22 February 2012

VIDEOS AND GRAPHICS



Time Lapse ~ Epic Skies is a video which photographer Tony Rowell made of the American Southwest.  Do NOT miss the sublime lenticular cloud pulsing and undulating like a sea creature at the very beginning.  The image above (click to enlarge) of a meteor over Mount Whitney was also created by Rowell.  


Know Your Rights, co-sponsored by the ACLU, asserts that taking photographs or videos in public is not a crime, in particular if you are shooting a controversial event like a political demonstration, and the response of opponents or law enforcement to that demonstration.  Photography is not a crime.


Evolution in 120 Seconds handily addresses an ambiguity I've commented on in prior posts ~ the misuse of the word "theory", as in "it's only a theory".  Check it out.


What a Scientist Looks Like is a wonderful project aimed at putting a human face to the stereotypes which most people carry around.  You simply can't generalize, cubbyhole, or otherwise dismiss the diversity, range and depth within the scientific community.


An In-Depth Look at the U.S. Prison Industry offers a series of graphics and captions which explain the significance of what you're seeing.  They include ~

  • U.S. prison system ~ largest in the world.
  • State by state.
  • Prison population by race.
  • Growth of U.S. prisons.
  • The privatization of prisons in the U.S.
  • Inmate mortality rates on the decline
  • Recidivism
  • Crime on the decline
  • Norway ~ a contrasting approach.
A sampling from the graphics ~ "With over 2.3 million people behind bars, U.S. prisoners represent almost 25% of the world's prison population (the U.S. is 5% of the population of the world) .... 5% of black males who live in the United States are in prison or jail, 2% of Hispanic males, and less than 1% of white males .... Norway has one of the lowest incarceration rates in Europe (66 of 100,000), compared to the U.S. (738 of 100,000) and boasts incredibly low crime rates and recidivism rates."  Our prison system is broken, due in large part to the doomed "war on drugs" and to mandatory sentencing.  Those who view prisons as tantamount to country clubs where inmates are pampered, are seriously misled.  For a clearer picture of prison conditions, please see my previous post.  

No comments:

Post a Comment