bigskysquid

Flash Navy Portfolio

So, if my last post didn't give it away... I was in the Navy for a little while.  Actually it was five long years that flew by.  My job was journalist but I cleaned more toilets than I wrote stories.  Actually, that sounds bad.  Truthfully, we did pretty much everything you could imagine.  I was a radio DJ, webmaster, media escort, editor, video editor... pretty much everything.  Oh, and I made a pretty mean cup of coffee. An inch deep and a mile wide... that's me.

Anyways, my last tour was with Commander U.S. Naval Forces Central Command/ Commander FIFTH Fleet in Manama, Bahrain.  In normal people terms: I worked for the public affairs people for the guy who was in charge of all the boats shooting missiles into Iraq.  I spent 1 1/2 years on the lovely desert island and these are some of the pictures I took during that last tour.  As you can imagine, there's a long story behind each one.  Next time I put together a Flash gallery I'm going to have to get some caption information up there.  Hope you enjoy.

Sharks With Frickin' Laser Beams

So, if you haven't heard... the U.S. Navy has killer dolphins on the loose somewhere in the Gulf of Mexico. Pick you're poison:

• Dolphin assassins menace Gulf of Mexico
• Armed Dolphins Released Into Gulf of Mexico
• Lethal weapon: Flipper's looking for you
• Dolphins Said Set Loose in Gulf by Katrina

...and the list of people biting on this one goes on and on. No need to read them all. Here's a quick summary:

The Guardian is reporting on what may be the weirdest Hurricane Katrina story yet. Military trained dolphins may have been released into the wild by the Hurricane's devastation. From the article: Experts who have studied the U.S. navy's cetacean training exercises claim the 36 mammals could be carrying 'toxic dart' guns. Divers and surfers risk attack, they claim, from a species considered to be among the planet's smartest. The U.S. navy admits it has been training dolphins for military purposes, but has refused to confirm that any are missing. Dolphins have been trained in attack-and-kill missions since the Cold War. The U.S. Atlantic bottlenose dolphins have apparently been taught to shoot terrorists attacking military vessels. Their coastal compound was breached during the storm, sweeping them out to sea. But those who have studied the controversial use of dolphins in the U.S. defence programme claim it is vital they are caught quickly.

I'm fired up over this one because I've worked a little with the Navy and I've had a little experience with these dolphins. For some reason the media is looking for an angle to turn these animals (mammals) into monsters. They tried it in the Iraq War and couldn't find one.

These animals may or may not be able to launch an offensive weapon against a human. One article even goes into how tricky that would be, considering they don't have opposable thumbs (or flippers). Whether they can or cannot, I cannot believe the Navy would let these animals swim around "strapped." (Especially with a hurricane on the way) Ask anyone who served at an armed post in the military if they received a "gentle reminder" if they ever forgot to turn a weapon in. Military animal handlers (at least the ones I met) are some of the best personnel in the service, and I cannot believe that one of them was getting hunkered down for the hurricane saying, "Shit! Totally left K-Dog's toxic dart gun on."

Speaking of K-Dog, the picture above is of K-Dog. (Taken by the very talented Navy photog Brien Aho) That is not a laser beam on K-Dog's flipper it is a "pinger." After this photo got released it became the sole job of one of the gentleman in my office to explain that to reporters.

The dolphins are probably out there. I bet they'll even find there own way home. But I don't buy for one second that they're swimming around like Flipper meets Dirty Harry.

Adobe Photoshop CS2: It's a Love Hate Thing

I love it... but at the same time I hate it.

Tonight CS2 stole my heart away from 7.  For those of you who actually know what that means you won't think me a big wierdo for explaining why.

I've had CS2 for a couple of weeks now but just haven't sat down to spend any quality time with it.  After getting my feet wet editing up some studio shots, I decided to try out the new Flash "web photo galleries."  So, I picked a couple of my images and a folder and whoosh... that was it.  I had tried 7's and Dreameweaver's galleries before and... well they were always lame.  They took more time to fix up then it took to take the pictures in the first place.

Then, there it was.  Not only is it a slick looking interface.  It's hardly buggy at all and would take me a week to do in Flash on my own.  I hate it.... no, I love it.

So, as you can see I'm confused. Check out the gallery. It real purty.

This Ain't No Rag, It's a Flag

It's not anywhere near the 4th of July, but a little refresher course on how to properly hang the American Flag never hurt anybody.  This came to my attention the other day when someone used the flag as a backdrop for a studio portrait.  As soon as I saw it I knew something wasn't right.  He had it hung vertically and backwards.  I guess if you're trying to say something anti-US or whatever (which you have a right to do) there isn't any problem with it.  But if you're planning on using the flag, do a little research first.

The most common display mistake I see is the vertical display.

When the flag is displayed in a manner other than by being flown from a staff, it should be displayed flat, whether indoors or out. When displayed either horizontally or vertically against a wall, the union should be uppermost and to the flag's own right, that is, to the observer's left. When displayed in a window it should be displayed in the same way, that is with the union or blue field to the left of the observer in the street. When festoons, rosettes or drapings are desired, bunting of blue, white and red should be used, but never the flag.
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3rd Annual Basset Roundup

Attention all!  If you are not doing anything this Saturday from 12-3, come on down to Kiwanis Park for the 3rd Annual Basset Roundup. My baby dog (actually she's 1 1/2) is going to be competing for queen.  If you've never met a basset hound this will be a great opportunity to see these wonderful creatures in action. It'll probably be some pretty tough competition, but I think she stands a chance.  The roundup is sponsored by the Basset Hound Rescue of Montana which is located out in Frenchtown.

How do you do?

My first post on my very own blog.  I'm not exactly sure the direction I'll be taking with this thing yet, but I will do my best to make sure it's interesting.  For now, I just want to say this is where my blog will live and feel free to stop by whenever.

More soon.