From Clifford Bean, President of the Society for the Exploration of the Strange Uncharted Mountains
Greetings!
I am President of the Society for the Exploration of the Strange Uncharted Mountains, just outside of Nibbling, Minnesota.
You may find this clandestine web site a little rough in spots. There’s a lot here, and we’re needing to inform you about copyright concerns.
But first, we’d like to give a special thanks to our sister organization, the Royal Queen Victoria Society of Nibbling, Minnesota, for their support and encouragement in our continued effort.
So, here we are, and you’re here too. And you are probably wondering why we “Nibblers” became involved in this effort.
It all started with Hector Klumpp, a native of Nibbling like myself, and one of my oldest friends. We are very proud of Hector, who is the founder of the ever expanding, nationally popular family, the Nihilist Lites of America.
But, before the Nihilist Lites of America (NLA) came aboot and Hector became famous, he, like so many of us here in Nibbling, Minnesota, was a Beefy Nihilist. Ah, it gets me all choked up, when I think of it… his devotion to his wife, Rosetta, changed everything. It was out of fear of losing her that influenced Hector to begin to think more broadly, which brought aboot the birth of the NLA. But, I digress, don’t ‘cha know?
So back to the story at hand…Well, one night, Hector got to talking with his wife, Rosetta, over an omelet, kid you not. And the very next day, a conversation ensued between, my wife, Michelle, Rosetta, and I , that threw Hector one of the biggest challenges of his life so far. But I shouldn’t go on and on…I’ll let Hector tell how it all came aboot , a story worth telling. We in the NLA, my wife (who’s a Christian), and Rosetta (a Beefy Nihilist), had no idea what we were biting into.
With Hector being who he is, I knew his research would be thorough, which indeed it was. After he presented his research at our annual NLA convention one year, we persuaded Hector to make his research available to all here on this website, thinking others, such as yourself would find it interesting too.
Which brings us back to our copyright concerns.
As you’ll see, it is full of quotes. And there is an issue we’re trying to deal with related to all these quotes. Marshall Artz, who is our Pro Bono legal consultant in this effort – which is a service he often provides because he loves U2 — informed us that our use of quotes on this website — may violate our copyright laws in America.
But, he also believes this may fit with an exception to those rules. He then introduced us to what is called the Fair Use Doctrine …
Fair use is a doctrine in the law of the United States that permits limited use of copyrighted material without having to first acquire permission from the copyright holder. Fair use is one of the limitations to copyright intended to balance the interests of copyright holders with the public interest in the wider distribution and use of creative works by allowing as a defense to copyright infringement claims certain limited uses that might otherwise be considered infringement.
….
Examples of fair use in United States copyright law include commentary, search engines, criticism, parody, news reporting, research, and scholarship. Fair use provides for the legal, unlicensed citation or incorporation of copyrighted material in another author’s work under a four-factor test.
And there is a key factor in determining whether the fair use doctrine applies…
The first factor is “the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes.” To justify the use as fair, one must demonstrate how it either advances knowledge or the progress of the arts through the addition of something new.
….
A key consideration in recent fair use cases is the extent to which the use is transformative. In the 1994 decision Campbell v. Acuff-Rose Music Inc,[11] the U.S. Supreme Court held that when the purpose of the use is transformative, this makes the first factor more likely to favor fair use.[12] Before the Campbell decision, federal Judge Pierre Leval argued that transformativeness is central to the fair use analysis in his 1990 article, Toward a Fair Use Standard.
And here is something Judge Leval wrote in that article:
I believe the answer to the question of justification turns primarily on whether, and to what extent, the challenged use is transformative. The use must be productive and must employ the quoted matter in a different manner or for a different purpose from the original. …[If] the secondary use adds value to the original—if the quoted matter is used as raw material, transformed in the creation of new information, new aesthetics, new insights and understandings—this is the very type of activity that the fair use doctrine intends to protect for the enrichment of society.
“Toward a Fair Use Standard“, 103 Harv. L. Rev. 1105, Quoted in Toward a Fair Use Standard, Wikipedia
Transformative? We’ll let you decide. But for Hector personally, he has this to say–“You can see why I am grateful to Robert McKee. His work has opened my eyes to the power of story, and given me a ‘transformative experience’.” We thought you might experience the same.
We know, of course, that you may think of us as some kind of “Minnesota extremist nutcase”, but maybe this will help you see more clearly…
Extremism is not only a potential defense of liberty; it’s also often the source of new ideas and decision paths that aren’t visible to the mainstream. Most significant social change first takes the form of an “extreme” position, far from the centrist fifty yard-line of conventional wisdom. A society where extreme positions are not granted a meaningful voice is a society incapable of fundamental change.
Steven Johnson, Farsighted
Now, I’m not saying anyone here in Nibbling has taken a “position” of any kind. We just happen to believe Hector’s research is worth considering. And, we’re only trying to be true to this very interesting thing that’s been blown into our laps by that haunting Minnesota winter wind.
Don’t ‘cha know, up here in this bleak place, it’s particularly haunting for us… because daily we see those Strange Uncharted Mountains.
And if you really want a haunting experience, hang out with them under the ocean of stars visible at night. You’ll be blown away by the experience.
Hector, who has trotted the globe in his quest to understand story, tells me the stars at night in the Strange Uncharted Mountains is a view of the cosmos that is unlike anything he’s seen anywhere else in the world. Hector gave a good description to me the other day. He told me, “It’s like standing under a rushing waterfall: impossible not to get wet.”
It’s strange, I know. But, that’s how it is in the Strange Uncharted Mountains.
And if you ever have an interest in taking a trip up into them, our prices are astronomical! You’re sure to get lost in the uncertainty and come out drenched in mystery. Feel free to contact us at The Society for the Exploration of the Strange Uncharted Mountains.
Clifford Bean
President, The Society for the Exploration of the Strange Uncharted Mountains
P.S. Here are a couple of our ads, along with one from our pro bono lawyer friend, Marshall Artz:
Can you see this duck rabbit?
If so, you might have the kind of vision
necessary for a great adventure. Talk with us.
The Society for the Exploration of
The Strange Uncharted Mountains
“Don’t die without going there!”
Add us to your bucket list today.
Clifford Bean, Society President
You can’t map the unmappable,
but you can join us on a journey of wonder
as we explore the mystery!
The Society for the Exploration of
the Strange Uncharted Mountains
Clifford Bean, Society President
Marshall Artz, Attorney at Law
Aggressive Representation
To Get You
What You May
or
May Not Deserve.
“We never let up, we never give up.
And we pull no punches!”
Res Ipse Dixie!
Welcome to Nibbling 