Month: April 2010

News and Humanity

Carl Setzer

Reading headlines like this chills me, compelling me to stop and read: “Girl, 7, airlifted to hospital after accidental hanging”. I connect solidly: my child is 7. With all the random injuries I sustained as a child, seems rather amazing at times that I avoided becoming such a statistic. While my thoughts and prayers are with this family as they navigate this horror, my attention wanders.

 

As often happens with stories such as this, there is a burst of information, of “story”, which then vanishes from the public eye forever. It is likely there will be no resolution. In this age of data, and the near limitless ability to present information, would there be value in news orgs following up, finding the end of this story? With our ability to tag and link coalescing this thread into one story would be easy. That, to me, is a key power in this new medium.

 

Of course, I tend to play both sides and, thus, wonder if there is value of just having the burst and then letting this alone; allowing people to exist in the mystery? Would the follow up I propose invade? Do I, as an observer, really have any rights towards resolution? Certainly the family’s needs are paramount. Is there, in the end, a clear answer? I, being me, find my answer “no”. Yet I will respect your different finding. Humanity is quite complex, is it not?

 

 

Prayer of St. Francis

Carl Setzer
A prayer attributed to one of my favorite spiritual guides. 

The Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi 

“Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. 

O Divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.”

iPad and other glories

Carl Setzer8 Comments

Perhaps I’m the only Macfan that’s not gaga over the iPad. It’s an interesting idea, but I’m just not sold on the concept. For what it offers, I think it would be valuable (to me) at a much lower price-point. Say, < $100. Then I could conceive. Heck, if it were $200 I would be sorely, SORELY tempted. But not $500. It doesn’t offer me much more than my iPhone. And I almost never use my Sony eReader (if the Mac version of the desktop software actually worked with it, then I might use it more). Anyway, if the iPad had handwriting recognition, or could do more with photo editing…I don’t know.

Winter Observations

Carl Setzer2 Comments

Over the winter I noticed the congregation of crows off around 405
near the Beardslee exit in Bothell. Masses of them, swarming, much
like starlings, without the elegance. As the weather has warmed up,
this feathered city has dissipated.

Trees have been in bloom for quite some time. This, too, is a delight.
Most all trees are at least in bud, the majority laden with blossoms.
A few stragglers remain. I noticed bees a few weeks back. True honey
bees. And I will not mistake a hornet for a bee.

Our weather has embraced a Spring mania. Rain, followed by sleet,
fading to hail, with some snow for good measure. Intermixed with
random bursts of sunshine. Life in the Northwest under the shadow of
the covergence zone.

The Modern Conundrum

Carl Setzer4 Comments

Yesterday I received a message from Schmap, an online travel guide service asking to use one of my Flickr shots for their Seattle guide. Reading through the terms, I noticed this wasn’t compensated, but as I am not a professional, my first thought was “who cares?” Turns out there are many (see here, and here to start). They aren’t going to get filthy rich off of my one shot. However, after a bit of research, in their business model, they only use free photos. And with that comes the real question: am I contributing to the demise of the professional photographer by taking part? This sort of effort does bring up many issues with the technological age we find ourselves in. Does this put photographers out of work? Or does it just kill off the mediocre? Which is “bad”?

I’m not sure the ethics here, and have not made a choice one way or another. I’d love to hear what others thing off all this. Have any of your used Schmap before? Anything similar out there?

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