A great place to type something into your laptop


Image by Ed Yourdon
Note: this photo was published as an illustration in an Aug 2009 Squidoo blog titled "Discount Laptop Batteries." It was also published in a Nov 17, 2009 blog titled "Teenager don’t want newspaper anymore."

Moving into 2010, the photo was published in a Feb 15, 2010 blog titled "Advertising the Opportunity." And it was published in a Jun 4, 2010 blog titled "Online Reputation Management for Individuals." It was also published in a May 13, 2011 Cool Online Learning Images blog, with the same caption and detailed notes that I had written on this Flickr page. And it was published in an undated (early Oct 2011) blog titled "5 ways to get what you want from online dating."

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This is the continuation of a photo-project that I began in the summer of 2008: a random collection of "interesting" people in a broad stretch of the Upper West Side of Manhattan — between 72nd Street and 104th Street, especially along Broadway and Amsterdam Avenue.

As I indicated when I started this project in 2008, I don’t like to intrude on people’s privacy, so I normally use a telephoto lens in order to photograph them while they’re still 50-100 feet away from me; but that means I have to continue focusing my attention on the people and activities half a block away, rather than on what’s right in front of me.

I’ve also learned that, in many cases, the opportunities for an interesting picture are very fleeting — literally a matter of a couple of seconds, before the person(s) in question move on, turn away, or stop doing whatever was interesting. So I’ve learned to keep the camera switched on (which contradicts my traditional urge to conserve battery power), and not worry so much about zooming in for a perfectly-framed picture … after all, once the digital image is uploaded to my computer, it’s pretty trivial to crop out the parts unrelated to the main subject.

Thus far, I’ve generally avoided photographing bums, drunks, crazies, and homeless people. There are a few of them around, and they would certainly create some dramatic pictures; but they generally don’t want to be photographed, and I don’t want to feel like I’m taking advantage of them. I’m still looking for opportunities to take some "sympathetic" pictures of such people, which might inspire others to reach out and help them. We’ll see how it goes …

The only other thing I’ve noticed, thus far, is that while there are lots of interesting people to photograph, there are far, far, far more people who are not so interesting. They’re probably fine people, and they might even be more interesting than the ones I’ve photographed … but there was just nothing memorable about them.

Needy to lap up unused laptops
Minister for Human Services, Senator Kim Carr said the Department would supply laptops to WorkVentures to be refurbished and then sold at a discount price. “WorkVentures will sell the computers to Centrelink concession card holders, low income earners, …
Read more on PS News

More private colleges offering tuition discounts
Students at Berea College in Berea, Ky., pay no tuition and get free laptop computers. Deep Springs College in remote Big Pine, Calif., provides each student with a scholarship valued at $ 50000 that covers tuition, room and board.
Read more on Kansas City Star

Microsoft Bringing Back PC/Xbox Student Deal
Microsoft is bringing back its student deal that offers a free Xbox 360 4 GB console with the purchase of a Windows 7 PC. Students looking for a new laptop might want to wait until Microsoft re-introduces its popular Xbox 360 offer starting this Sunday …
Read more on Tom’s Guide