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A customer of mine, Babin Building Solutions, is participating in the 2009 Cleveland Home & Flower Show and just for fun I went to the website to take a look.

What caught my eye — almost immediately — was the fact that the image used for the “General Information” menu item was of Ireland’s Powerscourt Garden.  Most people wouldn’t notice this, but I did.  I was there just 2 years ago, and the unique layout of the garden/walkway set against the unforgettable mountainscape is not something you fail to recognize.

This lead me to question whether it was appropriate for the Home & Flower Show to utilize this image, and more to the point legally, if they’re even authorized to use it.  Did the person who built this website take that picture?  Did the person who built this website acquire the picture from a stock photography suite?  Did they steal it from Powerscourt’s website or another source?  Does Powerscourt need to authorize the use of pictures taken of its property if they’re to be used commercially?  And, of perhaps less import, does it hinder the advancement of the Home & Flower Show’s mission, which is presumably to advocate the gardens built and maintained here in Ohio.  Surely an image of some magnificent garden locally would be better than using an image of gardens thousands of miles away in a country that has no real connection to Ohio.

Of course the benefit of the doubt has to play a role here as it always does.  Chances are that the Home & Flower Show does have the right to use the image.  Chances are they were simply interested in making their menu look cool by using a picture of a really cool garden.  Chances are no one in Ohio (save for me) will even notice this and comment on it.

But, I couldn’t let it go without giving Powerscourt the props it rightly deserves.  It’s an amazing place with perfect architectural landscaping, pristinely manicured lawns, hundreds of species of flora and a number of fountains/ponds that stop you in your tracks.  I’d like to see a garden like that in Ohio… if it exists.

I ran across this video while on http://www.worksmart-emarketing.com/ and thought it was awesome.  Enjoy.

Go watch this CNN clip.  It’s about this guy who had his new Xbox and games stolen from him on a basic traffic stop.

Cops Steal Xbox from Guy

The link was on the CNN homepage and I was so intrigued by the headline I had to see what it was.  I think it’s crap they targeted this guy and put him through the hassle he had to go through to get it back.

So I was driving through Aurora (“A-town” as some would call it) yesterday when I noticed an increased number of want-to-be-gang-bangers *rollin* thru the city. While Aurora has definitely become more *urban* I’d say about 1 in 5 of these “playaz” were actually black and the rest were white.

I really hate these kind of kids. The average income for an Aurora family in 2005 was $60,000+ which means you are no where near being an actual gang-banger.

These are the tools who have the under-carriage neon lights, fake spinning rims, crap-ass car with a cracked trunk and $8,000 worth of stereo equipment. YOU’RE TRASH! I hate you! Just because the weather is nice does not mean you’re invited to flaunt your stupidity and shake the cars next to you with your *woofa*.

I want to take all those kids and drop them off in true gang-banger country in Cleveland or Youngstown with a camera strapped to their head and see how long they survive — Blair Witch style.

Not much pisses me off in this world, but when something does I make sure to note it.