What Is Noise

So I decided to order the Crumpler Sinking Barge backpack. I did so after going to a local photo store and checking it out. I’d have taken the one there home, except for the fact that it was a color of blue which is unlike anything in my wardrobe.

I ordered this over the Adventure 9 backpack for the reason that I simply don’t need that much space for stuff in a bag (the adventure 9 offers far more space for lenses and such) and that I liked the simplicity of the Crumpler. It doesn’t look like a photographer’s bag. Traveling in Europe I am sure that will be an asset. Also the less of a hassle the bag is to open up, the easier it will be for security.

I ended up ordering the black/slate color one and it should be here Monday. Yeah! Not in time for traveling to NJ, but I’ll likely leave my camera at home for that anyway. I haven’t had a new backpack since 8th or 9th grade so I’m pretty excited about this.

Oh, and for anyone wondering, it holds a Nikon D200 body with the 18-200 Nikkor lens and a Macbook Pro 15.3″ just fine. I’m not sure why a person to two had commented it online to not be big enough. I took my gear to the store to try it out and it was perfect.

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I apologize for the language in case anyone is reading this at work, or with their 7 year old standing next to them. However that’s the only way to describe it.

Egypt still practices female circumcision in a serious way. There is a New York Times article today on it (which you should read) which reports that as many as 96% of women in Egypt have forcibly had their clitoris’s cut off. They do this for a variety of deluded reasons, including tradition, lowering the chances they will cheat on their husband and preventing homosexuality.

That’s right, they hold down girls between 7-13 and cut off their clitorises. This is sometimes done at a doctor, but if they aren’t available it is literally done by anyone else with a sharp object including barbers or other random people around. Girls die each year, and most are traumatized (I mean imagine that this has got to be akin to some of the must fucked up rape possible, where their father or whoever is holding them down while someone else hacks away at their genitals often with sharped rocks or shards of glass) severely. I’m sure that there is no help done for them afterwards and I’m sure that most of them have no idea what’s about to happen to them. Infection is rampant.

There are few more screwed up practices in the world. This is not at all like modern male circumcision and has absolutely valid medical reason to do this. It is all about torture and control of women. It puts them in their place and helps remove any sexual pleasure that they ever might have in their lives. Not that a guy that could encourage this could give anything asides from a 30 second pleasureless fuck.

I have zero idea what the average American or non-Egyptian can do about this. If anyone has any ideas or suggestions please comment here. Something needs to be done. This is just sick.

Again, excuse my language, but this is pretty horrid.

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Rich and I saw the movie Across the Universe on Sunday night. We had tried to see it Saturday night, but tickets were sold out until a later show and we didn’t feel like waiting.

This movie is basically a story/musical that uses music from the Beatles to convey the story. I don’t like to think that it’s a musical, as I can’t stand most musicals. Maybe it’s because Stephen Schwartz and Andrew Lloyd Webber make me want to jump off a cliff most days with their music. The Beatles is real music however and shows off its flexibility here.

It’s a good story. I won’t tear into the details too much, but it’s well done, inventive and fun. The one thing I couldn’t get out of my head was when the song Hey Jude was gong to pop up (as it does about 3/4 through the film) as the main character’s name is Jude. Even not during songs, the film makes some great Beatles humor. When the character Prudence enters into the New York City apartment that most of the characters are living in at the time and another character asks where she came from Jude replies, “She came in through the bathroom window”.

The main character Jude is an amalgamation of a John Lennon/Paul McCartney character which is fairly entertaining. The character JoJo also hints at a Hendrix persona.

The music I felt is great. I didn’t wince a since time thinking, “Oh dear god they killed that Beatles song” as can so easily happen. Don’t believe me? Type “Beatles Covers” on YouTube. Everything felt fresh, but not overdone. Nothing felt overly modernized, but nothing felt like it was trying to make a sound-a-like copy of a Beatles song.

I was impressed with how well the song lyrics integrated into the dialog. I myself couldn’t have fit “Happyness is a Warm Gun” so well into a script. Bono and the Edge do a nice job with “I am the Walrus” too. It really makes you want to go find a few hits of acid a trip out, not to encourage drug use of anything (that being said many of these songs wouldn’t exist were it not for the use of acid).

I honestly think this was one of the most enjoyable movies I’ve seen in a long time. It has it’s flaws, but so does every movie. Rachel Evans Wood is stunning in this film, and plays a very dynamic role. I’m recommending everyone I know to go see this. I’m going to pick up the soundtrack myself (see link here). Maybe I just enjoy anything Beatles, but this was to me far more enjoyable than A Hard Day’s Night.

If you want more detailed information check out the IMDB site.

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Yesterday a student was tasered by police at a John Kerry speech at the University of Florida. The student, as far as I have read was unarmed, and did not make assaulting movements towards the police.

He was making a statement and asking questions of John Kerry, which Kerry said he would answer. The student was being a little bit aggressive, but non-threatening in his questioning manner. The police started to pull him away, after they cut his mic.

The student said several times that he would leave if he was allowed to, and made no threats towards the officers. He also continuously asked for help, and asked why he was being arrested. The cops did not say why they were arresting him, and threatened to user a Taser on him. At this point there were around 6-8 cops surrounding him and holding him down. He did not appear at all to be a large student, nor strong, nor threatening. He was holding a book however, and ideas are dangerous weapons. School officials told students to stand back from him and provide no help as the pigs (I mean cops) thought to put somewhere between 100kV up to 1000KV through him with a taser.

The University president has responded (CNN video).

The media outlets (Reuters, CNN, Fox) were slow to pick up on this with Digg (article) and Reddit picking up on it much sooner as many students were video taping and photographing this event and posted it to youtube.

More information on Tasers (electroshock weapons) which are potentially leathal and damaging is here on the wikipedia.

The Wikipedia coverage of this event is here, however should be taken with a grain of salt since this is a charged (no pun intended) current event.

Two of the pigs (I mean cops… keep slipping) involved have been put on paid administrative leave while this matter is being investigated. WTF? Give them a vacation? They should be docked for pay and arrested themselves for assault and battery.

This is a perfect example of police abusing their powers, attacking students (This is close to home since the pigs used ‘non-lethal’ weapons in gunning down Victoria Snellgrove, an Emerson student, in Boston in 2004 after a Redsox game. Police are allowed to abuse their power and normally get off far lighter on penalties than if a citizen made the same ‘mistakes’.

There are SEVERAL videos on Youtube and around the internet that show the full and unedited footage of this police brutality.

This is yet a reason again that surveillance of police is just as important as their surveillance of crime. Anything that prevents people from use of video or photography equipment is a horrid breach of our First Amendment rights and only encourages police brutality. Without video, this story would not have even hit the news. The Rodney King beatings would have likely gone far differently were if not for footage. Let us also not forget the greatness of our National Guard for the shooting of students at Kent State or more recent the brutality unleased on New Orleans citizens as police had gunned down several unarmed, or legally armed citizens after the Katrina flood.

Keep in mind that at almost all of these events, if cops had not been present, there would have been no resistance, no riots, no guns, no bullets and no shootings. Cops encourage violence. Anyone who has ever been to a protest or demonstration know that.

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I’ve realized that I am simply crazy. Not from something named in a shrink’s textbook, but from being overly busy. A sane person would simply not attempt to do all of these things:

Not in any order.

- Working at Jazkarta full time.
- Trying to start a guitar pedal company
- Designing a new hot guitar amp also for market. Maybe a merciful filter cap will convince me not to do that.
- Trying to start a new co-working space (more news coming soon, less programming, more physical workspace)
- Freelance engineering at Taylor Barefoot Studios
- Teaching myself as much about electronics design as humanly possible
- Attempting to quickly become a video editing ninja
- Seriously putting thoughts into how to start/fund a non-profit finance education thing
- Blogging too much
- Trying to get in shape (of all the things on this list, this is the least likely to happen)
- Still keeping some semblance of skills on at least 4 instruments
- Still trying to write/finish/edit an album… in the works since 1999!
- Another great website startup that my father gave me the idea for (would be a fulltime effort in itself for a sane person)
- Trying to travel to NY as much as possible
- Finding a band or two to play with semi-often.

And I’m sure there are more than I’m forgetting.

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