stay tough (and dry) Iowa!

I got the latest in a string of emailed updates re: the recent flooding in Iowa, and in eastern Iowa specifically. I was there for the floods of 1993 (keeping the radio station studios from swamping). It sounds way worse this time around, and lots of people are losing their homes and businesses. And jails and bridges and courthouses and hospitals.

My friend's email was a well-worded account of what's going on, and how it feels to be in the middle of it, and how people (himself included) are coping (or attempting to cope).

The story was honest, thoughtful and unsolicited, sent from a friend whom apparently knew that I'd want to hear how my former home was fairing, and who (I think) knew I'd be happy to have him give his account.

It seems that times of community tragedy inspire us to put it down in words... maybe partly because the disruption forces downtime from work, tv, etc, and gives us nothing but time to think about what's happened and/or continues to unfold.

Me, I started my blog after 9/11... I'm sure there were "blogs" or "journals" or whatever about Katrina, and the tsunami, and forest fires in California... Virginia Tech... the list doesn't stop.

it helps to write about it, though. And read about it too.

Hang in there Iowans!

posted at 01:53 PM

Psychic Lawyers Network

I received this letter a few days ago (I had to go to the post office and sign for it):

I sent this response that I thought my friends (at least those friends who can't use their third eye to pierce the mists of time and the unknowable abyss of what is to come , anyway) might be interested in seeing:

March 7th, 2008

Mr. Yankelevitz:

In the interest of a timely response, I am emailing my response to your recent letter. A printed, signed copy of this message will be certified-mailed to your address.

I received your letter of February 19th, 2008, regarding my ownership of the internet domain name "psychicfriends.net".

Your letter contains several statements that suggest that you've either been misinformed, or are confusing my domain name with one of several other domain names you may be sending similar letters to. I will attempt to correct you here.

First, you state that my website, "psychicfriends.net" offers links to psychic readings that are not performed by the company or on the company's behalf. The fact is that the website "psychicfriends.net" or "www.psychicfriends.net" has NEVER featured ANY links to psychic reading websites, phone numbers or anything having to do with similar activity. The only links that have ever been published on psychicfriends.net are to my personal writing, or the web-logs of my friends, none of whom have ever had anything to do with psychic readings, to my knowledge. This has been the case since early 1996, when I registered the domain name.

This is verifiably true, as captured by the internet archive's historical copies of this website viewable at:
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://www.psychicfriends.net/

Second, you state that my use of the domain name is likely to cause confusion among consumers, "considering that (I) have registered and adopted a domain name which routes users to (my) website for psychic readings, the conclusion is inevitable that (I am) deliberately and in bad faith using the Psychic Friends Mark to divert consumers to (my) website."

I have already corrected your assertion that I provide, or provide links to, psychic reading services. Further, as you can see by actually going to the website http://www.psychicfriends.net/ , there is a clear statement that the website is NOT the "the infomercial psychic people from late night TV". That statement, further clarified with "this is the miscellaneous personal site of one guy and several of his friends", has been on the main page of the psychicfriends.net website since late 1997, without interruption.

These facts suggest that you are confused about what website and URL you're talking to me about, since anyone who's actually visited the website, and who can read English should be able to determine that this website, which dates to well before anyone involved with any of the Psychic Friends Network "psychic" services that have existed, gone out of business, and been resurrected in the last 10 years had ever applied for any trademark protection in the areas of internet services.

The WIPO Guide to the Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (located online at: http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/domains/guide/#a4 ) states, as examples of domain names being used in bad faith:

----begin quoted material----
(i) Circumstances indicating that the domain name was registered or acquired primarily for the purpose of selling, renting, or otherwise transferring the domain name registration to the complainant who is the owner of the trademark or service mark or to a competitor of that complainant, for valuable consideration in excess of the domain name registrant's out-of-pocket costs directly related to the domain name; or

(ii) The domain name was registered in order to prevent the owner of the trademark or service mark from reflecting the mark in a corresponding domain name, provided that the domain name registrant has engaged in a pattern of such conduct; or

(iii) The domain name was registered primarily for the purpose of disrupting the business of a competitor; or

(iv) By using the domain name, the domain name registrant intentionally attempted to attract for financial gain, Internet users to the registrant's website or other on-line location, by creating a likelihood of confusion with the complainant's mark as to the source, sponsorship, affiliation, or endorsement of the registrant's website or location or of a product or service on the registrant's website or location.
----end quoted material----

In case (i), I provably have used this domain name for over a decade for my own personal web-log, and for website development (my profession), and have never attempted to sell, or entertained offers to sell the domain name.

In case (ii), I clearly have not registered this domain name to prevent your client from doing business, as they had no web site when the name was registered, and, indeed, haven't done ANY business (other than legal fee generation) in most of the years I've owned the domain name. Further, I have demonstrably no "pattern of such conduct", as this domain is one of only a handful I ever use.

In case (iii), it is obvious that I am not a competitor of your client, and registered the domain name for personal use.

In case (iv), it is obvious that I intend to acquire no financial gain from my use of the website, nor do I in any way entertain the service needs of any user that may arrive at my site looking for the website of your client, to the detriment of your client's business.

Finally, let me state that I have no intention of transferring, selling at any price (to your client or any other), or discontinuing my legitimate use of the internet domain name "psychicfriends.net"

Please note that I have recently moved, and that future correspondence should be addressed to my new address at [redacted].

Ryan Nelson
March 7th, 2008

(commenting on this blog post disabled so that no one can put up links to infringing sites)

posted at 02:15 PM

roadtrip, day one, post two

photo.jpg


Originally uploaded by ryancnelson

next stop, the Baseball hall of Fame in Cooperstown...



It's awesome. They let me in free, League-employee courtesy. (i still spent $30 in the gift shop).



I'll be back. I'll bring friends. It's awe-inspiring, and a great day trip from NYC.



I'll pick a day possibly not on a weekend during little-league season, though.... LOTS of 12-ish year-old boys in pack mentality there.



I wanted to swat the kid who saw the row of seats from the Polo Grounds and said "cool, just like in MLB2005" (playstation game)

posted at 11:46 PM

roadtrip, day one, post one

road trip through catskills national park. If you have an extra hour, and a GPS, go this route. Really.

photo.jpg


Originally uploaded by ryancnelson

posted at 11:41 PM