When asked about last weekend's crippling spam attack, our favorite OS editor replied that "we're working on it."  

I take great comfort in the fact that they are working on it.  If the spam is this bad when they are working on it, just imagine how bad it would be if they… Read full post »

Obama in 2008:

"What I'm not going to be doing is using Justice Department resources to try to circumvent state laws on this issue, simply because I want folks to be investigating violent crimes and potential terrorism.  We've got a lot of things for our law enforcement officers to deal with."&n… Read full post »

One of the nice things about the iPhone is the number of photo editing programs available.  As I see it, there are three kinds of iPhone photo editing applications:

1)  those that provide basic editing tools such as changing exposure and contrast, cropping, and so on.

2)  those that pr… Read full post »

Everyone who has been a member of Open Salon for more than five minutes knows that the most popular posts are the "meta-posts," basically posts about posts and the activity of posting.  Though some denounce such posts as a waste of time, energy, and space, few among us have been able… Read full post »

Though the cover page of Open Salon assures me that "YOU MAKE THE HEADLINES," I never suspected that "top rated" item this morning would be a post accusing me of "despicable low behavior," written by well-respected and long-time OS member Catherine Forsythe. 

The despicable low behavior describ… Read full post »

For members of Open Salon, probably the most irritating part of the "OS experience" is the amount of spam, especially during the evenings and weekends.  In addition to being unwanted, intrusive, and sometimes downright stupid, spam also has other negative aspects.  It/…

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The following are various iPhone photos that I have taken the last few days.  There is no particular theme.

 

 Self Portrait

 

 A friend who bought me a birthday lunch.

 

 

 Abstract pipes.

 

 I took this sitting in m… Read full post »

One of the great things about cell phone cameras is that it is possible to take photos in places and circumstaces in which previously one would have been unlikely to have a camera.  And with the cell phone photo software now available, you can also have what is in effect a… Read full post »

I haven't been doing much photography lately, but here are a few that I took at the start of the fall season.  The following photos were all taken and edited on an Apple iPhone.

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 This is a stream near where I live.  I took this while going for an… Read full post »

What a great idea.  Thanks Mark.  I look forward to reading all the lists. 

Here's mine, by genre:

Progressive Metal/Death Metal 

1.  Porcupine Tree -- In Absentia  [also Deadwing and Fear of a Blank Planet]

2.  Opeth -- Blackwater Park  

World Music/Andalusian… Read full post »

Why hasn't he shaved?

-- Tom Hanks as Charlie Wilson, talking about Dan Rather in Afghanistan, in Charlie Wilson's War

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I suppose most men at some time or other have had to shave, and I think most see it at best as a bothersome chore. How many beards are grown more/…

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After posting on Open Salon for over two years, I recently realized that I have pretty much run out of ideas for posts.  Concurrent with that realization was the realization that few people care what I think about politics, religion, etc.  Hell, even I don't much care what I think about… Read full post »

Unfortunately, I have few original ideas.  What this means on OS is that I am already "blogged out" -- I have already written about what I can write about.  So at this point my involvement on OS is mostly as an observer and commenter. 

And as an observer, for some… Read full post »

This post is in response to the OS open call regarding the upcoming verdict in the trial of BART officer Johannes Mehserle.  If you are unfamiliar with the case I recommend first reading the open call post and the linked article provided in that post.

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With respect to the demands…

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The following are excerpts from spam comments and posts that have recently been published on Open Salon:

 

Here's my list of twelve movies.  I could list others, but if I had to be stranded on a desert island with twelve, I think I would be pretty happy with the variety of this collection:

One frequent complaint on OS is that it is difficult to find good posts that have been published in the past.  The search tools that are available aren't of much help.  But there is a way that people can work around that problem.

On the lower left side of your blog… Read full post »

 Placing flowers in a cemetary is perhaps a way of asserting that death, though final, does not have the final word.  Flowers represent the reality that the memory of the  loved ones lives on.  

Sin… Read full post »

I haven't posted any iPhone photos in a while.  These are all photos of an old wall near where I work.  All of the editing was done with software on the iPhone.  I didn't see any good opportunities for composition, so I concentrated on bringing out contrast and texture.

 … Read full post »

 Hollywood Video goes through their second bankruptcy in two years.

 A sign on the local store:

 

 

Normally I'm not a big fan of "breaking news" stories on Open Salon.  In this case, the story hits a little closer to home.

In fact, living in my home is… Read full post »

 I hesitate to use the word "art," because I'm not sure that what I do with the iPhone counts as art.  So when I use the word "art" (with respect to anything I do) it should be understood as an amateur attempt at art.

That said, using a couple of inexpensive… Read full post »

 

Apparently it is big news that Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback mega-church, sent out a fundraising letter asking members to donate additional funds so as to make up for a $900,000 deficit in the church budget. 

Suffice it to say that Warren is not very popular here on… Read full post »

I have been taking photos with my iPhone for quite a while now, and for some reason recently I have been in a black and white mood.  I wanted to collect all of my black and white photos in a single post just to see what they look like together. … Read full post »

While it is true that OS members can pretty much post anything they want, there is no obligation to rate any particular post.  What I have noticed recently is a number of posts that are highly rated, for reasons that are utterly baffling to me.  I don't know how many times… Read full post »

All of these photos were taken with an iPhone.  Most of them were taken in the Pearl District of Portland, Oregon.

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 Building.  Using editing software on the iPhone I replaced the background.

 

Bar Entrance.  This is from the entry way of a sports bar in the… Read full post »