Sunsets from 2007

This entry is an archive of my Christmas Sunset diary on Daily Kos. Just a few photos to represent my obsession with capturing the perfect sunset.



I’ve already written a diary there devoted to all of the encouragement (and mojo) given by my fellow Kossacks. That diary Got a Happy Story? Shutterbug Edition started out with my first two photos of a sunrise. These photos of a sunrise over Los Angeles are actually a bit more that a year old but they are where I started;





The fact that during most of the year I can look out my kitchen window while making coffee and try to capture that false dawn;



Take a few pictures of the sunrise after I get dressed;


And then come home to capture that same day end has turned me into quite a sun worshiper since I took up photography;



Here is one of my favorite misty mornings. The Sun rising over Van Cortland Park;



And the western view on the same autumn morning;



This was one of my favorite after glows;



Since I’ve started taking photos of the sun from my window, if I have a little free time from work I try to walk to the river for a closer look at the water than I can get at home;







If I can’t get out of the concrete canyons, I’ll settle fro a reflection off the buildings;



Find a spot to shoot over;



Or through;





And If I’m on the highway at sunset, I’ll pull over in Fort Tryon Park for a sunset shot;






Since my obsession with capturing the sun began I take my camera everywhere I go and since California is my favorite destination, I’ve got a few to show from the Golden State.
The sunset over the Venice Beach Drum Circle;



I also travel to Laguna Beach each spring and this is my favorite so far;



This is a very memorable photo. It was taken along the Great Highway in San Francisco. Navajo and I were coming back from a great day at the Monterey Bay Aquarium to have a sunset dinner with Sally Cat and Mr. Cat but there were too many traffic jams to make sunset at the Cliff House. This picture was taken from the passenger seat of Navajo’s speeding car;



I go other places, here is a Puerto Rican Sunrise;



The Rabbit;



And the closest I could get to a sunset on that island;



Last week I took a three day visit in Florida and made sure I was near the water at each sunset. Maybe these will help warm up your Christmas Day.

Two from Clearwater;





Three from Hudson Beach;








And three from Green Key;







But most of my sunset photos are shot right out the window of my apartment and sometimes the view can be pretty spectacular;

New York Loses Another Source of Information

It’s not like another independent newspaper just bit the dust. At this point with almost all newspapers being dependant on a very small club of very rich people today was just another day that one multimedia corporation sold a tabloid that is famous for not sensationalizing the news to a more local entertainment empire.

Cablevision purchased Newsday today. This newspaper that serves Long Island and is very popular in the borough of Queens has the largest circulation of suburban newspapers in America and is ranked sixth of the nation’s regional newspapers. Newsday can also be purchased and delivered throughout New York City but the tabloid hardly competes with Rupert Murdoch’s disgusting rag, The New York Post and Mort Zuckerman’s Daily News.

Both Murdoch and Zuckerman had bids in but Charles Dolan has deeper pockets and now has way too much influence in areas that surround Manhattan. Some Long Island and Queens residents will get all of their news from a pretty scary and very powerful family.

The Tribune's motivation was obvious. After going private they are strapped for cash. Cablevision taking this step has financial analyst scratching their heads.

Investors have been skeptical about the benefits to Cablevision from the deal, given that it hasn't operated a newspaper before and the newspaper industry is struggling as readers and advertisers move to the Internet.

"It's incredibly hard to fathom why they want to expand into the newspaper business," said Richard Greenfield, a media analyst with Pali Capital. "Why are they putting dollars towards newspapers rather than buying their own stock?"

Perhaps it is just to convince their customers that the Knicks and Rangers are the best New York sports teams. They did fight with City Hall and win when the prospect of a Jet game being played in the same neighborhood as the Dolan owned Madison Square Garden came up.

In 2004 and 2005, Cablevision provided funding for an advertising campaign against the proposed construction of a stadium on the West Side of Manhattan supported by the Mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg. The stadium would have principally served the New York Jets, and was an essential part of New York City's failed bid for the 2012 Olympics. Cablevision had offered a competitive bid that far exceeded the bid of the Jets for property owned by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, where the new stadium would have been located.

Maybe they just want to remind everyone over and over that Radio City Music Hall, the Theater at Madison Square Garden and the Beacon Theater are the best places to see a concert.

Maybe it is just about power and influence. Many customers will wake up to a Cablevison news channel, pick up a Cablevison newspaper when the walk out their door and come home to login to Cablevison's Optimum Online when they want to check the internet. They have many telephone customers and now they want our Wi-Fi too.

Whatever it is this is another step backwards for freedom of the press and there is nobody there to stop this family that always gets what they want.

Now the Dolans can get public opinion on their side too. I think that is very scary and I remember a time not too long ago when my elected officials felt the same way. I miss those days when news made it to my neighbor's homes.

Tonight's Sunset

Today was a very grim day in New York City but just before it was too late the sun took a little peek into my window;

Outstanding in the Field: Laguna Beach Activist

Note this first post is an archived entry of mine on DailyKos just to see how this eblogger thing works out. Outstanding in the Field is a series I began devoted to everyday Americans who are trying to make a difference.

This isn’t a very serious diary. More like some vacation photos, Kossack style. This is just a pictorial tribute to some Americans who deserve some recognition, those grassroots activist that are trying to make a difference.

The title stems from a series I started that was devoted to people who do the right thing and while walking the Main Beach area of Laguna Beach yesterday I met quite a few Americans that impressed me. People who are certainly “Outstanding in the Field.”

You know what almost every New Yorker says to me when they hear I go to Orange County for my vacations? “That’s the most Republican county in California.” Well they may have a wingnut representing them but almost everybody I met yesterday told me that Steve Young will be replacing that nit wit in November.

I have to say that I wish I could see as many people getting involved in my blue reputation home town New York City as I do here in this left leaning corner of a California republican county.

Before I show the activist, let me show you what I woke up too. Last week I posted a photo of Jared and Hollywood;

For no reason other than it seems like the right thing to do they pick up garbage on their sweeps. At Hollywood’s feet is his recent take in cigarette butts and in his hand is a jar of beach tar. He claims that beach tar is a byproduct of shipping.

Between the two of them they figure that they save around two hundred plastic bags from entering the ocean per day.

Well yesterday they had some help. When I got out of bed there were hundreds of people picking up garbage up and down the beach.



I never got down there to ask who organized the effort but when I made it to the Main Beach I saw even more impressive crowds.

The first and by far the most enthusiastic were too young to vote but off to a good start in life. These teenagers were working very hard to get passing motorist and pedestrians to remember the children starving in Africa. They worked together to cut up ribbons and festoond the area. Two of them even climbed trees for world hunger;







The second group was a bit older and it would be my second time meeting the Laguna Beach Peace Vigil. The last time I held a sign with these fine Americans was on May 19, 2007. George W. Bush has killed another 537 Americans since then.

They had both good and bad news to report. The bad news is that their numbers have dwindled since the first Saturday morning protesting the upcoming war in Iraq back in March of 2002. The good news is that there is almost no one to heckle them anymore;







Now get this. This is the part that really amazes me. activism is so popular that they maintain a Saturday protest schedule. The Peace Patriots have to clear out for another crowd. That is when the party really gets going;



Not that drug arrests in America are not a very serious issue. They had life stories all over the lawn of Americans who are separated from their families and their lives while serving long sentences in prisons after getting busted with pot;





I guess because it is such a fun topic but these guys got a much bigger response than either world hunger or Bush's war. Almost everyone honked their horn and shouted in support.

I had some fun when I was leaving and ran into these two guys;



I said "Hey can I get a photo of the latecomers?" The guy in front said "What do you mean late. Those others are early. We're not suppose to be there till 1:30." I said "It's 1:45" and he came back with "So we're close enough."

No but seriously folks, I promised this young lady that I would post a link and ask for a donation to World Vision Dot Org



Ah, I gave at the beach.