Hello, again!

So many things have happened since the last time I wote. I've been heavily exploring my other creative urges, writing poetry, learning about Photoshop. I'm almost sorry I resisted getting into photoshop sooner. There's a reason it's legendary. As much as I like Fireworks, it doesn't come close in terms of creative potential.

What have I been doing with Photoshop?

In Boy at Luxor, I was able to combine three photos taken in three very different settings into a plausible, unified image.

Warp Speed and Ometer were more "out there" experiments.

These are all images from course work I've been doing through New School Online University. The course is excellent, not only because of the instructor, but because of the other participants. It's fun and challenging.

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I got a ride down the FDR from Yorkville last night, and got the best view yet of the WTC memorial lights. From that angle, and with last night's atmospheric conditions, the lights were very effective. It's really the first time that I've seen them in a powerful way. I can't see the lights very well from the steps of my apartment. In the days following September 11, I could easily see the smoke, so I had thought the lights would show up as well. Now, I want to take a trip down to the Brooklyn Heights Promenade one evening, to see what the tribute looks like from there.

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Not funny, Jay.
A day or so after the Winter Olympics an installment of The Tonight Show with a particulary evil joke was re-aired. Jay was commenting on how the man they call the "American Taliban" had said that he didn't ever want to set foot on American soil again. Jay's comment was "That's the great thing about hanging someone-- your feet never touch the ground!"

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"Enduring Freedom" continues, as "Anaconda" uncoils. I am an American, and I can think of few other countries in the world I would consider living for very long. Still, I am very suspicious of the ways we can all be manipulated through the media. Simply by not reporting a story, or limiting its exposure, or by simply repackaging White House press releases, the media have a tremendous impact on public dialog (or more significantly, the lack of it).

The UN High Commissioner on Refugees has been forced out of office, in part because she was willing to be critical of this country's treatment of Taliban and Al Quaeda prisoners. Colin Powell has been hushed on the matter, too. The President is willing to refer to Operation Enduring Freedom as a "war" against terrorism, but is unwilling to declare prisoners captured in the conflict "prisoners of war." Is it me, or does he want it both ways?

We were told that the main objective of "Enduring Freedom" was to eliminate Bin Laden. Having failed at that, we were told that the mission was a success anyway. Now, we're gearing up to go after Saddam Hussein (a project that the senior Bush botched), almost as if we're picking an easier target.

Meanwhile, most of the press seems barely willing to cover the story of "collateral damage." This is certainly the case of television news. I've caught some glimpses of coverage in the New York Times.

It's intersting that so much rhetoric is being expended on making a case for going after Hussein. You could say that Israel is following our lead in an all-out offensive to stamp out "terrorist threats" from the Palestinians [I'm not saying they're right in that perspective], but the White House has a problem with that.

What I'm having to come to grips with, is the often hypocritical positions taken by our leadership, and the vidictive and vicious behavior that is touted as "Patriotism."

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Another story that is getting play in the New York area, is how Christine Todd Whitman is trying to boot out a government official who's trying to warn New Yorkers about air quality. In the rush to get back to business as usual, apartments in the vicinity of "Ground Zero" are going at bargain prices, and there are lingering questions about air quality andhazards that have not been cleaned up. Just who are the "experts" that have been brought in to say everything is OK, and why should we accept what they say without question? Hmmmm...

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I can't sign off today without commenting on what went down a few days ago in Texas. It borders on the bizzarre, to think that the prosecution's strategy had anything to do with deterrence. What were they deterring? Were they trying to keep people from going insane? I wonder what failing of the state's responsibilities were covered over by this travesty. This is a state that has a history of prosecuting and even executing mentally handicapped people. Locking this woman up for life in prison certainly reeks of cruel and unusual punishment.

Well, looks like I've got a new problem to solve. My nice little chromeless window thingy doesn't work right on Mac IE 5. The window opens up sized to include blank space for scrollbars, which don't appear... Now, I'm wondering about other platforms. I hate writing browser-specific code.