This Day in History|Child Labor Outlawed

Lewis Wickes Hine (September 26, 1874 – November 3, 1940) was an American sociologist and photographer. Hine used his camera as a tool for social reform. His photographs were instrumental in changing the child labor laws in the United States.

In 1907, he became the photographer for the National Child Labor Committee (NCLC). Over the next decade, Hine documented child labor in American industry to aid the NCLC's lobbying efforts to end the practice. Between 1906 and 1908, he was a freelance photographer for The Survey, a leading social reform magazine. He took all these pictures to show the country the cruelties of child labor.

In 1908, Hine photographed life in the steel-making districts and people of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the influential sociological study called The Pittsburgh Survey. During and after World War I, he documented American Red Cross relief work in Europe. In the 1920s and early 1930s, Hine made a series of "work portraits," which emphasized the human contribution to modern industry. In 1930, Hine was commissioned to document the construction of The Empire State Building. Hine photographed the workers in precarious positions while they secured the iron and steel framework of the structure, taking many of the same risks the workers endured. In order to obtain the best vantage points, Hine was swung out in a specially designed basket 1,000 feet above Fifth Avenue.

During the Great Depression, he again worked for the Red Cross, photographing drought relief in the American South, and for the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), documenting life in the mountains of eastern Tennessee. He also served as chief photographer for the Works Progress Administration's (WPA) National Research Project, which studied changes in industry and their effect on employment. Hine was also a member of the faculty of the Ethical Culture Fieldston School.

The Library of Congress holds more than five thousand Hine photographs, including examples of his child labor and Red Cross photographs, his work portraits, and his WPA and TVA images. Other large institutional collections include nearly ten thousand of Hine's photographs and negatives held at the George Eastman House and almost five thousand NCLC photographs at the Albin O. Kuhn Library & Gallery of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.

Get the Heinz!Timber Falls, 2007

Timber Falls.

Better than a woody!

11th EROS Film Festival4 - 8 November 2009Trinity College Hartford CT

Check the full schedule of films, times, locations here.

Soupy Sales Threw His Last Pie!

TwitterPornYou write it, I find it!

Ten Days + Counting!Hallowe'en.

Here's a "treat" to raise the hackles on your back!

You'll love this...and it's the ORIGINAL!

Download here.

This Gay in History|Robert Reed.

RANT!MIKA @ United PalaceFriday, 16 October 2009

OK you rude fucking MIKA-bastards.

Here's my rant, and if you think it applies to you, it probably does.

Way back when, I bought a $25 "unassigned" fan club ticket for the United Palace on Friday, 16 October 2009. I was a bit concerned that I spend $25 on a "fan club ticket" with no idea where I'd be sitting, but I presumed it would be some premium ("fan club") seating.

A few emails later, and I found out I was sitting in FF 5, which was the sixth row back, and the third seat in from the aisle on the left. I was satisfied. Until the alcohol-bearing drunkards and over-zealous fans started invading my space.

Everything was relatively quiet during Gary Go, but all hell was about to break out when Mika took the stage.

Suddenly, I was shoved out of my "third from the main aisle on the left" seat and pushed out with a sea of humanity who decided their seats, and mine, weren't close enough. I literally got caught up in a sea of humanity (drunken) and shoved towards the front of the stage, CLEARLY irritating the bouncers and security personnel.

I was threatened, several times, with being ejected from the auditorium if I did NOT return to my seat. Trouble was, I couldn't move back towards my seat. I asked someone who looked like a kind, understanding security personnel, and I showed them my ticket, and they said "that seat is occupied."

Yeah. It sure was occupied. BY SOMEONE WHO DID NOT BELONG THERE.

So it took me about an hour to get back to the area of my seat, and then the fisticuffs came out when the fucking bitch and her milquetoast husband WOULDN'T MOVE.

(Meanwhile, did I tell you a concert was going on?)

I had to push, shove, and basically act like a rude-nick to get back to MY seat, but that was only the beginning if my continued night mare.

To the bitches sitting directly in front of me:

I didn't PAY for a seat so I could WATCH THE CONCERT through your various video-capture devices (iPhones, BlackBerrys, Video Nanos etc), so THANK YOU for blocking my view. And when you weren't recording your shit YouTube videos, did you really need to wave your fucking glow sticks?

Which brings me to another topic.

You all love MIKA. I'm SURE you LOVE MIKA. But DID YOU HAVE TO FUCKING SHOW "I LOVE YOU MIKA" during his performance?

And if you weren't shouting I LOVE YOU MIKA, I'm impressed you knew the words to every song, but I DID'T PAY TO HEAR YOU SING. I paid to hear MIKA sing. Don't get me wrong: sure, there were "sing-a-longs" during the evening, but MIKA wasn't looking for back-up singers for the ENTIRE NIGHT.

SO SHUT YOUR FUCKING MOUTHS.

I could go on and on and on, and I will, because you ruined a concert experience for me, and I probably won't go to concerts any more because of ASSHOLES like you.

And yes, I was sitting in FF 5, Fan Seating, so if you were near me, this is directed at you.

Fuckers.

And Mika? How about getting together with your management and setting forth some rules, like no alcohol and staying in your seat (unless general admission).

I spent about $100 on your music and DVDs, and I spent another $100+ on this ticket and getting down to Washington Heights from Connecticut.

So, as I figure it, I'm owed $200+.

But in the meantime, I'm thinking about posting your DVDs and music online.

Seems digital piracy does hurt, and is the only way to get your attention.

And to the stupid fucking morons at the United Palace? Do something other than stand around like dopes. Some of us paid for seats.

It's just too bad you didn't respect us ticket buying public with access to those seats.

Bottom feeders. All of you.

And the parents taking their kids and drinking all night long?

You really did look cool. I hope your kids grow up to be a headache for you, perhaps drinking and driving, and wrecking only your lives.

Concerts? I've had it.

and Mika? You're already in the garbage.

I equate your music with trashy people, rude people, and a horrible night.

And I'm going to keep blogging on this topic too.

Shame on you!

I can't even say if you put on a good show.

I missed most of it. And I even bought a ticket.

Shame. Shame. Shame.

Rick Sanchez|"Pee all over my leg."

Hey Rick.

Why don't you piss in your own mouth.

That would get my attention.

Before + During!