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Images I bought my first camera when I was 13. It was a 35mm Petri rangefinder. I was using a 127 brownie (I have one just like it now) before that. I have been taking pictures ever since. I did photography pretty seriously in the 1970s. Mostly 120 roll film and 4x5 sheet film. I never had a decent darkroom though. I printed many, but not all, of my images. Then kids came along and the darkoom became a bedroom. The cameras and enlargers were sold. I have been carrying around the negatives ever since. I just bought an Epson Perfection 2450 scanner that has an overhead light source for negatives and transparencies. Now I can get my images into Photoshop. Next will be some serious inkjet printing...when I get a serious inkjet printer. One step at a time. I grabbed several sheets of negatives to start scanning. Instead of scanning one that I had printed before I selected one I had never printed. It had scratches and dirt on the negative and was pretty much unprintable in a darkroom. Photoshop to the rescue! I've started a page to collect these images with thumbnails and links to a large images.
Defense
 thanks to Red Rock Eater Digest Red Rock Eater Digest just linked to the above graphic. I went to the domain that was hosting this graphic and found a *very* interesting site. Defense and the National Interest About the Site: Welcome to Defense and the National Interest. Our aim is to foster debate on the roles of the U.S. armed forces in the post-Cold War era and on the resources devoted to them. The ultimate purpose is to help create a more effective national defense against the types of threats we will likely face during the first decades of the new millennium. Contributors to this site are, with a few exceptions, active/reserve, former, or retired military. They often combine a knowledge of military theory with the practical experience that comes from trying their ideas in the field. As you browse our site, please pay particular attention to the e-mails from our deployed forces in such places as Kosovo, Bosnia, and the Middle East. These articles are written by military people. They definitely have a different point of view than someone who is not military. Actually, what's very interesting about this site is that there are a lot of different points of view. Points of view that, while still *military*, are not the point of view that the Pentagon and Bush are promoting. These are the points of view from military on the ground. The following article was writen October, 2000. Bulging Muscles Won't Win The Next War Replace the name "Tercios" with the U.S. armed forces and you'll have a clear snapshot of our military in year 2000. An obsolete, bloated, top-heavy force still structured to fight the Cold War. An outfit that won't cut it in the totally different kinds of wars we'll be waging this century. A truism of war is either change with the times or get whipped. Remember Kasserine Pass? Remember Vietnam? And look at our recent track record:
In the war with Iraq, it took the Pentagon five months to field a tank-heavy army that, once deployed, refought World War II—mass bombing, units on line and virtually every movement controlled by the top. In the end, Saddam Hussein and his army escaped. And nine years later that unfinished war may be back on Page One tomorrow.
In the recent dust-up with Serbia, it took the U.S. Army six weeks to move a 5,000-man force to Albania—a force which then proved incapable of fulfilling the hype the Pentagon had put out about what was going to happen to the Serbs when it got there. The air campaign was just as ineffective. Even with smart weapons—which missed 50 percent of their targets—and twice as much air power than was initially tasked for the job, air power blew it. After being struck by more bomb tonnage than Ike used against the Nazis at Normandy, the third-rate Serbian army was able to withdraw from the field in fighting shape. It still remains a threat to peace in the Balkans. The Pentagon spends more than the rest of the world combined on our military—preparing for the wrong war and in the process taking care of the porkers and the generals' retirement jobs.
Reforming the Defense Department should have at least the same priority as cleaning up Social Security, education and the environment. If we're whipped on the battlefield, those programs won't mean zilch to the victors. Or to us. The above article led to a similar site... and...
Bush
 thanks to Scripting News George W. Bush's 'Homeland Insecurity' thanks to wood s lot
America and the world: an abyss of perception thanks to wood s lot
NON-U.S. OLYMPIANS ASKED TO UNITE BEHIND AMERICA BY FINISHING BEHIND AMERICA
Republican agenda rules the war on terrorism thanks to The Liberal Arts Mafia French anger at US policy on Israel The minister's attack comes amid a chorus of dismay in Europe at Mr Bush's state of the union speech last week in which he named Iran, Iraq and North Korea as sponsors of terrorism in an "axis of evil". Mr Védrine said that Europeans "are friends of the United States and will remain so". But, he added: "We are threatened today by a new simplism which consists in reducing everything to the war on terrorism. We cannot accept that idea. You have got to tackle the root causes, the situations, poverty, injustice."
He said US rhetoric was confirmation that the Bush administration approached foreign policy "unilaterally, without consulting anyone, based on their interpretation and on their interests". thanks to The Liberal Arts Mafia After reading about Bush, and how he is dragging this county down, I just want to say...
It's a wonderful world This is incredible!
the Blue Marble
This spectacular “blue marble” image is the most detailed true-color image of the entire Earth to date. Using a collection of satellite-based observations, scientists and visualizers stitched together months of observations of the land surface, oceans, sea ice, and clouds into a seamless, true-color mosaic of every square kilometer (.386 square mile) of our planet. These images are freely available to educators, scientists, museums, and the public. Preview images and links to full resolution versions—up to 21,600 pixels across—are located below. Blue Marble is part of... thanks to MetaFilter
Islamic Art Craig, at BookNotes, has some very tasty links to Islamic Arts. I've been fascinated by Islamic art since my days as an Architecture student in the early 60s. I've been doing some studying of Islamic patterns. I will have to put up some of what I have been discovering. It's something that you can fall into forever. It all begins with a point and then it expands...and expands...and expands...
Dangerous Books Harry Potter fans warn against dangerous effects of Bible
OXFORD, Tuesday: A number of concerned British Harry Potter fans have spoken out against the Bible, claiming that the holy text of the Christian Church can cause serious damage to children. “Reading the Bible teaches children to believe in the supernatural,” said one English Literature academic from Oxford University, Lewis Williams. “The tales of Jesus turning water into wine are fairly harmless, but there is a serious risk of children drowning if they try to walk on water,” he said. “And the chance of serious bodily harm isn’t exactly minimised by that whole ‘resurrection-from-the-dead’ story either.” thanks to MetaFilter
Ban These Books Too; It's Only Fair One particularly reprehensible author of whom you may have heard is William Shakespeare. He refers to the sex act thoughout many of his plays. In one, he revoltingly calls a black man copulating with a white woman a "black ram tupping a white ewe" [1] and refers to them "making the beast with two backs" [2]. In another, he euphemistically refers to sexual congress as doing "the act of darkness" [3]. Besides all the fornicating, this author often makes jokes from references to human genitalia [4]. Many of his books are full of murder -- of which he also makes jokes [5]. Is nothing sacred?!
There's another set of books that is potentially more disturbing. They appear to have been written by various authors, but since the books are nearly always published as a collection under one cover, I consider them together as one book. You may have heard of them too. They are referred to as Scripture and the Bible.
Since the Bible is so ubiquitous, it is too bad that a little witchcraft and a few naughty words aren't the worst of it. Unfortunately, it contains many stories of sexual abuse and deviance. Unlike other books you have banned where perversion is related as such, in Scripture, the perverts and abusers are often the people who are supposed to be the heroes. One of the primary heroes is Abraham who is married to his half-sister [8]. Nothing is made of this disgusting little detail, as if incest were the most natural thing in the world. Does this not at least fall under the category of "unsuited to age group", the third most frequent excuse for banning books during the past decade? thanks to BookNotes
Hi-Fi Henry Kloss, 72, Innovator in Audio and Video, Dies Henry Kloss was Hi-Fi in the 60s. I'm listening to music on a pair of speakers made by his company—KLH17s. They reside on either side of my monitor (scroll down). I listened to all that wild and crazy music in the 60s on these speakers. They still sound good. Goodbye Henry.
The Looting of America No matter what Republican political economists says, Reaganomics in the final analysis can not be justified because you can not defend the indefensible. You cannot get around the fact that the Reagan Bush Regime came into office with a $1 trillion accumulated National Debt and the Social Security Fund (both the General Fund and Disability Fund) was fully funded. They came into office with all the other 43 Public Trust Funds, such as the Indian Affairs Fund and the National Reclamation Fund, fully intact and funded. Most importantly, they came into office with the United States being the largest creditor nation on earth.
Twelve years later, when the Reagan Bush Regime left office, they had expanded the National Debt from $1 trillion to $5.65 trillion. They had created a total long-term deficit in the Social Security General and Disability Trust Funds of some $3.2 trillion. Then in 1983, they started to say that we are henceforth going to count social security contributions as surpluses to the Fund, and we will count them now as General Revenue. To offset the drain, we will place non-marketable, long-term, US Treasury Bonds with a 3% coupon rate into the Social Security Trust Funds. In other words, we will stuff the Social Security Fund with worthless paper. thanks to SmirkingChimp.com
Pearls before swine Here is a cool site on Pearls. thanks to Netsurfer Digest
Enron Many of my younger readers (Robby and Eliott - this means you) have heard the name "Watergate" but have no idea of what it was. Simply put, President Nixon was involved with illegal activities and, when those illegal activities were found out, he denied everything. One of Nixon's minions in this coverup was John Dean. John Dean is an expert on Presidential coverups so his articles on the current Presidential coverup are pretty meaningful. Enron spent big money in Washington. According to available records, Enron lavished near $5.8 million in political contributions on various candidates (Congresspersons, Senators, the President and Vice President) over the last decade, with almost seventy-five percent of it going to Republicans. Indeed, according to one report, Enron and its officials spent $2 million on George W. Bush's political career alone, starting with his first (unsuccessful) run for Congress.
What, I have been wondering, did spreading all that money around Washington accomplish? Notwithstanding protestations to the contrary, American businessmen don't make large political contributions because they love their country. Rather they are investments, on which they want a return. But what did Enron get for its money? As discussed below, I have concluded it received quite a lot. Vice President Dick Cheney has thrown down the gauntlet. He has refused to give the General Accounting Office the very limited information they have requested about the work of his energy task force. (GAO, created in 1921 during the Harding Administration, has from its inception been an independent and nonpartisan agency of the Congress, charged with studying the programs and expenditures of the federal government.) Cheney says he is refusing to provide information to the Congress as a matter of principle. He told the Today Show that he wants to "protect the ability of the president and the vice president to get unvarnished advice from any source we want." That sounds all too familiar to me. I worked for Richard Nixon.
In fact, not since Richard Nixon stiffed the Congress during Watergate has a White House so openly, and arrogantly, defied Congress's investigative authority. Nor has any activity by the Bush Administration more strongly suggested they are hiding the incriminating information about their relationship with the now- moribund Enron, or other heavy-hitting campaign contributors from the energy business. thanks to MetaFilter
War on Drugs I missed the Super Bowl and the tasteful drug ads. Fortunately MetaFilter provided a link to I Helped. I was speechless. Others weren't. Brooke Biggs at the bitter shack of resentment:
The Superbowl Ads from the White House Which Equate Drugs with Terrorism The gist is that people who buy drugs help those who profit from drugs, some of whom are terrorists (most of whom are not, but whatever). This shifting of blame to regular people -- especially young people, is so crazily over-the-top hypocritical, I want to poke someone reallly really hard. A kid who looks like he may have done some recreational drugs at some point (definitely no addict) says: "I helped kill a family in Colombia." Compare that to the US government, which sends billions to Colombia in "anti-drug" money which inevitably gets funneled to the government's right-wing paramilitary thugs who not only kill innocent people who get in the way, but also profit from the cocaine trade by controlling vast swaths of the coca-growing regions and shaking down farmers. That kid has probably paid more in taxes in his life than he has spent on drugs, and it's those taxes his government sends off to Colombia to finance executions in the name of the Drug War. A girl in the spot says "I helped kill a judge." Well, so did your government, darling, which through Plan Colombia, sent money to the very folks who assassinated this guy a month ago. Geov Parrish makes a good point that you're more likely to be financing a Middle Eastern despot or terrorist by filling your car up with gas.
An answer to a question few know to ask Which side of the road do they drive on? thanks to MetaFilter
Corporatism/Globalism Of the world's 100 largest economic entities, 51 are now corporations and 49 are countries.
Shall We Leave It to the Experts? Recently, globalization has come in for some criticism. The protests in Seattle and Prague will go down in history. Each time the WTO or the World Economic Forum wants to have a meeting, ministers have to barricade themselves with thousands of heavily armed police. Still, all its admirers, from Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan and A.B. Vajpayee (the Indian Prime Minister) to the cheering brokers in the stalls, continue to say the same lofty things: If we have the right institutions of governance in place--effective courts, good laws, honest politicians, participatory democracy, a transparent administration that respects human rights and gives people a say in decisions that affect their lives--then the globalization project will work for the poor as well. They call this "globalization with a human face." The point is, if all this were in place, almost anything would succeed: socialism, capitalism, you name it. Everything works in Paradise, a Communist State as well as a Military Dictatorship. But in an imperfect world, is it globalization that's going to bring us all this bounty? Is that what's happening in India now that it's on the fast track to the free market? Does any one thing on that lofty list apply to life in India today? Are state institutions transparent? Have people had a say--have they even been informed, let alone consulted--about decisions that vitally affect their lives? And are Clinton (or now Bush) and Prime Minister Vajpayee doing everything in their power to see that the "right institutions of governance" are in place? Or are they involved in exactly the opposite enterprise? Do they mean something else altogether when they talk of the "right institutions of governance"?
The fact is that what's happening in India today is not a "problem," and the issues that some of us are raising are not "causes." They are huge political and social upheavals that are convulsing the nation. One is not involved by virtue of being a writer or activist. One is involved because one is a human being. thanks to also not found in nature
"Argentina, The 'Obedient' Victim" Interviewer: Argentina did everything the IMF ordered, and it's a broken country -- what's the lesson to learn for Mexico?
Eduardo Galeano: It's not only a lesson for Mexico but for the whole world, but in general I'd say that people just shouldn't believe the story: one has to be a bit more careful; the discourse of power doesn't reveal, but conceals or disguises the truth. The lesson from Argentina is not to follow this (neoliberal) discourse that leads to extermination! And not only has it lead to the destruction of national economies, but it also has horrifying consequences beyond economics. This neo-liberal IMF discourse doesn't only reflect in massive poverty but also produces an offensive concentration of wealth among the few. It is like a slap on the face, a daily insult -- this ostentatious power of the few in the midst of the helplessness of the many. thanks to wood s lot Pressurepoint says "No" to Yes Logo To state that "Corporate culture has created more happiness than it has misery" is as blatant as to believe the myth perpetrated by the South during slavery; that blacks couldn't make it on their own, and that slavery was a benevolent system where blacks were taken care of by a warm and fuzzy extended family.
Yes, you're right Sean, one only has to read Upton Sinclair to see where industrial society was headed at the end of the 19th century, and you only have to read David Korten to see where it's headed now. Which is exactly the point. During this time last century people fought and died died for women's right of suffrage, to have an 8 hour working day and a decent wage, and the right to form a union. They certanily weren't given them as result of the great social largesse thanks to Seattle IndyMedia
The Program on Corporations, Law and Democracy has a wealth of resources on the history of the corporation in the US, legal challenges to corporate charters, and other creative ways citizens can work together to re-establish democratic control over the economic, cultural and political environment. Other sources of information include: thanks to Seattle IndyMedia
Signs Walls not only do have ears, they can speak too. At least they could. Just like the animals they lost the ability. But unlike the animals they lost it only recently. Billboards muted their voice. Relentless decay took off immediately.
 thanks to MetaFilter
Rebels Rebel voices on road: Proposed road-name change sparks anger State Rep. Hans Dunshee is used to getting an earful from constituents about traffic, taxes and budget cuts. But lately, the Snohomish Democrat's in-box has been flooded with tirades of a far different sort. Dunshee has been bombarded with hundreds of e-mails, letters and phone calls from Civil War buffs, descendants of Southern Confederates and others angry over his proposal to change Highway 99's forgotten name — "Jefferson Davis Highway No. 99." Instead of commemorating Davis, president of the Confederacy during the Civil War, Dunshee wants to rename the route after an African American, William Stewart, who fought for the North and later moved to Snohomish, where he is buried.
"I don't know what your beef with Jeff Davis is," wrote Andy Roberts of Kansas, arguing the Confederacy was about preserving states' rights, not perpetuating slavery. "He was an American patriot," added Pamela Lee Boliew of Louisiana in an e-mail to Dunshee. State's rights? Do these people really believe that the Civil War had nothing to do with slavery? Do they realy believe that people were willing to kill and be killed over state's rights? Or was it the right of the State to have slaves? Jefferson Davis an American patriot? How twisted is that? He was a Confederate patriot and an American traitor. Did any of these people notice that Davis and pals attacked the U.S. and killed a hell of a lot more Americans that any terrorists ever did? I'll bet that they also believe that John Walker is a traitor and should be hanged. Walker, who never attacked the U.S. Sorry, this has just been bugging me.
Religion Here are a couple of religious sites. One is a parody. One is not. It's kind of hard to tell them apart.
Take Back Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day has always been nothing more than a shameless celebration of promiscuity. In grade schools throughout the land, 6-year-olds are encouraged to fill their classmates' shoeboxes with sexually predatory demands like "Be Mine!" Hearts are everywhere - red and round like ripe baboon anuses when they are in heat. Grown women are running around with their hearts on fire for any stranger with a Whitman's Sampler. But all these people whipped into a fornicating frenzy have their hearts turned off to the one person who matters - Jesus! Well, we at Landover Baptist are going on record, saying our hearts are on for Jesus! Landover Baptist joins Christians nationwide in implementing the “I’ve Got a Heart On For Jesus!” campaign to teach children the importance of living chaste, sin-free lives. The program replaces the secular "holiday" of "Valentine's Day." thanks to the bitter shack of resentment
 thanks to MetaFilter
Israel/Palestine
The Palestinian Vision of Peace For the past 16 months, Israelis and Palestinians have been locked in a catastrophic cycle of violence, a cycle which only promises more bloodshed and fear. The cycle has led many to conclude that peace is impossible, a myth borne out of ignorance of the Palestinian position. Now is the time for the Palestinians to state clearly, and for the world to hear clearly, the Palestinian vision. But first, let me be very clear. I condemn the attacks carried out by terrorist groups against Israeli civilians. These groups do not represent the Palestinian people or their legitimate aspirations for freedom. They are terrorist organizations, and I am determined to put an end to their activities. The Palestinian vision of peace is an independent and viable Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in 1967, living as an equal neighbor alongside Israel with peace and security for both the Israeli and Palestinian peoples. In 1988, the Palestine National Council adopted a historic resolution calling for the implementation of applicable United Nations resolutions, particularly, Resolutions 242 and 338. The Palestinians recognized Israel's right to exist on 78 percent of historical Palestine with the understanding that we would be allowed to live in freedom on the remaining 22 percent, which has been under Israeli occupation since 1967. Our commitment to that two-state solution remains unchanged, but unfortunately, also remains unreciprocated.
We seek true independence and full sovereignty: the right to control our own airspace, water resources and borders; to develop our own economy, to have normal commercial relations with our neighbors, and to travel freely. In short, we seek only what the free world now enjoys and only what Israel insists on for itself: the right to control our own destiny and to take our place among free nations. thanks to MetaFilter Waiting for the peace marchers According to a well-placed military source, just before Tanzim commander Raed Karmi was killed, Yasser Arafat was closer than ever to a decision to order the armed intifada to switch to nonviolent civil disobedience. The terrorist attacks and the shootings that followed Karmi's "work accident," as Defense Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer referred to his assassination, postponed the change - but didn't cancel it. At the Palestinian Authority offices in Ramallah, officials are studying the way South African blacks challenged apartheid. Arafat has lately been speaking of a march on Jerusalem. The flood of articles written by Palestinian leaders for the Israeli and American press are an indication of the desire to turn the swords into plowshares. Israel's security services have also heard about the attempt to organize nonviolent demonstrations. At various levels of the army, they are trying to figure out how to cope with a scenario in which thousands of unarmed Palestinians march from Ramallah, Jericho and Bethlehem, toward the army checkpoints with which the IDF has surrounded Jerusalem.
One question bothering the field commanders, for example, is what should a platoon commander do if his soldiers are faced with hundreds of women and Palestinian school children carrying only peace placards, walking toward the settlement of Psagot? What if dozens of marches leave at the same time from all over the West Bank, heading toward the settlements that surround them? The answers coming up in the internal discussions are that tanks and helicopters are useless against demonstrators armed with peace posters. For the first time, a supreme commander "More than anything else, this war is characterized by Israel's heavy response. Killing every Arab with a 500-kilo hammer is way out of proportion," says reserve major general Avraham Tamir. "Our reactions, like those of the Americans in Vietnam and the Soviets in Afghanistan, cause a lot more casualties and create a lot more hostility and hatred. Sharon can adopt a scorched earth policy, destroy the Palestinian infrastructure, and exile the entire Palestinian leadership, but as long as the hostility remains, he won't defeat terror."
Tamir, 78, says that he knows Sharon better than almost anyone else. An emergency appointment sent him to Sharon's headquarters as assistant operations officer when Sharon commanded the army that crossed the Suez Canal in the Yom Kippur War. During the Lebanon war, Tamir was head of the National Security Unit and served as Sharon's strategic advisor.
ARAFAT, SHARON WALK OFF SET OF "ISRAEL" Sources on the set of "Israel" say the show's irascible stars, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, walked off the set of history's longest-running drama today, complaining the show's scriptwriters continually make their characters look stupid. "I'm supposed to be the Prime Minister of a country that's embroiled in this terrible conflict, where diplomacy and tact and wisdom should be important, but you people always have me behaving like an inflammatory idiot!" Sharon reportedly shouted before throwing his script on the ground and storming off to his trailer. "I swear, if you hacks have me bulldozing one more Palestinian village, or making one more asinine, provocative comment, I'm filing a complaint with Actors Equity," he added.
Arafat was allegedly no less piqued at the way recent treatments have depicted the gruff, unlovable Palestinian chief he portrays.
Light Things have been a little light here at gordon.coale. I've been distracted a bright shiny thingy. Actually it's the scanner. Actually it's not so much the scanner (Epson Perfection 2450 PHOTO) as the scanner software - SilverFast 5.5. I had been using an old Relysis scanner with it's Twain software that I bought in 1995. Going to the Epson with SilverFast is like going from Microsoft Paint to Photoshop. Actually Photoshop LE since this is SilverFast SE which means I will have to pony up for the upgrade to the real SilverFast. SE, or not, it's fantastic. It really does some neat tricks when scanning negatives. My life is now so much more meaningful. My customers have been making me work too.
Scanner Saturday I picked up an Epson Perfection 2450 PHOTO scanner. I've been scanning all weekend. This sucker is amazing. A flat bed that will scan 35mm slides with a built in overhead light source. Don't take my word for it. Here's a detailed review. I have boxes of negtatives and transparencies from 35mm to 4x5. I did a few quick scans and was most pleased. But before I get into the film I have a book project that has been on hold until I got this scanner. (My old Relysis wouldn't work on my new (6 months old) computer.) Griff My grandfather started the Naval Artists program just prior to WW II. He wrote a couple of books, North Atlantic Patrol and Victory at Midway, that I have been putting up on a site I call Griff's Story. The site explains it all. The books are great reading and his paintings and sketched are wonderful. He gives a very personal view of his war. There is a lot more to add that was never published. Enjoy what is there. There will be more. Now, back to scanning.
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