Watch out on copyright

Once in a while, everyone should write a three line poem with each line being the title of a song =P Although, how would that affect the copyright? I guess you'd need permission from each songwriter? I know in collage art that any piece of art that gets incorporated requires the permission of the original artist, and in music even a few notes strung together can be the subject of a million dollar lawsuit...

Therefore, I will not post my three line poem with titles from Bowie/Queen, Pat Benatar and Sting, just in case

I was really surprised by this story http://pubrants.blogspot.com/2012/07/blogging-authors-beware-you-can-get.html

Since Roni Loren took down the picture right away, did not claim it as her own, and did not seek to profit from it, I was quite surprised that she was still liable for money. 

So, yeah. Best not post anything made of song titles =P

The downside of computers

I haven't handwritten anything of significant length in 10,000 years. So I when I wrote a little note on a card today, my handwriting is even more ghastly than I remember.

Hobby growth

I have an interesting story about the friend from whom I bought my Windlass.

Jim and I were good friends in elementary. We had similar interests; martial arts, kung fu movies, comics, cartoons, model kits, etc. We drifted apart in high school because we went to different schools.

20 years later, we got in touch, and it's funny that our tastes have evolved in similar directions anyway. We're both more interested in Western than Asian swordsmanship at this point. Though, I dropped building models, and he went much farther.

Anyway, he's looking into taking Historical European Martial Arts (HEMA) classes in Hong Kong, possibly next year. I wonder how many sessions we'd need before we have a fair idea of starting a club here (there isn't one yet). Probably, the most difficult part would be finding a large enough space--with long swords, each practitioner needs a 12-14 foot clear circle, so if we had just a small number of members, we'd need hundreds of square feet unless only a couple practice at one time.

A little bit of progress

I sent in my answers for the author questionnaire the other day. Filling it out made me consider the commercial aspect of writing a bit more.

It also made me think that my life and that of my close family is much more interesting when condensed down to short paragraphs.