Are You Ready To Adopt A Pet?

Not everyone is meant to be pet parents. It’s a reality of life. Some people don’t just have the soft spot to care for another living being that is not human. It takes a big heart and a great deal of patience to support the needs of an animal friend aside from showering them with the tender love and care they also need as much as humans do. And you would actually be surprised to learn that animals have a lot of needs too and caring for them can be quite expensive as well, so owning one as a pet isn’t really something for everyone. You have responsibilities as if you are also raising a young child. So imagine how difficult it must be for strays to keep themselves alive and safe from the elements without owners to look after them.

However, a lot of animals have recently become orphans because of the onslaught of the destructive hurricanes that hit certain parts of the nation. Some of them are already strays fending for themselves while the rest are pets that have either been left behind, in short abandoned, by or have been separated from their owners. Many of them were rescued by local animal shelters. Unfortunately, they are so many that these shelters can’t accommodate them all. So, are you ready to welcome one furry friend into your home or not?

This weekend, local animal lovers will have the chance to adopt cats and dogs affected by Hurricane Harvey free of charge.

The Aggieland Humane Society's annual fee-waived adoption event will be held on Saturday, hosted by the Sterling Subaru dealership in Bryan. The company has paid for all the adoption fees of Humane Society animals that will be available, including the standard "adoption package," which includes free microchipping, spay/neuter surgery, vaccinations and a month of pet insurance.

Several of the animals that will be available were displaced in Houston after Hurricane Harvey. The event will feature both adult cats and dogs, as well as puppies and kittens. Animals will be staged on site at the Sterling Subaru dealership off of Texas 6 in Bryan, from 10 a.m. till 4 p.m.

(Via: http://www.theeagle.com/news/local/adopt-pets-from-aggieland-humane-society-for-free-this-weekend/article_488f804f-a16a-5aa6-9e40-0a64892f8bfa.html)

It’s probably the best time for you to become a pet owner yourself with the number of poor, homeless animals cramped in animal shelters right now. Well, some will eventually be fetched by their owners but many are still left homeless for long. Why not give it a try and experience for yourself what it is like to receive the unconditional love of another living being who patiently waits for you to come home each day.

“Seattle Humane staff and volunteers, along with several other local shelters, will be waiting to receive the animals,” spokeswoman Amanda Anderson. “This is the first of several expected flights to Seattle to help shelters that are directly housing displaced pets outside of Houston.”

The Seattle Humane team will transport pets to a shelter in Bellevue, where they will be placed for adoption. Seattle Humane, which started in Seattle and is now located on the Eastside, also is organizing an emergency foster care orientation for perspective volunteers who can temporarily house pets from Texas. People who want to volunteer are asked to email emergencyfoster@seattlehumane.org. 

(Via: http://www.kiro7.com/news/local/seattle-humane-society-to-help-pets-from-texas-flooding/600137267)

Of course, the first priorities are the certified homeless animals while the ones with suspected owners or those with pet tags or those saved from abandoned homes will be left behind in shelters in the hopes that their owners will come back for them. Not everyone is expected to extend help and open up their homes to new animals, especially grown ones but it won’t hurt if you open up your mind and try caring for one before you even start complaining. Having a pet has its pros and cons but all your hardship won’t matter if you have fallen in love with that adorable four-legged creature that you now call your own.

Are You Ready To Adopt A Pet? is courtesy of The I Am Not An Artist Blog

source https://www.iamnotanartist.org/are-you-ready-to-adopt-a-pet/

Let’s Talk About Music Piracy

Talent is usually God-given but you can work hard for it too. Some aren't really that talented but have harnessed their talent through years of training. Exceptional talent should be shared with everyone because not all are blessed to be as talented as these people are. One of the most followed and adored talent in the world has to do with music. Songs give meaning to our lives and we take delight in listening to them especially when we can relate to the song’s meaning or we simply like the melody. And for the longest time, singers and songwriters have made a living out of their talents. Some even earn millions to billions depending on their music and popularity.

While most of us know how to appreciate music and understand the effort that artists give in order to come up with really good songs, many don’t like buying actual records and pay for the artist’s hard work. Music piracy is a global problem and it is denying countless artists of their right to have ownership over their work and make money from it. They have dedicated their entire lives to making good music only to be pirated by others and leave them penniless and unable to pursue their passion anymore.

Music piracy is on the increase worldwide, with 40 percent of users are accessing unlicensed music, up from 35 percent last year, the global recorded music industry group IFPI said.

Internet search engines are making piracy easier, the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) said in a report on Tuesday, calling for government action.

The increase in piracy follows a slump in recent years when policing of the digital music landscape appeared to be clamping down on the practice.

“Copyright infringement is still growing and evolving, with stream ripping the dominant method,” said IPPI chief, Frances Moore.

“With the wealth of licensed music available to fans, these types of illegal sites have no justifiable place in the music world,” she said, calling for greater regulation of the digital music sector.

(Via: http://www.manilatimes.net/music-piracy-increase-worldwide-industry-group/351544/)

It is a shame really that people have no regards for the artists’ livelihood when they pirate their music. This is the only way they make money and if the public has access to their music without paying the amount due to them, then what happens to them after? It is even easier now because of the web’s popularity. Those who want to listen to pirated songs can easily do this by “stream ripping” the content on the web. And the figures right now are far from comforting with 35% of web users doing it, which is up by 5% from the 30% figure last 2016.

The music industry—which has enjoyed a revival in profits after years of stagnation—has been increasingly aggressive in tackling piracy. In 2015, it succeeded in shutting the popular site Grooveshark.

IFPI also said that upload platform YouTube accounts for 46 percent of all the time spent listening to on-demand music but that this dominance was failing to create "fair value" for the music business.

It said the estimated annual revenue for the industry per user from Spotify was around $20 (17 euros), compared to less than $1 per user for YouTube.

The report also revealed the continuing rise in audio streaming.

It found that 45 percent of respondents were now listening to music through a licensed audio streaming service—up from 37 percent in 2016.

(Via: https://phys.org/news/2017-09-music-piracy-worldwide-industry-group.html)

In this case, technology is once again a double-edged sword. In one way, it helps artists improve their music and artistry through the use of various tech gadgets that highlight their natural talents. On one side, though, it is being used against the entire music industry by music pirates who want to enjoy the music of these artists virtually for free.

It’s even more convenient for them to do this today with the rise of the smart technology. Most people now own a smartphone or any smart gadget that allows them to access the web as long as they have data or can connect to a WiFi service. Addressing the problem of music piracy is still a work in progress and everyone involved in the field of music are doing their best to stop piracy from spreading further and giving the artists the remuneration they deserve for all their hard work.

Let’s Talk About Music Piracy was initially published on Iamnotanartist.org Blog

source https://www.iamnotanartist.org/lets-talk-about-music-piracy/

A Globally-Interconnected Planet Via The World Wide Web

The world we are living in right now used to be just a dream to our ancestors. Life was simpler back then and there was little to distract you. While life was certainly less complex, it was mighty boring for some too. It’s perhaps also the reason why innovators pushed for the development of newer technologies that won’t just upgrade our lives but also connect us to the rest of the world. Who would’ve thought our most valued possession would eventually be the smartphone. It has served as our gateway to the rest of the world through the Internet. You can do almost everything virtually and in real time. No more is there a distance barrier that can prevent you from exploring opportunities and potential outside of your comfort zone. But also, you may find yourself in trouble.

We truly are living in a globally-interconnected planet. And you don’t have to go far or spend a lot of money in order to do so. No magic needed here either or some really amazing teleportation skills because all you need is your smart gadget and you’re good to go. And as the Internet’s technology progressed, social networking sites were born and made life even more vibrant and alive than before. You can now keep track of the lives of the people who mean the most to you or idols that you follow without going anywhere at all.

There is growing awareness of the importance of internet access to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. But as new players enter the race to connect the 4 billion people who remain offline, new questions are emerging about who is providing that connection and what their agenda is. As China’s interest in global development has grown, so too has its influence in the telecommunications sector, with two companies in particular — the privately owned Huawei and state owned ZTE — making up the majority of China’s efforts to connect the unconnected.

In Kenya, M-KOPA, which is known for its pay-as-you-go home solar energy systems, is now selling Huawei smartphones along with solar panels. Partnerships such as this result from work that Huawei has done to pioneer new models to provide access in rural areas where the business case is not always as clear, said Adam Lane, a senior director of public affairs for Huawei, who spoke with Devex from South Africa, but is mainly focused on Kenya.

(Via: https://www.devex.com/news/china-s-role-in-the-race-to-connect-the-next-billion-89900)

The race goes on. Despite the achievements that the Internet has now achieved today, it does not mean that everything stops here. New innovations are still being developed in the hopes of building better machines and truly creating smart cities that we have envisioned in the past. If you are an avid web surfer/user yourself, you’ll notice all those little changes that the web has undergone so far and is still going through as of the moment. Nothing is constant and we can only expect to see bigger and brighter things on the web in the years to come.

He was right. Today, 49% of the world’s population is connected online and an estimated8.4 billion connected things are in use worldwide.

The Internet of Things (IoT) is in full flower. The expanding collection of connected things goes mostly unnoticed by the public – sensors, actuators and other items completing tasks behind the scenes in day-to-day operations of businesses and government, most of them abetted by machine-to-machine “computiction” – that is, artificial-intelligence-enhanced communication. The most public items in the burgeoning IoT are cars, voice-activated assistants, appliances and other home systems, physician-prescribed or recommended health-monitoring devices, road sensors, public-safety and security devices, smart meters and personal fitness and health trackers for people and animals – dogs, cats, horses, cows and more. And then there are emerging IoT products that show how the urge to create connectivity extends to such prosaic items as toothbrushes, dental floss, hairbrushes, pillows, egg trays, wine bottle sleeves, baby monitors and changing tables, silverware, umbrellas, all manner of toys and sporting goods and remote-controlled pet food dispensers, to name a few.

(Via: http://www.pewinternet.org/2017/06/06/the-internet-of-things-connectivity-binge-what-are-the-implications/)

We may enjoy all the perks of modern living and being connected to the globe with just a push of a button but it has its downsides too. Today, we also have to worry about issues like data and cybersecurity now that criminals have found a new and profitable playground. There is a bigger risk involved as the IoT grows and more aspects of our lives are linked to the web. Knowing this reality is a great way to remind you to always exercise caution in all your virtual activities so as not to unnecessarily burden yourself with numerous tech-related problems that are costly and time-consuming to fix, if still salvageable, worse if it is not.

A Globally-Interconnected Planet Via The World Wide Web is courtesy of I Am Not An Artist Blog

source https://www.iamnotanartist.org/a-globally-interconnected-planet-via-the-world-wide-web/