Did Robert Capa fake his famous Falling Soldier picture?The way I read this PBS.org article, it’s hard to believe he did.

This morning the photography world is abuzz with news of a recently discovered cache of Capa negatives from the Spanish Civil War. According to news report, the discovery could help answer the question.

The Capa photo isn’t the only famous war photo to come under scruitiny in later years. A Roger Fenton photo from the Crimean War is also an interesting study in discovering the historical accuracy of famous pictures.

Of course everybody knows (right?) that there were two flag raisings at Iwo Jima. One became an iconic image of World War II. The interesting thing is that there is little doubt that Joe Rosenthal was just in the right place at the right time, rather than being involved in any staging.

This is in no way useful, but Google has a page where you can watch real-time edits to Google Maps information.

It can be kind intoxicating/relaxing … kind of like watching fish in a tank.

Go make your own Google Maps: Beginning Google Maps Applications with PHP and Ajax: From Novice to Professional

This isn’t intended to be a political statement in any manner, but Glen Johnson is my new hero.

YouTube Direkt Glen Johnson of AP does his job

Isn’t it ludicrous for a campaign staffer to tell are reporter, “Be professional. Do your job. Don’t be argumentative with the candidate.”

What, canidates are supposed to get a free ride from the press?

UPDATE: This is rich. Romeny reveals that Johnson asked his question not because it was a tough question deserving an answer, but because Johnson hadn’t had good food to eat, enough sleep or a place to sit:

LENO: I’ve got to ask you something. You had a run-in with an aggressive reporter yesterday. Tell us about that. Tell us what happened. We’ll show the tape.

ROMNEY: Well, you know, it’s kind of a normal thing. These guys have a responsibility to be adversarial, and, you know, we don’t treat them real well. The guys that follow us in the Presidential race come in a whole group. We put them in the back of the aircraft. We feed them lousy food. We wake them up early in the morning to go to events, and then as you’ll see in this clip, I think, we don’t give them chairs to sit on either. So they have a tough go of it, but they’re doing their job.

A book about Mitt: Mitt Romney: The Man, His Values and His Vision

My Top Ten list is naturally pretty subjective, but I’ve been doing this web stuff and using RSS for quite a while now, so I think I’ve developed some insights into what’s good and important out there. I’m sure 100 other equally or better informed people would come up with an entirely different top 10 list. I would be interested in seeing those, so if you put one together, please leave a comment.

If I have a bias, I think it’s toward being broadly entertained and informed from the perspective of a guy who has worked in media his entire life.

1. Digg. There was a time when Digg was only useful if you were a techno-geek. The social bookmarking site has become so much more than that. Oh, the tech stuff is still a big part of Digg, but it’s also a great place now to find just really interesting articles and blog posts, such as a couple of today’s top Diggs, The 30 Strangest Deaths in History and 8 Web Sites that Jumped the Shark. A suggested alternative or addition would be Slashdot.
2. Boing Boing. Long one of the most popular blogs in the world, it consists of a large assortment of posts on cyber culture, trends and oddball topics. Fascinating and entertaining.
3. Lifehack. Tips and tricks on how to live life better, more effectively or more efficiently. An alternative is LifeHacker, but Lifehack tends to be more focused on personal tips.
4. HuffingtonPost. HuffPo has expanded beyond being just a left-leaning political blog to feature a wide assortment of fascinating news and culture posts written by a wide array of pretty smart people.
5. TMZ. Today, being a fully rounded person means knowing a bit about what’s going on in pop culture. TMZ is a rich resource for celebrity gossip and news.
6. New York Times. Man cannot live by gossip and oddities alone. We must have hard news. The NYT probably fits the bill better than any other news source. For all of the newspaper industry woes, and recent turmoil at the Times, the NYT still churns out among the best journalism in the world. There are other sources to consider — most importantly, your home town newspaper.com — but the Times is really required reading.
7. Romenesko. What happens in the journalism world has a tremendous impact on society, politics and business. If any of these things are important to you, you should follow the news as Jim Romenesko aggregates it. A a good addition would be Lost Remote.
8. TreeHugger. Environmental issues are big right now. Even if you’re not a greenie, you should be keeping up with whats going on related to the environment. TreeHugger is a great place to start.
9. Chris Pirillo. Chis is an entertaining, fascinating guy, but more importantly, he cranks out posts and videos on a variety of interesting and useful topics related to computers and the internet. It’s hard not to learn stuff simply by following Chris.
10. YouTube. More specifically, Today’s Favorites. This might be the quickest and simplest way of staying abreast of the torrent of content that churns through YouTube every day. YouTube videos provide both entertainment and the chance to stay abreast of what’s going on in society.

Of course, you can also subscribe to the Back Channel feed and the HowardOwens.com feed.

What’s in your reader?

Recommended reading: We the Media: Grassroots Journalism By the People, For the People

Designing good logos is maybe one of the hardest things in the world to do. It may look easy, but it’s not. I’ve heard that even the best logo designers in the world have only a couple of true hits at best.

Personally, I’ve been involved in several projects requiring us to pick a good logo. I can’t say at any time that I’ve been involved in a project where we really got it right. The closest might be the current Bakersfield.com logo.

Have you ever thought how wonderful the Google logo is? It is memorable, playful, reflecting the simplicity and the product (a fast, slimmed down, realiable search engine (something not available on the web when Google was launched), and stands apart from any of the technology market leaders.

The logo is so deceptively simple, you may think Sergy and Larry simply got a box of crayons out one night and whipped it up.

Ruth Kedar, who was teaching design at Standford in 1999, explains the great deal of thought that went into the logo.

In the end this particular logo was selected because it reached its goal in many levels:

• It was playful and deceptively simple. The design subtle as to look almost non-designed, the reading effortless. The colors evoke memories of child play, but deftly stray from the color wheel strictures so as to hint to the inherent element of serendipity creeping into any search results page and the irreverance and boldness of the “I am feeling lucky” link. The texture and shading of each letter is done in an unobtrusive way resulting in lifting it from the page while giving it both weight and lightness. It is solid but there is also an ethereal quality to it.
• Times-Roman was the font of choice for the web at that time, while sans-serif fonts were the darling of the printed world. I wanted the readability of a serifed font, but looked for a typeface that had the same qualities we were looking for – subtly sophisticated, but with some humor and irreverence . The chosen typeface is a based on Catull, an old style serif typeface. Catull borrows elements from traditional writing instruments such as the quill and the chisel with a modern twist. Search, by nature, is an activity that requires we look into the past. Therefore Catull’s historical ties seemed appropriate, as did the bridging between the old analog world and the new emerging digital era.
• Visually, there were two main schools of thought at the time: those wanting to emulate the conventional non-web giants such as Sun and SGI (bold all-caps sans-serifed fonts), and those who viewed the irreverence of Yahoo’s non-designed approach as “the look” for the new medium. This design managed to break with the existing conventions landing Google with the unique visual expression it was looking for.

Is that incredible?

If Hillary Clinton can cry, why can’t Terrell Owens?

YouTube DirektTerrell Owens Crying
(better quality version here)

Actually, I’ve been impressed with the transformation of Terrell Owens this season — from selfish prick to team player. His emotional defense of his quarterback and his team is admirable.

It’s amazing what a few tears can do to make you seem more human.

Apparently, there is crying in football.

You can read about T.O.: T.O.

I don’t think vinyl will ever go out of style.

Even with the advent of digital distribution, I’ve never known a town of any size that didn’t have a record shop. CD stores may close, but vinyl shops seem like a pretty stable store-front business.

Ebay has always had a robust collection of LP records for sale.

But at least once a year, some journalist discovers the LPs are still alive. This time, it’s Kristina Dell at Time.

Like the comeback of Puma sneakers or vintage T shirts, vinyl’s resurgence has benefited from its retro-rock aura. Many young listeners discovered LPs after they rifled through their parents’ collections looking for oldies and found that they liked the warmer sound quality of records, the more elaborate album covers and liner notes that come with them, and the experience of putting one on and sharing it with friends, as opposed to plugging in some earbuds and listening alone. “Bad sound on an iPod has had an impact on a lot of people going back to vinyl,” says David MacRunnel, a 15-year-old high school sophomore from Creve Coeur, Mo., who owns more than 1,000 records.

Funny, music never sounds bad on my iPod.

But as I’ve said before, I love LPs, and for all the reasons described above.

Try some vinyl coasters: Vintage Vinyl LP Record Coasters - Set of 6

If I were still doing MP3Caravan, this is the kind of free MP3 I’d tell you about.

Boing Boing says of the band, Marseille Figs,

My pal called them a “three piece big band” who trade instruments around a lot and change up on every track. That’s a great explanation — they sound like a cross between Violent Femmes and Tom Waits, with some Squirrel Nut Zippers and even a little Louis Jordan tossed in for good measure …

Well, that’s just the kind of music genealogy that commands your attention. I also catch a little Nick Cave in there, too, based the MP3s available on their site.

Recommended CD (Figs, sadly, not available on Amzon): Squirrel Nut Zippers — Hot

I’m with Brian Schneier — it’s no big deal to leave your wi-fi network open.

To me, it’s basic politeness. Providing internet access to guests is kind of like providing heat and electricity, or a hot cup of tea. But to some observers, it’s both wrong and dangerous…

I get few guests needing wi-fi access, but I’ve been lucky enough to visit friends with open access and I’ve been grateful. Future etiquette books will probably provide an entry on the graciousness of open access.

I remain unconvinced of this (security) threat, though. The RIAA has conducted about 26,000 lawsuits, and there are more than 15 million music downloaders. Mark Mulligan of Jupiter Research said it best: “If you’re a file sharer, you know that the likelihood of you being caught is very similar to that of being hit by an asteroid.”

I’m also unmoved by those who say I’m putting my own data at risk, because hackers might park in front of my house, log on to my open network and eavesdrop on my internet traffic or break into my computers. This is true, but my computers are much more at risk when I use them on wireless networks in airports, coffee shops and other public places. If I configure my computer to be secure regardless of the network it’s on, then it simply doesn’t matter. And if my computer isn’t secure on a public network, securing my own network isn’t going to reduce my risk very much.

I’ve gotta say, though, that I did have a problem when I lived Bakersfield. I suffered serious network slowdowns every evening. I suspected a neighbor of tapping into my network for file sharing. Once I secured my router, the slow downs stopped.

Of course, that was Bakersfield.

(via Boing Boing)

Or you could build a community network: Building Wireless Community Networks

YouTube Direkt

A book: Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire

YouTube Direkt

Twin Peaks - The Definitive Gold Box Edition (The Complete Series)

Imagine the viral hit Prince William could have if he posted some footage of his grandma playing with his Wii?

“She played a simple ten-pin bowling game and by all accounts was a natural.

“It was hilarious. William was in fits of laughter. He was enormously impressed at having such a cool gran.

“And although she is 81 the Queen’s hand-eye co-ordination was as good as somebody half her age.”

…

“His only difficulty nowis prising it away from the Queen’s clutches. She showed all the signs of becoming a Nintendo addict.”

Apparently, the Queen of England is quite the gadget maven.

In 2001 she got her first mobile phone and has regularly upgraded to one with the latest features.

Her Majesty set up her own email account years ago.

In 2005 she took delivery of an iPod that stores more than 100,000 tunes.

And last June she added a trendy BlackBerry to her technological armoury - and made sure her senior staff were equipped with them too.

So her YouTube appearance makes even more sense.

Has she played Super Mario yet? Super Mario Galaxy

If the only thing you know about poker is what you’ve learned in books, then you know nothing about poker.

I’ve read more than a dozen poker books, and I for a long time I played just like the books say — tight (seeing only about 10 percent of the flops) and aggressive (raising my good hands as the math dictated).

I’ve only started to win more consistently since I decided the books were full of it.

I play looser now (20 to 30 percent of the flops). And I play more aggressive (though I think I need to amp this up more), putting more chips in the pot whenever I can.

A winning friend tells me I don’t call enough raises.

No book I know teaches that. However, you can find some articles around the internet that reveal the hidden truth about poker — it’s more a game about reads and decisions than cards.

Here’s a piece on PoketFives.com that is pretty much spot on and describes a player who has gone through the same evolution in thinking I’ve been going through.

I see so many players either unsure or afraid to take the next step. If you are one of those players, ask yourself if the following has happened to you: You are deep in a tournament and have been blinded down to about 10X the BB and you haven’t had a decent hand in forever. You are in the BB, and you wake up with AA. Someone raises it to 3X the BB, and you almost fall over pushing all-in. The player calls and by some miracle cracks your AA, and you are dumbfounded. We all have hands like this, so why are you waiting so long for that perfect hand when it can still be beat? I decided that I will never again be the tight player who’s just waiting for the bad beat or forced all-in.

I have been that player so many times, I hate to admit it. If I had a nickel for every time I busted on the bubble with a big pocket pair …

So, do the books have any value? Of course they do. You can never learn what you need to know to make good reads and smart decisions without being a student of the game. If you’re just starting out, you should read some books, and practice what they preach until it becomes ingrained, but don’t become wedded to the tight/aggressive game plan they recommend. I spent far too long believing in the books rather than exploring different styles of play.

A few years ago, I saw an interview with Howard Lederer. He said something about the progression of poker players that I believe to be true.  Most players start out being tight/aggressive, and it works for a while.  But then they start losing, or they’re not seeing the results they expect, so they get frustrated.  Then they start playing too loose, really loose.  That, too, has its successful moments, and what they do by seeing so many flops is improving their post flop play.  To be a really winning player, Howard said, you’ve got to find that balance and be able to make decisions and make reads.

That’s what I’m trying to do now.

If you’re going to read a poker book, here’s a must read for anybody who aspires to being a winning poker player:  Harrington on Hold ‘em Expert Strategy for No Limit Tournaments, Vol. 1: Strategic Play

Some three or more years ago, I wrote a song called, “Trouble and Turmoil.” Believe it or not, I wrote it before moving to Bakersfield.

The song was inspired by what I was into at the time: Johnny Cash, Nick Lowe’s “Dig My Mood,” Dave Alvin’s “Public Domain” and Charles Bukowski. My aspiration was to write a cycle of songs as dark and depressing as I could possibly muster — not because my life was so dreary (though, it has grown decidedly better since), but because I thought it would be a cool thing to do. Of that cycle, Trouble and Turmoil is the lone finsihed song. I moved on to other things. It wasn’t long after that I got promoted to director of new media in Ventura. Life became much busier with stuff that seemed far more important than writing songs few people would ever here.

After I recorded my version, I sent the MP3 to a bunch of friends. I got good feedback from Matt Welch, Ken Layne and Buddy Blue, but only Kevin Featherly promised to record it.

A while back, I got an e-mail from Kevin saying the song was finally recorded and he was mixing it. He warned me that this wasn’t the rockabilly/country song I initially envisioned, but something much darker, and it’s now a rock song.

It might feel a little as if you gave your child up for adoption, then reunited much later, only to find the child had been raised by wolves.

When I heard the first rough mix the next day, I was blown away. The wolves raised my baby right.

Here’s the Song: Trouble and Turmoil, the Featherly Faction

Credits: Bruce Featherly, vocals; Scott Maida, drums; Kevin Feathery, all other instruments, production and mixing; words and music by Howard Owens.

It’s such a damn kick to write a song and hear somebody with far more talent than I have record it. I have other songs. One of them, “This Town,” is actually about Bakersfield. You can hear it on my Bakotopia profile page.

Thanks to Kevin for putting a band behind this song and giving it his own interpretation. That’s very cool.

His whole self-released CD (Plastic on the Fire) is pretty darn impressive. Kevin is a helluv a songwriter. Being a writer by trade, it’s not surprising that he writes penetrating, thoughtful lyrics, but he can also turn out soulful, interesting melodies.

It’s interesting to reflect on writing Trouble and Turmoil. A lot has changed in my life in the past four years or so. Since then I’ve been through trouble and turmoil like I never expected, and I’ve also had some of the best times of my life. Sometimes you have to pass through a valley to reach the mountain. Thanks to all of my friends for their support, encouragement and outright big-hearted friendship. Happy New Year to all.

Recommended:  How to Write Songs on Guitar: A Guitar-Playing and Songwriting Course

Didn’t we all grow up believing that dinosaurs all died off in some sudden, climatic catastrophe?

Actually, that probably wasn’t the case.

“There are serious problems with the sudden impact theories of dinosaur extinction, not the least of which is that dinosaurs declined and disappeared over a period of hundreds of thousands, or even millions of years,” said George Poinar Jr., a courtesy professor of zoology at Oregon State University. “That time frame is just not consistent with the effects of an asteroid impact.”

So what killed them? Most likely, disease born by insects (we also all grew up believing insects would inherit the earth, didn’t we?)

“We don’t suggest that the appearance of biting insects and the spread of disease are the only things that relate to dinosaur extinction,” Poinar said. “Other geologic and catastrophic events certainly played a role. But by themselves, such events do not explain a process that in reality took a very, very long time, perhaps millions of years. Insects and diseases do provide that explanation.”

I guess the dinosaurs could have used some Wal-Mart doctors.

Book: Dinosaurus: The Complete Guide to Dinosaurs

The next time a friend says we need universal health care, ask him or her about Wal-Mart health care.

I will never go to a regular doctor for a minor, routine illness again. Sick and wanting an appointment immediately, I went to one of those medical clinics in Wal-Mart. I got in almost immediately, everyone on the staff was extremely friendly, and it only cost $59.

That’s only slightly more than most co-pays.

(via Instapundit)

DVD: Sicko (Special Edition)

What happens when you violate a site’s terms of service and get banned? You get scobled.

Recommended Reading:  Because Netiquette Matters! Your Comprehensive Reference Guide to E-mail Etiquette and Proper Technology Use

Here’s some hot rock and roll for ya … the Collins Kids on Steve Allen.

YouTube Direkt

For more Collins Kids video, click here.

You can buy some great Collins Kids music, too: Rockin’est

A lot of people don’t know this, but my old home town, San Diego, is technically a desert.

If climate change experts are right, things in Sunny SoCal could get even drier.

By the end of the century, temperatures are predicted to increase by 3 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit statewide. That could translate into even less rainfall across the southern half of the state, already under pressure from the increased frequency of wildfires and relentless population growth.

And housing is so damn expense. Glad I live in New York now.

Recommended reading: Cadillac Desert.

Recommended movie: Chinatown

From BW:

“The only silver lining is that a January rate cut is now nearly certain, maybe even 50 basis points,” wrote S&P Economics in a Jan. 4 note.

Recommended reading: Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything