Category: General

The topics covered here didn't fall into one of my usual categories.

Waiving All Rights

For the last few years, I have released and shared my photographic creations under an Creative Commons Attribution License. I wanted others to use my images for their creative projects whether that was a blog post of another piece of art. I know that many others want decent images to use on their blogs but either doesn't have a camera or are not happy with their own results. Most of what I released under the CC BY-NC 4.0 license is stuff that I didn't feel I could sell and in any case the license doesn't prevent me from using these images commercially since I retained my rights as the original creator. If someone used my image the license would require the inclusion of a byline, attributing me as the original creator. In some small way, if my images were used, I was getting a small bit of exposure as a photographer.

But recently I have started to release some of my images under the Creative Commons Zero (CC0), a public domain license.

The person who associated a work with this deed has dedicated the work to the public domain by waiving all of his or her rights to the work worldwide under copyright law, including all related and neighbouring rights, to the extent allowed by law.
You can copy, modify, distribute and perform the work, even for commercial purposes, all without asking permission.

The gist of the CC0 is that I am relinquishing all rights to the images, including the attribution and asking for payment. For some photographers, this is a scary idea. It means relinquishing control. Yikes.

But when I look through my Lightroom image catalogue I see many relatively high-quality images gathering "digital" rust. They serve no purpose and truth be told I could just delete these from my catalogue and nothing would be lost. Or ... or I could process the images and give them away. After all, I get to choose.

Oh, Mpix!

Here's an email account of my exchange with Mpix support after my frustrating attempts to install and run the ROES software. I skipped the screen shots.

From: khurt@islandinthenet.com [mailto:khurt@islandinthenet.com] ?Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2015 5:19 AM?To: MpixPro CustomerService?Subject: MpixPro Problem Category: Other
 
Unique Logon Email: khurt@islandinthenet.com
First Name: Khürt
Last Name: Williams
Email Provided: khurt@islandinthenet.com
Problem Description: I am not able to install the ROES software on my Mac (OS X 10.10.3). It seems that ROES will only install and run on an OS X account that has administrator privileges. Is that correct?`

Begin forwarded message:
 
From: Molly-MpixPro
Subject: RE: MpixPro Problem Category: Other
Date: May 6, 2015 at 11:02:02 AM EDT
To: "'khurt@islandinthenet.com'"
 
Hi Khurt,
I am happy to try and help.  Can you tell me what happens when you attempt to install?  Do you get any error messages?
 
With Apple, they should be able to authenticate installations on non-admin users by entering valid Administrator credentials.
 
Thank you!
 
Molly
MpixPro Customer Service Representative
Please be sure to include all previous correspondence to help us serve you better!
 

From: Khürt Williams [mailto:khurt@islandinthenet.com] ?Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2015 12:38 PM?To: Molly-MpixPro?Subject: Re: MpixPro Problem Category: Other
 
I don’t get prompted for any administrator credentials.  The installation dialog just sits there.  So I aborted.
 
After multiple attempts I logged into the same computer with the administrator account. The ROES application installs and executes as expected.
 
After installing from an admin accountI, I login to my standard user account.  When I click the application icon I get the following.
 

 
After that completes, I get the following dialog.  That’s as far as I get.
 
 

Begin forwarded message:
 
From: Molly-MpixPro
Subject: RE: MpixPro Problem Category: Other
Date: May 6, 2015 at 1:40:00 PM EDT
To: 'Khürt Williams'
 
Let’s go ahead and remove all traces of the software from your machine using the instructions below.  Then, you will need to download the software from the link at the bottom of this email.  Please let us know if you continue to have any issues.
 
Thank you!
 
Remove MpixPro ROES assets -Macintosh OSX 10.7 and newer
1. Be sure to quit ROES- if ROES will not close it may be necessary to click the Apple in the Top Menu and click Force Quit, select mpixpro ROES and click the Force Quit button
2. open Finder click Go from Top Menu (at the top-left of your screen)
3. click Go to Folder...
4. type ~/.roescache in the Go to the folder: dialog window
5. the hidden folder .roescache is now visible, delete this folder
6. click Go from Top Menu (at the top-left of your screen) and click Go to Folder...
7. type ~/.ProMPIX in the Go to the folder: dialog window.
8. The hidden folder .ProMPIX is now visible, delete this folder
9. Clear Java Cache
 
 
http://www.roeslaunch.com/ROES/labs/ProMPIX/launch.dmg
 
 
Molly
MpixPro Customer Service Representative
Please be sure to include all previous correspondence to help us serve you better!
 

From: Khürt Williams [mailto:khurt@islandinthenet.com] ?Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2015 2:59 PM?To: Molly-MpixPro?Subject: Fwd: MpixPro Problem Category: Other
 
One correction to the procedure for removal.
 
If you follow steps 2,3 and 4, you will end up in the ~/.roescache so you won’t be able to follow the last part of step 5.
 
Much easier form the Terminal.
 
rm -fr ~/.roescache/
rm -fr ~/.ProMPIX/
 
 
The installation got stuck at the same point as mentioned earlier.  I had to use my administrator account to install. The installation is stuck downloading updates from the internet.  It’s been over two hours since I started the install.
 

From: Khürt Williams [mailto:khurt@islandinthenet.com] ?Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2015 3:15 PM?To: Molly-MpixPro?Subject: Re: MpixPro Problem Category: Other
 
Have you actually tried installing ROES on OS X 10.10.3 from a standard account that has no administrator rights?
 
 

From: Khürt Williams [mailto:khurt@islandinthenet.com] ?Sent: Wednesday, May 06, 2015 3:43 PM?To: Molly-MpixPro?Subject: Fwd: MpixPro Problem Category: Other
 
Molly,
 
No matter what I have tried, running from a standard OS X account always stops here. 
 

The app runs fine under the administrator account.  For many very good security reasons — I’m an information security professional as well as a photographer — performing daily user tasks with administrator account is a bad practice.
 
Surely you have tested installation and usage from a standard OS X account?
 
From Apple’s security configuration guide.
 
1 Administrator accounts should only be used for administration. Users should use standard user accounts for day-to-day computer use.
 

Begin forwarded message:
 
From: Molly-MpixPro
Subject: RE: MpixPro Problem Category: Other
Date: May 6, 2015 at 4:00:05 PM EDT
To: 'Khürt Williams'
 
Can you please attach the log files using the instructions below?  Thank you!
 
 
1. Be sure to quit ROES- if ROES will not close it may be necessary to click the Apple in the Top Menu and click Force Quit , select mpixpro ROES and click the Force Quit button
2. Open Finder click Go from Top Menu (at the top-left of your screen) and click Go to Folder...
3. type ~/.ProMPIX in the Go to the folder: dialog window, this will take you to the .ProMPIX folder
4. retrieve the roeslog.log file and attach to an email
 
 
Molly
MpixPro Customer Service Representative
Please be sure to include all previous correspondence to help us serve you better!
 

Begin forwarded message:
 
From: Molly-MpixPro
Subject: RE: MpixPro Problem Category: Other
Date: May 6, 2015 at 4:25:33 PM EDT
To: 'Khürt Williams'
 
I am going to forward this to our technician and I will get back to you as soon as possible.
 
Thank you!
 
Molly
MpixPro Customer Service Representative
Please be sure to include all previous correspondence to help us serve you better!
 

Good Afternoon Khurt,
 
Currently the Mpix PRO ROES native application will only run from an administrator account. If you choose to run ROES from a Standard account you will need to use the Java Web Start version. You may download the Launch.JNLP file by using the below link.
We apologize for any inconvenience, please reply to this note if you have any further questions or problems.
 
MpixPro?http://www.roeslaunch.com/ROES/labs/ProMPIX/launch.jnlp
 
MpixPro Signature Albums
http://www.roeslaunch.com/ROES/labs/ProMPIXSA/launch.jnlp
 
Thank you,
Randy Rhue
      

The Stimulating Story of Jews and Coffee

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It has been a millennium since Ethiopians discovered the stimulating effects of chewing the berries of native coffee trees and exported them to Yemen, where Sufi Muslims learned to roast and brew them into a tasty hot beverage. The Stimulating Story of Jews and Coffee

I'm fascinated by stories like this that illustrate some little known historical and cultural fact about coffee.