The Absentminded Photographer

"More girls have been killed in the last FIFTY years, precisely because they were girls, than men..."

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 20:34:57 -0400

“More girls have been killed in the last FIFTY years, precisely because they were girls, than men were killed in ALL the battles of the 20th century.

More girls are killed in this routine gendercide in any ONE decade, than people were slaughtered in ALL the genocides of the 20th century.”

- Nicholas Kristof, Half the Sky

Read that AGAIN.

(via kateoplis)

Yes. Read that again.

girldistracted: I have a little lemonade stand:...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 18:38:49 -0400

girldistracted:

I have a little lemonade stand: quietwhimsy.etsy.com

Finally!!

spytap: niknak79: This cat knows how to relax I laughed so...

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 01:31:56 -0400

spytap:

niknak79:

This cat knows how to relax

I laughed so hard I had to reblog this.

best thing I’ve seen in ages!!

sagansense: ACLU to Kansas school district: Cancel creationist...

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 22:00:32 -0400

sagansense:

ACLU to Kansas school district: Cancel creationist assemblies about dinosaurs

The American Civil Liberties Union has warned a southwest Kansas school district against holding mandatory student assemblies that feature a creationist group.

“Teaching or otherwise promoting creationism is, simply put, unlawful,” the ACLU wrote in a letter to Hugoton Public Schools superintendent Mark Crawford on Friday. “As the District is surely aware, the federal courts have been unequivocally clear that efforts to inject religious beliefs regarding the origin of life into public school science curricula are constitutionally impermissible, no matter what form they take.”

Hugoton Public Schools invited Creation Truth Foundation’s founder Dr. G. Thomas Sharp to teach the “Truth about Dinosaurs” at two assemblies next week. At least one of the assemblies will be mandatory for all students and teachers.

The group has created teaching materials “explaining the origins, extinction and possible existence of dinosaurs” from a Biblical view and believes the dinosaur Tyrannosaurus rex walked the Earth as early as 100,000 years ago rather more than 65 million years ago. In a lecture uploaded to YouTube last year, Sharp criticized scientists for ignoring the great flood of the Bible.

“We respectfully request the District take immediate and concrete steps to remedy these problems,” the ACLU concluded. “The first step would be to cancel the planned mandatory school assemblies now set for next week.”

However, superintendent Crawford has said he will not call off the assemblies. He told The Kansas City Star the assemblies will not promote creationism, despite the beliefs and mission of the Creation Truth Foundation.

“I agree with the ACLU, in that, if a mandatory all-school assembly where creationist truths or creationist beliefs were expressed, that would be inappropriate public-school content, and that is not the case,” Crawford said. “It’s completely and totally school appropriate.”

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/21/aclu-to-kansas-school-district-cancel-creationist-assemblies-about-dinosaurs/

sagansense: Actual 4th Grade science test in South Carolina

Sun, 21 Apr 2013 21:58:02 -0400

sagansense:

Actual 4th Grade science test in South Carolina

Chloe | April 2013

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 12:00:07 -0400

Chloe | April 2013

laythegoddown: boringteenblog: sexycamila: highfivekeats: Ki...

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 14:25:18 -0400

laythegoddown:

boringteenblog:

sexycamila:

highfivekeats:

Kid Accidentally Steals Cup From Restaurant

I CAN’T BREATHE

IML ITERAALLY SCRAMIGN AT THE SCREEN

FUCKIN PROBLEMS IS PLAYIN IN THE BACKGROUND HELP I Cnt do this

this is the only time ever that anyone will hear the phrase “i love bad bitches” on america’s funniest home videos

This is terrible. Why would you convince your little boy he stole something and upset him to the point where he’s pleading with you!!?? He wanted to do the right thing and return it but she wouldn’t let him? I don’t get how this is funny, thus is awful. Poor little boy.

He would be bothered when someone would say he was mean and...

Mon, 25 Mar 2013 17:23:21 -0400

He would be bothered when someone would say he was mean and disrespectful. Because actually, he wasn’t. They took his silence to mean he cared little or nothing for them. They didn’t have the insight, or didn’t care to exercise the insight, in knowing that he was a shy boy that just didn’t know how to approach them. Instead of making an attempt to approach him, they just, well, they just wrote him off. - Lew Bracker

ftomfilm: photo by crazyunclelarry via instagram Feeling...

Sat, 02 Mar 2013 15:13:55 -0500

ftomfilm:

photo by crazyunclelarry via instagram

Feeling nostalgic today looking at old photos. End of my US tour 2007.

An open-letter from Larry McKurtis.

When I emailed Mike 6 years ago for the casting call I wasn’t expecting anything. I wasn’t even sure as to why I thought it was a good idea to send a letter to a perfect stranger detailing my plans for a cross-country bike ride. He could have been some creepy grifter seining for info so he could swoop my identity and squat my house while I was gone all summer - soiling my name with countless girls about the town and using my then flawless credit to run up substantial debts. My father thought he may be an axe murderer, and after meeting Mike pressed the question for some time, though now he’s Mike’s biggest fan and asks of him fondly.

In all seriousness I sent that letter hoping he’d respond and pick Jay and I because I wanted some accountability. I didn’t want attention or a glimpse of fame. I wanted to be put on a barbed hook to make it difficult to back out. I was fairly committed at the time and figured some extra motivation to follow through couldn’t hurt. And it didn’t.

When I had to leave Jay on the third day of the trip I was beside myself. I had planned the whole trip for the two of us. My best friend and I battling the elements, each other, ourselves. Knowing I had somebody I trusted to help carry the enormous load of such an endeavor was embedded in my psyche. Having that comfortable and accepted mindset removed so swiftly was the harshest reality check I’d had at that time in my life. I could have thrown in the towel right there and I very nearly did on that sleepless night.

I had personal reasons that kept me going. I wanted to test my meddle. Silence large questions brooding over my thoughts that I might not ever have the chance to answer again. I didn’t want to go home with my tail between my legs and face all the naysayers whose gazes would read “I told you so.” Most of all I didn’t want to disappoint the crew. I barely knew these people but I felt like I owed them something, and even now I feel like I do.

The parallels between my journey and Mike’s are too similar to ignore. Mike has battled to keep this project going - against the naysayers, the overwhelming scope of such a large independent project for one man, and mostly himself. He’s persevered through things that would have caused most of us to pack it up long ago. Mike has been held accountable by all of us, and I’m sure the process has taken so long because he doesn’t want to let anybody down, himself included, even though we know he won’t. If you’re reading this blog most of you have had a hand in keeping Mike motivated. You’re all a part of this.

After years of hard work, he’s nearly ready to give a large part of himself to the world. I can’t speak for Mike but I’m sure that it’s equally terrifying, exciting, and rewarding all at once. You’ve been waiting for Mike to give you this gift for years, months, weeks, or maybe you just stumbled onto this blog and like what you see. Maybe you’re invested, maybe you’d like to be.

Aside from emotional investment I think we all owe him something for this gift.

I think the best gift we can return to Mike and the project is spreading the word. I’m not talking about spamming everyone you know or spinning a sign on a street corner in a Godzilla costume (which somebody should do because that’s hilarious). I’m talking about sharing the project thoughtfully with a few friends or family who you think would enjoy it. Show it to your partner, the people your ride with, your film class, your buds at the community bike shop, your bartender, your AA buddies, your church, your cousin in college, your grandpa the veteran. Put it on your blog, tweet it, BookFace it, post it on your favorite forum, MySpace it to your cousin who still has dial-up in the backwoods.

It really doesn’t matter who you pick or how you do it as long as you feel like you’re giving something to others they would enjoy themselves.

I think the slow growth of this film in a grassroots manner would be the most fitting way for it to find success.*

*I have to give a little disclaimer now. I feel very awkward about being the subject of a documentary - which I would hope to be the normal response for most people in the same situation. I don’t tell many people about it, I don’t like getting asked about it, I can’t stand my ugly mug and mumbly voice on the screen. I can get kinda hostile about it. My dad tried to play Mike and I’s CNN interview to the entire family one Christmas and I deleted it from the DVR. I have no personal or selfish motivations in this open letter. I just want to help my dear friend Mike succeed at giving a large chunk of his life to the rest of us.

Give FToM and Mike some love. That’s all I ask.

Thanks for reading,

- Larry McKurtis - Fool Extraordinaire, Ordained Minister, Borderline Homeless.

Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27,...

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 21:26:06 -0500

Fred McFeely Rogers (March 20, 1928 – February 27, 2003)

goosebumps and tears

4x5 Portrait | Xander Brody at Mugu Rock

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 12:00:24 -0500

4x5 Portrait | Xander Brody at Mugu Rock

aplacetolovedogs: A very cute, fluffy dog with little warms...

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 08:30:17 -0500

aplacetolovedogs:

A very cute, fluffy dog with little warms feets

For more cute dogs and puppies

This just about did me in…

ftomfilm: It has been incredibly exciting to announce that the...

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 14:12:11 -0500

ftomfilm:

It has been incredibly exciting to announce that the film’s original score is by Matthew Cooper, better known as Eluvium. I remember how nervous Mike was when he wrote to Matthew in November of last year. In his wildest dreams he never imaged Eluvium, often thought of as the music-titan of ambient music, would or could agree to do the film’s score. When you create a film mostly on your own, sometimes you lose sight that it is very much worthy of other people’s talents. Most of the place holder music in the score was by Eluvium, and his music had been such a huge part in the development of the edits.

Mike shared a post a week or so before we were able to make the announcement that explains his excitement;

“…Eventually, this specific song did make its way into the opening of the film, and it stayed there for the following two years that I spent editing. There was no other piece of music that ever came close to replacing it; until just 11 days ago.

The person who created this one song I listened to so often, was always my dream-choice for a composer, there was no one else I had in mind. And on November 25th, I asked them if they would create music for the film, and they said yes. 11 days ago, this person sent a piece of music that easily, without the slightest bit of hesitation or nostalgia on my part, replaced the opening music in the film.”

Every email, every new bit or piece of works in progress are just strikingly perfect. I remember sitting in the desk chair listening while Mike played a piece for the opening of the film, and thinking out loud, “I wonder if musicians ever just stop and cry while they are working on things; I wonder if their work ever just hits them like it does the rest of us.” The sounds he creates evoke just the right mood, that perfect thing that draws you into the scene and makes you feel what the imagery can’t do alone. Suffice it to say the soundtrack is going to be beautiful, poetic and inspiring…..just like For Thousands of Miles.

We are excited to announce that there are 100 advanced digital albums of the original score available for our Kickstarter campaign. Along with the full film score you also get a fancy t-shirt, premiere only poster, dvd as well as digital download of the film and a visual script and the knowledge that you’ve helped an independent film stay independent. If you haven’t yet, you can pre-order the film along with the original score here.

photo credit N.Javier

ikenbot: rzinz: So let me tell you about some of the...

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 18:03:08 -0500

ikenbot:

rzinz:

So let me tell you about some of the most adorable research about beetles going on right now.

Done by Marie Dacke and Jochen Smolka (and many others) this work has led to many interesting insights, all of which are overshadowed by the research methods of the group.

Namely, these guys love to put clothes on beetles.

The picture on the right of the dung beetle (Scarabaeus lamarcki) wearing some stylish green silicon boots comes from the much-publicized paper in late 2012 by Smolka et al entitled “Dung Beetles use their dung ball as a thermal refuge”. Published in Current Biology, this paper found out that the balls of dung constructed and rolled around by the intrepid little dung beetles provided the beetles with a place to escape the scorching desert sand. Not only that, the dung balls also acted as a heat sink!

Since the balls are cooler than the surrounding sand, they absorb heat from it. Dung beetles push their balls in front of them as they move through the desert, and this can actually lower the temperature of the surrounding sand by 1.5 degrees C. (This is about 34 degrees Fahrenheit, for all those unfamiliar with metric).

Back to the boots- Smolka et al coated the beetle’s legs with heat-resistant silicon in order to gauge which legs the beetles use to sense heat. It turns out they seem to sense the hot sand with the protibia of their front legs.

The picture on the left shows a beetle with a rather dashing hat. This hat was used in the 2013 paper by Dacke et al titled “Dung Beetles use Milky Way for orientation”, also published in Current Biology.

In this paper, the authors determined that a different species of dung beetle (Scarabaeus satyrus) used not only stars in the night sky, but specifically the Milky Way galaxy to keep themselves rolling their dung ball in a straight line.

When the beetle’s vision was obscured with these stylish hats, they took significantly longer to push their dung ball out of a predetermined arena because they couldn’t seem to push it in a straight line.

A further battery of tests confirmed that these beetles actually use the Milky way galaxy specifically to orient themselves and keep moving in a straight line.

With all that in mind, I encourage whomever reads this to go and put clothes on any animal you find, and record your observations.

Trust me, it is for science.

I was reading about this the other day and let me say, it has given me a new found appreciation for dung beetles. Next time you see em basking in dung, keep this in mind. They’re little crapstronomers.

crapstronomers. ha ha.

theperksofbeinghailey: We ordered pizza from Domino’s and in...

Sat, 09 Feb 2013 03:36:52 -0500

theperksofbeinghailey:

We ordered pizza from Domino’s and in the special instructions we asked them to draw Harry Potter on an elephant. We got this.

lostbeasts: goodbye friends i am gone oh brother

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:56:56 -0500

lostbeasts:

goodbye friends i am gone

oh brother

There Are Whales Alive Today That Are Older Than Moby...

Fri, 08 Feb 2013 13:54:21 -0500

There Are Whales Alive Today That Are Older Than Moby Dick!

Eskimo hunters, whaling off the coast of Alaska, discovered 19th century stone and metal harpoon tips embedded in the blubber of bowhead whales. That means these relatives of humpbacks and other baleen whales were dodging harpoons as far back as the 1870’s!

Of course, Herman Melville published Moby Dick in 1851, so dating harpoons just means they were born sometime before 1879. Biologist Craig George decided to use a technique that measures certain protein chemistry in the whales eyes (basically as whales age, their eyes accumulate certain amino acids) to date them more accurately.

The result? There are likely bowhead whales out there that are more than 200 years old! That makes them older than any known tortoise, and perhaps the oldest animal on Earth! Check out more at Smithsonian.

They still don’t have anything on trees when it comes to age, though.

For Mike :)

ftomfilm: As promised! A speed-design of Kristen’s wonderful...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 17:19:44 -0500

ftomfilm:

As promised! A speed-design of Kristen’s wonderful work on the new FOR THOUSANDS OF MILES posters! We’re printing a special limited premiere-only run of these, each 18x12 poster will be numbered and signed; we’re really excited about that. If you want to snag one, you can do so by pre-ordering the film here.

via WARPAINT Studio

These will be three color screen printed 12 x 18 posters with one of the colors being a metallic silver. The poster on dark paper will be the standard poster for the film and may later be printed at 18 x 24. The inverted design on white paper is the super special premier only design! The limited run of these will be signed and numbered and only printed once. (I love this. It makes me really excited).

Mike wanted a completely original illustration of a black & white sun, (inspired from a screen shot that makes an appearence in the very beginning of the kickstarter video). I really wanted to make something original & unique, so I was intentionally tedious, drawing placing every dot & shape by hand in illustrator. The labor of love is what makes me happy about the end result. I could have easily half toned an image of the sun or created automatic bursts of shapes in illustrator but that would have been too easy…

Kristin did such an awesome job on the posters!

ftomfilm: A first look at our brand-new beautiful film posters!...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 15:50:02 -0500

ftomfilm:

A first look at our brand-new beautiful film posters! Designed by the lovely and talented Kristen of WARPAINT Studio. I’ve been anxious to share these with everyone, I think they turned out really fantastic!

The dark-version of the poster will be our standard, but the lighter-version is the Kickstarter premiere-only version! These will be a very limited run - each one will be signed and numbered!

Also, Kirsten recorded a screen-capture during the entire design process! Which turned out amazing. I’m hoping to edit it all together in the next night or two, I think people are really going enjoy it.

These look so great!

hayekd: Holy Cow Lisa (by Bianca Giaever) One of my favorite...

Tue, 05 Feb 2013 14:20:25 -0500

hayekd:

Holy Cow Lisa (by Bianca Giaever)

One of my favorite recent videos.