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RVPMB

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Oct 15, 2012 RVPMB commented on Time to Play Hardball: Seattle City Council Should Ban Delivering Phonebooks in Plastic Bags.

The city should support everyone in the opt-out registry to instead be on a "do not trespass" notification list which is delivered to the phone book companies regularly. This gives affirmative notice to the phone book companies not to trespass on the property of people who opt out. It would preserve the First Amendment rights and rely on property law instead.

Sep 26, 2012 RVPMB commented on New Group Wants District Elections for City Council.

@14: Yes, but there are very few current applications (if any?) of proportional voting, ranked voting, or any other types of voting in this country which would benefit third parties the way you suggest, unfortunately.

Sep 26, 2012 RVPMB commented on New Group Wants District Elections for City Council.

@1: At-large districts require the majority of all voter to approve any given candidate. This means that such districts actually favor middle-of-the road candidates who offend no one, not third party candidates with different ideas from the "mainstream." If all congressional candidates were elected at-large, we'd have even less political diversity, not more.

Sep 20, 2012 RVPMB commented on The Lady Wants a Cut.

@7: It does seem that she gave the work to the church, but apparently she now feels she still retained some rights in the work. Regarding the museum, that fact pattern is different: If the museum lawfully purchased the work, the first sale doctrine applies and the rights of the artist to exclude others from displaying the work are terminated. Regarding photographing an artwork, refer to 17 USC Sec. 106, which describes the the exclusive rights of a copyright owner as including making a copy - and making a photograph probably qualifies, but any analysis would have to consider factors such as ownership, licensing, etc. Also, European copyright laws are not exactly the same as US copyright laws, so assumptions made based on experiences in this country may not apply to this situation.

Sep 20, 2012 RVPMB commented on The Lady Wants a Cut.

@3: Copyright typically covers the right to distribution, performance, display, and the creation of derivative works of a creative expression, in addition to reproduction (i.e. copying). I'm not sure of the law in Spain, but she might have a case because the church is "displaying" her work. She might be able to demand a license or other compensation, and she might also be able to assert that the church is being unjustly enriched by her work. She probably has a case - maybe not the strongest, but certainly something.

Sep 20, 2012 RVPMB commented on Senate Committee: Microsoft Avoided $6.5 Billion in Taxes Through "Aggressive International Tax Maneuvers".

We need a minimum alternative tax for corporations.

Jul 13, 2012 RVPMB commented on How Much Are Your Legs Worth?.

That is crazy. I worked with someone twenty years ago who lost her fingernail (not the whole finger - just the nail and nail-bed) in a farm combine and L&I gave her $9700 for it.

Jun 25, 2012 RVPMB commented on Why Parents Say YES to the Washington Public Charter Schools Initiative.

No matter what the propaganda in this editorial claims, charter schools suck money, attention and other resources away from public schools. Fragmenting our educational system by sucking money from our schools and handing it over to private corporate interests is not the way to go. Don't screw over public school kids just to hand money over to corporate "schools."

May 4, 2012 RVPMB commented on I Do Not See Anything Amazing About Amazon's New Towers.

Design-wise the towers are not amazing, but what is amazing is that a large company has decided to stay invested and located in the center of a large city instead of sprawling out in the 'burbs.

Apr 12, 2012 RVPMB commented on The Mysterious Vanishing Squirrels of Beacon Hill.

Hopefully something did wipe them out. Eastern gray squirrels are an invasive species which chew holes in roofs, destroy garden plants and even eat eggs and baby birds out of nests. They are nasty. (And as #4 noted, they are all in the Rainier Valley.)