Martha Raye Wrapped in python skin in Africa during WW II

Martha Raye Wrapped in python skin in Africa during WW II

Image by gbaku
An uncaptioned and undated print from an album of World War Two photographs. The photo was probably taken in February of 1943 in Algiers, Algeria. In her book, "Take it from the Big Mouth; the Life of Martha Raye," Jean Maddern Pitrone writes: "Returning to New York in March 1943, Maggie proudly displayed her treasures to reporters. A fifteen-foot tanned python skin, given her by a soldier. The steel helmet she had worn for protection. A dainty blue bag with delicate embroidery work done by a courageous RAF pilot. And the honorary captain's insignia, awarded for bravery, that Maggie was entitled to wear only in Africa. The insignia was her proudest possession, as she became the first woman ever designated an 'honorary captain' by the U.S. army."

From a US nurses diary, Accra, Gold Coast [Ghana]: "March 5[, 1943]

Our orders came to go to Dakar. It will be sad for some. Will miss Tom Anderson otherwise it does not matter of the transfer. Met Martha Raye. She is so genuine—a Capt. Cute too. Good sport and very sociable. She is staying at Nurses Qts. Has a cute puppy dog. Died a few days later." Source (thanks to StanAAngel): library.uncg.edu/dp/wv/results34.aspx?i=5067& s=3

chomping John's toe

Image by ekpatterson
Seeing all the wonderful photos of Juliette made me want to digitize some of my old prints of Finnegan when he was a puppy!

The Beauty of a New Day

Image by Thomas Hawk
For the past three days Kristopher Tate and I have been working on releasing the next version of Zooomr, Zooomr Mark III. It's actually been a lot harder on Kristopher than it has for me. Although we've collaborated on a lot of the ideas for this next version of Zooomr he's really the one who does all the work. He's the one who knows how to code things and I think is the most brilliant software developer I've ever had the privilege of knowing.

After being up for three days straight working on our conversion Kris finally hit a wall last night. Normally Kristopher sees a screen of code and just starts typing non-stop. Last night, after three days of no sleep the lines of code just melted into jibberish.

So we caved and both got some sleep. It's amazing how wonderful sleep can feel when your body really needs it, when you've gone through extreme levels of sleep deprivation.

Back in college I edited my college newspaper. It was one of the most fulfilling things I've ever done in my life. It was really the fact that I missed that part of my life so much that got me into blogging. Back in college we'd publish the paper once a week on Fridays. I'd begin every Wednesday morning fresh enthused. We published the paper on a bunch of old Macs. Mac Pluses, Mac SE/30s, and boy were they slow in comparison to the firepower of the MacBook Pro that I'm writing this on right now. Then 48 hours or so later I'd drive the paper to Goleta where they printed it up for us in a few hours, then drive back and get it out.

Anyways, this has been Kristopher's life for much of the past six months. Working 18, 20 hour days trying to build something that we both love and our passionate about. But last night was just too much and so after three days he crashed.

So a few minutes ago I woke up on Kristopher's couch and looked outside his window and saw the most beautiful colors over the San Francisco Bay. And so I did what I do and went out on the balcony and took this self portrait. My hair's a tad messed up, but I think it shows the beauty of not only what a San Francisco morning looks like, but what a fresh start and a new day looks like.

Kristopher is back inside coding like mad right now. Both of us with a renewed sense of purpose and dedication and intense desire to build something really cool for the world of social photo sharing.

Hopefully we get this puppy out today.

keith and cody

Image by crowdive
Keith tells Neil how to take a picture. Cody is getting sleepy.

zeke 9 wks

Image by squishyray
this scan is of a 13 year old print. it's so blurry because i was alone and zeke refused to be away from my side even long enough for me to take a picture. "stay" wasn't yet in his repertoire so i had to take the shot while backing away with him running towards me.

i'm posting this on his thirteenth birthday!