A Legend Passes
Henri Cartier-Bresson, the man who in many ways defined street photography, died a couple of days ago. He was an amazing photographer, who, somewhat amazingly, walked away from the medium years ago. In his later years, he only did drawings. Even though he is gone, his influence will continue for generations to come.
Music's Been Good
I've seen a bunch of great shows over the last couple of weeks. The Ohio Players
did two free concerts in two days here in NYC. The picture at right is from
the BAM Rhythm and Blues festival at MetroTech center. “Sugarfoot” and the
boys put on a monster of a show. Seeing the show twice in succession gave me
an appreciation for how refined their act is. Every word (even the “off the cuff”
remarks) and every note has been polished to the point that the two shows were
nearly identical,
but
sounded
fresh.
They started the show with “Skin Tight,” saying “We wrote
this song 30 years ago...” Not long after that, Sugarfoot took the stage,
and the show never slowed down. Mick's got nothing on Sugar.
When you hear
R&B today, you're likely to hear music that is modeled after (or sampled
from) the
Ohio Players. It was nice to see so many of the original members in the band
still. It was also nice to hear them give a nod to other musicians. They
featured “Purple Rain” for a guitar solo, and a sax solo borrowed heavily from
the live
version of Earth Wind and Fire's “Reasons.”
Singing along to “Heaven Must Be Like This”
A
couple of weeks earlier, the Neville Brothers smoked the same venue. It's amazing
that
you can sit just feet from the feet of performers like these for free!
I have more pics... just don't have the time to post them now...
:::
I'm starting to experiment with iView Media Pro to manage
my images. Much faster importing than iPhoto. There's something a bit flaky
about the interface
for managing the thumbnail display, but it clearly streamlines the process
of finding and reviewing images.
:::
Being There
Again
I spotted
this book at Barnes & Noble yesterday. Amazing!
Did you ever see the movie “Being There?” Peter Sellers plays Chance, a mentally
challenged gardener who's never been outside the house he grew up in —
that is, until his benefactor dies, and he's put out on the street. He ends
up in the circle of some very rich people who take him in and take to him.
Chance becomes the darling of their circle. In conversation, he usually
speaks in terms of gardening, and his new friends think he's speaking
metaphorically.
They find him to be quite profound — a genius of sorts... Sound familiar?
:::
Things you have to believe to support the Bush/Cheney ticket:
(Thanks, Denise!)
1. Saddam was a good guy when Reagan armed him, a bad guy when Bush's daddy made
war on him, a good guy when Cheney did business with him, and a bad guy when
Bush needed a “we can't find Bin Laden” diversion.
2. Trade with Cuba
is wrong because the country is communist, but trade with China and Vietnam
is vital to a spirit of international harmony.
3. The United States should get
out of the United Nations; our highest national priority is enforcing U.N.
resolutions against Iraq.
4. A woman can't be trusted with decisions about her
own body, but multi-national corporations can make decisions affecting all
mankind without regulation.
5. Jesus loves you and shares your hatred of homosexuals
and Hillary Clinton.
6. The best way to improve military morale is to praise
the troops in speeches while slashing veterans' benefits and combat pay.
7.
If condoms are kept out of schools, adolescents won't have sex.
8. A good way
to fight terrorism is to belittle our long-time allies (“that's
old Europe”) then expect their cooperation and money.
9. Providing health
care to all Iraqis is sound policy. Providing health care to all Americans
is socialism.
10. Global warming and tobacco's link to cancer are junk science, but
creationism should be taught in schools.
11. A President lying about an extramarital
affair is an impeachable offense. A President lying to enlist support for a
war in which thousands die is solid
defense policy. (Denise's personal favorite)
12. Government should limit itself to
the powers named in the Constitution, which include banning gay marriages and
censoring the Internet.
13. The public has a right to know about Hillary's cattle
trades, but George
Bush's driving record is none of our business, nor is Dick Cheney's task force
discussions with energy industry our business either.
14. Being a drug addict
is a moral failing and a crime unless you're a conservative radio host. Then
it's an illness and you need our prayers for your recovery.
15. What Bill
Clinton did in the 1960 s was of vital national interest, but what Bush did
in the 1980s is irrelevant.
Flipping the odometer (and other D100 fun)
I've shot over 10,000 frames with the D100 now. After 9,999, the counter starts
over at 0001. I've fired off over 1500 frames since then, including about 330
that I took one night at a jazz club called Tonic, and nearly 900 taken this
weekend at Cape Cod. [Pictures soon!]
I spent some time going over how to clean the image sensor in the D100 with
one of the guys from Alkit last week. It was very informative, and the guy
was thorough. The sensor wasn't very dirty, because I never change lenses,
but there were a few bits of fluff that were showing up consistently in my
sky pictures.
The cleaning instructions were timely, because an unsightly fiber appeared
in the middle of my sensor this weekend, and I was able to get rid of it right
away.The guy at Alkit covered the risks and proper use of canned air — you
really don't want to use the stuff without knowing how to do it properly,
unless you just like to experience expensive accidents — and it was just what
the doctor ordered. You should have seen the look on the guy's face at the
camera store when I told him I wanted a can of air to blow dust off my image
sensor. He practically blanched. I just smiled and said “I know what I'm doing.”
:::
Denise
got me a brand new 20G iPod for our anniversary! The inscription reads
“To Lou, My Adored Husband Love Denise.”
The first two songs I played
on it were “The wind cries Mary,” “Manic Depression,” and “Spanish Castle
Magic.” Yeah, I was in a Hendrix mood.
As usual, Apple's done some wonderful packaging. Opening an Apple product
is always a fun production. It's like unwrapping a gift. The box is a giant
clamshell. I like how they put “Don't
steal music” in
4 languages right on the front of the wrapper.
:::
9/11/01, Lady Liberty closed her legs. Yesterday, they said you
can peek up her skirt again, but you can only climb high enough to
kiss her feet. No, you
can't
get inside her head anymore.
:::
“Cleopatra ruled Egypt when she was 18. What are you doing?”
– Girl Scouts ad.
:::
SECTION 3
XVI Informal Fallacies
A. A fallacy is an argument that is unsound.
1. Although logically flawed, fallacies are usually persuasive
and often upon first examination appear sound in form and content...
– From Lectures in Critical Thinking by Ira Altman,
ph.D.
Hmmm... heard any good fallacies lately?
