Cops: High Fivin’

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The behaviour of the cops who murdered Paul O’Neal just get worse. They actually high fived after murdering an unarmed young man, and it was this moment that one cop expressed annoyance over a probable 30 day suspension. These people are utterly despicable, and placing them on administrative leave is not nearly enough. This is outright murder, and the murderers should be punished.

CBS Chicago’s Charlie De Mar saw the video and reported that it shows one officer high fiving another before saying “F***, I’m going to be on desk duty now for 30 days”; and one officer saying to another, “Make sure this (body-camera) is off.”

“We just came from watching Chicago police officers execute Paul O’Neal. … It is one of the most horrific things that I have seen, aside from being in a movie. These police officers decided to play judge, jury and executioner,” he said. “It is amazing to me. It is horrific, it is tragic, that these officers did what they did and took their street justice in their own hands—the things that they are trying to prevent, or supposed to prevent.”

I seriously advise people to avoid the comments on that tweet. There’s a whole lot of poison there. Full story here.

A Christian Calls…

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Police are investigating a threat made to a local mosque in Watauga, Texas, where an unidentified man threatened to decapitate Muslims who attended it.

Local news station Fox4News reports that the Watauga Mosque received a particularly disturbing threat via a telephone message this week, when a caller made explicitly violent threats that went well beyond the kind of verbal abuse callers normally level against the mosque.

“F*ck you, f*ck Muhammad, f*ck Islam,” said the caller, who identified as a “Christian” during their message. “This is America. If you don’t like the way we do sh*t, get the f*ck out.”

“We’ll start just cutting off the heads of all of you motherf*ckers,” the caller continued. “Huh? How would you like that? Maybe we need another Christian crusade, which I think we do.”

“I’m a Christian, I’m gonna tell you, I’m your f***ing enemy. I hate you, and I will never be your f**kin’ friend.

“When he started talking about chopping off people’s heads and launching a crusade against Muslims, that’s when it started to get scary because that’s an actionable threat,” said Alia Salem, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

“I want to be very clear that the Muslim community has no animosity towards the Christian community, but we do ask the Christian community stand up against this kind of hatred. This does not speak for the vast majority of Christians,” said Salem.

I think that would be excellent, if Christians spoke up, and spoke out, with clear condemnation of the Christian caller. You have a great opportunity here to demonstrate that you are not bigoted, nor do you support such bigotry on the part of anyone.

Via Fox4.

The Vast Expanse of Ultra-light Mocha.

Started on the light mocha section of the background, and naturally, I don’t have near enough skeins of ultra-light mocha to finish. So, I’ll work on it until I run out, then do something else, I guess, until I can replenish my supply. Just checked, and found one more skein, so that makes 6 and a quarter skeins to burn right through. Current Hours: 948. Skeins used: 135.

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On Tattoos and Trademarks.

Butch Johnson, owner of Champion Tattoo Company, works on a former US Marine at his art studio in Washington, DC, on April 18, 2016. (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski).

Butch Johnson, owner of Champion Tattoo Company, works on a former US Marine at his art studio in Washington, DC, on April 18, 2016. (AFP Photo/Brendan Smialowski).

More than 20 percent of all Americans have at least one tattoo, and for millennials that number jumps to almost 40 percent. What could be more intimately a part of you than a work of body art permanently inked into your skin? You probably assume that the tattoo on your body belongs to you. But, in actuality, somebody else might own your tattoo. Recent lawsuits and events have shown that tattoo artists and companies can have intellectual property rights in tattoos worn by others, including both copyright and trademark rights.

Tattoo-related lawsuits are not uncommon. Just this year, a group of tattoo artists for several high-profile athletes, including Lebron James and Kobe Bryant, filed a copyright lawsuit against the creators of the popular NBA 2K video game franchise because tattoos they created appear in NBA 2K16. The case is still pending in a New York federal court.

[…]

And the issue isn’t limited to celebrities and athletes. For example, Sam Penix, a coffee shop owner living in New York, was threatened with a trademark infringement lawsuit in 2013 based on the “I [coffee cup] NY” tattoo he has across his fist. Penix’s shop logo featured his tattooed fist grabbing a coffee portafilter between the words “Everyman Espresso.” The New York State Department of Economic Development, which owns the “I ♥ NY” trademark, sent Penix a cease-and-desist letter because it believed the logo infringed its trademark. To avoid being sued, Penix agreed to several terms, including some restrictions on how his fist could (and could not) be photographed.

[…]

Until courts and legislators create innovative legal solutions, both tattoo artists and people with tattoos should consider copyright agreements that specifically outline who owns a resulting tattoo. People with trademark tattoos should be aware that displaying their tattoos visibly in commerce could lead to liability. Otherwise, tattooed skin may end up with several owners with competing interests – and even if you live within that skin, you may not own the art that adorns it.

I’ve been thinking about getting more ink. If I do, it will be the same as my existing ink – my own original art work.

The full article is at Raw Story.

Kumo!

Photo by Lorette Guillou, courtesy of La Machine.

Photo by Lorette Guillou, courtesy of La Machine.

Watching Kumo take to the streets is like the live-action version of a CGI flick: A giant alien spider lands in a historic city, its eight legs weaving around buildings as it spews venom into the crowds. Dreamt up by street theater company La Machine, Kumo has since toured Yokohama, Beijing, Reims, and Calais. Earlier this month, it was finally left to roam the French city of Nantes, where La Machine is based, and where the spider was “born” in 2009.

Kumo’s technical data sheet is staggering: At rest, it is 19′ high, but can attain a height of 43′ once it’s up and walking. When it rolls up into a ball for a nap, it measures 20′ in diameter. When it sprawls its legs out, that “legspan” grows to 65′. It can spit out venom (in reality, a fine water mist) and breathe out clouds of fog, all while regarding the crowd suspiciously with its moving eyes. A team of 35 to 40 people worked on its construction for nearly a year—first drafting it, then bringing it to life the 38-ton structure of wood and steel.

Photo by Lorette Guillou, courtesy of La Machine

Photo by Lorette Guillou, courtesy of La Machine.

“We wanted to use its eight legs to turn it into a dancer,” says François Delarozière, the founder and artistic director of La Machine. “This is why we made a base on wheels, so it could move quickly and have the ability to communicate, and be expressive, through movement.” During a performance, 16 people are required to activate the hydraulic and mechanical framework that helps Kumo walk through narrow city streets, wriggling around trees and lampposts. Most are seated aboard the giant, controlling the motion of its legs, eyes, head, and abdomen, and setting off the fog and water effects. Down on the ground, a conductor walks alongside Kumo and directs the whole theatrical team.

Original drawings for the giant spider, courtesy of La Machine.

Original drawings for the giant spider, courtesy of La Machine.

The Creators Project has the full story. After its show in Nantes this summer, Kumo is scheduled to take a rest. But next stop: Ottawa in 2017. To learn more about La Machine, click here.

Neato Rocket Stuff!

*cough* Er, I mean Revolutionary Camera Recording Propulsion Data Completes Groundbreaking Test.

While thousands turned out watch NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) recently complete a full-scale test of its booster, few were aware of the other major test occurring simultaneously. NASA’s High Dynamic Range Stereo X (HiDyRS-X) project, a revolutionary high-speed, high dynamic range camera, filmed the test, recording propulsion video data in never before seen detail.

The HiDyRS-X project originated from a problem that exists when trying to film rocket motor tests. Rocket motor plumes, in addition to being extremely loud, are also extremely bright, making them difficult to record without drastically cutting down the exposure settings on the camera. Doing so, however, darkens the rest of the image, obscuring other important components on the motor.

Traditionally, video cameras record using one exposure at a time, but HiDyRS-X records multiple, slow motion video exposures at once, combining them into a high dynamic range video that perfectly exposes all areas of the video image.

The HiDyRS-X project began as part of NASA Space Technology Mission Directorate’s Early Career Initiative (ECI), designed to give young engineers the opportunity to lead projects and develop hardware alongside leading innovators in industry. Howard Conyers, a structural dynamist at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, was awarded as an ECI grant in 2015. After initial proof of concept and a preliminary design review, the HiDyRS-X project was placed within NASA’s Game Changing Development program to complete its first prototype. Created in partnership with Innovative Imaging and Research Corporation, the project was tested on small rocket nozzle plumes at Stennis.

The massive booster test served as a rare opportunity to test the HiDyRS-X hardware in a full-scale environment. The Qualification Motor 2, or QM-2, test was held at Orbital ATK’s test facility in Promontory, Utah, and was the second and final booster test before SLS’s first test flight in late 2018. SLS will be the most powerful rocket in the world, and will take our astronauts farther into deep space than ever before.

The full story is here.

Random Monday

Since I’ve been posting work on the tree quilt, I decided to show a small bit of a different part of the process. When I first started, I was trying to figure out how I wanted to lay the tree out, so I decided to spend a day outside with my camera and sketch book, staring at trees. The pursuit of shape resulted in a great many photos and even more sketches, many of which were incorporated into the tree quilt. Click for full size.

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© C. Ford. All rights reserved.