chacal la chaise teaches

Slashdot: Google Glass and Surveillance Culture

chacal-la-chaise — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:24:23 -0600

Nerval’s Lobster writes “Tech journalist Milo Yiannopoulos asks the question lurking in...

Are Armed Guards in Schools a Civil Rights Violation? - Sarah Goodyear - The Atlantic Cities

chacal-la-chaise — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:19:45 -0600

Are Armed Guards in Schools a Civil Rights Violation? - Sarah Goodyear - The Atlantic Cities: In...

(via Documentary Shows Juárez’s Teens Artful, Peaceful Struggle...

chacal-la-chaise — Wed, 03 Apr 2013 13:01:00 -0600

(via Documentary Shows Juárez’s Teens Artful, Peaceful Struggle To End Drug War | Fox News Latino)

As the corruption and death rate in Juárez escalates and the drug war takes a toll in the Mexican border city, angels are flocking to the streets and crime scenes to bring comfort and hope.

Having grown up in the midst of the cartels war, they are local teenagers who have made it their priority to save their beloved hometown.

The first time Katie Orlinsky photographed these kids she was in the city on assignment, doing a photo shoot for a New York Times story. Her pictures show them striving to save their community by dressing up as angels in combat zones and murder scenes holding up messages of faith and kindness.

A while later Orlinsky took the opportunity to get involved, as a cinematographer, in filming a documentary titled “Angels at War.”

Directed by Connecticut native Jessica LaRusso, the documentary is slated to debut sometime this summer.

“This project felt like it was really meaningful,” said Orlinsky, who is a freelance reporter and has covered closely the Mexican war on drugs for the past three years.

“Covering the Mexican drug war, it gets bleak and depressing,” she said. “This story in particular was really exciting and it was rare and it’s still rare. It’s inspiring and positive.”

Orlinsky told Fox News Latino the project came to live a few years back, when LaRusso was struck with her Times story.

Last year the two ladies and three others crew members took to Juárez for a few months to film the uplifting stories from the “Angels at War.”

In a clip from the documentary – which already has made its way on YouTube – audiences get to meet Juanito, an angel that says he believes they can fight back with love, kindness and positive messages.

“Right here is a name. R.I.P. Martin,” a somber Juanito says in the video pointing at a wall in what looks a disheveled part of town. “[He was] a young boy that I knew from this neighborhood.”

“To lose a life from your community doesn’t benefit anybody. Now the only [thing] left of him is his name painted on this wall.”

In Mexico, the war on drugs has claimed more than 50,000 lives, with more than 10,000 of these deaths happening in Juárez alone.

The city’s mayor, Héctor Murguía, told Fox News Latino back in May of last year that despite the $1.4 billion assistance by the United States Merida Initiative to curb cartel violence, the funds did not help Juárez on a local level.

“The U.S. is the biggest consumer of drugs and their aid package is not enough for us to do what they expect us to do, yet the American media is so critical of Juárez,” Murguía said. “These people need to be more responsible and not criticize what they don’t know.”

The Merida Initiative was passed by Congress in 2008. It predetermined that funds would be sent to Mexico directly rather than sending Juárez money in the form of training and equipment.

The Initiative also presses Mexico to re-evaluate judicial laws, strengthen government institutions and abide by human rights.

(via In a Copyright Ruling, the Legacy of the Betamax -...

chacal-la-chaise — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 13:35:46 -0600

(via In a Copyright Ruling, the Legacy of the Betamax - NYTimes.com)

When the Betamax videocassette recorder hit American living rooms in 1976, consumers, for the first time, could tape their favorite TV shows and watch them later. Hollywood hated it.

“The VCR is to the American film producer and the American public as the Boston strangler is to the woman home alone,” Jack Valenti, the garrulous head of the Motion Picture Association of America, told Congress.

The Supreme Court almost bought the argument that because it was illegal to copy shows without the copyright holder’s consent, the Betamax must be an accessory to crime. At the last minute, however, Justice Sandra Day O’Connor changed her mind. In a 5-to-4 ruling in 1984, the technology survived.

Foiling another attempt by studios to control the emerging videocassette market, Congress refused to forbid the renting or reselling videotapes of movies for profit. Blockbuster, Netflix and Redbox would be protected by copyright law’s doctrine of “first sale.” If they had bought it, they owned it.

The decisions had enormous implications for the media economy. The VCR gave way to the DVD player and the digital video recorder. Videotape gave the kiss of life to the low-budget independent film. From “Rip. Mix. Burn.” to YouTube, every step of the evolution of digital media has been affected by that decision.

Last week, the Supreme Court made another call that could have equally far-reaching implications. The ruling referred only to printed books, another technology that predates the Internet. Yet it, too, is likely to reshape the information economy in unexpected ways.

In a 6-to-3 decision, the court took sides with Supap Kirtsaeng, a Thai math student at Cornell who generated roughly $900,000 in revenue reselling in the United States cheap textbooks that his friends and relatives sent from Thailand.

John Wiley & Sons had argued that Mr. Kirtsaeng was infringing on its copyright by importing the books without permission. The publisher said this short-circuited its ability to segment markets by price — selling the books more expensively to American students than to poorer Thai students who could otherwise not afford them.

But the court held that the publisher’s right to ban imports was trumped by Mr. Kirtsaeng’s right of first sale. He might not be allowed to make unauthorized copies of the books. But as with old library books or secondhand Gucci bags at a flea market, if the books had been bought legally, whether imported or sold originally in the United States, Mr. Kirtsaeng could sell them.

The decision picks at the scab of an argument that has raged since the first copyright law was enacted in 18th-century Britain: how to balance the interest of copyright holders to profit from their creations — giving them an incentive to create more — against the social goal of promoting access to the movies, books and software programs they create.

(via The Cost of a Typo: $250,000 - PRNewser) The Cost of a...

chacal-la-chaise — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 12:42:18 -0600

(via The Cost of a Typo: $250,000 - PRNewser)

The Cost of a Typo: $250,000

By Patrick Coffee on March 11, 2013 6:41 PM

No matter what E.L. James tells you, the professional world still values the ability to write well–and that invaluable skill includes the nearly forgotten art of copy editing. We mention this fact because sometimes tiny little errors can be both costly and embarrassing.

In case you don’t live in New York City (congratulations), the Metropolitan Transportation Authority just earned the ill will of all eight million of us city folk by raising the price of a single subway fare from $2.25 to $2.50. The MTA’s communications team, however, does not appear to have received the message: the organization printed out thousands of updated maps that still listed the minimum price of a pay-per-ride subway card at $4.50 (it’s now $5).

Of course, all those thousands of maps are now useless. The price to correct this incredibly simple mistake? A quarter of a million dollars. That may not be a lot for an organization that serves so many people every day, but it does give us a great opportunity to make a point: your voice matters. Whether writing materials for yourself, your firm or your client, make sure you edit everything twice. Misspellings on your own Facebook page are fine–but awful as grammar and punctuation on the social network may be, those errors never cost anybody so much for so little.

A Complete Guide to 'Hipster Racism'

chacal-la-chaise — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:24:36 -0700

A Complete Guide to 'Hipster Racism': When people are trying to be sensitive about race but they...

The Onion’s hipster misogyny - Salon.com

chacal-la-chaise — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:23:42 -0700

The Onion’s hipster misogyny - Salon.com: Notice that at least 515 people found this tweet “funny”...

'Girls' Writer Is Learning There's No Such Thing as Ironic Racism - Entertainment - The Atlantic Wire

chacal-la-chaise — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 12:09:33 -0700

'Girls' Writer Is Learning There's No Such Thing as Ironic Racism - Entertainment - The Atlantic...

(via The Best Take Down of Hipster Racism You Will Ever See |...

chacal-la-chaise — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 11:58:00 -0700

(via The Best Take Down of Hipster Racism You Will Ever See | Dispatches from the Underclass)

The Best Take Down of Hipster Racism You Will Ever See

by Rania Khalek on February 17, 2013

I’ve watched and shared this video so many times that I figured I should blog about it. The poets are Kai Davis (left) and Safiya Washington (right) of the Philadelphia Youth Poetry Movement performing at last year’s Brave New Voices semi-finals.
The term “hipster racism” was coined by Carmen Van Kerckhove at Racialicious and refers to using racist language “ironically”. But I would go a step further and say that the hipster lifestyle is quite racist in and off itself and Davis and Washington’s performance perfectly encapsulates why that is. As s.e. Smith explained back in 2009:

Hipsters are a driving force behind gentrification, driving out low income people and people of colour. They consistently co-opt and appropriate elements of other cultures, piecemeal, and often without any cultural sensitivity or respect. They regularly draw upon the work and legacy of people of colour, usually without crediting them, and most of their contact with people of colour comes in the form of the service personnel serving them their food, cleaning their wine bars, and picking their organic produce.

This isn’t to say that anyone who owns vinyl records and shops at Urban Outfitters is a raging bigot. In fact, most hipsters I know consider themselves very liberal and part of the counter-culture that despises the establishment, so they equate racism with people like Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck. What they refuse to grasp is that racism is way more complex than that.

This can be seen in the reaction to the video. In my experience, people either love or hate it and those who hate it are more often than not (surprise surprise!) white hipsters who complain that Davis and Washington’s performance is too angry, too aggressive. They’re basically demanding that people who are routinely insulted and oppressed by the world around them temper their criticisms to spare the feelings of the oppressor. Fuck that!

(via Los Angeles Review of Books - David Lynch On His Favorite...

chacal-la-chaise — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 18:22:51 -0700

(via Los Angeles Review of Books - David Lynch On His Favorite Photographs)

For 15 years, Paris Photo has been the increasingly prestigious centerpiece of The Month of Photography celebrated in Paris every November. In its most recent run, the organizers conceived the idea of inviting an eminent artist to select 99 photographs from among over 1000 images in the fair that fills the Grand Palais with the world’s top photography dealers and publishers. From these picks a book would be compiled and published by Steidl: Paris Photo vu par… (Paris Photo Seen By…)

Kicking off what will become an annual rite, David Lynch brought his eccentric vision to the task of choosing pictures that add up to a startling and unpredictable portfolio, beautifully printed. It is appropriate that a film and TV director would break ground for such a project, not only because still photography and motion pictures share a common lineage but because Paris Photo will launch its Los Angeles edition in April on the lot of Paramount Studios (http://losangeles.parisphoto.com/).

The video below captures highlights from an on-stage conversation Lynch had with Paul Holdengräber (head of Live at the New York Public Library) as part of the Platform seminar series at Paris Photo — in which he reveals how certain photographs seduced him and resulted in Paris Photo vu par David Lynch.

Border Port of Entry El Paso, TX - Ciudad Juárez, Chih. :: palOtroLado.com

chacal-la-chaise — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 13:10:37 -0700

Border Port of Entry El Paso, TX - Ciudad Juárez, Chih. :: palOtroLado.com: crossing times for the...

(via Personalized NYC Maps Show How Residents Live In The City...

chacal-la-chaise — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:54:57 -0700

(via Personalized NYC Maps Show How Residents Live In The City [Pics] - PSFK)

‘Map Your Memories‘ is an ongoing collaborative art project created by Becky Cooper that challenges strangers to fill in a blank NYC map based on their memories of the city.

Launched in 2009, Cooper distributed outlines of Manhattan to random New Yorkers who then mailed back their interpretations. They range from maps that have one single point (like where a person met their wife) to detailed and colorful descriptions of the neighborhood.

Questions actually worth answering.

chacal-la-chaise — Tue, 19 Feb 2013 22:30:26 -0700

1: Apart from tumblr, what do you like to do in your spare time? 2: Name a favorite of each: food,...

A Collection of Free Sample Legal Forms for Photographers

chacal-la-chaise — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 12:56:51 -0700

A Collection of Free Sample Legal Forms for Photographers: If you’re looking to make money from...

(via Livestrong Tattoos as Reminder of Personal Connections, Not...

chacal-la-chaise — Sun, 17 Feb 2013 11:39:57 -0700

(via Livestrong Tattoos as Reminder of Personal Connections, Not Tarnished Brand - NYTimes.com)

Now the tattoos are a complicated, internationally recognized symbol of both an epic crusade against cancer and a cyclist who stood defiant in the face of accusations for years but ultimately admitted to lying.
The Internet abounds with epidermal reminders of the power of the Armstrong and Livestrong brands: the iconic yellow bracelet permanently wrapped around a wrist; block letters stretching along a rib cage; a heart on a foot bearing the word Livestrong; a mural on a back depicting Armstrong with the years of his now-stripped seven Tour de Francevictories and the phrase “ride with pride.”

While history has provided numerous examples of ill-fated tattoos to commemorate lovers, sports teams, gang membership and bands that break up, the Livestrong image is a complex one, said Michael Atkinson, a sociologist at the University of Toronto who has studied tattoos.

“People often regret the pop culture tattoos, the mass commodified tattoos,” said Atkinson, who has a Guns N’ Roses tattoo as a marker of his younger days. “A lot of people can’t divorce the movement from Lance Armstrong, and the Livestrong movement is a social movement. It’s very real and visceral and embodied in narrative survivorship. But we’re still not at a place where we look at a tattoo on the body and say that it’s a meaningful thing to someone.”

Geoff Livingston, a 40-year-old marketing professional in Washington, D.C., said that since Armstrong’s confession to Winfrey, he has received taunts on Twitter and inquiries at the gym regarding the yellow Livestrong armband tattoo that curls around his right bicep.

“People see it and go, ‘Wow,’ ” he said, “But I’m not going to get rid of it, and I’m not going to stop wearing short sleeves because of it. It’s about my family, not Lance Armstrong.”

Guest Post by Maria Selke… There and Back Again: (Re)Visiting ‘The Hobbit’ in Image and Text (Part 1)

chacal-la-chaise — Sat, 09 Feb 2013 21:40:13 -0700

Guest Post by Maria Selke… There and Back Again: (Re)Visiting ‘The Hobbit’ in Image and Text (Part...

Staying Private on the New Facebook

chacal-la-chaise — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:22:42 -0700

Staying Private on the New Facebook: How to guard your information on Facebook in light of the new...

(via 10 States with Pending Legislation to Legalize Medical...

chacal-la-chaise — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 13:53:02 -0700

(via 10 States with Pending Legislation to Legalize Medical Marijuana - Medical Marijuana - ProCon.org)

This page on ProCon.org divides into the following sections:

I. States with Pending Legislation to Legalize Medical Marijuana

II. States with Pending Legislation That Is Favorable Towards Medical Marijuana But Would Not Legalize Its Use

(via Tracking the Pack - NYTimes.com) In recent years, there has...

chacal-la-chaise — Mon, 04 Feb 2013 00:07:05 -0700

(via Tracking the Pack - NYTimes.com)

In recent years, there has been much pontificating about how modern communications technologies are changing the way that we relate to other people. Less discussed is the way these advances are reshaping our relationships with other species. By using satellite and cellular tags to track free-ranging animals, biologists are providing us with intimate access to the daily lives of other species, drawing us closer to the world’s wild things and making us more invested in their welfare.

Over the past several decades, the use of wildlife tags has proliferated as the devices have become smaller and more powerful. Today’s tags are capable of collecting months’ or years’ worth of data on an animal’s location at a given moment, and can be used to track everything from tiny tropical orchid bees to blubbery, deep-diving elephant seals. The devices provide crucial information about populations — helping scientists uncover the migratory pathways of Arctic terns or the ocean currents that loggerhead sea turtles like to surf — as well as individuals. Is this particular predator a pack leader or a lone wolf? A dedicated hunter or a mooch? How much time does it spend with its pups? Who are its associates, rivals and mates?

Learning about the personalities and life histories of individual animals can prompt affection for these creatures, even if we never meet them. Thousands of people followed wolf 832F’s escapades online; park visitors posted photos and discussed her on message boards. After she died, Yellowstone officials even received outraged phone calls. (There was nothing the park could have done — Wyoming’s gray wolves were removed from the endangered species list late last summer, opening the door for legal hunting. Sadly, wolf 832F was the eighth wolf with a tracking collar to be killed by ranchers over the course of this hunting season.)

Some scientists are beginning to provide the public with direct access to tracking data. For instance, the leaders of the Tagging of Pacific Predators project, a 10-year tracking study of 23 different marine species, created a Web site broadcasting the movements of their subjects in real time (or close to it). While the project lasted, anyone with an Internet connection could follow the wanderings of Monty, the mako shark, Genevieve, the leatherback turtle, or Jon Sealwart and Stelephant Colbert, both northern elephant seals. The scientists supplemented the data with photos and profiles of some of the animals, as well as online trading cards and Facebook profiles.

(via History of women’s tattoos: From Native Americans to...

chacal-la-chaise — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 12:29:30 -0700

(via History of women’s tattoos: From Native Americans to cancer victims’ ‘tatts’ instead of breast reconstruction | Mail Online)