April 2007 Archives

Views from my daily commute

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This is what I get to look at every day on my walk to work:

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It's a little under 2 miles from my apartment to work, and takes about 18 minutes to walk from start to finish. Of course, I'm talking about walking at an Osaka pace, so it would really be more like 25 minutes at a leisurely stroll.

Every morning, I am very aware that I could be sitting in traffic on the 405. Yes, I know that I am a lucky bastard.

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This is Hopkins Beach, the home of many sausage-shaped harbor seals. I saw some newborn pups last week, so there'll probably be a lot more of them when I get back to Monterey.

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Thanks to the changing seasons, the sun is higher in the sky when I walk to work. It's kind of cool getting up in time to watch the sun rise, but I much prefer the longer days of summer.

I hadn't realized how large my backlog of photos has grown since I've started working at MBA. For the sake of posting, I think I need to take more vacations.

A Simian Mug

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Take a look at this fish. What would you say its face looks like?

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The monkeyface-eel lives along the coasts in tidepools and eat mainly algae and crustaceans. A friend of mine has gone fishing for these, using a poke-pole, and says that they taste pretty good, though cleaning them can be problematic. Their skin is so slippery that it is hard to cut a fillet off of their body.

Dishonesty sucks

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Alright, I have a bone to pick. Some jerk ripped off my pictures, and his page got Dugg to the #1 spot today:

(This site has been completely changed now, thanks to the support of readers like you!)
http://www.bloggingwv.com/the-worlds-most-amazing-fishtank/

Here's the Digg link:
http://www.digg.com/general_sciences/The_worlds_most_amazing_fish_tank_PICTURES

And my original post:
http://www.cosmicbuddha.com/adam/archives/002230.html

If you're as disgusted as I am by this individual, please drop by the West Virginia Blogger's site and Digg and let everyone know how you feel.

This sucks: I'm flattered that the Digg community liked my content enough to earn a #1 ranking, but I'm pissed that someone would post the content and not give any sort of credit where credit is due, let alone ask permission.

Who does this individual think they are? Wouldn't they think that I'd be keeping track of my page after I'd been Farked and increasingly thumbed-up on Stumble Upon? Ultimately, in seeking attention through Digg, he pwned himself.

The following is a comment that I left on the guilty blog:

As the owner of the pictures that you posted without my permission on your site, I am asking you to take them down.

I also think that an apology is in order.

Re-posting other people's content without making it clear that you had nothing to do with anything other than copying and pasting stuff to your own page is dishonest and misleading.

I think you owe it to yourself to modify your behavior.

I hope that you are as disappointed in yourself as I am of you.

All right, I'm through for now. Gonna go to bed.

***Update***

The comment above was successfully posted to his page, but he deleted it like a coward. Below is the comment and response that he left, after deleting the other one:

# Adam Says: April 8th, 2007 at 12:25 am

Yo, if you’re going to repost images from my site, the least you can do is give credit:
http://www.cosmicbuddha.com/adam/archives/002230.html
# Bucky Says:

April 8th, 2007 at 1:40 am

ADAM,

I didn’t get the images from your site. They were sent to me as an email FWD.

Nice blog BTW.

I could really care less about what "Bucky" thinks of my blog. What I want is for my pictures to be removed, and for an apology. Is that really too much to ask?

Just to give fair notice, I've just posted this:


I couldn't care less about what you think of my blog.

I will ask again:

1. take down my pictures
2. apologize

I will remind you that my content is protected by a Creative Commons license and I DO NOT give you permission to have them on your site. It doesn't matter how you acquired them. For the record, your excuse is pitiful.

Erasing my comments will not make me go away.

along with the other comment that he erased. OK, now I'm really going to sleep.

***Update 2***

Bucky has blocked me from commenting, but I really need to get some sleep. Let's see how things pan out tomorrow.

***Dirt off my shoulders***

Thanks to everyone who backed me up on this, and thanks to everyone who dropped by my post and left comments.

Both of my requests were ultimately met, with a twist.

He kept the post, deleted all of the comments pertaining to my post and from those who backed me up, and has posted a story (that has already been Dugg in the past by someone else, big surprise!) to bring in residual traffic. It's kind of funny to see how much he still treasures getting exposure. It's also amusing to see how poorly the old comments match up to the remodeled post.

I wish I would have kept a record of the comments that urged him to do the right thing, as no one really was overtly hostile. Most of the comments were civil, and sounded like something a nice first grade teacher would say to gently nudge a misbehaving child in the right direction. It would be a stretch to call any of the feedback that he received "flaming", though Justin's challenge of letting the comments stand used some colorful language. I have a feeling Justin would make a good high school teacher, and perhaps a preschool teacher as well.

Lastly, check the comments to this post. I was a bit surprised about his request, but will chalk it up to sleep deprivation and extreme embarrassment (on his behalf, of course).

Reminiscing of Ryukyu

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Watching this conjures up memories of awamori, umibudo, goya champuru, taco rice, and stewed pig's feet while listening to the laid back twangs and beats of the shinsen and taiko, accompanied by hauntingly beautiful vocals of a dialect that I love to listen to, yet do not understand.

Little Evil vs. BJ Penn

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The 3rd season of Ultimate Fighter has Jens Pulver and BJ Penn as coaches on opposing teams, and they're going to fight on the last show!

Both of these fighters are among my favorites, and despite being conflicted on who I want to win, I know it's going to be a good fight.

In other news, Sam Sheridan's book, "A Fighter's Heart" is really good. I remember watching him on National Geographic a few years back, and it's interesting to see how he's progressed in his fighting career. This guy trained with Team Miletich and got a magazine to foot the bill in return for writing about his experiences. He has that special mix of eloquence and grit, the qualities that make a warrior poet.

Use the pliers...

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This fish has big teeth:
link

Puppies of Spring

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This set was actually taken in the Fall, but the 7 seem more like harbingers of Spring to me. As much as I don't like small dogs, these puppies were the best puppies in the world. They weren't the smartest, nor the most ferocious or dependable, but they were the happiest dogs I have known.

I hope that they're all living happy lives. I feel like an uncle to them.

Killer and Pinky are under the care of my parents, Yvel (now named "Chanel") now rides in a Bentley in Carmel, Cat and Spanky are also millionaires and live in a multimillion dollar house near Monterey, Blaze lives in Fountain Valley, and Monster resides with a Veterinarian in Huntington Beach.

These are a bunch of lucky dogs. Thank goodness for that, as they would have zero chance of surviving in the wild. They have very few wits amongst themselves to fend off wolves, coyotes, and mountain lions.

These dogs, my dogs, now eat filet mignon and drink only expensive mineral water. That's kind of cool, hahaha!

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