Slashdot Mirror

So if someone has the temerity to hand you a resume and they have the name "Laquan" or "Shaniqua" or even "Lexus" you're going to turn them down because the name is "low class" and it's the one their *parents* gave them (You didn't choose /your/ name, did you? Most people don't.)

So you're prejudiced against what someone's parents named them. Good Job.

You and all the other assholes that judge people by their names are idiots.

"No Irish Need Apply"

http://api.ning.com/files/Bykv...

--
BMO

Of course I can. The strongest case I can make is nobody is selling my private identifying information--bank accounts, social security numbers, credit cards--or my personal life. They're selling records of my public interaction, or aggregate statistics.

People get all up-in-arms about something like Facebook selling statistics that they have some number of users who, between certain hours, have interest in My Little Ponies *and* are 28-35. They sell advertising in blocks like that, and someone buys an ad, and you get shown an ad targeting you based on your behavior. Folks go, "OH MY GOD THEY'RE SELLING MY PERSONAL INFORMATION!" ... well, yes. This matters how?

The answer is it only matters because it personally offends someone in some nebulous way. The practical impact on anyone's and everyone's privacy is NOTHING.

It's a bunch of noise from a bunch of idiots who have no idea what the fuck is going on, but want to brandish their nerd-cred by crying privacy for every fucking thing while they run personal web servers that log IP addresses.

If you were so concerned about privacy, maybe you'd lobby to make police body cameras illegal to protect the privacy of the officers, too; for that matter, people shouldn't be able to look at you when you're outside, and cars should be largely invisible and not have license plates because that's waving your privacy all over the place. Of course all of those things have concrete, identifiable leads back to someone's personal, individual activity; and they all occur in public, where the information is visible by many third-parties; and nobody actually cares, and will argue (finally with some sanity) that things like recording the police should be legal if for no other reason than because they're IN A PUBLIC PLACE AND CAN'T EXPECT PRIVACY--but HEAVEN HELP THEM if they have a PHOTOGRAPH of YOUR CAR driving down a PUBLIC ROAD, because that's INVADING YOUR PRIVACY!

You can't even identify most of the private information they must be selling; and the information you can identify, you can't figure out why it might impinge on your privacy. Like an asinine patent troll, all you can do is assert that metrics and numbers and ideals describing groups of people built up from individual sampling are magically dangerous to you now, somehow, because, although this has been done for literally hundreds of years, it's now being done "ON A COMPUTER".

Mass hysteria, because the masses are idiots.

Why? Is it the wig or the hat?

Last time somebody claimed to know the identity of Satoshi he posted a denial here after a 5 year hiatus. If Satoshi really wanted to reveal his identity, it would be strange for him not to make that claim on the P2PFoundation website (in addition to creating a technical proof).

Why? Satoshi strikes me as someone who is shrewd enough to take action if there is an advantage to it. White is making noise in the system, creating confusion all around. If he wants to remain anonymous than he is incentivized to not discredit him. And I imagine he wants to remain anonymous for tax reasons, so why discredit him at all?

It serves White's crazy personality to make this claim by giving him celebrity. It serves Satoshi's purposes to let him have the celebrity so he can continue living the way he chooses.

Last time somebody claimed to know the identity of Satoshi he posted a denial here after a 5 year hiatus. If Satoshi really wanted to reveal his identity, it would be strange for him not to make that claim on the P2PFoundation website (in addition to creating a technical proof).

Well if it is on a smart phone having a data connection would allow the retrieval of the necessary data so it may be that who ever wrote the article isn't really aware of what is needed. Yes the antennas in phones suck, as do the GPS chipsets. Also whoever wrote the article doesn't' seem to know much about antennas as I use some very small but pretty good ones with nice uBlox LEA-6t module in my home built setup for RTK and they work great.

I wonder, after carefully reading the article, if they are discussing getting 2cm resolution instead of 2cm accuracy since getting a better resolution would seem to be doable with a better antenna and nothing else. Also I don't believe any of the GPS modules in cellphones are capable of outputting L2 carrier phase data or raw pseudo range data which would be needed for RTK so at best they could do DGPS which is a lot less software intensive. Usually the giant dinner plate thing isn't the antenna but a shield that is meant to prevent most of the multipath problems. a piece of grounded sheet metal works just as well. On newer modules it is also handled in software but the shielding still makes things easier as it filters most of the reflected signals coming from below.

Since the last time I posted about this stuff people wanted to know where to get one here is the discussion I found that got me pointed in the right direction.

After the GMX account was gained (however that happened), yes the person targeted known Satoshi accounts. P2P Foundation was also hit;-

http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/...

About as well as it did the last time..

You see, letters in the hebrew language are also numbers. There is no W so V is used in it's place or in other words, V and W are interchangeable. It so happens that V is also 6 so when you type www, you are typing 666. That's right, every time to go on the World Wide Web, you are paying homage to the beast.

That was the early rallying cry to why the internet was evil and should be removed. Of course some people who actually knew better checked up on those facts and it turns out a little different.

Except that 666 isn't the number of the beast, it's actually 616. Google it, number of sources other then the one I put down.

http://theologica.ning.com/pro...

RE: http://lissakr11humane.com/201... The United States of America is on a global murder spree headed by fbi/cia/dod/nsa icluding threatening and overthrowing governments and assassinations all in favor of USA's plan for world inhumane domination. http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/part... fbi's Cointelpro operative seeks to discredit this combat war vet (& fbi whistleblower) by claiming that vet's service makes him a murderer and possibly a mass murderer. http://sosbeevfbi.ning.com/pro... ELF: http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/high... Synthetic Kidney Stone: http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/part... http://online.liebertpub.com/d... Dilemma http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/dile... Cointelpro: http://neworleans.indymedia.or... http://www.indymedia.org.nz/ar... Ad: http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/Reso... http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/holl... http://neworleans.indymedia.or... http://www.sosbeevfbi.com/fbic...

Yeah, except Satoshi Nakamoto (whoever he is) has denied being this Dorian Nakamoto guy (see the comment at the bottom of this page: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/...), and Dorian Nakamoto claims that he was misquoted here: hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BITCOIN_FOUNDER_DENIAL

It's all bulllshit. Newsweek is a rag. Did anyone really trust it?

There's no especially compelling reason to trust Newsweek.

Then again, there's no especially compelling reason to trust Dorian Nakamoto, either.

And what is the evidence in favor of him being "the guy"?

His name is the same as a notoriously anonymous programmers online handle and thats about it. On the other hand one of the real Satoshi's known accounts posted that he is not this guy. And has been verified as a the legit account by the forums admin.

http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/...

https://twitter.com/jdaviescoa...

And would the "real" Satoshi Nakamoto say anything different? It's pretty clear that whoever is behind bitcoin does not want the spotlight -- they could be on pretty much any media outlet they chose by now if they wanted. So why would anyone in their right mind take a denial as absolute proof that he isn't the "real" Satoshi Nakamoto, when that is more or less exactly what a reasonable person would expect the "real" Satoshi Nakamoto to do if identified?

Precisely.

The only people who know whether the second poster in this thread who calls himself Satoshi is (or is not) telling the truth, are the people who work at NSA/GCHQ, and although I'm sure they're talking amongst themselves, they're sure as hell not talking to Newsweek.

Funny thing is, if this Dorian dude is as smart as he seems to be, he just might be smart enough to post his denial in a secure way. Or the Real Satoshi on ning has been compromised by a friend. Or the Real Satoshi on ning is not this Dorian dude. But if (and only if) ((Dorian controls the Real Satoshi account) && (Dorian screwed up)), the Five Eyes know, but five eyes do not make one mouth, and they, thankfully, will remain silent.

(I mean, yes, the real Satoshi has a blog, but if you want to prove that you're the guy who mined the first x Bitcoins, it seems like there might be a very straightforward way using the BTC protocol itself.)

Yeah, except Satoshi Nakamoto (whoever he is) has denied being this Dorian Nakamoto guy (see the comment at the bottom of this page: http://p2pfoundation.ning.com/...), and Dorian Nakamoto claims that he was misquoted here: hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_BITCOIN_FOUNDER_DENIAL

It's all bulllshit. Newsweek is a rag. Did anyone really trust it?

Satoshi Nakamoto: "I am not Dorian Nakamoto."

You mean Boeing.

Boeing Called A Target Of French Spy Effort
Airbus' Presentation on Boeing 787 - Bad CI Ethics?

A little more data for you.

Airbus' Presentation on Boeing 787 - Bad CI Ethics?
Boeing Called A Target Of French Spy Effort

You might read those, then read the link above labeled, "Why We Spy on Our Allies."

Reading into Glen Greenwald's comments and some of his other statements, it would seem that much of the spying is used not for security purposes, rather it's to give an edge to certain select US businesses.

Unless you can point to something firmer, you probably have that garbled. The situation is rather more subtle than that.

Why We Spy on Our Allies - By R. James Woolsey, a Washington lawyer and a former Director of Central Intelligence.

Boeing Called A Target Of French Spy Effort
Airbus' Presentation on Boeing 787 - Bad CI Ethics?

You seem to be contradicting yourself.

In addition, it will make food much less expensive which means your bargaining power goes up, which means less poor people.

Do I think Monsanto is in it to end world hunger? Nope. They're in it to make money, just like any other business.

If Monsanto wants to make profit, they will charge as much as they can. That does not make food cheaper.

GMO has the potential to reduce the need for farmland, which if I were an environmentalist I would be ecstatic for because that means tearing down less forest land to create farms

But commercial GMO will not be created to benefit society. Just like cures for diseases are not researched by commercial drug companies, only treatments that will be life-long. The GMO you will see created is like the Roundup-Ready, spend more money on things to keep them going. Try looking into how bad the "Green Revolution" turned out for the third world countries where it was implemented. Farmers are killing themselves in mass quantities because they cannot farm their land anymore. And it seems you won't mind if that happens elsewere.

Do we use more glyphosate based pesticides? Probably. Given that we have created a situation where the plants we want are immune to them, and it kills the plants we don't want, it wouldn't surprise me in the slightest that we now make more of them. Why, did that surprise you? If it did, that doesn't say much about your intelligence. Glyphosate doesn't end up on our dinner plates in any significant quantities, so it's not a problem.

Here you are with diseases and as a society we have cancer rates climbing and you don't see any problem with poison in our food. Try looking at the rate of miscarriage in the farming industry when the animals are fed GMO food. It may surprise you.

The organic industry hates Monsanto because now they have to compete with their prices. And it sucks for them particularly bad because organic farming has otherwise very high profit margins, but its costs will never go down, even though it is already scientifically proven to offer zero health or taste benefit over any other form of farming.

The scienctific studies were complete BS on that. They looked at one thing only, nutrition content. Did they check for the difference in pesticide and herbicide levels? No. Also, check out the profitability of a small farm per acre compared to a large commercial farm. Link: $1400/acre compared to $35/acre.

Whole Foods is in it to make money as well. And what do you know, I don't shop there because I can't afford their food. I've found that a wal-mart strawberry tastes the same as a whole foods strawberry, only costs about half as much, so I shop there. Does that anger you? Makes me happy to be honest, because as the saying goes: A penny saved is a penny earned.

And the strawberry is the most important food to get organic variety of because of the amount of poison it absorbs. You should seriously look at the food you are putting into your body as you are probably killing yourself. I guess you don't care how sick you are as long as you save your penny. Did you forget to calculate the medical costs. I think that is called "penny wise - pound foolish"! I am happy you are happy, as the sooner you types kill yourselves off we can fix these problems with our food supply.

anti-vaccine movement
9/11 conspiracy theorists
moon landing hoaxers
chemtrail fearmongerers

Yes, it being anti-GMO is every bit as unreasonable and even harmful as all of the above things to me. To me there is no difference, all of these people conveniently ignore any evidence that they might be wrong under the assumption that either there's a corporate conspiracy, the illuminati, or something equally stupid out to

If she simply admitted that she was wrong, future employers might consider a little sympathy

^ This. Reminds me quite a lot of dongle-gate woman for the same inability to comprehend the actual problem.

Also relevant to this "internet-never-forgets" topic is the fact that before it was deleted, Emma Way's twitter history showed a posting with a photo of her car speedometer at 95mph... oh look, here's a copy: Emma Way doing 95mph

Oh, come on now. You really want me to go this degree, to demonstrate something I'm sure we both are reasonably sure about? OK.

Here's a list of US political parties: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_the_United_States

The Tea Party isn't on it, but the libertarian party and other parties are.

Here's the estimated size of people who consider themselves to be in the Tea Party, according to the Tea Party: 8.9 million people. And at least 1.7 million attended Glenn Beck's rally. So just in case the Tea Party site is inflating it's own figures, I'll split the different at say 5 million. If you have other estimates you'd prefer, then please post your own. http://teapartyorg.ning.com/page/tea-party-groups

Here's the Tea Party platform. Again, if you know other info then you post it. Note that # 1 is "eliminate excessive taxes". http://www.teaparty-platform.com/

I just looked at the pages information for each of the other parties listed. Not one has the Tea Party's 4 million members. The closest is the Libertarian party; they cast 1.7 million votes in 2012 for Gary Johnson. So, let's generously double that to 3.4 million members. They mention taxes 9th in their platform. So, they still have fewer members and less of a focus on taxes. The next largest, the Green Party, has 500,000 members and no mention of taxes. The 5th, the Constitution party, had 125,000 presidential votes. Double that to 250,000 and that's nowhere near the Tea Party's size. Now, the Constitution party does appear to have quite a focus on taxes. But they are, at their highest estimation, much less than half the Tea Party's size.

So, there you have it. My statement stands: the Tea Party is far more anti-tax than any party that is even close to their size. Which, by the way, I remain convinced you were aware of but for some reason you were attempting to deny.

If you disagree, please prove that some other group is angrier about taxes and is more driven to reduce taxes than the Tea Party, by showing a) more members and b) more virulence in their platform. Or, come up with some other way to prove me wrong.

That's kinda scary. Take a look at her. She has two eyes, a nose, a mouth, two arms, two breasts - I presume there are two legs supporting her. She looks rather normal, if aging and weatherbeaten. Why don't nutcases look - well - NUTS? Hell, she looks almost attractive in this pic: http://api.ning.com/files/aOwvTWeocChEvVtCkbqfW6Uo45XBuD57L8oP1qFoQ1VghmM*TDK5dv3uBytUBnjlWB6IQzYzZMP2zaS4kGkSZib6LNzoUSzA/Taitz2.jpg

Alright, I scrolled through Google's images of Orly, and the above is the only image of her that wouldn't scare me sober if she hit on me in a bar. Good God - I had no idea that a Jewish girl could be THAT homely!

Surely you all know the habitable zone is exactly 20ft wide? Someone told me once, so I believed them

Surely Leia and Han have daugthers. At least one of whom will be in her early twenties and voluptuous.

But, no, I don't necessarily think Carrie Fisher anno 2012 would be a good idea for the slave outfit. But she does look like she could be a jedi master - she's clearly stopping heavy vehicles with a finger gesture while balancing a spoon, without breaking a sweat.

nope

Wow. You said 'nope'

Well, that pretty much refutes this spectral graph of a 16" crash cymbal using two Earthworks M30BX condenser microphones, connected by balanced (XLR) cables to a Lynx L2 balanced sound card capable of recording and playing up to 192 kHz samples at 24 bit word length; using SpectraPlus software to record the samples in stereo, and microphone calibration files such that the frequency response was 10 Hz to 30 kHz ± 0.5 dB; showing that the cymbal produces high-harmonics well above 30k Hz.
(Purple being the initial crash - Yellow being 2 sec ringout.)

http://api.ning.com/files/OadvTsmZLvMJy4sI7gLgzvKgieE-xgy8HlzqqAcyiTuvBgQk5HpwFv-uUdqcRrmI1ze6xiwbb8KpABQIuV*eX2gPh5qV6Lts/zildjian16inchkconstantinoplecrashspectrumforblog.gif

Perhaps the reason your getting so much high-frequency attenuation is because you have your Brüel & Kjær 4954 ¼-inch free-field prepolarized calibration mic positioned too far past the cecum for clear reception.

I've been on a treadmill desk at home since November - even got a brief mention in the news as apparently I was one of the first in the UK to give it a try. I can't recommend it enough. I walk at 1 kph, which doesn't detract from my abilities at all as far as I can tell. Even if it did, the increased alertness and mental stamina (no more afternoon sluggishness) would more than make up for it - no contest. And then there are all the health benefits that come with the extra physical activity, even though it's really, really gentle exercise. I just wish I could have this at work for 8 hours a day instead of just evenings and weekends.

There's a recipe for making your own walking workstation on the cheap in this thread on Office Walkers.

Not a total lack of upgrade.
http://www.instructables.com/id/apple-disk-II-Retro-ipod-charger/
http://recyclemac.wordpress.com/
http://retromaccast.ning.com/

Failing any of this, they will hold a door open in a moderate wind.

The UN does NOT represent YOU

I feel so much better with the US govt representing me!

Just watch: the minute the WSJ stops running editorials like this, the UN will take over! ;-)

;) Doing my bit to help: here are some posters to go with it

I'm quite sure he showed that no model modelled ENSO well - but he often uses animated gifs for that. Tamino often seems to overlook it anyway.

[...] the vast majority of the readers here understand that a model mean would average out any multidecadal variations in the individual model runs, if any existed.

One such animated gif:

http://api.ning.com/files/sG7qq74yCI4jFA8dOaylk4cVqpGj8mjRDVV2iy-DQcGADEjobxEYxQbG6sS6T-*ilbe1IIgBsvGVbF7VQ3UKZeonG1-OnAG-/Animation1.gif

• Occupy Wall Street's General Assembly: http://www.nycga.net/
• The Koch Brothers: http://www.freedomworks.org/ and/or http://teapartypatriots.ning.com/
• The Family: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douglas_Coe
• George Soros: http://www.georgesoros.com/

First, this story is months old and dates back to late August. Second, contrary to the headline, they're not threatening over the "AppleADay" name but the logo.

Third, as is pointed out every time an incident like this occurs, trademark owners have to take no chances and must enforce perceived violations or risk losing their right to it. There is always the risk that a court somewhere in the world might cite the lack of action in some particular case. But, since it's a "David v. Goliath" article, as the summary put it, it's an excellent story to submit to Slashdot and rile up the natives.

Since the two logos only resemble each other to the extent that they both depict apples, why isn't Apple suing Fruit of the Loom or Vic Fruit. Using the same logic, Red Hat would have to sue Arby's to maintain their trademark.

The famous yellow wall: http://c2.api.ning.com/files/3zAOt4*KFA7a5X7Lial3jTuen599xhJFiCGuo8LItNKbr-EjHii31m6nQ05H6W4V06Dr2ORegGbUo3e51YispUB-u7xQRDu0/yellow_wall.jpg

Bill Gates is a megalomaniac and probably insane (advocating mass murder).

Besides the occasional disaster, man made or otherwise, there will always be organized warfare. If we seen anything, these plants are fragile, easy to destroy targets.

The amount of radionuclides stored in each of these nuclear power plants is enough to make even the largest nuclear weapons ever built look like pop-guns. Once the contents are spread thoughout the country side it will be many centuries before a long lived mammals (like humans) can repopulate the affected region.

Oh, the rich have a plan in case of another World War. They will all fly down to Southern hemisphere, while anything larger than a house cat left behind in the Northern Hemisphere will suffer horrible, unspeakable, ugly deaths, and deformities.

Some important references and obscure but very important observations/calculations you may have missed.

Fukushima: Prestigious doctor: US nuclear 'Baby valley of death,' Millions to die

Bioconstration of radioactive I-131 in thyriod gland

Relative radioactivity of Cs-137 verses natural potassium (K-39, K-40, K-41)

Let's not forget.. LFTR, or Thorium only reactors don't exist, nor will they ever exist.

Bill Gates is a megalomaniac and probably insane (advocating mas murder).

Besides the occasional disaster, man made or otherwise, there will always be organized warfare. If we seen anything, these plants are fragile, easy destroy targets.

The amount of radionuclides stored in each of these nuclear power plants is enough to make even the largest nuclear weapons ever built look like pop-guns. Once the contents are spread thoughout the country side it will be many centuries before a long lived mammals (like humans) can repopulate the affected region.

Oh, the rich have a plan in case of another World War. They will all fly down to Southern hemisphere, while anything larger than a house cat left behind in the Northern Hemisphere will suffer horrible, unspeakable, ugly deaths, and deformities.

Some important references and obscure but very important observations/calculations you may have missed.

Fukushima: Prestigious doctor: US nuclear 'Baby valley of death,' Millions to die

Bioconstration of radioactive I-131 in thyriod gland

Relative radioactivity of Cs-137 verses natural potassium (K-39, K-40, K-41)

Let's not forget.. LFTR, or Thorium only reactors don't exist, nor will they ever exist.

It looks rather nice. I want one. A bit off topic, but it sort of reminds me of the PowerBook 1400 solar cell snap on book cover. The top portion of the case could be removed and replaced with a cover of your liking (I think Dell currently does this as well) - someone rather clever came up with a solar cell that you could snap on and it wouldn't be "extra hardware".

Sorry to say...but the "they" who are taking your jobs are computers and robots.

Lots of "extra hands" ("third hand"), clamps /stands that can be moved quickly and easily but stay in place when needed to hold things when Bob is not handy to hold something for you.

http://www.aconcordcarpenter.com/2010/09/rockwell-jaw-stand.html

http://api.ning.com/files/1wnjqZCMOaHxwJZE9-s1LAFawfD8ybVeqLYkbodmkHZhZSh4zC3KY3Ky6t-jKsdnamxXlVhnU215Wp9wBsY2lMGJ6*vhM9FU/14Solderingsetup.jpg?width=721

http://reviews.northerntool.com/0394/253800/free-shipping-rockwell-jawhorse-work-station-model-rk9000-reviews/reviews.htm

Here's a picture of David Johnston after he found out that geeks everywhere have spent hours trying to decipher his code

http://northgapatriots.ning.com/

Look at their "9 VALUES AND 12 PRINCIPLES" even if it's actually 9 principles and 12 values in the list but at least they tried.

Search for tea party patriots god on google

http://www.teaparty-patriots.com/#Judeo-Christian_Nation

http://www.teapartypatriots.org/BlogPostView.aspx?id=51ff1a75-d8bd-4980-97e9-0bab90018d23

Atheists challenged by Tea Party Patriots - http://www.examiner.com/humanism-freethought-in-tampa-bay/atheists-challenged-by-tea-party-patriots

I'll leave it there because quite frankly there is shit loads found on Google that supports my side and it doesn't even cover stuff like Tea party mascot Palin who brings up god all the time. The tea party is very much a religious group trying to rewrite the history of the US and seem to think freedom of religion means freedom to believe in Jesus.

I was actually thinking pretty much the same as you, I would have loved to see this properly masked with the grayscale soldiers and cannon in an otherwise modern scene.

Another example would be the first image which should be pretty easy to blend so that the officers walking down the stairs appear like ghosts walking down the modern-day scene.

I was actually thinking pretty much the same as you, I would have loved to see this properly masked with the grayscale soldiers and cannon in an otherwise modern scene.

Another example would be the first image which should be pretty easy to blend so that the officers walking down the stairs appear like ghosts walking down the modern-day scene.

Disclaimer: I'm not defending the GP.

It doesn't matter that it is technically rather simple to perform, many great works of art are not necessarily difficult in technique, but their value comes from the unique and meaningful perspective of the artist. In this particular case, I have to say that these are some of the most inspired, evocative, and meaningful photo manipulations I have ever seen or am ever likely to see.

Perhaps this is most meaningful photo-manipulation you'll ever see... but I really doubt that's true. The photoshopping here is amateurish, and a detriment, I think, to what could be a very powerful set of artwork. Had the artist managed to blend together the photographs to create a single imagine, rather than two rather obviously layered images, the "ghosts of the past" effect would be much more striking. The artist could have conveyed much more subtle and penetrating messages.

Take this image for example. The impact here is seeing these WWII soldiers walking down an otherwise modern street. A technically proficient photo editor would not have, for example, cut off the legs of the foremost soldier, nor allowed the soldiers in the distance to the right fade out. On top of that, I think it would have been much more striking if the present showed through the past as well - the soldiers on the sidewalk passing by modern road signs, for instance. A similar kind of modification would have transformed this image from intriguing to shocking. The image that comes closest to successfully blending the past and present is this image, except for the tree on the right that fazes out, and the poor blending with the sky.

On the other hand, this image came very close to being absolutely striking, but the decision to partially fade out the car the soldiers are walking by is a tragic mistake. If the car were fully present, the soldiers would look like they were walking around the cars in the parking lot - conveying a powerful message that we tend to move history around our conveniences, rather than respect the weight of the ages. Similarly, this image would have been visually and emotionally arresting, if the artist had been willing to let the flag poles stay in the foreground rather than blend away and back again; and had taken more care with the soldier's legs, and the hard edges in between the second and third pole.

As they are now, these photographs do draw attention to the history of places, and are a worth a look. They are not, however, art-gallery material. And the key difference is not the artistic ambition, but the lack of technical ambition.

Naturally, this is all my artistic opinion, and I understand that we might have different tastes. I just want to emphasize that technical proficiency , or lack thereof, can make or break art... and I think it broke it in this case. If this artist is comfortable handing his work off to a master printmaker, I think this body of work could turn into something really powerful.

Here is an example of some less serious but way better done manipulations of historic photos. Seriously, check this stuff out.

Disclaimer: I'm not defending the GP.

It doesn't matter that it is technically rather simple to perform, many great works of art are not necessarily difficult in technique, but their value comes from the unique and meaningful perspective of the artist. In this particular case, I have to say that these are some of the most inspired, evocative, and meaningful photo manipulations I have ever seen or am ever likely to see.

Perhaps this is most meaningful photo-manipulation you'll ever see... but I really doubt that's true. The photoshopping here is amateurish, and a detriment, I think, to what could be a very powerful set of artwork. Had the artist managed to blend together the photographs to create a single imagine, rather than two rather obviously layered images, the "ghosts of the past" effect would be much more striking. The artist could have conveyed much more subtle and penetrating messages.

Take this image for example. The impact here is seeing these WWII soldiers walking down an otherwise modern street. A technically proficient photo editor would not have, for example, cut off the legs of the foremost soldier, nor allowed the soldiers in the distance to the right fade out. On top of that, I think it would have been much more striking if the present showed through the past as well - the soldiers on the sidewalk passing by modern road signs, for instance. A similar kind of modification would have transformed this image from intriguing to shocking. The image that comes closest to successfully blending the past and present is this image, except for the tree on the right that fazes out, and the poor blending with the sky.

On the other hand, this image came very close to being absolutely striking, but the decision to partially fade out the car the soldiers are walking by is a tragic mistake. If the car were fully present, the soldiers would look like they were walking around the cars in the parking lot - conveying a powerful message that we tend to move history around our conveniences, rather than respect the weight of the ages. Similarly, this image would have been visually and emotionally arresting, if the artist had been willing to let the flag poles stay in the foreground rather than blend away and back again; and had taken more care with the soldier's legs, and the hard edges in between the second and third pole.

As they are now, these photographs do draw attention to the history of places, and are a worth a look. They are not, however, art-gallery material. And the key difference is not the artistic ambition, but the lack of technical ambition.

Naturally, this is all my artistic opinion, and I understand that we might have different tastes. I just want to emphasize that technical proficiency , or lack thereof, can make or break art... and I think it broke it in this case. If this artist is comfortable handing his work off to a master printmaker, I think this body of work could turn into something really powerful.

Here is an example of some less serious but way better done manipulations of historic photos. Seriously, check this stuff out.

Disclaimer: I'm not defending the GP.

It doesn't matter that it is technically rather simple to perform, many great works of art are not necessarily difficult in technique, but their value comes from the unique and meaningful perspective of the artist. In this particular case, I have to say that these are some of the most inspired, evocative, and meaningful photo manipulations I have ever seen or am ever likely to see.

Perhaps this is most meaningful photo-manipulation you'll ever see... but I really doubt that's true. The photoshopping here is amateurish, and a detriment, I think, to what could be a very powerful set of artwork. Had the artist managed to blend together the photographs to create a single imagine, rather than two rather obviously layered images, the "ghosts of the past" effect would be much more striking. The artist could have conveyed much more subtle and penetrating messages.

Take this image for example. The impact here is seeing these WWII soldiers walking down an otherwise modern street. A technically proficient photo editor would not have, for example, cut off the legs of the foremost soldier, nor allowed the soldiers in the distance to the right fade out. On top of that, I think it would have been much more striking if the present showed through the past as well - the soldiers on the sidewalk passing by modern road signs, for instance. A similar kind of modification would have transformed this image from intriguing to shocking. The image that comes closest to successfully blending the past and present is this image, except for the tree on the right that fazes out, and the poor blending with the sky.

On the other hand, this image came very close to being absolutely striking, but the decision to partially fade out the car the soldiers are walking by is a tragic mistake. If the car were fully present, the soldiers would look like they were walking around the cars in the parking lot - conveying a powerful message that we tend to move history around our conveniences, rather than respect the weight of the ages. Similarly, this image would have been visually and emotionally arresting, if the artist had been willing to let the flag poles stay in the foreground rather than blend away and back again; and had taken more care with the soldier's legs, and the hard edges in between the second and third pole.

As they are now, these photographs do draw attention to the history of places, and are a worth a look. They are not, however, art-gallery material. And the key difference is not the artistic ambition, but the lack of technical ambition.

Naturally, this is all my artistic opinion, and I understand that we might have different tastes. I just want to emphasize that technical proficiency , or lack thereof, can make or break art... and I think it broke it in this case. If this artist is comfortable handing his work off to a master printmaker, I think this body of work could turn into something really powerful.

Here is an example of some less serious but way better done manipulations of historic photos. Seriously, check this stuff out.

Disclaimer: I'm not defending the GP.

It doesn't matter that it is technically rather simple to perform, many great works of art are not necessarily difficult in technique, but their value comes from the unique and meaningful perspective of the artist. In this particular case, I have to say that these are some of the most inspired, evocative, and meaningful photo manipulations I have ever seen or am ever likely to see.

Perhaps this is most meaningful photo-manipulation you'll ever see... but I really doubt that's true. The photoshopping here is amateurish, and a detriment, I think, to what could be a very powerful set of artwork. Had the artist managed to blend together the photographs to create a single imagine, rather than two rather obviously layered images, the "ghosts of the past" effect would be much more striking. The artist could have conveyed much more subtle and penetrating messages.

Take this image for example. The impact here is seeing these WWII soldiers walking down an otherwise modern street. A technically proficient photo editor would not have, for example, cut off the legs of the foremost soldier, nor allowed the soldiers in the distance to the right fade out. On top of that, I think it would have been much more striking if the present showed through the past as well - the soldiers on the sidewalk passing by modern road signs, for instance. A similar kind of modification would have transformed this image from intriguing to shocking. The image that comes closest to successfully blending the past and present is this image, except for the tree on the right that fazes out, and the poor blending with the sky.

On the other hand, this image came very close to being absolutely striking, but the decision to partially fade out the car the soldiers are walking by is a tragic mistake. If the car were fully present, the soldiers would look like they were walking around the cars in the parking lot - conveying a powerful message that we tend to move history around our conveniences, rather than respect the weight of the ages. Similarly, this image would have been visually and emotionally arresting, if the artist had been willing to let the flag poles stay in the foreground rather than blend away and back again; and had taken more care with the soldier's legs, and the hard edges in between the second and third pole.

As they are now, these photographs do draw attention to the history of places, and are a worth a look. They are not, however, art-gallery material. And the key difference is not the artistic ambition, but the lack of technical ambition.

Naturally, this is all my artistic opinion, and I understand that we might have different tastes. I just want to emphasize that technical proficiency , or lack thereof, can make or break art... and I think it broke it in this case. If this artist is comfortable handing his work off to a master printmaker, I think this body of work could turn into something really powerful.

Here is an example of some less serious but way better done manipulations of historic photos. Seriously, check this stuff out.

Disclaimer: I'm not defending the GP.

It doesn't matter that it is technically rather simple to perform, many great works of art are not necessarily difficult in technique, but their value comes from the unique and meaningful perspective of the artist. In this particular case, I have to say that these are some of the most inspired, evocative, and meaningful photo manipulations I have ever seen or am ever likely to see.

Perhaps this is most meaningful photo-manipulation you'll ever see... but I really doubt that's true. The photoshopping here is amateurish, and a detriment, I think, to what could be a very powerful set of artwork. Had the artist managed to blend together the photographs to create a single imagine, rather than two rather obviously layered images, the "ghosts of the past" effect would be much more striking. The artist could have conveyed much more subtle and penetrating messages.

Take this image for example. The impact here is seeing these WWII soldiers walking down an otherwise modern street. A technically proficient photo editor would not have, for example, cut off the legs of the foremost soldier, nor allowed the soldiers in the distance to the right fade out. On top of that, I think it would have been much more striking if the present showed through the past as well - the soldiers on the sidewalk passing by modern road signs, for instance. A similar kind of modification would have transformed this image from intriguing to shocking. The image that comes closest to successfully blending the past and present is this image, except for the tree on the right that fazes out, and the poor blending with the sky.

On the other hand, this image came very close to being absolutely striking, but the decision to partially fade out the car the soldiers are walking by is a tragic mistake. If the car were fully present, the soldiers would look like they were walking around the cars in the parking lot - conveying a powerful message that we tend to move history around our conveniences, rather than respect the weight of the ages. Similarly, this image would have been visually and emotionally arresting, if the artist had been willing to let the flag poles stay in the foreground rather than blend away and back again; and had taken more care with the soldier's legs, and the hard edges in between the second and third pole.

As they are now, these photographs do draw attention to the history of places, and are a worth a look. They are not, however, art-gallery material. And the key difference is not the artistic ambition, but the lack of technical ambition.

Naturally, this is all my artistic opinion, and I understand that we might have different tastes. I just want to emphasize that technical proficiency , or lack thereof, can make or break art... and I think it broke it in this case. If this artist is comfortable handing his work off to a master printmaker, I think this body of work could turn into something really powerful.

Here is an example of some less serious but way better done manipulations of historic photos. Seriously, check this stuff out.

http://api.ning.com/files/TAQisU8LBDTC4tC2heaDQOeZS-Rrz2YNGCp-ALFZ1sJzULMurkS8G5BTohOglWuUPCEePfSXGLMBkHkrH2gmH7CuAYuO65-A/arguingontheinternet.jpg

What about Ning?

I have not set up a social network using Ning, but am a member of a few. Does anyone have experience with it?

I don't know how useful this is but I joined a community on Ning that focused on independent rock. These communities are much smaller and it's going to be pointless to ask all your friends to join it. But if you're looking for something more tightly knit surrounding a topic you passionately love then these networks are more specific and probably more helpful.

Unfortunately they don't satisfy what you liked about Facebook but ... I mean, you're never going to find that large of a user base or platform usage. For example, I love getting Onion updates on Facebook but you won't find that on a Ning community. I also have no clue how robust Ning's privacy policy is. I'm content with just putting things on social networks that I'm comfortable showing to everyone. You might do well to just simply adjust what you put up and share and not worry about the potential repercussions. Sure it means less pictures and less bonding via Facebook but I've got real life to do that stuff.