UnSpace

Of course I didn't have my DSLR with me, but I did have my cell phone. This picture is unretouched, by the way!

As in the famous Internet acronym "IANAL," I am not a lawyer. But still, I have to wonder: Has the trial of Guantanamo prisoner and Bin Laden chauffeur Salim Hamdan produced evidence that our politicians have deliberately endangered us?

Salim Hamdan was tortured, or at least abused. "The judge, Navy Capt. Keith Allred, has suppressed some of Hamdan's statements, ruling they were obtained under "coercive" conditions." While I think I ought to be outraged at the treatment of a human being this way, I'm actually far more upset that the government was using outmoded, ineffective techniques to gain information. "Experienced interrogators know that information extracted through torture is rarely reliable." In fact, there are far better techniques for getting information out of people.

Criminal Minds’ [Human Rights Award'] winning episode, “Lessons Learned,” which was written by active duty FBI agent Jim Clemente, demonstrates that the sophisticated use of non-violent interrogation techniques are more likely to yield credible information than abusive ones. The episode presents a twist on the “ticking time bomb scenario” seen on so many TV shows. Instead of torturing a detainee who has information that could stop the detonation of a biological bomb, Special Agent Jason Gideon (Mandy Patankin) talks to him. In the process, he learns more from the suspect in less than 48 hours than CIA interrogators did over weeks, using rougher tactics. — Media Alert

But instead, the Jack Bauer-obsessed Bush Administration (and I'm sorry, but does it bother anyone else that they're getting their information from a fictional show? "Mythbusters" I could see, but "24″? Come on, folks! It's a TV show! Move out of your mother's basement and get a life!) piddled around with this guy.

What was the result? "The FBI agents testifying for the prosecution said the Yemeni prisoner, who has been held at Guantanamo since May 2002, eventually gave them details about bin Laden's travel routes and associates. But prosecutors said his assistance came long after Hamdan's capture and was of little value."

It even gets worse. Hamdan knew that one of the prisoners the U.S. had was Bin Laden's bodyguard. By the time they got the information out of Hamdan, the U.S. had released the bodyguard, not knowing who he was.

The Bush administration has chosen an information-gathering policy that has ruined our ability to get useful information in a timely manner. Weird Al's song, "Yoda," comes to mind here:

I know Darth Vader's really got you annoyed

But, remember if you kill him then you'll be unemployed.

Of course,that's not why they're torturing people. They're not trying to prolong the War on Terror to keep themselves in power. Anyone saying that is being ridiculous. The truth, if anything, is far worse. They've fallen for a feel-good mythology over hard scientific data. "Torture works for Jack Bauer, why shouldn't it work in real life? And isn't it wonderful, we get to exact vengence along the way!"

How many American soldiers have died because of our policy on torture?

Ok, so it's nowhere near the number that died due to incompetent planning of the post-invasion nationbuilding in Iraq, nor the criminal way contracts were handed out to cronies for electrical work in camps in Iraq, resulting in soldiers being electrocuted in the shower.

Y'know, forget treason. Investigate the Bush administration and, where appropriate, prosecute them for they harmed our troops in the name of greed and a fictional TV show.

We Americans support our troops. Lets show them!

It works, and keeps me from being too wordy.

Here's another try…

I saw a post by ClickNathan on Pittsburgh Bloggers about an iPod app for Wordpressblogging. It works pretty well,although it\'s killing my typing speed. Let me add a picture.\n

I'm getting better with Photoshop…

I haven't posted anything since the photo post from Flourish. I've got 1400 photographs from the Flourish workshop shoots to sort, correct, play with and basically teach myself Photoshop.

The workshop went incredibly well, although they were both intense and intensive. I have more to say, but the short answer is the workshop was worth it!

I am a bit down. The My Book I got and loved so much — easy one-button backup to the tune of 500 gigs — crapped out when I tried to do an incremental backup. The file table appears damaged, and I'm using  Testdisk to repair it.  Working with FAT tables is well outside my expertise. Ok, like that has ever been a concern… It's still a pain to have to fix.

More later!

I'm blogging from the Flourish Photography Workshop! We learned a lot the first day, had a lot of fun, ate incredibly well, and enjoyed the 21C Museum Hotel we're staying at.

I used Adobe Lightroom to produce a quick Flash slideshow about the workshop and the hotel. Kim, Angela, and Kitty put on a program that uses and reinforces the very techniques and principles they are teaching, the same principles they use every day as the highly sought-after wedding photographers they are!

I'm exhausted. I am having trouble putting a coherent sentence together. It's time to go to sleep now! More tomorrow, God willing!

PS: Nancy says Princess is healing nicely. When I called, Princess was sitting on Nancy's shoulder, watching TV with Nancy.

I walked into the Bird "Flight Room" on Thursday evening to find Princess, our cockatiel, skewered through her wing on a branch of the willow tree we keep in the room. At first I thought she was dead, but examining her showed that she was exhausted, frightened, but still alive. The budgies had chewed the upturned branch to a mild point. Despite the branch being protected by the rest of the tree, somehow Princess fell onto it, having it pass through the wing just above the radius and ulna.

We had last been in the room an hour before. There were no screams. We don't know how long she was hanging.

In humans, the impaling object would be cut away, stabilized, and the person transported to the hospital. Cutting away the branch would have delayed getting Princess free and greatly increased her fear. Against my training I correctly decided (according to the vet) that sliding her up the branch was the best way to free her. There was no further bleeding.

The vet says nothing was broken. The place Princess pierced is similar to the webbing between fingers, cannot be stitched, and should heal on its own. There is a possibility that we may have a "punk" bird with a piercing after this, but the wound should heal and Princess be able to fly again.

She was given a shot of antibiotic, placed on a twice daily antibiotic, and was also placed on Metacam for pain control. She doesn't like having her wing wrapped up, but has given up attempting to remove the dressing the vet placed. She's in an incubator to keep her warm and we take her out and cuddle her several times a day to help her feel less lonely.

Princess, by the way, was the Angel on our Birdie Nativity Play Christmas card last year. She also starred as an adornment on a wreath in our 1998 Christmas card, when she was less than a year old!

I recently purchased Adobe Lightroom and have been learning how to use it. Now that I've had a bit of a chance to play with it, I'm wondering how I survived all these years without it.

I was able to pop up a quick gallery onto UnSpace in about 5 minutes. Ok, so the photo selection isn't the best — I was just messing around and wanted to see if it works. But from the time I put the SD card in the laptop to that gallery appearing live on my web site was 15 minutes, and that includes having to go into the other room to look up the FTP settings for this site!

I understand that, if you're running a Mac, Aperture is the way to go. I don't have a Mac. I've got Windows Vista on the laptop. I've played around with the things Corel offers and Adobe Elements 6, and they are nothing compared to the power of Adobe Lightroom.

I wonder how long it will take me to keyword all my photographs since 2001? Actually, all things considered, not that long.

BTW: I've decided to shoot only in RAW now. There have been a number of times (astronomy photos) where I wish I'd shot in RAW. Having seen the power of Lightroom, I now understand why I wish to shoot all my photos in RAW — I can do a lot more with the photographs!

Now where did I see that Terabyte hard drive for sale? Gosh, I can remember when a 1 meg hard drive was a dream…

I wonder if that means I should learn how to blog from MS Word 2007? Yeah. Right.

I often use the Hot Metal Bridge to get downtown. When I heard that they were building a pedestrian / biking / running / trail bridge, I knew it would be great for photography. I was right! The people who designed the bridge knew it too, and accounted for it. Along the bridge, there are overlooks where you can stop, out of the flow of traffic, to take photographs.

The bridge has been open since November, but this is the first time I made it down there. Of course, there were runners and bikers using the bridge:

At the Eliza Trail end of the bridge, there are ramps leading up to the bridge. At the other end on Pittsburgh's South Side, there's a switchback to take you to ground level. From the switchback, I was able to get a shot of the pedestrian bridge:

I've got some more photos from that walk — I'll post them tomorrow.

Ok, so it's not really spring, but Pittsburgh set a new record for the warmest temperature here on January 7th today: 66°F. Yesterday, I went for a walk on the Eliza Trail (photos coming!) and today I went to Piney Fork (left the camera).

Spring thaw has a smell, that smell was absent during the walk. But I'm still spoiled by today. When snow comes once again, I think it will be harder to take.

Would anyone think it odd if I painted the walls black in the bird room?

There are plenty of things wrong with this picture. Obviously, I should use a tripod when playing with the strobe. The background gets saturated in these photographs. But still, this is a cool first attempt. There are two birds that are flying in the image: a blue one and a turquoise one. The white bird in the lower center wasn't actually flying — I think it was flapping while perched.

The aperture was cranked as high (small) as possible and the shot was for .5 seconds. I don't know if I can do much better in this situation, and I really don't feel like painting the walls!

Still, it's fun!

I always keep a camera in the car, so when I caught these sundogs in the sky the other day, I pulled over and snapped a picture. These are hard to see, and if you want a better view, click the picture for a larger version.

If you'd like to learn more about them, check out the Wikipedia article on Sun Dogs.

Simple: the laptop was loaded with Windows Vista.

I'm not joking, folks! I thought the laptop was a bargain. I'm not so sure any more. I wonder how hard it would be to downgrade (upgrade?) to XP?

The City of Bridges had another wonderful First Night Celebration last night! Nancy and I have taken to making our usual date for New Year's at Pittsburgh's First Night. Hey, just because we got married doesn't mean we don't still go out on dates with each other! We were looking forward to this event, especially since we finally got tickets to a performance of the improv group "Amish Monkeys."

Note: There are a lot of pictures here, so to keep this blog loading in something resembling a reasonable time, I've provided thumbnails — click to enlarge if you'd like a better look.

We parked the car outside the rivers and walked Downtown. As we crossed a bridge, we got to see the "Children's Fireworks." They had one set of fireworks at an early hour so the younger set could see them.

Our first stop was at the O'Reiley theater, where we saw the Amish Monkeys perform hysterically. Afterward, we went to Christos' Mediterranean Restaurant on 6th Avenue for a late dinner. Nancy and I had a wonderful dinner, and I got to take a small taste of her Carmel Creme dessert.

Parked outside what used to be the Fulton and Fulton Mini (I think it's called the Byham, now) was a cool car. Anyone know what it is?

We were able to see the First Night Parade as it went past on 6th avenue. A rumor in the streets had it that the Mayor, Luke Ravenstahl, was in New York celebrating at UPMC's expense. Not true at all! Sorry to ruin it for all you Lukey Haters, but here's a picture of the young Mayor leading the parade — in Pittsburgh:

The parade itself had people carrying grotesques. I used to know the story behind them, but here are some pictures.

One of the cool things about First Night is the number of things going on — you can't get to see them all. I missed the Clarks and we never went far enough East to see Brad Yoder (Pittsburgh's Best Solo Act according to Pittsburgh's City Paper, although I'd argue it should be the 2nd Best, Cathasaigh). Nancy picked out a number of things we wanted to see, including the Aboriginal Art at Spaces on Liberty Avenue. Along the way, we saw music performances in the street, with dancing and drumming.

There were also some odd sights. Outdoor Adventures decorated a tree with magnolia blossoms, making it appear the tree had bloomed in winter. A big hit with the youngsters were the lightsabers for sale.

We love the ice sculpture fellow, and he didn't disappoint this year, either. Look at the detail of the city! Art with chainsaws — why not?

Pittsburgh itself looked gorgeous, as some of these shots will show:

Near midnight, the Alcoa ///// Bayer Clock began the countdown to Midnight — a couple seconds off. At midnight, the fireworks started! Nancy wished me a "Happy New Year and Happy White Rabbit Day!" She always gets me on New Year's Eve.

We had a great time. Last time, the fireworks went off up around the 9th Street Bridge; this year they were Downtown, so we didn't get good photographs. But we were near the car and got home quickly where we celebrated a bit more and then did birdie waters, birdie food, and crashed.

Happy New Year Everyone!

There's a 3.9% chance an asteroid is going to whomp into Mars next January 30th at about 5:55 a.m. The rock is about the size of the Tunguska meteor. I have no idea what the science value would be; the impact would simply have a major cool factor.

I can't help but wonder, though. What if the meteor hits the one part of Mars that still has life?

Oh well, there's always Europa!

[Insert joke about crappy weather in Pittsburgh for any astronomical event I want to watch.]

Some friends came up to visit from Florida. We decided to go visit the Pittsburgh Zo. Of course, I took my camera.

This is my personal blog; nothing in here should be construed as official from the Pleasant Hills Community Presbyterian Church. Sometimes, like when I'm being sarcastic or trying to think something through, this blog doesn't even represent my own opinions. As the Acting Director of Communications, I need to be careful about how the things I do are interpreted.

One of the wonderful things about the Presbyterian Church USA is that there is plenty of room for differing opinions. For example, some people at the church do not have any problem with celebrating Halloween, others do. I don't, but in my work as Director of Communications, I am careful to not alienate anyone. Mostly this was accomplished by not even using the word "Halloween." I can write creatively when I need to.

I suspect I'm one of the few who believe whole-heartedly in predestination. I know that sounds strange for a Presbyterian church. But remember that there are far more crucial points being dealt with by our congregation: feeding the poor, caring for the sick, studying the Bible, glorifying the Name of Jesus Christ, etc. There simply isn't much time for the more theoretical considerations. So I cannot speak with a definitive voice for my church on many things simply because there is no definitive voice or no one really cares enough to make a definitive pronouncement. For example, if someone wishes to celebrate Halloween, they can, as long as they don't rub it in the faces of those who don't wish to celebrate it. I don't know of anyone who asks at the grocery store if the meat has been sacrificed to idols, either.

I do not blog from work for three reasons. One, I don't want there to be any possible confusion between work and this blog. Two, I don't have time to fly my radio-controlled helicopter (that's pronounced "STRESS RELIEF") at church (a large, usually empty gym is a definite work perk), let alone blog. Three, I've forgotten the password I used for this blog and can't log on from any computer but the home computers — I couldn't blog from work if I wanted to!

Yeah, I could fix that last problem, but remember #2 and the lack of time.

Given what I'm thinking about posting here on UnSpace, I decided there was a significant need to clarify the relationship of this blog to my church.