quackquack

Where playground toys go to die:

Since we were basically photo-stalking Backy on this trip and had to stop at Wawa for much-needed liquids after 90 degree hiking, I went over the unofficial dump where he had found the old Lake Park playground digger. Yep: still there!

New MartinKelley.com designed site:
Michael Oliveras is a long-time union carpenter making the entrepreneurial jump and starting his own business: Mike’s Precision Carpentry. He came to me looking for a webpage to advertise his new enterprise.

It’s a simple design, a typical small-business site of half-a-dozen pages. The color scheme matches his business cards for a bit of branding. Oliveras faced a problem typical for new businesses: a lack of good photos. The work he’s done for many years is not technically his own (per the employment contracts) so for now the pictures are a mix of the few jobs he has done on his own and a few stock images. I’m sure he’ll have a well-rounded portfolio before long and we’ll be able to fill out the site with his own work. In the meantimes, he added a couple of great pictures of him and his family on the “About Us” page to give it that personal touch.

See it live: www.mikes-precision-carpentry.com

Blog: My Parents Were Awesome

“Before the fanny packs and Andrea Bocelli concerts, your parents (and grandparents) were once free-wheeling, fashion-forward, and super awesome.”

HT to Brni’s on FB. Please note: photo isn’t my parents, just a random cool one from the blog.

Web marketing my MartinKelley.com blog:

A potential client recently came to me with an existing site. It certainly was slick: the homepage featured a Flash animation of telegenic young professionals culled from a stock photo service, psuedo-jazz techno music, and words sweeping in from all sides selling you the company’s service. Unfortunately the page had no useful content, no call-to-action and no Google PageRank. It was an expensive design, but I didn’t need to look at the tracking stats to know no one came this page.

So you’re ready to ditch a non-performing site for one more dynamic, something that will attract customers and interact with them. Here’s five tips for building a self-marketing website!

Read the whole piece on MartinKelley.com

The PPA announced winners for the their photography contest. I didn’t win, but I was beaten out by some great pictures. Below are some, follow the link for all. My Quaker peeps should know that Jaime Cromartie is a member of Atlantic City Area meeting, so at least one of the family made it!

Early photos from Julie’s family. Mostly East Vineland, NJ from the 1920s-1950s.

Julie’s grandmother Laura Picconi DeMarchi is on right with probably a brother and friend in this picture circa 1926.

A photo slideshow/essay from Triple Canopy. On left: Googleplex, on right Rick Warren’s Saddleback Church.

There is a Flickr group for “beater eaters,” how cool is that? I love the internet, I really do. A picture Julie took of Theo is the newest entry, thanks to an invitation from the Admin!

Shawn Rocco, the “Cellphone guy,” in the NYTimes:

Shawn Rocco, 37, is a professional photographer. He shoots a Motorola E815. Yes, that’s a cellphone. Not when he’s actually on assignment for The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., where he has worked full time since 2002, but in those situations when he doesn’t mind ceding some control to a medium that is idiosyncratic — to say the least — in exchange for the happy prize of serendipity; the image that doesn’t quite emerge as he planned and is therefore all that more meaningful.

Shawn’s blog is at “cellular obscura” and has funny commentary along with the photos. In the article he compares cell phones to Polaroids: “Wih Polaroid, it wasn’t a crapshoot, but you left a lot of things in the hands of the chemistry.” As a former Polaroid user myself, I love that. I’m currently using a six year old camera I had formerly given up for dead and it still takes some stunning pictures (I love this spring’s Atsion series).

I’ve been doing some teasing about what I’ve called Twitactivsm, but it is amazing that ordinary citizens are able to shoot and distribute almost real-time video from a country in protest despite the internet restrictions. Here are some Youtube videos that came through the NYTimes live coverage feed.

Tehran, Meidune Emam, 5pm

Iran June 18 2009

Iran June 18 2009

There are also some good photos on this Twitpic page.

A rare hopeful image from Tehran: “A backer of Mir Hossein Mousavi helps evacuate an injured riot-police officer during riots in Tehran on June 13, 2009.” From Boston.com’s striking collection of photos from the Iranian protests.

I’m not a Civil War buff but this is a cool map of the battle fought near where we stayed this weekend. The troop movements are described and shown against a backdrop of a typographical map, a modern satelite map or a 1930s Aerial photo. Most of the Chantilly battle is under ugly office and residential developments so it’s also a poignant example of our tendency to bury under our history.

Hammonton Lake Tree Slaughter:

Close to tears looking at photos of tree slaughter in favorite park (before and after shots). I was a few hundred feet from here today for a t-ball game, but couldn’t bear to look over. My boys both love the almost-daily walk we take through here and it’s all gone because some idiots wanted to be Big Men with Bulldozers and remake the park. Knowing this town, this will probably all be parking lot.

Francis, the 3yo, has a specific route he takes, starting the playground area in the background, through a specific gate, down a specific path, over a specific guardrail, across a specific marshy field, etc., etc., and will be completely besides himself when he sees this. Without a doubt this will be one of the top-five most traumatic things in his life and I’m kind of afraid to even take him.

These before and after pics via Flickr pal BACKYard Woods Explorer. Backy thinks some of the trees cut were around before the park. Some new saplings were planted just last year and are now gone, testament to the impulsive nature of this cutting.

Quote:

This Quaker went on to wonder: If schools, because of their visibility and good reputations, are the chief means of Friends’ evangelism should the Quaker community do more to support them? And should Quakers do more to encourage Quaker attendance at these schools, which are largely filled with non-Quakers? And should they do more to encourage Quaker staffing, another area dominated by non-Quakers?

Martin Commentary:

She asks lots of intriguing questions. The most interesting ones look at what implied responsibilities for mutual support might exist between Friends schools and the  Quaker community. Photo from site: Diane and sons.