Sorry - many of you will have seen this before. I have been meaning to share it for quite a while, but never quite got around to it.I think I first came across it about 6 months ago, labelled as being from a news report about a victim of one of last season's hurricanes in Florida; although, in fact it seems he had suffered a house fire in California. (Yes, this is all over the Internet!)
Since there seems to be no other reference online to this curious surname, I think we can assume that this was an inspired practical joke.
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When I first read this post the word "Florida" jumped off the screen at me, as did (of course) the post title. I've lived here only 15+ years, so maybe I'm insufficiently jaded; still, it seems obvious that anytime one encounters Florida in context with Surely not?, one's best answer is Probably so, alas.In this case... I'd missed it before, myself. But yes, it was a prank, the victim of which was a California TV station. The video made its way to YouTube but the station has been vigilant in not allowing it to stay there, claiming -- ha ha -- "copyright infringement."
(You have to love the inversion of meaning, by which "copyright" suddenly means "the right to withhold from distribution, i.e. NOT copy.")
I've had a little debate with my lawyer buddy, The British Cowboy, on copyright - on my post about on DVD piracy. I feel the concepts were developed in the days of the printing press, and are less and less applicable in the realm of new media.
I guest-edited (i.e., wrote) an issue of a books-related e-newsletter back in 2000; the lead item was about copyright, and how the notion as originally put forth bore no relationship to what it's become.
Here's that issue; the copyright piece is the first item.
Thanks for that link, JES. Some interesting history. If I had stayed with the law, IP would have been my preferred field.
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