When Sharks Tweet

Although it's not a perfect solution to shark attacks, it's nonetheless quite creative.

From NPR...

Government researchers [in Australia] have tagged 338 sharks with acoustic transmitters that monitor where the animals are. When a tagged shark is about half a mile away from a beach, it triggers a computer alert, which tweets out a message on the Surf Life Saving Western Australia Twitter feed. The tweet notes the shark's size, breed and approximate location. 

The tagging system alerts beachgoers far quicker than traditional warnings, says Chris Peck, operations manager of Surf Life Saving Western Australia. "Now it's instant information," hetells Sky News, "and really people don't have an excuse to say we're not getting the information. It's about whether you are searching for it and finding it." 

"This kind of innovative thinking is exactly what we need more of when it comes to finding solutions to human-wildlife conflict," says Alison Kock, research manager of the Shark Spotters program in South Africa. Kock tells NPR that the project is a good idea — but that people should know that not all sharks are tagged. "It can, in fact, provide a false sense of security — that is, if there is no tweet, then there is no danger — and that simply is not a reasonable interpretation," Holland says, pointing out that the reverse is also true. "Just because there's a shark nearby doesn't mean to say that there's any danger."

A Fish in Every Pot

Brilliant thinking outside the pot. 

From The Atlantic...

In 2008, Christopher Charles was living in Cambodia and researching anemia. The condition, which is commonly caused by iron deficiency, afflicts roughly half of Cambodia’s children and pregnant women. Untreated, it can lead to lethargy, impaired growth and cognitive development in children, and increased risks of premature delivery and maternal mortality. 

Charles, a Canadian epidemiologist, knew that iron-rich foods and supplements were too expensive for most rural Cambodians. Even cast-iron pots, which safely transmit iron to food as it cooks, were out of reach. But he wondered whether a small piece of iron placed in a standard aluminum pot would have a similar iron-releasing effect. To test his hypothesis, Charles distributed blocks of iron to local women, telling them to place the blocks in their cooking pots before making soup or boiling drinking water. The women promptly put them to use as doorstops. 

After talking with village elders, Charles learned of a fish known as try kantrop, which the locals ate frequently and considered a symbol of good luck. When he handed out smiling iron replicas of this fish, women started cooking with them. “People associated it with luck, health, and happiness,” he says. Within 12 months, Charles reports, anemia in villages where the fish was distributed virtually disappeared.

"It's a Wonderful (Communist) Life"

Between 1947-1956 the FBI included "It's a Wonderful Life" on a secret list of films suspected of being Communist propaganda. Oddly, there is also a Ayn Rand connection.

Strange times.

From Federal Bureau of Investigation, file no. 100-HQ-138754 via Aphelis.net...

“IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE”
Released by RKO Pictures, Inc. on December 19, 1946 

Producer — Frank CapraDirector — Frank Capra

Screen play — Frances Goodrick, Albert Hackett, Frank Capra 

Cast: Starring — James Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore 

According to the Informants [REDACTED] in this picture the screen credits again fail to reflect the Communist support given to the screen writer. According to [REDACTED] the writers Frances Goodrick and Albert Hackett were very close to known Communists and on one occasion in the recent past while these two writers were doing a picture for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Goodrick and Hackett practically lived with known Communists as Lester Cole, screen writer, and Earl Robinson, screen writer. Both of these individuals are identified in Section I of this memorandum as Communists. 

With regard to the picture “It’s A Wonderful Life”, [REDACTED] stated in substance that the film represented a rather obvious attempt to discredit bankers by casting Lionel Barrymore as “scrooge-type” so that he would be the most hated man in the picture. This, according to these sources, is a common trick used by Communists.

Toy Stories

Chiwa – Mchinji, Malawi

Pavel – Kiev, Ukraine

Alessia – Castiglion Fiorentino, Italy

With Christmas past and lots of new toys in the hands of little ones here's a look at how toys differ (or not) around the world. 

From Feature Shoot…

Shot over a period of 18 months, Italian photographer Gabriele Galimberti’s project Toy Stories compiles photos of children from around the world with their prized possesions—their toys. Galimberti explores the universality of being a kid amidst the diversity of the countless corners of the world, saying, “at their age, they are pretty all much the same; they just want to play.” 

But it’s how they play that seemed to differ from country to country. Galimberti found that children in richer countries were more possessive with their toys and that it took time before they allowed him to play with them (which is what he would do pre-shoot before arranging the toys), whereas in poorer countries he found it much easier to quickly interact, even if there were just two or three toys between them. 

There were similarites too, especially in the functional and protective powers the toys represented for their proud owners. Across borders, the toys were reflective of the world each child was born into—economic status and daily life affecting the types of toys children found interest in.

Turnley on Mandela

I've spent the morning watching video segments about Mandela's passing.  This one, an interview with Pulitzer Prize winning photographer David Turnley who spent 28 years photographing South Africa's struggle with apartheid, stands out among them all. 

A must read and see tribute from David Turnley via Time…

The door opens and in walks Nelson Mandela. He greets each person in the room, with the charm and confidence of someone who has never been gone. 

Madiba is tall and in unbelievable shape. His presence is so powerful. He gives everyone a bear hug. Smiles stretch across our faces. And Archbishop Tutu clings a glass with a spoon. Directly in front of Madiba, the crowd outside is frantic with excitement, unaware that Madiba is with us. Archbishop Tutu looks into Nelson’s eyes, and with tears streaming down his face, says, “I have to tell you what you have meant to my life….” And then each person in the room follows. Madiba stands proudly receiving each heartfelt word. It is as if you can palpably see the dignity of Nelson Mandela, of each second of 27 years, proudly and clearly contained to be ready for this moment. And then, he looks at all of us. 

“You will have to forgive me. I have something I have to take care of.” He proceeds to walk to the window, stepping out onto the balcony to address his South African people, and the world, for the first time in almost three decades. As the sun sets, the Mandela family and friends stand at the window, everyone’s fists raised in the air, tears streaming down their cheeks as the crowd greets their leader with the African National Anthem Nikosi Sikelela. He finishes his speech with the same words that he spoke at the end of the treason trial that sent him to prison for life in 1964.

“During my lifetime I have dedicated myself to this struggle of the African people. I have fought against white domination, and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the ideal of a democratic and free society in which all persons live together in harmony and with equal opportunities. It is an ideal which I hope to live for and to achieve. But if needs be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die.”

At the Movies

If you've seen Gravity (it's entertaining and a likely candidate for Best Special Effects but definitely not Best Picture) take a look at this related short.

From Wired…

On a recent flight I watch After Earth.  It's a typical Hollywood action flick, predictable and good for a flight but don't waste your time seeing it in the theater.  However, there was one quote from Will Smith's character in the movie that stuck with me:

“Fear is not real. It is a product of thoughts you create. 

Do not misunderstand me. Danger is very real. 

But fear is a choice.”

Makes sense and the quote would make just as much sense if "fear" was replaced by anxiety, nervousness, or stress. They're all a choice.

Update: Add anger to that list as well.

12 Years a Slave 160 Years Later

After we watched the superb film 12 Years a Slave yesterday evening (if you haven't seen it…GO!), I spent this morning delving deeper into Solomon Northup's life as well as a variety of other aspects of the movie.

Here's what I've learned:

Descendants of Solomon Northup

From Nola.com…

McQueen was just finishing up a post-screening Q-and-A with "12 Years a Slave" actors Chiwetel Ejifor and Lupita Nyong'o when he was informed a special guest was in the audience.  Her name: Evelyn Jackson and, McQueen was told, she is a descendant of Northup, the man on whose memoirs McQueen's film is based.

I said, 'We've got an important announcement, please. This lady here is a direct descendant of Solomon Northup. "The crowd erupted. It was a standing ovation. Tears -- she was in tears. She goes, 'I need a hug!' So we embraced. It was just one of those -- I have goose pimples talking about it now. It was just one of those things where the film and the actual reality came together. So it was just -- yeah, it was magic."

Evelyn Jackson and Steve McQueen

From Saratoga Springs Visitor Center...

In 1999, in recognition of his life’s work, his ordeal and that of other African-Americans, native Saratogian, Renee Moore, founded “Solomon Northup Day – A Celebration of Freedom”. 

An historical marker was placed by the City of Saratoga Springs on Broadway at the side entrance of the Visitor Center marking the point of abduction.

Northup descendants from four states have attended the event over the years including, matriarch Victoria Northup Linzy Dunham who lived to age 98. 

Descendants of Solomon Northup in 1999

In 2002, the Saratoga Springs City Council proclaimed the third Saturday in July to be annually recognized as “Solomon Northup Day” and the “Celebration of Freedom” event is held at the Heritage Area Visitor Center every July.

Historical Locations in and near Washington, DC

Just as in the movie, the slave pen in which Northup was held was within sight of the U.S. Capitol. It was located on the site of what is now the FAA headquarters at 600 Independence Ave NW (across the street from the Air and Space Museum).

A slave market from which Northup was likely sold still stands in Old Town Alexandria at 1315 Duke St. It is now a museum and the headquarters of the Northern Virginia Urban League.

The Williams slave pen in Washington, DC was located here

From WUSA CBS...

Adherence to the Novel

As with most films adapted from a novel, there are several things that stray a bit from the book. Nonetheless, overall the film adhered fairly close to the narrative that Solomon Northup wrote.  An article from Slate touches upon several of the deviations.

A poignant scene from the film as originally written by Solomon Northup via Louisiana Tech...

"Good-bye, master." 

"Ah! you d——d nigger," muttered Epps, in a surly, malicious tone of voice, "you needn't feel so cussed tickled — you ain't gone yet — I'll see about this business at Marksville to-morrow." 

I was only a "nigger" and knew my place, but felt as strongly as if I had been a white man, that it would have been an inward comfort, had I dared to have given him a parting kick. 

On my way back toward the carriage, Patsey ran from behind a cabin and threw her arms about my neck. 

"Oh! Platt," she cried, tears streaming down her face, "you're goin' to be free — you're goin' way off yonder where we'll neber see ye any more. You've saved me a good many whipping, Platt; I'm glad you're goin' to be free — but oh! de Lord, de Lord! what'll become of me?" 

I disengaged myself from her, and entered the carriage. The driver cracked his whip and away we rolled. I looked back and saw Patsey, with drooping head, half reclining on the ground; Mrs. Epps was on the piazza; Uncle Abram, and Bob, and Wiley, and Aunt Phebe stood by the gate, gazing after me. I waved my hand, but the carriage turned a bend of the bayou, hiding them from my eyes forever.

The entire text of 12 Years a Slave is available via Louisiana Tech

The Real Samuel Bass

From The Spec…

Morris and other descendants say they are only now discovering details about Bass, who left Canada sometime around 1840 and took on a series of carpentry jobs throughout the United States. 

It turns out that other aspects of his life were not so honourable — census records show he left behind a wife, Catherine Lydia Lane, and four daughters: Catherine, Hannah, Martha Maria and Zeruah Bass, says Bonnie Gaylord of the Grenville County Historical Society in Prescott, Ont. 

...John Pamplin Wadill's diary also offers clues to why Bass left his family. 

"He had been separated from his wife for 12 or 15 years," Wadill states in an entry dated Aug. 30, 1953, which also lists Bass's wife's name as Lydia Catlin Lane. "His only complaint against her was that she had such a temper as to preclude any man from living with her." 

The diary also raises the possibility that Bass may have had a second family in Louisiana, says Fiske. The diary notes Bass died of pneumonia at the home of a free woman of colour in Marksville, La., named Justine Tounier. It says Bass passed away Aug. 30, 1853, just months after Northup regained his freedom. 

"I suspect that there was a relationship (with Tounier) but the diary doesn't say," says Fiske, adding he also discovered the death record of a woman who appears to list Bass and Tounier as parents.

The Epps Plantation

From Acadiana Historical…

Edwin Epps was Northup's fourth and final slave owner. Northup was a slave on Epps' plantation for ten years and remembers him as having a "sharp, inquisitive expression" and "manners [that were] repulsive and coarse." In 1845 Epps purchased the roughly 300 acre plantation. 1850 U.S. Federal Census Slave Schedules show he owned 8 slaves between the ages of 40 and 11, six males, one of whom was Northup, and two females. In 1852 Solomon began work on the house on this property. During this construction he met Samuel Bass, a Canadian carpenter.  

The Edwin Epps House was originally located along the banks of Bayou Boeuf on Carl Hunt Road off of Highway 1176 outside of Bunkie.

The Epps Plantation was located here

Epps House in 1976 before it was moved

It was moved into Bunkie in 1976 for the purpose of becoming a museum, however, it was later purchased by LSU-Alexandria and is currently on the campus operating as a museum.  

Epps house after it was moved to the campus of LSU-Alexandria and refurbished

Epps Plantation as it looks now

From Civil War Album...

We were told the [Epps] home escaped being torched, like the rest, by Union troops because some of the New York soldiers had read the book Twelve Years A Slave by Solomon Northup who was a slave of the Epp's Family. The house is now located near the site of the Chambers Plantation which was destroyed by Union troops and fought over in May 1864.

An Earlier Gordon Parks Adaptation

In 1984, Gordan Parks made a movie for PBS based on 12 Years a Slave.

From Nola.com…

Gordon Parks' 1984 adaptation of Northup's memoirs, "Solomon Northup's Odyssey," -- which aired on PBS as part of its American Playhouse series -- starred Avery Brooks in the title role, as a free man of color living in New York state who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in 1841. 

History is Silent

From the WSJ…

The available evidence suggests that after his freedom, Northup’s life was anything but quiet and contemplative. Indeed, his final years are a bona fide mystery, even today, with a string of tantalizing clues. 

His last public sighting mentioned in a newspaper was in 1857, only four years after his freedom. 

Empathetic to the plight of slaves, documents show Northup almost certainly joined the Underground Railroad after his freedom— an illegal and extremely dangerous line of work, something that would sate his notable desire for adventure. He became a prolific speaker, joining Frederick Douglass and other major abolitionists in addressing Northeast audiences eager to hear his story first-hand. He also became a property owner in Glens Falls, N.Y. 

But despite all the newfound fame and purpose he found, money woes plagued him. In 1854, lenders foreclosed on his property. Other creditors won judgments against him over failure to repay loans he incurred, possibly to finance his speaking trips or assist slaves. A play he wrote (and starred in) based on the book had been a flop. 

Many believed his two kidnappers, driven by revenge for their trial, murdered Northup, but that fate is dismissed by the historians as “not credible.” Another possibility that he was kidnapped a second time is also noted, but dismissed. 

There are a few convincing theories on Northup’s final years. One is that Northup “died destitute, far from family and friends, perhaps under tragic circumstances,” the historians write. There is evidence he could have even “given up, resorted to drink, or sunk below the surface.” Or he may have gone to live with his daughter in Virginia. Clues are scarce. 

For all their research, Solomon Northup’s final days are a mystery still. 

In Memory

Where was I when President Kennedy was assassinated?

In utero. Fifty years ago today, I had not been born. Close but not yet.

On that infamous day the nation lost a President and today we remember his death. Forty-eight years later on another tragic day in U.S. history, we almost lost 40,000 frozen moments of President Kennedy's life.

From Big Think...

This week we mark the loss half a century ago of President John F. Kennedy. For that generation, Kennedy’s death was the “where were you” moment. For our generation, the “where were you” moment is September 11th. In the middle of all that devastation, few knew that we “lost” JFK in that moment, too. Locked away in a safe in Five World Trade Center were 40,000 negatives of photos of the Kennedy circle by photographer and family insider Jacques Lowe. The trusted photographer of the Kennedys since the late 1950s, Lowe captured many of the iconic pictures of JFK and Camelot in the making…

...When Lowe’s daughter, Thomasina, to whom Jacques entrusted the negatives, learned of the attacks on September 11th, she faced a unique dilemma: “Do I save myself or my father’s precious negatives, depicting one of the greatest statesmen of the modern era…?” “In my mind’s eye,” Thomasina writes in the preface to the book, “I could see my father running down Broadway against the flow of traffic with just one aim: to rescue his negatives. I have no doubt that he would not have paused for thought.”

Immense Art

It looks so simple but undoubtedly it's quite complex.

From This is Colossal...

Unveiled [last month] in Belfast, Northern Ireland as part of the Belfast Festival, WISH is the latest public art project by Cuban-American artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada, known for his monumentally scaled portraits in public spaces. The image depicted is of an anonymous Belfast girl and is so large it can only be viewed from the highest points in Belfast or an airplane. 

Several years in the making, WISH was first plotted on a grid using GPS technology and 30,000 manually placed wooden stakes. The portrait was then “drawn” with aid of volunteers who helped place nearly 8 million pounds of natural materials including soil, sand, and rock over a period of four weeks.

Bridge Building

24 years after the Loma Prieta earthquake the new Bay Bridge span is finally set open tomorrow morning. These guys, both the journeymen and the photographer, do impressive work.

Nice job. The bridge is a beauty.

Up

The other day on our hyper local neighborhood blog, listserv, and twitter channel there was quite a bit of chatter about the above image of our neighborhood, Brookland.  Buried in the various comments was one by the photographer who said he'd taken the photo using something called a quadcopter.

My immediate reaction...what's a quadcopter?

Now I know and along the way I came across this highly inventive version of the James Bond theme....

Ryan Wang

Maybe it's not too late to learn to play.

From the CBC...

CBC Music asked 5 year old Piano Prodigy to perform some of his repertoire for Dorothy Landry.

Dorothy is 101 years old and perhaps Ryan's biggest fan. Even though she has seen him perform before she is hard of hearing so never fully got to experience Ryan playing. She gets a front row seat for this performance.

No More Princesses

Susan B. Anthony

Amelia Earhart

Jane Goodall

What a fantastic idea. Dump the princesses and focus on the real achievers.

From Jamie Moore Photography...

So my amazing daughter, Emma, turned 5 last month, and I had been searching everywhere for new-creative inspiration for her 5yr pictures. I noticed quite a pattern of so many young girls dressing up as beautiful Disney Princesses, no matter where I looked 95% of the “ideas” were the “How to’s” of how to dress your little girl like a Disney Princess. But it got me thinking, they’re just characters, a writers tale of a princess (most before 1998). 

It started me thinking about all the REAL women for my daughter to know about and look up too, REAL women who without ever meeting Emma have changed her life for the better. My daughter wasn’t born into royalty, but she was born into a country where she can now vote, become a doctor, a pilot, an astronaut, or even President if she wants and that’s what REALLY matters. I wanted her to know the value of these amazing women who had gone against everything so she can now have everything. We chose 5 women (five amazing and strong women), as it was her 5th birthday but there are thousands of unbelievable women who have beat the odds and fought for their equal rights all over the world……..so let’s set aside the Barbie Dolls and the Disney Princesses for just a moment, and let’s show our girls the REAL women they can be.

Fruitvale Station

A must see for everyone...

Van Gogh Animated

Since I'm a fan of Van Gogh this beautiful animation via Faith is Torment strikes a resonant chord.

Lego

Inspiring.

From Today...

Using nothing but LEGO bricks and an indomitable spirit, a 31-year-old amputee from St. Louis has handcrafted a stand-in for her regular prosthetic leg.

When a co-worker suggested the idea to Christina Stephens, she thought, "Man, that would be really neat, it would be fun," she told NBC News. "So I went home and did it."
Stephens built the leg in two hours over two days, from her own LEGO bricks, tubs of them that her mother collected from yard sales when Stephens was growing up. "That's probably a third of my whole collection," she said. "I have them stored in my basement for fun random projects like this — or for my future children." 

This past January, Stephens was under her car changing the brakes when the jack gave way, and her blue Prius landed on her foot and crushed it. When surgeons told her of the nerve damage to her foot, she studied her options, then elected to have them amputate her leg below the knee. 

Soon after the incident, she decided to use her personal and professional experience to become an online resource for families or individuals faced with or dealing with limb amputation. "I want to help people and inspire people to be more comfortable with their own bodies if they have limb differences," she told NBC News.

The Power of Duct Tape

Where there's a will there's a way. (thx Kent)

The Grandma and Fukumaru

These photos hit three soft spots for me: our elders, Japan, and cats. A trifecta.

From Demilked...

For the last 13 years Japanese photographer Miyoko Ihara has been taking pictures of her grandma, Misao, to commemorate her life. 9 years ago, 88-year-old Misao found a stray odd-eyed cat in her shed: she called it Fukumaru, hoping that “the god of fuku (good fortune) would come and everything will be smoothed over like maru (circle).” Miyoko has been photographing their beautiful friendship and the way they go about their daily routine ever since. 

The strong bond between the two glows in every shot: “Partly because they are both hard of hearing, my grandmother and Fukumaru are always looking into each other’s eyes. They’re really close,” says Miyoko.

The Art of War

In the annals of deception there was the Trojan Horse and the Potemkin Village but none did it better than the Ghost Army.

From The Atlantic...

[T]heir job was to fool Hitler.

[Bill] Blass (yes, that Bill Blass) and his cohort were members of the 23rd Headquarters Special Troops, an elite force whose specialty was "tactical deception." They're now better known, though, as the "Ghost Army" -- a troop of soldiers that doubled, in Europe's theater, as a troupe of actors. The 23rd were, essentially, the Trojan Horse builders of World War II.

Except that their wooden horses took the form of inflatable tanks. And rubber airplanes. And elaborate costumes. And radio codes. And speakers that blared pre-recorded soundtracks into the forests of France. 

All of which went to serve the Allies' ultimate illusion: that their military force was bigger and more powerful than it actually was. (Part of the effectiveness of the Ghost Army came from the fact that it would employ real tanks and artillery pieces along with the fake ones, to make the dummies in the distance seem to blend in with the others.) The Ghost Army, today, is estimated to have saved tens of thousands of soldiers' lives with its deceptions, and to have been instrumental in several Allied victories in Europe. It accomplished all that by, among much else, taking "the art of war" wonderfully literally.

The Ghost Army is the subject of a documentary now playing on PBS...

Vivian Maier

A remarkable story of an immense talent lost and fortunately eventually found.

From Messy Nessy...

Picture this: quite possibly the most important street photographer of the 20th century was a 1950s children’s nanny who kept herself to herself and never showed a single one of her photographs to anyone. Decades later in 2007, a Chicago real estate agent and historical hobbyist, John Maloof purchased a box of never-seen, never-developed film negatives of an unknown ‘amateur’ photographer for $380 at his local auction house...

The documentary looks like it'll be pretty good as well...