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Abelardo Morell
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Abelardo Morell’s camera obscura images are created by the age-old optical principle of darkening a room and projecting an inverted image of the world outside through a small aperture. Morell photographically records ephemeral, upside-down images of the outside world by placing his four-by-five view camera in rooms and opening the shutter for time exposures lasting typically as long as eight hours.
Lawsuits, Questions Follow NSA Surveillance Approval
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AT&T also has been targeted in the lawsuit, which isn’t likely to go away unless a judge throws it out. If there are several lawsuits, they may be consolidated one broad motion.
In the meantime, some of the company’s own shareholders have begun a campaign to demand that AT&T explain its involvement. They’ve introduced a resolution for consideration at AT&T’s stockholder meeting in April. It asks the company’s management to explain what steps it is taking to ensure customer privacy and to disclose how much money it has spent on collaborating with the NSA program.
The As You Sow Foundation, a group that says its mission is to promote socially responsible investment, is leading the effort. The group is demanding information from telecom provider Verizon as well.
In its defense, AT&T is asking the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for permission to exclude the resolution from its proxy statement, claiming it would interfere with business and the company should not have to divulge information because of state secrets privileges, according to a statement released by the groups pushing for the resolution.
And to quote Benitto Mussolini:
“Fascism should more properly be called corporatism because it is the merger of state and corporate power.”
Swedish Prince Held By MIA Security Last Fall
Bad: Telling immigration service you are the prince of Sweden.
Worse: getting arrested and spending the night in jail.
Worst: you really ARE the prince of Sweden
Bush quotes most notable of 2006 expert says
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LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - President Bush scored high Thursday on a list he may not be keen to top.
Three of Bush’s quotes, led by his “I’m the Decider” remark in April, head 2006’s most notable quotations compiled by Fred R. Shapiro, editor of the Yale Book of Quotations.
Bush’s comment that “I’m the decider, and I decide what is best. And what’s best is for Don Rumsfeld to remain as the secretary of defense” is followed by his State of the Union address quote that “America is addicted to oil” and by his comment on Hurricane Katrina to high school students in New Orleans: “I take full responsibility for the federal government’s response.”
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Cohen’s quote was followed in fifth place by another comic’s remark — Stephen Colbert’s comment on Bush at the White House correspondents dinner: “The greatest thing about this man is he’s steady. You know where he stands. He believes the same thing Wednesday that he believed on Monday, no matter what happened Tuesday.”
Is the Vatican a Rogue State?
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The Vatican’s attorney general Nicola Picardi released the astounding statistic at the start of 2007: The tiny nation’s justice department in 2006 had to contend with 341 civil and 486 criminal cases. In a population of 492, that measures out to 1.5 cases per person — twenty times the corresponding rate in Italy.
By this measurement at least, crime is soaring in the Vatican in spite of a security force that would put a police state to shame. The seat of the Catholic Church has one Swiss guard for every four citizens, not to mention museum guards and police assigned to the Vatican by Italy.
Picardi did say that most criminal cases were matters of pickpocketing or purse-snatching. The rest amounted to other petty crimes like fraud and forgery — committed not by kleptomaniacal nuns but by a handful of black sheep among the 18 million pilgrims and tourists who visit St. Peter’s Cathedral, St. Peter’s Square and the Vatican Museums every year. About 90 percent of these crimes go unpunished, which is not a measure of Christian mercy but a sign of the perpetrators’ favorite method of escape. They can break for the border — a few meters away — to Italy.
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Picardi releases similar alarming statistics almost every year, when he makes his annual report on the state of the Vatican’s security. He’d like his country to join the Schengen Agreement, a 1985 treaty signed by EU nations to bring down border controls and allow cooperation among justice departments and police.
The Pope has other plans:
Pope Benedict XVI recommended another strategy in a speech to Vatican security personnel. “Let us pray,” he said, “for the maternal protection of the Virgin Mary.”
If that doesn’t work, I think the Pope should take a hint from a recent event:
He may have been thinking of the weeks in April 2005 when Pope John Paul II was dying. A total of 6 million pilgrims arrived for vigils in St. Peter’s Square, and not a single incident of pickpocketing was reported.
‘Life’ is just a four letter word
Today, Roe vs Wade celebrates its 34th anniversary. Guess what Bush tried to say about that, and how it matches the rest of his words and actions…
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Yesterday was a very special day for Mister Bush. He has declared January 21, 2007 “National Sanctity of Human Life Day”. Check it out, right there on the White House website, a nice, pretty little message.
I filled in the blanks.
America was founded on the principle that we are all endowed by our Creator with the right to life and that every individual has dignity and worth.
(AP photo)
National Sanctity of Human Life Day helps foster a culture of life and reinforces our commitment to building a compassionate society that respects the value of every human being.
(AP photo)Among the most basic duties of Government is to defend the unalienable right to life, and my Administration is committed to protecting our society’s most vulnerable members.
(AP photo)National Sanctity of Human Life Day serves as a reminder that we must value human life in all forms, not just those considered healthy, wanted, or convenient.
(AP/Nabil)
Click here for more photos. (WARNING: graphic content).I call upon all Americans to recognize this day with appropriate ceremonies and to underscore our commitment to respecting and protecting the life and dignity of every human being.
(AP photo)
Caring for the Wounded in Iraq - A Photo Essay - warning, extremely graphic content.
Coalition casualties in Iraq
iPhone accessories
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The Magnificent Tail of Comet McNaught
Comet McNaught, the Great Comet of 2007, has grown a long and filamentary tail. The spectacular tail spreads across the sky and is visible to Southern Hemisphere observers just after sunset. The head of the comet remains quite bright and easily visible to even city observers without any optical aide. The amazing tail is visible on long exposures and even to the unaided eye from a dark location. Reports even have the tail visible just above the horizon after sunset for many northern observers as well. Comet McNaught, estimated at magnitude -2 (minus two), was caught by the comet’s discoverer in the above image just after sunset last Friday from Siding Spring Observatory in Australia. Comet McNaught, the brightest comet in decades, is now fading as it moves further into southern skies and away from the Sun and Earth.
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MPAA, RIAA, CEA Execs Clash Over DRM & Hardware Controls
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This conference on the digital music business got off to a bang here in Cannes this morning when the opening-session discussion broke into a tense and sometimes bitchy disagreement about DRM between representatives from music, movie and electronics industry associations. MPAA executive vice president Fritz Attaway and RIAA chairman Mitch Bainwol immediately set their stall against Consumer Electronics Association president Gary Shapiro. A sample:
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Bainwol said the CEA president, because of his pleas to abandon restrictions and liberalize fair use policies, sometimes resembled “a fringe, ideological leader?: “We are in a very, very significant transition,? Bainwol said. “Technology is the basis of our future. We have to be able to monetise product and, every time we try, you want to make it available for free so people can buy devices. Gary stretches the concept of fair use to the point where the notion of ‘fair’ has been eliminated. You have to protect the market value. [Gary] wants to morph fair use into a concept that justifies any consumer behavior to the point where you eliminate the value of property. Kids grow up not understanding that music and movies are intellectual property. You teach disrespect for intellectual property. Gary takes a concept, morphs it, makes us look like we’re evil.?
Shapiro countered: ?I don’t make you look evil - your lawsuits against old people around the country make you look evil. You’re very good at paraphrasing things I never said.?
Omg, I was a bit confused by the title, checked twice if I am at the right site.