Which way is the front line from here?

I just finished watching the documentary “Which Way is the Front Line From Here? The Life and Time of Tim Hetherington”.

This was a thought provoking documentary about talented photojournalist/filmmaker Tim Hetherington (“Restrepo”), who was killed in a mortar strike in Libya in 2011. This film was difficult to watch. There is no doubt that Tim Hetherington was a risk taker, and I argue that he was addicted to taking risks, but without this type of personality he would not have been able to document human behavior in the way that he did.  Rather than making value judgements or politicizing the conflicts he covered, Tim elected to ask different questions about the relationships between the people he encountered.  With this point of view, he uncovered truth in his work.

At one point the film discusses how Tim forcefully expressed to his father how “rich” he was, in the sense of being able to exist in a free society — he and his family were from the UK. For many of us living in the first world, we are “rich”; this is the correct word.

What gets tiresome is encountering people whose arrogant and corrupt worldviews demonstrate that this richness is taken for granted.

Luckily though, every so often, people like Tim Hetherington pop up and show us how it really is.

Home improvements

Today I did some small home improvements on our new home.  The shutters hadn’t been painted in a long time.  I read some blogs about how to paint aluminum stuff on houses and did the following:

1. Washed shutters with some water and all purpose cleaner.

2. After drying, I used a fine grit sandpaper and ran across all areas to ensure primer adhesion, then wiped loose dust with damp cloth.

3. Bought some spray primer; Rustoleum grey tinted flat.

4. Covered with 2-3 coats, waiting a few minutes in between each.   It was pretty nice to use.

5.  Repeated steps 1-4 on new mailbox too.  It was strange sanding off the nice shiny black finish but I want it to match the shutters. I have to do 2 more shutters also.  Will show final results in posts to follow.

Spray primer is my friend.

I am not a scientist

David Schiffman, a PhD candidate, has a well written article published in Slate. 

“I’m not a scientist” is a dangerous cop-out

Damn right, David.

Bad planning

The definition of bad planning.