I am presenting a small actual-size detail of my color tempera painting. You can see there's a lot more detail than is visible on video, and the color work can be seen more clearly.
July 2002 Archives
I worked a lot today, and decided this painting is finished. This painting is pretty dark, and relies on a lot of transparent effects that won't be visible at this resolution. Oh my aching back, it takes a lot of work to pull all those staples around the edge and clean up the masking tape. But it's worth it. I never quite know how a painting is going to look when I clean up the edges, but I think this one turned out pretty much how I intended. I'll try to get a larger image up on the web somehow.
OK, I goofed off yesterday, and didn't get any painting done so this is still just Day 9. I spent a lot of time yesterday thinking about how the project is going. It is rather dismaying to see all this technological apparatus being used on such a small audience. I suspect this experiment has gone astray somehow, but at least I'm gathering some info on how to make it work. I think I'm working in the wrong medium, when I work in oil paint I'll work for hours, but with tempera, I can only work for a few minutes and then everything gets wet and I have to stop. I suspect that people would be more interested in actually seeing an artist at work, so perhaps I should schedule a specific time each day so people could check in and watch. Or perhaps another approach is needed. The video stream is insufficient to see just what I'm painting, and that's not going to change how I paint. Perhaps I need a high-rez webcam, just showing a still image every hour or so, to see more detail and allow viewers to see what is changing in the painting.
But I suspect there is a more fatal flaw in this experiment. Watching an artist paint is sort of like watching someone do menial work, it's boring. It's dirty and messy, and hard work over the long haul. The public only sees the end result, an attractive image, but they don't have any understanding of the days of work and thought behind an image. I guess if people are bored by watching me paint, then the experiment has found its message. Real painting isn't like watching Picasso or Pollock doing a staged performace for the camera, with all the boring parts edited out. This is live, and real. Follow the experiment over time and see what happens.
But I suspect there is a more fatal flaw in this experiment. Watching an artist paint is sort of like watching someone do menial work, it's boring. It's dirty and messy, and hard work over the long haul. The public only sees the end result, an attractive image, but they don't have any understanding of the days of work and thought behind an image. I guess if people are bored by watching me paint, then the experiment has found its message. Real painting isn't like watching Picasso or Pollock doing a staged performace for the camera, with all the boring parts edited out. This is live, and real. Follow the experiment over time and see what happens.
I have been mostly working in the evenings, sometimes quite late at night, so please keep checking in to see progress on the painting. It's at a slow part, and I have to work carefully. Tempera paint is tricky to work with in color, the underpainting dissolves and "drags up" into the new paint. It's easy to work with when the painting is thin, but not so easy when it gets built up. This is always the problem with gouache and opaque water pigments.
I'm continuing to work with the color tempera, it has some interesting properties. Lately I've been thinking about one of Leonardo daVinci's painting lessons. He described how to build the structure of foliage and trees by laying down layers of bright and dark. I've used that lesson a lot in abstract painting, my work sometimes deals with fields of color putting "visual pressure" forward or backwards. My work isn't about trees or foliage, but I tend to work in blue-green colors so people always assume that it is. But it's not. Anyway, this painting is still in the underpainting stage, far less than halfway to being anything. I like the color tempera, and this size of paper works pretty well for me, but I have to mix huge amounts of pigments. Color mixing is working pretty well, better than I expected. I bought a nice Italian signpainter's brush, it was cheap, and works great at this scale.
I haven't been able to paint much due to a huge disaster. A pipe burst, flooding much of my basement with an inch of water. It reminds me of one of my favorite jokes.
Two businessmen are flying to Tahiti, sitting next to each other in First Class. One of them complains to the other, "my factory was completely destroyed by a fire, but I had tons of insurance and it paid for everything, with enough left over for a nice vacation in Tahiti." The other businessman says, "that's almost exactly what happened to me, except my factory got wiped out in a flood." The first businessman says, "Hey, that's amazing, how do you start a flood?"
Two businessmen are flying to Tahiti, sitting next to each other in First Class. One of them complains to the other, "my factory was completely destroyed by a fire, but I had tons of insurance and it paid for everything, with enough left over for a nice vacation in Tahiti." The other businessman says, "that's almost exactly what happened to me, except my factory got wiped out in a flood." The first businessman says, "Hey, that's amazing, how do you start a flood?"
I took a little longer break than I'd planned but now I'm back in the studio. I decided to work in color, and on a larger size of paper. This all means more work. I have never worked with color tempera at this size, I'll see how this goes but it could all end up in the trash.
To my surprise, I decided this painting was finished, so I took the tape off the edges and unmounted it. It looks pretty good. I decided it was too boring for viewers to watch me paint in black and white, and I was getting bored too. But I thought it turned out pretty good. And I decided to give the equipment a rest. It's 11PM and it's 90 degrees outside, it's going to be even hotter tomorrow, time to conserve some energy and let the equipment rest a day or so. I'll start a new painting Monday. In the meantime, I laid the painting right on the scanner, so I can show you an actual-size detail, you can see a tiny bit of what I'm up to. I'll try to get a digital camera or something, to show the whole image.
I'm back at work. I've been leaving the video zoomed in so you can see the detail, but it's still too blurry to see what I'm really doing. I'll see if I can get some hirez scans when the work is done, so you can see the final result. I looked at the detail video, it looks like black and white video, but that's because I'm working in black and white. Working in B/W is harder than working in color, and not nearly as much fun. Color can be a crutch sometimes, you can distract people from the problems in your painting with colors. But in B/W, all the flaws are just as distinct as the good bits, so you have to fix things or it all falls apart. I went to the art store and looked at some colored tempera, but they were out of stock on important primary colors, so there would be no way to mix colors properly. I could use acrylics, but I hate using acrylics, if I go to that trouble, I might as well work in oil.
The first time I looked at the painting today, I liked it a lot more than when I was painting on it last night. It looks a lot brighter, I was working more in midtones, with a looser, wetter brushwork in spontaneously mixed greys. It's progressing well, but still a long way to go.
Lately I have a bit of pain in my right arm from tendonitis, and it's painful to paint. I've been hauling big buckets of water from my sink to my garden, I had to start lifting the buckets with my left arm because it hurt too much. I wonder how much 5 gal of water weighs? I took some Alleve which is good for deep tendon pain, it should kick in soon and I'll start painting.
I think I'll go down to the art supplies store about 4PM today and get some new brushes. The ones I'm using are too small for this size of paper, and not enough variation in size. I have some huge brushes but they're too big. Hmm.. Maybe I should just buy bigger paper, that would be a lot cheaper. I'd rather work larger. For that matter, I'd rather be working on more than one piece at once, so I could continue to paint on one while the other dried. I prepared a couple of boards like this so I could switch to another board. But I just don't have enough space to do it. It reminds me of an old story I heard about Basquiat. He'd work on one painting at a time, focusing on that until he was finished. Then he hired an assistant, who saw him working. He told Basquiat that everyone works on multiple works at the same time, and his job as assistant was to prep canvases and move stuff around so he could do that. Suddenly Basquiat's output exploded, and his works started referring to each other in a wonderful way.
7:10PM - I bought some new brushes, boy is it expensive to buy wide soft bristle brushes. I'll work in the studio more tonight, so stay tuned. You're invited to open the stream and just leave it running. I figure people actually want to see me paint, so I'll leave a monitor running, and if anyone is connected, I'll make an effort to paint. But the stream monitor only updates once a minute, so you'll have to stay connected for over a minute before I could possibly notice it.
Lately I have a bit of pain in my right arm from tendonitis, and it's painful to paint. I've been hauling big buckets of water from my sink to my garden, I had to start lifting the buckets with my left arm because it hurt too much. I wonder how much 5 gal of water weighs? I took some Alleve which is good for deep tendon pain, it should kick in soon and I'll start painting.
I think I'll go down to the art supplies store about 4PM today and get some new brushes. The ones I'm using are too small for this size of paper, and not enough variation in size. I have some huge brushes but they're too big. Hmm.. Maybe I should just buy bigger paper, that would be a lot cheaper. I'd rather work larger. For that matter, I'd rather be working on more than one piece at once, so I could continue to paint on one while the other dried. I prepared a couple of boards like this so I could switch to another board. But I just don't have enough space to do it. It reminds me of an old story I heard about Basquiat. He'd work on one painting at a time, focusing on that until he was finished. Then he hired an assistant, who saw him working. He told Basquiat that everyone works on multiple works at the same time, and his job as assistant was to prep canvases and move stuff around so he could do that. Suddenly Basquiat's output exploded, and his works started referring to each other in a wonderful way.
7:10PM - I bought some new brushes, boy is it expensive to buy wide soft bristle brushes. I'll work in the studio more tonight, so stay tuned. You're invited to open the stream and just leave it running. I figure people actually want to see me paint, so I'll leave a monitor running, and if anyone is connected, I'll make an effort to paint. But the stream monitor only updates once a minute, so you'll have to stay connected for over a minute before I could possibly notice it.
I'm continuing to work on my painting for the second day. Progress is slower, I'm at that point of maximum dissatisfaction with the imagery, so now I have to make radical changes, and each decision is much harder.
I'm having a little trouble working, due to my new eyeglasses. My opthalmologist said I'd hate bifocals so he prescribed me two different glasses, one for reading, one for general tasks. Unfortunately neither set is just right for painting, so I'm constantly switching, and usually forgetting to switch back.
7:17PM - I was too tired to paint much today, I got up too early for the Stevenote. I have to run some errands for an hour or so, but I'll be in the studio painting tonight. That's one of the good things about working in black and white, you can work at night under worse lighting conditions than you need for color.
11:30PM - I'm fiddling with the video, trying to get a larger, more detailed picture. I tried setting the size to 240x320, but it would only display a cropped frame. I'm still working on the best way to present this, I need a cool QuickTime HTML authoring gadget. I tried using Dreamweaver MX but it makes you deal with QuickTime through ActiveX. Yuk.
I'm having a little trouble working, due to my new eyeglasses. My opthalmologist said I'd hate bifocals so he prescribed me two different glasses, one for reading, one for general tasks. Unfortunately neither set is just right for painting, so I'm constantly switching, and usually forgetting to switch back.
7:17PM - I was too tired to paint much today, I got up too early for the Stevenote. I have to run some errands for an hour or so, but I'll be in the studio painting tonight. That's one of the good things about working in black and white, you can work at night under worse lighting conditions than you need for color.
11:30PM - I'm fiddling with the video, trying to get a larger, more detailed picture. I tried setting the size to 240x320, but it would only display a cropped frame. I'm still working on the best way to present this, I need a cool QuickTime HTML authoring gadget. I tried using Dreamweaver MX but it makes you deal with QuickTime through ActiveX. Yuk.
I'm watching the MacWorld keynote right now, wow is the MPEG4 video stream hugely improved quality over previous live MacWorld broadcasts. I can actually see the contents of the screens during demos. I'll be in the studio painting a bit throughout today, but I won't get anything done until the Stevenote is over.
StudioCam is now broadcasting live, the project has begun. Now you will be able see me painting. And when I say you will see me painting, I mean mostly you will see paint drying. I spend far more time looking at my painting than actually painting. But you will be able to check in over time and see how the painting is progressing. Painting is a slow process.
I've got my paper mounted and have started to paint. I like to staple paper to a board and put tape around the edges, so when I finish, it has a nice clean white frame. My photography background is obvious. I'm working in black and white mixed media, using tempra, sumi ink, and various watercolors and gouache. I'm working strictly abstractly, which is the hardest way to paint. At this point, it makes little difference to me how the painting looks, most of this will be covered up and repainted 5 or 6 times before I even get an idea where I'm going.
2:40PM - Working in water media is slow, I have to wait for the paper to dry before I can paint further. This forces me to work more like printmaking, planning the image in layers of a single color of paint. I'm more accustomed to oil painting, where you can work wet on wet and get really good effects. I always try to work with water media like it was oil paint. I remember a long chat with Brice Marden that put me onto this theme. Well, I mostly remember it, we both had too way much to drink. But anyway, I asked him about his Cold Mountain drawings, and he said he liked the immediacy of drawing in ink, how it was like calligraphy in that your first mark was the final mark. But in oil painting, you can continuously work the image until it's perfect, you can even scrape it down and start over. I decided to prove him wrong, and work on a single sheet of paper continuously, to work the paper and ink as hard as oil paints. Unfortunately, it's almost as much work as oil painting. More, really, since you have to go to a LOT more work to get nice transparent effects. I wish streaming video had more resolution, it's impossible to see these effects in the tiny, blurry video image. I just found a way to pump up the rez by killing the blank audio and using full bandwidth for video. I'll see how it works. When I stop working and take a break, I'll leave the camera zoomed in so you can see some details.
5:45PM - I'm back in the studio, I'll do more work on this painting tonight, over the next few hours.
I've got my paper mounted and have started to paint. I like to staple paper to a board and put tape around the edges, so when I finish, it has a nice clean white frame. My photography background is obvious. I'm working in black and white mixed media, using tempra, sumi ink, and various watercolors and gouache. I'm working strictly abstractly, which is the hardest way to paint. At this point, it makes little difference to me how the painting looks, most of this will be covered up and repainted 5 or 6 times before I even get an idea where I'm going.
2:40PM - Working in water media is slow, I have to wait for the paper to dry before I can paint further. This forces me to work more like printmaking, planning the image in layers of a single color of paint. I'm more accustomed to oil painting, where you can work wet on wet and get really good effects. I always try to work with water media like it was oil paint. I remember a long chat with Brice Marden that put me onto this theme. Well, I mostly remember it, we both had too way much to drink. But anyway, I asked him about his Cold Mountain drawings, and he said he liked the immediacy of drawing in ink, how it was like calligraphy in that your first mark was the final mark. But in oil painting, you can continuously work the image until it's perfect, you can even scrape it down and start over. I decided to prove him wrong, and work on a single sheet of paper continuously, to work the paper and ink as hard as oil paints. Unfortunately, it's almost as much work as oil painting. More, really, since you have to go to a LOT more work to get nice transparent effects. I wish streaming video had more resolution, it's impossible to see these effects in the tiny, blurry video image. I just found a way to pump up the rez by killing the blank audio and using full bandwidth for video. I'll see how it works. When I stop working and take a break, I'll leave the camera zoomed in so you can see some details.
5:45PM - I'm back in the studio, I'll do more work on this painting tonight, over the next few hours.
The StudioCam is live and available for testing. Please click and see if the picture is visible (there is no audio). If anyone comments that they can see the signal, I will begin the project.
Update 9:25PM Apple has just officially released QuickTime 6 and QuickTime Broadcaster. Some features of the Preview Edition may have been disabled, which could explain the streaming problems. I'm upgrading and reconfiguring now, and will continue to work until streaming goes live.
Update 11:15PM The new QuickTime 6 release seems to work, but retains compatibility with QuickTime 5. I will leave the stream running, please click the comment link and let me know if you see the video. Note that you may need to click Play a second time before the stream will start.
(Test successful, links to video removed)
Update 9:25PM Apple has just officially released QuickTime 6 and QuickTime Broadcaster. Some features of the Preview Edition may have been disabled, which could explain the streaming problems. I'm upgrading and reconfiguring now, and will continue to work until streaming goes live.
Update 11:15PM The new QuickTime 6 release seems to work, but retains compatibility with QuickTime 5. I will leave the stream running, please click the comment link and let me know if you see the video. Note that you may need to click Play a second time before the stream will start.
(Test successful, links to video removed)
Disinfotainment announces the latest exciting experiment in QuickTime streaming video, broadcasting live from my art studio. I will work on a series of paintings live in front of a video camera, over a period of days. You can check in on my progress, watch as the image develops, and get a quick look at how a painter works. I will comment on my work as it progresses, and viewers are invited to leave their own comments.
Some of the most influential films in all of Modern Art are films of famous painters painting. Films of Pollock and Picasso painting on the reverse side of a glass are particularly famous, and have influenced (for good or ill) many painters including myself. There is something mysterious and unknown that happens when painters paint, something mostly unknown to the art viewing public and virtually impossible for artists to explain. Some artists open their studios once a year to allow visitors, but most artists would never allow anyone to watch over their shoulder while painting. Now I am opening not just my studio, but my easel to the public for realtime viewing. At the end of the experiment, I will offer these works for sale at low cost. By prior agreement, the first $150 of any sales will go towards a commercial license for Moveable Type. You can support the arts, and support Open Source software authors too!
I do not know how this experiment will develop. An experiment wouldn't be worth doing if I knew in advance what I will learn in the process. I am not sure if this will even work. I've upgraded my systems to deliver streaming video more smoothly, but this system is based on a preview version of QuickTime Broadcaster, so it is strictly experimental. I will begin with low-bandwidth streams visible over a 56k modem, and plan on increasing the speed and improving quality as the experiment progresses. Please view the Test Stream and please leave a comment if you can or cannot see the live video stream. Yes, the test stream is too dark, this is just a test stream of live TV, the studiocam looks much better than this. I expect to go live and start painting this afternoon, perhaps in only a few hours if I get reports that the test stream is successful.
Update 2:15PM Still working on setting up live streaming, with mixed results. Please keep testing and leave a comment to let me know if you can or can not see the stream.
Some of the most influential films in all of Modern Art are films of famous painters painting. Films of Pollock and Picasso painting on the reverse side of a glass are particularly famous, and have influenced (for good or ill) many painters including myself. There is something mysterious and unknown that happens when painters paint, something mostly unknown to the art viewing public and virtually impossible for artists to explain. Some artists open their studios once a year to allow visitors, but most artists would never allow anyone to watch over their shoulder while painting. Now I am opening not just my studio, but my easel to the public for realtime viewing. At the end of the experiment, I will offer these works for sale at low cost. By prior agreement, the first $150 of any sales will go towards a commercial license for Moveable Type. You can support the arts, and support Open Source software authors too!
I do not know how this experiment will develop. An experiment wouldn't be worth doing if I knew in advance what I will learn in the process. I am not sure if this will even work. I've upgraded my systems to deliver streaming video more smoothly, but this system is based on a preview version of QuickTime Broadcaster, so it is strictly experimental. I will begin with low-bandwidth streams visible over a 56k modem, and plan on increasing the speed and improving quality as the experiment progresses. Please view the Test Stream and please leave a comment if you can or cannot see the live video stream. Yes, the test stream is too dark, this is just a test stream of live TV, the studiocam looks much better than this. I expect to go live and start painting this afternoon, perhaps in only a few hours if I get reports that the test stream is successful.
Update 2:15PM Still working on setting up live streaming, with mixed results. Please keep testing and leave a comment to let me know if you can or can not see the stream.
I've just completed the first release of a new document, Advanced Anti-Spam Techniques for MacOS X. It describes my strategy for reducing spam with simple procmail scripts. I hope to add new strategies to this page, if anyone has suggestions then please let me know.
There just are no jokes about art that everyone laughs at. There is a long tradition of poking fun at modern art, but there just aren't any gut laughs, except for this one joke. It's a sight gag, so I will show you the painting too.
On the Mary Tyler Moore show, Mary has convinced Lou to let Rhoda redecorate his apartment. The refurbishment is done and Lou hates it. Everything is a modern designer's fantasy in chrome and glass, and the centerpiece is a very fine painting, "I Dreamt I Saw the Number Five in Gold" by Charles Demuth.
This is one of my favorite paintings, it's in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is considered a primary example of early American Modernism. But Lou hates the painting. Rhoda isn't around so he yells at Mary, questioning Rhoda's artistic taste. He accuses Rhoda of being too hasty in selecting his furnishings. He goes right up to the Demuth painting and screams at Mary, "I bet Rhoda had to look through four other paintings before she picked this one!"
On the Mary Tyler Moore show, Mary has convinced Lou to let Rhoda redecorate his apartment. The refurbishment is done and Lou hates it. Everything is a modern designer's fantasy in chrome and glass, and the centerpiece is a very fine painting, "I Dreamt I Saw the Number Five in Gold" by Charles Demuth.
This is one of my favorite paintings, it's in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and is considered a primary example of early American Modernism. But Lou hates the painting. Rhoda isn't around so he yells at Mary, questioning Rhoda's artistic taste. He accuses Rhoda of being too hasty in selecting his furnishings. He goes right up to the Demuth painting and screams at Mary, "I bet Rhoda had to look through four other paintings before she picked this one!"
I finally located the original text of my favorite joke, as published long ago in Ian Shoales' San Francisco Chronicle column. I've told this joke over and over and mangled it and never done it justice. So here it is.
How many deconstructionists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Even the framing of this question makes a grid of patriarchal assumptions that reveals a slavish devotion to phallocentric ideas - such as, technical accomplishment has inherent value, knowledge can be attained and quantities of labor can be determined empirically, all of which makes a discourse which further marginalizes the already disenfranchised.
How many deconstructionists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
Even the framing of this question makes a grid of patriarchal assumptions that reveals a slavish devotion to phallocentric ideas - such as, technical accomplishment has inherent value, knowledge can be attained and quantities of labor can be determined empirically, all of which makes a discourse which further marginalizes the already disenfranchised.
I have just released an update to the hugely popular document Free Spam Filtering for MacOS X. SpamBouncer has been updated to version 1.5 so the updated documentation has the new installation procedures, plus many improvements and new procedures. The new version of SpamBouncer includes the latest anti-spam technology. So get it.
I was offline for a day while QWest worked on my DSL line, but now I'm back (sort of). There is an abundance of good and bad news. The bad news is that the main trunk line between the telco and my neighborhood junction box was bad. The good news is that they replaced it. It was a long cable run, DSL hasn't been available in my neighborhood, this far from the telco before. But when QWest repaired the trunk line, they discovered the local line between the junction box and my house was corroded and noisy. So they replaced that too. Now I have all-new cabling from the telco to my home, which will solve the intermittent connection problem. The tech wanted to check my Cisco 678 router and see if it trained. He checked it and said the output port is bad. This would explain a lot of problems I'm having inside the local network. The Cisco router connects and interacts perfectly with QWest and my ISP, however, it has a few problems with everything inside my local network.
QWest says they'll replace my Cisco 678, I told them that since it was DOA they should expedite a replacement, I've been struggling with this unit for 2 weeks beyond the initial install target and they better get a replacement in my hands pronto.
The server and net connections seem stable now, so I'll leave this running and see if it works. If you notice any unusual problems (slow page loads, unable to stream, the usual culprits) then let me know, it will help in debugging.
QWest says they'll replace my Cisco 678, I told them that since it was DOA they should expedite a replacement, I've been struggling with this unit for 2 weeks beyond the initial install target and they better get a replacement in my hands pronto.
The server and net connections seem stable now, so I'll leave this running and see if it works. If you notice any unusual problems (slow page loads, unable to stream, the usual culprits) then let me know, it will help in debugging.
I replaced my ancient 10BaseT hub with a new 10/100 switch, the server appears to be working better. QWest checked my line and says the quality is poor, so I frequently lose contact with the net. They promise to repair the line by tomorrow at 2:30PM. Bear with me, I'll get these problems worked out soon.
I'm still struggling with QWest DSL problems. My LAN is hosed, it takes between 60 and 180 seconds to load pages between machines inside my local network. It doesn't seem to affect outside users, but I can't even load self-served pages on my own CPU without the annoying delay. Something is deeply hosed. I'm going through NetInfo docs, but it appears I might have to rebuild a new OS from scratch. My ISP seems to think it's a problem with the new Cisco 678 firmware v2.4.6, they recommend going back to v2.4.1 which is so ancient that it's vulnerable to the Code Red worm. They believe the router has trouble recognizing machines within the local net, and that it's due to a bug introduced in the post-v2.4.1 firmware. That doesn't sound good. I may be forced to do something stupid like configure a proxy and a nameserver.
I've just switched over to QWest DSL, it appears the server is working correctly, if a bit slowly. Latency is poor but bandwidth is excellent. If anyone notices problems, such as slow page loading, video won't stream, etc. then please leave me a comment. Some people who have not been able to see the streaming videos may now be successful, so give it a try! This DSL upgrade is designed solely to improve streaming video services, let me know if it works.
For no particular reason, here is an old photograph of an IBM PS/2 computer. I don't remember what model this is, but it's a 286 and fastest they made at the time. I used to work at this computer, in the middle of the busiest computer store in the world. Somewhere I have a photograph of me typing at this computer, taken from a tall scaffold, the workstation is in the middle of tall stacks of computers up to the ceiling.
Executive Order Termination of Emergency
"I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, find that the situation that gave rise to the declaration of a national emergency in Executive Order 13129 of July 4, 1999, with respect to the Taliban, in allowing territory under its control in Afghanistan to be used as a safe haven and base of operations for Usama bin Ladin and the Al-Qaida organization, has been significantly altered given the success of the military campaign in Afghanistan, and hereby revoke that order and terminate the national emergency declared in that order with respect to the Taliban."
"I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United States of America, find that the situation that gave rise to the declaration of a national emergency in Executive Order 13129 of July 4, 1999, with respect to the Taliban, in allowing territory under its control in Afghanistan to be used as a safe haven and base of operations for Usama bin Ladin and the Al-Qaida organization, has been significantly altered given the success of the military campaign in Afghanistan, and hereby revoke that order and terminate the national emergency declared in that order with respect to the Taliban."
The Declaration of Independence of the Thirteen Colonies
In CONGRESS, July 4, 1776
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. --That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. --Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences:
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty and perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.
In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.
Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by the Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.
I was pleased to see the new US Postage Stamps issue commemorating great American Photographers. I was particularly pleased to see an image by one of my favorite photographers, Gertrude Kasebier.
However, I was particularly displeased when I decided to look up the original image and discovered it was cropped severely. Kasebier would not approve of this alteration. Photographers of this era used to debate endlessly about whether images should ever be cropped.
Kasebier was born in Des Moines, Iowa and traveled to Paris to learn photography and painting. Unfortunately, women artists of this period were relegated to the fringes of the art world. Many people compare her photography to lesser French Impressionists like Marie Cassat, since they both produced many woman-and-child portraits. This is an unfair comparison, Cassat's work is second rate, while Kasebier's work was amongst the best of the Photo Secession. Cassat had little influence on her peers, while Kasebier was extremely influential.
Kasebier is particularly important to me because she worked in media like Platinography and Gum Bichromate. Of course in those days, these were the standard methods for producing fine art photography. Today, these methods are mostly a lost art and are considered an "alternate process." I work with these same processes, precisely because I see the same pictorial advantages of those processes that Kasebier saw.
I remember seeing an original Kasebier print at the huge "150 years of Photography" exhibit at the LA County Museum of Art. These prints are so rich that no reproduction could possibly capture them. Since then, I have sought to produce photographs that must be seen firsthand. I owe much to Kasebier's work, so it irritates me to see her work altered so severely at the same time it finds a wider audience than it ever has.
However, I was particularly displeased when I decided to look up the original image and discovered it was cropped severely. Kasebier would not approve of this alteration. Photographers of this era used to debate endlessly about whether images should ever be cropped.
Kasebier was born in Des Moines, Iowa and traveled to Paris to learn photography and painting. Unfortunately, women artists of this period were relegated to the fringes of the art world. Many people compare her photography to lesser French Impressionists like Marie Cassat, since they both produced many woman-and-child portraits. This is an unfair comparison, Cassat's work is second rate, while Kasebier's work was amongst the best of the Photo Secession. Cassat had little influence on her peers, while Kasebier was extremely influential.
Kasebier is particularly important to me because she worked in media like Platinography and Gum Bichromate. Of course in those days, these were the standard methods for producing fine art photography. Today, these methods are mostly a lost art and are considered an "alternate process." I work with these same processes, precisely because I see the same pictorial advantages of those processes that Kasebier saw.
I remember seeing an original Kasebier print at the huge "150 years of Photography" exhibit at the LA County Museum of Art. These prints are so rich that no reproduction could possibly capture them. Since then, I have sought to produce photographs that must be seen firsthand. I owe much to Kasebier's work, so it irritates me to see her work altered so severely at the same time it finds a wider audience than it ever has.
Yes, it's a real official Rolex product, an Oyster Perpetual with the Domino's Pizza logo. Scanned from a Japanese design magazine.
Sport Utility Vehicles are a classic example of the basic paradigm of environmental destruction, The Tragedy of the Commons by Garrett Hardin. This is a complex theory, so I shall attempt to explain it as simply as possible.
There are many shared resources in our society, for example, the air and water. Hardin uses the example of a grazing field, a "Commons" as was frequently used in the early days of Pre-Revolutionary America. Farmers would each have a small amount of livestock, and shared the Commons to graze them. The Commons served the public equally, and all were entitled to take from it equally.
Let us hypothesize ten farmers, each has 10 sheep. Each farmer benefits equally from grazing their sheep on the Commons. Each makes a profit from shearing the sheep at the end of the year, let's call it 10 bales of wool.
So one day, a greedy farmer decides he could make more profit from adding another sheep. Now he has 11 sheep and all the other farmers have 10. At the end of the year, he has 11 bales of wool, a 10% increase in profit over all the other farmers. The increased environmental impact of 101 sheep grazing is negligible as opposed to 100 sheep. Yet the Commons is a finite resource, and has a limit to how many sheep it can support without collapsing from overgrazing. For the sake of argument, let's set it at 150 sheep.
Now it's next year, and the other farmers see the new wealth created by the 11th sheep. So they all go out and buy another sheep for themselves. Now there are 110 sheep on the Commons. This is still well within the capacity of the Commons, with more capacity remaining. Nobody knows they are set on the path to destruction, they all believe they are on the path to riches.
Over the next 4 years, each farmer adds another sheep to their flock each year. The Commons system gives each farmer an economic incentive to add more sheep. But now there are 150 sheep. The field is overgrazed, and during the heat of the summer, the grass withers and provides insufficient food for the sheep. The Commons has collapsed, and all the sheep die of starvation. This is the Tragedy of the Commons. Any unregulated shared resource carries a built-in economic incentive to drive it to destruction.
Let's analyze the SUV's impact in the light of the Commons paradigm. One of the main reasons people buy SUVs is that they offer improved safety to their passengers in a crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released statistics clearly showing that SUVs are a greater threat to other drivers than passenger vehicles.
SUVs are a curse upon society, a symbol of greed and selfishness. There was no more classic example than what I encountered today. I was rushing to the local pharmacy to pick up some medicine before they closed, the only parking spot was blocked by an SUV that took up two spots. I could not find another parking spot. I waited for the driver to return. She leisurely strapped her kids into the car, taking her time before departing. The pharmacy closed before she left and I was able to park. Such selfishness. This is what I call "Yuppie Syndrome." People somehow believe that their time is more valuable than anyone elses, and that they have the right to do whatever they goddam well please, despite any inconveniences they cause to others. Excuse me, this is America, where all people are equal, and my need for that parking spot is equal to yours. You have no right to more than your fair share of our common resources. And you sure as hell don't have any right to deprive other people of resources in the process of taking more than your fair share.
There are many shared resources in our society, for example, the air and water. Hardin uses the example of a grazing field, a "Commons" as was frequently used in the early days of Pre-Revolutionary America. Farmers would each have a small amount of livestock, and shared the Commons to graze them. The Commons served the public equally, and all were entitled to take from it equally.
Let us hypothesize ten farmers, each has 10 sheep. Each farmer benefits equally from grazing their sheep on the Commons. Each makes a profit from shearing the sheep at the end of the year, let's call it 10 bales of wool.
So one day, a greedy farmer decides he could make more profit from adding another sheep. Now he has 11 sheep and all the other farmers have 10. At the end of the year, he has 11 bales of wool, a 10% increase in profit over all the other farmers. The increased environmental impact of 101 sheep grazing is negligible as opposed to 100 sheep. Yet the Commons is a finite resource, and has a limit to how many sheep it can support without collapsing from overgrazing. For the sake of argument, let's set it at 150 sheep.
Now it's next year, and the other farmers see the new wealth created by the 11th sheep. So they all go out and buy another sheep for themselves. Now there are 110 sheep on the Commons. This is still well within the capacity of the Commons, with more capacity remaining. Nobody knows they are set on the path to destruction, they all believe they are on the path to riches.
Over the next 4 years, each farmer adds another sheep to their flock each year. The Commons system gives each farmer an economic incentive to add more sheep. But now there are 150 sheep. The field is overgrazed, and during the heat of the summer, the grass withers and provides insufficient food for the sheep. The Commons has collapsed, and all the sheep die of starvation. This is the Tragedy of the Commons. Any unregulated shared resource carries a built-in economic incentive to drive it to destruction.
Let's analyze the SUV's impact in the light of the Commons paradigm. One of the main reasons people buy SUVs is that they offer improved safety to their passengers in a crash. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has released statistics clearly showing that SUVs are a greater threat to other drivers than passenger vehicles.
NHTSA crash statistics demonstrate that, in side impact crashes, LTVs are more injurious as a striking vehicle than are passenger cars. For example, when LTVs strike passenger cars on the left side, the risk of death to the car driver can be 30 times higher than the risk to the LTV occupant. This compares to a driver fatality ratio of 6.6 to 1 in car-to-car left side impact crashes.In this example, Highway Safety is the Commons, our shared resource. The SUV owner has increased his safety, by increasing the risk to other drivers. The incremental cost, the increase of safety risks to all drivers from one SUV is negligible. But normal automobile drivers see the SUV, and they realize they are less safe when driving next to SUVs. Now they must buy an SUV to keep the same level of safety as before, when everyone was driving smaller vehicles. Soon the highway is filled with SUVs, normal passenger cars are no longer safe to drive. Our common resource, safety, has collapsed.
SUVs are a curse upon society, a symbol of greed and selfishness. There was no more classic example than what I encountered today. I was rushing to the local pharmacy to pick up some medicine before they closed, the only parking spot was blocked by an SUV that took up two spots. I could not find another parking spot. I waited for the driver to return. She leisurely strapped her kids into the car, taking her time before departing. The pharmacy closed before she left and I was able to park. Such selfishness. This is what I call "Yuppie Syndrome." People somehow believe that their time is more valuable than anyone elses, and that they have the right to do whatever they goddam well please, despite any inconveniences they cause to others. Excuse me, this is America, where all people are equal, and my need for that parking spot is equal to yours. You have no right to more than your fair share of our common resources. And you sure as hell don't have any right to deprive other people of resources in the process of taking more than your fair share.
Disinfotainment offers this important piece of news to international journalists and media outlets covering the World Cup: it's over. Brazil won. Nobody cares anymore. There is no need to continue coverage of the games, there are no more games. There are no more victory rallies. There is nothing to report. Of course, this has not stopped the media (particularly the Japanese media) from continuing to report on the World Cup. I regret to inform these "journalists" that nothing they write will have any relevance to the the games. They were over two days ago. So get over it. The world is full of important news, a two-day-old game is not news.
College athletes are notorious for their lack of brains, but University of Iowa athlete Derreck Robinson wins the prize for complete and utter stupidity, resulting in his arrest. Robinson drove into a local convenience store at 4AM, the store had a police car parked in front, with the police officer standing in plain sight inside the store. This should have been the first sign of danger for Robinson, he was previously arrested for underage drinking and his license was suspended. He walked right past the cop, and proceeded to smoke a joint in the public bathroom of the store. Robinson was arrested and charged with marijuana posession and driving on a suspended license.
