CentrePoint - a new page - or back full circle?

I currently work in the 27th tallest building in London, and a landmark in central London. Built in 1966, Centrepoint has been many things to many people. But for my company and I it has most recently been a workplace. All that is about to change as the building is set to undergo a major change. Its set to become plush new housing, so today is our last day in the building before heading off for a new page of our own on Friday.

Growing up in London you can't miss the rather drab looking building that towers over the end of Oxford street, marking the end of London's best known shopping street, it also sits on a road that through the 90's could guarantee a bargain for techies, yet turn your eye half a turn and you find the luvies of theater land. Location wise you couldn't find a better place to provide 32 floors of offices, yet it stood empty for years. As a child I never understood this and I wasn't alone, it proved to be controversial in a number of ways but the developers where effectively speculating on the chance of finding a single tenant. This led to the government offering to buy the building for 5 million pounds, maybe if we had bought it in 1972 we could now have afforded to buy another couple of banks. It eventually became the home of the CBI and a number of other tenants, ourselves included.

Homeless Charity

Another side to the building was the link to the homeless charity and again growing up I couldn't work out how a homeless charity could afford to build a huge building like this and keep it empty. At one stage I even thought that it was the worlds largest Homeless hostel and that the entrance was a rather salubrious snooker hall. In 1974 local activists aimed to squat inside the building to draw attention to the plight of the homeless and reasoning that an empty building such as this should be used for the benefit of the homeless. Around this time the homeless charity Centrepoint was born. It seems the link is purely co-incidental but its rather a good story to think of it as a reaction to the excesses of property speculation that led to the building of a concrete empty building and contrasting to the hundreds of homeless people sleeping on the cold streets within its Shadow.

Its design too is controversial and rather Brutalist, its just Glass and concrete jutting up from the ground rather, well, brutally. Modern sky scrappers like the Shard and the Gherkin are for me far more beautiful. But the building is Grade 2 listed and has won plaudits for it rather uncompromising style. Its certainly deemed nice enough to be suitable for its next phase of life as a home for the rich. One things for sure the views from the building are like no other in the London, and therefore the world. London's newer Skyscrapers are grouped together in the east, but Centrepoint stands alone right in the middle and offers 360 degree views in to the heart of the worlds greatest City.

Future 

So its not really a surprise that the future for the building takes it back in one sense to its controversial roots. Where as the property boom of the 60's and 70's provided profit opportunities even for an empty office building. The property boom now provides a profit opportunity for largely empty housing. Whilst the plans do include obligatory affordable housing, largely the tower itself will be Luxury flats all I'm sure will be sold for in excess of a million pounds. When you look around London at that property band most houses remain empty for 90% of the time operating as a base for the few days a year when the International owner has a meeting in London. So once again there will be a stark contrast between the super rich and the super poor sharing a single doorway. Its ironic that what was controversial back in the 70's is commonplace 50 years later.

One thing is for sure I'll miss the views, but not the rather complicated lifts.

F1 2014 - Heres how it is

The new formula 1 season has kicked off and with so much change its inevitably going to be one of unpredictability, unreliability and unbelievibility. The sport is one of technological advancement and engineering, the rules therefore provide some boundaries and enable the sport to develop in controlled way and to at least try and keep it competitive. The trouble is that the rules need to be equally technical to the point that the ordinary fan doesn't really understand how it all works. The other trouble is that those in charge of the sport are so carried away with making money, and therefore increasing sponsorship, advertising and other revenue streams. The effect of this is that quite often rather than the rules being used purely being used to make the sport competitive they are instead used to increase sponsorship, under the guise of making it more watchable. This leads to a situation where F1 becomes at the whim of advertisers and rich individuals who would happily re-interpret the rules mid season to ensure a predictable outcome, you quite often see decisions which go one way for one driver have an entirely different effect in a different team, the only difference being a minor technicality and the positioning of the team in relation to any media.

Ultimately this undermines F1 and makes it more like the X factor than a pinnacle of sporting success and its not something that inspires people to go out and get involved in sport. Its competitively bankrupt with malleable rules and enforced twists. At best its manufactured entertainment at worse its a farce. Its noisy un-inclusive, polluting, money led, disaster of a sport that i'd love to hate. Yet there is something about it that enthralls and I get gripped every year. I get into the stupid rules and I try and understand them, I look for the drivers falling out and I look for those tactical decisions that make a seconds difference and I look to heroic driving from the likes of Hamilton, Vettel, Button and co, The horrendous mistakes from rookie drivers and the sulks from the likes of Alonso and Raikkonen somehow drag me back year on year. The fact I can only watch half the races doesn't seem to make any difference I still want to know what the latest story line is.

I am hooked and prior to last weekends race i wrote down some predictions about things to look out for. For me the season hasn't yet formally started, I only count the races which are on the BBC, so in advance of the seasons start there is still time to publish what i think may happen.

Caterham and Marussia- both to get points. With so much unreliability across the field, combined with the back markers continued gradual improvement, this season will be the best opportunity for Caterham and Marussia to sneak into the points. Maybe even a podium if enough cars break at he right time.

Rosberg and Hamilton to crash out early in the season. - Mercedes already look really competitive this season.they seem to have a good infrastructure , understood the rules well and bought together the right mix of skills to deliver a competitive package. In Rosberg and Hamilton they have 2 drivers both highly capable and ambitious, either could be viewed as potential world champions. Both also have a lot to prove, Hamilton has in recent years failed to deliver on the promise from his early career and has been through some difficult times. Likewise Rosberg has shown a lot of promise, and looks like a great driver never to win. Neither driver has the clear upper hand within the team and both will want to show that they are the driver to back should a tittle opportunity arise. This year more than any they will be battling out for top spot, so forget Alonso and Raikkonen this year I think the major driver battle will be Hamilton vs Rosberg and in these scenarios, ultimately an early coming together is likely.

Massa To Fly- Freed from the shackles from years of being an also run, I think Massa will be refreshed and will surprise a few by his raw talent. He's one of the most underrated drivers of our time and where it where a different (Pre Schumacher) Era Massa would have been more successful but as an also ran he's lacked motivation. This year with Williams too appearing to be on the rise I think it will be a perfect match for Massa who I fully expect to rack up a number of podium finishes.

Raikkonen to storm off mid season - The Iceman cometh and the ice man goes. He's undoubtedly got a high degree of talent but just as Massa is underrated Raikkonen is overated, and appears to believe his own legend. But when you compare him to Vettel, Alonso, even to Button and Hamilton i think he's the weakest former world champion on the grid. Certainly he'll be out shone by Alonso and Ferrari don't seem to have a great package just yet. His one world championship, was possibly deserved but timing played its part, F1 wasn't terribly competitive back in 2007 Red bull hadn't taken off and even Mclaren where in a transition. Even then his championship victor was in part made possible by some interesting decisions by the FIA who appear to be a little colour blind towards the red of Ferrari. History, is also not on Raikkonens side, I don't think there is a team he has left amicably, he tends to be a little prone to sulking and throwing his toys out of the pram, so faced with being a second driver in a team that he will ultimately view as under-performing will be a challenge and i don't see him lasting the year.

Rules will be interpreted in Ferrari's favour. - The first rule of F1 is that Ferrari should win, and any rule that effects their results is obviously wrong.

A female driver will get a race. - There is a momentum building in womens sport and top female athletes, so there is a real opportunity for a team to make money by being the first team in recent years to have a female driver, (the last time was in 1992). So for one of the smaller teams, when we get to mid season and they need to start thinking about funding for 2015 i wouldn't be surprised to see a female at the wheel of and F1 car. My fear is that an F1 team could get the headline just by allowing a few Friday test laps, but hopefully it will translate to a full race seat. With Sussie Wolff at Williams we have a highly capable women waiting in the wings and just because shes not the reserve driver for Williams, doesn't mean she couldn't be offered a race seat elsewhere should the opportunity arise. On a less cynical note Wolffs boss Claire Williams shows that women can succeed in F1 and Wolff is a test driver on merit so it hopefully won't be too long.

Vettel will win - Ultimately no matter how unpredictable the season is, quality will shine through and Red Bull still have the best overall package, even if their car is not currently up to scratch, they have the resources to make it come together. From an ironic point of view I hope he wins it on the last day of the season and only because of the double points. Its a stupid rule and Vettel has said as much but i'd bet he'd still take the championship that way. As a wild card Possibility i think Button has a chance, If Red bull fail to materialize this year, and hamiltion/Rosberg fallout, Button has the experience patience, adaptability and determination to quietly come through whilst everyone else is complaining about the rules or their team.

Monarchs in Literature

I quite like historical fiction and thorough stumbling across various books I've covered hundreds of years. Throughout this time there has been some sort of monarch and there is almost always at least a passing reference to a king or queen.

This got me thinking is there a book for every monarch in English\British History, so staring with the books i have read i thought I'd begin mapping this out. Partly out of interest but i'd also be quite interested in your recommendations about how to fill out the rest of the monarchs as yet uncovered. 

I'll start by covering the period from William the Conquer and Henry the 8th, for no particular reason but they seem like 2 note worthy kings.

William 1st 1066-1087

William 2nd 1087-1100

• The Forest Dwellers Judith Arnopp

Henry 1st 1100-1135 

• Pillars Of the Earth - Ken Follett

King Stephen 1135-1154

• Pillars Of the Earth - Ken Follett

Henry 2nd 1154-1189

• Pillars Of the Earth - Ken Follett
• Outlaw - Angus Donald *

Richard 1st 1189-1199

• Outlaw - Angus Donald 
• Holy Warrior - Angus Donald
• Warlord - Angus Donald - Review

King John 1199-1216

• Grail Knight - Angus Donald **

Henry 3rd 1216-1272 

Edward 1st 1272-1307

Edward 2nd 1307-1327

Edward 3rd 1327-1377

• World Without End - Ken Follett

Richard 2nd 1377 - 1399

• World Without End - Ken Follett

Henry 4th 1399 - 1413

Henry 5th 1413 - 1422

• Bernard Cornwall - Azincourt

Henry 6th 1422-1461

• The Lady Of the Rivers - Philippa Gregory **
• The Red Queen - Philippa Gregory **
• The White Queen - Philippa Gregory **
• The Kingmakers Daughter - Philippa Gregory **
• The White Princess - Philippa Gregory **

Edward 4th 1461-1483

• The Lady Of the Rivers - Philippa Gregory **
• The Red Queen - Philippa Gregory **
• The White Queen - Philippa Gregory **
• The Kingmakers Daughter - Philippa Gregory **
• The White Princess - Philippa Gregory **

Edward 5th 1483

• The Lady Of the Rivers - Philippa Gregory **
• The Red Queen - Philippa Gregory **
• The White Queen - Philippa Gregory **
• The Kingmakers Daughter - Philippa Gregory **
• The White Princess - Philippa Gregory **

Richard 3rd 1483-1485

• The Lady Of the Rivers - Philippa Gregory **
• The Red Queen - Philippa Gregory **
• The White Queen - Philippa Gregory **
• The Kingmakers Daughter - Philippa Gregory **
• The White Princess - Philippa Gregory **

Henry 7th 1485-1509

• The White Princess - Philippa Gregory **

Henry 8th 1509-1547

• The Constant Princess - Philippa Gregory **

Edward 6th 1547 -1553

Lady Jane Grey

Mary 1553-1558

Elizabeth 1st 1558-1603

*I have included books that cover the reign of a monarch even if it is only for a very brief period and in some cases when the monarch is not mentioned but would have been on the throne at the time

**not yet read

Warlord - By Angus Donald

Warlord

This is my first attempt at a book review and I hope to do the book justice. I'm a big fan of the author and of the series as a whole, the book too was eminently enjoyable. From this introduction however you may guess that there is a but, and its that I cant help feeling a little disappointed about the book both compared to other books from the series and with the historical fiction as a whole. That said I still enjoyed it and would recommend to everyone that they read the outlaw Chronicles from beginning to very end

Outlaw chronicles

Warlord is book 4 of the Outlaw Chronicles, a series by Angus Donald. The series tells the tale of Robin of Loxley, Alan Dale and their cohorts, so its a story of Robin Hood. But its unlike any other Robin hood story that i know, far more gritty and more well thought out characters throughout, and the story varies greatly from the traditional interpretation. Its an inventive tale and provides and alternative interpretation of the legends. The characters feel far more real and the stories far more interwoven, and the bonds between the outlaw group are explored and explained far more effectively. Being book 4 Warlord suffers from being in a tricky position in the saga. When I first came across Outlaw, a book that remains in my top 10, i had assumed that it would be part of a trilogy and there is a natural pattern to the story, that leaves book 4 as neither a continuation or the start of something new.

Warlord, does move on the story and develop it to an extent, in the first three books the focus is on Alan telling Robins story, but by this book it is Alan singing his own song, and Robin playing second fiddle (Or vielle as may be more appropriate). It also sets the scene for the next set of books well, creating new characters and plot lines which are clearly meant for later stories. But that in itself is part of the problem as It leaves Warlord as a the thread holding the other books together and whilst it does a good job as part of the series it doesn't do so well as a story in its own right.

Spoilers may occur from here on in

The Story

The last book (Holy Warrior) ends with Alan finding out some information about his father and warlord picks up that thread and puts Alan on a mission to find out more, and in the process seek revenge for his fathers death. This story carry's on with a background of King Richards campaigns in France. The story builds well and grows with some nice twists, there are some really well written battle scenes and background developments. It builds a nice background to Alan's family and provide a setting for more characters to be drafted in as required, all noble and gallant in support of Alan's future. The revenge story puts Alan in several tricky situations and he valiantly survives to create a rocking crescendo. When the arch villain is confronted, but not destroyed, one of Alan's closest allies is killed in a fitting and beautifully written way, one of the highlights of the book if not the series. At this point a lot of the story threads are brought together and it seems to reach a natural conclusion.

However the book continues, and rather oddly begins to tell an entirely different story, it goes back to pick up the love triangle (If you can call it that) of Alan, Goody and Nur. This story is a nice contrast to the first Outlaw book and a reverse role for Alan the knight hunting out a band of Outlaws in the forests, and facing th difficulties he would have previously exploited. But here too the story feels like short story interlude before greater things. Its a literal Amuse Bouche to the main course yet to be served.

The story does return to France and this segway is less jawing and a natural break which goes someway to showing the separation and loss of a night living away from his beloved. The final part of the story effectively does 2 things. It tells the story of the final days of King Richard and his forces as they hunt down the ineffective King Philip, and it sets the scene for Book 5 Grail knight. It does both these things well, through a final short story. But some of the plots are a little weak and unbelievable. For example the Arch criminal is set up to be a master criminal with the resources of the world at his fingertips and the ability to kill people anywhere in his domain at the drop of a hat. Yet after one encounter with Robin's Men he is reduced to a man in hiding, and on the run and even years later he is still holed up and in exile. Somehow it doesn't quite make sense to me that we are to believe that he wouldn't have a more fruitful back up plan, another persona to fall back on or hidden resources to set himself up quickly, yet he falls from grace pretty much instantly. As a representation he is a mirror of Robin yet he seems undermined by a lack of resourcefulness that jaws with his promise of "The man who must be obeyed"

Final Scenes

The final few chapters of the book provide some good color and again tell a story that is again slightly separate from the rest of the novel, but this time for me this worked a little better. The death of King Richard was well told and the contrast of his death against his heroic life played out well and the prospect of Prince John, Mercadier and the man who must be obeyed leave some tantalizing story-lines to be concluded.

Conclusion

Ultimately the book was thoroughly enjoyable and well written piece of Historical Fiction, but to get the most of it it needs to be judged as part of a series, rather than on its own merit. Its a book that tuns a trilogy into a saga and and a book that has a lot to do, against high expectations, It does the first but in comparison it is weaker than the other books and so lacks punch. If it were written as a set of short stories each would be good reads but together they pull the reader in different directions.

Maybe its more a sign of how much i enjoyed the first three books, than a mark against this one. It was still a thoroughly good page turner and kept me riveted. It has set up Gail Knight (book 5) with some high expectations of its own so hopefully the story will progress and then when judged as a saga the series will be every bit as enjoyable assist has been to date.

I would recommend that you go out and buy this book right away, but buy it along with Outlaw, Holy warrior, and kings man, read those first then get stuck straight into this one before diving in to grail knight, you won't be disappointed.

The author's site and links to the Outlaw books can be found at http://www.angus-donald.com/

The Mexico Question

The events in the Ukraine are devastating and surely the international community must come together and ensure a democratic route forward, that's in the best interests of Ukraine. I know nothing of the country its politics or its history. Though my great great granddad was from Kiev, so perhaps i should. The thought that Russia have invaded and are holding to ransom a independent country is shocking, and that it is within the European continent and essentially over whether Ukraine draws closer to the EU or to Russia make me think about international politics. As I said I know little about the situation in Ukraine but all my news sources seem to suggest unanimously that Russia are the ultra bad guys here.

Yet, I cant help thinking that that view may be a little hypocritical, is it suggested that if faced with a similar situation that any political powerhouse wouldn't do the same, Certainly Britain has throughout history, but surely those days are gone. But China? they would surely take a similar route, India probably, Japan? What about Brazil, surely the would defend their interests in a neighboring country, But what about the US would they just let a neighboring country fall into potential Civil war or would they send in an occupying force to protect their selfish interests.

This Blog runs the risk of being pro Russian or being supportive of the occupation, Its not meant to be its just a question of Geo-politics and a demonstration that things are never as simple as they seem.

What If...

Let me tell you a story about a fictional situation based in country that I know equally little about. Mexico has a long history of co-operating with the US and has several trade agreements, there are legal frameworks allowing for cross border initiatives. Millions of Mexicans live and work in the US. Major US companies operate out of Mexico, and relationships seem on the face of it to be going swimmingly. Sure there is poverty in Mexico, but so to in the US, sure there is a significant drug related underground and comparative inequality, but Mexico is not alone. Like the EU the south american countries have a union (UNSUR) and like the EU their are political and financial benefits to being part of that Union, currently their are 12 members, But Mexico currently has closer links to the US.

Now lets start making stuff up, Lets supposed that the inequality in Mexico increases and crime becomes a more favorable option for the countries poor. To help fight that crime the US offer assistance and help fight a more intense war against drugs. Lets assume that poverty is not curbed and the populace start directing the anger towards the government and seeing the links with the US and the relative wealth start to question why they are not helping more.

At the same time lets assume that the UNSUR start talking about expansion in to Central America, and an opposition leader made popular through sporting achievement, Maybe he won Gold in Sochi Olympics. Anyway, this opposition leader starts to campaign for closer links to UNSUR. The pro-US government has little choice but to draw battle lines along US\UNSUR boundaries and is draw even more pro-US. Eventually unrest occurs and the opposition start demanding immediate elections. But the Government stands firm, Mexican business which are understandably close to the government get worried and move money in whatever way they can out of the country, undoubtedly this will evolve some people very close to the Mexican leader, and some US Billionaires, linking to the US government. It would almost certainly be portrayed as corruption. Seeing this the situation escalates and their are riots on the street. Given its an internal affair along international relations, neither the US or the UNSUR get involved and its too far from Russia, China or the EU for them to get too close. Yet it continues to escalate and eventually the leader of Mexico stands down and the pro UNSUR leader forms a non-democratic interim government and the US are faced with the prospect of a country on their doorstep no longer being so friendly and in fact drawing closer to some rather un-cooperative countries, such as Venezuela and Cuba. It still has economic interest in the country, several large companies and governmental installations in the north of the country, It has a long border and their are family links running deep into both countries

At this point would the US stand idle with a revolution on its doorstep?, It would have to do something Everyone in California would know someone in Mexico suffering, and how would it protect its interests, to a government in chaos, Surely it too would be forced to mobilize troops to some degree, even to protect its Border? But whats the best way to protect the border? How would they respond to an Un-democratic Coup threatening their interest? Russia have undoubtedly gone too far, but what else would a superpower do? So faced with a similar situation, what should Russia do?

I have done a considerable dis-service to Mexico, and undoubtedly to Ukraine, Russia and the US and for that I apologize, but hopefully it demonstrates how complicated the situation in the Ukraine may be, and it important that even when faced with invasion, the important thing is to try and prevent escalation and to talk it out rather than to allow provocation. At least on this point the people of the Ukraine are being exceedingly patient.

Pictures – an apology

In my last post I explored the subject of image rights and realised that I was using images that I probably didn’t have permission to use. I made a commitment to go back and rectify that error as soon as possible. This post is my way to hopefully make amends. I’m going to look for the owner of each image and credit them with the ownership. If that is at all possible.  

Now I obviously cant show you the images anymore so if you want to see them you’ll have to follow one of the links. (Though most of those sites probably also don’t have permission)

Publish

So let’s start with the picture of a publish button.  It was a picture of a green button with the word “publish” on it. I used it on a post about the risks of publishing. I tried to track down the owner by doing a simple google search and found no information about a likely owner, but I did find 4 pages of google search results of blogs, news articles commercial advertising all using the same image. The including the site that I took it from.

The image was taken from

http://howtoprogramwithjava.com/publish-java-web-application-via-vps/

but look its here too

http://www.reliablesoft.net/how-often-should-you-publish-new-content/

http://teachamazing.com/9-web-2-0-sites-to-publish-student-work/

http://www.zoho.com/sites/free-website-builder.html

http://www.dlsbusinesssolutions.co.uk/publish/

Tube Train

I used a digitally created image of a met line train to illustrate my first post, and link to the train line that my blog is named after. This image appears to be quite a specialist image so I would expect the owner to be easily traceable.

I got the image from this site

http://www.globalgranary.org/2013/01/10/the-london-tube-undergound-150th-anniversary-on-9th-jan-2013/#.UxTo3fl_v6c

but it here too

http://www.emta.com/spip.php?article661

http://www.skibbereeneagle.ie/?p=292

http://www.nhmethc.plus.com/newsite/FindUs.html

But again no trace of owner, I suspect it is a TFL.gov.uk picture but there is no trace on their site any more.

Evolution

This is a classical picture of evolution showing how we evolved from the apes. This image I used to try and show that my blog an writing style will evolve. But yet only 2 weeks later I find it difficult to eve find the same image again. It’s a fairly common image of ape slowly transforming into man. But this one the man at the end has his hands together in prayer. There are lots of twists on the concept but my image just isn’t there anymore so I cant even give credit to the place that I took the image from.

I hope this post has gone a little way to serve as an apology, but also as an exercise it shows how common breach of copyright could be.

Photos Images and the Law

Voightander Camera

For my next blog paranoia post I'm looking at the issue of images, photos and pictures. Everyone has surely heard the phrase pictures speak a thousand words, and that to make a article interesting you need an image or two just to distract the eyes for a little. But I'm not an artist, and whilst I do take photos I don't have a whole stock of them ready to use. So like most lazy writers I tend to rely on the internet to find relevant pictures. But I'm vaguely aware that this may not be the right thing to do and whats more I do feel for the original artist. They have gone out of there way to create the work and it is clearly of high quality as I am prepared to use it for my own purposes, yet I have no idea what the etiquette is for taking someones work and reusing it. So in this post I intend to explore those in a little more detail. Also to note my sincere apologies to the artists responsible for the 3 pictures
I have already used. Once this post has been published I will go back and amend appropriately.

Law

Unknown students in jail

Copyright is the most obvious legal issue with photos since the Berne convention all images are copyright protected which prevents an image being used without permission or adapting the image without permission, even re-creation of an image is prohibited. There is no mistake that even small independent personal blogs are covered by copyright laws, so any image I use must be published with permission, otherwise the law may be on my back.

Its not a case of whether the image is free or if its been paid for, the issue is ensuring that you have permission to use the image, you can find a free image that you are aloud to publish or you can pay for an image and then use it for a non-agreed purpose.

Then there are laws relating to image rights of an individual, where even if you have a copyright agreement, you don't necessarily have permission from the person in the image. But that is the best left for a future post and in the meantime i won't publish pictures of people (ignoring the 2 students above). Likewise companies have laws protecting their images too so anything covering trademarks also off limits for the time being. I've also just read that certain buildings are covered by trademark too, so no pictures of buildings either. There doesn't seem to be much left for the poor well intentioned blogger.

There is however a term that keeps cropping up and that is :-

"In the public Domain"

The concept of a public domain is that if something is available to everyone then it is owned by everyone and controlled by no one. So doesn't this imply that if an image is on a free search engine then it is a free image and in the public domain. Well actually no it doesn't, images on the internet are widely available but still retain ownership.

Dollars

Free images

Yet despite all of this there are free images allover the internet, and some artists declare that the image is free to use, either by everyone in all circumstances or by providing some conditions. Whilst i can see there is some benefit of this in the case of an aspiring artist or a company wanting to draw attention to itself, i'm not certain how you can be sure that the image you have is truly a legal image.

Creative commons images

I have discovered one source of free image, Creative commons Images. Creative commons is a not for profit foundation who have created copyright licences which allow artists to licence their work for use by others at no charge. Some of the licences still contain restrictions and if you breach them your still liable under copyright laws, but essentially these creative commons licences give you the opportunity to gain permission from the artist to use an artwork.

But even these images are not without issue, the Creative commons organisation it not party to the agreement and there is no way to be sure that just because a website says the image has a license there is no way to ensure the original artist has authorized it. Creative commons also doesn't get you around image rights and trademark issues. But short of taking lots of poor quality camera phone pictures this seems like my best option. All of the images for this post have been taken from wikimedia.org which hosts both creative commons and public domain images.

Orphaned images

One last thing to note is this rather controversial term, Orphaned Image. Its controversial because its a relatively new concept that is seen by some to completely undermine the copyright laws described above, from my limited understanding the concept essentially implies that it is ok to use images that have been orphaned, in so much as that the original owner is no longer traceable, and in this sense the image is now commonly owned. Whats more it provides a level of defense for individuals and organisations as it appears that all you have to do to declare an imaged orphaned is to make an effort, to identify the owner. If you can't then go ahead and publish. Whats more it seems that you can then assume ownership of that image and re-sell it. It all seems somewhat underhand to me for the moment so I intend to steer clear until I have some time for more research.