• From The New York Times:

    The Fatah project went ahead despite warnings from experts that it could not succeed because the underground terrain was shattered and unstable.

    It continued chewing up astonishing amounts of cash when the predicted problems bogged the work down, with a contract that allowed crews to charge as much as $100,000 a day as they waited on standby.

    The company in charge engaged in what some American officials saw as a self-serving attempt to limit communications with the government until all the money was gone.

    And until Mr. Sanders went to Al Fatah, the Army Corps of Engineers, which administered the project, allowed the show to go on for months, even as individual Corps officials said they repeatedly voiced doubts about its chances of success.

    The Halliburton subsidiary, KBR, formerly Kellogg Brown & Root, had commissioned a geotechnical report that warned in August 2003 that it would be courting disaster to drill without extensive underground tests.

    “No driller in his right mind would have gone ahead,” said Mr. Sanders, a geologist who came across the report when he arrived at the site.

    Here.


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  • From Journal of a Photographer:

    I know Joachim Ladefogeds work for quite some time now. I met him during the New York VII Seminar on October 16th 2005 were we also recorded this interview in an empty classroom at the School of Visual Arts.

    The total length of the interview is 41:50 minutes.
    Here.


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  • From RobGalbraith:

    Camera Bits today has released a public beta version of Photo Mechanic 4.4.3, the next release of the pro photo browsing software for Mac and Windows. Highlighting the list of changes is the ability to upload directly to a PhotoShelter account in Photo Mechanic on both platforms, improved CD/DVD burning in the Windows version and numerous other fixes and enhancements.

    The Mac version of 4.4.3 also marks the return of RAW conversion to the program after a several-year absence, this time utilizing the RAW support built into the Mac OS.

    Here.


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  • From Punknews:

    United By Walter has confirmed the rumours that influential and beloved hardcore act Gorilla Biscuits will be reuniting this August for a US tour. The tour coincides with the re-release Gorilla Biscuit’s classic second full length, Start Today. The album was originally released in 1989.

    Formed in the 1980s, the band helped define upbeat melodic hardcore and has been cited as a singular influence by a generation of hardcore bands. Guitarist Walter Schreifels’ went on to form a succession of respected acts including Quicksand, Rival Schools, and Walking Concert. Frontman Anthony “Civ” Civocelli formed Civ, and drummer Sammy Siegler performed with a number of acts including Glassjaw and Nightmare of You.

    Here.


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  • From Supertouch:

    It’s been out for a minute, but before it’s gone be sure to pick up the latest issue of Jux sister-in-arms publication & toy culture authority Super 7 magazine featuring a cover story on the latest KAWS x Pushead toy and interviews with both artists. Few people on this planet know as much about the frighteningly obsessive world of “adult” toys as Bryan Flynn & Mark Nagata, but they both seem to hold down day jobs and mate on a regular basis, elevating them a lofty notch above the strata of shut-in D&D fanatics.

    Here.


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  • From the Washington Post:

    Hundreds of Shiite Muslim militiamen have deployed in recent weeks to this restive city — widely considered the most likely flash point for an Iraqi civil war — vowing to fight any attempt to shift control over Kirkuk to the Kurdish-governed north, according to U.S. commanders and diplomats, local police and politicians.

    Until recently, the presence of the militias here was minimal. U.S. officials have called the Shiite armed groups the deadliest threat to security in much of the country. They have been blamed for hundreds of killings during mounting sectarian violence in central and southern Iraq since the bombing of a revered Shiite shrine in February.

    Here.


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  • From the Washington Post:

    As he left, national intelligence director John Negroponte, surrounded by stiff-armed bodyguards, ignored a reporter’s shouted question about leaks. The closest the director got to controversy was when he was asked by an audience member (the questions were filtered by a moderator) about the warrantless wiretapping program.

    “Yes, well,” the director replied, then cleared his throat and started again. He assured his audience that “there are very, very rigorous safeguards and oversight that are built into the execution of these programs” — without mentioning that such safeguards did not include informing most members of Congress or the courts.

    Here.


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  • From The New York Times:

    They have eight-foot retractable latex Satan wings, sing hits like “Chainsaw Buffet” and blow up slabs of smoking meat on stage. So members of the band Lordi expected a reaction when they beat a crooner of love ballads to represent Finland at the Eurovision song contest in Athens, the competition that was the springboard for Abba and Celine Dion.

    Here.


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  • From Engadget:

    Announced today at NAB: Red One, an HD camcorder that boasts 11.4 megapixels at up to 60fps.

    Here.


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  • From Homestarrunner, the new Apple-2-ish graphic/text adventure game, The Dungeonman 3. (Playable in browser.)
    Behold Thy Graphics!!

    Here.


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  • From Wooster Collective:

    It’s been a while since D*Face has hit the streets of London. We were pleased to see that he was back out to celebrate the Queen’s 80th

    Here.


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  • From the Cape Times:

    Mossel Bay: The 1 046 cyclists in the 2006 Cape Epic had a baptism of rain, mud and more mud on the first day of their eight-day mountain bike race that started in Knysna on Saturday.

    They were so dirty I’m sure even their mothers wouldn’t have recognised them.

    Here.


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  • From The Moscow Times:

    “I was there yesterday and talked to the police chief,” Abramyan said. “I can’t understand how a group of people could simply stab a person in the metro in the very center of Moscow and get away. How did the police manage not to arrest anyone? What about their video cameras?”

    Two million Armenians live in Russia, Abramyan said. He added that Armenians have been advised against riding the metro in the evening and going out in the outlying districts of cities, where most racially motivated attacks occur.

    Here.


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  • From Supertouch:

    Fausto Vitello, publisher of Juxtapoz & Thrasher magazines & a seminal figure in the worlds of skateboarding & underground art died suddenly on Saturday afternoon, April 22, 2006. Check back for updates as they become available. This photo of F.V. was taken in 1978. He will be missed…

    Here.


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  • From Journal of a Photographer:

    That made this lady furious and she said “I will call the cops now” and took out her cell phone. It was a bizarre situation and the only think I could say in that moment was “Alright, go ahead and call the police. Then we can speak about that again.” She looked a little confused, I guess she wasn’t expecting such an answer. She didn’t call the cops but went over to one of the workers in the amusement park telling him that I photographed his son, that I refuse to delete the images and that he should call the security. Nick and me were just looking at each other finding this situation more and more obscure.
    Here.


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  • From the New York Times Magazine:

    When I spoke to Kai-Fu Lee in Google’s Beijing offices, there were moments that to me felt jarring. One minute he sounded like a freedom-loving Googler, arguing that the Internet inherently empowers its users. But the next minute he sounded more like Jack Ma of Alibaba — insisting that the Chinese have no interest in rocking the boat. It is a circular logic I encountered again and again while talking to China’s Internet executives: we don’t feel bad about filtering political results because our users aren’t looking for that stuff anyway.

    They may be right about their users’ behavior. But you could just as easily argue that their users are incurious because they’re cowed. Who would openly search for illegal content in a public Internet cafe — or even at home, since the government requires that every person with personal Internet access register his name and phone number with the government for tracking purposes? It is also possible that the government’s crackdown on the Internet could become more intense if the country’s huge population of poor farmers begins agitating online. The government is reasonably tolerant of well-educated professionals online. But the farmers, upset about corrupt local officials, are serious activists, and they pose a real threat to Beijing; they staged 70,000 demonstrations in 2004, many of which the government violently suppressed.

    Here.


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  • Make sure you look at photographer Adriano Avila’s images from Brazil, in C-Heads issue #2.
    From Creative Heads:

    We proudly present the second issue of C-Heads!

    This issue contains great artists, touching and amazing pictures and music for the soul.

    Here.


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  • From the Daily Sun, Nigeria’s King of the Tabloids:

    Bimbo Akinyele
    If by age 29-32, I am still single? Then it must be a curse. Ehn! God forbid sha. That is not my portion. I know there are ladies who are in the habit of snubbing men. I am really sorry for them. They don’t realise that, unfortunately, we are just a seasonal merchandise. Once your season comes and goes, and you fail to grab it, you are likely to bite your fingers in regret. For me o, I will not wait until it is late before I start to pray and fast. It is very important and I know it.

    Here.


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  • From the Mail & Guardian:

    “Let us eliminate these warlords and set up a peaceful administration supported by the vast majority of people in Mogadishu,” Sulley said, prompting the crowd to chant angry slogans denouncing the warlords.

    “Down with the agents of America and down with agents promoting Satanic teaching,” they yelled, according to an Agence France-Presse correspondent on the scene.

    Here.


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  • From Lens Culture:

    Canadian photogapher Edward Burtynsky worked through diplomatic channels to gain access to photograph many sites undergoing enormous change. With his large format camera, over the course of three years, Burtysnky has captured the vast scale and minute details of monumental transformations of a society. He documents today’s “factories for the world”; the dumping grounds for the hand-recycling of the world’s e-waste; the unprecedented migrations of millions of humans toward brand new urban environments; and the ecological footprint of Three Gorges Dam, the largest dam on the planet that forced the relocation and threatened the livelihoods of more than 1.13 million people.

    Here.


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