Caption, Please?

To the one, there is such thing as a bad picture, and we all know it. Sometimes the camera just … you know, that’s the way it goes.

To the other, we usually worry about that when we are the subject of the picture, instead of merely a set piece.

Still, we sometimes find an unforgettable moment if only because it was captured in still life.

More the pity, I suppose. Something about that which we cannot unsee goes here.

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Image note: Gov. Chris Christie addresses members of the Camden County police force, 2 November 2015. (Image credit: Emma Lee/WHYY)

Everybody Say, “Thank You, Samsung!”

So it would seem the White House is considering the prohibition on “selfie” photos with President Obama. Before anyone gets their dander up at the evil White House occupied by the Black Man, let us be clear:

The White House may prohibit selfies with President Obama, a top adviser said on Sunday.

Speaking on CBS’ Face The Nation, Dan Pfeiffer said that the president didn’t know the photo he took with Red Sox star David Ortiz was part of a Samsung promotion.

“Someone who uses the President’s likeness to promote a product… that’s a problem,” he said. “Maybe this will be the end of all selfies.”

The selfie controversy began after Obama took a fun photo with Big Papi. The image quickly went viral, receiving over 45,000 retweets and more than 48,000 favorites on Twitter. Samsung later announced that it was all an orchestrated PR stunt.

(Horowitz)

So, yeah. Everybody say, “Thank you, Samsung!”

Capitalism: This is why we can’t have nice things.

Oh, right. Also make sure to thank the Boston Red Sox for their part in this. David Ortiz can go screw himself. Then again, he’s rich enough to hire someone else to screw.

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Horowitz, Alana. “White House May Prohibit Selfies With Obama”. The Huffington Post. April 5, 2014.

Nod to APOD

I thought perhaps I should mention that the new banner is a detail taken from a 1979 Voyager photograph of Jupiter, presented by the one and only APOD. Something about some really cool digital processing by Björn Jónsson.

Anyway, yeah. Nifty.

Is Principal Gregory Ellsworth a sex offender?

Editorial cartoonist John Cole comments, at his blog for The Times-Tribune:

I don’t know who’s dumber: Kids who shoot nudie pictures of themselves using their cell phones, or school officials who confiscate those phones for unrelated reasons and then rifle through them for said pictures.

While a quiet controversy continues about whether people should be haunted for life because of stupid decisions they made as a teenager, a more disturbing consideration arises out of an ACLU lawsuit filed against officials at Tunkahannock Area High School, where Principal Gregory Ellsworth is accused of confiscating student cellphones, and then searching through them in hopes of finding nude pictures of minors. David Singleton reports, for The Times-Tribune:

According to the lawsuit:

On Jan. 23, 2009, a teacher confiscated the high school student’s cell phone because she was using it on school grounds, in violation of school policy.

Later that day, she was called to Principal Gregory Ellsworth’s office. Mr. Ellsworth told her the phone had been turned over to law enforcement after he went through its contents and found “explicit” photos stored in its memory.

The photos, which were not visible on the phone’s screen and required multiple steps to locate, were never circulated to other students, the suit stated. In most of the images, the student appeared fully covered, although several showed her naked breasts and one indistinctly showed her pubic area.

The student was given and served a three day out-of-school suspension. According to the district’s student handbook, the first offense for cell phone misuse is a 90-minute Saturday detention and the confiscation of the phone for the rest of the day.

A few days later, the student and her mother met with David Ide, chief county detective in the district attorney’s office, who told them he had seen the photos and sent the phone to a crime lab in Delaware.

The suit alleges that when the mother stepped away, Detective Ide told the student it was a shame she had not waited until after her 18th birthday in April 2009 because, instead of getting into trouble, she could have submitted the photos to Playboy magazine. He suggested the student contact him, winking as he said, “I’ll get you your phone back,” according to the complaint.

Shortly after, the student and her mother received a letter from Mr. Skumanick threatening felony child pornography charges if the student did not complete a five-week re-education course on sexual violence and victimization. The student paid a fee of about $100 and took the course to avoid prosecution.

Gorillas on fire (Did I get your attention?)

Jason Linkins at Huffington Post calls it “Todays Great Moment in Photojournalism”, and I make no critique on that either way. The image comes with Jason Schrieber‘s report for the New Hampshire Union Leader—

—and reminds me of a song:

The vision was a masterpiece of comic timing,
But you wouldn’t laugh at all.

And it goes beyond just that line. Five points for anyone who can tell us about the other half of the joke.