Americans being interviewed about our world -- Funny? Frightening? Arrggghhhhh!

An Australian reporter interviews Americans on their general knowledge of the world, and issues of peace and conflict:



How many Eiffel towers in Paris? Where was the Berlin Wall? What is the religion of Buddhist monks? Kofi Annan is a drink -- true or false? Who should be invaded next? The language they speak in Latin America is Latin - true or false?

Visit to Mandriva Paris office

Mandriva's Gnome expert Frédéric Crozat was kind enough to show me around the Mandriva office today. We then had lunch together. He is a real gentleman. We discovered we have a common interest in not only free software, but also photography. However our roles are somewhat reversed -- he knows more about software development than I do, and I know more about photography than he does ;-)

All the staff I met were friendly and kind. They gave me some free Mandriva products and goodies, which was a great surprise! I was also surprised to learn the language used inside the company is English, as that is the language shared with staff in other countries, e.g. Brazil.

For me it was an excellent experience to meet some of the people behind the software I have used at work and at home in different countries for so many years. With free software you know in your heart you are part of a larger movement that is improving the lives of people worldwide through meeting their needs.

Using fashion to promote a culture of violence

Mere days after Cho Seung-Hui shot dead more than 30 victims using handguns, photographer Laszlo Balogh photographed a model presenting swimwear during a fashion show in Budapest, April 19, 2007:



Notice the handgun attached to the garter belt? The physical intent of firing a handgun at a human body is to penetrate it with overwhelming violence, rupturing muscles, possibly shattering bones and disintegrating organs, causing vast pain and sometimes death.



The intent of attaching a handgun to the leg of a scantily clad model is not quite so simple. Perhaps the person responsible simply adores weapons. Perhaps he or she gets a thrill out of sex and violence. Or perhaps the person is simply dim-witted fool who provokes controversy without understanding it. But whatever the truth is in this instance, ultimately such displays glorify sex, power and violence.

The world of fashion as seen on global catwalks has long been one of the most vacuous human endeavors of all time. Shows like the one in Budapest demonstrate it to also be one of the most insensitive.

A not so tall tale of a small fish

If someone told you about the story of a fish that swims inside your body when you are urinating underwater and proceeds to gorge itself on your blood, would you believe such a story? Probably not. But in this case, you might want to learn about the Candirú, the Terrifying Toothpick Fish.

El tornado - the story of the little vacuum cleaner that could

"With some people coming tomorrow night," I thought, "I had better cleanup."

I got the apartment building's shared vacuum cleaner, and innocently turned it on, not anticipating the maelstrom that was about to immediately ensue. In a violent outburst of noise, dust and bits and bobs exploded out of the top left corner of the vacuum cleaner's plump bag, forming a brown mushroom cloud. A veritable torrent of dust was unleashed. The hazy dust cloud covered the entire room with every other apartment's dirt. I stumbled through the gloom to the door, only to be greeted with the piercing screams of the smoke alarm.

"Thank God I started with Paulus's room," I thought.

After powering off the dangerous machine -- not yet having actually vacuumed anything up -- I removed the still full bag and took it out to the dumpster to empty it. Out came a mountain of dust, lots of long black hair, and a couple of used contraceptives. I was glad they had not blown out of the bag.

I reflected on the bag's crude design. You practically needed to be a mechanic to open it. That may have explained why it had apparently not been emptied for some years. Only a clever genius must understand why its design was patented.

As I stomped flat the bag's metal flap to close it up, I pondered the vacuum cleaner's incredible sucking power. It sucked like there was a tornado in town. That was it then, its name had to be "el tornado".

* I am kidding about starting in Paulus's room. And the contraceptives also. But everything else is true!

U.S. Navy Year in Review: reality missing in action

The U.S. Navy has put together a review of its year in 2006 designed, they say, "to share the Navy experience with the general public":

http://www.navy.mil/media/OtherMedia/YearInReview2006/

In 6 minutes and 40 seconds the Navy presents a series of often very good quality photographs in combination with a couple of musical tracks. Featured are a variety of men and women of all ages, either working in the Navy or being helped in some sense by the Navy. There are lots of smiling faces—former President George Bush, film star Halle Berry, and even a dolphin make an appearance.

Strikingly, however, while there are plenty of weapons, there are no victims of those weapons shown. The only reference I noticed to a U.S. casualty in 2006 was that of Paul J. Darga, who was killed in Iraq on August 22. He was symbolized by a gun and helmet. He is one of 3,166 U.S. armed forces deaths in Iraq so far.

The people the US armed forces fought against in 2006 are not featured, with the exception of one photo. Here, a few suspects (as the caption describes them) were alive, but in a submissive state.

There were no human bodies penetrated, bowdlerized, impaired, disabled or pulverized by weapons. I have asked the Navy if this is part of their operational guidelines when producing such materials. Perhaps they will respond. For whatever reason—and there could be plenty—the gruesome reality of violence and death is hidden, replaced by smiley happy people. If all the Navy did was rescue people, that would be ok. But part of their reality is killing and injuring people. Part of their reality having the same done to their personnel. This reality is missing in action from their year in review.

Face2Face in Israel Palestine

It's pretty amazing what you can do with a creative imagination, a 28mm lens, and the will to think big (all images are from the Face2Face project):



"The Face2Face project is to make portraits of Palestinians and Israelis doing the same job and to post them face to face, in huge formats, in unavoidable places, on the Israeli and the Palestinian sides."

It features my friends Eliyahu Mclean and Shiekh Aziz Bukhari. Shiekh Tamimi is also here:



To learn more about the project, and watch a good video, visit:

http://www.face2faceproject.com/