11. Sayings Nov 11 Sat

(10:44 am Nov 11, 2006)

"Thas yuh business." (CB Lisa Roberts : DT ??)

Well, that there music deal last night was fine. The big problem with it was that it ran on Bahamian Time and I really didn't have that kind of time to spare. The thing is, I burned it any how. Plus, the room was loud enough that I hurt my still recovering throat again. There is supposed to be another version tonight at a different venue that I would like to go to but I don't know if I am going to be able to spare the time or my health. We shall have to wait and see.

The thing is, gentle reader, I have no idea where I am or where I am going. I am flying blind by the seat of my pants. I am shooting in the proverbial dark. Each day, I struggle to scrounge up enough sayings for that day's writing effort. Each day, so far, I have managed to scrape through, but, for instance, so far today I have only two and one is already used to start things going just now. I have spent much of the morning emailing and calling around trying to wrangle up a few more for today and perhaps a few to spare. Even though I am the idea man, I would welcome your ideas please. Thanks in advance. And etc.

I am sure it doesn't help that I am being tempted to burn time in the NaNo Forums either.

Now, gentle reader, I am going to have to ask you kindly to kindly make an extra effort to suspend your disbelief for the next part of this book.

The scene is a smoke filled room in a modern mega yacht some where on the seas or oceans of our lovely blue planet. Now when I say mega yacht, I am talking well north of four hundred feet. (Now gentle reader, please remember that this is fiction, don't bother trying to figure out whose yacht this is I am referring to, it is a fictional yacht. OK?)

The windows are blacked out and the lights are dim.

"OK, boys, let's get down to brass tacks. Things are going well on the Intellectual Property front, but we should be reaching some critical spots soon. Let's leave discussions about patents and the rest for later and just concentrate on copyrights for the time being, shall we? Now, as you know, copyrights have never really been for the benefit of the little man, but for a long time now, we have had to maintain that charade and even seek to enhance it in order to, shall we say, usher in, the international legal framework that we need to sustain our dominance."

(11:16 am Nov 11, 2006)

"We must also constantly push this idea of "Intellectual Property" to the fullest. this meme is one of our key weapons in the struggle."

Well, gentle reader, the dreaded No Voltage Blues struck! I was in the middle of that last sentence when BAM, the power dried up. So I hopped right in my car and drove in to work. A quick ssh in to the machine, run 'screen -r' and bam sookie, back in business. The wonders of modern technology. And to think, it is all Free Software. (I think.)

(11:47 am Nov 11, 2006)

I was just sort of getting in to a nice writing groove though and now I think I may have been throw for a loop.

"Bend da tree while they young." (CB Eddie Brown : DT ??)

"The other thing we need to constantly be cognizant of is that we do not let some over zealous politician somewhere pass a law that we will eventually want before we actually want it. That could be a disaster."

Someone raises his hand and, when acknowledged, asks what for the danger in an early passage of a wanted law could pose.

"Let's see, the danger posed from too early adoption of laws. It's like this. We need laws but we need them at the proper time. Let me make up a hypothetical example. Let's suppose that at some point in the future we are going to want the copyright law amended to allow drum rhythms to be copyrighted and that we are going to want another law to allow things to be copyrighted without needing to be fixed. We may or may not end up wanting either of them, our boys are still crunching the numbers on that and running through the various scenarios on those. OK, now suppose those laws had been passed in the early days. And suppose further that the international conventions respecting copyrights in the various countries were functioning earlier as well. Do you see that problem we could be in? we would have been unable to mine and plunder the rich cultural heritages of all of those backward countries that have provided so much to our combined wealth over the years. Does that make things clearer?"

"How are those countries so backwards and yet we want their cultural wealth?"

"Look, a backward country can have untapped mineral wealth sitting under ground, can't it? Well, in the same way, they can also have untapped cultural wealth as well. The key thing for us is to keep the timing of our dance with the politicians and the bureaucrats in sync so that we can get control of those assets and lock them up in our portfolios when the time is right."

(12:22 pm Nov 11, 2006)

"I still don't necessarily see that. I mean, backward countries having mineral wealth is one thing, after all, the people of the country did not make that wealth, but cultural wealth? I mean, if a people made cultural wealth that we would want and that we would find valuable, how can we regard those people as backwards?"

"Let's just drop it, OK? That is a side track in any case. Think of them as an advanced country if it makes you feel better. Think of them as a once advanced civilization that has now fallen to backwater status. It does not matter to us. What matters is that we get the rights to their cultural wealth in the long run and that they don't! OK? Let's leave it at that shall we?"

(12:33 pm Nov 11, 2006)

(3:22 pm Nov 11, 2006)

"It's a fool dog who barks at flying birds." (CB Wim Toothe : DT ??)

(4:43 pm Nov 11, 2006)

(6:09 pm Nov 11, 2006)

Well, gentle reader, a few things. As you can see, we had to leave that interesting "Intellectual Property" meeting aboard the mega yacht earlier today. I will try and find an inside source of information for you so that we can learn what else went on before the meeting was brought to a close for the day. Also, my wife has gone out to a family shower tonight and my son is home here with me. He is watching some cartoons on DVD and wants me to come and snuggle with him. The problem is that once again I have hit the wall this afternoon. I will have to try and sprint if I can. I will try to keep things at least semi-coherent for you though gentle reader.

"Hey Gentle, hey zotz, wassup?"

"Oh, hey Bing, how are you and Boom tonight?"

"Copa, copa zotz, copa, copa."

Yeah, I know what you mean. What did you soldiers get up to today?"

"Well, we went out by our old stomping grounds out by Clifton for the day. We had a little family business to attend to. Our Uncle Albert needed to see us."

"That's nice. How is that old soldier doing these days anyway? Did you think to give him my regards?"

"He is doing fine zotz, thanks for asking. We didn't give him your regards, but we will be sure to the next time we see him. That will probably be some time next week. listen, we have some news for you."

"Great, I hope it is good news."

(6:21 pm Nov 11, 2006)

I think you will have to judge that for yourself. The thing is, we saw your boy Petro out that way. He was out there talking for the longest time with someone who seemed to be a friend of his. They were going on and on about possible ways to fund the creation of Free Works. Isn't that something you are interested in as well?"

"Yes, I am very interested in finding ways to fund Free Works. Did you hear any good ideas?"

"We'll get back to that later if we have time zotz, there is more news that you need to hear first."

"OK, so what is it?"

"Well, while he and his buddy were out there sitting and talking, you know the place where you and your buddies used to go cliff diving and they have turned into a sculpture garden these days? That's where the two of them were sitting and talking. Well... who should come along with a friend intending to paint the cliffs?"

"Who?"

"Come on zotz, have you been arranging coincidences while we weren't looking? Tell the truth now, we can always read what you post up on Ourmedia tonight."

"Guys, this is the first I am hearing about this. This could get interesting, so what happened?"

(6:41 pm Nov 11, 2006)

"Crab don't walk - he don't get fat" (CB Donna Davis : DT old heads)

"Well, it was a little tense at first. They exchanged greetings and then the guys got back to their discussions and the girls set up their work and started in. Each group sort of pretty much ignored the other until another co-incidence occurred. Are you sure you weren't behind all of this zotz?"

"Guys, this is the first I am hearing this. So what happened?"

Well, the girls sort of stopped for a late lunch break just as the guys were finishing their discussions and stood up to leave. They said goodbye to the ladies but it seems another co-incidence was in the works. You see Loqui's friend recognizes Petro's friend as a long lost friend."

"What?"

"Exactly zotz, that's what we said to each other and then we started looking around for you. So anyway, it seems these two went to school together down in Cayman when they were kids and hadn't seen each other since before they were ten or something. Well, the gal asked the guy to share the lunch and one thing led to another."

(6:57 pm Nov 11, 2006)

"You guys wanna hear another co-incidence? I went to school down in Cayman when I was a boy too, I went down when I was four I think and came back just before I was five so I wasn't down there long. I wonder if I knew them."

"Don't kid yourself zotz, those two are much younger than you and on top of that, they are fictional remember?"

"The younger I can buy, but please don't try to rub it in OK guys. However, how can we be one hundred percent sure they are fictional? You know how my writings go guys."

"You may have a point there zotz, they may indeed be real people trying to crash your novel."

"If they are real, I will have to be sure to keep them out of things. It doesn't pay to have real people trying to sneak into your fiction uncontrolled."

(7:16 pm Nov 11, 2006)

"You got that right."

"So, what do you mean when you say that one thing led to another?"

"Well, zotz, lets just say that by the time they parted ways, there was definitely some conversations taking place. And not just between the two old schoolmates either."

"Man, how am I supposed to keep things straight if my characters start interacting behind my back? Things have been tough enough so far this year as it is, if this starts up in earnest, things could get really out of control really fast. I am glad you two happened to be out that way and see what was going on. Guys, after today, I am definitely feeling better about having you guys in the book again this year."

"No problem zotz, happy to help."

(7:26 pm Nov 11, 2006)