I'm more than a Dancing Monkey


6FPS V2#5 - Photography and More
A Newsletter by Chuq Von Rospach
June 8, 2020

Editorial: I'm more than a Dancing Monkey

Welcome to the new issue of 6FPS.

If you look at the "What's new" section, you'll see it's really, really short. Some of that can be explained by the redesign you're looking at, and some of it by my release of my new portfolios (see below), which ended up being a rather involved two month project. Trying to make sure it was done in time to make this issue limited my writing time.

I've given 6FPS a new look and tried to make it a better overall experience -- and I'd love your feedback -- but the new design is a bit of a work in progress. I'm working on ways to bring more imagery onto it and I haven't yet decided exactly how to do that. I'm also considering adding a second "newsletter only" piece and/or extending this editorial a bit to a couple of extra topics, but I haven't yet decided how best to organize that. And given the dearth of new writing in the last month, this wasn't a good month to add to that writing load another essay or four.

The big change is that I've re-thought the For Your Consideration section, which used to be a link list of things I thought would be interesting. Those pieces never had any context or explanation, though, so now I'm writing a bit about why I'm including something into the list, which I hope will encourage you to find one or two every issue to explore.

But to be honest, I needed the distraction all those hours grinding away in Lightroom gave me. What's going on around us with the pandemic and now with the unrest and protests around the death of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter has been a bit of a kick to the going in my ability to focus, and I find it impossible to write if I can't focus on a topic. I have four or five other pieces started, but I've found it really difficult to organize my thoughts around an idea, much less getting them written out, cleaned up and published.

Watching what's going on has had me flashing back on the 1960's, which I am just old enough to remember (I was ten), and I really am trying to understand what happened that led us to return to re-living that era now. Watching this unfold has been both discouraging and heartening; discouraging because of the evidence in front of my yee

The Pandemic

Here's the part you can ignore if you want to pretend the real world doesn't exist (and honestly, I wish I could join you).

I've been watching how we have handled the pandemic here in the U.S., and it's unfortunately gone about as I had expected. Here in Santa Clara County and in general in urban parts of California, there's been a fairly high level of compliance and so we've managed the infection problems reasonably well. Our ICU beds are less than half full and the trend is flat, and we are now starting to open up businesses and get back to life. I cannot tell you how happy I am to have an appointment for new prescription and eyeglasses this week, and I am hoping to schedule a haircut in the next week or two as well.

I actually have to find a new place for that, as my hairdresser I've used for the last 25+ years has retired and closed his business while he finalizes his plan to move to Oregon and mostly retire. That's not unexpected, since we've been talking to him about the idea for a couple of years now and we're to blame for pointing him at Oregon in the first place, but having the salon shut down by Covid-19 and an upcoming license renewal moved his closing shop in California forward a few months. When I started going to him I was working for Apple and had hair -- and a ponytail, god help me, something he tolerated for a while and then suggested I was maybe better off without.

Other parts of the country are not doing so well with Covid-19; as I type, Arizona's seen a surge and their ICUs are basically full; Utah is predicting the same in a week or so. Florida and the other states that opened up early are starting to really hurt. Which, if you follow the science of this is totally predictable, and only a surprise if you follow the political rhetoric instead. Florida, Alabama, Georgia and a few other places have the potential to make the problems we saw in New York seem fairly tame.

There is a second surge coming for all of us, too. It's inevitable as we open up for that to happen, but we've now learned enough about Covid-19 to understand where the high risks are and how to mitigate them for the most part. A lot of that can be summed up as "wear a mask to protect those around you". There are some rural parts of California that are going to hurt badly; how the rest of us handle it depends on how willing we are to follow the science and advice from the experts.

But a second surge is coming, and if you read history, you'll find that there has never once been this kind of pandemic where it didn't occur, because people fatigued at the need to protect themselves and let down their guard, and let the pathogen back in. We see that consistently going back to the Black Plague and before. But we do know enough to minimize the risks, and all I can suggest is try to let those that don't get near you to the best you can. On the plus side, it seems it's rather hard to catch Covid-19 outdoors, it's indoors with limited airflow, no sunlight (and UV) to destroy the virus and recirculated air instead of fresh breezes, that makes the risk crazy high. So always remember it's a good idea to go out and take a walk...

The Protests and the Police

And then the Minneapolis Police Department killed George Floyd. And the country exploded. In some ways, the specific act didn't trigger it -- it is, after all, the latest in a long series of these kind of police deaths, which is in no way intended to minimize the tragedy of it happening -- but the pandemic and the lock down has all of us grumpy and frustrated, and so this act merged with this time, and a bunch of people all decided we have had enough! and that's how movements are born.

It was both scary and completely predictable to see the police response to the protests, with police escalation and abuse, unjustified use of tear gas and rubber bullets and the chaos seeded into the protests by that. After all, there's been a major militarization of our police in the post 9/11 era, and with these protests, that all came home to roost, as many police groups reacted to the protests by treating protesters as insurgents instead, and going for suppression of the protest instead of managing them. And guess what? It just made things worse, and with the ubiquitous nature of cameras on our phones, much of it was captured on video and distributed across the internet.

Amplify that with the messaging coming from the White House and Trump's administration, which boiled down to "hey, it's okay to go and beat up those losers", and it got pretty bad. There were the usual idiots joining in, the groups of "anarchists" who love demonstrations because they can pop in and use them as a way to go destroy things while minimizing a chance of getting caught, and the right wing and white supremacists who saw opportunities to do the same in hopes of getting the blacks and the honest protesters in trouble.

The wide available of video has gone a long way to defusing those problems. You see the Walmart getting looted, but then you see that the first windows broken were the white guys in their black jumpsuits and balaclavas, and often, with black protesters trying to stop them. The video makes it harder for those trying to damage the protests to carry on the idea that it's the black protesters looting, and, at least here in Silicon Valley and in the media I consume, I've been happy to see this discussed with some nuance and going past the simple click bait and headlines.

An interesting side effect of this has been the discussion that has begun on the militarization of the police and the abuses coming out of that, and a need for national standards and oversight. It's also put a spotlight on the police unions and their willingness to protect bad cops because they're in the brotherhood.

I don't think it's a coincidence that once that conversation hit the national press demonstrations in many cities got a lot more peaceful. Some of that was the demonstrators adapting: in a number of cities, the major parts of the demonstration moved to daytime, where the anarchists and white supremacists couldn't use the dark to hide their activities, but it felt to me early on that there was a coordinated plan across many jurisdictions to push hard and punish the protestors to make them go home -- and when that backfired and turned into a national dialog on police reform and de-fanging the power of the unions, a lot of police departments backed off and closed down the police-escalation. I don't think that's a coincidence. I believe the unions national leaders saw what was happening and decided to quiet it down in hopes we stop being pissed off when the time comes when the new administration can consider implementing reforms. It may work; we may move on, but I think there is strong support on the idea of de-militarizing the police now, and I don't think that will fade into the past before it gets turned into a longer and careful discussion. Especially since there are some cities -- Portland and Seattle come to mind -- that doesn't seem to have paid attention to that memo.

It won't happen under the current administration, of course, not when Trump is literally cheerleading people to come in with their guns and solve the situation, given his worldview is that all things are solved by yelling and bullying. He even started to mobilize the military, a big no-no, and it seems the military finally convinced him he would regret that. Imagine what would happen if he ordered the military to step in -- and they said no. You think we live in interesting times now....

By the way, this isn't the first time the army has been brought in remove protestors from D.C. Hoover did it, with troops led by Douglas MacArthur (you may have heard of him). It was not well received by the American public. A good background piece on this is in Politico: The Last Time the U.S. Army Cleared Demonstrators From Pennsylvania Avenue (Politico): we seem to have avoided this particular disaster this time, but it's not the first time a President has sent troops onto the streets of Washington D.C. to get them to shut up.

I'll end this with a few thoughts on things I think we need to see happen coming out of this. Things like:

It's time to end the militarization of police that started after 9/11. It's no suprise cops trained on insurgency treat others like insurgents.

We need to rethink their roles more towards supporting the population and helping it, not policing it. The police function is critical and I'm not minimizing it, but their orientation should be de-escalation, not shooting first. More training on de-escalation and supporting social services -- which desperately need to be beefed up.

I'm all for national standards on what is and isn't allowable by a cop and consistent, independent oversight into how they operate. Body cameras is a more complex subject than many realize, but my bottom line is that police need to be accountable and have proven consistently they can't be trusted to tell the truth, so video is a necessary part of building in accountability. This, likely, will be a huge fight between the national standards supporters and the states rights advocates, so grab some popcorn.

That implies that anything that impacts that accountability is a serious offense: I'm for any policeman not wearing or turning on their body camera facing a mandatory 30 day suspension without pay, and firing for a second offense. We also need a national clearing house for these firings since too often abusive behavior at one department is hidden from their next stop.

The police unions have too much power and aim it at avoiding responsibility. I'm not in favor of fully banning them, but the power balances here need to be re-aligned to meet our needs, not the bad cops. Unions that aren't willing to allow that to happen need to be disbanded.

We need to recognize and root out the ingrained and systemic racism in our justice system; not just the police, but district attorneys, prosecutors, judges and prisons.

I'll ignore the 2nd amendment aspects of all this (but they exist and are a big part of all of this -- so you're welcome) but they do need to be grappled with.

My gut feeling is we've hit one of those inflection points where much good can come out of something bad (where I'll define "bad" as the entire Trump administration). The day is not close to won, though, and the fight has to continue, and a key piece of that fight for all of us it to make sure we vote. I admit Joe Biden was not my first choice for president (more like my fourth or fifth), but... Anything that is not a vote for Biden makes it one vote easier for Trump to be re-elected. Both staying home because you aren't a fan of Biden or voting for a third party to make a statement doesn't solve any real problem and makes it easier for the GOP to continue this disastrous last few years.

I have said in the last couple of years I will never again vote for any candidate offered by the GOP and I plan to stick to that. I believe the GOP party has to die for this country to properly move forward, because that will allow a new party to replace it and hopefully we will see the revised political landscape more more towards a left-centrist and right-centrist party rather than our current radical right GOP. To say this process will be painful and complicated is an understatement, but I no longer believe the current GOP can be rehabilitated. It needs to go away and be replaced. I say that, for what it's worth, as someone who grew up in a Republican family in a republican region who's family lawyer was a man named Bill Dannemeyer. If that name doesn't ring a bell, maybe Google him some day.

And as a final thought, I recommend you watch this from Barack Obama, and think about what he says. How to Make this Moment the Turning Point for Real Change. We have had bad presidents before. We have struggled through strife and struggle -- we even had a war over it -- and while it's never been easy, America has survived and often thrived despite it.

I'm hopeful because of that. Despite how ugly and potentially disasterous a situation we have found ourselves in, we always seem to find a way to muddle through and move forward again.

We should all consider ways to help us do that muddle thing.

On to other things....

By the way, talking about the pandemic last issue got me my first hate-unsubscribe, by someone who made sure to tell me to stick to photography on the way out. I hope she finds what she's looking for, and she evidently didn't notice the "... and more" part of the sub-title I put on this. She wasn't the only one to leave after last issue -- I had three unsubscribes, where my average is one -- but I don't intend to avoid talking about difficult things that matter to me here.

Honestly, right now, with the lock down and relative inability to go outside much less travel, and with the bigger issues in the world around us, trying to pretend that everything is gosh-wow wonderful and talking about cameras as if nothing else was wrong in the world seems -- really wrong. I do understand the need for escapes away from all of that, but... I try to offer those options as well, while feeling like I honestly can't pretend that other stuff isn't happening. And if that's not what you're looking for when this issue arrives every month, well, I hope you find what you're looking for, too.

And to be honest? If it's not obvious, I rarely react well to someone demanding I only do things the way they want it done. I'm always open to suggestions and criticism and advice, but "you aren't allowed to have an opinion, just shut up and be my dancing monkey" isn't going to persuade me to change my behavior. It might leave me with an opinion or two about you, though.

And with that, on with the show!

Photos: The New Portfolios



It took me two months, but my project to create a new set of portfolios that properly reflect who I am as a photographer are now out and available for all to see. This piece goes into some of the reasons why I did this.

For Your Consideration

Photography

  • Photograph What Makes You Happy (Sean Tucker): Tucker talks a lot about the WHY of photography instead of the how, and it's one reason he's a favorite Youtuber of mine. Here, he goes into why being successful in your photography is intrinsicly linked to your being happy with what you do.

  • Vision & Light 12: Alister Benn & Sarah Marino: I have to admit up front that I'm not a huge fan of most photography channels and podcasts that focus on photographers interviewing each other. Many of them are shallow rehashes of the same things the photographers say on every interview, and so I tend to move on quickly. This one's an exception, with the two of then diving deeply into the why of taking photos and the need to find your inspiration. Sarah's also one of the founding sponsors of Nature First, and she talks about why that concept is important and the need for us to ethically treat the locations we visit and protect them for others to be able to enjoy later.

The Pandemic 

Social Networks

  • Why do social networks focus on the wrong problem? (Om): Om is one of my favorite "thinkers" to follow. He always has an interesting take on a problem. Here, I think he's got a good point: focus on the bots, not the content. Content management is hard. Content management at scale is really hard. Algorithm systems can only take you so far, but sites like Twitter and Facebook have traditionally in these problems as social problems but as technology ones. Figuring out how to deal with the bots that are promoting so much of the bad content across the systems should be a manageable one. Just identify the content they're propagating and then nuke any accounts that propagate it.

  • Leave Facebook (Om): I'm done with Facebook (and Instagram) and you should be, too

  • Upcoming changes to our content policy, our board, and where we’re going from here (reddit): If you had told me in 2015 when I wrote The Death of Reddit that five years later I'd be praising them for being the best of the big three social networks in managing their troll problem, I'd have laughed. But, you know what? They are. They still have serious issues (they are, it seems, inevitable with social networks online) and I wouldn't say their response is perfect, or even great. But it's been good, and here they take another step forward I find really encouraging.

Birds and Birding

  • Wild Cockatoos Are Just as Smart as Lab-Raised Ones (NY Times): Share your home with a cockatoo for 25 years or so, and about the only response I have to this is "well, duh". But it's a nice look into these birds and what they are capable of. Amusing side note: wild cockatoos are a lot less willing to do the experiments before getting bored and moving on... ("well, duh").

The Outdoors

  • In the "This is why we can't have nice things" department: Woman falls into thermal feature at Yellowstone she snuck into the park while closed, fell in one of the hot springs trying to take a selfie, and had to drive herself 50 miles towards a hospital with 2nd and 3rd degree burns on much of her body before a ranger saw her and got her life-flighted to a burn ward. And, of course, within the first week of Yellowstone re-opening another tourist tried to get a selfie with a Bison and found out the hard way what a bad idea that is. Fortunately, not seriously hurt.

  • Mount St. Helens isn't where it should be. Scientists may finally know why (National Geographic): a piece talking about a possible solution to a long-standing geologic mystery: Mt. St. Helens is in the wrong place. (there was also a nice piece on the discovery of two historic calderas from the super-volcano currently hiding underneath Yellowstone -- and research on them seems to indicate the hotspot that creates these super-volcanos every few hundred years is slowly cooling and losing intensity).

  • Arctic oil spill prompts Russia's Putin to declare emergency and slam slow response (SFGate): This hasn't gotten much play in the U.S. (we seem to have other things on our minds) but it's big, it's nasty and it's the reason you need regulations and big penalties for not following them when handling toxic materials like this, because this stuff will and does happen unless you make the results of a spill really painful.

Tech Nerdery

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About 6FPS and Chuq

6FPS (Six Frames Per Second) is a newsletter of interesting things and commentary from Chuq Von Rospach (chuqui@mac.com).

Coming out monthly on the 2nd Monday of the month, I will place in your inbox a few things I hope will inform and delight you. There is too much mediocre, forgettable stuff attacking your eyeballs every day you're online; this is my little way to help you cut through the noise to some interesting things you might otherwise not find.

Contacting Chuq

Want to drop me a note or send my something to consider for the list? Here’s how:

  • You can always send me email at chuqui@mac.com.

  • Or you can tweet at me at @chuq, or use the hashtag #6fps to point something at me.

See you Soon!

And with that, I'll see you in Jult with the next issue. I'd love feedback on this, what you like, what you want more of, what you want less of. And if you have something interesting you think I might want to talk about, please pass it along.Until then, take care, and have fun.

Chuq (chuqui@mac.com)

(P.S.: some links in this newsletter may point to products at Amazon; these are affiliate links and if you use them to buy a product, I get a small cut of the sale. This doesn't make me rich, but it does help pay my web site bills. If you use the link to buy something, thank you. If you prefer not to, that's perfectly okay, also.)

Copyright © 2020 Chuq Von Rospach, All rights reserved.