Today’s Theme Thurday theme is: produce.
So let’s produce the produce! (<- see what I did there?)
Photos taken in my cafeteria at work with my iPhone4s and the Hipstamatic app……and in the middle of an extraordinarily busy day.
Theme Thurday waits for no BossMan, no matter how demanding.
Today I joined in with sites like Google, Reddit, Wikipedia, and NewMexiKen by blacking out my site in protest of SOPA and PIPA.
I did this with a LOT of mixed emotions.
Regular readers will remember that last February I had one of my photographs swiped by the San Francisco Giants organization. They deliberately cropped off the copyright watermark and used my image for a Valentine’s Day ecard.
One little blogger up against an MLB Franchise.
I was unhappy, and then I had to become Zen about it.
With that in mind, I seriously believe SOMETHING needs to be done about IP theft on the internet.
However…
To quote the well known New Mexican pundit, Heath Haussamen, on his site NMPolitics.net:
“While protecting intellectual property rights is a worthy goal, this legislation is not the way to do it.”
As originally drafted, the legislation was, in my opinion, “right idea, wrong implementation.”
As of yesterday, the White House said that bills in that current state would get vetoed, and so perhaps there is hope.
It’s hard for me to trust that this current sitting Congress will do the right thing when partisan squabbles separate them on almost every issue imaginable.
So for now we wait, and hope that the needs of IP protection and the needs of free speech can find a comfortable place to meet. And maybe have a cup of coffee and a scone.
Find out more at americancensorship.org or the video below.
Today at lunch, I took a quiet, solo walk on the walking path near my office. Since my walking partner was too busy to come along and my iPod battery was tapped out, it was just me alone with my thoughts.
A dangerous combination.
Being without distraction makes me more observant of everything going on around me. For example, the blue nosed ducks that have arrived as the weather turns colder. The squabbling Canada geese. The flatfish skimming the bottom of shallow waters in the lagoon.
And the humans. Oh those wacky humans.
As I rounded one corner of the path, I saw two guys in business suits taking photos of each other. They were standing by our iconic tall building with the company logo on top. This is a not unusual sight, really. In fact, I think for some of my coworkers in Asia, having a photo from headquarters posted on their internal directory page is a badge of honor.
Since so many people have that photo on their page, everyone is trying to get the different, quirky and odd take on the same photo so they can stand out a little.
This came to mind as I noticed one of the guys posed awkwardly with his finger pointing up. The other was splayed out on the ground, almost in the water, camera pointing up, coaching his subject “a little to the right…a little up…a little more…”
I know what they were doing. They were trying to replicate that cheesey internet meme where through the magic of perspective and photography it looks like someone is holding up a bridge or touching a seventh wonder of the world.
Like this:
Image from homdoc74‘s Flickr photostream
Only with an office building. I have to admit, they weren’t being shy about this at all. They were really going for it. I kind of felt bad for the guy laying on the ground wearing a full dark suit. That’s going to be a weird one to explain when he gets back to the training room. (there’s a sales training going on this week and there are a TON of dark suits wandering around)
I’ll bet the photo will look cool. But the set up looked goofy as hell.
Something akin to this:
Photo from PhotographyUncapped.com
Congrats to the San Francisco 49ers for their stunning victory over the Saints today to go on the the NFC Champtionship.
It’s been a long time in the making.
My MVP of the game: Vernon Davis
Photograph: Paul Sakuma/AP
Considering how nomadic the people of the world have become – moving streets, cities, states, countries at a whim – you’d think the art and science of moving would have improved.
But really, it hasn’t changed much since the settlers moved west in covered wagons. It’s still just your stuff, a lot of cardboard boxes, a big truck and some muscle.
That’s it. No better. No improvements.
I need some razzle dazzle technology here, people. Can’t the finest minds in Silicon Valley and beyond get on this?
If they can build a better toilet and build a better thermostat then they can build a better moving system.
Let’s think beyond the cardboard box, people!
I’m talking about something like Star Trek transport. Push a button. Boom baby, your crap is at a new address.
Or levitation. Alakazam! Your sh*t’s in the truck!
Or wiggle my nose Bewitched style and it simply happens. Move house and cook a post roast, all in three shakes of a nariz.
Something better than boxes and packing tape rolls that always run out just at that crucial moment.
*sigh*
I say all of this as I take in the view at my home. Boxes everywhere. The Good Man and I wondering why we both have so much crap. Wondering if we can cull it down more. Wondering how in the heck we are going to get this all done.
Moving sucks.
However.
Because perspective is a lovely thing, on Monday, I was chatting with a coworker who also has an upcoming move. We were talking about packing and shredding and donating and both of us were tut-tutting and shaking our heads at it all.
He asked me “how far is away is your new house?”
“Oh, a few miles,” I said.
“Imagine being me moving 6,000 miles. To a new country.” (he’s moving from Dublin to San Francisco in two months)
So ok. He’s got to pack all his crap into wooden shipping boxes. Talk about space limitations! Talk about a man who could use an easy transporter.
Ah well. Hand me the bungee cords. Let’s get back to work.
Today’s Theme Thursday topic is: view Photo from Lavazza Article