Wednesday, August 27, 2008

stray bullets

N Korea struggles to control changing economy "In 1999, even in Pyongyang, people were exhausted, malnourished, feeble... In 2004, the situation was very different - the whole city looked like one big market."... "There was activity everywhere, on streets, under the bridges, from the windows of apartments," It is my firm conviction that when left to ourselves, we (humans) become the hunters, gatherers, hoarders and purveyors of stuff that we are. We become consumers and merchants and we create markets. The mammalian hoarding instinct runs strong in us and explains much about things like capitalism and binge shopping.

Soon to be available on the Web: Dead Sea Scrolls In a crowded laboratory painted in gray and cooled like a cave, half a dozen specialists embarked this week on an historic undertaking: digitally photographing every one of the thousands of fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls with the aim of making the entire file - among the most sought-after and examined documents on earth - available to all on the Internet.

Executed Today - 1979: Eleven by a Firing Squad in Iran On this date in 1979, the only anonymous photograph to win a Pulitzer Prize captured nine Kurdish rebels and two of the Shah’s policemen executed by firing squad in revolutionary Iran. I debated whether or not to post this photo. I decided to let the reader choose whether or not they wanted to view it. This photo always affected me strongly. The two figures in the forefront of the image are the most striking.

also:
Sign language over cell phones
In Pictures: The Frugal Billionaires (there's an old saying to the effect that they're rich because they're tight) (via)
Cuba detains leading punk rocker (on charges of "dangerousness")
Networks - a set on Flickr (design types take note, too) (via)
One hundred one hours of Dada and Surrealism on KBOO (starts tonight, listen live on the website) (via)

viddy:
The Cat House on the Kings (no-cage, no-kill, lifetime sanctuary, don't miss it)
The Church of Bones - Czech Republic (via)
Paper Rad - P-Unit Mixtape 2005 (NSFWeird)
"Our ways are not your ways" - Surreal Automaton

2 comments:

ExecutedToday said...

Thanks for the link! That is quite a picture ... especially when you consider how the scene looked to anyone else present, with the photographer practically in the executioner's hip pocket.

(I've been to that church of bones... amazing.)

John M. said...

Hi executedtoday!

Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to a new execution every day... that would sound kinda weird taken out of context.

That photo is the business. I heard that story about the photographer a couple of years back and was always fascinated with the story behind the whole incident. I was in high school when that photo made the rounds and it has stayed with me since.

Thanks for the great weblog!

I'm going to have to see that church of bones for myself.