Leonard Nimoy Welcomes Enterprise Home

From Forbes Magazine:


"Today the Space Shuttle Enterprise arrived in New York City today, thanks to a lift from a Boeing 747. The Intrepid Museum, its future resting place, held a small welcome ceremony for several hundred guests, who included Leonard Nimoy and Senator Charles Schumer. According to MSNBC,   “This is a reunion for me,” Nimoy said during a ceremony after Enterprise’s touchdown. “Thirty-five years ago, I met the Enterprise for the first time.” …



“When this ship was first built, it was named Constitution,” Nimoy said. “‘Star Trek’ fans can be very persuasive. They sent a lot of letters to President Gerald Ford and the president logically decided that the ship should be named after our spaceship Enterprise.”

Discovery will be on display at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington, D.C.; Atlantis will be housed at the Kennedy Space Center in Merritt Island, Florida; and Endeavour will go to the California Science Center in Los Angeles, California.

The Shuttle will sit in a hangar at JFK Airport, Queens, until June 4th, where it will depart for a two-day barge trip toward the Intrepid Museum in Manhattan. After it arrives on June 6th, the museum will build the shuttle its own pavilion. The pavilion will be open to the public on July 19th.

The Enterprise was built as a demonstrator Shuttle, designed for glide tests and not capable of spaceflight. It also lacked a heat shield and therefore could not withstand re-entry into the atmosphere. Now that the Shuttle program is over, it’s time to look forward to the next era of space travel and transportation, where, unlike its shuttle namesake, private enterprise really does go to space. "

 I can't embedd the video of Nimoy's speech but there are plenty of them online. This is very touching about the whole thing.

Racism or Fun? Happy Belated Dyngus Day!

It's hard to watch Anderson Cooper's giggle fit over Buffalo's Dyngun Day celebration. Just a quick note--it's not celebrated by the entire city at all. It's not well-known even locally, unlike the Italian Festival, St. Patrick's Day, or even Juneteenth Festival (emancipation from slavery heritage week for black Americans)

I only learned about the celebrations until I moved pretty close to the heart of Polonia here and work about three blocks from the Polish Cadets Hall.


Basically, Catholic Poles in this very small section of Buffalo celebrate the day after Easter with parties featuring a LOT of drinking. Boys/men squirt women/girls they like with water guns. The women/girls flirt back by hitting the guys with pussywillows. There's a parade. People dress up in traditional Polish attire. Lots and lots and lots of Polka! More than anything, it is a silly celebration. This is apparently the definition of Dyngus--not a stupid person but a person who acts stupid, silly, and makes people laugh. No matter, Anderson Copper was essentially forced to apologize for his giggle fit and calling Dyngus Day stupid, when laughing and stupidity is the purpose of the pre-Christian holiday.

The rage still goes on, reignited by Donn Esmond's editorial in support of Cooper. Really, it's tough to see how Cooper's laughter in this context is insulting to a "sacred" tradition or Poles. If only we could go back to the 1970s. Americans were just tipping their toes into understanding each other, our beliefs, culture, religions. Everything was raw and on the surface but tolerated because at least we were talking. We recognized that stereotypes existed. All in the Family was an example of this toe tipping. But at least there was honesty. It could have progressed to genuine understanding but somehow got hijacked by political correctness. Not that there should have been a racial/ethnic/religious stereotype festival but at least it had honesty, brutal honest at times. How can people resolve conflicts when they can't openly discuss them and blame is assigned to only one party?

Springtime in Buffalo

It's not snowing or raining but the temperature is only 37-degrees. Flowers are still in bloom and the wet snow didn't destroy our trees! A beautiful Spring.

Winter Storm Watch--In April

Eighty degrees last Monday. Thirty-nine degrees this Sunday with the prospect of snow:(

BUFFALO, N.Y. ( WKBW ) Heavy rain and wet snow is predicted Sunday night through Monday. Mike Spong will have the latest from the AccuWeather Lab on Eyewitness News

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN BUFFALO HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM SUNDAY EVENING THROUGH MONDAY EVENING.

* LOCATIONS...NORTHERN ERIE...GENESEE AND LIVINGSTON COUNTIES.

* TIMING...SUNDAY EVENING THROUGH MONDAY.

* HAZARDS...ACCUMULATING HEAVY WET SNOW.

* ACCUMULATIONS...4 TO 8 INCHES

* WINDS...NORTHEAST TO 40 MPH.

* VISIBILITIES...UNDER A HALF MILE AT TIMES

* IMPACTS...DOWNED TREES AND POWER LINES LIKELY CAUSING POWER OUTAGES. HAZARDOUS DRIVING CONDITIONS DEVELOPING.

* FORECASTER CONFIDENCE...

MODERATE. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A WINTER STORM WATCH MEANS THAT HEAVY SNOW ACCUMULATIONS ARE POSSIBLE. IF YOU ARE WITHIN THE WATCH AREA... REMAIN ALERT TO RAPIDLY CHANGING WEATHER CONDITIONS.

It's the last week of April. I thought we were off the hook.

An Ugly and VERY Dangerous Reality

Nobody wants to discuss it. It's inflammatory. It's dangerous as hell. Discussing it will plant seeds. It must be avoided like the plague. It is counter to the rule of law, the assumption of guilty until proven innocent. After a trial the judge charges the jury. Juries are instructed not to make decisions based on sympathy for the defendant, only by the facts of the case. They're permitted to discredit any or all of testimony if the veracity of the witness is called into question.

 Liberals are handing out fliers encouraging others turn our criminal justice system into a runaway train.

It's juror nullification.

Juror nullification in simple terms is throwing out the rule of law by finding someone who is technically guilty but does not deserve punishment.  It has a place--a person is wrongfully charged and convicted and found "guilty." The accused may have been railroaded based on race, religion, politics. In this case, juror nullification has a place in righting a horrible wrong.


In these cases the person is technically guilty but only because he or she had been scapegoated. But a good defense attorney should be able to convince a reasonable jury that his/her client has been railroaded and present facts to demonstrate that. There really is no place for jury nullification.

There have been times in US history where it had a place (eg. civil rights movement). But a racist society chose not to and seemed more than willing to sentence a technically guilty person to prison or death, or reverse a law perceived as unjust (think Prohibition).

Today we are seeing juror nullification in a more alarming fashion.

It is also a tool in the hands of Anarchists and liberals to right a perceived wrong in the name of social justice. 

OJ Simpson had a history of domestic abuse of his wife Nicole. She's murdered. There is a mountain of evidence against him. But a predominately black jury thinks he's been railroaded and so despite being actually guilty, not technically guilty, they acquitted him.

Expressing support for jury nullification is a surefire way to avoid jury duty. But how many people will admit that? Without knowing the term, how many juries can and will employ it?

We live in a PC world, a world in which jury nullification can be dangerous. Terribly dangerous and unjust. Some consider it juror tampering.

Unfortunately, it is so dangerous, so taboo in fact that few will even discuss it, but it is rearing its ugly head. Can we ignore the danger of it?

*******
NEW YORK, March 21 (Reuters) - A U.S. judge said on Wednesday that advocating for jury nullification could pose a threat to the judicial system, particularly if it takes place close to potential jurors.

U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood made the comments in the case of Julian Heicklen, of Teaneck, New Jersey, a retired, 80-year old chemistry professor who was charged and arrested after distributing pamphlets advocating jury nullification outside federal court in Manhattan.


The pamphlets called on potential jurors to follow their conscience in returning a verdict, and urged them to find a defendant not-guilty if they disagreed with the law in question or the government's conduct in the case.


"Juries were instituted to protect citizens from the tyranny of government," said one pamphlet, submitted by the defense as part of a brief. "It is not the duty of the jury to uphold the law. It is the jury's duty to see that justice is done."


In defending Heicklen, attorney Steven Statsinger told the court that jury nullification "really is not a serious threat to the integrity of the system."

"I disagree with that," responded Judge Wood, who brought up the possibility of jurors voting to acquit a person based on ideological beliefs, such as "pro-life protesters who believe that it should be lawful to kill an abortion provider, an eye for an eye, a life for a life."


Heicklen, who is representing himself with the aide of Statsinger, is charged with one count of jury tampering, which carries up to six months in prison.


Prosecutors say that jury nullification is unlawful, and that by encouraging it, Heicklen was undermining the good functioning of the court system.
Prosecutors also argue that Heicklen could not claim free speech protection because he was handing out pamphlets on federal property -- the plaza at the 500 Pearl Street entrance of the Manhattan Federal Courthouse -- and was specifically targeting potential jurors.
"The thing here that is so troubling to the government is that the message... undermines the fundamental fairness of our system," Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Mermelstein said at Wednesday's hearing. "If a person is on the steps of a courthouse and is trying to influence jurors, that is a crime."
Mermelstein conceded that if Heicklen was "further from the courthouse, the less likely he is to be violating the statute."


Statsinger responded that the plaza in question was a public forum where "expressive activity" routinely takes place and that Heicklen's activity was "pure advocacy" not aimed at any particular juror or trial.

The case is U.S. v. Julian Heicklen, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, No. 10-1154.

For the government: Assistant U.S. Attorney Rebecca Mermelstein.
For Heicklen: Heicklen is representing himself and is assisted by Sabrina Shroff and Steven Statsinger of the Federal Defenders of New York.

(Reporting By Basil Katz)

I'm An American/Born Here

What an experience it was trying to get a certified copy of my birth certificate! I need the copy in order to get a NYS Non-Driver's ID. Apparently that is the only ID short of a passport/passport card that can be used as an acceptable form of ID. It is certainly required to cross the border. I need it now in order to be put on a list for an apartment in the suburbs.


They require copies of my Social Security card, birth certificate, and one of three forms of photo ID. I don't have military ID since I have never served and I don't have a passport/passport card or ID from the DMV.

Getting the Social Security card isn't a problem since I have already proved my citizenship with the Social Security Administration and have a Social Security number.

 Obtaining the birth certificate was a little difficult. I provided all of the information and proofs the city required (documents other than passport/NY Non-Driver's ID).

There was a little snag: the Bureau of Vital Statistics could find my vital statistics. I have them my first last and middle names. My father's full name, my mother's maiden name, my date of birth, the name of the hospital I was born in. After several minutes and clerks consulting with their supervisors they found me. My last name was misspelled on my original birth certificate.

Everything else was correct, including the name of my mother's OB/GYN.

What a relief, I had the proof I needed to prove I was born in the US. I opted to get a wallet-sized, laminated photo birth certificate that has my vital statistics (not as detailed as the written copy), a bar code with security information and my photo and finger print.

I also got a print out copy of the original.


Great! I can get the Non-Driver's ID.

Or can I? I went to the NYS DMV website.

Oh brother. A Social Security card is required (no real problem since I only need a replacement card).

A little problem with the birth certificate:( It must be an original with a raised seal (mine has a raised seal), but it must not contain any erasures or alternations. Birth certificates with erasures or alternations will apparently be confiscated and given to the DMV criminal division for criminal investigation.

Good grief! The city of Buffalo crossed out my misspelled last name and printed the correction, noting that it was amended.

So I'm not sure what to do with this. I'm still trying to get in touch with either the county or state DMV. Lots of luck getting a prompt to speak with a living person or a prompt on the automated system that applies to my situation. I plan on just going in and applying for the Non-Driver's ID. I had one a few years ago. I had a Non-Driver's ID but it expired in 2008 and I never renewed it.


The proofs they require are tougher now. Social Security card is mandatory as well as a birth certificate. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that they accept the amended birth certificate and it's not confiscated or the subject of an investigation since I am not the one that amended it in the first place.

The original birth certificate was interesting though sad to read. I was born when my mother was 35 (dad 43) at 39 weeks gestation. What's sad is the part about other children.

A. How many other children are now living? (2--my brother and sister).

B.How many other children were born alive but are now dead (1)

C. How many children were still born (born dead after 20 weeks of pregnancy)? (1).

How sad for my mother!! I knew she had a miscarriage and always wondered the gender but I had no idea at all that I had a sibling that was born dead and a sibling that was born alive.

Hitler and Stalin: Roots of Evil/Kremlin Pill

Hitler and Stalin: The Roots of Evil was recently aired on H2 (I assume an off shoot of the History Channel). It was quite interesting to view them as human beings. Evil human beings but nevertheless human beings.

Monsters in actions of course, but not mythical like the Loch Ness Monster or Big Foot. There's an entire television show devoted to finding Big Foot.


But this documentary about Hitler and Stalin was fascinating.
Both men suffered from extreme physical abuse at the hands of their fathers. Stalin (not his original last name) was beaten so savagely at one time that he had blood in his urine. Hitler was also beaten into a coma and nearly died.


Hitler like Stalin had loving mothers who sent them to religious schools and they sang in choirs, but their egotistical and controlling ways became apparently early on. Right off the bat these two were headed for trouble.

Fathers who were godlike figures had beaten them and in a religion that taught that god was a father who slaughtered his own son supposedly for the sake of humanity. This Christian god of cruelty in the name of salvation was the god/father they were taught to adore.


Hitler and Stalin had body image issues that led to inferiority complexes: Stalin has only 5-ft.4. His face was pox covered and one arm was shorter than the other. Hitler didn’t like his nose, small eyes, forehead and a number of things about his face.


A few things stood out in the documentary. Stalin was diagnosed with paranoia while he was alive. Clinically diagnosed, not after the fact psycho history.

RT had a program called The Soviet Files: Leaders and Healers. It was about Russian leaders, their illnesses and their medical treatments. Stalin was singled out as paranoid in this show as well. In fact, many of the things his staff had to do to counter his paranoia are the same practices I learned in nursing school in treating people undergoing alcohol withdrawal such as avoiding shadows. Stalin’s staff had to cut the length of the drapes in his residence because he was afraid an enemy could be hiding behind the drapes.


As a brief aside, at my college student nurses were not allowed to wear red nail polish because apparently some psych patients associate the color red with blood and freak out. Besides, who wants to see “blood” on the pure white nurse’s uniform? I’m sure Stalin’s nurses didn’t wear red nail polish. Still, that didn’t keep him from becoming paranoid about physicians or stop him from sending groups of physicians to his Gulags because he thought they were out to get him.

It’s baffling how Hitler and Stalin could suffer from inferiority complexes, enemy complexes, and superiority god complexes all at the same time.

Hitler was a mediocre artist, and the reason he couldn’t get accepted into a prestigious art school floored me--all of his paintings were of landscapes. He wasn't accepted, according to the documentary, because his failure or inability to paint humans meant he didn’t have an aptitude for painting.

His vision of the world was one devoid of humans.
Women.

Hitler and Stalin supposedly adored their mother’ and other women yet Stalin’s second wife died mysteriously--shot in the heart shortly after she wrote a letter to him blasting him as a person and a leader. You can’t blame her. It was true and besides, what woman wouldn’t  be furious if her “adoring” husband went out of his way to humiliate her in public and then throws cigarette butts at her?


I could be getting this mixed up but  the love of Hitler's life was supposedly his niece. She also died after he discovered that she got pregnant and the baby’s father was a Jewish man.


Jumping back to Stalin--a young guy adored him. He was young, very popular with the public and died as they say “under mysterious circumstances.”

Hitler could only paint landscapes and couldn’t or wouldn’t paint people. Stalin on the other hand, not only killed his enemies but had his staff destroy their pictures ala 1984. He killed them twice. The underlying purpose of government censorship--to a kill person’s memory, identity, thoughts, essence, religion etc.

 Sorry for spending so much time so to speak on the Soviet Union. I was never really interested in history and now it seems like I have a craving for it.


This is a video clip from The Soviet Files: Leaders and Healers and the dangers Soviet physicians faced. The "Kremlin pill" thing is downright scary. What's even more scary is that average people believed the government could create pills (metal pills) with magical, regenerative powers.

Leader or Dissenter

First comes the summons and the repeated phrase "You are to..." 

Every sentence in the summons begins with "You are to."

In Erie County if you show up late or not at all a deputy may well be sent to your house to find out why. So you show up way too early and stand outside of court freezing for half an hour. Then you sit in the jury assembly room and are forced to watch a TV show about jury duty and the old days when people were tried by ordeal. Tie a suspected criminal up and toss him in the water. If he drowns he was innocent and if he floats he was guilty. Sounds backwards but that's what the show indicated.

After that all we got to watch was CNN, though in fairness they did allow us to bring in lap tops, Ipads and even furnished a couple of computers and had internet access. I was sure that I would be dismissed since writers and lawyers aren't normally chosen as jurors for obvious reasons.

The best part of jury duty has to be voir dire and deliberations.

Voir dire (to speak the truth) is like a trial within a trial. It's part jury selection as well as rejecting jurors. The attorneys are looking for jurors who can be leaders and also those who can be dissenters. I was the first juror they questioned and was the first one chosen (yay) no idea if they thought I was a leader or a dissenter.

They asked what I do. I explained how I wrote (general reporting but primarily police). How exactly do I do the blotter, the plaintiff's lawyer asked. I explained that I go to the police station, sit in a room with a stack of police reports and try to condense a three to five or more page report into a paragraph or two and do this for all of the crimes and arrests that week.

College? BSN, RN license but not practicing (this case involved a great deal of medical testimony).

Defense lawyer wanted to know if I thought credibility was important in a trial. Of course. Absolutely and credibility was important in this case. I was chosen first and rather quickly. They seemed to focus more attention on people who appeared strong willed and opinionated.

Potential leaders I suppose but also potential dissenters depending on the situation.

I'll write more since I'm still getting back to blogging after a few weeks. But yeah, the voir dire had me wondering if I was a leader or a dissenter. But after the judge charged the jury he asked if anyone wanted to see a particular piece of evidence. I raised my hand.

I was the only one who did.

Those two hour lunches were brutal. At one point I found myself laying on a bench outside of city court like I was on a sofa. It was freezing and I got on my cell phone and complained and complained to my friend. I wanted to sleep. I brought lunch, ate it, took a walk, lounged on the bench and complained, listened to a lot of music on my Ipod...and I still had 1 to go! Just watch Lewis Black's video Airplanes and you'll have an idea of what these two hour jury duty lunches are like.

Yep. Lunch is the absolute worst aspect of jury duty. But then again, in Erie County there's the 4:30 rule so they let us out early every day. 

Back!

Wow, it's been several weeks since I've posted anything. So many things have happened: Pesach, of course. Jury duty. The death of my dear friend David, my partner in crime in fighting crime. We as opposite as can be personality wise--but I miss him so much already! It's only been a week and I have thought of calling him a dozen times knowing it was impossible to do so. I couldn't handle the funeral home and I don't think it would have been proper to go to the church so now people act as if I didn't care.

I really can't post much about this since I'm still in shock. Maybe later, but for now I am back to blogging.

Jury Duty Pt. 2

The two hour lunches are the most boring aspect of serving on a jury. I took this picture of a ceramic lion in Niagara Square across from City Hall. Buffalo City Court is in the background. Don't ask why, but whenever I take a picture of these lions the lions look huge compared to the much taller surrounding buildings.

Torture Factory 1

I'm in Russia. Not physically of course but between becoming a fan of Alyona Show on RT, Wild Russia, and Russia's Toughest Prisons I've got Russia on my mind.

Alyona has focused a lot of attention on the plight of a 12-year old American boy who is facing a life sentence in the US without the possibility of parole after being found guilty of murder. Watching Russia's Toughest prisons both on TV and reading the comments on YT I clicked on some related videos and came across this one, Torture Factory. It's entirely in Russian, not English voice over, no subtitles, and the text is cryllic (sp) so it's next to impossible to have a firm grasp. Though it's entirely in Russian the person who posted it took the time to post the title Torture Factory in English, perhaps hoping English speakers would watch it.

I scrolled through the comment section but everything is in Russia, but I don't think you have to know Russian. The English title and images speak volumes. From what I can grasp this torture factory is a Russian prison camp (I keep hearing the world colonia. You hear that word A LOT in these Russian prison documentaries. A lot).

I'm hoping the video was filmed before the fall of the Soviet Union but this seems relatively current and one of the comments includes "2008." If that is case, Russia is operating military-style concentration camps. The prisoners have presumably been tried and convicted but some of these image look like they were taken in a concentration camp. Jews were innocent. As for the date on of the pictures shows a boy standing behind the red, white and blue Russian Federation flag so the 2008 date could be correct. Torture Factory is posted in several parts.

The part that includes the beatings by guards or soldiers are horrific. Search and watch at your own risk. Again, since RT is focusing on American prisons I feel justified in posting this one. As a kid I saw Midnight Express and thought a Turkish prison was the absolute worst hell hole imaginable. Anywhere in the middle east. :( Like a lot of people I just assumed that Russia became "normal" after the fall of the Soviet Union, but apparently it hasn't been entirely purged from this barbarity.

The boys in the film are nearly emaciated and the injuries...horrible. Some are probably crime victims, but another part of the documentary shoves horrific beatings of prisoners in prison. Again, the prisoners are emaciated, pale, and from another video, I learned that Russian prisons are extremely overcrowded and TB is rampant.

So for the person who posted the video entirely in Russian except for the English title I am reposting it here. I think someone wanted this video to be watched by those outside of Russia, English speakers, so here it is:

Appropriate for Journalism?

As a follow up to the previous post on HDR photography I found this article on CNN of all places. It's rather interesting:

"High-dynamic-range (HDR) photography -- the art of creating one image by combining multiple exposures -- has gained popularity along with some criticism in recent years. The result can transform an ordinary photograph into an image that looks like a painting.

"But critics complain that the result is over-processed and unrealistic. Traditionally, HDR images have been created by taking three photos of the same scene at different exposures -- regular, underexposed and overexposed -- and then combining them using a digital editing program. But photo editing programs and HDR apps for smartphones are automating the process for amateur photographers by making it possible to mimic those effects with a single photograph. Point, shoot and voila, you have an HDR image. HDR photography: Love it or hate it?

"High-dynamic-range (HDR) photography -- the art of creating one image by combining multiple exposures -- has gained popularity along with some criticism in recent years. The result can transform an ordinary photograph into an image that looks like a painting. But critics complain that the result is over-processed and unrealistic. Traditionally, HDR images have been created by taking three photos of the same scene at different exposures -- regular, underexposed and overexposed -- and then combining them using a digital editing program.

"But photo editing programs and HDR apps for smartphones are automating the process for amateur photographers by making it possible to mimic those effects with a single photograph. Point, shoot and voila, you have an HDR image. It may have started as a novelty, but HDR imagery has begun to be taken seriously as an art form. While the images are often likened to paintings, some enthusiasts say that the technique actually allows photographers to create images that are closer to what the eye really sees, and that it eliminates the need to delete "bad" photos that have been exposed too much or too little. They say it is potentially the end of dark, blurry shots and gives almost anyone the ability to create professional-level photographs. As Reporter Andrew Stowe puts it, "It is not the end-all, be-all of how to take great pictures. It's merely a different way of capturing a scene when the final intent is to achieve a maximum level of detail."


Appropriate for journalism? Controversy again. This is an article I found on dpreview.com:

"
Are High Dynamic Range photos appropriate for illustrating news? That's the debate that's been started by the Washington Post's use of an HDR image on its front page in January. Sean Elliot, president of the National Press Photographers Association came down firmly against it, saying, 'HDR is not appropriate for documentary photojournalism.' John Omvik, Marketing VP with HDR software maker Unified Color understandably disagrees. He's written us a response arguing that what we see is closer to HDR than, say, a mono photo shot with Tri-X film.

---

John Omvik's statement:


"Recently, the Washington Post stirred up a healthy debate among amateur photographers and photojournalists when it published  a  photograph on its front page commemorating the 30th anniversary of the tragic crash of Air Florida Flight 90 (January 13, 2012). The photo in question shows the back-lit 14th St. Bridge shot at sunset with an airplane in the upper left corner of the frame. The controversy stems from the fact that staff photographer Bill O’Leary used High Dynamic Range (HDR) techniques to process this photo, a fact the Post mentioned in the photo’s caption.

I tend to agree with the criticisms of using HDR in journalism for the reasons cited here:

The caption ultimately led to some confusion by readers, many of whom took it to mean the paper was publishing a doctored photo, perhaps in order to achieve the emotional impact appropriate to the accompanying story. In a subsequent Ask the Post article online, Michel du Cille, the Post’s director of photography posted detailed information on the HDR process while making it clear that the publication did not and does not “manipulate” photos. 


"The debate spread to the Poynter Institute’s blog, where Sean Elliot, president of the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA)  is quoted as saying:


“HDR is not appropriate for documentary photojournalism.” Elliot points out that the NPPA’s code of ethics say photographers should respect the integrity of the digital moment, “and in that light an HDR photo is no different from any other digital manipulation.”


As vice president of Unified Color Technologies, a pioneer in the field of HDR imaging, I strongly disagree with Elliot and the NPPA’s viewpoint. When properly used, HDR does the most accurate job of reconstructing the dynamic range of the original scene at the time the photo was taken. In fact, if one really wants to split hairs about what is “real” and what isn’t, consider this; from the moment you open your eyes in the morning until the moment you close them at night, everything you see in the world around you is in HDR.

"There is no camera in existence, digital or film, which can accurately reproduce what the human vision system can capture and process in real time. While today’s digital cameras capture a much larger dynamic range in a single shot than any color transparency film ever could in the past, they still can't match the tonal range humans can see. And so, using HDR software and processing tools is the only method a photographer has to deliver precisely what he or she witnessed at the time of an image capture.  


"In the case of Bill O’Leary, his color HDR image is clearly more realistic to the moment then had he used the old gold standard of photojournalism and newsprint: black and white Tri-X film.
Improper use of HDR can clearly create a misrepresentation of the photographic moment, but when HDR techniques are used as they should, they absolutely meet, and might, in fact, go above and beyond the standards of the NPPA’s code of ethics which state, in part:

• Be accurate and comprehensive in the representation of subjects.
• Editing should maintain the integrity of the photographic images' content and context. Do not manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects. 
• Respect the integrity of the photographic moment.

Proper use of HDR does not alter, mislead or misrepresent a scene. In fact, true color HDR processing and tone mapping techniques restore the integrity of the photograph, and is the best way to reproduce the original high contrast scene, in low dynamic range media such as newsprint or on our LCD computer or handheld displays.


"At the current rate of technology evolution, we’re likely to soon have cameras that can match the dynamic range of human vision in a single shot (though even then software tools will be required to tone map the image for printing.) Until that time, the HDR process is the best option for photographers seeking to convey a sense of realism.  Simply mentioning the process in the caption, as the Post did here, is all the disclosure that ought to be necessary.
-John Omvik

Nah. I don't agree with Omvik, but as an art form I do like it, when done properly.

Experimenting With the Camera

I've also been experimenting with black & white expressionalism photography. Obviously I have a lot of work to do but it's fun and interesting. My attempt at it last week as fog moved into the city. The entrance to the parking lot of my apartment building:

I'm trying to understand the diffrence between Impressionism and Expressionism. I have a small grasp of it and why Expressionalism is different.


Another picture not nearly as nice. Taken from the bike path: 

Deleted Times Three/Breaking the Fourth Wall

Too selfish too stupid too lazy.
I've deleted the past three posts since I feel people will get an entirely wrong impression of who I am and what I believe. First and foremost I do not believe, support, or find anything redeeming about Communism. My interest in certain television programs and networks. It simply means that I am curious and secure enough in my beliefs and how much I abhor being pigeon holed into either Right or Left. I tend to avoid events, especially public events, especially politically/activist ones because I have never been keen on playing follow the leader/leaders. I am a proud American. I love my country and generally tend to vote Republican.

I am not as incoherent and confused in my writing offline as I am on my blog. The problem stems from over a decade of straight reporting and a commitment to leaving my views out of what I write. I don't have that freedom and to frank I'm not sure I want it offline. Online is different. It's a safe and comfortable place to explore what I can't offline and to vent and explore. The Internet and now cable allow me to view various points of view. They are not threatening to me in the least since I basically do know what I believe and feel and it can't be shaken. I am somewhat all over the place politically partially due to a lack of knowledge of history and a disdain for politics. But for whatever reason exposure to various views through different media has engaged me in important issues, call it breaking the fourth wall or something along those lines. Fourth Wall? Go to You Tube and watch the Dave Meslin videos on the subject. It's actually quite interesting. Never mind--I'll post it here.

He basically discusses civics 101. I can relate to his beliefs when it comes to barriers to public participation in the political process. A few years ago I covered a public meeting. A city Councilman had been working with a born-again pastor who tried to reform himself after serving jail time for vehicular manslaughter by operating rehabilitation housing for ex-cons. His project on the East Side of Buffalo was an utter disaster with even some of the criminals on parole asking to go back to prison to serve the remainder of their sentences. It was that bad.

Enter the councilman who decided to rehabilitate an old factory in Northwest Buffalo by allowing this ex-con pastor to open a rehab apartment for level 3 sex offenders. The councilman at a public meeting on the matter seeking "input" from the public responded to criticism by trying to smooth things out and achieve a compromise with the pastor since the council could give him the zoning variance. Long story short, the council had agreed to the project and claimed he changed his mind once he released how many parolees and ex-cons would be in the community.

A second and much larger public meeting was held. Residents from the opposite side of the city came in protest of two issues--the pastor's disastrous project on the East Side and the city's failure to post notices of such meetings in community newspapers rather than in tiny font fine print in the large daily. The people from P.U.S.H. Buffalo made their presence known and walked out, a journalist friend of mine walking out with them in protest.

I stayed. I needed to cover the meeting since I was able to do so objectively. But I lost out on an opportunity to become involved and educated in civics and important issues impacting the community. Objective journalism is a double-edged sword for a journalist. Trust me, it is.

Sigh. I'm just trying to become more involved and aware, the source of the awareness that engages me isn't necessarily important but this is a tow the line world, and sadly why I haven't been able to read Arutz Sheva  since last August after being denounced as anti-Semitic, anti-Israel and one who would have remained silent during the Shoah. Why the attack? I respected but suspected the motives and tactics of one of the Republican party's media darling.

Anti-Semitic and anti-Israel when just last week I received an enthusiastic "f*** you" from a fledgling Neo Nazi as I took pictures on a bike path where I had previously brought public exposure to the problem, which had resulted in online death threats to me, which were actually forwarded to a federal agency that investigates gangs and drugs. Yeah, you know, one of those three letter spook agencies. Oh, and the death threat also came with an online offer of money to kill me by a member of an extremely violent street gang.

They haven't forgiven and I haven't forgotten.

But I'm anti-Israel for the crime of thinking and forming an opinion about a media figure.

Picture: I was on the rocks here, the guy who shouted "f*** you" was on the other side of this polluted creek above a bridge.

****

Regarding my post on the demise of the West Side of Buffalo. It breaks my heart. Taking a bus through the old neighborhood is surreal. Not quite a dissociative state but more of dream-like one. Was the wonderful West Side real or just a dream? The street signs were recognizable and little else. Buffalo isn't a segregated community but each part of the city tended to be populated by specific ethnicities. People knew where to go for the best pizza in town etc. They knew where to go for the best Polish food etc. You get the point:)

That's all changed. There's no longer an Italian Festival on the West Side but an "International Festival."

And everyone knows that once an ethnic community here has lost its identity the community has been lost forever and become crime ridden, a shell of its former glory. All that is left are vague deja vu experiences and little else:(

Gone forever. Forever lost from all of us...

So no, I am not a Communist, not in danger of being sucked into Leftist beliefs, but engaged enough to understand them more. The source of this education and awareness shouldn't be an issue. I'm merely trying to break through the fourth wall.

Long and short of it is, I am not as dense or ignorant as my posts and thoughts online are.

****

Entirely Off Topic but I've been experimenting with HDR photography, rather photo editing, lately via photo editing. It's interesting but difficult. Done properly it should give a more rich three dimenstional look. Done poorly it looks animated and difficult to tell if it's a painting or a photograph. In other words, it looks like a cartoon.


Painting or photograph...which represents reality better? Each has its pros and cons but share a common flaw. Focus too closely and objectivity and perspective is lost. Focus too broadly and you can't see the forest from the trees.

Failed attempt at HDR photography and photo editing,probably too small to see the animation:

Justice or Human Rights Violations?

RT's motto is Question More and Explore Russia. For whatever reason, American television is exploring Russia. The Russian arctic episode of Wild Russia was beautiful and effectively debunked global warming. Wild Russia airs on Animal Planet and features rare animals that can only be found in Russia. National Geographic is also exploring Russia with Russia's Toughest Prisons. Three Russian prisons are featured--Black Dolphin, Vladimir Central (Stalin's son was a prisoner there) and another prison, Prison Camp 17 (KK-17). Vladimir Central seems like an extreme example of any tough prison in the United States. Black Dolphin and Prison Camp 17 are more disturning for differnt reasons. It is a supermax prison, which seems to violate basic human rights. It makes Gitmo look like a five-star hotel. Black Dolphin houses the most vile of prisoners. This portion of the show should have definitely come with one of those "this program may be unsettling for sensitive viewers.

Viewer discrection is advised." Inspite of the horrendous crimes the prisoners have been tried and convicted of I found them sympathetic compared to the Lt. Guard Denis Avsyuk (sp). Two prisoners are confined to a cell within a cell. Cells with three metal doors. Each cell is 50-square feet, slightly larger than my bathroom. Prisoners can't sit on their beds at all for 16 hours a day from 6 a.m. There is no prison yard. They're allowed to pace like caged lions for one hour a day. The "yards" are indoors and inmates can't even look at the sky. Inmates sentenced to life terms can't use the dinning hall, and are fed either soup or barley and bread. When guards move them from their cells to the prison "yard" they are blind folded and put in a stressed position. Does this sound like Gitmo? Yes and no. The inmates at Gitmo have not been tried or sentenced. Extreme isolation, the stress positions etc (basically torure) are used to extract information. This is not the case at Black Dolphin.

Human rights activist have blasted Gitmo for torture. Is it torture to treat the tried and sentenced prisoners this way, yet we never hear about it in the media.


Prison Camp 17--right in the heart of Siberia. The horror stories about being sentenced to a prison in Siberia looks ghastly. Not so much for the prison conditions but for the types of people sentenced to the prison camp. Dmitry, 21, was sentenced on a drug-related charge. Though he is 21 years old, he looks like a 15 or 16-year old. Why sentence this sweet boy, who carries a small photo album of his family around and which can be seen in virtually every scene he is in. He seems like such a sweet kid. He describes his best friend as George, a fellow inmate also sentenced for drugs. George and Dmitry "live together, work together and do everything together. George describes his greatest fear--being alone. Dmitry's family can't visit him because the prison camp is a three-day trip away.

Three thoughts--presentencing investigation. Both young men come from stable families. They have committed non-violent crimes. Yet they're sentenced to years in a maximum security prison in Siberia. It made me sick. In the US a presentencing investigation would have most likely sentenced them to probation. First time offenders.

The narrator says explains that there is a lack of cheap labor in Siberia. Is the Russian prison system sentencing young, first time offenders to prison as slave labor? Sentencing kids to prison just to provide cheap labor?

Watch the video. Tell me if you think this is the case and if these young men deserved to be sentenced to a maximum security prison. First time offenders for non-violent crimes. It seems like Russia is sentencing  kids to prison. Shipped off to Siberia as slave labor?

Is Black Dolphin worse than Gitmo in that the prisoners are not terrorist and the cruelty is not used to extract information? The video is about an hour long, but worth watching. Decide for yourself if this is simply another country's criminal justice system or abusive.

Dmitry explains how a kid in a Russian village can be sentenced to prison for half a year just for stealing a sack of potatoes. In the US a first time offender for such a crime would result in an ACD (adjournment in contemplation of dismissal). Keep your nose clean for six months and the charges are totally dismissed.

Is it really possible that Russia is sentencing these kids to prison in Siberia just as a form of cheap labor? Remember, non-violent crimes, first time offenders.

Battle of th Blue Collar

After years of disdain for all things political I’ve come to a conclusion. It’s not all politics I object to, but American politics. To quote Ray Bradbury: “I hate that Roman named Status Quo.” I see little difference between the Right and Left. Each are two sides of the coin.

Further, I find American politics utterly boring.

I’m not engaged in it all. Some say the presidential elections are the battle for the blue collar. What exactly is blue collar? People willing to get their finger nails dirty? People working in factories who have placed themselves are a pedestal? Taking the bus to work because we can’t afford cars, but unwilling to put ourselves in debt just to get one? I can’t relate to the self-glorified middle and upper middle class.

I come from and remain lower middle class, which means neither of the political parties represent me.

What’s the difference between the middle/upper middle class and the working class? Why are we sandwiched between these classes and the poor? It’s not so much a matter of having values but of having virtues. Unlike the poor, we work. Unlike the middle class we know the dangers of living beyond our means. That means not maxing out our credit cards, saving up to buy things. Credit cards are set aside for emergencies lonely--emergency meaning something like a broken furnace. At least that’s how it was in my family. It meant saving up for something, the old fashioned layaway.

I couldn’t afford cable for many years so I went without it. Now I can afford it and have it for two months now.


The middle and upper middle class are represented by the Republicans. The poor have the Democrats. Who represents the working class who simply have more important things to do than camp out in the cold with the Occupy movements and the Tea Party? I’ve yet to find a single candidate that represents the working class.

Not a single one.

So riddle me this--who represents the working/lower middle class? It’s certainly not the Tea Party. I don’t care what people think--Many (not all) of them view anyone who is not middle class as leeches. The same goes for the Occupy crowd who see us as an oppressed people clinging to a Communist-like to be taken care of and controlled.
Nope.

In the battle of the blue collar we are simply left out of the equation.

The Boxer: George Washington

I was watching Rocky (first one) this after and I still love it! The Bill Conti theme, especially the Gonna Fly Now montage where Rocky runs through the streets of Philadelphia and ascends the top of the Philadelphia museum.

There's a lot I didn't remember about the movie from when I first saw it at the drive-in with my parents. Rock was born in Philadelphia, the night before Thanksgiving. He's a right (Orthodox) fighter by nature but fights with his left hand (a south paw). He explains the boxing term to Adrian. His explanation is different from the boxing definition, but I like Rocky's much better:

"There was a boxer in Philadelphia noticed that his left hand was facing South Jersey. 

 

 “A long time ago, a couple of hundred years ago, this guy was fightin'. I think it was around Philadelphia. He was left-handed. His arm was facin' towards New Jersey. And that's south, so they called him Southpaw. You see? Southpaw, South Jersey, South Camden, Southpaw ... you know what I mean?"

 

Yep. I love the historical reference thrown into the movie. Rocky fights Appollo on Thanksgiving Day in '76. The reference to George Washington, Philadelphia, and '76 are obvious, so, too, the reference to beating the British (okay Hessians) who were drinking it up at a bar on Christmas Day (I think Rocky fought Appollo on either Christmas Day, but it was definitely close to New Year's Eve at least (short attention span when I get into a movie).

 

 

I love when Rocky (Rocky II?) a right handed, orthodox by nature fighter who uses his southpaw switches to his natural right hand midway through a fight, throws Appollo off and wins the fight. Ah, Rocky beat him the right and honest way. Interesting that he learned to fight with his left, but to defeat Appollo switched back to his right/orthodox way of fighting, yet had to train to use his right hand.

 

But he won. Oh, and Rocky Italian. Of course, but it took me a while to figure that out lol. I have no idea what the name Appollo might refer to regarding the American Revolution, though.

 

Just a great movie and a great theme song. I think I posted some of this before but the movie and song...wow.

 

American history through a boxing movie.

Gingrich Was Right

I've become more and more of a Rick Santorum fan and would love to see him as the Republican presidential candidate. Still, something Gingrich said in the last debate impressed me. He brought up the Obama's silence on the atrocities of the young Iranian students protesting election fraud. I have two major reasons for not voting for Obama.

I couldn't believe Gingrich said that! I've read plenty of opinions on why people shouldn't vote for Obama for very valid reasons, but this is the first time I've heard anyone bring up the Iranian protests, and certainly the first time it's been mentioned this election season.

My jaw dropped.

Voter fraud and civil rights/human rights abuses are supposed to be the sacred cows of Democrats and here Obama was silent and only after the liberal media questioned him did he respond. Another case of a politician who constantly wants to be on the right side of history? Righteousness doesn't work that way.

Either your moral compass is properly set or it isn't. IMO those kids were protesting against a modern day Hitler. After the fact righteousness? I don't think so.

It's interesting. Iranians seem to be the only people in the Middle East truly fighting for reform and freedom from forced Islam (not necessarily from Islam, but Islamic governmental control). They seem to despise it as much as many Cuban Americans despise Communism.

OT but it just occurred to me--people keep calling the US a Democratic nation. I thought it was a Democratic Republic. Someone mentioned to me that there is a difference. It would be interesting to find out.

Off to check I go.

Hopefully...

This will solve my Blogger, Email, and You Tube problems. Resetting the email passwords and screen names was easy and I can remember the passwords. Ditto with the new You Tube account. SOL on Blogger in Draft. It's still me but at least I can remember how to log in and log out. Hopefully, hopefully this solves my Blogger problems and I'll be able to continue blogging.

I felt kind of stupid adding 613 (cliche, well maybe not that, but overused by a lot of bloggers) to my user name here, but I wanted the Keli Ata name and tried so many times to create other blogs with Keli Ata (don't ask, I can't explain it myself), that 613 was the most creative one I could think of and that I would remember. Keep your fingers crossed that this works from me.


I have no idea if I am posting this in Blogger in Draft or regular blogger, but at least it seems to be working.


UGH. Word of advice--never combine all of your Google accounts. It's a royal pain!


Still tinkering with the template.

Back in the Saddle Again

Here were go again! I had to create yet another blog. But at least now I can remember all of my email addresses and passwords, so things should be okay for now. I'm hoping this works. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

This isn't the template I wanted but at least I am connected with the Blogger world and can rant and rave and "talk" in circles once again.