O Canada (Don Q)

Had a quick look on the Internet at some of the Canucks who've appeared in Tameme. Guess what popped up first for Farley Mowat? A rather long extract on a Google website from his 2004 book And No Birds Sang. Not sure he approved these long extracts. Seems to Don Q that Google is getting chaulk all over itself by brushing up against the Fair Use copyright law of the United States if not also of other nations. Tameme has always had a policy of strict adherence to copyright laws in the United States. Unlike some who think getting chaulk all over their clothes, much less eating it is A-OK....The New Yorker magazine has a good background article out now about how Google and others treat basic copyright laws.

Sometimes I wish just Mother Nature was the only lawgiver. Not self-serving politicians and their ilk and those who treat lawsuits as a game to see who has the most money for pre-trial shenaigans. She certainly dealt quickly with the presumptious character Mr. Mowat wrote about who thought living in the high latitudes of Canada would be a snap. I like to imagine her glowering at Google and all others who would attempt to take food and shelter away from writers with their unpaid for "extracts" game. I suppose that's why I'm called "Don Q". Yes, he was a nutter, but Don Quixote has survived for more than four hundred years. Who now remembers the harassers of his creator? The pirates who catured him? The prosecutors who threw him into jail? Who really mattered to Mother Nature and human history?

Do you know which group of people has had the longest continuously operating democracy in the world? They call their parliament the "Althingi". Isn't that a great word! Don Q learned about them in Winnipeg at the Univerity of Manitoba during a law lecture about their written history. Icelanders! And did you know a large number of them came to the high latitudes of Canada and have thrived? No wonder. A smart people with full respect for Mother Nature combined with a long history of literacy and democracy. Wonderful combinations. So mark your calendars to enjoy the best of the Icelanders in Canada at their annual Summer festival in Gimli, Manitoba. A place and time for Don Q indeed!