Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Forget Diet, Exercise, and Pills


Sheila and Jonas
Originally uploaded by katzeye.
Forget Diets, Exercise and Pills!

This is the new era of cyberspace! We shop online, we communicate online, we send files online. There is virtually no need to ever go anywhere anymore! We can just stay home and utilize our windows to the universe for all of our needs, including the need to shed a few pounds and look MAH-volous!

A recent “news” item is all about how Katie Couric shed 20 pounds thanks to modern technology. Yep. Apparently an enthused photo editor thought she could use some slimming and so he used his mouse, and voila! 20 pounds gone, just like that! Who would ever know? I certainly will never see her in person, will you?

Let’s see, if I just never go out in public, and why would I need to, other than to get groceries and work out, I could just maintain a certain look, via software. I can get my groceries online, and if there is no need to work out, why should I?

Of course, her response to the controversy (and to me, the controversy is, and ought to be, how far should photo editors go to alter images? But that is an entirely other topic), was that she liked the original photo better because there was “more of me to love!” Hmm…imagine being narcissistic enough to…well, never mind, that is also a different topic. It’s just that my irony alarms seem to be going off here.

So, we no longer need to worry about such things as love handles or double chins, because they can be removed in seconds thanks to modern photo editing software.

Okay.

(I am wondering if there is any kind of elongating tool, I have always wanted to be around 5’7” to 5’8”, I’d only need 2-3 inches added.)

PS-I used this photo of my grandson and my sister, who is about an inch or two taller than me and in no need of digital lipo-suction because that way no one could accuse me of altering the photo, or of using someone in need of alteration.

Thursday, August 24, 2006

New Online Photography Workshop


Winged Guest
Originally uploaded by katzeye.
For those of you who have been waiting, and you know who you are, or for those of you who are interested, I finally started the online photography workshop. Find it here:

http://www.flickr.com/groups/kczphotoclass/

Friday, August 18, 2006

child denied her childhood


child denied her childhood
Originally uploaded by katzeye.
Have we actually found the man who murdered this poor little girl? I have heard that he said such things as that he kidnapped her from school, and that he drugged her. Well, if this happened the day after Christmas, what was she doing in school? No one has school the day after Christmas. And the autopsy showed not a trace of any drug in her body. So, right there, two lies.

I also heard that his ex-wife stated, basically: what the heck is he talking about? he was with me in Alabama that day! (not her exact words). Ex-wives are not necessarily known for their loyalty to their ex-husbands, so why would she offer him an alibi? She wouldn’t. But she’d probably be eager to speak up immediately if he said something totally wrong. Lie number three?

It has also been stated that there is NO evidence, anywhere, ever, of his ever having been in Colorado, ever. Okay, hmmmm. Lie number four?

So, it appears that he might be a liar. But a murderer?

It has come out that he was obsessed with the Jon-Benet case, and that he was emailing Patsy, the mom, quite a bit, throughout the case. And now he is confessing to kidnapping her from school the day after Christmas, etc.

Maybe he is mostly a nutcase. A nutcase who likes to spend time in the pit of depravity. Maybe he gets a thrill from imagining himself as the murderer. Maybe all along, he has been attracted to the case and wanting some notoriety. Maybe he just wants to attach himself to something he finds to be thrillingly wicked.

And maybe the investigators are just happy to have someone so willing to confess that the facts can be bent a little.

I don’t know. And I suppose I have no right to speculate, not having the facts, all of the facts, and just the facts. It will be interesting to see if the truth comes out.

I do know this. This little girl was murdered, in spirit, a long time before she was physically murdered. She was denied the right to have a normal childhood, to be accepted as she was, and to be able to grow up climbing trees, not caring about what she looked like. She had a lifestyle foisted upon her that was not normal. For the sake of their own pride, her parents stole her life from her. She was sexualized by her parents long before someone molested her. She was used. She was made into a symbol and denied the right to be a real girl.

It takes a village to murder one little, innocent girl!

Thursday, August 10, 2006

War. What Is it Good For?


we are flying to kansas here
Originally uploaded by katzeye.
WAR. What is it good for?

I hate war. When I was a kid at the movies, war scenes always terrified me far more than any horror flick ever could! Even as an adult, war scenes make me cry, cause me to lose sleep, terrorize me. I cannot even stand to read about war. From a very early age, I sensed that war was the ultimate evil.

And yeah, I don’t like violence, in general, and I don’t like guns (even though I have a really good aim, my dad taught us to shoot at tin cans in the desert when we were young), and I don’t like mean people, and I don’t even like anger!

One might say that I am a pacifist through and through.

Would I like it if we were not at war right now? Absolutely!

Imagine if you would, that you live on a street in a make-believe neighborhood. You are living your life to the best of your ability. You have friendly neighbors on this street, and sometimes you socialize at each other’s homes. Down the street, though, there is this one family that hates you. And, in fact it hates you so much that it wants to kill you and your family. And, in fact, it believes that if its members were to rape your daughters, torture and maim your sons, and kill you, that they would be doing a noble thing. They don’t care about laws or the land, morality, what’s right and wrong, or anything like that. To them, the only thing that is right is to destroy you.

There are other neighbors who feel the same way. They fight amongst themselves, and often you see patrol cars pulling up at their homes to try to settle some dispute or to arrest someone who kills or harms one of the others. But, they are unified in their hatred for you, and have secret meetings and plots.

As time goes on, the threats against you and your family grow, and there are even attempts to destroy you. There have been assaults on your home and family, and upon your neighbors. Oh, and by the way, you cannot move.

So, what do you do? Do you go have a chat with these people? Do you see if you can work out your differences? You tried that a long time ago, and they made it clear that they do not want to hear anything you have to say, and they have no desire to compromise or reason. They intend to destroy you, and that is all there is to it.

Sometimes there is no avoiding war. Sometimes one must defend oneself and one’s own. And when war cannot be avoided, we must be vigilant about protecting and defending.

So, the neighborhood forms a kind of group to protect and defend those being attacked. The group may need to use weapons and it may need to use force, and it may even need to spy a little to stay on top of the actions and plans of those who wish to destroy you.

Amazingly enough, there will be some who will be more angry at that little band trying to protect us than they are at the ones who would destroy us.

Throughout history, the story has been told and retold.

War is evil. It will be with us until the end of time. I hate war. But I realize that without war there would be many countries that would not be enjoying the freedoms they do today. Without war, Nazism would likely still be a major force, as one example among many (and thank goodness for the brave men and women of WWII who took on that evil!). Sometimes war is necessary.

As much of a Pacifist and violence-hater that I am, you can bet that if a rapist had invaded my home and attempted to assault my daughter, I would have used whatever force necessary to protect her. I would have risked my life. I would have called upon my good aim, if necessary.

I support our troops who are defending us. I support our leaders who are working hard to protect us. I am grateful that they prevented the deaths of innocent citizens flying from London in the last 24 hours.

War. What is it good for? For freeing the oppressed, for protecting the innocent, for preserving our freedoms.

Friday, August 04, 2006

babytalk


babytalk
Originally uploaded by katzeye.
Oh Brother!!!! Is this a shockingly, disgusting, and gross photograph. Not at all!!!

I am one of those people who is not immersed in popular culture that much. I do not subscribe to PEOPLE, I think the tabloids are sources of amusement during waits in supermarket lines, on those rare occasions when I actually go into a supermarket (I usually shop where there are no magazines and no toyfoods). I am not much of a TV watcher. I seem to live in an alternate dimension. Perhaps this makes me qualified to speak on this issue because I am not brain-washed as to current societal norms.

And so, when I see certain immoral and immodest types being role models to pre-teens, to me that IS shocking. When I see pseudo stars gaining popularity by accidentally producing and selling sex videos featuring themselves as accidental porn stars, that to me is disgusting.

When I hear people explaining why they had five children, each by different fathers (or mothers), to whom they were not married, at the time, and, in fact, when all were actually elsewhere committed, to me that is gross. (“It just happened!” They say as an explanation as to why they screwed up their lives and those of a trail of innocent victims. Or “I fell in love” to explain why they abandoned family and/or destroyed another family. When feelings and impulses rule us, the society is doomed!)

When I read of people who destroy or even murder for gain or power, I feel discouraged and I feel contempt for such acts.

So, read the article and come back and tell me what you think:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20060804/od_afp/afplifestyleussocialbreastfeeding

Shocking? Disgusting? Gross?

What is happening in our world where what is pure and beautiful can be seen by some as being ugly and unspeakable, and what is ugly and unspeakable is seen as being worth our attention and focus?

Some people have it turned all around backwards and inside out.

To me, this is a truly beautiful photograph! This is a loving moment that is pure and inspiring. Look at the baby’s expression! This is what mothering is all about and this is what produces a human being who will be kind, moral, and decent.

I applaud BABYTALK.

Tuesday, August 01, 2006

Is it Just Me, or Is My Frustration with Adobe Photoshop Justified?


Number Nine
Originally uploaded by katzeye.
Here's the thing. I've been wanting photoshop elements for some time, because I've heard it's a good, basic, photo editing software with some of the tools that I like to use.

Mark got it for me for Mother's Day, last May. Cool!

I didn't install it until sometime in late June, due to travel, etc.

I finally installed it, loved it, used it 2-3 times, tops. (Lots of travel in between.)

Home again, went to open it, and it went to a window that appears to be an attempt to upgrade it. Okay. I have several programs that like to upgrade themselves from time to time, I'll just wait for it to do that.

It never finishes. N E V E R. I can let it upgrade for the rest of my life and it will just be in the process of trying to upgrade, so eventually I have to force quit.

I contact the adobe people. They're really helpful until I say that I am using adobe photoshop elements 2.0. They can no longer register or support that because it is considered, by them, but not by a lot of photographers, to be obsolete. I can, if I wish, upgrade through them, for the huge editing program, that I never wanted in the first place, using my current softwared, for a mere 170.00 bucks.

I guess that is a startling bargain because, I am told, that if I were to buy it outright, it would cost something like 800.00.

But, I only wanted elements.

So, why would amazon.com sell software that is considered to be obsolete? Or, why would they not tell their customers that it is, so that they can know that before they purchase it?

So, I got to have the thrill of using it no more than three times? So my husband purchased a very short term trial software at the cost of regular software?

Is any of this making any sense whatsoever?

So now, I have to either upgrade to the whole enchilada, or write to amazon and see if they will take it back, and shop, all over again for suitable photo editing software.

Bleh! Any commentary, advice, suggestions are totally welcome!