How Fast Are You?

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From the new and already fantastic Small Victories.

Flickr user pausetivespace took this amazing photo¹ of her friends dressed as Merryweather, Princess Aurora and Fauna at at the Georgia Aquarium during Dragon*Con Night 2009. (She herself was, of course, dressed as Flora.)

You really have to click through and check out the larger sizes to see it in all its glory.

Via Boing Boing.

Click for a horrifying photo sequence.

Surfline reports that white sharks are flying through the air, mere yards¹ away from Sunset Blvd. They don’t explicitly mention pedestrian deaths, but, you know, be careful.

Note to self: never go to the beach again. Ever.

Via John Gheur.

Via the very nice people at Coilhouse, who have more information.

Thanks Jen G!

Katz Deli: Corned Beef, Mustard, on Rye

And you thought I was wasting valuable bits on the intarweebs. There’s a tumblelog called Scanwiches that appears to contain nothing but scans of someone’s sammiches.

Actually, the more I look at them, the hungrier I’m getting. Mmmm, sammiches!

Tip o’ the Blue Plate to El.

Duane Kerzic wanted to enter Amtrak’s annual photo contest. The one titled “Picture Our Train“. The one where they give you a prize for taking a photo of their train.

Sadly, someone forgot to tell Amtrak police¹, who arrested Mr. Kerzic for criminal trespass.

Quoth Photography is Not a Crime:

He ended up getting arrested by Amtrak police; handcuffed to a wall in a holding cell inside New York City’s Penn Station, accused of criminal trespass.

Kerzic says he was hardly trespassing because he was taking photos from the train platform; the same one used by thousands of commuters everyday to step on and off the train.

“The only reason they arrested me was because I refused to delete my images,” Kerzic said in a phone interview with Photography is Not a Crime on Friday.

“They never asked me to leave, they never mentioned anything about trespassing until after I was handcuffed in the holding cell.”

In fact, he said, the only thing they told him before handcuffing him was that “it was illegal to take photos of the trains.”

Obviously, there is a lack of communication between Amtrak’s marketing department, which promotes the annual contest, called Picture Our Trains, and its police department, which has a history of harassing photographers for photographing these same trains.

The Colbert Report covered it², though, so Mr. Kerzic can add that to his CV.

Via Schneier on Security » Photography is Not a Crime.

This picture perfectly captures my impression of Marilyn. Not a bubble-headed sex pot, but a very human, very sad girl. I can’t help but see this Marilyn in every picture of her I’ve ever seen.

Via If Charlie Parker Was a Gunslinger, There’d Be a Whole Lot of Dead Copycats.

Via adski_kafeteri:.

Once again, lawmakers have decided that technology is evil, because people can do evil things with it. Quoth Ars:

A new bill would require all cell phone cameras to make that shutter-click noise so you’ll be warned when there’s a peeping tom in the locker room with you.

Seriously? That’s what’s occupying your time right now Congress? Did you not notice that economy thingy? It’s been on the news quite a bit, so I’m not sure how you missed it.

Plus, this is another example of dumb lawmaking that will irritate good people, and do nothing to deter the bad ones:

1. It will irritate electronics manufacturers, who would rather spend the little money they have right now staying afloat
2. It will irritate consumers who really like being able to shut off the clicky sound (think nature photogs, live events where making sound would annoy the people around you, etc.)
3. Naughty persons can always find a way to shut their camera up, like by buying an old one, physically disabling the speaker, hacking the firmware, etc.

All right Congress? Get it? Now, back to work please.

Via Ars Technica.