Ok, no posts for awhile so here is a quick make up post.

The SoS signal just turned 100. Will it be around another hundred years, seems unlikely. The times have just moved on.

Nice story in the Irish Independent about the Sea Stallion, a viking ship, which is returning to Denmark following a remarkably peaceful visit to Ireland. I know, I know they were just peaceful traders back then too, they got a bad reputation purely because people tended to have a lot of ‘accidents’ when they vikings were visiting. Yeah, that’s the ticket…

An amusing story in the Scotsman about some English claiming the Bayeux Tapestry should be given to England. The comments are amusing as the Scots aren’t very sympathetic really. The claim is pretty tenuous but even if it was ironclad I am getting sick of the whole repatriations of historic objects craze, it is simply stupid on so many levels. It is an attempt by nations to claim they have sole ownership of their culture, which is nonsense, cultures are and always will be fluid. It smells of Nationalism disguised as culture, pride in your nation is fine, nationalism is dangerous stuff that leads to flaming cities. Anyhow, the claims of some of the English quoted are pretty weak, the French are right to ignore them on this one.

I bookmarked this one to post up last week and never got to it. Court Overturns Fathers Grounding of 12 Year Old. More coverage here. As a parent all I can say is the end is nigh.

So Walter Scott’s flags are probably fakes. And that Lost Amazon Tribe they photographed the other day was fake to. Sigh. Grey and raining and all the cool stories are fakes. I am going to put on some emo music think glum thoughts.

Lost Tribe via Dvorak, Scott’s Tourist Tat via Cronaca

Todd pointed out a very nice article on the Longship Company in today’s Washington Post. I was never a member of the Company but I was a member of the Markland group founded by Bruce Blackistone in the 70s while I was in college and had a very good time with it. The Longship Company has been around for a long time and they really are very good sailors, well worth a look if you have a desire to go a vikining.

Interesting find at Walter Scott’s home, some flags from the battle of Waterloo that he put in a drawer and forgot. Napoleonic flags are pretty rare and these are of course very delicate, but it is great news they have been found.

I am not opposed to creators making money with copyright by any means, but I am very much in favor of creators respecting fair use as part of the trade off. What is fair use you ask? This video explains it nicely.

The Associated Press has managed the difficult feat of uniting the left and right activists on the issue of fair use quotes from their articles. The AP thinks it should be paid $12.50 if you quote five words from one of their articles. The AP does have a case in places where people post their articles as content without paying the AP, but short illustrative quotes have always been fair use when discussing copyrighted material, the AP is trying to derail this in a particularly bull headed fashion. I think the Making Light Article on the topic covers my view well, the AP is trying to create privilege where none exists in the law, we are fools if we let them succeed.

Bears reacted badly to losing this year’s Summer of Fear contest to Sharks by trying to attack an Alaskan town and being driven off by a puppy.

Marginal Revolution has an interesting post and comments on what to do if you suddenly find yourself in the year 1000. Interesting points include how we would stand out for our height, how soft our hands are (the old Khmer Rouge standby) and how vulnerable we would be to the diseases of the era. On the plus sides are our modern learning on great numbers of issues. As a one time reenactor I am sure everyone is underestimating the difficulties they would be facing, I am not sure where I would head or what I would try. Lost foreign nobleman would only get you a day or so even if you can communicate with the locals. I suspect the need for IT management would be low. What would you all do? Many of my readers have some history background, what do you think would help you get by?

It has been a lean year for the Summer of Fear, but I want to congratulate the 2008 and winner, return champion, the Shark. It has been close up the wire but the Shark pulled a win out with this brilliant story in the ever reliable Sun. Well done Sharks everywhere.