A huge outpouring of tributes to Steve Jobs

via news.cnet.com

Over at CNET, there's an amazing collection of quotes from the huge outpouring of tributes to Steve Jobs and his tremendous legacy.

When was the last time the passing of a CEO evoked such praise? (That's a rhetorical question.)

http://pipe.to/jobs-tributes

Posted via email from Yes, That Bob West

Apple says Steve Jobs has died - The Washington Post

Apple says Steve Jobs has died

By Associated Press, Updated: Wednesday, October 5, 4:49 PM

CUPERTINO, Calif. — Apple Inc. said the company’s co-founder Steve Jobs died Wednesday. He was 56.

“We are deeply saddened to announce that Steve Jobs passed away today,” the company said in a brief statement.

“Steve’s brilliance, passion and energy were the source of countless innovations that enrich and improve all of our lives. The world is immeasurably better because of Steve.”

The death of a mere celebrity is one thing, but the passing of a man who was a true creative genius, and who changed the lives of many, is much different. Steve changed the way I work and create, how I communicate, how I see the world.

I bought my first Apple computer in 1983, and my first Mac at the start of 1985. I served as the president of the Apple and Macintosh users group for Dallas-Fort Worth for two years, and served on the conference faculty for most of 7 years. During those times, I've made many friends and learned more than I can say. And none of that would have happened without Steve's vision and sometimes-infamous drive.

Those who are relatively new to the world of Apple products -- and many anti-consumerist critics -- think of Apple as a company that cranks out pretty toys.

Those of us who have been even peripherally involved in the Apple story from the early days know better. Steve's influence on user interface design, product design, music delivery and marketing, and many other areas -- including product demos and Powerpoint presentations -- can never be understated.

Steve was just one year older than I am, but lifetimes' worth of accomplishment ahead.

Thank you, Steve. May your creative vision and energy live on in Apple, its employees, its products, and its positive influence.

Posted via email from Yes, That Bob West

Man, I love my homeworld... Beautiful Time-Lapse Montage of the Northern Lights in Finland

via laughingsquid.com

Time-lapse sky photography can get a bit homogeneous, but this stands out. Check out this video made for Finland tourism. Makes me wonder why humans want to vacation in a place like Las Vegas.

Posted via email from Yes, That Bob West

Man, I love my homeworld... Beautiful Time-Lapse Montage of the Northern Lights in Finland

via laughingsquid.com

Time-lapse sky photography can get a bit homogeneous, but this stands out. Check out this video made for Finland tourism. Makes me wonder why humans want to vacation in a place like Las Vegas.

Posted via email from Yes, That Bob West

We now pause for this nanosecond of culture...

As I foraged at a CVS pharmacy today, my ears were shocked to hear the melancholy groove-tones of Broken Bells' "The Ghost Inside" playing on the Mews-Ack.

 

"Just like a whiskey bottle drained on the floor

She got no future just a life to endure

This good Samaritan's shaking her hard

'Too Late to Leave Him' are the songs in her car

Give it up"

 

Dark, intelligent music in a pharmacy? But then, of course, this sublime moment was interrupted by a smarmy VO, hawking coupons.The Apocalypse has apparently been postponed.

Posted via email from Yes, That Bob West

¡Cuidado! B-Boys en el trabajo!

McDonald's, Los Angeles:

Posted via email from Yes, That Bob West

Wondering if Paul Simon was on hand -- For Kodachrome Fans, Road Ends at Photo Lab in Kansas

via nytimes.com

That celebrated 75-year run from mainstream to niche photography is scheduled to come to an end on Thursday when the last processing machine is shut down here to be sold for scrap.

Posted via email from Yes, That Bob West

THIS is the kind of thinking we need: House sequesters carbon, before and after building - Hempcrete House [Pics] PSFK

via psfk.com

Think about it. Structures that actually reduce carbon in the atmosphere through completely passive means.

And all jokes aside ("This house is totally DOPE!"), it's another example of how versatile a product hemp is.

When generations down the road look back, they're going to wonder why we didn't start thinking sooner about how what we build impacts and integrates with the rest of the planet.

Posted via email from Yes, That Bob West

The Longest Photographic Exposures in History

via itchyi.squarespace.com

I've always been fascinated with the scale of human time as compared with geologic or cosmic scales. We generally forget that we as individuals are here for an eye-blink in comparison with family bloodlines, which are an eye-blink to cultures, and on out into the concentric circles of Earth, solar system, galaxy and universe.

When it comes to photography, we usually think in terms of "moments", and occasionally "time lapse" – a series of moments captured and displayed one after the other, forming a kind of Cliff's Notes of time.

But these beautiful, mesmerizing photographs, by German photographer Michael Wesely, are continuous exposures, created by leaving the shutter open and exposing a single negative for up to two years or more.

They are somewhat disorienting; it's hard at first to connect the changes to the three-dimensional matter with the flow of time through the frame.

Time-lapse is simpler for us to relate to. Capturing flashes of time, it shows us a series of easily-digestible bites. We enjoy playing them back at a pace at which movement is rapid, and sky scrapers are constructed in just a few seconds. It seems unreal. But there are people visible in the moments. Substantial humans, frozen a narrow slice of time. Their presence creates a temporal hand-hold.

In these long exposures, though, humans become less than ghostly, their bodies making no apparent mark on the film. In an exposure lasting more than a few minutes, people start to fade. And at this time scale, the things that humans work so hard to build have become fluid... some older parts having coalesced, others just a finger-painted smear across the ground.

But trees remain. And the perceived spiral of the sun remains, as we spin like a toddler, to the point of dizziness.

The volumes of time poured into these exposures, though, are still easy to grasp. We can picture a few years' worth of life in our heads. A couple of birthdays, a few holiday seasons, a handful of family trips. For the most part, things are the same when we return to an old haunt. A new store or a few new homes may have been added, and some humans may have been added or subtracted, but most landmarks – or, more accurately, most "humanmarks" – are still around. A little worse for wear, perhaps, but persistent in our eyes and minds. Still solid. Comfortable.

A year or two on film is something we can still wrap our heads around.

But what if we expand the scale? Wesely says he could theoretically create exposures of 40 years or more. Impressive... but still within memory span for most people. And still within the span of most lives.

What if we were to expose a negative to capture time on a scale that can only be "understood" by the objects that have survived it? Look at the longest exposures on this page, then close your eyes, and try to picture these:

• A 300-year exposure of Washington, D.C. – A few apparitional buildings and monuments, but mostly Potomac and trees.
• A 1,000-year exposure of a grove of giant redwoods – No tourists driving through holes in trunks, and no lumberjacks. Just monstrous stems and a thick cloud of leaves.
• A 200,000-year exposure of the Earth – No evidence of humankind. Just... the Earth.
• A 70 million-year exposure of the Grand Canyon – A very big, very blurry dent in the planet.
• A 4.5 billion-year exposure of the solar system – A bright disk, surrounded in the distance by the faintest, soft, orbital halos.
• A 13 billion-year exposure of the Milky Way – No spiral arms, just a fuzzy spot on the negative.
• A 15 billion-year exposure of the universe – I'll leave this one completely to your mind's eye.

Words like "solid" and "permanent" and even "ancient" tend to lose their sense of longevity once we start widening our gaze a bit.

And words like "ephemeral" and "fleeting" or phrases like "life is short" take on an entirely new perspective.

Just as the shutter is held open, these photographs hold open a window onto a larger sense of who and where and when we are. And they deserve to be explored for as much time as you can spare.

. . . . . . . . .
Thanks to Stefan Klenke aka itchy i for posting the images, and for a great article. Explore the other photos at itchyi.squarespace.com

Posted via email from The Flow