The Price of a Guilty Pleasure

Forgive me, folks, for I have sinned. It’s been 50 years since my last confession (I’m 50 years old – get it? Not Catholic). We’ll skip all the other lurid details for now and go right to my latest mea culpa. I have viewed a TV episode on YouTube.com.

I can hear the hysterical laughing from here. This has become so commonplace that it’s viewed as normal, not a problem, and perfectly okay by even the most innocent of internet users. The only ones who sit with annoyed looks on their faces when the topic comes up are the ones effected by the downloads and their attorneys.

And me.

As a semi-creative soul who likes to be occasionally acknowledged for my contributions (compensated would be nice, too), I can see how this action would be considered inappropriate, even illegal. Those in favor of downloads of such material make the argument that once it hits the airwaves, it becomes public domain and free game, and that if it’s recorded intact (no edits) and the person doing to the recording and uploading makes no profit by making it available for others to view, then no harm, no foul.

I want someone to explain to me how something becomes public domain immediately after it’s broadcast. Why does that wonderful free-for-all moment start the second the TV signal starts bouncing off the layers of the Earth’s atmosphere and surrounding electromagnetic fields? Just because it can be picked up on Pluto and beyond (what, you thought all those signals remained here?) does that really mean you have the right to record it and then send it to the internet for all your buddies and others to see even if you’re doing it out of the goodness of your heart?

Never mind the huge corporations that won’t necessarily feel it if they lose out on the opportunity to collect on their intellectual property rights for one story, one song, one book, one movie. Think smaller. Think of the writers who brought you this concept in the first place. You can argue that they get compensated well enough the first time around and don’t need to keep putting their hand out to be paid every single time their work gets appreciated. Writers don’t always make a helluva lot of coins for their endeavors. Some do, of course, but they’re in the minority. Assuming they’re not struggling to make ends meet now, it may come to that later. If you’re still enjoying something they wrote a few years after it got bound in a book or shown on some screen, doesn’t that writer deserve to have a few more coins tossed their way?

Plus, there’s the whole, blood, sweat and tears that went into creating this for you to enjoy argument. Ever had something stolen from you? Ever had something you created stolen from you? The feeling is very different when your hard work, physical and/or intellectual, gets ripped off and then copied and distributed like a flyer for a college beer blast.

But, I digress. I speak of intellectual property rights being violated and yet have viewed a TV episode on a web site that will not be compensating anyone for their troubles. I won’t be doing it again and not just because it’s taken me over 8 hours to the episode on a 56K dialup connection. I have too many strong feelings on the subject to just ignore them for the sake of my own entertainment. Even with a free download, the cost is too high.

I Wish I Had a Camera

It' gonna be a long winter. The cold temperatures and snow have already made their presence known and winter starts next Friday. Okay, for upstate New York, this is normal, but I don't have to like it.

For the first time in years, I have a group of cats who are feeling the cabin fever already. In the past, my felines generally didn't start to feel it until sometime in January. The two older ones, 5 and 7 years old, have settled in for the long winter haul. But, the rest of the brood, between ten months and two years, have been showing signs of boredom with the great indoors since around Thanksgiving. For the younger cats, though, there's just so much semi-hibernating that can be done and so, cat playtimes are frequent. There's FWW (Feline World Wrestling), Train (chasing after one another from one side of the house to the other), there's Get Outta There (exploring regions of the house that were ignored all summer until the owner yells), and there's Hide 'N Seek (knock something off somewhere and push to hide where the owner must seek, grumble and retrieve). Every once in a while, there's venturing out into the winter world. I enjoyed watching one cat playing with the snow the other day. But, those moments are few and far between.

Then, there's the activity that I wish I had the camera for. Every year, I put up a feeder at the window near my computer desk. It's convenient to fill and I like watching the birds come to the feeder. I also put seed on the window sill for birds who can't deal with my squirrel-resistant (notice I didn't say squirrel-proof, as there is no such thing) feeder. I start in November and go through March. Just within the last two weeks, the cats have discovered the activity of Watch and Whump (watch the birds and occasionally crash (whump!) into the window trying to get to them). The birds really don't pay much attention anymore. The ones at the feeder barely react and the ones that come to the sill now grab seed and take off instead of staying for the leisurely meal while cat faces are staring at them from the other side of the glass.

Here's the simplicity of the photo: a rear shot of three cats (sometimes four) sitting absolutely side-by-side, staring out the window toward the ice and snow, watching birds take off and land from feeder and sill, occasionally semi-crouched, waiting in frustrated delight for their "prey" to linger just a little too long. Shot would be taken just before the crash into the window occurred yet again.

Okay, I'm composing shots of bored cats watching birds. Is the cabin fever starting to get to me, too? Time to go do something productive, like shovel snow and sleet.

Okay, maybe not.