the lisasho

Paused

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 22:24:13 -0700

I’m mostly over here these days, travelling around the world for a few months. Stop in and say hi if you’d like.

thedailywhat: Kids These Days of the Day: Schoolchildren in...

Fri, 07 Jan 2011 10:31:01 -0800

Kids These Days of the Day: Schoolchildren in Montreal are shown tech relics from the late 20th century (floppy disks, a rotary phone), and asked to describe their intended use.

Anachrolarity ensues.

[geekosystem.]

“Ah, oui, comme ça!” Ahahahahaha. [sob]

thedailywhat: Astronomy Photo of the Day: The International...

Tue, 04 Jan 2011 10:45:42 -0800

thedailywhat:

Astronomy Photo of the Day: The International Space Station pockmarks the sun in astrophotographer Thierry Legault definitive photo of today’s partial solar eclipse.

(Embiggen.)

[badastronomy.]

Gave us those nice bright colors, the greens of summer.

Thu, 30 Dec 2010 11:56:46 -0800

Gave us those nice bright colors, the greens of summer.:

I love my digital cameras. I love traveling with a few small cards instead of an immense pile of film. I love being able to use the fridge door for its intended use- food. Mostly, I love seeing an image immediately, being able to tweak a little bit here and there on the spot if I think I can do better.

But I do miss film sometimes, if only for the romance of it. Spending hours alone in my high school darkroom, nervously watching images appear on paper and crossing my fingers that I didn’t make a mistake. The excitement of opening a box of slides days after a trip, as if I was experiencing the trip all over again with each slide I held up to the light. The thrill of realizing that I totally nailed that shot, whew.

I started shooting semi-seriously a little too late to appreciate Kodachrome personally -my drug of choice was Velvia after I moved on from B&W- but my mother was a photographer and I remember rolls of the stuff floating around the house. As an art student, she only shot in black and white. But with a family and the advent of the living room slide show, Kodachrome nudged out the competition and became her preferred medium. There was nothing like it at the time. The colors were richer, the light more vibrant. And it could be shot and held onto for a long time- sometimes for years. (A bonus for professional photographers and cluttered family homes alike.)

After she died, I found a couple of unexposed rolls of Kodachrome stuffed into boxes along with all of the family slides. Never did get them processed. Guess they’re Christmas ornaments now.

More taxes? More liquor? What?

Mon, 25 Oct 2010 15:31:29 -0700

More taxes? More liquor? What?:

Washington State sure loves its ever-increasing ballot initiatives, referendums, and amendments. Here’s a handy-dandy little tool to cut through all the doublespeak and jargon and figure what in the hell all of this year’s state ballot measures actually mean.

(Brought to my attention by the stellar City Club crew.)

thedailywhat: Multipurpose Glassware Design Concept of the Day:...

Wed, 29 Sep 2010 23:57:28 -0700

thedailywhat:

Multipurpose Glassware Design Concept of the Day: One Glass To Rule Them All: whatever your poison, Sven Milcent and Utopik Design Lab’s “One Glass for Every Drink” has you covered with an interchangeable base that allows you to seamlessly switch from Kir Royals by the helipad, to digestifs in the sauna.

Helipad and sauna sold separately.

[yanko.]

Want.

GPOYW: Hard Hat Edition On the site of a new community health...

Thu, 16 Sep 2010 00:26:07 -0700

GPOYW: Hard Hat Edition

On the site of a new community health center being built in southeast Seattle. I’m running its $7M capital campaign. We’re getting close. (You can tell because I’m smiling.)

Game, set, match

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 14:08:07 -0700

Got into a pissing contest with a sixty-something rich lady in the gym locker room yesterday.

I didn’t mean to, honestly. I was hurriedly getting dressed after my workout because I was going to be late to meet a friend. Her locker was next to mine and she was lightly swearing under her breath at a bracelet that had just broken. “That’s what I get for buying the cheap stuff,” she muttered, looking at me. I smiled politely. “See, I don’t have a LOT of nice jewelry,” she said, “just a few choice items.” I smiled again and started to close my locker. “Like this,” she said, showing me a giant sapphire ring. “I got this in Thailand. More affordable there.” I politely blocked the light reflection that was shining in my eye off the gargantuan rock on her finger. “Yes, Thailand is good for that sort of thing,” I said and turned around. “Oh, you’ve been? I was there last year,” she said. “Yes, two years ago,” I said, pausing, but still trying to leave. “Well, South America is a good place for gems, too,” she said. “Have you been there, too?” I replied yes, I lived in Ecuador and Peru for a while.

And that’s where it got ugly.

Rich Lady: “Where?”
Me: “Quito and Cusco.”
RL: “I LOVED Machu Picchu. But I enjoyed Argentina the most. Did you visit Buenos Aires? What a great city!”
M: “Sure, but I prefer Brazil.”
RL: “I loved Curitiba.”
M: “I found it sterile. Enjoyed Sao Paulo, though.”
RL: “Well, Florianopolis was the best.”
M: “Agreed.”

[stare]

RL: “I usually pick up some pieces in the markets in India, but the quality isn’t always great, you know?”
M: “Haven’t been, but I noticed that in China.”
RL: “It’s like Cambodia that way.”
M: “That was my experience, too.”

[stare]

RL: “Have you been to Africa?”
M: “Yes, Zanzibar and Tanzania.”
RL: “I climbed Kilimanjaro.”
M: “So did I.”
RL: “Really. I used a British guide service that was based there, not REI like everyone else.”
M: “My guide was a Tanzanian friend who lives there.”
RL: “Summited?”
M: “Yes, via the Machame route.”
RL: “I did too, but on the Marangu route. In 2006.”
M: “I did it in 2001.”

[stare]

RL: “Well, it’s nothing compared to Antarctica, really.”
M: …

Match point.

Although Milne said he'd give anything to have a taste of the whisky, "It is not going to happen and I am not going to get excited about it," he said. "But if there was ever an opportunity, it could be a wonderful one to have."

Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:02:03 -0700

Although Milne said he'd give anything to have a taste of the whisky, "It is not going to happen and I am not going to get excited about it," he said. "But if there was ever an opportunity, it could be a wonderful one to have.":

100-year-old Scotch pulled from explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton’s frozen Antarctic crate will be chemically tested, not tasted. Pity.

We employ very intelligent office supplies, and it’s...

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 17:40:28 -0700

We employ very intelligent office supplies, and it’s heartening to learn that my colleagues will go to great lengths to ensure their safety and well-being.

thedailywhat: Case Of The Mondays of the Day: Veteran JetBlue...

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 15:33:36 -0700

thedailywhat:

Case Of The Mondays of the Day: Veteran JetBlue flight attendant Steven Slater got fed up with his job after a heated argument with an “uncooperative passenger” on a just-landed plane led to profanity being hurled in his general direction, so he did what anyone in his situation would do: He cursed out the entire plane on the PA system, walked to the door, inflated the emergency slide, shimmied down, and stormed off.

From the NYT’s City Room:

One passenger got out of his seat to fetch his belongings from the overhead compartment before the crew had given permission. Mr. Slater instructed the man to remain seated. The passenger defied him. Mr. Slater approached and reached the passenger just as he pulled down his luggage, which struck Mr. Slater in the head.

Mr. Slater asked for an apology. The passenger instead cursed at him. Mr. Slater got on the plane’s public address system and cursed out all aboard. Then he activated the inflatable evacuation slide at service exit R1, launched himself off the plane, an Embraer 190, ran to the employee parking lot and left the airport in a car he had parked there.

He was later arrested at his home in Queens on charges of reckless endangerment and criminal mischief.

[cityroom / photo: myspace.]

My new hero.

What did I tell you guys about dressing up like candy bars?

Thu, 24 Jun 2010 13:59:07 -0700

What did I tell you guys about dressing up like candy bars?:

Via Alex Johnson - Editor At Large

Took a friend’s eight-year-old with me on my first...

Sat, 19 Jun 2010 12:36:18 -0700

Took a friend’s eight-year-old with me on my first personal wedding dress shopping trip earlier this spring. Not a fun experience under the best of conditions; this is, after all, only one part of an $86 billion dollar-a-year industry whose sole purpose is to part hopeless romantics from an average of $27,800 for what is essentially a one-night party.

Going with a “post-princess phase” little girl is the perfect remedy to the usual gleeful squeals and tears. The best part of the day was when I showed her the price tag from the dress that she liked most of all. Now, if any of you have or know younger children, you know that most of them have a skewed sense of finances. $10 is a chunk of change. $100? Holy moley. Ask them to guess your annual salary and you’ll get a response of either a confident “TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS” or a shy “maybe a million?” Watching E’s eyes grow wide as she wrapped her head around $2,000 for a dress was like watching a parent look at their college student’s first semester tuition bill. Inconceivable!

“That’s CRAZY,” she said. “Who would spend that much money on something they’ll only wear once? Stupid people.” (Ed. note: Wedding industry, good luck with this one.) “I mean, you could do SO MANY THINGS with that money, like buy a house!” (See “skewed sense of finances” above.) So I asked her to write a list of what a smart person would do with $2,000; here are the top five:

1) Save it

2) Buy food

3) Tack a vaction [sic]

4) Buy some plants

5) Buy a pet and pet food.

Save it. Seriously, America, pay attention. Forget being smarter than a 5th grader. You just got trumped by an EIGHT-year-old.

(Yes, she wrote it on my parking ticket. Whatever. I was trumped eons ago.)

This, and other images like it by Charlie Riedel for the AP have...

Thu, 03 Jun 2010 20:32:14 -0700

This, and other images like it by Charlie Riedel for the AP have been circulating madly today. Even the most cynical among us cannot deny the emotional impact of such a sight. The photo does what words cannot do: it connects us visually, tapping into that particularly large portion of the brain dedicated to image analysis. We humans are, after all, visual creatures.

My significant other is a photojournalist. In this capacity, he has traveled all over the world, covering everything from widespread environmental disasters to small town human interest stories. Occasionally, especially after one of his “lighter” assignments, he wonders if he’s making a big enough contribution to the world. In the big scheme of things, what do all of those pictures DO, really? Are they little more than brief attention-grabbers? What’s the point?

The point is that they’re one of the most powerful tools for social change in the world today. Photographers are witnesses. The images they produce make us sit up and pay attention in a way that words sometimes can’t. 1,000, 12,000, 110,000 barrels of oil spilled… big numbers, but what do they mean?

Images such as the one above, or this one, provide a context for those numbers. They also link us emotionally. As a non-profit fundraiser, I know that the best grant I’ve ever written ultimately can’t hold a candle to an photograph or video of our clients. Yes, the written word is a powerful thing, and I have the utmost respect for writers and the contributions they make to the world. But in my experience, if I need to prove to a donor the impact their contribution would have on the lives of the people we serve, images are about as honest and compelling as it can get.

Most importantly, though, photographs expose life. With innumerable responsibilities vying for our attention, it’s easy to exist in a vacuum just to stay on top of things. A good photograph can shake us out of that reverie with a child’s LOOK AT ME urgency, showing us that there’s a world outside of our bubble, and spurring us to action.

Says famed war photographer James Nachtwey in a 2007 speech: “It’s easy to be cynical about photography, to dismiss its power to create change. But it has made a difference, against all odds, sometimes in great ways, sometimes small. As long as there are things happening in this world that cry out for change, photography will continue to be a factor in the process.”

So, yes. There is most certainly a point to it all.

(photo via msnbc.com Photoblog)

tiffehr: A Shitty View of the Pecking Order - Bob Sutton And...

Fri, 28 May 2010 18:33:40 -0700

tiffehr:

A Shitty View of the Pecking Order - Bob Sutton

And here I always thought that shit traveled uphill.

Naked priorities

Thu, 27 May 2010 23:44:22 -0700

Seattle’s unemployment rate currently hovers just over 9%, more budget reductions are about to be announced to help mitigate the city’s $60 million deficit, the timeline for replacing our aging viaduct is starting to rival that of my hometown Big Dig, and the district is scrambling to find a way to avoid issuing another 42 pink slips to educators in addition to the 36 issued earlier this month.

But what do residents think this city, a city where summer temperatures rarely climb above 80°F, a city where half of the population tends to turn the color of a boiled lobster within 15 minutes of sun exposure (and that’s to the areas of the body that *normally* see the light of day)— what do residents think this city really, TRULY needs?

A nude beach.

GPOYW The Civic Duty edition.

Thu, 27 May 2010 00:00:54 -0700

GPOYW

The Civic Duty edition.

Out of The Mouths of Babes

Mon, 24 May 2010 21:16:03 -0700

Teen girl #1: “Gaaawd, I am so SICK of these high school boys! They are SO immature! I wish they were, like, older, you know? Like, right now.”

Teen girl #2: “Yeah, if they were, like, 30.”

Teen girl #1: “Totally. 30-year-old guys SO don’t tell poop jokes and think it’s funny. Gawd.”

Me: Snorts drink through nose. Scrambles for napkin. Gasps for breath.

Looks like somebody won’t be invited back to the RNC.

Wed, 12 May 2010 18:56:47 -0700

Looks like somebody won’t be invited back to the RNC.

Five bottles of port, three of wine, and one of homemade brandy,...

Tue, 20 Apr 2010 11:27:29 -0700

Five bottles of port, three of wine, and one of homemade brandy, all to go home in my little previously-carried-on single rollercase.

What about the clothes I brought with me, you ask? Priorities, my friends. Priorities.