Kseniya Simonova is a Ukrainian artist who just won Ukraine’s version of “America’s Got Talent.” She uses a giant light box, dramatic music, imagination and “sand painting” skills to interpret Germany’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine during WWII.

Guest blogger Melissa Snow of Shared Hope International discusses their new public awareness campaign to address child trafficking in street prostitution in Washington, DC.  Child sex trafficking happens all over our nation’s capitol, sometimes only steps from the White House and blocks from a symbol of the end of slavery — the Lincoln Memorial

It is a shocking article, and if indeed is true, then raising awareness is the right thing to do.  But the author stepped over the line with the photo she is using for illustration:

Photo by Ed Yourdon via Flickr

There is nothing wrong in using Flickr images with a Creative Commons licence, and the owner of the photo, Ed Yourdon is properly accredited.

But this is not just an image.  It’s a real girl, a living person with a face and name, who is quite recognizable by her family, friends, adversaries.  Using her in this article places her in the wrong context, implying that she is an (unwilling) child prostitute.   The author has no information about her, and Ed, who took the picture makes it clear he thinks it is the wrong context in a comment to the article.

The sad irony of the matter is that the author is clearly passionate about fighting childrens’ abuse – yet using this image in this context is a case of abuse in itself.

Yes, Cancer Dude, Jeffrey Walker, businessman, musician, artist, family-man @radiowalker who fought and beat cancer so many times had one too many battles to fight, and he lost this last one.  Last night he passed away.

I can’t find words to write. Bloggers’ block, big time.  But he described his battle and inspired so many in his own posts:

Cancer 2.0: the Killer App

What I learned from Cancer 2.0

Living with Cancer in Silicon Valley

Living with Cancer in Silicon Valley II: Survival Tips from a Hardened Cancer Dude

and some of my earlier posts:

Cancer Dude Will Win Again

Jeffrey’s Seven: Cancer Dude Back Online

Jeffrey’s gone. Here’s an excerpt from his wife, Jessy’s email, very much in Jeffrey’s spirit:

Jeffrey loved blogging and he loved reading the responses even more. He was awed by the outpouring of love.  Going in to his surgeries, he read all the postings written and it gave him strength.

Let’s give him strength again. I know that somehow, he will see your comments on his blog.  Its a wonderful way to reach out to us too, his family.

Let’s say our final Good Bye to Jeffrey over on his blog.

And listen to him play one more time. During the last struggle, between two chemo treatments he played guitar at the  Stanford University Relay for Life:

Update:  I thought I’d let another guitar player say the final Good Bye: Only the Good Ones Die Young.

And now, here they are again – at least in the form of an interactive game, due out next month.

The preview does not do justice to it, after all you can only passively watch it, while the real The Beatles: Rock Band will allow players to sing and play interactively with the Fab Four.  The game was developed by Apple Corp, which is not to be confused with that other entity in the business of making of iPods and iPhones and all sorts of Mac-things.

Read more @ Nick Carr’s  Rough Type, Crave and The New York Times.

And now, here’s your  Ticket To Ride.

Too bad they had to go to court.. apparently Matthew Fisher who created the song’s organ solo had been excluded from receiving royalties – while I am no legal expert, I can attest A Whiter Shade of Pale would be a lot .. hm.. more Pale without the distinctive organ music, so I am glad the House of Lords sided with him now.

And now, Procol Harum, 41 years later:

Hi,

We are interested in possibly acquiring your website, www.zoliblog.com, as it
would be a good strategic fit for our web portfolio.
If you’re interested in discussing further please let me know.

A little about us -  we are representing a small and privately owned company
with a $5 million fund for investing in websites.
They are headquartered in Denver with offices in Philippines and India and a
workforce of around 100 people between all offices.  Please also note that our
due diligence process is painless – all we care about is *traffic* so when the
time comes we will need to see your Google Analytics
and then can submit a firm bid to you. We pay all cash — no "earn-outs" and
other gimmicks.

I hope to hear from you soon.
Thanks,
………..
Strategic Acquisitions Group
name@wankmedia.com

Update:

To the idiot spammer who shows up here with different email addresses and URL’s: you know, there is this concept of an IP address… it gives you away as one and the same spammer, no matter how many different names you use.

As for your question about the two forecasts contradicting each other, well, here’s another concept you may not have heard of: Fahrenheit and Celsius.  Go Google it.