Causes

[tamakun]

There are a few causes that I wish to report on, and I would like to ask for a minute for you to look at them. The last one is just a personal favorite, but I simply request that you take a look at these first two causes.

I was sent a link through FaceBook to Help Shane Bernier get his wish. As I had heard about hoaxes like this in the past, I went looking information on the Urban Legends Reference Pages and found this to be genuinely true. He also has a website where the address is located, as well. I think I may send him a card... :)

Speaking of causes, on Sunday I stopped by a Garage Sale only to discover it was part of Amanda's Lemonade Stand. Amanda isn't 10 years old yet, but she has been running a lemonade stand every year for 8 years (!) and has raised over $32,000 for the Heart & Stroke Foundation. Her current goal is to reach $100,000 (last year it was $50,000 - she's very ambitious)! I picked up a couple of flyers for the lemonade stand and I intend to post one or two of them at work today. I suggest that if anyone can make it out, please do so. Christine and I will be in Ottawa this weekend, so unfortunately I will be unable to go. I bought a kite for the cottage at the Garage Sale, regardless. :)

Finally, one more cause, this one virtual. There is an artist out there, Todd Goldman, who owns the "David & Goliath" clothing line. Recently, it has been brought to the Internet's attention that he ripped-off a piece of art from a web-comic artist known as Shmorky, also known as Dave Kelly or Cave Deli. There is a website that is collecting all the infringing works of Todd Goldman and placing them side-by-side for comparison's sake. The one that ripped off Shmorky is the first one, ffrom a webcomic called "Purple Pussy". There is no place in the world for plagiarism or copying. Sure, ideas can be similar through coincidence, but considering the number of art pieces that Todd Goldman has created that bear startlingly similar images (and in the case of the popular Shmorky piece, almost perfect, even in perspective) I cannot suggest that this is mere coincidence. (It's interesting to note that while Todd Goldman has apologized in a press release and has pledged that he will not profit from this art piece, they turn around and sue the websites that are hosting the infringing images.)

You might be aware of this, but my computer is running SETI@Home, a program that runs in the background to try to find signals from extraterrestrial sources. I was reading MaximumPC for this month and they were talking about Distributed Computing, and they referenced several other causes - such as Folding@Home (which is also currently available for the PS3 system and appears to be dominating the charts), but the one that caught my attention, while not hands-off, is Stardust@Home. Essentially, they're asking volunteers to look into thin astrogel slices in what they call "focus movies", and asking people to identify "tracks" left by space dust. Any space dust that is discovered by a user is permitted to name it! (chances of finding space dust are incredibly low, but hey, it could happen...) I just joined it, and it's really not that difficult after taking the tutorial.

Comments

[kawaiiayu.livejournal.com]

Wow. As an artist that Goldman shit PISSES ME OFF. It is SO obvious that he stole all that shit, and he isn't even remotely creative enough to even TRY to modify things enough to attempt to have things look original. Wow. What a douchebag. That really pisses me off, that some ass like that steals and steals and steals and makes money off of OTHER'S hard work and creativity and aparently feels it's okay. This is one reason I hate being an artist. So many people thing that they have automatic rights to do whatever they want to an image YOU created just because they can right-click, 'save as'. UGH

[ravenworks.livejournal.com]

"it has been brought to the Internet's attention"...

I love how we're this collective now ;P "The internet found out about this months ago!"