Elaine: This woman has never, not once, ever, as long as I have known her, worn a bra.
George: Ah, that is disgusting–
Jerry: That is just shameless, I don’t know, There’s no–
George: The woman’s a pig, what’s wrong with her–
Jerry: It’s wrong, it’s rude, and it’s–
George: It’s disgusting–
photo { Richard Avedon, Contessa Christina Paolozzi, New York, 1961 }
A popular bicycle rental scheme in Paris that has transformed travel in the city has run into problems just 18 months after its successful launch.
Over half the original fleet of 15,000 specially made bicycles have disappeared, presumed stolen.
They have been used 42 million times since their introduction but vandalism and theft are taking their toll.
The company which runs the scheme, JCDecaux, says it can no longer afford to operate the city-wide network.
photo { Marilyn Monroe photographed by Richard Avedon, 1958 }
Andrew Richardson launched his eponymous magazine, Richardson Magazine, in 1998. The content is made up of XXX and erotic photographs, with contributors like Terry Richardson, Mario Sorrenti, David Simms, Larry Clark, David Levinthal, and features porn stars like Jenna Jameson, Alicia Klass, and Tera Patrick (cover stories for the first 3 issues).
In 2001, Richardson asked photographer Richard Avedon if he wanted to contribute to the magazine. Here’s Avedon’s reply (enlarge) published in the magazine (issue A3).
Why do we still have big questions?
Information is expanding 10 times faster than any product on this planet - manufactured or natural. According to Hal Varian, an economist at UC Berkeley and a consultant to Google, worldwide information is increasing at 66 percent per year - approaching the rate of Moore’s law - while the most prolific manufactured stuff - paper, let’s say, or steel - averages only as much as 7 percent annually. By this rough metric, knowledge is growing exponentially. Indeed, the current pace of discovery is accelerating so rapidly that it seems as if we’re headed for that rapture of enlightenment known as the Singularity.
In fact, we may be nearly there. A decade ago, author John Horgan interviewed prestigious scientists in many fields and concluded in his book The End of Science that all the big questions had been answered. The world of science has been roughly mapped out - structure of atoms, nature of light, theories of relativity and evolution, and so on - and all that remains now is to color in the details.
So why do we still have so many unanswered questions? Take the current state of physics: We don’t know what 96 percent of the universe is made of. We call it “dark matter,” a euphemism for our ignorance.
Yet it is also clear that we know far more about the universe than we did a century ago, and we have put this understanding to practical use - in consumer goods like GPS receivers and iPods, in medical devices like MRI scanners, and in engineered materials like photovoltaic cells and carbon nanotubes. Our steady and beneficial progress in knowledge comes from steady and beneficial progress in tools and technology. Telescopes, microscopes, fluoroscopes, and oscilloscopes allow us to see in new ways and to know more about the universe.
The paradox of science is that every answer breeds at least two new questions. More answers mean even more questions, expanding not only what we know but also what we don’t know. Every new tool for looking farther or deeper or smaller allows us to spy into our ignorance. Future technologies such as artificial intelligence, controlled fusion, and quantum computing (to name a few on the near horizon) will change the world - that means the biggest questions have yet to be asked.
photo { Maurizio Cattelan photographed by Richard Avedon, 2004 }
new york craigslist > manhattan > missed connections
You know what I hate? - m4w
Date: 2008-05-12, 6:59PM EDTPosers. People pretending to be something there not. That’s what I hated most about you. You see, you were posing that you actually liked me just to be cool to your friends and that actually hurted me.
{ Richard Avedon, Lyal Burr, coal miner, and his sons Kerry and Phillip, Utah, 1981 }
{ Avedon’s instructions to his printer | scanned from Evidence: 1944-1994 }
{ Richard Avedon, Charlize Theron and Patty Jenkins, Director of ‘Monster’, 2004 }
{ Richard Avedon, Nastassja Kinski and the serpent, 1981 }
{ Nadja Auermann photographed by Seb Janiak }
