There is no doubt that this is a great photo of a crested black macaque monkey, a small primate found in Indonesia. The photographer can be proud of his considerable skill and patience. But, unfortunately there is no photographer! It is a selfie taken by the monkey and the image is more serendipity than skill.
Here is the back-story: David Slater, a British photographer traveled to Indonesia to take photos of this particular breed of macaque. According to a British newspaper, the Telegraph, this monkey “came up to investigate and hijacked a camera, and took hundreds of selfies”. Most of the photos were of poor quality but this one was spectacular. So, Slater licensed the photo and it began showing up on several sites, including Wikimedia Commons as a public domain photo. But, the photographer advised Wikimedia that he held the copyright to the photo. Wikimedia refused to take it down saying that the monkey took the photo and as an animal, cannot hold a copyright.
And, Wikimedia is probably correct, as in most of the world animals are considered as property or chattel. And, in addition this animal is wild and quite distant from a person to whom a copyright would be allowed. But, even as the photographer paid for the equipment, the trip, and the post-processing, the monkey took the money shot. A good question to ask now is not who has a right to the photo but why the photographer did not take other photos that probably could have been as good as or better than the monkey.
In an ironic twist, the United States Office of Copyright posted and update to the copyright law here on 22 August. “A copyright cannot be held by an animal including a monkey”. Smile and say banana…

Just in case that you really do not have enough distractions in your life, here is another one that is fun and costs nothing but a little time. Have you ever wondered where your money goes after you spend it or deposit it into some vending machine? Well, WheresGeorge can help you find out where it went and where it actually is.
After registering with the site, you can enter the serial numbers from your bills. As money changes hands of different users, they enter their serial numbers in turn, and the money is tracked as it moves around the country. I received the bill in the cover photo with the red ink marking and entered it at the site. Unfortunately, it had only traveled about two hundred miles. But, bills do not need a marking but they do stand a better chance of being entered.
And for most bills, little or nothing ever happens. But, for some bills, a detailed map emerges, one of which is the top-tracked bill with 15 reported sightings. It was released into the wild in Dayton, Ohio, wandered through the South and spent a long time in Texas, ventured into Utah, and was last seen someplace in Michigan’s upper peninsula, not too far from where it was first sighted.
This site is a labor of love and has been around since 1998. That really is a lot longer than most sites! Check it out here. Easy come, easy go…