"Fuck the draft!" led Paul Cohen to court 40 years ago

June, 7 1971: 
1. Facts of Case Cohen v. California 403 (1971)
This case came about when Paul Robert Cohen 19 was arrested after he wore a jacket with the words “Fuck the Draft” expressing his opinion of the draft for the Vietnam war while exiting out of a Los Angeles court room on April 26, 1968.

2. Legal Issue

The legal issues at hand was that even though Cohen did not wear the jacket while in the court room he still in fact wore it while existing the Los Angeles court room which put him in violation of section 415 of the California Penal Code, which prohibited maliciously and willfully disturbing the peace or quiet of any neighborhood or person by offensive conduct. The case was brought before the courts to determine if his actions fell within his right to the 1st and 14th amendment or was he in fact in violation of the California Penal code

3. Rule of Law

While the Court of Appeal thought that Cohen was in violation of the Penal code sentencing him to thirty days of imprisonment.
4. Analysis
After the retrial the court decided that by displaying a four letter word he was not in fact inciting negative behavior with the public. The court ruled declared that a court could not censor speech in order to peace. The courts relied on decisions made with Stromberg v. California and the United States v. O’Brien saying that he wanted to be expressive conveying only his opinion making notion to incite a disturbance of any sort.
5. Conclusion
“The defendant did not engage in, nor threaten to engage in, nor did anyone as the result of his conduct” The court reversed the Court of Appeals decision by 5-4
Source: The First Amendment Rocks!

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Michelangelo's contrast of colors revealed

The site WebExhibits is dedicated to the study of colors in a very easy and stimulating way. This is the way they explained how Michelangelo exaggerated the contrasts of color:

"Just a few years after Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) achieved tonal unity, Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564) tried a different approach. His colors are brilliant and contrasted, whereas da Vinci’s are subdued and unified. Michelangelo’s contours are crisp and set off against a contrasting background, whereas da Vinci’s blend and avoid silhouette.

Doni Holy Family, Michelangelo Buonarroti, c. 1503.

Michelangelo mixes his colors with both black and white to maximize the contrast range for all the colors he uses. This means the lighter parts of each color (even the black of Joseph’s tunic) are almost white and unrealistically de-saturated."

The only color that has a high enough luminance in pure form is the yellow of Joseph’s cloak; Michelangelo does not have to de-saturate the yellow to get a high value. Therefore, the yellow robe has a different quality from all the others, the hues of which vary substantially in saturation and therefore look somewhat metallic. By using such a wide range of luminances, Michelangelo achieves vivid depth from shading. Still, both contemporaries and present day critics were surprised by his use of color. Why?

Michelangelo was the undisputed master of drawing in 16th century Italy. The cleaning of the Sistine Chapel ceiling and the Doni Tondo have revealed him to be a colorist of great originality, working with a fully-saturated palette.

Keep reading here. Browse the site if you're interested in studying colors. They have interactive tools.

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My homage to Degas

In the center, the Little Dancer, is a sculpture by Edgar Degas I saw at the Louvre.

I did this still life. Painting? Nope. At this National Gallery site you create your own still life. There are apples, oranges, books, vases, and everything you need for a still life. It's very interesting because you can change light, shadow and add what you want. I loved the mirror showing the front image of the dancer instead of the back. It is a Magritte touch I guess.

There are other activities at the site The Art Zone and children can have fun.

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Tony Judt and the future of our youth - Power to the people

When I think about those who are in their twenties now I consider myself lucky but not because things were easier. We were still under dictatorship and suffered all the problems of this particular age but we had a future and we wanted to change the world.

We could imagine, dream and even have the luxury, or take the chance, to have a BA in literature, sociology, philosophy, history, any of the humanities that now receive less and less money from governments because they don't generate the immediate profit they require.

This is something very serious that jeopardizes democracy but this is another post.

When I watch what is happening in Madrid, hoping that it spreads in all European countries, I cannot help being happy.

These youth is in search of their future and even a present because it's being hard. Governments are ruling by corporations and for themselves in perhaps the most greedy era of the capitalist times where few buy a bag that costs three months of salary of others.

Never the word democracy has been pronounced every day for at least ten times in the hour we watch the news. Still we see less and less of the people, by the people and for the people.

I found today in Tony Judt thoughts that expresses what I feel and I'm very happy knowing that so many people are concerned with the same issues I am.

I'm looking forward to read the book "Ill Fares the Land".

I want to share with you this excerpt of an interview he gave to Terry Gross.

Dan Colman was the one who was touched by it and did the transcription from the audio (available, here or on iTunes)

"When Gross asked whether history still mattered deeply to him, the historian answered: yes, but:

"I think now, I’m more worried about the future. The past is always going to be a mess. It’s going to be a mess because it was mess and because people are going to abuse it, get it wrong and so on. But I’m reasonably confident that with each generation of historians, we keep fighting hard to get it right again. But we could get the future very seriously wrong, and there it’s much harder to get it right… I’m encountering the first generation of young people in colleges and schools who really do not believe in the future, who don’t think not just that things will get evidently and permanently better but who feel that something has gone very badly wrong that they can’t quite put their finger on, but that is going to spoil the world that they’re growing up into.

Whether it’s climate change or political cynicism or overreaction or lack of reaction, to external challenges, whether it’s terrorism or poverty, the sense that it’s all got out of control, that they, the politicians and so on, media people, are neither doing anything nor telling us the truth. That sense seems to have pervaded the younger generation in ways that were not true in my experience.

Maybe the last time that might have been true was in the 1920s, where you had the combination of shock and anger from World War I, the beginnings of economic depression and the terrifying realization that there might very well be a World War II. I don’t think we’re on the edge of World War III or IV. But I do think that we are on the edge of a terrifying world. That’s why I wrote the book." (Ills Fare thee Land)

The first chapter of Ill Fares the Land is now available (for free) on The New York Times website, and it will give you a quick feel for the issues that Judt thinks we need to confront. The complete Fresh Air interview ranges much more broadly, going into Judt’s personal experience with ALS, and I’d encourage you to give it your time. (Stream below.) Also please visit Move For ALS to contribute to a new campaign affiliated with Tony Judt to fund ALS research."

I want to thank both Tony Judt for the great thinker he was and Dan Colman for transcribing this part of the interview. I did listen and it is really amazing.

Power to the people! I dare say it now because this phrase will never, never loose it's strength just because it was a slogan of a generation. Those youngsters who are at the squares never heard them. So... Power to the people!

Update:

"For 30 years," Judt writes, "we have made a virtue out of the pursuit of material self-interest. ... The materialistic and selfish quality of contemporary life is not inherent in the human condition. Much of what appears 'natural' today dates from the 1980s: the obsession with wealth-creation, the cult of privatization and the private sector, the growing disparities [between] rich and poor. And above all, the rhetoric which accompanies these: uncritical admiration for unfettered markets, disdain for the public sector, the delusion of endless growth." Tony Judt

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'Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people.' Abraham Lincoln

Sometimes we look at the past to try to find some answers for today's problems.

At this post I remembered Abraham Lincoln definition of democracy that was taken from one of his speeches.

This is a project by University of Pennsylvania at Second Life that recreated Abrahan Lincoln's memorial.
The project has more but now I would only like to remember:

'Democracy is the government of the people, by the people, for the people.'* Abraham Lincoln*

and also the expression "New Birth of Freedom" that also at the speech.

"...these dead shall not have died in vain..."

It is a lot to reconsider. Hope the world and America is ready for that.

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"Girl with a pearl earing" must be known iconic illiterate people!

I'm sure you were exposed to the right painting whether you know it or not. "The girl with the pearl earing", painted in 1665 by Vermeer, is everywhere and she must be almost next to Mona lisa in popularity. Ok, if you don't know Mona lisa. The Last Supper? No? You are in serious trouble. You are an iconic illiterate and knowing Madonna or Lady Gaga will not help you.

Some paintings are used by designers, advertisers, artists and all of those who work with images because they take for granted that everybody knows them for they are part of the western cultural patrimony just like Bart Simpson is.

You may not like art but it is a shame, a shame not to know some works of art and still, some people claim: "I don't like paintings or anything of this kind" as if they were saying "I don't like running, I rather walk."

And they start laughing!

I wonder if in the scientific era anyone would dare to say: "I don't know how the four operations." without feeling ashamed.

Or I'm wrong and not knowing is the new black. "I don't know, and I don't wanna know."

I will try to find this memo I didn't receive to see if I have to continue or stop here. brb

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Fun: Converting written text into spoken words

Write your text at the blue box and click the"Play" bottom. There are lots of these softwares now and I'm testing some of them and I'm having a lot of fun using this natural reader that you can download a free version here. I'm not being payed to advertise it. 
Just found it interesting and as an English no native speaker it is funny to compare the accents of each voice. Clicking at the language it's possible to choose German, French, Spanish, Italian, Swedish and Arabic. 
It is also possible to change the voices.
I think it's a good tool when we want to know how a word is pronounced in other languages, or, let's face it, once in a year in our own.
It is really really funny to write something in English and choose another language to pronounce it. Try it! 

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Ebook reader: wishing-list

I think that it is already impossible not to have one. This is something important:

"Content

Some of the eReaders have hundreds of thousands of titles available from a dedicated service while others can support a few files found on the internet. We rated the number of content available for the device and how many different types of book files each device can support."

I'll ask Santa next Xmas.

Update:

I just fount the text that is at the right picture. I searched the phrase "there was a counterculture element for Oppenheimer":

"Oppenheimer was among the last of the old-fashioned Wall Street partnerships and survived on the scraps left behind by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. It felt less like a corporation than a family business. Lillian and Elliot Eisman had been giving financial advice to individual investors on behalf of Oppenheimer since the early 1960s. (Lillian had created their brokerage business inside of Oppenheimer, and Elliot, who had started out as a criminal attorney, had joined her after being spooked once too often by midlevel Mafia clients.)."... (emphasis mine)*

"...She added, "There was a counterculture element to Oppenheimer. The people at the big firms were all being paid to be consensus." Eisman turned out to have a special talent for making noise and breaking with consensus opinion. He started as a junior equity analyst, a helpmate, not expected to offer his own opinions....." (emphasis mine)** (here)

From the book "The Big Shot by Michael Lewis" * at the little text ** at the big text.

You can try finding the left one. I will not make another advertisement. :)

Ok, idle reader: it is from "The Man of Beijing" by Henning Mankel. Nobody will ready it anyway...

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On mouses and frogs - help needed: Batrachomyomachia

I'm missing something here. What is the relationship between mouses and frogs?

Have a great Sunday!

Update: Yahoo Answers

Batrachomyomachia (‘battle of the frogs and mice’), a short Greek mockepic poem in the style of Homeric epic, sometimes attributed to Homer in antiquity and difficult to date but perhaps of the fifth century BC. The story derives from a fable of Aesop; a mouse Psīcharpax (‘crumb-stealer’) is invited by a frog Physignathos (‘puff-cheek’) son of Peleus to ride on his back to visit his watery kingdom. Unfortunately, at the sight of a water-snake the frog dives and the mouse is drowned. But the incident has been seen by another mouse, and a one-day Homeric war ensues between the mice and the frogs, in which the mice seem to be winning. At the request of Athena, Zeus intervenes, and having failed with thunderbolts sends crabs to quell the strife.

I did read Iliad and don't remember. Time to reread it... but I like the Odyssey better.

Right: at National Geographic by anonymous.

Left: here.

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Fun for Saturday

This is a good picture to teach polysemy.

Visit their site and have more fun. Have a great Saturday!

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Manipulating photographies to manipulate minds

O.J. Simpsom had his face photoshoped by Times that made him looks more dangerous and criminal.

Stalin removed Trotsky of the picture because he started believing Trotsky was a threat since he was showing the dictator tendencies of Stalin. He was also removed from Soviet Union in 1929, when deported, and sent to Mexico.

Have you ever cut a photography taking away that certain person? Yep, sure you did or you will do it one day. But this is your private life.

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Muammar Qaddafi a man of integrity

The etymological origins of the word "integrity" shows that it derives from the Latin "integer" meaning "whole" so those who have integrity acts according to their stated beliefs and values. We can even go to Wikipedia:

Integrity is a concept of consistency of actions, values, methods, measures, principles, expectations, and outcomes. In ethics, integrity is regarded as the honesty and truthfulness or accuracy of one's actions. Integrity can be regarded as the opposite of hypocrisy,^[1] in that it regards internal consistency as a virtue, and suggests that parties holding apparently conflicting values should account for the discrepancy or alter their beliefs.

There is nothing hypocrite, another interesting word whose etymology leads to "actor", about Muammar Qaddafi. After his famous speech many people said that he was out of his mind, detached from reality or even psychopath. Psychopaths are very sympathetic people and often when they work at a company everybody likes them while they are planing and executing some bright plan to stab people behind their backs. This is one of many kinds of psychopathy.

It's very easy to name crazy what we don't agree or understand. We don't understand when people come out in the open saying:

"I am a fighter, a revolutionary from tents ... I will die as a martyr at the end,'

'If matters require, we will use force, according to international law and the Libyan constitution.'

"People in front of tanks were crushed. The unity of China was more important than those people in Tiananmen Square."

These are his beliefs.

Funny that some governments, businessman, teachers, whoever has a power status do the same but they address to their nations or pupils as the good boys while in the background they are calculating and putting in practice actions that will have the same outcomes: achieve what they want no matter what.

I came across with this text of Alan Hosking at HR Future Human Strategy for Business and I wanna share with you:

Can you spot graduates from the Muammar Gaddafi School of Leadership?

Alan Hosking

"Events in North Africa have placed the spotlight on the personal qualities and leadership styles of those in positions of power and influence in the political arena.

We live in a world where everybody wants to be a leader. True, people occupy leadership positions at all levels of society, many of which are removed from the public eye. But when it comes to the workplace where, unlike in politics, there is at least some form of control as to who gets into leadership positions, you’ve got to choose your leaders carefully. (emphasis mine)

Not everyone who wants to be a leader should be allowed to be. That’s because too many of them are attracted to leadership positions not by a desire to serve others but by a craving for the trappings of leadership – the power, position and perks they believe accompany a leadership position.

Smooth talkers are able to worm their way into positions which give them the opportunity to look after the most important person in their lives – themselves. And once in the position, they will use what ever resources are at their disposal to enrich themselves, exploit others and entrench themselves even further to ensure sustainability of their position. All this will be done, of course, under the banner of it’s being good for everyone else – their country, company or community. (emphasis mine)

Being a smooth talker and a good looker does, however, not a leader make. Neither, contrary to the popular opinion of some business executives and government officials, does driving a smart – or fast – car, wearing expensive clothes, having connections that get you a slap on the wrist when caught speeding or violating a traffic regulation, no matter how important the need to speed (in the “leader’s” eyes).

Leadership, according to them, places them firmly above the “hoi polloy” – the great unwashed plebs – as well as above the law. Their motto is: “Rules are for fools. Leaders break them.” Rules apply to “the others” – those who haven’t been “blessed” with a leadership position.

Such leaders could well have graduated from the Muammar Gaddafi School of Leadership (MGSL). They are found in all walks of life. They’re found in cabinets of governments, in company board rooms and in communities at ground level.

As you think about it, you will quickly identify a number of leaders both locally and elsewhere who could well have graduated from the MGSL. Here, then, are a few of the lessons they were probably taught at the Muammar Gaddafi School of Leadership:

Surround yourself with “yes men and women” who will obey your every instruction without question. This is a key lesson. Once you get these people’s loyalty, reward it with generosity. Keep the rewards flowing to them and you won’t have to worry about a thing. You will need supporters close to you who carry out your every instruction without assessing or questioning the instruction. (emphasis mine)

Don’t ever let your key people feel secure in their jobs. Let them feel they could lose their jobs, and their perks, at any moment. If they feel comfortable, they will never keep bending over backwards to please you. So keep them hungry, scared and uncertain. (emphasis mine)

Regularly throw tantrums so that the people close to you see the power of your personality. This will motivate them to please you so that they don’t become the target of your tantrums.

Bully and threaten your supporters with physical or financial harm. There’s nothing like the hint of a threat of physical or financial harm to keep people focused on what you want them to do for you.

When people turn on you, as they will eventually do, eliminate them as quickly as possible. Don’t allow them to try to turn you to their way of thinking. Remember, you determine what’s right and wrong. Others don’t have that privilege.

On the other hand, if you’re prepared to be a leader who wishes to serve people and build a country, company or community, the only way to do it is to act with integrity and authenticity. But then you’ll need to attend a completely different leadership school." (emphasis mine)

If we want a democratic world there is a lot to think and to change. One of the important actions is to analyze more careful the behavior of the smooth talkers. I am more afraid of a smooth talker that lies and confuses me than of Muammar Qaddafi's words. He is very clear about his intentions.

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What if CNN, FOX or BBC asked for donation, or, independent media also needs money!

I believe that it's common knowledge that to have these channels broadcasting it takes a lot of money, reason why some media tycoons like Murdoch are the owners of TV channels.

It is also common knowledge that once the media has an owner freedom of information and freedom of speech are dramatically affected.

We do have independent journalism like Democracy Now. Once at their site we stumble upon their donate and store bottoms just at the top or the header of their pages:

Advanced search

A daily TV/radio news program, hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez, airing on over 900 stations, pioneering the largest community media collaboration in the United States.

• HOME
• DONATE
• STORE
• STATIONS
• PAST SHOWS
• TOPICS
• BLOG
• GET INVOLVED
• TOUR
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• ABOUT

We think that it is always the same, our money is being asked to finance everything and "No, I don't want to buy a mug!".

The prize we pay for not donating is keeping on receiving biased informations, lies and all the problems that the mainstream media are promoting today.

I'm tired of being lied so, if I don't have money to make a donation I volunteer or take another action like doing this post to promote Democracy Now.

Click at the picture to visit their site. They don't have any tycoon to indoctrinate us and make us believe in lies. They are also advertisement-free.

These sites, I'm including journalists that blog like Philip Dawdy at Furious Seasons to whom I dedicated an award, are not that graphic-appealing and don't have many of the glamorous beautiful faces. I don't rely on this kind of beauty and I rather be well informed.

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Molly Bloom's - James Joyce X-rated

I'll do the opposite: instead of reading I want you to listen to this version of Molly Bloom's stream of consciousness that is the last part of James Joyce's Ulysses.

The full text is here and you can see the original version if you want and read it.

Ulysses is a book to be read many times and, teachers will hate me, you can skip what you don't feel like reading. Maybe you will read another day, or not.

Enjoy this good version and if you haven't read Ulysses maybe this is a start. Reading has to be a pleasure and not an obligation.

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Limits of the language... Ludwig Wittgenstein

"The limits of my language mean the limits of my world."

Ludwig Wittgenstein

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Plato condemns imitative art

I came across with this educational blog where a teacher asks the students to read an excerpt of Plato's Republic and answer one of the five questions.

The answers are very good and I did chose this one to share with you because it is a issue that is still discussed: art and representation of reality.

Kaaren // May 24, 2007 at 3:18 pm

1. Plato criticizes art that is “imitative.” What exactly does Plato mean by “imitative” art? And why is he so critical of it?
Plato believes that art is imitative because it is a representation of an object’s true form. The question and answer between Socrates and Glaucon in Plato’s Republic explains this concept with the example of a bed. God designed the ideal of a bed; He is “the author of this and of all other things” (Section I). A craftsperson will make a functional representation of this bed, the bed that humans will actually sleep on. While this crafstperson is a secondary maker of God’s original plan, the artist is accordingly a tertiary maker. The artist is removed from the forms, or “perfect ideals” (Plato’s Aesthitcs) that constitute all earlthy things. For examply, as is outlined in Plato’s Aesthitcs, the mathematical idea of a circle varies greatly from the human representation of one.

Humans cannot recreate a mathematically proportional circle, because the measurements will always be slightly off. Therefore a true circle only exists in an ideal or Godly universe, not on Earth. Accordingly, Plato’s philosophies argue that the same concept would ring true with the artist’s representation of a bed. Since even the crafsperson’s recreation of a bed is not totally accurate or Godly, an artist’s drawing, painting, or other creative expression of a bed will be even farther removed from the original divine design.

Plato was critical of imitative art because he believed that it led humans away from the real or true forms in the universe, in other words, from the ideal of God. Plato describes artists and poets in Republic; “they copy images of virtue and the like, but the truth they never reach” (Section II). Creative expression could be dangerous because it would lead humans away from focusing their attentions on the otherworldy, leading them into temptation instead of towards God.

"Mimesis", μίμησις (mīmēsis), is the Greek concept for imitation and we will see it in another post.

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Plato's Allegory of the Cave

This allegory is learned at the beginning of any course on philosophy and raises many interpretations and discussions.

The Allegory of the Cave

"Plato recognized that the picture of the Divided Line may be difficult for many of us to understand. Although it accurately represents the different levels of reality and corresponding degrees of knowledge, there is a sense in which one cannot appreciate its full significance without first having achieved the highest level. So, for the benefit of those of us who are still learning but would like to grasp what he is talking about, Plato offered a simpler story in which each of the same structural components appears in a way that we can all comprehend at our own level. This is the Allegory of the Cave.

Suppose that there is a group of human beings who have lived their entire lives trapped in a subterranean chamber lit by a large fire behind them. Chained in place, these cave-dwellers can see nothing but shadows (of their own bodies and of other things) projected on a flat wall in front of them. Some of these people will be content to do no more than notice the play of light and shadow, while the more clever among them will become highly skilled observers of the patterns that most regularly occur. In both cases, however, they cannot truly comprehend what they see, since they are prevented from grasping its true source and nature. (Republic 514a)

Now suppose that one of these human beings manages to break the chains, climb through the torturous passage to the surface, and escape the cave. With eyes accustomed only to the dim light of the former habitation, this individual will at first be blinded by the brightness of the surface world, able to look only upon the shadows and reflections of the real world. But after some time and effort, the former cave-dweller will become able to appreciate the full variety of the newly-discovered world, looking at trees, mountains, and (eventually) the sun itself.

Finally, suppose that this escapee returns to the cave, trying to persuade its inhabitants that there is another, better, more real world than the one in which they have so long been content to dwell. They are unlikely to be impressed by the pleas of this extraordinary individual, Plato noted, especially since their former companion, having travelled to the bright surface world, is now inept and clumsy in the dim realm of the cave. Nevertheless, it would have been in the best interest of these residents of the cave to entrust their lives to the one enlightened member of their company, whose acquaintance with other things is a unique qualification for genuine knowledge.

Plato seriously intended this allegory as a representation of the state of ordinary human existence. We, like the people raised in a cave, are trapped in a world of impermanence and partiality, the realm of sensible objects. Entranced by the particular and immediate experiences these things provide, we are unlikely to appreciate the declarations of philosophers, the few among us who, like the escapee, have made the effort to achieve eternal knowledge of the permanent forms. But, like them, it would serve us best if we were to follow this guidance, discipline our own minds, and seek an accurate understanding of the highest objects of human contemplation."

Source: Philosophy pages.

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Refugees in Darfur: send them reading glasses and books

This is at The Book Wish Foundation:

Peepers Fun Reading Glasses Donated for Refugees

Posted by logan on 24 May 2008

in

• Chad/Darfur
• Vision

What better way to encourage reading than with the gift of colorful, cheerful, fun reading glasses? Especially in the Darfur refugee camps of eastern Chad, where hope needs a helping hand, adding to the enjoyment of reading can yield big returns in education and mental health. That's why the Book Wish Foundation was so excited to receive 126 pairs of Peepers Fun Reading Glasses, in dozens of colors and styles, like these:

It might sound superfluous to same people that reading glasses were sent to refugees because we think they only need to survive starvation and have some medicines for diseases but a library is being build at the refugee camp for the literacy project. Donate here 2 dollars.


A group with new reading glasses in Bredjing Refugee Camp. Note the books in their hands. By providing books and reading glasses to the same people, we are enhancing the value of each. How many lives in this photo have just taken a giant step forward, even if they are still in the refugee camp? The school and children in the background remind us of the lost educational opportunities for adults who need, but don't have reading glasses.

Supporting literacy

Submitted by Lisa Goldner on Thu, 01/22/2009 - 2:56pm.

We will add the link to your site to our bookshelf pages with BookCrossing.com (http://www.goldlis.bookcrossing.com). My family and I help to raise public awareness of the genocide in Darfur through informational labels we place on the books we donate through our BookCrossing challenge project, READ: Respond in Earnest Action for Darfur. We will also advise the San Antonio Interfaith Darfur Coalition and local university STAND groups of your needs. We hope you find growing support for all of your projects.

Read about the forgotten refugee here:

by Eric Reeves at ENOUGH.

"Ongoing human suffering and destruction in Darfur have been largely eclipsed both by recent national elections in Sudan and by growing, if belated, international attention to the imperiled southern self-determination referendum (slated for January 9, 2011). Even more completely obscured by recent events in Sudan, however, is the continuing humanitarian crisis in eastern Chad." ... keep reading.

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The vanishing point - the ironic parallels meeting

I believe everybody remembers the perspective lesson and the amazement of searching for the vanishing point where two parallels converge. The photo of the post below made me remember it and I searched for "vanishing point"and found many amazing sites different fields not only about how to draw.
I found this photo by Steve Webel and a comment left by an art teacher who asked to use this photo to explain perspective at his class. Nice teacher!
I also found an incredible site whose title is "The Vanishing Point", a site of Michael Cook, also a photographer in Canada. He has amazing photos and this is one of the paragraphs he wrote:

"Stepping outside our prearranged traffic patterns and established destinations, we find a city laced with liminality, with borderlands cutting across its heart and reaching into its sky. We find a thousand vanishing points, each unique, each alive, each pregnant with riches and wonders and time."

Even though perspective is no longer the only way painters uses to give the illusion of reality and some movements even do not like it the vanishing point, and what a great expression it is, still amazes many people.
Funny because actually we know that parallels never meet each other or, if I remember correctly, they meet in the infinite according to I don't remember who .

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The Death of Socrates by Jacques Louis David

Jacques Louis David, The Death of Socrates, 1787 (Metropolitan Museum of Art)

This video is at the Smarthistory which is a great site with amazing resources for art appreciation and education.

This video is about many aspects of the painting and also the life of Socrates. Listening to this 6:46 minutes conversation is pleasant and very informative.

I rather see it than watching half an hour of local news.

I don't know about your city but it seems to be everywhere the reports of the most sad and terrible news and it has been this way for many decades.

I was never exposed to good news and they claim that that is the kind of news people want to listen or that "sell" newspapers.

Why on earth they never tried something different?

I rather watch this kind of video and look at the web for the news I want to know.

I hope you like it and pay a visit to Smarthistory.

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