Flash Mob in front of Powell's Books

Frozen Flash Mob 4
Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

Yesterday I was "tipped off" about a possible Flash-mob outside of Powell's books - it was hinted that they would freeze like some folks did in the Grand Central Station in NYC.

So at 3:15 I was there with my camera and they did it! It was weird, suddenly it got crowded, then they stopped, then just as suddenly they all started moving again. There were people eating bananas, kissing, pointing, taking photos, busking, smoking, all frozen.

I love Portland.

(Some more Flickr pics here, obviously the pictures don't do it justice!).

See also Oregon Live.

I've been Boing Boing'd!

My panorama's of the Reed College flags have been mentioned on Boing Boing - one of the most visited blogs in the 'verse. Fame at last! Pity I'm at home sick so I can't really enjoy my 15 minutes of fame. :-(

Update 1: As mentioned on Boing Boing: The numbers are derived from the highly controversial Lancet study that used unverified sampling methodology. Iraq Body Count, which documents verifiable deaths, currently places the number of civilians killed at over an order of magnitude less—at maximum, 64,444. This is why I mentioned that I wasn't sure if the numbers were correct. See here. Also, I feel I should point out that the red flags were not distributed evenly amongst the white; there was a large square of them.

Update 2: There is some debate at BB as to if these numbers are good or not, it seems that the controversy could be more political than scientific . Their methodology may not have been so suspect...see This American Life.

The voices are not real but they do have some good ideas

The voices are not real but they do have some good ideas
Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

Finally. a sign I can really relate to!

Photogenic war protest and memorial

360 Panorama: Reed College War Memorial and Protest Originally uploaded by Major Clanger.

I stumbled across this protest/memorial at Reed College today, as I was looking for something to photograph with my new Canon XTI Digital SLR. This is a 360 degree panorama of the front of the college after someone had placed 123,000 little flags on the lawn. (You can also see it displayed in a viewer, or much bigger). Each red flag represents a US solder who has died in the war; each white represents 6 Iraqis who has died. (I can't vouch for the accuracy of the numbers). The sight was impressive and quite moving.