Photo Projects

airing
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

There are some photos in my Flickr stream that on their own, without context, don't seem to make sense. They're usually taken for specific projects in photo groups like Still Life.

I've taken a set of 7 for Project Love Letters, which will be launched soon.

The FBI is Hiring! -- and other advertising jabber

The FBI is Hiring!
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

One thing I will always notice living south of the border is the sheer glut of advertising. Take this photo, for instance. It's blurry because it was taken from a moving vehicle along the freeway near our house, but still readable. It struck me as absurdly ironic that an agency as secretive as the FBI resorts to recruiting via roadside billboard advertising. What's next, bus shelters? Inside restroom stalls in restaurants and clubs? Cereal boxes?

I've been wanting to get a photo of another one spotted earlier this week, but we only ever seem to drive by it at night. It says in big billboard font:

HBO -- now at Mercy [Hospital]!

David and I were in *pun alert* stitches over that one.

"The triple bypass surgery was touch-and-go, but at least I've got HBO!"

If you're into billboard advertising, there are pages of it here.

Because Canada has socialised health care, you won't see advertising for hospitals or really anything medically related except for extended medical insurance. I was surprised to see an ad for nurses near Philadelphia, but I'm sure this isn't unusual to the average American.

The other major stream of advertising I can't help but notice is for pharmaceutical products in the U.S. In Canada, it is illegal to market prescription medication directly to the consumer -- that information has to be obtained from a doctor. Pharmaceutical companies are subject to strict Health Canada policies. From the Health Canada site:

Health Canada's Therapeutic Products Directorate is the Canadian federal authority that regulates pharmaceutical drugs and medical devices for human use. Prior to being given market authorization, a manufacturer must present substantive scientific evidence of a product's safety, efficacy and quality as required by the Food and Drugs Act and Regulations.

A while back, I saw a Canadian TV ad for Viagra, and wondered what loopholes were found to run it. Here's an explanation, from an article in the Canadian Newspaper Association:

Unlike in the United States, direct to consumer advertising is not legal in Canada. Because of this, Canadian pharmaceutical companies cannot advertise a treatment and a disease together. Canadian ads cannot link a cure to a specific problem. But what they can do is advertise a product without mentioning the medical condition it may treat, or discuss the disease without mentioning the product that can treat it - and then suggest that readers consult their physician for a solution.

Pharmaceutical advertising ban in Canada is an outdated law: CNA
April 2005
By Colleen Underwood
Mount Royal College Journal

According to the article, direct-to-consumer pharmaceutical advertising has been available in the U.S. since 1997. While I advocate full disclosure of product information to consumers, including all side-effects and symptoms, it makes for some absolutely ridiculous advertising. In the average 30-second TV commercial, the first 10 seconds is about the efficacy of this wonderdrug, and the rest is the narrator speed-talking through 20 seconds of afflictions:

... nausea, diarrhea, constipation, headaches, dizziness, fainting, incontinence, burning sensations, erectile dysfunction, seizures, heart palpitations, shortness of breath, skin rash, anxiety...

Anxiety? Of course you'd feel anxiety, after looking at this list. Say for example, your cholesterol is high, you need something to bring it down. You see a bunch of TV advertisements for drugs that lower cholesterol, right after [insert favourite sitcom here]. They run through the list of common side-effects for cholesterol-lowering drugs:

Nausea
Irritability and short tempers
Hostility
Homicidal impulses
Rapid loss of mental clarity
Amnesia
Kidney failure
Diarrhea
Muscle aching and weakness
Tingling or cramping in the legs

Inability to walk
Problems sleeping
Constipation
Impaired muscle formation
Erectile dysfunction
Temperature regulation problems
Nerve damage
Mental confusion
Liver damage and abnormalities
Neuropathy

But you have to go to the doctor, anyway, to get the prescription. For the web-savvy, internet research would happen right about now. But in the case of older folks, this isn't an option. Who do you trust? Pharmaceutical company websites? (ha) Consumer medical websites? What if this drug is too new to have much user information? What if the consumers posting didn't follow directions? Lots of what ifs.

In my opinion, the consumers have to take responsibility for doing their own research by whatever means -- internet, medical journals, library, friends/relatives, medical professionals -- because the ultimate decision rests with the consumer. However, the pharmaceutical companies who produce prescription medicine should market to DOCTORS, the only people allowed to dispense medicine and medical advice. Doctors should also provide every patient with a full list of symptoms and discuss them as it pertains to the patient based on their existing conditions. There's already plenty of advertising for common, nonprescription medicine in all media, but prescription medicine is heavy on the pharmaceutical jargon with more serious side-effects. Like babies up for adoption and hardcore porn, some things should not be marketed to the general public.

American Idol: Vote For the Worst?

These are the Top 5 contestants remaining on American Idol:

Holy Guacamole, Constantine got eliminated. Granted, he picked the worst song imaginable for his voice: "How You Remind Me" by Nickelback, which was much more suited to Bo's. But both Anthony and Scott were all over the scale on their songs, and their selections (Celine Dion and Luther Vandross) were too cheesy for words. How in the WORLD did Scott land in the Top 3, and Vonzell end up in the Bottom 3???

After watching the tapes last night, the only explanation I have for the debacle that was the results show is evidently a very real voting strategy I mentioned last week:

http://www.votefortheworst.com

If you think I'm making it up, check this out:

TVSquad.com (Posted Apr 27, 2005, 9:59 PM ET by David Thomas)

Kermit's PSA

I was reading Krisanne's blog, and see that she's bought a Mariner's Moose to be a mascot for her upcoming road trip. An absolute MUST for every road trip is a travel companion who doesn't take up much space and doesn't make you stop for restrooms. Or force you to listen to horrible music or complain about in-car temperature. Plus, Kermit's always in a good mood, probably because Miss Piggy is never along (for the reasons I just mentioned).

Which reminded me that I hadn't finished editing Kermit's public safety announcement video on why it's important to wear a seatbelt during take-off. The weather recently has turned sour so we haven't been flying. I hope it improves for this weekend, because we're going to New York on Saturday and hopefully we can take the Tri-Pacer up on Sunday.

Here are two versions, the larger one in full colour and higher resolution, the smaller one with old-movie effects, lower res and nearly all the colour removed (a nod to the age of our 50-year old airplane). Both have the same music, the opening theme from the film The Triplets of Belleville. I also toned down the propeller noise -- it's normally a LOT louder than what it sounds like here. And if you think the cockpit looks tiny, that's because it IS... there's barely enough room for the two of us in there, but if Kermit had gone to the back and buckled up like he did the first time, he'd have more room than we do.

KermitPSA-small.mov (3.5MBs)

KermitPSA.mov (12.9MBs)

As I was editing the video, David arrived home from his weekly Civil Air Patrol meeting to tell me he had to leave again for the second time in less than three days to investigate an ELT going off. At least this call wasn't after 3 o'clock in the morning, but for the second time it was a false alarm, and thankfully they called him only a few minutes before he left the house. Turns out the ELT was in a helicopter, and it went off because it got bumped. Of course, no one wants to ramp up the number of REAL search and rescue missions that involve plane crashes and fatalities, but the number of false alarms are high -- 19 out of 20, I'm told -- and nobody wants to get dragged out of bed to go on wild goose chases all the time, either.

If you want to find out what an ELT is, David wrote a post about it in his early days of Multiply journalling. There's also a link there to what it sounds like (a shriek that would wake the dead):

Another "find"

Metro Photography Concerns

I have a thing for metro photos. New York, Barcelona, Paris, London, Washington, Vancouver, wherever there's a subway or metro, I want to take photos. This was the first series I shot with a digicam, on the way to Montparnasse station in Paris last year to catch the TGV. I was in a hurry (as usual), but I managed to get three shots.

Thing is, I don't have many metro photos yet. I've been either too busy trying to catch the train or I feel too self-conscious about taking photos of people at the stations.

In New York, the transit authorities have tried to ban photos on the MTA, but have been unsuccessful thus far due to large public outcry:

http://www.nycsubway.org/photoban.html
http://www.gothamist.com/archives/2005/03/15/mta_says_no_photo_banfor_now.php
http://www.photo.net/oped/mtaban/

Photo bans are serious business. This woman in Seattle was fired for violating a U.S.-wide photo ban (her husband was also fired):

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2001909527_coffin22m.html

If the Seattle Times has archived that news story, I've created a PDF of it for download here:
Seattle Times article, PDF (520 kbs)

Washington, DC

Well, it only took over a week, but one of us has finally written about our trip to the capital. Between us, we took enough photos to sink the Titanic, so much of the week was spent just trying to upload them to Flickr and put them in some semblance of order. I'm always going on about David's skill as a writer, but honestly I'm partial to posting photography and linking to his writing... if he ever gets 'round to writing a book I'd probably nudge him towards a coffee table hardcover in which I could add some illustrative photography. Just a thought.

Anyways, back to Washington, DC.

David's journal entries in Multiply and photo album on Flickr:

Capitol ideas, day one
Capitol G, day two
Washington, DC - photos

I divided my photos into two albums, one for the Smithsonian Museums and the other for out and about in the city:

"There's no place like home,
there's no place like home..."
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

rowrrrr!
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

Smithsonian Museum photos

The Smithsonian is not one museum but an institution -- the world's largest museum complex, drawing over 20 million visitors each year. The National Zoo also belongs to the Smithsonian. To see them all in one visit would be total information overload, so it's best to plan which ones you want to see, and plan for a whole day on your feet. I wanted to see the Museum of Arts and Industry, but it was closed for renovations, so I took in the Museum of American History, the Hirshhorn Museum (contemporary art), and the Air and Space Museum.

come along
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

photos around Washington, DC

The weather we had in Washington was quite near to perfect. Sunny, warm, just a touch too breezy sometimes, but overall we had no reason to complain. There is definitely a change in air quality just a few hours south of where we live -- a bit more humid. It didn't take as long to drive down there as we'd originally thought, too -- according to MapQuest, it was supposed to take just shy of four hours to reach our hotel, but we made it in 3.25 hours. I slept the whole way, too, it was funny... asleep just out of Scranton and awake just in time to reach the hotel driveway.

Some real pluses for Washington: the metro, the pedestrian orientation of the National Mall, and all the museums are free! I've lived in two capital cities before (Edinburgh, Scotland and Canberra, Australia), and became too disenchanted with their transient nature and artifice to want to live in a capital again, but I will always be an avid visitor. It's the one place in a country where you are guaranteed that money will be invested in culture and the arts. It's also tourist-friendly, but that's where capital cities can be a pain for residents -- during high season the crush of tourism can make it incredibly inconvenient for people to get to work. That probably also applies to the people of Washington, DC, except for maybe President Bush. He's got Air Force One and heavies.

Kermit Goes to Washington
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

Kermit, born 1955
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

Of course, we took Kermit along because he wanted to research his roots, too.

ADDITION: Tuesday, Apr 26

David, ever the history buff, wrote a little blurb on Pierre Charles L'Enfant (L'Enfant Plaza is named after him).

This Just In

slumber

slumber
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

Experimenting with PS filters. What a good sport David is... every time he takes a photo of me I tell him not to dare post it.

Passover

matzoh brei
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

matzoh ball soup
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

We had Passover dinner (called "seder") at David's mom's house earlier this evening. As with all Jewish holidays, there's a great deal of religious significance represented in the food and prayers. David practiced his Hebrew reading from the "Haggadah", a booklet of instruction and explanation for all the Passover rituals and traditions.

There are very specific objects for this holiday, including a floral centrepiece and lighted candles. A large platter is placed in front of the one conducting the Seder, with the following:

• Three matzohs, placed in the three separate sections of a (a specially designed) Matzoh Cover, or in the folds of a large napkin
  
• roasted shankbone
  
• a roasted egg
  
• bitter herbs, cut into small pieces, or ground horseradish
  
• charoses, a mixture of nuts, apple and cinnamon, finely chopped and mixed with a little wine
  
• parsley, lettuce or watercress, cut into small pieces.

The following are placed on the table for the participants:

• One or more dishes of salt water, depending on the number of participants
  
• a wine goblet in front of each place; a large goblet, filled with wine, at the centre of the table -- this is the Cup of Elijah
  
• if desired, for convenience, extra dishes of bitter-herbs and charoses can be placed on the table.

A pillow or cushion is placed on the left arm of the chair used by the Leader, or on another chair close to it.

Well, this being 2005, we didn't follow the instructions of the Haggadah to the letter, but we did indulge in a lot of Kosher DESSERTS!

David's mom also gave us a Passover card (yes, Hallmark covers Jewish holidays, too), which is that little blue corner of paper sticking out underneath the top layer of matzoh brei in the upper left photo. She mentioned that children are supposed to go look for hidden "gifts", but that isn't mentioned in the Haggadah, so it's probably something someone slipped in to compensate for missing out on chocolate Easter eggs. (Mom edits these traditions as suits her, says David.)

Here's what's on the cover of the card:

Passover - then and now
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

A Seder Plate for the New Millennium
(clockwise from the top)

Egg (Beaters): cholesterol-free alternative
Greens: stir-fried with a little low-sodium soy sauce
(Gourmet Greek) Charoset: apples, pine nuts, balsamic vinegar, grape leaves
(Jalapeno) Matzah with sun-dried tomatoes
Bitter Herb: Espresso
(Vegetarian) Shank Bone: tofu-on-a-stick

Mona and Penny

This photo makes Penny the cat look enormous and my mother-in-law tiny, but this is no exaggeration!

Penny only likes one person in this world, and that's Mona. Everyone else can beat it as far as Penny is concerned, and she makes no bones about it. I've been trying for MONTHS to take her photo, but to no avail. As soon as she sees me, she runs for the hills. She's known David since she was a kitten, about 10-11 years ago, and she still hisses and bites at his hand when he tries to be friendly. So, I don't take it personally.

Penny's Story, by David

My mother was visiting our rented house in Scranton, one day in the Spring of 1994, and we had just walked into the backyard where the cars were parked. We saw (and heard) a little orange tabby cat, standing on her hind legs with her paws against a tree; on closer examination, we found that she was covered in what appeared to be white latex housepaint. Not just on the surface, as if she had brushed up against wet paint; but soaked in paint, down to the skin. Paint must have been poured on her, deliberately or by accident. She was in distress, but didn't run away when I approached her.

We didn't want to bring her into our house, since she obviously had fleas and we had two housecats inside. So we took her into the basement and washed her off with warm water in the utility sink. The housepaint hadn't fully cured, and we were able to melt most of it off. Mom couldn't bear to leave her or put her back on the street, so we gave her one of our old cat-carriers and took the little cat to the vet. Where we found that, aside from the fleas, she was also pregnant, despite her small size; the vet guessed that she might have gotten that way during her first heat. Over the next few weeks the vet aborted the pregnancy, spayed her, and dipped her for fleas. My mother, who had always had dogs for most of her life, now had her first cat. I suggested the name "Penny", for her copper color and for the lucky circumstances of her discovery.

Since then, she has become a big, noisy and extremely-extremely spoiled housecat. My mom lets her have the run of the house, feeds her wherever and whenever she likes, and has gone so far as to have a bay window installed - as a sunporch, for this fortunate freeloader. Penny, for her part, chatters away - she is quite vocal - and eats copiously, sheds, and glares moodily at anyone else who comes into the house. A cat, in other words.

through a glass, darkly


bedhead

The photo shoot started off like this, with Penny putting a safe distance between us, with some glass for good measure.

From there, I took to crawling along the carpet with my camera to follow her movements under the furniture, trying to get an angle with some light. When she become tired of avoiding me, which is really just a momentary concession in the game called "(My) Persistence vs. (Her) Intolerance", I managed to get some handheld shots in the dim light behind the magazines.

Penny is so different from Hugh, who's a social cat to the point of being a relentless shadow and constantly underfoot. I never have to chase after him with my camera, he likes to stick his nose in the lens and swat at the camera strap.

Penny, on the other hand, glares at you... like you were at the bottom of the food chain and she wouldn't deign to eat you. But she loves Mona, and the feeling is mutual. They spoil each other, though Mona does most of the spoiling.

Lately, however, Penny has demonstrated her utmost displeasure at Mona's recent addiction to online Scrabble. I suggested a couple of weeks back that the three of us play at The Pixie Pit, where I've been playing with my friend Kim in Oregon, who introduced the site to me. Penny can't figure out why Mona keeps going downstairs to the TV to focus intently on a screen that doesn't move. Especially when the screen is usually flashing like a strobe. (Cats probably think humans are the most bizarre species on earth, anyway, so this is yet another example.) Penny doesn't like having to share Mona's attention, so if she could bite the TV, she likely would.

food radar on full alert

The Notorious P.E.N.N.Y

The Apple Series

Magic apple
Uploaded by AviatorDave.

This is what I was working on last night when we got home somewhere near midnight from dinner/ballet. As per Gail-usual, it started out as something entirely different. I'd opened the fridge to get milk or something, saw the apple, and thought of this. I would have preferred a red apple or a very colourful fruit/vegetable, but that green apple was the only produce we had in the fridge. This morning, David got inspired and Photoshopped my green apple to a red one.

I also happened to be wearing, for the first time, a silver cross that was a bridesmaid's gift at my friend's wedding last year in England. That's where my symbolism got a little heavy-handed, but there's something to be learned in every experiment. I've got some other photography ideas waiting to be executed, some for various projects, but it'll have to wait. We're off to meet David's mom for dinner again before we see another performance -- this time it's ragtime piano.

Ready For Bed

asleep
Uploaded by mcwont.

This is how I feel at the moment, but I'm at the *pun alert* tail end of a little photo project I embarked upon tonight. We arrived home late from seeing a local production of the ballet Giselle -- lovely, by the way -- after a scrummy Japanese hibachi dinner.

(This isn't Hugh, nor is it our iMac. Mcwont was kind enough to share his photo. Click on the pic for more info.)

American Idol: Boogie Nights

Breigh pretty much summed up my thoughts about this week's American Idol:

Barbie Meets the Stepford Wives

Go have a look, she's been Photoshopping!

You know, out of all the modern dance styles one can see in a club, 70's disco has to be my favourite. (My absolute favourite is breakdancing, but you don't see it in clubs.) On MuchMusic, the Canadian version of MTV, I used to enjoy seeing the re-runs of this old 70's dance show -- I can't remember the name! -- and aside from hooting at the polyester fashions, I loved to see them boogie on down. Even the BeeGees had a bit of a revival a while back. When they sang "Staying Alive", well, LIVE during a music awards show, they had everyone on their feet, grooving away happily. Say what you will about John Travolta and Saturday Night Fever, but cheesy can be infectiously FUN.

When I saw the first bits of goofy dancing pre-performance on American Idol, it seemed promising. But there was barely any dancing this week at all! Makes me wish people like Nikko and Travis Tucker stayed alive on the show so we'd have something a bit more entertaining to watch. Instead, we had Carrie wearing an awful dress with Dolly Parton hair, singing "McArthur Park" (made famous by Donna Summer, Frank Sinatra, et al) -- this bizarre song about a CAKE, of all things. She was drowned out on all the low notes by the band and the song was zero on the danceable scale.

And the others? They should've asked their parents for help, because they were about as 70's disco as The Beverly Hillbillies:

• Constantine needs waterproof eyeliner. Didn't he learn anything in the Boston Conservatory theatre classes?
  
• Anthony, in a weird twist, drank some happy juice or something, because he was singing with extra gusto. Not great singing, but Anthony was hyper.
  
• Scott called the 70's fashions "ridiculous", but he could've at least camped it up for this week.
  
• Anwar let me down this week -- he sang "September" by Earth, Wind & Fire, but didn't hit any of the high notes! C'mon, what's up with that? That's the best part of the song!
  
• Vonzell's performance was the most 70's disco of the bunch -- best overall, I'd say. Lots of energy, personality, and vocal jiggy.
  
• Bo did well, too, but I wasn't as keen on his performance as the judges were. David kept laughing because Bo screwed up the lyrics -- all the possessives were switched around, so Bo sang 'yours' instead of 'my' and 'I' got trades with 'you', that sort of thing.

BOTTOM THREE: Scott, Anthony, and Anwar
ELIMINATED: Anwar

Speaking of bizarre, I was on the Idol message boards to try and find out the name of Anwar's song, and I came across this:

From: fanofcarrie9

I'm a big Carrie fan, but I voted for Scott over 350 times this week!!

Why?!?!?!?

Because I knew Carrie was safe cuz she was awesome as usual. So, I have been voting for the worst singers so that Carrie will have easy competition at the end. This will make it so Carrie will have a better chance at WINNING!

Ive convinced some of my friends to do the same thing so we target both Anthony and Scott to get through. In the end, it will be a cake walk for Carrie!!

What do you think of my strategy? I thought of it a few weeks back and have been doing it since then. Seems to me that everything is going pretty well.

Yes folks, this is a Fox viewer... and VOTER. Think the votes are screwy? This is why!

Skin Whitening

Spa Advertisement
Uploaded by Allan & Cheryl.

While in the Philippines, my brother Allan took a photo of a spa advertisement that shocked him:

If you can zoom in you'll see the ad reads "Skintimate Summer Promo: 50% off skin WHITENING."

What!?

I can imagine they must use some nasty skin bleaching agent that does just as much damage as UV rays for certain fair people who work on their tans at every given opportunity.

statement
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

I took this photo in Barcelona exactly one year ago, yesterday:

There's something very fitting about this: "Real White Chocolate".

(I stumbled upon a little Filipino grocery around the corner from the Museum of Contemporary Art.)

I bought it to take a picture of it, because I found it curious. Many Filipinos still desire a "Real White" appearance, which hearkens back to the days of colonialism.

The Allergy Tree

magnolia canopy
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

tree of allergy
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

The magnolia tree beside the house looks great, but it's stirring up David's allergies.

carpet of petals
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

It's been in full bloom this week, but a blustery, rainy evening blew petals down to the ground last night.

Infinity

Infinity - 7/8
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

Sculpture by Jose de Rivera, 1967, for the National Museum of American History, Washington, DC.

One of eight angles I posted as a set. I was fascinated by this sculpture, which looks different from any position underneath.

View the 8 photos as a slideshow (uses Flash).

Mini Reunion

On the sidewalk in front of Grandpa apt
Uploaded by Allan & Cheryl.

I love this photo of Melissa, Michael, and Madeleine. I want to crop and frame it.

The gang's all back safe and sound from the Philippines, with loot for the rest of the kidlets and lots of stories, I'm sure.

Allan's last blog entry on their way home:

The Road Home: The Long Good-bye

I don't think Allan's finished uploading yet, but here's a link to his trip set on Flickr:

Philippines Trip

Car Talk... or, a bit more?

look closely
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

So, there's this weekly radio show on NPR called "Car Talk" with these two brothers, Tom and Ray Magliozzi. I'd never heard of them before moving to PA, but according to their website they've been on the air since the '70s, with 4.4 million listeners on 588 stations. Anyway, David mentioned them once, and I tuned in for about half a show during dinner.

When we went to the Museum of American History last Saturday, I recognised them on one of the monitors in the transportation exhibit. Being a bit of a typo Nazi, what did I notice right away?

Click on the photo and see...

It's the SMITHSONIAN, for the love of mary! I'm not the first person to notice this, am I?? I e-mailed Car Talk's producer, Doug Berman, to see if anyone's told them. Maybe he'll get the radio guys to mention it on the show.

Family Reunion

Michael's new barong
Uploaded by Allan & Cheryl.

My parents, Allan, and Michael are flying home now from the Philippines, where they attended a large family reunion. Allan wrote a big post about this the other day, which is the closest any of us has come to an historical account for the size of the clan.

DATI Clan Reunion

By the way, if you look up 'barong' in the English dictionary, it is a long, broad, leaf-shaped knife used as both a weapon and tool by the Moros of the Philippines. But it's also a traditional garment worn by Filipinos at formal events. From what I remember, it's transparent, usually made out of pineapple fibre and worn over a white undershirt. From what I've read, it apparently dates back to Spanish colonial rule:

"From the beginning of the Spanish rule in the Philippine archipelago, the Spanish rulers demanded the Filipino men to wear the barong tagalog. The Spaniards wanted to make the differences between themselves and the 'natives' visible by the dress. Therefore they prohibited to tuck the barong under the waistband. That was the mark of the inferior status of the natives.

Next to that, the cloth material should be transparent. That should make it impossible to hide any weapon that could be used against the Spanish rulers. Furthermore, it was forbidden to have any pockets in the barong. This had to prevent any thievery.

Even at the time that some Filipinos became successful business men or successful in agricultural activities, these lucky and more important middle class men had to wear the barong tagalog just as the Spanish rulers demanded.

In th[is] Spanish period, the new middle class started to put more attention to the design of the barong. The front of the barong showed more and more a hand-work design. It was the beginning of becoming a symbol of resistance to colonization."

Source: http://www.philippines.hvu.nl/clothes2.htm (more photos shown here)

Edwin Bugnay
Uploaded by Allan & Cheryl.

Bugnay is our family name, but some of my relatives, including my father, took 'Edwin' as their surname instead.

Some pics from Washington, DC

bird in flight
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

I'm still uploading pictures to Flickr -- there are that many...

Here are some faves, thus far.

sunset over the Lincoln Memorial
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

the beauty of photosynthesis
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

The Capitol Building
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

Washington DC metro 4/4
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

fountain
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

water play
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

France, redux

springtime in Paris
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

pointe du Grouin
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

Brittany coastline
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

low tide on the Brittany Coast
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

Arrived back from Washington, DC late last night, so I just decided to upload these four pics to Flickr that I rescued in Photoshop on the car ride home and hit the sack.

I took these photos one year ago, visiting friends around France. The blog entries are here (or, just scroll up from the first post):

Paris!
Paris, avec Claire
Paris, avec Manu, then...?
Tour de France

We took TONS of photos in DC, and I have yet to upload them to Flickr. The process, at least for me, is usually as follows:

1) Upload photos to Flickr
2) Write descriptions, tag photos with keywords, add to groups
3) Blog photos to Flickr
4) Write text, arrange photos around text.

Oil & Vinegar Experiment

oil & vinegar
Uploaded by gailontheweb.

      

Would've included a nice baguette if we'd had any... oh, and some baby roma tomatoes and fresh, unripened mozzarella and a bit of leafy basil...!! I'm hungry just thinking about it.

Photos best viewed large (click on photo for size options).