Dolphins at play

Jessie Owens

Jessie Owens ... kicking Nazi, and most importantly, American racism, butt since 1936. The following from Wikipedia:

In 1936 Owens arrived in Berlin to compete for the United States in the Summer Olympics. Adolf Hitler was using the games to show the world a resurgent Nazi Germany.[citation needed] He and other government officials had high hopes German athletes would dominate the games with victories (the German athletes did indeed achieve a top of the table medal haul). Meanwhile, Nazi propaganda promoted concepts of "Aryan racial superiority" and depicted ethnic Africans as inferior.

Owens surprised many by winning four gold medals: On August 3, 1936 he won the 100m sprint, defeating Ralph Metcalfe; on August 4, the long jump (later crediting friendly and helpful advice from German competitor Luz Long); on August 5, the 200m sprint; and, after he was added to the 4 x 100 m relay team, his fourth on August 9 (a performance not equaled until Carl Lewis won gold medals in the same events at the 1984 Summer Olympics).

The long jump victory is documented, along with many other 1936 events, in Olympia (1938 film) by Leni Riefenstahl.

On the first day, Hitler shook hands only with the German victors and then left the stadium. Olympic committee officials then insisted Hitler greet each and every medalist or none at all. Hitler opted for the latter and skipped all further medal presentations. On reports that Hitler had deliberately avoided acknowledging his victories, and had refused to shake his hand, Owens recounted:

“When I passed the Chancellor he arose, waved his hand at me, and I waved back at him. I think the writers showed bad taste in criticizing the man of the hour in Germany.”

He also stated:

“Hitler didn't snub me—it was FDR who snubbed me. The president didn't even send me a telegram.”

Jesse Owens was never invited to the White House nor bestowed any honors by Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt (FDR) or Harry S. Truman during their terms. In 1955, President Dwight D. Eisenhower acknowledged Owens' accomplishments, naming him an "Ambassador of Sports."

Owens was cheered enthusiastically by 110,000 people in Berlin's Olympic Stadium and later ordinary Germans sought his autograph when they saw him in the streets. Owens was allowed to travel with and stay in the same hotels as whites, an irony at the time given that blacks in the United States were denied equal rights. After a New York ticker-tape parade in his honor, Owens had to ride the freight elevator to attend his own reception at the Waldorf-Astoria.

Comfy

Oludeniz

Oludeniz

Cute

Caption this

We can see you!

Who's tail?

Saving the World

Iceland

The Afro

I'm with Stupid

Dancing on Water

New Delhi Family

Snug

I Love NY

Cool!

Swimming with the Fishes

Cat's Eyes

Wooden skyscraper near Archangelsk , Russia

Those crazy Russians ...

Beautiful

High Cliffs Surrounding Echus Chasma on Mars

What created this great cliff on Mars? Did giant waterfalls once plummet through its grooves? With a four-kilometer drop, this high cliff surrounding Echus Chasma, near an impressive impact crater, was carved by either water or lava. A leading hypothesis is that Echus Chasma, at 100-kilometers long and 10-kilometers wide, was once one of the largest water sources on Mars. If true, water once held in Echus Chasma likely ran over the Martian surface to carve the impressive Kasei Valles, which extends over 3,000 kilometers to the north. Even if initially carved by water, lava appears to have later flowed in the valley, leaving an extraordinarily smooth floor. Echus Chasma lies north of tremendous Valles Marineris, the largest canyon in the Solar System. The above image was taken by the robotic Mars Express spacecraft currently orbiting Mars. Source: Astronomy Picture of the Day

Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, July 12, 2008

I was out at the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition, yesterday, with my daughters. The exhibition started on Friday and will close tomorrow at 6PM, at Nathan Phillips Square -- promising to stay open even if it rains. As usual, there was a mix of art -- from drawing, painting & photography, to jewelry, fibre and ceramics. I tend to give more credence to the former -- it feeling more like real art to me, rather than the functional stuff. Real art is useless. It's to be appreciated despite the lack of function.

Regardless, I wandered around and took in most of the exhibitors. The following are the ones that appealed to me.

Steve Jacobs Photography -- Jacobs' subjects are what appeals to me. It's something I'm interested in doing myself. He explores the abandoned artefacts of human habitation. It's almost archeological, his photography.

Joanna Strong -- Strong paints, among other things, rubber band balls. I'm not entirely sure what's fascinating about rubber band balls, but the paintings looked cool -- and they were all done in oils.

Jérôme Bourque -- is a French photographer who shoots some really weird subjects. I like how he juxtapose different elements in his photography. Totally cool, and jarring.

Jorgen Lauritzen -- Lauritzen is a painter that likes industrial subjects. He doesn't have a website, and I couldn't find any other examples of his work, other than the above. I remember seeing the above painting (or something quite similar) -- but I don't remember much more of his art. Dude, get a website, not just LinkedIn.

Tammy Hoy's Forgotten Spaces -- I'm starting to see a pattern in my photography preference here ... I seem to like rust, dilapidation and industrial wastelands. Hoy's photography is just that. Things left behind by people, and slowly being returned to nature. I find such photography cool for some reason.

Robert Dyke's Rust & Relics -- Dyke and Hoy must know each other. They photograph similar subjects. And yet again, I enjoy seeing human remnants being reclaimed by nature.

Catherine Hibbits -- Hibbits works with glass, and while it's not a medium I care much for, she did have a couple of glass art pieces I liked. She had a couple of vases out, with silhouettes of walking figures on them. I liked those.

Russell Brohier -- Brohier is a fine art photographer ... whatever that is. The stuff of his that I enjoyed, was again the rusted, abandoned human spaces. Maybe it's just me, but this seemed to be the subject for a lot of photographers at the exhibit. I wonder if it's a reflection of a broader undercurrent running through society. After all, aren't artists supposed to be reflecting back to society what society seems in capable of articulating?

Rebecca Codack -- Codack is a painter, capturing on canvas, what she finds in nature. I was especially taken by her flowers.

Robert Farmer -- Farmer likes hot dogs. He had a hot dog nailed to a cross; and a hot dog featured in his take of the last supper. OK, I'll admit it ... it was the last supper that I loved.

Eric Cator -- Cator is a photographer and artist. He paints, sketches and takes photos. I really liked his paintings of people standing around. The one with the guy holding the boom mike to the fire hydrant appealed to me for some bizarre reason.

Sara Golish -- Golish had some really stunning paints in the fantasy genre. She had a mermaid, fairy, nymph, earth goddess ... some really amazing pieces. She rendered them with oils, and the figures just came to life. She is very skilled at life art.

Rob Croxford -- Croxford had some of his urban series on display ... and I found out by visiting his site, that 10% of the proceeds from the series are being donated to the David Suzuki Foundation -- which is pretty cool.

Vanessa Rieger -- Rieger has a thing about the neighbourhood watch program. She's made buttons, t-shirts and yes, even art. Her art is cool.

José Enríquez -- Enríquez is an Ecuadorian who produces really colourful art, leaning towards the fantastic. I especially like his use of bells in his art.

Mathew Borrett -- Borrett has created some very detailed pieces of work. His work draws you in to study the details, but hides the secrets.

Afrofest, Toronto

I went to Afrofest yesterday, with my daughters. The food was great and spicy! The music was wonderful. Afterwards, we went to see Wall-E.

Muon? Who ordered that?

Church of Scientology

Standard Model of Fundamental Particles and Interactions

A summary of everything leptons and quarks (fermions); photons and gluons (bosons); baryons, antibaryons and mesons.

Bottled Water

A Fever of Stingrays

This stunning image was taken off the coast of Mexico, and is of a fever of migrating golden cow-nosed stingrays. See more here.

Snails on my bike ride

We had some rain today, and after getting home from St. Jacobs, I went on a bike ride. It was amazing. The area I usually ride through is parkland that is slowly being reclaimed by the wild. The smell was amazing. The air was sweet with the smell of flowers. There were birds everywhere singing. And snails were everywhere, clinging on plants to get away from the wet in the undergrowth. Check out more photos of snails on Webshots.

St. Jacobs

This morning we drove to St. Jacobs, a little tourist town, not far from Guelph and Waterloo. It's a great place to spend a day, do some shopping ... and the best, have lunch.


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Strawberry Picking

Yesterday, we went strawberry picking up on Woodbine & 19th Ave. It was my first time. It was also the first weekend for strawberry picking at the farm. We loaded up three buckets in no time. Now we're stuffing ourselves with strawberries. See the other photos on Webshots.

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