“The democratization claims were a lie, an attempt to paint naked imperialism with an idealistic face.”
—emptywheel, “Weakness and Lies”
Category: arts and letters
Lieberman’s problem
“Lieberman’s ultimate problem isn’t fanatical bloggers, any more than Lyndon Johnson’s was crazy, antiwar Democrats. His problem is that Bush, and the war that both he and Bush have championed, is speeding the ongoing realignment of the Northeast. His problem, dear colleagues, is Connecticut.”
—Harold Meyerson, “Lieberman’s Real Problem”
Samsung enters pocket cameras
I read three DPReview announcements of the new Samsung N-series cameras.
The one that interests me is the Samsung NV7 OPS.
Living without Nikon (in stock)
More evidence that Nikon is at full tilt. It basically says that their Thailand superfactory (which I alluded to earlier) is going at full tilt.
One interesting thing to note is that IDC is placing Nikon at about half the sales of Canon in the global digital SLR market. I find this hard to believe. Together they comprise 80% of all digital SLR sales, which sounds realistic.
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The myth of the white lens
Extending something I wrote about in passing, is this discussion which beats that old Canon horse: “Canon L lenses use white because they absorb less heat from sunlight—a purely functional, not cosmetic consideration.”
Is this true?
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Keynote makes a movie
I’m finally starting to gear up for my two OSCON talks. This is why I found this article about how Al Gore used Keynote to create his movie interesting.
As many of you know, I love this program. I had Caitlin experiment with using this program to make her website, which is sort of like the way Al Gore used it in the movie. I actually think that maybe Keynote will make a good storyboarding device.
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10 ways
Chris just sent to the list The interact 10 ways website from Getty Images.. The one he mentioned was sumona’s “information” page which generates an infinite photomosaic.
Getty is using it to promote some new media ideas for their stock photography. (I shudder to think how much some of the infinite photomosaic would cost if you actually had to purchase the rights from Getty of those images.)
If you like photography and want to pass the time, take a look at some of these.
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Copying vs. stealing
Another person copies Caitlin.
It hurts me too.
She and I spent days creating a set of core values which drive the copy that she puts on her website. There are many compromises and issues that come with creating your own company, and without a moral compass, it becomes easy to make bad decisions that might not be evident why they are wrong until it is too late.
Believe it or not, those three paragraphs the person copied have all four of her core values in it.Continue reading
An instrument to see
“You put your camera around your neck along with putting on your shoes, and there it is, an appendage of the body that shares your life with you. The camera is an instrument that teaches people how to see without a camera.”
—Dorothea Lange, from J. Star’s Flickr profile
A decisive victory…
Concerning the recent Hamden v. Rumsefeld decision:
“I’ve got to say that this decision is a decisive victory in the war to spark ridiculous right wing commentary.”
—Andrew, from a comment “Guantanamo Treatment Illegal, Says SCOTUS”