Kabul Marketplace

If you look closely at the above photograph of a marketplace in Kabul, Afghanistan (July 2003), you may notice something missing (not WHAT but WHO is missing from the image). Before reading any further, please take a quick moment to look at the photograph itself. If it helps, you can enlarge the picture into a new window (i.e. just click on the image). When I first developed the negative, I viewed it as just another photograph of a typical 3rd world marketplace. People just going about the daily business of business. Then it dawned on me...

Go to any shopping district in Seoul, Tokyo, New York or Paris...
Visit a marketplace in Bangkok, Mexico City or Sarajevo...
Walk through a Shopping Mall in Beijing, Dallas or London and a you can't help but notice the sounds and faces of women & small children.
Sometimes, what is missing from a photograph actually reveals more than what it seems to contain.

Facebook Blasts Password Snooping Employers?

"We don’t think employers should be asking prospective employees to provide their passwords because we don’t think it’s right the thing to do."
~ Erin Egan
Facebook's Chief
Privacy Officer
Read More...




Conspiracy Theory: Up to this point, the U.S. Congress has been unable to craft legislation which actually protects the privacy of internet users and prevents government censorship. Who did Mark Zuckerberg meet with on Nov. 16, 2010? Why hasn't the Supreme Court judged a case dealing with the privacy of electronic correspondence? With all due respect to Senator Al Franken, he's addressing the issue of internet privacy with the wrong group of people. Read More...

Facebook's incorporates both facial recognize and global positioning software into its platform. In the view of this blogger, Facebook's public response to a growing trend of employers asking employees for their passwords is an attempt to legally protect the company from future liability. The bigger question is what internal security safeguards are in place to protect user data within the company itself?

Update: Facebook and Apple a threat to Internet freedom?
Read More...

Charles Barkley in Drag?

...perspective...

"Perhaps travel cannot prevent bigotry, but by demonstrating that all peoples cry, laugh, eat, worry, and die, it can introduce the idea that if we try and understand each other, we may even become friends."
~ Maya Angelou

Photos by Peter Rimar.

Our Digital Age?

It's hard to imagine a world without the internet, Facebook, Twitter, international air travel, Ford Trucks, talk radio, 24/7 television news channels, digital cameras, voice activated software, cell phones and GPS...

The Library of Congress recently published a digital collection of images from one of the early pioneers of photography. Between 1905 and 1915, Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii traveled the far reaches of the Russian Empire on behalf of Tsar Nicholas II. His task was to visually document a country undergoing a rapid transformation. Read More...

After the Bolshevik Revolution, the photographer left Russia and eventually settled in Paris. In 1948, the Library of Congress purchased his work from his heirs. Because of the unique techniques he developed and used to photograph and then process glass plate negatives (digichromatography), up until now, these images could only be viewed within the confines of the Library itself. With advances in digital photography, it's now possible to take a glimpse of a world soon to be swept away by war, revolution and industrialization. View Collection Here...

Rights and Restrictions Information

Iraqi School Girl, Baghdad, Iraq (April 2005)
Photo by Peter Rimar.

"To me, photography is an art of observation. It's about finding something interesting in an ordinary place. I've found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them." ~ Elliott Erwitt

Changsha, P.R.C. (January 2009)

Photo by Peter Rimar

Question of the Day?

When was the last time the Faux News' talking head crew reported on the growing 'Cash For Access' scandal in the U.K.? Can you say 'Fair and Balanced'? Read More...

News of the World Phone Hacking Scandal Timeline: Read More...

Update: Gingrich charges Fox News with pro-Romney bias?
Read More...

On this date in history?

James Cameron becomes first solo explorer to reach the deepest point of ocean!
Read More...

Breakfast of Champions?

Remember when the back of cereal boxes were the only "getting ready for work" breakfast app?

"It's harder to get on the cover of a box of Wheaties than the cover of a sports magazine!"
~ Bruce Jenner
1976 Olympic Decathlon Gold-Medal Winner

Fun Fact: 
In 1934, Lou Gehrig was the first sports athlete to appear on a Wheaties box.

March Madness?

Original audition for ESPN's SportsCenter?

Still Lost in Translation?

Photograph of an actual menu in a traditional English restaurant taken in Peterborough, England (March 2012):

Religion in Politics?

The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life

My Dog Is On The Roof? I Love Cars?

In 50 years, how will future historians and political scientists judge the impact of social-networking and unlimited Super PAC money on the ideological battles being waged in 2012 and beyond?


"Few businessmen are capable of being in politics, they don't understand the democratic process, they have neither the tolerance or the depth it takes. Democracy isn't a business." ~ Malcolm Forbes

The Propaganda of Politics?

"I have been thinking that I would make a proposition to my Republican friends - that if they will stop telling lies about the Democrats, we will stop telling the truth about them." ~ Adlai E. Stevenson

President George Bush never gave a 'Mission Accomplished' speech on the USS Abraham Lincoln on May 1, 2003? What if the Navy Seal mission into Abbottabad had failed? Would the Republican Party had made a repeat of a Desert One type failure a campaign issue in 2012?

Between the Eisenhower Administration and right up to the preemptive war in Iraq, the Republican Party was seen as the foreign policy leader on national security issues. This is no longer the case. While I have the deepest respect for John McCain, his recent statements about staying in Afghanistan forever completely lacks long term vision or insight.

Additionally, for as long as this blogger can remember, there has been an unwritten political rule NOT to attack or criticize the foreign policy efforts of a sitting President when he's not on American soil.



Update: Obama Needles Romney on Old Bin Laden Quotes?
Read More...

"Art produces ugly things which frequently become more beautiful with time. Fashion, on the other hand, produces beautiful things which always become ugly with time." ~ Jean Cocteau

Shop Window, Windsor, England (March 2012)

"It was luxuries like air conditioning that brought down the Roman Empire. With air conditioning their windows were shut, they couldn't hear the barbarians coming."
~ Garrison Keillor

Political Joke of the Week:
“I see that both Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum now have Secret Service with them on the campaign trail. And in Santorum’s case, I think it’s the first time he’s actually ever used protection. You all know that Newt Gingrich wants to build a colony on the moon. Forget the moon – I think he should build it whatever planet Ron Paul’s from.”
~ Senator Scott Brown at Boston's annual St. Patrick’s Day breakfast

"Unless something is free, with no strings attached, 50% off still means you're paying 100% of the sales price." ~ Self

Not Tonight Honey?

Liberal Ladies Who Lunch plan Lysistrata Strike?
Read More...

Vending Machine in Men's Bathroom, Heathrow Airport, London, England (March 2012).

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing is not to stop questioning."
~ Albert Einstein

How Simple Ideas Lead to Scientific Discoveries?

Where's George?

How to Survive a Zombie Pandemic?

Did you known that Spam, the most popular canned precooked meat product in Hawaii, has a 10 year shelf life?

Read More...

Possible Definition of the Term 'Politically Incorrect'?

NASA's next Space Mission is to search for intelligent life on Capital Hill?

"To compromise is to make a deal where one person gives up part of his or her demand. In arguments, compromise is a concept of finding agreement through communication, through a mutual acceptance of terms—often involving variations from an original goal or desire." ~ Wikipedia

NASA: The Complete Illustrated History

...perspective...

Blogger's view from a sleeper car window on a Chinese Train

between Beijing and Shenzhen (June 2008).

Countdown to the London Oympics

"Most other competitions are individual achievements, but the Olympic Games is something that belongs to everybody." ~ Scott Hamilton

Official Olympic Games Countdown Clock, Tiananmen Square, Beijing (June 2008).

Official Olympic Games Countdown Clock, Trafalgar Square, London (March 2012).

Photos by Peter Rimar.

Xepong, Laos (July 2004).
Photo by Peter Rimar.

"If you don't have time to do it right, when will you have time to do it over?"
~ John Wooden

Big Ben at Sunset, London, England (March 2012).