WIFE who is always the wise one explained the spiritual warfare we were being subjected to.  I didn't get it and chose to wallow in my anger and self-pity.

Friday was a turning point.  We are the sponsors for our church's youth program and we planned a lock-in for the kids.  We played a great game called "Grog" which is a cross between Hide and Seek with Freeze Tag thrown in.  We ate pizza, drank soda, had ice cream and watched Nacho Libre together.

It was great.

I also had a few minutes with THE WIFE an a very godly woman who is our friend and like a mentor to me.  She asked me how I was doing.  I told her I had been under attack by the enemy and she explained how she knew it.  She told me how we would be attacked because of the work we were doing for God.

She's right.  I'm not a great person.  I'm trying to make God happy and live my life for Him, but it's easy to get knocked off track.  I took her message and felt much better.

Sunday my 16 year old felt sick at church and had to go home.  My oldest son ran him home and they discovered a guy we had opened our house while he was down on his luck was inside.  They called me and the guy split before we could get there.  He didn't get anything, but we're changing our locks, reinforcing the weak points and have the guns loaded if it comes to that.  I don't think he'll do anything to try to hurt us, but I'm not risking it.

The enemy fights dirty and we want to think of the battle as one we can win with our fists.  It's not, we win it through our work and our actions.  I'm in the battle and I'm not giving up.

Sunday, November 25, 2012

What Will You Do?

Judges 6:13-14

“But Sir,” Gideon replied, “if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? Where are all his wonders that our fathers told us about when they said ‘Did the Lord bring us up out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and put us into the hand of Midian.”

The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

Things don’t work out the way we expect them to, but God is in control. Furthermore, he has placed us here to hold His word and His laws in place. If we fail, we have only ourselves to blame.

Tuesday, July 17, 2012

Friends All Over

Twitter is a funny thing.

I have a lot of people I consider my friends online.  I don't really know them, but I get a peek into their loves and personalities through our online interactions.  When I first started tweeting, THE WIFE warned me to be careful what I shared with people because she was concerned I could wind up giving away information to someone who would abuse it.

As time passed I trusted a circle of friends more deeply.  I heeded her advice and I was cautious who I let into the circle.  To this day my circle of "Friends" is pretty small, but I have what I feel is a sincere connection to them.

Last week I tweeted a request for prayers because my family was under spiritual attack.  We do our best to live the way we should, but the enemy loves to derail us from our goals and ruin the glory we mean for God.  I got some responses back and I sincerely appreciated the prayers.  We got through this round and will live to fight again.  I wanted to take a few moments to thank everyone who did, and does pray for us.

Some folks suffer from anxiety or other ailments that keep them from being around people all the time.  Maybe they're shut in, maybe they are lonely, maybe they work an oddball shift and need to "Talk" to someone for their sanity.  This is my chance to say, there are good people in the world (and online) and there is hope.

There is ALWAYS hope.

To all the people who are my friends, I just wanted to let you know how you have sincerely impacted (in the best way) the lives of a family you have never met.  Thank you.

Saturday, June 16, 2012

Reaching Out For Resources

Hi Gang!

I need to throw this out there and see what resources I can get together.

As everyone knows, I am a tech support dweeb and have been for going on 14 years now. I feel it's time for a change and I need help.

First off, who has made the jump and who can tell me what it was like for them. I don't know that I would be good in sales specifically because I don't BS people. I tell them like it is and go from there.

Secondly, I see a REAL NEED for people to help train folks in dealing with their Autistic kids and schools. Specifically I would like to open a school for Autistic kids. While I know it would seem as if I have lost my mind because I am looking to bring in kids who no one else in the school system wants to deal with, these kids are getting lost in the shuffle. My son is being home schooled, but THE WIFE is overwhelmed with his meds, Dr Appointments etc... Not to mention the other three kids she is watching out for.

Mainly, who can tell me how to begin a charter school in Texas?

I know someone who peeks here now and then must know someone who knows someone. If so, please shoot them my way. houstonkeys(at)hotmail(dot)com.

Thanks and prayers are appreciated.

Monday, August 30, 2010

God's Hand At Work

Since we have found our church and joined I was asked to lead a class of ladies through a small group study.  Why me, I don't know but for some reason Pastor George felt God wanted me there.

I've led it for a while know and after our last study series which we all hated, we moved to "Bad Girls of the Bible" which we have all been loving.

Long story short, through this group and our friendships I was talking with one of the ladies and she brought up Ben's old teacher.  This the teacher who was convinced we were just too soft on him and rather than acting the way he did because of Autism she felt he had behavior problems.

I made my displeasure obvious, and she stopped me and told me this was a good thing.  Turns out they know each other and I hadn't realized her daughter and Ben had been in second and third grade together.  Her daughter mentioned Ben to the old teacher and that they were together in Sunday School now.

Somehow some old note which Ben was accused of writing came up.  The note consisted of Ben writing all the different methods to kill this teacher.  The teacher asked my friend if she thought Ben had written it.

My friend said, "No."

She brought up the fact also, that her daughter had proclaimed Ben's innocence from the very beginning and had named the boy she felt wrote it.

The thing that meant the most to me was she also told me the teacher now had another autistic boy in her class and she was now actually following the standards set forth by our school district.  She is dealing with the Autism rather than just reacting to the behaviors associated with it.

She learned.  Thanks be to God; she learned.

One of the ladies made the statement that it was too bad she didn't learn with Ben, but I told her, if it hadn't been for that teacher we wouldn't have changed schools.  IF we hadn't changed schools we would never have met Ben's teacher Becky for fourth grade.  If we hadn't met Becky we would never have been invited to the church we were at now, and finally, if we hadn't visited our church, we would have never joined and we would have never been blessed with the friends we have now.

We don't always understand the path God sends us down, or why, but there is ALWAYS a reason to his plan.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

A Worthy Cause

Sometimes it is important to remember how blessed we are.  I saw this over at Van's site and it's important to remember how tough things can be.

This is from his friend Kate:


My 3 year old nephew, Charlie, was diagnosed on Christmas Eve, 2009 with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma, a large, malignant, metastatic, nerve-based, abdominal tumor. He is currently undergoing treatment at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).
The money collected through the Charlie Haughey Fund will be to used to cover whatever costs of his treatment insurance doesn’t cover and will be held until Charlie is ‘out of the woods’ and in remission with a clear prognosis. The remainder of the Fund (hopefully the vast majority) will be entirely donated to research for Neuroblastoma and childhood cancers. The fund has been graciously set up by Katrina Strich, Diane Smith and the other truly amazing friends of Charlie’s parents Mike and Julie Haughey.
For those who would like to donate please send to:
The Charlie Haughey Fund
c/o Katrina Strich
121 Algonquin Trail
Medford Lakes, NJ 08055
Today our friends organized “Hot Chocolate For Charlie,” the first of many planned events, which was incredibly well attended and very successful. People seemed to have a wonderful time all morning, donating generously as they visited with neighbors and ate baked goods and drank hot chocolate under a pristine, winter blue sky. We are planning many fund-raising events in the future including races, musical performances and other fun activities. Stay tuned for future events . . .


If you can, please give.  If you can't give, please at least say a prayer or two.


Thanks


Thursday, January 14, 2010

Please Help

I got this link from The Bloggess for two young people who are trying to get the kids they are adopting out of Haiti.  Please follow the link and read up.  Call your congessman and pressure them to get help to these young people.



Also, don't forget any help you can give to the people of Haiti.  The country is in desperate need of help and anything you can do will help.