• From the Atlantic, Mark Bowden’s article on the failed hostage rescue attempt in Iran:

    He calmly explained to the others what had happened. The men took in the awful news quietly. Then Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, who had submitted his resignation earlier that day because he objected to the mission, said, “Mr. President, I’m very, very sorry.” Jordan ducked into the president’s bathroom and vomited.

    America’s elite rescue force had lost eight men, seven helicopters, and a C-130, and had not even made contact with the enemy. It was a debacle. It defined the word “debacle.

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  • From the New York Times:

    Mr. Hussein dodged questions, quoted from the Koran, and again repeatedly questioned the legitimacy of the court.

    Asked by the prosecutor, Jaafar al-Mousawi, how he could go through the evidence against the 148 in just two days before signing off on their execution orders, Mr. Hussein answered, according to a pool report: “That is the right of the head of state.”

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  • Very cool artist out of the Netherlands, Chantal Knook.

    Heavy videogame influence.

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  • From Wooster Collective:

    Banksy and and Pickaxe, Soho Square, London, Today.

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  • From the Canadian Press, a poorly researched article about a possible FLDS ‘colony’ in Saskatchewan. For the record, Bruce Wisan is hardly a spokesman for the church. They consider him the enemy. Small point, eh? From CP:

    Last week Bruce Wisan, a spokesman for the church, said Jeffs may be creating a new colony in Saskatchewan and that as many as 40 per cent of the church members may be moving to “a very remote, pristine area to start over again.”

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  • Photographs of Tel Aviv, Israel, by Paolo Pellegrin, from Magnum Photos.

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  • From Juxtapoz:

    Photos from the opening night of Shepard Fairey’s solo show at White Walls Gallery in San Francisco.

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  • From Juxtapoz, interview with Shepard Fairey:

    I feel that I am lucky because I’ve created a formula to which my career as an artist, designer and street artist are able to feed off each other. There are some people that are purists that probably still live with their parents who say if you do street art and commercial art, you’re a sellout, but that is just not a realistic perspective for me.

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  • From Exactitudes.Com, an amazing photographic exploration of people, fashion, subcultures.

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  • From the New York Times, more Liberia:

    According to local legend, recounted by the Africa scholar Stephen Ellis in his book “The Mask of Anarchy,” a baby born in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital, miraculously spoke English straight from the womb. It told its mother that a rain of death would fall Christmas Day, and that it did not want to live in such a vicious world, and promptly drew its last breath.

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  • From the New York Times, Helene Cooper recounts a Liberian story featuring Charles Taylor’s wigged thugs:
    The group came upon a burning house. A female Taylor fighter walked up to Janice and admired Logosou. “Oh, what a fine baby!” she cooed. “I’ve killed two like him today.”

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  • From the International Crisis Group, the April edition of CrisisWatch:

    Clashes in Pakistan’s North Waziristan killed over 200 and threatened to spread to neighbouring tribal regions. In Uzbekistan, the government intensified its campaign on opposition activists and international organisations, expelling the United Nations refugee agency and sentencing dissidents to long prison terms. The situation also deteriorated in the Central African Republic, Chad, Ecuador, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau/Senegal and Turkey.

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  • Real pranksters take today off and let the amateurs have their fun.

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  • From the New York Times:

    One elaborate tattoo posted shortly after his blog’s inception in late 2004 means “power piglet,” according to Mr. Tang’s translation. Another, on a woman’s lower back, says “motherly beast blessing.”

    Marquis Daniels, of the Dallas Mavericks, thought he was getting his initials in Chinese characters but what his arm actually says is “healthy woman roof,” Mr. Tang said. Similarly, Shawn Marion of the Phoenix Suns was under the impression that his nickname, “the Matrix,” was tattooed on his leg, but Mr. Tang says the inscription translates as something like “demon bird moth balls.”

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  • From the Boston Herald:

    Smith snapped the photo of Scalia flicking his hand under his chin after a Herald reporter asked the conservative jurist his response to people who question his impartiality on matters of church and state.


    Smith wouldn’t give up the photo earlier this week but chose to release it when he learned Scalia said his gesture had been incorrectly characterized by the Herald. Smith, who was standing in front of the judge, said the Herald “got the story right.”

    While news outlets from across the country sought Smith’s photo yesterday, the archdiocese said there’s no proof that Scalia uttered an obsenity in the church. Smith said Scalia said, “To my critics, I say, ‘Vaffanculo,’ ” while making the gesture. That’s Italian for (expletive) you.

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  • Should work now.

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  • What happens when one photographer breaks the rules, runs out in front of everyone else?

    USA Today photographer Jack Gruber, from SportsShooter.com:
    Security and officials realized they had no plan and had lost all control. At this point, it was ugly. AP staff photographer Marcio Sanchez had his credentials ripped from his neck. Others were physically pushed. It was something right out of the “how not to handle things” manual.

    Watching the tournament media director (Pete Simon) running around the court wildly chasing television away from impromptu interviews with players and ripping credentials from photographers necks while stadium security guarded invisible no access lines all seemed too insane to be true.
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  • Photographer David Burnett, from SportsShooter.com:

    Sadly, with so much photographic talent in one place (or more correctly, several places) that we photographers must necessarily take a back seat to lousy TV, well, it’s beyond stupid, and beyond tragic.

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  • USA Today photographer Robert Hanashiro, from SportsShooter.com:

    “Remember to stay out of the way of the crew and for GOD’S SAKE, stay out of sight! If the producer or director sees your ass on one of the monitors everyone’s outta here,” a voice from a show rep says into his ear. “But do your work and try not to worry too much about getting tossed … if it happens, it happens.”

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  • From iLounge:

    the glossy black iTalkPro now boasts twin internal microphones for recording in CD-quality stereo, taking advantage of the 5G iPod’s superior stereo and monaural sampling modes, and a bold red recording light around its one-touch recording button. It also features a unique on-screen gain adjustment menu and a bottom-mounted port for an external microphone of your choice.

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