Is it Monday again?

Oh my goodness.. is it Monday again??

I say maybe a Monday will be better with cuddles.. 

Yes, cuddling is nice, but is it enough?

Well it is still Monday!

I think I'll just hide out till Tuesday.

Yup, me too.. see you later!

Sorry about being scarce last week. I took some time off to clear up some clutter in my home. I tend to collect things. Projects I want to work on, recipes I want to try, bits of ribbon that I know I will want to use in a craft project one day. Sadly I'm also not that good at finding a home for everything, so I "lost" the use of my office because I was afraid to let the cats in there knowing they would want to knock things over etc. I made tremendous progress, and while my house isn't exactly 'company ready' at the moment, it is much much closer.

The kittens are finally starting to fill out. They aren't sneezing any more and are eating. They aren't eating nearly as much to make me happy, but enough that they are all over 2lbs.  The shelter wants them to be 2.5 so they'll be here a bit longer.

What I know: Copyright - what is your obligation?

©love-and-hisses.com

So I was watching GMA this evening (broadcast on 8/7/14) and saw the segment about the macaque selfie that was shared by David Slater. Apparently immediately the general public deemed this photo as 'public domain' since the monkey took the photo and since monkeys can not hold a copyright.   Well now 'the owner of the camera' is suing to claim that the copyright is his.

I want to say, I think the copyright is his.  Yes, he didn't technically pushed the button, but he took the camera out to the monkey, he set up the situation, he created the environment, the 'creation of the situation' was his doing. Just as I think zoos who set their elephants or dolphins to paint own those images, and just as I think Colehaus Cats owns the copyright for Quint's work.  Think of the monkey, the elephant, the dolphin or the cat like a camera, or a brush.. a tool to create the art.. you would never expect a camera to own a copyright.. but it did do all the work.

All of this got me thinking about copyright..I use Robyn's photo above because she is one of the most copyright infringed people I know.

I am sure that most of you that are reading this are bloggers. From time to time I'm sure you want to use a photo that you have not been able to take yourself. It seems like a no brainer to go to google.com and type in a description of the image you want to use and find one and use it, but doing so is copyright infringement. Those images are owned by someone, and most of those people are not willing to let you simply use their photos with out either compensation for the use, be that financial or a link back. I work for a stock image agency, and you would not believe the number of times our images are stolen and put up on websites. When we find them, and we have hired a company to do so, we send them a cease and desist letter and an invoice for ten times what the original feel would have been for the use. Most of the time that is $1000. Not being aware it was a copyrighted image is not a defense for the theft. We have been told many different reasons why we shouldn't be asking for $1000 from 'that image isn't worth it' (maybe not, but our time and the man power to find you is) to 'but we don't make any money from it' (doesn't matter. If you steal a car and stick it in a garage, you still stole it)

So what is a blogger to do if you can not take the photo yourself? There are places you can that will let you legally use their images, more often than not for a simple link back and proper attribution. Creative Commons is the term for people who allow you to use their images, you can find some at Flickr, PhotoPin or Wylio.  I am sure there are many more and if you know of any, I'd love it if you shared them in the comments.

If you see an image you love, try tracking down the person who took it and ask if you might use it. More often than not people will be honored you asked and will let you for simply a link back. Sometimes they will want to sell you a license, and you will have to decide just how much you like the image. Sometimes they will say no... but since they took the image (or drew it, or created it, etc) that is their right. You would not take something from someone's home with out their permission, please, do not take it from their blog.

The continuing adventures of Traveling Jack.

I, like many other members of the Chewy.com blogging family, got a box on my porch the other day.

Inside were a number of things all of which screamed that Traveling Jack get involved. This is not a "sponsored post" in that no request was made for a post in exchange for the goodies I got, but seriously, how could I not?  Traveling Jack took one look at the goodies contained within and said "I MUST take a trip to the pool!" (yes, the pool is a little lopsided, but we got it on serious sale and we didn't want to spend any money to tear up the ground to level it out) I'll let TJ take over from here.

Hi!  I'm Traveling Jack. You have met me on other adventures such as the trip to see Odilia and to see Harvey. When I saw what I got, I knew a trip to The Pool was so in order. See I have a nice travel mug for some tuna juice to keep me hydrated, some treats to keep me nourished, a ball to play with, a towel to lay on, and some nice blue glasses to keep the sun out of my eyes.

I also got this can warmer, but it doesn't seem to make much sense..

so I took it off.. Maybe the woman can find a better use for it..

I decided to write a note of thanks for my adventures. I mean they did include these nice pens and this cool sticky type paper.. So do I put my note on my computer screen? Will they see that?

I wonder if I can get them to sponsor more trips for me.. I mean I have BarkWorld coming up in October and BlogPaws in May.. and I do love to travel - even if it freaks the woman out.. I mean my name is Traveling Jack after all. I bet if I could get 50 comments on this post, they might consider it.. I mean 50 people thinking that Traveling Jack traveling about talking about Chewy.. that has to be impressive right?? Do you think you could share this with a friend or two?

You can?  Cool! While you are doing that, I think I'll take a quick dip in this humongous sun puddle. Good thing I have this towel..

Mondays are better with kittens

I have to say these three are becoming cuddly kittens, which is nice. The first day they would scatter when I walked in the room, now they are climbing up on us and snuggling with us. I took them home with me to put a little weight on them. They felt a bit straggly, a little light for their size, so I offered them some canned food, and well this was their reaction to that:

They act hungry, but they were not eating well at all. I tried some goats milk, and they weren't interested in that either. Then we had vomit, so yesterday I went to the shelter and asked for some deworming meds. Hopefully we are dealing with a simple round worm issue and things will turn around nicely from here.

I see Paris, I see Brooklyn, I see Fiji.. wait, that's not how it goes..

I got an email asking me if I might want three more kittens for a couple of weeks.  They are just under two pounds, and need a place where they can eat and sleep until they get to two and a half pounds.  This will work out nicely if I am still cat sitting.. which I do not know if I am or not..

As for the post title, the kittens came with names, three girls are named Paris, Brooklyn and Fiji.

Don't forget, you can drop in on them any time and view them on my dropcam