Homage to Robert Mapplethorpe

Scan ©bernardmlynchjr

Greetings of the Season!Nightmares in Red, White & Blue

ex caelis

ex caelis | series photograph ©2012 bernard m lynch jr

Invasion of The Leaf Peepers!

photograph ©2012 bernard m lynch jr

Coming Hallowe'en 2012SILENT HILL REVELATION 3D

Born this day in 1925 | Margaret ThatcherAs portrayed by Meryl Streep

Late to the prom...Born 12 October 1968Hugh Jackman

One small step for man,one giat leap for mankind.Signed Plate of StampsNeil Armstrong

Click on image for larger view.

When you've got your angel's back...

A Kickstarter that did it! | FlipBooKit

When Bullying Lives, Someone Dies.

(CNN) -- Her YouTube video started out innocently enough. The Canadian teen, her face obscured from the camera, held a stack of cards each filled with messages in black marker.

"I've decided to tell you about my never ending story," the card in Amanda Todd's hands read.

At this point the viewer may have no idea that they are about to be led on the most agonizing journey, one that pushed the premier of British Columbia to issue a stern warning against bullying, a journey that has birthed a Facebook page with thousands of people commenting many offering condolences.

In the soundless, black and white video, the teen showed one card after another. Each card painfully sinking the viewer deeper into the anguish too many teens have experienced.

"In 7th grade I would go with friends on webcam," the card in the teen's hand read.

The next few cards reveal that the teen began to get attention on the Internet from people that she did not know. People who told her she was beautiful, stunning, perfect.

"Then wanted me to flash. So I did one year later," the cards said.

The teen then got a message on Facebook from a stranger who said she needed to show more of herself or he would publish the topless pictures he had taken of her.

"He knew my address, school, relatives, friends, family, names ..."

On Christmas break, the police came to her home to tell her that photos of her were sent to "everyone."

She pushed the next card very close to the camera.

"I then got really sick anxiety major depression and panic disorder. I then moved and got into alcohol and drugs."

She says she struggled with anxiety, rarely went out for a year. And then the same man appeared again with a Facebook page that displayed her topless as his profile picture.

"Cried every night, lost all my friends and respect people had for me ... again ..."

She was teased and felt as if she could never erase that photo. She started cutting, a form of self-injuring act that psychologists say is an impulse-control behavior that sometimes accompanies a variety of mental illnesses.

At school, she ate lunch alone until she moved to another new school.

"Everything was better even though I sat still alone,." the next card read. "After a month later I started talking to an old guy friend."

She thought the guy liked her even though she knew he had a girlfriend. One day he asked her to come over because his girlfriend was on vacation.

"So I did ... huge mistake ... I thought he liked me," she held the cards in one shaky hand now, using the other to brush under her eye as if wiping away a tear.

A week later the guy's girlfriend showed up at her school with a posse of 15 others. A crowd gathered. The girlfriend berated her screaming that nobody liked her.

"A guy than (sic) yelled just punch her already ..."

She was punched. Thrown on the ground.

"I felt like a joke in this world I thought nobody deserves this," the next card reads. "Teachers ran over but I just went and layed in a ditch and my dad found me."

When she got home she drank bleach.

"It killed me inside and I thought I actually was going to die."

She was rushed to a hospital to flush the chemical out of her.

She put the next card almost flush with camera so that the viewer can no longer see her and only sees "After I got home all I saw on Facebook- She deserved it and did you wash the mud out of your hair? I hope she is dead."

She moved in with her mother in another city, to another school. But her past followed her.

"6 months has gone by ... people are pasting pics of bleach, clorex (sic) and ditches ... Everyday I think why am I still here,"

Her struggles with anxiety and cutting had gotten worse and even despite counseling and antidepressants she still was rushed to hospital again after an overdose.

The last cards say simply: "I have nobody. I need someone. My name is Amanda Todd."

The video has garnered the attention of many including the premier of British Colombia, Christy Clark.

"No one deserves to be bullied. No one earns it. No one asks for it. It is not a rite of passage. Bullying has to stop. Every child has to feel safe at school," Clark said in a You Tube video posted Thursday.

On Wednesday, Amanda Todd's body was found in her home, police in the Vancouver-area city of Coquitlam said. She took her own life.

She was 15.

The Martian North Pole

Credit: NASA and The Hubble Heritage Team (STScI/AURA)

Frosty white water ice clouds and swirling orange dust storms above a vivid rusty landscape reveal Mars as a dynamic planet in this sharpest view ever obtained by an Earth-based telescope.

NASA's Earth-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope took the picture on June 26, 2001, when Mars was approximately 43 million miles (68 million km) from Earth -- the closest Mars has ever been to Earth since 1988. Hubble can see details as small as 10 miles (16 km) across. The colors have been carefully balanced to give a realistic view of Mars' hues as they might appear through a telescope.

Especially striking is the large amount of seasonal dust storm activity seen in this image. One large storm system is churning high above the northern polar cap [top of image], and a smaller dust storm cloud can be seen nearby. Another large dust storm is spilling out of the giant Hellas impact basin in the Southern Hemisphere [lower right].

Hubble has observed Mars before, but never in such detail. The biennial close approaches of Mars and Earth are not all the same. Mars' orbit around the Sun is markedly elliptical; the close approaches to Earth can range from 35 million to 63 million miles.

Astronomers are interested in studying the changeable surface and weather conditions on Mars, in part, to help plan for a pair of NASA missions to land rovers on the planet's surface in 2004.

The Mars opposition of 2001 serves as a prelude for 2003 when Mars and Earth will come within 35 million miles of each other, the closest since 1924 and not to be matched until 2287.

National Depression Screening Day 2012

Not All Pain is Physical

Common mental health concerns can't be seen on an x-ray, but they are as painful as any physical illness. If you are feeling sad, anxious, or overwhelmed, take an anonymous mental health assesment.

Taking the first step into the light is yours.

Take it now.

National Coming Out Day 2012Logo by Keith Haring ©1988

Come out. 

For yourself. 

For the kids. 

Be a role model.

Paul Ryan Pumping Iron!TIME Magazine Photos

Lose the hat. And the shirt...Ladies: Check your breasts!

Play THESE Numbers!

Rob Marciano LOVES his orange...

David Vance + Justin = ORANGE!

David Vance + Justin

Born this day in 1966 | Luke Perry [actor]

Fallen IdolsThey coulda been heroes, just for one day...

Dope Lance Armstrong | LIESTRONG

LIESTRONG

ex caelis

BOYCOTT RED LOBSTER + OLIVE GARDEN!!!

Health changes spur test of more part-time workers

The owner of Olive Garden and Red Lobster restaurants is putting more workers on part-time status in a test aimed at limiting costs from President Barack Obama's health care law, The Associated Press reports. Darden Restaurants Inc. declined to give details but said the test is only in restaurants in four markets across the country. 

It entails boosting the number of workers on part-time status, meaning they work less than 30 hours a week. Under the new health care law, companies with 50 or more workers could be hit with fines if they do not provide basic coverage for full-time workers and their dependents. 

Starting Jan. 1, 2014, those penalties and requirements could significantly boost labor costs for some companies, particularly in low-wage industries such as retail and hospitality, where most jobs don't come with health benefits. Darden, which operates more than 2,000 restaurants in the U.S. and Canada, employs about 180,000 people. The company says about 75 percent of its employees are currently part-timers. 

Nationally, 60 percent of companies offer health benefits, but the figure varies depending on the size of the company. Nearly all companies with 200 or more workers offer benefits, compared with 48 percent for companies with 3-9 workers, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.

The Harsh Reality of Student Loans | 2012

Double-click on the illustration to read a larger version. Thanks.

DON'T TEXT & DRIVE!

And if I should see you? You'll either get the "get off the fuckin' phone" gesture, the one-finger salute, or, if you're really lucky, I'll take your picture and post it on my blog for everyone to see what a selfish person you are. Don't forget: the life you lose could be your own.

Lewis Dube as Abraham LincolnPhotograph © Bernard M Lynch Jr

Photograph ©2012 Bernard M Lynch Jr

John Lennon's Last Public PerformanceThanksgiving 1974 | Madison Square GardenWhatever Gets You Through the Night

NOTE: This is NOT the original footage, but footage taken from a movie. This video stars Mark McGann as John Lennon, Kim Miyori as Yoko and Matthew Marsh as Elton, from the movie "John & Yoko: A Love Story".

Born this day in 1940 | John LennonPhotograph by Bob Gruen

A horror movie, in red, white & blue.The Tillman Story

A horror movie: black & white& read, all over.The Tillman Story

Model Jake HollingsPhotographs by David VanceSporting the Colors of the Season

Model Jake Hollings

Photographs ©2012 David Vance | Miami

There's a new bat in town...

photograph ©2007 David Vance | Miami

Born this day in 1949 | Sigourney WeaverPhotographed by Robert Mapplethorpe

Sigourney Weaver 

Photographed by Robert Mapplethorpe

It's the most wonderful time of the year...

©2007 David Vance | Miami

Bond. James Bond.Sean Connery

This day in the history of photography | 19311st Infrared photograph taken in Rochester, NY

Short-exposure infrared photography is first demonstrated by researchers at the Eastman Kodak company in Rochester, New York. The first short-exposure infrared photo taken is of a group of fifty Kodak engineers in a totally dark room flooded with invisible infrared light for the purpose.

The Charles W. Morgan, Mystic Seaport, Mystic CT
©1986 Bernard M Lynch Jr

Born this day in 1931 | Bishop Desmond Tutu

Born this day in 1952 | Vladimir Putin

Baron Samedi | Photograph by David Vance

Photograph ©David Vance | Miami