Good evening, 919 Gang.
The headlines on the item at the top of Yahoo’s home page caught my eye:
“2024 Food Allowance Passed
U.S. citizens over the age of 64 could get $900 to spend on food,
groceries, and much more”
I figured I could lie
about my age and say I was over 64. Sounded good. And I kept reading:
”Here's the deal: Americans
over 64 could now be eligible to get a new Food Allowance Card with an annual
spending limit, yet many don't even know it exists.
“This benefit is
helping smart seniors get the benefits they deserve and can be used to cover
various bills and even groceries.”
Sounds
promising, but then the cynical newsman checked the fine print at the bottom or
the page:
“Not connected with or endorsed by the
US government or any federal program. This site provides referrals to
representatives of insurance organizations. By visiting our advertisers website
and completing the contact form there or calling the number listed above on our
page, you may be directed to a licensed insurance agent who can answer your
questions and provide information about various insurance plans.”
Goodbye, $900.
----------------------------------------------------
PRISCILLA LISTER writes:
Check
out this job at The Nature Conservancy: Writer/Producer, California
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3742816747
Check
out this job at San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance: Interpretive Writer
https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3744952532
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CHERYL
CLARK writes
Jack, to those of you considering not paying your CNA
long-term care policy premium and taking the "surrender option,” a.k.a.
buyout, I got some distressing news this morning from my accountant.
If you’ve been deducting your long-term policy premiums on
your taxes all these years, the buyout amount would be taxable income.
So
you’d be taxed by both state and federal at whatever your tax levels are for
the year you take the option.
It sucks, I know.
Also, I learned from the California Department of Insurance
that it has no authority over the CNA plan.
It is an Illinois plan, regulated by the Illinois Department of
Insurance, so that’s our next stop.
---------------------------------------------
ALAN MILLER writes:
I'm on a roll this week. First the
nice note from Arthur Salm, which is much appreciated-- yes our youngest son
Greg is a brilliant writer, which is why he is teaching writing, at UC Davis. Second,
I always respected and liked Jerry Rife. So happy he's doing so well in Mexico
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WALT BARANGER writes:
Mark
Monday’s note about asserting copyright to force Facebook to take action on a
hacked account is an old FB canard.
The
misunderstanding arises because most people confuse “copyright” with “rights
& permissions,” two related but crucially distinct legal concepts.
The
canard applies only if the copyright holder did not post the material on FB, and
the copyright belongs to a third party who is asserting a copyright violation.
Example: If I post a clip from a
“Tonight Show With Johnny Carson” on my account or on a FB group without the
show’s written permission to do so, they can assert their copyright and
upon protest Facebook will remove the video and in its place post a notice that
the “content” is no longer available.
On
the other hand, if I post a video of my kids, two things happen:
1)
By creating the video, I own the copyright.
2)
By posting the video in either my account or another account or FB group, under
the terms and conditions (known as Facebook Terms of Service) when I signed up
with Facebook, I assigned both revocable and irrevocable Rights &
Permissions to Facebook to use the video — or any other content I post — in
almost any way they see fit.
Even
if I later cancel and delete my FB account, the R&P clause remains in
effect for videos that I posted to other accounts or groups.
To-wit:
“Specifically, when you share, post, or
upload content that is covered by intellectual property rights on or in
connection with our Products, you grant us a non-exclusive, transferable,
sub-licensable, royalty-free, and worldwide license to host, use, distribute,
modify, run, copy, publicly perform or display, translate, and create
derivative works of your content (consistent with your privacy and
application settings). This means, for example, that if
you share a photo on Facebook, you give us permission to store, copy, and share
it with others (again, consistent with your settings) such as Meta Products or
service providers that support those products and services. This license
will end when your content is deleted from our systems.
(See Section 3 of the Terms of Service here: https://www.facebook.com/legal/terms)
Note
the key phrase: "This license
will end when your content is deleted from our systems.”
If you are unable to delete the
content — perhaps your account was hacked and you can no longer log in — the
Terms of Service remain in effect ad infinitum. When you post to certain groups
or third-party accounts, the content remains even if you delete your account.
You would need to specifically delete each instance of the uploaded content.
Farther down in the Terms of Service, FB even tells you that sometimes you will
be unable to delete content that you upload.
(As a
practical matter, from a rights & permissions point of view it is always
better if you share a post from your personal account rather than uploading the
content to another account or FB group. Deleting the account would delete the
share but not content uploaded directly into a group or other account.)
Facebook can be real jerks about this
clause, since it goes the heart of their business model — you get a free
account, but they get to use your content for free in almost any way they wish.
This explains why FB is in no hurry to delete hacked accounts, since deleting
content is bad for FB’s business.
Most savvy businesses use social media
solely to point users to non-FB web sites. The businesses retain 100% of
control over content on their own web sites, even if hyperlinked to FB.
Facebook’s Machiavellian terms of
service look harmless to casual users, but anyone using FB or its kissin'
cousins Instagram or Messenger for a business needs to seriously consider
whether the FB Rights & Permissions clause is worth its unintended (at least
to the business owner) consequences.
Walt’s advice: Businesses should create
web sites separate from Meta/FB/Instagram/Messenger for mission-critical or
rights-sensitive content. Mark Zuckerberg is not running a charity, so why
donate to him?
REBER:
Thank you, walt. I admit I am a member of the great majority of American males
who seldom reads anything like rights and permissions.
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MARK MONDAY writes:
Fall
is well under way in the Pacific Northwest. It’s now as cold here in Port
Angeles as it gets in Phoenix in January or February.
We now
wear sweaters just to take Woofie out. Anne found my heavy sweater and jokes I
may not get it back. I won’t tell her it’s not my favorite – it’s baggy,
shapeless and is an institutional gray. I’m quite happy if she has found
something to keep her warm.
In the
forest, most of the golden, red, green and purple leaves are gone. Everywhere
there is a litter of brown on the rain-greened grass. But that will probably
soon be rendered colorless with a blanket of tiny white crystals. November
usually brings snow.
We have
had our first frost. It wreaked havoc on the garden, but I was expecting that.
I’m all in favor letting things go and grow until the last. You never know what
will happen. We got a couple of more zucchinis this year because of that
philosophy. Moreover, I get to observe what, and what not to do, with pumpkins.
Anne
just planted the winter crop of garlic; I’m looking forward to a spring
harvest.
In
some ways I have been channeling WWII victory gardens, seeing what it is like
to raise at least some of your own food. It’s not like we are likely to get the
commercial perfection of something sold in a grocery store, but it gives me
insight – belated insight – into what my parents and grandparents did to
supplement their larders in the ‘30s and ‘40s. And I see fruits and vegetables
that must have comprised much of the wartime diet from victory gardens. Yes, we
could raise meat animals and find fish up here in Port Angeles but that
wouldn’t have been possible in an urban/desert environment like Phoenix.
Living
in the Pacific Northwest is a learning experience, for certain.
We
just learned that our peregrinating bear, the one that occasionally patrolled
these precincts as late as a few weeks ago, will not be hibernating soon.
Someone nearby shot him. Maybe it was necessary; maybe it wasn’t. But we have
lost a “neighbor.” He was not the kind of grouchy neighbor you invite for
Thanksgiving dinner, but I like to think he was the kind of neighbor you may
take over a bowl of soup and some cookies – not too close but…
Having
seasons – actual seasons – is forcing us to make changes. Spring may be good
for house cleaning; autumn is a good time for preparation.
The
garage is getting cleaned and prepped for the winter. That hasn’t been a
priority for the past two years. This year it is. We are trying to figure out
how to arrange two cars, a ride-on mower, all the Christmas decorations and a
variety of tools and sports equipment so that it all fits. A chimney in one
corner of the garage, a chimney that no longer has an outlet to the roof, is
about to be jackhammered out. That will still leave us with the unanswered
question: Why would anyone put a wood stove in a garage?
The
chimney for the front room fireplace needs its annual check, but the logs and
kindling are already in their place, just waiting for a match. This year we’ll
probably get the basement fireplace ready for a blaze, another task that hasn’t
been a priority for the first two yearss
On the
recent visit of our son and daughter-in-law we weather-stripped the doors to
the two patios. This winter we aren’t likely to hear the wind whistling through
the cracks. That was a priority this year.
Anne
has been busy putting up, or cooking, the products of our orchard and garden.
We now have jars of blackberry preserves in the pantry; they have been joined
by Mason jars of other home-grown products – pears (almost 40 lbs.) and
oriental pears (about 20 lbs.). We have dozens of Mason jars of apple butter,
apple sauce, and apple cider. There are still bags of apples to be processed
and some apples remain on the trees. What we are going to do with them, and
when to pick them, is still a question. In the past we dehydrated dozens of
them to make apple chips but this crop is too large for any of that
foolishness. We’d be working ‘til April if we followed our past practice.
The
bird feeders and hummingbird feeders are now full. There are fewer “feathered
friends” at this time of year but feeding them is ever-more important.
Night
falls earlier. The stars stay blinking longer. There are more chances to
glimpse the northern lights.
The
wood and kindling are properly built up in the fireplace, waiting for a match.
In a
few weeks the snow will edge the forest pines and firs with white. Anne and I
can sit back to watch the burning logs or turn binoculars on ships traveling
majestically through the strait. Or maybe take the ferry to Canada.
But
right now we are in the middle of fall preparation. It’s now time for putting
in the books for winter readings, the mulled cider, the hot chocolate and
preparing for a long winter’s night.
------------------------------------------------
REBER: Oct. 31 is the time for a giant
birthday party when we will sing Happy Birthday to Priscilla
Lister, Toby McDaniel, Charlie Starr and Kelly Thornton
