‘Hollyweed’ sign prankster arrested

LOS ANGELES (AFP).- Los Angeles police on Monday arrested a local artist suspected of a New Year’s Day prank in which he altered the letters of the famous Hollywood sign to read “Hollyweed.”screen-shot-2017-01-09-at-10-58-02-pm

Zachary Cole Fernandez, 30, was booked on a misdemeanor charge when he voluntarily surrendered to the authorities with his attorney at his side. He was released on his own recognizance and ordered to appear in court on February 15, a police spokesman said.

In an interview two days later with the online magazine Vice, Fernandez creates art under the name Jesus Hands, a name that can be seen written on the sign in this close-up photos: 0103-sub-hollyweed-getty-3

— said the effort was inspired by a similar 1976 alteration of the sign carried out by Cal State Northridge art student Danny Finegood, who changed the sign to “Hollyweed” as part of a school art project in response to a recent relaxation of marijuana laws. Finegood got an A grade on his project.

“That inspired me, and I dug a bit and found he did some other installs over the years with friends,” Fernandez said. “… So on the bottom of the left of the `O,’ I wrote, `A tribute to Mr. Finegood.’ The main goal of the piece, however, is to bring about conversation.”

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He and his partner Sarah Fern conducted research on the sign to determine how to scale the structure and place tarps over the 45-foot-tall o’s to turn them into e’s, Fernandez told the online magazine Vice. They aimed to prompt a conversation about cannabis after California voters approved a measure to legalize recreational marijuana in November, he said.

 

But while many chuckled at his daring feat, one Los Angeles councilman & curmudgeon, David Ryu, said he was not amused and would push for Fernandez to be prosecuted to the fullest. “The Hollywood sign has seen many alteration attempts over the years for people seeking notoriety or commercial gain,” he said in a statement. “Pranks of this nature deplete the resources of our valuable public safety personnel, in both responding to the prank and in responding to the increased crowds and copycat attempts that these incidents generate.”

Police said Fernandez was charged with a misdemeanor charge of trespass, as opposed to vandalism, because he did not damage the sign.

The landmark was erected in 1923 as “Hollywoodland” to advertise a local real estate development.

hs-003It has undergone a number of transformations over the years.

In 1987 pranksters changed it to “Holywood” to mark the visit of Pope John Paul II and 1992 it was changed to “Perotwood.”03 01 02

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And in a similar vein here’s a collection of amusing signage and wording:

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Accidental Discovery: Hairy Halite

For scale: the top photo, 4 cm is about 1.5 inches

For scale: 50 microns is about 0.002 inches, about ⅔ the width of a human hair

Photographers & Summary Authors: Dave Lynch and Paul M. Adams

Patrick Manson, the eminent parasitologist, once told a colleague:“A man may search for a shilling and find a sovereign. The important thing is to search.”

Much of science is built on accidental discoveries, and one such event happened to us a couple years ago. We were doing a survey of evaporite minerals in Imperial County, California, at a site where water was bubbling up out of the ground. The area was coated with deposits of minerals like halite (NaCl), gypsum (CaSO4 • H2O) and a number of interesting magnesium carbonates. We came across a small patch of white, fuzzy material that we thought was probably some kind of mold or fungus. This made sense because the area was wet. Expecting nothing too interesting, and almost as an afterthought, we collected a sample and moved on.

Back in the lab we put some of the fuzz in the scanning electron microscope and took a look. What a surprise! It was not fungus at all but salt (halite) that had grown into long strings of microscopic cubic crystals. To our knowledge, such “whisker” growth in salt has not been seen before.

It was a minor discovery to be sure, but Patrick Manson was right: “The important thing is to search.” And it’s a good reminder that our intuition and casual opinions can be wrong. As Mark Twain said: “Supposing is good, but finding out is better.”

Source: EPOD – a service of USRA

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Cobra Gypsies: the Kalbelya of Rajasthan

Filmmaker Raphael Treza traveled to northern India and lived among an ancient tribe known as the Kalbeliya for three months. Cobra Gypsies is the vibrant and enlightening document of that journey.

The Kalbeliyas are a highly spirited people; ebullient in their celebration of life and colorful custom. Although many of them have never before met a foreigner prior to Treza’s arrival at their camps, the tribes-people seem unguarded in their enthusiasms to share their culture.

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The tribe is shown in comfort with the oftentimes inhospitable environment which surrounds them. In the midst of bee swarms and venomous lizards, they search for one of the most dominant symbols of their tribe – the cobra. family-with-cobra-camel-fair-pushkar-f9ytmr.jpgIn one particularly illuminating segment of the film, Treza is taken on an excursion to hunt the cobras, which are widespread inhabitants of the region. Once the cobras are caught, they are largely depleted of their deadly venom. Sometimes they are placed on public display for money. 0.jpgGypsies also learn to handle the reptiles from an early age, and incorporate them into their ceremonial dances.

Music plays an integral role in defining the culture of the Kalbeliyas as well. Treza’s camera captures the festivities at an annual two-day music festival, during which hundreds of families celebrate the name of Krishna through uninhibited dance from nightfall to sunrise. Gypsy-in-Pushkar-camel-fair.jpgVivid and pulsating beats permeate the entirety of the film, and help to characterize the thriving spirit of the community it documents. The camps are scored by the buoyant sounds of perpetual song.

Marriages are arranged from an early age, and the couple remains bonded until death. We observe the ritualistic beauty of a Kalbeliyas wedding, where the groom is covered in the eye-popping primary colors of plants and spices, guests descend upon the bride’s house led by a mobile disc jockey, and dancing proceeds well into the night.gypsies_4.jpg

Cobra Gypsies allows viewers an opportunity to witness behaviors and customs that have never before been captured on camera. The filmmaker’s point of view is unobtrusive, and we benefit from the sense of having lived in the presence of the Kalbeliyas for a brief, but glorious period of time.

I was led to this film by watching the Raphael Treza’s fascinating earlier films Hallucinogen Honey Hunters:

and Night Ghata delightful musical prequel to Cobra Gypsies:

If you would like to donate to Raphael’s next film you may do so here.

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Hood Downtown Features Iranian Painter’s Works of Psychogeography

In late 2013, Bahar Behbahani began a series of paintings inspired by her contemplation of identity. She first came to the United States from Iran in 2003. For a while, she moved between Tehran and the United States, then relocated permanently to New York in 2007. As a significant leitmotif of Iranian cultural experience, Persian gardens represented a logical recourse for Behbahani in trying to address her sense of being away from home.

The suite of paintings, installation, and video in this exhibition, part of her ongoing Persian Gardens series, captures her engagement with what she describes as the psychogeography of place and memory.

Bahar Behbahani: Let the Garden Eram Flourish at Hood Downtown, 53 Main Street, Hanover, NH

Opening events on January 12–14 include a Dartmouth student night and members and public receptions with the artist, as well as a public conversation between the artist and the exhibition’s curator Ugochukwu-Smooth Nzewi.

“Bahar Behbahani’s immersive work invites profound reflection,” says Nzewi. “She has developed an original vocabulary with which she mines history and personal memory. With Persian gardens as frame of reference and conceptual backdrop, she bridges time and space. Our students and faculty will draw incredible insights from her impressive paintings, which connect her Iranian and American experiences. We are indeed delighted to be the first American museum to show this career-defining new body of work.”

Artist Bahar Behbahani says, “I’m hoping my work raises questions without clear answers. I’m very interested in challenging our perceptions.”

An engineering tour de force, Persian or Iranian gardens have gripped human imagination since their emergence in the sixth century BCE. These walled gardens comprise multilateral structures, connecting aqueducts, networks of water channels, and surrounding trees and vegetation that remain lush all year in the middle of the desert. As objects of beauty, they have attracted people from different walks of life throughout the ages, from the Persian rulers who created them to evoke their personal transcendence and political power to the diplomats, common folk, scholars, and soldiers who have sought out their orientalist enchantment. Haunted by the spirits of fierce power play, Persian gardens are marked by tragedy, love, betrayal, death, and redemption, and mirror Iran’s fraught histories, past and present.

In the Persian Gardens series, Behbahani does not pursue a utopian fantasy or affirm the orientalism that the Western eye seeks in the gardens. Instead, her intensely layered vocabulary, which draws upon the schematic architectural plans, ritual geometry, and ornate aesthetics of Persian gardens, as well as the poetry they evoke, describes the histories that attend the gardens. We are invited to absorb Behbahani’s rich and complex narratives woven on canvas. She approaches Persian gardens as a metaphor of politics and poetics and seeks the intersection of the public and private there. Highly gestural, Behbahani’s work can be placed within the tradition of mark making and abstraction. It should not be seen strictly through the lenses of eastern, Persian, or Iranian aesthetic traditions. Hybridization, mirage, structures, memory, fantasy, and the power of imagination are some of the things that come to mind when looking at her paintings.

Born in Tehran in 1973, Behbahani pursues a multidisciplinary practice that includes paintings, video, installation, and performance. Her work has been featured in major venues, biennials, and art festivals and is in many public and private collections. She obtained her BFA (1995) and MFA (1998) from the University of Tehran’s School of Fine Arts at a time when the principal form of expression for many Iranian artists was abstraction. This arose out of the necessity to speak with subterfuge due to the political dynamic at play in the country then (which has since improved). The last few years have seen a growing interest in Iranian art in Iran and in the international mainstream, and Let the Garden Eram Flourish is also a metaphor for this recent development in the art world.

Source: Bahar Behbahani | Hood Museum

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Anti-Surveillance Fabric Aims to Confuse Facial Recognition

Berlin-based artist and technologist Adam Harvey aims to overwhelm and confuse these systems by presenting them with thousands of false hits so they can’t tell which faces are real.

The Hyperface Camouflage project involves printing patterns on to clothing or textiles, which then appear to have eyes, mouths and other features that a computer can interpret as a face.screen-shot-2017-01-04-at-1-52-21-pm

“You can change the way you appear but in camouflage you can think of the figure and the ground relationship. There’s an opportunity to modify the ‘ground’, the things that appear next to you, around you, and that can also modify the computer vision confidence score.”

Harvey’s Hyperface project aims to do just that, he says, “Overloading an algorithm with what it wants, oversaturating an area with faces to divert the gaze of the computer vision algorithm.”

 

“A lot of other researchers are looking at how to take that very small data and turn it into insights that can be used for marketing,” Harvey said. “What all this reminds me of is Francis Galton and eugenics. The real criminal, in these cases, are people who are perpetrating this idea, not the people who are being looked at.”

Source: HyperFace Camouflage – Adam Harvey

And to go with that fabulous idea, here’s an optically confusing album:

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New Word to Start the Year: “Sarchasm”

SARCHASM – The gulf between the author of a sarcastic joke and the person who doesn’t get it.

~Found on QI, one of the winners in the Washington Post’s Style Invitational)

In hopes of escaping the memories of the anno horribilis we’ve just been through, here’s an album of places to feed your daydreams:

 

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Extra Second Added to 2016 Today

Won’t this fucking year EVER be over?
2016

Graphic designer Chris Barker has photoshopped a very 2016 take on the album art — which he has been updating over the past two months as more bad news rolled in.

Even science seems to have joined in to make this horrendous year a little bit worse: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/12/161228213356.htm
Charlie Brooker is a sarcastic and wonderfully British comic and in this video he disassembles this very terrible, very bad, very horrible year in a way that will turn your grimace into an occasional wry smirk.
I started this collection of political cartoons and imagery many months ago as a commentary on the election season:poli591745_v1 poli591339_v2 poliacid_picdump_92 poli-copy polifunny-germany-police-man-bar-son poliscreen-shot-2016-12-10-at-9-11-12-pm polilowbrow_humor_15 acid_picdump_35 poliscreen-shot-2016-11-22-at-6-09-52-pm polideath polifunny-cartoon-boat-hole-sinking poliacid_picdump_101 poliacid_picdump_47-2 poliacid_picdump_83-1 poliacid_picdump_41 poliacid_picdump_54 polinq161115 poliscreen-shot-2016-10-27-at-8-06-45-pm polinq161027 polidaily_picdump_1325_640_19 polidaily_picdump_1328_640_31 polidaily_picdump_1328_640_11 polimorning_picdump_2011_640_41 poliamusing_memes_to_make_you_laugh_out_loud_erwgb_640_35 polimorning_picdump_2009_640_35 polidaily_picdump_1306_640_26 polinq160909 poligrace polidaily_picdump_1298_640_high_71 polifunny_picdump_1291_640_45 polinq160905 polijaptrump polii_could_argue_but_i_completely_agree_640_10 polidaily_picdump_1297_640_49 poli30 polidaily_picdump_1286_640_59 polimemes_to_amuse_your_tired_mind_640_21 polimorning_picdump_1997_640_51 polidaily_gifdump_1127_26 polifdzone-php politru polimorning_picdump_1993_640_08 presidentwilson polimorning_picdump_1986_640_30 polimorning_picdump_1987_640_34 polinq160810 564559_v1 564224_v1 564226_v1 564210_v1 564223_v1 564225_v1 polifunny_picdump_1264_640_high_11 poliamazing_cosplays_youre_doing_it_right_640_38 polimorning_picdump_1983_640_49 polidaily_picdump_1265_640_24 screen-shot-2016-07-21-at-2-52-18-pm polinq160721 polizone-php politrump-2 polidaily_picdump_2171_640_high_21 polimorning_picdump_1977_640_47 polisome_things_you_just_cant_argue_with_640_54 polisome_things_you_just_cant_argue_with_640_30 polidaily_picdump_2163_640_65 polifunny_picdump_1249_640_39 polidaily_picdump_2164_640_48 polidaily_picdump_2164_640_14 policool-security-crop-glue-justice poli polifunny_picdump_1238_640_22 polidaily_picdump_2150_640_38 polidaily_picdump_2154_640_80 polidaily_picdump_2138_640_34 poli19 polifunny_picdump_1211_640_14 polifunny_picdump_1214_640_01 polifunny_picdump_1215_640_21 polizone-1-php polifunny_picdump_1218_640_high_27 polifunny_picdump_1221_640_high_03 polih
polidaily_picdump_2117_640_33 polidaily_picdump_2119_640_64 polidaily_picdump_2125_640_46 polinrtvh4o
The rest of these are images of or about the candidate who was cheated out of consideration by the DCC or his opponent.
I think Sanders would have beat Trump if only because many of Trump’s voters only came out to vote against Sec. Clinton. Against Bernie they would probably have just stayed home or abstained. So despite the Democratic Party’s almost instant blaming of 3rd party candidacies for their loss, we can really thank Hillary and her DC-insider supporters for Trump’s election victory.
509326_v1 bernair bernburn berndaily_picdump_2069_640_94 bernhillary bernhilliraq bernhilly-v-bernie-donors bernhrc bernie_big_mural berniefunny_picdump_1078_640_18 bernieinaction bernieposter-e1453755857207 bernimorning_picdump_888_640_24 bernimorning_picdump_888_640_25 bernimorning_picdump_895_640_14 bernits_so_true_you_cant_even_argue_with_that_640_39 bernmorning_picdump_927_640_10 bernnttl1sw bernquote bernrs_500x259-151015094448-bernie_gif bernterriblepolitician bernwe birdie-sanders-sticker-160329-500px bshc ca0e1vvw0aa5lxd cbm0mpmuyaaumqw funny_picdump_1169_640_32 psltfd7lro1x screen-shot-2016-04-07-at-12-31-56-pm separated-at-birth-bernie-mick-a1ff86 true tzrg3fz

 

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Sea Shepherd finds Japanese whaler ‘hiding behind iceberg’

Japan persists in hunting whales despite the International Whaling Commission having found their claims of “scientific research” to be blatant lies. But now they are facing Sea Shepherd’s new faster interceptors that can keep pace with the murderous harpooners.

After the sabotage of the Bernie Sanders campaign by the DCC I transferred my monthly donation of a day’s pay to Sea Shepherd. Donate here.

Two vessels from the environmental organization left Australia on December 5 bound for the freezing Southern Ocean in the Antarctic for its 11th campaign to disrupt the Japanese hunt.

Ocean Warrior, built with $12millionAU of financial support from the Dutch, British and Swedish lotteries, has already found one of the harpoon ships which meant the rest of the fleet would be near by.news-151109-1-2-sa-steve-irwin-rough-2-1000w“The crews of the Ocean Warrior and the Steve Irwin have been battling through thick fog and ice to protect the whales in the Australian whale sanctuary,” said Ocean Warrior captain Adam Meyerson, referring to the sanctuary around Australia’s Antarctic territory.”Finding one of the hunter killer ships hiding behind an iceberg in a thick fog means that the rest of the fleet is nearby.”

He added that the group hoped to “have whaling in the Southern Ocean shut down by 2017”.

The Ocean Warrior has a powerful water cannon and is capable of outrunning the whalers.

Japan has previously sought court action to halt the anti-whaling campaigns, saying the activists ram their ships, snare propellers with ropes and harass crew with paint and stink bombs.

The Japanese fleet set sail on November 18 in defiance of a worldwide moratorium on commercial whaling and international opposition. Japan is a signatory to the International Whaling Commission’s moratorium in force since 1986.

But it exploits a loophole allowing for whales to be killed for the purposes of scientific research.

Tokyo claims it is trying to prove the whale population is large enough to sustain a return to commercial hunting for a traditional source of food (by killing 500 whales a year /?). But the meat from what it calls scientific research often ends up on dinner tables.

In 2014 the United Nations’ International Court of Justice ordered Tokyo to end the Antarctic hunt, saying it found permits issued by Japan were “not for purposes of scientific research.”

After the ruling Japan cancelled its 2014-15 hunt, only to resume it the following year under a new programme with a two-thirds cut in the target catch number (to almost 200)—saying the fresh plan was “genuinely scientific.” (yeah, right)

In addition to whale protection Sea Shepherd is involved in a variety of other ocean conservation efforts like removing abandoned ‘ghost nets‘ that still entangle and drown fish and vaquita porpoises in the Sea of Cortez and working with the Mexican Navy to capture poachers of the endangered totoaba fish.

The totoaba is a rare fish native to the Gulf which can measure up to 6 feet in length and weigh as much as 220 lbs. Fishing for totoaba has been banned by the Mexican government since 1975, but it continues to be hunted by poachers solely for its swim bladder, which is sold on the black market in China for more than $20,000 per kilo.

Source: Sea Shepherd 

And here’s a huge album of some slippery and sleek wet mammals and a few other wonders of the deep:

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Everybody Wants to Kill Bruce Willis

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Does everyone want to kill Bruce Willis? It sure seems like it. Pierre-Alexandre Chauvat hilariously edited together 53 different movies to make it seem like various characters from movies like Duel, The Bourne UltimatumPulp FictionHot FuzzMad Max: Fury Road and many more are out to get him. giphy.gif Even Tony Stark slaps on the old red and yellow armor to take a shot at Bruce.

And here’s the every-bit-as-good sequel:


<p><a href=”https://vimeo.com/194076406″>Everybody wants to kill Bruce 2</a> from <a href=”https://vimeo.com/pierrealnorris”>Pierre-Alexandre Chauvat</a> on <a href=”https://vimeo.com”>Vimeo</a&gt;.</p>

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And I won’t spoil it but the ending is perfect!

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Dago’s Toolbag by Philip Bellber – GoFundMe

Dago (aka Dirtman) doesn’t want your help

He needs it.

On November 28th, in the middle of the night, someone broke into the work trailer owned by Dago. If you’ve spent any time in San Francisco’s Haight Ashbury district, you’ve probably seen Dago on the corner of Haight and Shrader. You may have even had your photo taken with him!

Rugged, shoeless, covered in dirt, homemade black leather, draped in tools, barefoot, looking like an extra from a Mad Max film. He’s hard to not notice

That night someone broke into Dago’s truck and stole all his tools and possessions – everything he owned and needs to remain self-sufficient.

Dago, who since arriving for the Summer of Love, has lived quietly, peacefully, independently. He has lived a simple, minimal life as an artist, welder, wood worker, motorcycle and auto mechanic, and highly-skilled finish carpenter.

Without his tools Dago cannot survive. Over the past ten years, our city has grown increasingly prosperous, callous, indifferent and inhospitable to Dago and the dwindling few who live their lives “to the beat of a different drummer”.

Dago is not homeless. He doesn’t beg. He is not a drug addict or an alcoholic. He is fiercely proud of his independence. He has never asked for help or support from any agency or branch of the government. And now, some asshole has stolen everything he needs to remain independent.

San Francisco has a long, storied history as a progressive and compassionate city, tolerant of people like Dago – iconoclastic individuals. He’s as much what makes San Francisco what it is as are the techie innovators and entrepreneurs. Dago has never taken anything from anyone… ever. He may have been robbed of his livelihood but not his pride. Dago won’t ask, but on his behalf, we will.

We need your help, and we’ll truly appreciate any effort you, or your friends, relatives, countrymen, and colleagues can lend in restoring a very ‘San Francisco’ original.

(If you see Dago around, please tell him there’s a gift card for him in the register at Roberts Hardware.)

Source: Dago’s Toolbag by Philip Bellber – GoFundMe

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