Okay, we admit that we went looking at this with a little trepidation. We couldn’t imagine an “African Tribal Version” of the “Little Drummer Boy.” It was simply outside of our experience.
This is not a good version of the song.
It is great.
Every time we think we have gotten past misconceptions and dare we say “bias,” we are reminded that Christmas and music of all types can and should be a uniting thing.
It’s not often we get to delve into the world of trademarks, but from our friend Walter Olson over at Overlawyered.com comes this “tail” of a fledgling company and computer gaming giant Activision.
Activision is the company behind the wildly popular and successful computer game franchise “Call of Duty.” Over the years, the franchise has sold over $15 billion dollars worth of games and this years release of “Call of Duty: World War II” has generated sales of over $500 million in just three days.
Enter a couple whose company provides pet owners with “dog waste” maintenance for their properties.
That service is a family business run by a married couple from California. Their services all revolve around helping people clean up after their furry friends, ranging from a $6 hosing-off of sullied patios to twice-weekly poop-scooping visits at a cost of $80 a month.
The couple calls their service “Call of DooDee.”
(Yes, really.)
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Commissioner Curt Smith (left) and Brevard County Attorney Scott Knox (right.)
Yesterday we wrote that Brevard County Commissioner Curt Smith was looking to introduce a “Civility Ordinance” that would mandate the behavior of Commissioners, the staff, people in the audience and those who speak in front of the Commission during Commission meetings. Smith said that he had been working with County Attorney Scott Knox on the preparation of this ordinance since June.
During the November 21st meeting, Smith said that he would present the ordinance for a vote on December 5th, and handed each Commissioner a draft copy of the ordinance.
We decided that it might be a good idea to get a copy of that draft and so we made a request for the draft. That request was handled quickly and efficiently by Commissioner Smith’s staff and the County Staff. Our request was filled in less than a day, and that is more than we could hope for. We want to publicly thank those involved in the response to the request.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: We were sent the ordinance draft in a .docx (Microsoft Word) format. The software we use for this blog requires a third party plugin to embed .docx files. We don’t want to add another plugin to the site, so we converted the Word document to an Adobe .pdf file which is seen below. In converting the file, Adobe removed a watermark from the original .docx file. That watermark reads “DRAFT 6/20/17.” We don’t want it said that we are hiding anything or making changes to the wording of the ordinance draft. If you wish to download and see the original .docx file we were sent, you can get it here. Otherwise, feel free to read the document below.)
That being said, the ordinance itself is a nightmare and an assault on the rights of citizens.
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From the folks at Thomas Aquinas College, a beautiful rendition of “For Unto Us A Child Is Born.”
From the Thomas Aquinas College Choir complete, unabridged production of Handel’s Messiah at its annual Advent Concert in on December 5, 2014.
(image courtesy of Wikimedia. Image is representative of a coyote and not one seen beachside.)
Tonight at 6:00 PM in the Civic Center, Satellite Beach will host a meeting and briefing on coyotes in the area of Satellite Beach and Indian Harbor Beach.
Wednesday night, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission will conduct a coyote educational workshop at the Satellite Beach Civic Center, 565 Cassia Blvd. The public meeting starts at 6 p.m.
FWC conducted a similar event for alarmed pet owners in February 2016 at the Gleason Park Recreation Center in Indian Harbour Beach. Unexpected coyote sightings had popped up in recent months near Gleason Park and the Algonquin Sports Complex, among other areas.
“They’re notoriously difficult to trap. They’ve adapted to urban life pretty well. People rarely ever see them. They see the damage they do, lost pets and stuff like that,” [City Manager Courtney] Barker said.
Barker said Wednesday’s workshop will feature one-on-one question time with FWC personnel. Satellite Beach officials will summarize the findings, then post information on Facebook.
What’s more, Satellite Beach police volunteers will begin posting warning fliers in neighborhoods where coyotes are spotted.
Seems worthwhile to us to learn to deal with the coyotes and to learn what precautions one should take in regards to pets.
This is starting to be a recurring theme. Once again Brevard County Commissioners Smith and Tobia went at it over what essentially can be called “speech” and a “disagreement on statements” that were made. In our opinion, this is one of those cases where neither man is right. Even though the positions taken by Smith and Tobia are 180 degrees apart from each other, their actions are very similar and wrong on many levels.
Oddly, this round goes back to Representative Randy Fine’s proposal and introduction of a bill that would allow money from the Tourism Tax to be used to help clean up the lagoon.
Smith attacked Fine with Smith saying Fine “is shortsighted and long-winded. He doesn’t know what he is talking about.”
Jim Ridenour, chairman of the advisory Brevard County Tourist Development Council, labeled Fine’s bill as being “criminal.” We aren’t sure how a proposed bill can be “criminal,” but we suspect that Ridenour was upset for any number of reasons, including the idea that Fine’s Bill would take money away from a Committee that Ridenour chairs.
We think Ridenour’s comments were over the top, but he has the right to make them.
Ridenour later apologized for the comments, and that’s a decent thing to do. There’s a difference between disagreeing with the proposal and labeling it as “criminal.” Ridenour later came to that conclusion and did the morally correct thing in saying he still disagreed with Fine’s proposed bill, but the characterization that the bill was “criminal” was not right nor accurate.
However, Commissioner Tobia wasn’t pleased with Ridenour’s comments and even after Ridenour’s apology, sought to “censure” Ridenour through a resolution.
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One of our favorite “flash mobs” is from Algonquin College, where after Darth Vader appears and offers a few power chords, he “conducts” a bunch of students in the singing of “Carol of the Bells.” The video is well done and the singers do a great job.
(You can see the video below the fold.)
The following year, the students joined up with the Ottawa public transportation company and spread a little Christmas cheer on a city bus.
To be honest, the music is not that great, but we applaud the effort of the students in putting smiles upon the faces of adults and kids alike.
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One of the smoothest and most beautiful voices of her era. So sweet, so pure, so expressive and dead on each note.
