April 2008 archive

Usually, I post a montage of paintings, I thought I would go with a photographer today…

You can read about Manuel Alvarez Bravo here, a prominent photographer, perhaps the most famed in all of Mexico.

His approach was direct and he said this about his work….

I don’t look for anything. I discover things.” Over the years, he told students: “Shoot what you see, not what you think. A photographer’s philosophy should be not to have one.”

His images can be accessed here.

Another extraordinary photographer, Tina Modotti, reminds us of this bare truth….

I cannot solve the problem of life by losing myself in the problem of art

You can read a bit about her here.

This piece is composed by Michael Nyman who also did the score for one of my favorite movies: The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover, not I should add recommended viewing for everybody.

Go forth and imprint on the world.

Please don’t recommend pony party. hang out and chit chat, and then read some of the excellent offerings on our recent and rec’d list.

Come with me

Into the trees

Well lay on the grass

And let the hours pass

Saturday’s Headlines: Party Fears Racial Divide: Detainees’ Mental Health Is Latest Legal Battle: In Beijing, No Answer to The Bulldozer: Country for sale: Scores arrested in police raid on MDC and poll monitors: Jacob Zuma: President in waiting: Spain’s military banned from websites showing models or giving sports results: Georgia steps up its diplomatic push for NATO membership: Militias ‘recruit child bombers’:   Questions Linger on Scope of Iran’s Threat in Iraq: Protest in Mexico’s Congress over PREMEX bill ends

U.S. Afghan supply lines depend on Islamic militant

BARA, Pakistan – The only thing standing between Pakistan’s Taliban and the lifeline for U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan may be an Islamist warlord who controls the area near Pakistan’s famed Khyber Pass.

In an interview with McClatchy, Mangal Bagh, who leads a group called Lashkar-i-Islam, voiced his disdain for America but said he’s rebuffed an offer from the Taliban to join them.

Truckloads of food, equipment and fuel for NATO troops wind through the Khyber Pass daily to the bustling border at Torkham. Last month, Taliban fighters bombed fuel trucks waiting at Torkham to cross into Afghanistan, and last week, fighting between Bagh’s men and a pocket of Taliban resistance closed the highway for several days.

What if…

every cop is a criminal

and all the sinners saints?


By zwoof at 2008-04-26

Since about five minutes after Israel sent its warplanes to attack a site near Al Kibar, Syria, became known eight months ago, the speculation has been that Israel took out a nuclear reactor. Although the immediate public response from Washington officials was that the target wasn’t a nuke, we now know that those officials thought they knew better and had for months. The question now is whether this attack last September was a prelude to an attack on a nuclear reactor in Arak, Iran.

Six weeks after the attack, the Institute for Science and International Security provided some details and photos, a “confirmation” that the Syrians had been building a reactor near Al Kibar. Moreover, ISIS seemed to agree with U.S. officials who, in early October had said that satellite photos indicated the Syrian site bore the “signature” of a small reactor. ISIS made clear that this structurally resembled a site in Yongbon, North Korea, where plutonium has been extracted for that country’s nuclear weapons.  In December, Clayton Keir explored Syria’s nuclear capabilities for GlobalSecurity.org.

Hence, senior officials of the Cheney-Bush Administration, assisted with visual aids, didn’t provide any real surprises during Thursday’s  all-day briefing of Congress. No doubt it was nuke, they said. North Korea built or helped build it. And, yes, the White House had held extensive discussions with Israel prior to the September 6 attack. About whether the Syrians were actually pursuing the building of a plutonium Bomb the senior officials were less willing to be certain. That’s because there were some crucial missing pieces, including a chemical reprocessing facility capable of separating plutonium.

Ashes to ashes, crest to crest — cremation cruises offer new wave of eternal rest

Growing numbers of Japanese are taking a leaf out of the books of ancient Vikings, choosing to cremate their departed loved ones on crematorium ships — and getting a cruise out of it, to boot, according to Sunday Mainichi (4/27).

Cramped living conditions, huge waiting lists for graves and increasingly high burial costs have made death a real pain in the ass for a lot of Japanese.

Get this party started

Passengers on a Nagoya subway line hit the jackpot when a ticket vending machine spat out ¥5,000 and ¥10,000 notes instead of ¥1,000 bills as change. The error ended up costing the station ¥252,000.