knisely.org

Last year I recieved the following e-mail, asking for permission to use one of my photos in a French school book.

:: Your picture of children at the farm

Hello,

I’m a French editor, working for a French Educational
publisher’s branch specialized in school publications
(Hachette Education). I am currently preparing a method for
teaching English in French secondary schools.
Title: NEW SPRING 4
Authors: F. LEMARCHAND & K. JULIE
Date of issue: April 2008
This method is intended for pupils aged 14/15.

One of the chapters my authors have written is called “Trip
to New England”. And in this chapter is a lesson about a
Farm Bed & Breakfast in Maine. In order to illustrate this
lesson in an attractive way, I’m looking for realistic
pictures of children visiting a farm. And this one of yours
seemed very nice to me:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sh0tzy/72603957/

Would you allow us to reproduce this picture? What would be
your conditions?
And would you be able to provide me with a high res version
(300 dpi) of this material?
Thank you in advance for letting me know.

Regards,
Olivier

I replied that they I’d be happy to let him use my photo. The only thing I asked for in return was a copy of the book when it was published. I had forgotten all about the book until today when a packaged arrived in the mail. Sure enough, the man was good to his word and sent me a copy of the book!

The boys were excited that their picture was in a school book that would be used by students in France!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Wow! I must say, I thought for sure these guys were going to get hassled by ‘the man’, but oddly enough, the border patrol agent let them go (after she got all flustered).

They came up to the check point with a purpose. Obviously they had knew what their right were and how to proceed.  The driver kept calm, was not disrespectful, but made it clear that he had no intention of playing the game. This agent has probably never been questioned like this. People are such sheep they just answer the questions and try to move along with a hassle (self included). We have forgotten about our rights. Why do I have to get stopped by some jack booted “agents” and answer their god damn questions when I have done nothing wrong and am not a suspect in any crime?

I think it was pretty clear that she was unsure of how to proceed. He kept asking her 2 simple questions; “Am I being detained” and “Am I free to go”. She wouldn’t answer either question and finally got frustrated and told them to move along!

Popularity: 1% [?]

Collin got a tree at school last week on Arbor Day. He was excited to come home and plant it and set about getting the shovel and picking a good spot in the backyard. He was very proud of his work and excited to have planted the tree without any help. He even made sure he pulled the weeds around the tree so that it looked nice. It is really nice to be with Collin and Dylan as they discover all cool stuff that the world has to offer, even something as simple as planting a little scrub pine tree from first grade.

Popularity: 3% [?]

Our ‘president’ does not need any detractors to make him look stupid. All he needs to do is just stand there and talk. I find it painful to watch him speak and can only imagine what the rest of the world things about this moron.

Found on http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=3907, see credits below.

•A man lost in his geography:

1-”We have a firm commitment to NATO, we are a part of NATO. We have a firm commitment to Europe. We are a part of Europe.”

George W. Bush

2-”It’s time for the human race to enter the solar system.”

George W. Bush

3-”The vast majority of our imports come from outside the country.”

George W. Bush

•A man lost in his logic:

4-” It isn’t pollution that’s harming the environment.

It’s the impurities in our air and water that are doing it. ”

George W. Bush

5-”Families is where our nation finds hope, where wings take dream.”

George W. Bush
Read the rest of this entry »

Popularity: 7% [?]

Please, please, take a moment to read this article;Hillary demands Obama release all of his back tax returns. 2 minutes later he does.
If you are a democrat how can you even entertain ideas of voting for Hillary? At every turn she is losing, losing confidence of voters and giving her party a black eye. Her only hope now is to splinter the party and shoot for the super delegate vote, and if that happens, I’m going Independent from here on out and the democrats won’t have my support for a very long time, if ever. The American public has made their desires very evident, WE WANT OBAMA!

Popularity: 8% [?]

Well, today is IT! The big 40!By my calculations, that is 14,600 days, where did the time go? I can’t believe it, people who are 40+ are OLD, I never saw myself turning 40. My body feels like I’m 60 sometimes, but my mind still tells me I’m about 25.

The best thing about my birthday is that it is the official first day of Spring, and spring is my favorite season. Google recognized the event with one of their special logos.

So, welcome old age and welcome Spring 2008!

Popularity: 8% [?]

The maker of voting equipment, Sequoia , have sent a somewhat threatening letter to Professors Felton and Appel. I have not read the background on this story, but one can only imagine that this has to do with controversy over electronic voting systems and their security and trustworthiness.

This is a problem with closed source applications/hardware that affect the general public (much like breath alcohol analyzers), if no one other that the company selling the product can inspect the code and how it operates how in the world can we trust it? How do we know it is working as intended or rather as advertised?

Take a moment to read the post here, Freedom to Tinker » Blog Archive » Interesting Email from Sequoia.

Leave a comment, go Sequoia’s site and leave them some comments telling them that threats and secrecy are not how we want to run a business.

Popularity: 10% [?]