Pride and Prejudice

A selection of '70s ads depicting African-Americans. "Unbranded" is a series of images taken from magazine advertisements targeting a black audience or featuring black subjects, which Hank Willis Thomas digitally manipulated and appropriated.
Source: Mother Jones, by Hank Willis Thomas , Sept/Oct 2009
Photo Essay at: http://www.motherjones.com/photoessays/2009/08/pride-and-prejudice

Special Issues a Bright Spot

In this dreary advertising climate, when ESPN The Magazine wanted to draw some attention to itself, it chose a tactic favored by the Lindsay Lohans of the world: flash a little skin.
ESPN created its Body Issue, on newsstands now, not only to make waves.

The topic meant ESPN could call it a special issue, which got advertisers’ attention and money.
Print advertising is in miserable straits right now, but special issues seem to be the one thing attracting ad dollars. At ESPN, for instance, ad pages were down about 24 percent in the first six months of this year from the same period a year earlier, according to Publishers Information Bureau. But the Body Issue is the biggest October issue, in terms of revenue, that ESPN has ever had.

Source: The New York Times, By STEPHANIE CLIFFORD, Oct 11, 2009

Full Story: http://http//www.nytimes.com/2009/10/12/business/media/12adco.html?_r=1&th&emc=th

Capturing a Nation’s Thirst for Energy

Photographer Mitch Epstein, thin and professorial with gray hair and glasses, does not exactly cut a menacing figure.

When he ducks beneath the dark cloth of his 8-by-10 view camera, the words that come most readily to mind are late Victorian, not potentially violent. But one afternoon several years ago in the tiny Ohio River Valley town of Poca, W. Va., he found himself and his assistant surrounded by police cruisers, watching as sheriffs searched their rental car and came up with a stack of Polaroids of power plants much like the coal-fired one that towered across the river.

Photo by: Chang W. Lee/

The New York Times

This discovery led to the summoning of an F.B.I. agent, who concluded after much deliberation that Mr. Epstein had broken no laws by taking pictures near the plant, but told him, as he later recalled, “If you were Muslim, you’d be cuffed and taken in for questioning.”

Source: New York Times. ART & DESIGN, By RANDY KENNEDY, Oct 9, 2009

Full Story:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/10/arts/design/10epstein.html?_r=1&emc=tnt&tntemail1=y

How to Avoid a Dirty DSLR Image Sensor

If you’ve got a DSLR you’ve probably had the experience of uploading your photos onto your computer after a long day of photography - only to find that there are dark ’spots’ and ‘blotches’ on your pictures.
These spots and blotches appear on all your shots in exactly the same position. They might be less noticeable on backgrounds with lots of detail (and more noticeable on plain backgrounds (like blue skies - especially when you have a small aperture) - but they’re there in all your shots (the picture to the left is one of the worst examples I’ve seen - and was the result of poor image sensor cleaning technique).
The reason for these marks is that you’ve almost certainly got dust on your camera’s image sensor.
Source: Digital Photography School, by Darren Rowse
Full Story: http://digital-photography-school.com/how-to-avoid-a-dirty-dslr-image-sensor

Does social class determine online social network?

Like a lot of people, Anna Owens began using MySpace more than four years ago to keep in touch with friends who weren't in college.
Our real-world friendships are often a reflection of who... we connect with online, experts say. But soon she felt too old for the social-networking site, and the customizable pages with music that were fun at first began to annoy her.
By the time she graduated from the University of Puget Sound, Owens' classmates weren't on MySpace -- they were on Facebook.
Throughout graduate school and beyond, as her network began to expand, Owens ceased using MySpace altogether. Facebook had come to represent the whole of her social and professional universe.
Source: CNN.com, By Breeanna Hare, Oct 14, 2009
Full Story: http://www.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/10/13/social.networking.class/index.html?iref=mpstoryview

oh, if only ...

Oh, if we were all color blind ... just a little when things really matter

DIRTY SELF-PORTRAIT

I invite you to a dirty self-portrait, as well as many other new perceptions and observations at my online photography gallery … IMAGYST: Playa Experience 2009

Gallery at: http://www.pbase.com/imagyst/burning

I invite you to view America though the eyes and exceptional talent of my dear friend David Blake, as he and his wife Carmen document their journey from Phoenix, up the Pacific Coast, then across the nation on U.S. Rte 50, then along the Eastern seaboard from Maryland to Maine and then down to the Smokey Mountains and South Carolina as they explore this Great Country and the people that make it possible..

ENJOY at: http://www.pbase.com/twolanetommy/coasttocoast2009

U.S. RELAXES GRIP ON INTERNET

The US government has relaxed its control over how the internet is run. It has signed a four-page "affirmation of commitments" with the net regulator Icann, giving the body autonomy for the first time. Previous agreements gave the US close oversight of Icann - drawing criticism from other countries and groups. The new agreement comes into effect on 1 October, exactly 40 years since the first two computers were connected on the prototype of the net.
Full Story: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/8283310.stm

PICTURE THIS -- Blog Action Day 2009 -- CLIMATE CHANGE

Bloggers UNITE!

BLOG ACTION DAY 2009 has just been announced and the issue overwhlemingly requested with be CLIMATE CHANGE!
You can now register to participate wiht BLOG ACTION DAY 09 at: www.blogactionday.org to be a part of this year's event and commit to writing one post, in your own voice, on October 15, on the topic of CLIMATE CHANGE.
I encourage you to not only make a comment , but to INCLUDE A PHOTO demonstrating some relevant impact Climate Change has and/or may cause in your area when/if ignored

The event's success and impact depends directly on you and bloggers everywhere, of all types and sizes, involved in discussing the wide-ranging way in which climate change affects us all.
Register now: www.blogactionday.org
You can learn more about the issue of climate change and see sample topics you might write about -- like the connections between climate and clean energy, food choices, green products, health, transportation, and the broader economy -- at www.blogactionday.org.
Together, we can help make Blog Action Day 2009 the biggest social change event ever on the web. One issue, one day, thousands of voices. Let's do it!

Check out THE CHEAPSKATE

The Cheapskate Blog: Money-saving deals and simple advice for saving money.
Worth a trip and then many more.
Save time & money at: http://cheapskate.blogs.time.com/

H1N1 Contagious Longer than Thought

Swine flu spreads week or more after symptoms
New studies show that many people spread swine flu for a week or more after symptoms first appear, and doctors say coughing may be a better sign than ...fever for telling who is contagious.
Health officials have been telling people to avoid contact with others for a day after their fever goes away.
The new research suggests they may need to be careful for longer, especially at home where the risk of spreading the germ is highest.
Source: Associated Press, MSNBC, Sept 14, 2009
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32845926/ns/health-swine_flu

On the way to Barbies

"Tread on me"

HOT TIME IN THE CITY

I invite you to visit my online photo gallery with a this particular gallery presenting mere nano-glimpses into Burning Man 2009... EVOLUTION. Once a year, tens of thousands of creative, adventurous and outside-the-box souls gather at Black Rock... City, Nevada to celebrate community, art, self-expression, and self-reliance. We departed one week later, leaving no trace. The gallery images are my real, surreal and percieved visions of that week's experience in 2009.

Please pause, view and leave comments with the images that may impact you.

Gallery: http://http://www.pbase.com/imagyst/burning

HELLO "Friend"

Reporting semi-live and a tad tardy from Burning Man Center Camp.

I know, you're asking, "Where can I get a hat like his?"

Remember, Envy is a not a proactive positive life enhancing emotional space.

For more images of the visaul journey of a Lifetime, visit my online photo gallery at:http://www.blogger.com/www.pbase.com/imagyst

Run For Cover ... EVERYONE!

In the era of Twitter, Facebook and Deadspin.com, being the big man on campus no longer means being the life of the party. For all the images of marching bands, cheerleaders and raucous student fans associated with co...llege football, the romantic notion of a quaint campus life for star quarterbacks like Tebow, Oklahoma’s Sam Bradford and Texas’ Colt McCoy has all but disappeared, killed off by a combination of cloying fans and new technology.
Athletic departments now monitor social networking Web sites, and cellphones are collected at the door of college parties to try to keep embarrassing or illegal moments off the Internet.

Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.

Ted Kennedy: A Photo Memorial

A look back on Kennedy's life and legacy. When Ted Kennedy died, he left a legacy. Mother Jones revisits his life.
Source: Mother Jones, Aug 28, 2009
Photo Essay: http://http//www.motherjones.com/photoessays/2009/08/ted-kennedy-photo-memorium

Google's FASTFLIP

Google, is making a bold attempt to be seen as a friend with a new service it hopes will make it easier for readers to read newspaper and magazine articles.
On Monday, the company introduced an experimental news hub called Fast Flip that allows users to view news articles from dozens of major publishers and flip through them as quickly as they would the pages of a magazine.
Fast Flip, which is based on Google News, tries to address what Google considers a major problem with news sites: they often are slow to load, and so they turn off many readers. Google, the leader in Web search services and advertising, argues that if reading news online was closer to the experience of scanning through physical newspapers or magazines, people would read more.
Full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/15/technology/internet/15google.html?th&emc=th
FASTFLIP Hoomepage: http://fastflip.googlelabs.com