the Stranger's project

It’s an assignment that I have seen done by many a class at the Academy of Art University. Jim Wood and Brian Smith swear by it. Take (X number) of portraits of strangers. Figure out what works and GROW!

Brian asked me to take 50 portraits of strangers. He gave me some general guidelines, such as I could take pictures of students at Barry if that worked easier for my schedule, but they had to be strangers. With the exception of one portrait (which I will explain further down), every one of these portraits WAS a stranger. Some I was able to spend more time with than others. For example, Captain Kite, I spent almost an hour talking with. One of the last images, a security guard at Barry University, I spoke with for less than a minute before she had to get back to work.

A Miami Shores street and community services supervisor. I did not catch his name. Him and his crew were trimming trees near the bay when I walked up and asked for a picture and for permission to photograph the crew working. He said that was fine, but they were just stopping for lunch for an hour. This is the one picture I took and then thanked him and left.

The Barry Labs: These students were nice enough to help me with a demo in class. I spoke with them for several minutes after class regarding their majors and what they like about photography.

Haulover Marina:

I stopped by Haulover for several reason, not the least of which was to check out the times and prices for going out fishing on the Kelly Fleet. While I was there I, I started talking to one of the mate's who was cleaning fish from the days catch. The Captain of the boat walked up and his voice sounded vaguely familiar. After a few minutes of talking to him, I asked him if he knew Rex Cardines. When he smiled, I recognized him as Butchy! One of Rex's closest friends! I worked for Rex about 8 years ago at his diving store in Sunny Isles, The Diving Locker. I spend the summer managing the store for him. He lived in the back of the store and we became good friend over the summer. I learned so many things from him, but I lost track of him when I moved from Miami during the spring of 2004. Butchy would come into the shop and drive Rex while he ran errands. Rex was of poor health that summer, so Butchy would make sure he got what he needed and got out of the Locker for a bit. Butchy has changed quite a bit since then. He has lost a lot of weight in the last six months due to chemotherapy for bone cancer. He battled it into remission a couple of years ago and it has returned. Butchy and I spoke for about 30 min as he showed me his boat and we reminisced about Rex. Rex died about three years ago of lung cancer. During the conversation on the dock, Capt. Tony was sitting near by. When he overheard that I knew Rex, Capt. Tony joined the conversation. I heard some great stories about Rex, he is missed around the dock I think. Capt Tony was very kind to let me take his picture. After that, I wondered down the dock and was greeted by Capt. Jack and his first mate. He asked what I was doing and why I was photographing Butchy and Capt Tony. I told him about being in graduate school and knowing Butchy from the Diving Locker days. Turns out, Rex taught Jack martial arts, diving, and regulator repair. Jack and Priscilla and I spoke about Rex and the docks for another 30 min. Without running in to Butchy, I am not sure I would have had these amazing conversations. I was not thinking about Rex when I went to the dock, but now I have some very colorful stories to help preserve his memory.

Captain Butchy with a barracuda he caught about 25 years ago on the boat he refitted over the past year.

Captain Tony, Captain Jack, First mate Priscilla (the gorilla)

Captain Kite runs the kite shop on the east end of the park with a partner he has had for over 24 years, 18 of which they have been at Haulover. Captain Kite and I spoke for over 40 min about the life expectancy of the marina crews, the history of the kite shop, and our shared histories of dogs and horses. Captain Kite also knew Rex and spoke very well of him. The kite shop is sponsoring a kite day at the park on Saturday, February 20th. Although I did not have time to get a picture of him, I also met Leonard, who spends a lot of time at the park. I think he lives out of his conversion van with his wife. He is one of the organizers of the Everglades Bluegrass festival, also being held at the park.

Ann, photographer from England that stopped by Barry University. Her, Silvia, and I talked about camera gear for about an hour.

Barry University Lady Bucs vs. Milles College Bears, Saturday and Sunday February 13th and 14th:

As I was leaving the school on Thursday, I noticed that the Universities softball team was playing double headers on both Saturday and Sunday. Arriving before the game started on Saturday, I began speaking to Kayla's Mom Pat, who travels with the Mills team, before the game. She said that the Mills team has been traveling quite a bit, coming from Georgia, about 15 miles west of Birmingham. The trip down to Miami took them about 15 hours, one of their longer trips by bus of the season; they have also traveled to North Carolina. Pat was excited that I was there to take pictures of the game and asked me to take some portraits of her daughter, who was the starting picture for the second game of the header (I was only present for the 1st game). Kayla was very nice, describing herself as a "a self-professed photo whore". She introduced me to several of the team members who were also excited to have their pictures take.

Kayla and Pat:

Paula, a Barry mom for the last 5 years, travels to Miami from Phoenix every February. For three of those five years, it was to watch her daughter Colleen (pictured next to her) play softball for Barry. Colleen is now a graduate student working on a degree in Higher Education management, specifically NCAA compliance, but Paula still comes down to support her team. Recently, Paula had surgery on her foot (2 weeks out of the cast, 6 more in a boot) and is very happy to be up and about to make the trip.

Coach Danielle was very happy to let me shoot portraits during the game. I think many of the players were happy as well. The paid photographer for Barry, whom I saw working Sunday, spends most of his time either on the roof of the dugout or in the outfield with a very long lens. I think the ladies appreciated the change up to me shooting next to the fence and along the 3rd base line.

Brie, #12, starting pitcher. During the game, she would start spinning the ball on her finger between batters and sometimes while getting the calls. I wasnt able to get a great shot of it while she was in the field, so I went back Sunday when she wasn't pitching and asked her to spin the ball for the camera. She was kinda camera shy at first, but I was able to get a couple of great shots and it was obvious she had a great time.

Actually, thank you's are in order to all of the Lady Bucs, especially Coach Danielle for allowing me such access to the team and the field. I hope I can continue to shoot during their games!

The Knights of Columbus Run for Life after party:

A friend of mine is a KoC and asked me to be a second shooter for the fundraiser party he was volunteering to photograph. During the party, I was fortunate to spend some extended time talking to Dave (I think) and Bill (who was constantly sitting next to Bill's wife. The MC could not remember Bill's name, but could remember that he was sitting next to Bill's wife.). Dave was the organizer of the run for the K0fC and is holding up a special string of prayer beads that was created for each of the runners. Each colored bead of the string represents a different prayer for a different group. He could only remember a few of the colors, for example, red was for unborn babies, white was for their mothers. The Run for Life is an annual fundraiser to raise money to fight abortion. Bill and I spoke at length about Nascar, Formula 1, and the history of racing, which I was very unfamiliar with. Bill is quite the knowledgeable fan and was very proud of his black McLaren F1 jacket!

The Del Ray Beach Garlic Festival (February 14th, 2010):

As far as the actual festival goes, it was a waste of time and money. The food was terrible (execpt the Mahi vendor), it was over priced, the grounds were a mess, and some of the vendors, like the garlic ice cream which was a big part of going, had left because of issues with the organizers. However, I did really enjoy talking to Bob (2nd and third pics). He is a professional carny and has been for over 30 years. Currently he winters in Stetson Beach, Fl and works for the festival every year. Next month he will go to Connecticut and work his way south with one of the carnivals.

Left to Right: Festival volunteer (missed her name), Bob, Tom Johnson (elementary school administrator and King Bulb for 3 years running), Lena (vendor and amateur photo bug)

Lena was also an interesting picture. She noticed my camera and asked me about the 70-200 lens. She has just purchased a Nikon N90 with 70-300 (probably 55-300?) but did not understand how to get limited depth of field. I offered to show her an example by taking her picture a couple of times. She was happy to let me take the picture (and liked it). Jenifer cracked up as we left, saying that was "really smooth and kinda sneaky." I think we both got something out of the exchange and an interesting conversation ta' boot.

Clive Bell and his theory of Art...

This is a partial review of Clive Bell's theory and definition of Art. He originally published 'Art' in 1914. Through out the next several decades, he published additional works further refining his definition and adding to it. I was required to read an essay concerning his work for a class while working on a Master's of Fine Art (expected graduation Dec. 2010).

I disagree with much that Nigel Warburton says about Clive Bells’
theory of Significant Form and Aesthetic emotion. Bells’ book, Art
(1914), was just the beginnings of his theory and was revisited and
revised through several other books and writings through out his
career, such as his book, Since Cezanne (1922). His theory in Art was
a response to his experience and emotional response to Cezanne’s
paintings, but it wasn’t the end of his development of the theory. In
later writings, Bell addresses some of the criticism that Warburton
mentions, such as his elitism and circular arguments. In addition, Bell
further defines his concepts of aesthetic emotion and significant form.
Bell begins formulating his philosophy from his emotional response to
Cezanne’s work, which he labels as “aesthetic response” – an emotion
particular to the experience of works of visual art. Philosophically,
starting with a subjective claim of the existence of an aesthetic
emotion is a questionable foundation that Bell is clearly aware of
(McLaughlin, 1977). However, “The starting point for all systems of
aesthetics must be the personal experience of a peculiar emotion. (Art,
pg 16-17)”(McLaughlin, 1977) The function of the highest art is to
produce this aesthetic emotion and the profound experience Bell
sought was not the presence of significant form directly, but to be
transported “…to a purely artistic world, cut off from life.” (McLaughlin,
1977)
For Bell, visual art should free the viewer from their normal moral
response to the events he or she experiences every day in their
demanding world to be “merely spectators” of the forms created by
the artist. (McLaughlin, 1977) The experience of Art was Clive Bell’s
release from the drudgery he experienced everyday. He is often
criticized as elitist from his statement in Art, on page 18, “I have no
right to consider anything a work of art to which I cannot react
emotionally.” He felt to view a work of art required this aesthetic
emotional response (especially when viewing the work of Cezanne)
and that critics and critical viewers should be particularly sensitive.
However, what Bell misses is the interaction between Artist and
Viewer. It is through this “baggage” that the isolated experience that
Bell seeks has context and meaning for the viewer – hopefully leading
to emotional growth, which should be the universal goal of artist and
critical viewer alike. Bell begins to allude to this when he compares the
aesthetic emotion and his response to the beauty of a butterfly or
nature in general. The difference in emotional response is part of what
makes our emotional growth from art (even if it is a photograph or
painting of nature) so important and different from our experience of
nature, especially our everyday urban experiences of manicure lawns
and landscaped parks. When a given artist views the world around
them, they in effect come into direct contact with the emotions of all of
the other artists that have come before him (or her). His struggle,
then, is to express his own unique sensibility and join the tradition.
Significant form is the purely visual qualities of the art and the
universal mechanism from which Bell was detached from his emotional
baggage and his normal instincts and ideals, creating an insolated
experience of the art. “Significant form is a combination of lines,
shapes and coulors in certain relations.” (Warburton,p.10) Where Bell
falls short, especially in relation to photography, is that these are not
the only or even the most important qualities of visual art. The illusion
of time, the plasticity of the frame, the conveyance of three-dimension
space (which Bell does eventually concede can be a property of
significant form), as well as the mental modeling each viewer brings to
the experience are all critical qualities of a work of visual art.
Bell is further criticized for his disparaging portrayal of representative
or “descriptive painting”. Warburton states, “Yet for Bell art had
nothing intrinsically to do with representation. If representation
occurs, that is incidental to it…however, to dismiss all representational
elements of paintings as of no concern to the art appreciator is simply
implausible.” (Warburton, p. 27) Bell’s concern with representation
was when it was used mainly as a conveyance of information. In later
writings, Bell further defines descriptive paintings in terms of vulgar
objects created to gratify the vanity of patrons who gained pleasure
from representations of objects they already possessed. Ultimately,
Bell was after an escape from everyday, mundane life. He sought art
that offered that escape by expressing the world in perfect form, line,
shape, and color – how he felt “real” artists’ viewed the world around
them.
Bell’s theory of aesthetic emotion and significant form are useful
definitions for one way of experiencing Art, but are by no means the
universal definition Bell sought. He was correct in defining art as an
individual experience, but went too far in defining it in terms of HIS
experience as universal. In addition, his removal of the viewer from
the context of their personal experiences isolates the viewer from the
vision the artist was sharing – the very one Bell desired – and limits
the viewer to a very small part of the sensation and experience Art can
contribute of the human condition.
References:
Clive Bell's Aesthetic: Tradition and Significant Form,
Author(s): Thomas M. McLaughlin Source: The Journal of Aesthetics
and Art Criticism, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Summer, 1977), pp. 433- 443
Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of The American Society
for Aesthetics Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/430609
Accessed: 2/09/2010 22:56
Warburton, Nigel,(2008),The Art Question, Routledge Publishers, New
York, New York
Bell, Clive, (1914), Art, Publisher Unknown

The Psychology of CLimate Change

Walking to work today, I found myself reflecting on Dan Miller’s presentation, “A REALLY Inconvenient Truth.” (www.fora.tv) Mr. Miller’s presentation is an evolution of his training through The Climate Project (www.theclimateproject.org) - Al Gore’s organization for climate education – and uses “An Inconvenient Truth” as the starting point for his presentation. According to Mr. Miller, “An Inconvenient Truth” focuses on presenting the mechanisms of climate change influenced by human activity, such as increases in CO2 leading to increases in global temperature and consequently melting glaciers, particularly in the Arctic and Antarctic, but does not present many of the specific consequences of global temperature increases. Taking the next step forward, Mr. Miller presents some of the effects of global warming, such as raising sea levels and global environment changes as the temperature raises one or two or three degrees Celsius. While Mr. Miller discusses several “game over” scenarios should we collectively choose to ignore the science of global climate change, his discussion of the psychology of climate change was simultaneously enlightening and disheartening.
To begin with, there are four different stances we can take regarding global warming. We can choose to act or not to act based on whether or not we believe global warming is a real and human influenced reality. If we choose to act but climate change proves to be nonexistent, we will have wasted some money, but developed some new technologies and reduced our dependence on the finite resources of fossil fuels. If we choose not to act and climate change turns out to be pseudoscience, life goes on and nothing happens. However, if climate change IS real and we DO act, we will spend money on developing new resources and technologies, save over 1 billion lives, and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels while potentially experiencing one of the strongest periods of economic prosperity in human history as we switch to a green economy. Conversely, if we choose not to act and we continue to pollute the environment at our current rates, we will most certainly encounter one of Mr. Miller’s “game over” scenarios. Mr. Miller ends this portion of the presentation by stating that scientists conclusively state global warming is real. “The science is not a secret” but still most people choose not to act or even worse, continuing on without making any significant changes to their behavior.
Why do we choose not to act? Climate change is a global social issue, but the same mentality can been seen in individuals and societies alike. There is not a single pack of cigarettes in this country that does not bear a health warning, yet according to the Center for Disease Control December, 2008 report, “Current Smoking” , more than 20% of Americans smoke every day. The logical reasons for not smoking are numerous, well documented, and the populace has been well educated over the last 25 years or more and yet more than 1 in 5 Americans smoke every single day. Although Mr. Miller does not share the specific sources he draws his information from, he shares six (6) strategies of threat response within the body of psychological literature he reviewed as methods for assessing and responding to threats:
1. Visible – The threat must be visible and direct, for example, a person pointing a gun at you.
Global warming is not immediately visible as it takes a long time to occur.
2. Historical precedence – In your direct memory, or perhaps a recent collective memory, the threat has resulted in a dire consequence; the person shot the person standing next to you.
Even though the planet has experienced the effects of global warming, we are currently experiencing the effects for the first time in our collective memory
3. Immediate – The person fired a shot and nearly hit you.
Typically, changes to the global climate take tens of thousands of years to occur. However, current data sets show significant global warming during the last 150 years. Unfortunately, the accelerated time scales are still outside of normal human time scales. Conversely, current data also seems to indicate the time frames have gotten much smaller during the last decade. Mr. Miller cites several examples that may occur within the next two to twenty years.
4. Simple Causality – Bullets cause severe damage when they hit a person.
This is fairly easy for most people to understand. The cause and the effect are directly related. Climate science is rarely direct and our understanding of the complexities of the planetary climate engine is limited and obfuscated.
5. Caused by another – The person pointing the gun.
There isn’t one single cause or culprit that we can blame global warming on. It’s not just cows, or just fossil fuels, or just the United States, but a combination of many different factors caused by both natural processes and human activities.
6. Direct personal impact – Getting hit by the bullet.
Few people in America have been directly affected by global warming. Although we have experienced stronger hurricanes and longer draughts and more rain or snow in many areas of the United States, these events have not be recognized as the direct effects of global warming.
These strategies are not mutually exclusive or all-inclusive, but form part of a complex mental system as individual as the person who is reacting to the threatening stimuli. Throughout human evolution, we evolved to deal with threats that were immediate and/or life-threatening intrusions into our surroundings such as predators and poisonous plants. Until recently, when we were forced to adapt to changes of climate, we did so over a significantly long time frame, which allowed for migration or adaptation to longer periods of cold or extended draughts. Today, as the entire planet warms - which may cause sea levels to rise up to six (6) meters by the end of the century - there is nowhere to migrate to and significantly less time to adapt. There is no shortage of scientific evidence or speakers evangelizing the science of global warming available to the lay public in the United States. However, Gallup surveys conducted between 2007 and 2009 show 36% of Americans do not consider global warming a threat to their family . Another Gallup poll from March 2009, found 40% of Americans personally worry “only a little or not at all” about global warming or the “greenhouse effect”. In the face of the accumulating mountains of scientific data and subsequent reports of global climate changes during the last 150 years, Mr. Miller notes some successful denial strategies used to justify inaction by individuals and societies world-wide:
1. Displaced commitment – “I protect the environment in other ways.”
2. Condemn the accuser – “You have no right to challenge me.”
3. Denial of responsibility – “I am not the main cause of this problem.”
4. Ignorance – “I didn’t know.”
5. Powerlessness – “I can’t make a difference.”
6. Fabricated constraints – “There are too many impediments.”
7. After the flood – “Society is corrupt.”
8. Comfort – “It’s too hard for me to change my behavior.”
These are not rational arguments or legitimate justification for destructive behavior that harms society at large. Rational thought is a learned behavior expressed through both logical and creative thinking. Understanding that even though a specific action may not have an immediate effect, like throwing a cigarette butt on the ground, for example. The effect of the action is not always limited to the physical completion of the action. As the product of personal experience, education, environment, social groups, and biology, individuals and societies do not easily overcome these strategies of denial and threat assessment. Many people find it easy to point fingers at educational systems or governments for not addressing or correcting these issues, but the bottom line rests on each individual, especially in the United States. As a member of a representative republic, each individual has the responsibility to be involved in the process of government and to be responsible for his or her own education and actions; particularly if those actions affect the health and well being of every other living organism on the planet.
The predications for the effects of climate change over the next century run the gamut between catastrophe and nay saying from people with motives ranging from philanthropic to personal and corporate greed. There is no doubt within the scientific community that the climate of this planet is changing at a more rapid rate than has been previously experienced during the last one hundred thousand years or more. Whether the time frame is in the most conservative estimates or the direst estimates prove to be true, the consequences of failing to act are nothing less than the end of life on this planet.



Dan Miller is the Managing Director of The Roda Croup, a venture capital group focused on clean technology as well as information and communication services. He is also a member of The Climate Project and the Climate Communication’s Council, which is part of the Copenhagen Climate Council. For the more information and his full bio, please visit http://www.climateplace.org.
Mr. Miller recommends “Six Degrees: Our Future on a Hotter Planet” by Mark Lynas for more specific impacts of increasing temperatures. http://www.climateplace.org
http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhis/earlyrelease/200812_08.pdf
Dan Miller cites statements made by scientist Jim Hanson.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/121526/Major-Economies-Threat-Climate-Change.aspx
Quote are from Dan Miller’s presentation slides. Http://www.climateplace.org

Butt, recycle?

I have been searching off and on over the last few years for anyone who is recycling or trying to recycle cigarette butts. with over 1 trillion of this little environmental pests put into the environment each year, there should be a strong economic motive to collect and recycle them. The only person I have found who has a process for doing anything with cigarette butts is Blake Burich, who's patent was approved in July 2009. His process uses ground up butts and several chemicals to render the material inert before "moulding it into useful products" His patient application states that no chemicals leach out of the materials when exposed to water. As a side note, 100 discarded cigarette butts contain enough nicotine to kill an adult human.

Of course collection of the butts for recycling is a problem in and of itself. Most smokers seem to have a hard time getting the butts into a receptacles within 10 feet of where they are standing, let alone holding on to them until they come upon one. Maybe, if someone where to develop a reason for collecting the butts, they could create a game out of the receptacles to encourage smokers to at least get their flicks closer to the bin. Who knows, maybe even Vegas would pick up on it!

New Study finds Cigarettes are more dangerous than Diesel fumes

Its nothing new that second hand smoke is dangerous. Its nothing new that second hand smoke contains particles that can damage your lungs. However, the fact that it is 10 TIMES more dangerous than diesel exhaust is pretty shocking to me!

I have noticed more and more people smoking in door ways as I walk down the streets of SF. The State of California has a law that says people can not smoke within 15 feet of an entrance or exit to a public building or within restaurants and bars, but unless someone is standing there enforcing the rule, very few people respect it. I have never heard of anyone being ticketed for this behavior, nor have I heard of any property owner being ticketed for allowing this behavior. Walking down the street I do notice that I am holding my breath a lot.

The following article is an interesting start to how this second hand smoke affects people walking through it and is pretty shocking, but it does leave some questions in my mind. The article states that cigarette smoke has many more particulates than diesel fumes, but that they are short lived in the environment. What constitutes a short life? What happens to the particulates once the dangerous has subsided? What is the most effective way to protect against the effects? How quickly do plants recover? Do the chemicals remain in the soil or on the pavement? Can the chemicals combine with the car exhaust and other chemicals to create a longer-lived or more dangerous chemical in the environment? Finally, this is one of the important aspects of environmental dangers to be sure, but what about the cigarette butts? What effects do those and the chemicals trapped within have on the environment?

Some of these questions were clearly not within the scope of this study, but are questions that I will actively search for answers to as I continue my project, "City Butts".

Cigarettes more polluting than diesel exhaust

11:20 24 August 2004 by Gaia Vince
The air pollution emitted by cigarettes is 10 times greater than diesel car exhaust, a small Italian study finds.

Researchers compared the particulate matter in the exhaust fumes from a modern car engine, fuelled with low-sulphur diesel, and in cigarette smoke. Three smouldering cigarettes produced a 10-fold increase in air particles compared to those produced by the idling vehicle.

"I was very surprised. We didn't expect to find such a big difference in the particulate matter produced," says Giovanni Invernizzi from the Tobacco Control Unit of Italy's National Cancer Institute in Milan, who led the study.

Ivan Vince, an air pollution expert from Ask Consultants in London, UK, says the findings are reasonable. He notes that cigarettes give off a lot more respirable particulates than the new generation of low-sulphur diesels, which help cut particulate emissions.

Smouldering cigarettes

Invernizzi and colleagues conducted their controlled experiment in a private garage in the small Alpine town of Chiavenna, which enjoys a particularly low level of air pollution.

The car used was 2002 Ford Mondeo turbo diesel with a two-litre engine, and had been on the road for six months. It was left idling in the closed garage for 30 minutes while a portable analyser took particulate air samples every two minutes.

The garage was then aired for four hours, after which the doors were re-closed and three filter cigarettes were burned sequentially over a total of 30 minutes.

The portable analyser showed that 10 times as many pollutant particulates were released in the cigarette smoke as the diesel fumes. And the comparative pollution levels for the tiniest particulates - the most dangerous to health - were even greater.

Eye damage

"The tiny particulates, less than 2.5 micrometres, are able to penetrate right into the alveoli in the lungs, where the carcinogens do the most damage," Vince says.

"Most of the chemicals emitted from cigarettes are very short-lived and so they mostly damage the local environment. For example, aldehydes damage plants and peoples' eyes and respiratory tract," he notes. Nitric oxide, also produced by cigarettes, is the culprit in photochemical smog and drives ozone formation in cities.

"But with more and more people being made to smoke outside and in doorways, the external environmental effects must surely rise," Vince told New Scientist.

Invernizzi is hoping his results will provide a new weapon in the fight against teenage smoking. "Adolescents in Milan campaign against pollution and for a better environment - often with a cigarette hanging out of their mouths. We can show them that smoking also harms the environment."

Journal reference: Tobacco Control (vol 13, p 219)

WTF?? This is twitter?!

Ok...So, sometimes I tend to be at the front of the tech curve. I admit it. I am a tech junkie. I had a first generation treo, first generation iPhone, first generation iPod, early myspace and facebook accounts (even if I didnt use them for much), and I bought the new Macbook Pro 13" a couple weeks after it was released. Twitter has been a different matter. After reading about Senators twittering (root word twit?) from the State of the Union address and the including twits, I lost any interest in checking it out. Today, I read my first twit from twitter.com. Now I know why I don't need twitters from twits...

psbx: New doubts on historic Robert Capa pic: Photoshop? http://bit.ly/PwDyF NYT
about 2 hours ago from bit.ly (8/18/09 at 8:43am PST, http://twitter.com/psbx)

Um...REALLY?!? Robert Capa faked his 1936 photo of a falling solider using PHOTOSHOP?! WOW!! If that is the case, I say we need to promote Robert Capa to the status of GODS !

If you want to read the article from the NY Times...http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/18/arts/design/18capa.html?hpw

24th Annual International Costal Clean-up

For 23 years, the Ocean Conservatory has been cleaning up beaches around the world through volunteer power! On September 19th, 2009, volunteers world wide will get out and participate in the 24th annual INTERNATIONAL COASTAL CLEANUP! Last year 400,000 volunteers removed over 6.8 million pounds of garbage. Here in San Francisco, the SF Dept of Public Works (although I am not sure of the relationship) will be doing their annual clean up at Warm Water Cove, which is listed on the Ocean Conservatory website as a clean up location. I have participated in several SFDPW cleanups around SF in the past 2 years and I encourage everyone to do so. By joining this particular clean up you will be part of a world-wide coordinated effort to remove human material waste from the oceans and beaches. You can read last years OC International Cleanup Report at the link below as well as sign up online for a clean up near you. If you can participate in the SFDPW cleanup, they provide lunch and protective equipment as well as properly recycling and disposing of the garbage.

Hope to see you there!!

~Shawn

http://www.signuptocleanup.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=Projects.View&Project_ID=1557

http://www.oceanconservancy.org/site/DocServer/ICCmarineDebrisGuideReadOnly.pdf?docID=5441

www.oceanconservancy.org/site/PageServer