Category Archives: Uncategorized

Photoshop’s impact on society

Tech, To Export 2, Uncategorized

Reposted from NMAC 3145-01:

Photoshop has so impacted our society that “to Photoshop” has become de-facto genericized as a verb for “to engage in the act of editing an image with image-editing software, usually Adobe Photoshop”. Adeptness at using Photoshop in order to indiscreetly insert or remove a property into or from a picture (without betraying the manipulated or illusory nature of the image to other viewers) is considered a work of art or act of competition in some quarters.

The utility of Photoshop is apparent in the high-stakes world of advertising, as artists and photo editors are pressured to make direct visual appeals to the eyes of potential customers for the advertised wares.

Photoshop has also impacted photography for such applications as fashion. One of the more controversial results of this impact is the usage of Photoshop to airbrush flaws from the photographed faces of models, leading to accusations of deceptive advertising in regards to cosmetics advertisements.

This, among many others, tends to give credence to the view of Photoshop as a double-edged sword depending upon the purpose or manner of usage.

–Works cited–

Macworld Staff. “Photoshop through the Years”. Macworld. 1 Aug 2000. Web.

Edwards, Jim. “US Moves Toward Banning Photoshop In Cosmetics Ads.” Business Insider. 16 Dec 2011. Web.

Typefaces and perception of content

Tech, To Export 2, Uncategorized

A typeface impacts my perception of content by the manner in which the typeface fits into the 1) layout and 2) the application. A news or information website, for example, will reasonably make use of a typeface which is easy to read and presents information with urgency and importance.

If the same website were to make use of a typeface which adds “style” or pizazz to the content, it wouldn’t communicate the same urgency or importance. A “Western-style” typeface, for example, only suits certain situations, such as stylistic, period-style advertisements.  A typeface which is in the style of one of Sagmeister’s creations would fit grunge music or goth metal websites.

However, if a website were tailored toward the selling of certain products, then the typefaces would most reasonably fit the sorts of products being sold. If I go to Apple.com, select a word on the website, right-click to select “Inspect Element” in Chrome, and de-select “Lucida Grande” from the list of CSS attributes, the resulting serif-ed typeface simply wouldn’t fit the graphic theme of the rest of the page, which calls for smooth but “faint” and “light” tips and flourishes, as most of the graphics of the website communicate.

So the choice of certain typefaces are more purposed toward being part of the website’s graphic layout. Compare with a news or information website which is purposed toward presenting information, not products of any particular aesthetic. Such typefaces do their job when they immerse the user into the presentation’s theme and core topic, and do their job when they elicit a reaction as desired by the website’s owners.

Health Security

Uncategorized, , ,

Idea: market “single-payer healthcare” as “health security” or “health defense”.

For some reason, things sound more tantalizing to American ears when “-security” is appended to the end of a word. I’ve heard “energy security” (or energy independence) used, I’ve heard “environmental security” used, so why not “health security”? All it would communicate is the fact that the health of our citizens is not only the priority of any civil society, but also a priority of national security, stability and sovereignty.

It would also communicate that without federal intervention through the efficiency of a single-payer system, we will continue to see the chaos and irregular conduct of healthcare and health insurance by various brackets or classifications of humanity.

So I hope that this term – “health security” or “health defense” -comes into use in the future on the part of advocates for healthcare reform in this country.

Andrew Breitbart is Dead

Uncategorized,

In regards to Breitbart, I only regard him as a curious and perplexing person in his life. I don’t consider him to be a cause of the current political climate.

History renders us all as inheritors of past events and ideologies, and Breitbart inherited both the Cold War and conservative perceptions of the so-called “New Left”.

He spent the last part of his life trying to fight, embarrass and disempower all perceived leftists, by whatever means necessary, and many people, some of whom had little knowledge of a right-left dichotomy, were either ostracized or screwed over in the process.

All I can say is that Breitbart helped set a template for the future of American politics without ever having taken political office. I’m a bit envious of his stridency and ability to angrily, but successfully, deflect criticism and attack his enemies, which were many. He exuded a tough-pundit style, he was unapologetic about anything he did or said, and I think a lot can be learned from this most visible aspect.

I think what I learned from him is to never say “sorry”. Never apologize. Never “consider” other people. If people are your lessers and inferiors (or deserve to be), say so. If people are “moochers” and “leeches”, say so. If people deserve to die or be exterminated, say so. Never apologize. If you do, the terrorists win. Never apologize.

NOTE 12/30/17: He was also a racist asshole.

Thought of the morning: political party affiliate organizations (like the Stonewall Democrats or the Young Democrats) need a better means of naming their subdivisions. If there are national organizations such as the Stonewall Democrats and the Young Democrats, then the Stonewall Young Democrats should probably be termed a “partnership” between the Stonewall Democrats and Young Democrats of America, not an affiliate of an affiliate (or a caucus of a caucus) of a political party. It makes better sense to visibly, vocally partner where your interest groups’ interests intersect.

With Google+, Facebook and Twitter all doing brand pages now, I wonder if it’s now time to create a “follow/like/add our brand page” icon that is agnostic to all such services like the Feed icon and the Share icon.

Right now, the more popular symbol is the + sign (on FB and Twitter). Problem is that I don’t know which agnostic word I would use to describe the action of “follow/like/add”. “Subscribe” is already taken by feed readers.

Awful. Jamiel Terry, openly-gay son of anti-abortion asshat Randall Terry and Georgia resident, died in a car accident near Lilburn, Gwinett County tonight. He came out in an editorial for a newspaper, resulting in his father disowning him.

Oh, and Randall wants to solicit donations for Jamiel’s headstone. According to JoeMyGod, Randall can afford countless anti-abortion ads throughout this country, but he can’t afford a fucking tombstone for his son. PIECE. OF. SHIT.

Uganda-Tanzania War – 33rd Anniversary

Politics, Uncategorized, , ,

Interesting anniversary today: Today is the 33rd anniversary of the beginning of the Uganda-Tanzania War, in which Idi Amin declared war against Tanzania and sent troops over the Tanzanian border, Tanzania retaliated by mobilizing a paramilitary force and fired Russian Katyusha missiles into Uganda, and Gaddafi got involved in another military misadventure.

Libya under Muammar Gaddafi sent his own troops, including the so-called “Islamic Legion”, into Uganda to support Idi Amin, but they were soon on the front line against the Tanzanians and Ugandan anti-Amin exiles as Amin’s forces retreated.

After the Battle of Lukaya in which hundreds of lives were lost on both sides, the war was more or less an Amin-Gaddafi strategic retreat, and Amin fled Uganda on 10 April 1979; Gaddafi’s troops would flee into Kenya and Ethiopia shortly afterward.

Tanzanian troops stayed as peacekeepers until shortly after new elections were held, but Tanzania had to foot the bill without external support (the then-OAU condemned Tanzania’s invasion). It would not get out of the debt resulting from the war until Uganda paid off the last of Tanzania’s debt in 2007.

The current president of Uganda, Yoweri Museveni, is a veteran of this war. Gaddafi, who was a major ally of Idi Amin, was killed in Sirte, Libya, after 42 years of rule and international misadventures like this.

Timothy Leary once said “Everyone gets the god they deserve”. If “god” can be paraphrased as “highest collective ideal and hope of which we can only fulfill a part before we may realize that it’s someone else’s highest, most contrived ideal and hope and not one’s own”, do we really deserve such an ideal? Do we really need to satisfy the petty desires of an anthropomorphic, personified idea? And can ideas think for themselves?

Those who are disturbed or appalled by the GOP applause for the death penalty las night might want to come up with more empirically-based arguments for why it is wrong to cheer for death other than it being “cruel”, “hard-hearted”, “depraved”, “un-Christian” or “bloodlusty”. Explain your opposition to such approval in a way that an atheist can understand and parse. Don’t appeal to unfounded and fickle “moral” sentiments.