Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/X-N6J98n9h0/ted-go-mobile-with-iphone-app
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Wednesday, November 30, 2011
TED Goes Mobile with New iPhone App [IPhone Apps]
Reality in the eye of the beholder
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Public release date: 28-Nov-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Joseph Blumberg
joseph.e.blumberg@dartmouth.edu
603-646-2117
Dartmouth College
A Photoshop reality check
You know they couldn't possibly look that good. But what did those models and celebrities look like before all the retouching? How different is the image we see from the original?
Dartmouth Computer Science Professor Hany Farid and Eric Kee, a PhD student at Dartmouth College, are proposing a method to not only answer such questions but also to quantify the changes.
As Farid writes, "Impossibly thin, tall, and wrinkle- and blemish-free models are routinely splashed onto billboards, advertisements, and magazine covers." He says that this is "creating a fantasy of sorts." Going beyond considerations of aesthetics or any dishonesty of photo editors or advertisers, Farid and Kee voice public health concerns.
In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on November 28, 2011, they point out that these highly idealized images have been linked to eating disorders and body image dissatisfaction in men, women, and children. The authors note that the American Medical Association has recently adopted a policy to "discourage the altering of photographs in a manner that could promote unrealistic expectations of appropriate body image."
There have already been repercussions in the United Kingdom. A Reuters news story from July 2011 reports: "Two L'Oreal cosmetics adverts [advertisements] featuring actress Julia Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington were banned in Britain by the Advertising Standards Agency, following complaints by MP [Member of Parliament] Jo Swinson. Liberal Democrat MP Swinson said the magazine adverts for foundations made by Maybelline and Lancome, both owned by L'Oreal, were misleading because the photos had been digitally altered." On a prior occasion, L'Oreal had been forced to add a disclaimer to another ad.
But Farid and Kee assert that outright bans or simple disclaimers may not be addressing the issue fairly or completely. They are seeking a way to for advertisers to truthfully and accurately characterize the extent to which an image has been altered while allowing the public to make informed judgments. The goal is to create a metric that provides an objective assessment of how much alteration has been made.
The authors propose a rating system that takes into account common practices such as cropping and color adjustment while providing assessment of other kinds of modifications that dramatically change a person's appearance. They consider geometric alterations such as slimming legs, adjusting facial symmetry, and correcting posture, as well as photometric manipulations that might include removing wrinkles, "bags" under the eyes and skin blemishes.
"We start with the before and after digital images from which we automatically estimate the geometric and photometric changes, effectively reverse engineering the manipulations that a photo retoucher has made," Farid says.
In the study, to crosscheck and validate their metric, human observers were asked to compare and rank the differences in hundreds of pairs of before and after retouching images. The results correlated highly with the mathematical metric.
"Such a rating may provide incentive for publishers and models to reduce some of the more extreme forms of digital retouching that are common today," the authors conclude, but they add, "It remains to be seen if this rating can mediate the adverse effects of being inundated with unrealistic body images."
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Public release date: 28-Nov-2011[ | E-mail |
Share ] Contact: Joseph Blumberg
joseph.e.blumberg@dartmouth.edu
603-646-2117
Dartmouth College
A Photoshop reality check
You know they couldn't possibly look that good. But what did those models and celebrities look like before all the retouching? How different is the image we see from the original?
Dartmouth Computer Science Professor Hany Farid and Eric Kee, a PhD student at Dartmouth College, are proposing a method to not only answer such questions but also to quantify the changes.
As Farid writes, "Impossibly thin, tall, and wrinkle- and blemish-free models are routinely splashed onto billboards, advertisements, and magazine covers." He says that this is "creating a fantasy of sorts." Going beyond considerations of aesthetics or any dishonesty of photo editors or advertisers, Farid and Kee voice public health concerns.
In a paper published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) on November 28, 2011, they point out that these highly idealized images have been linked to eating disorders and body image dissatisfaction in men, women, and children. The authors note that the American Medical Association has recently adopted a policy to "discourage the altering of photographs in a manner that could promote unrealistic expectations of appropriate body image."
There have already been repercussions in the United Kingdom. A Reuters news story from July 2011 reports: "Two L'Oreal cosmetics adverts [advertisements] featuring actress Julia Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington were banned in Britain by the Advertising Standards Agency, following complaints by MP [Member of Parliament] Jo Swinson. Liberal Democrat MP Swinson said the magazine adverts for foundations made by Maybelline and Lancome, both owned by L'Oreal, were misleading because the photos had been digitally altered." On a prior occasion, L'Oreal had been forced to add a disclaimer to another ad.
But Farid and Kee assert that outright bans or simple disclaimers may not be addressing the issue fairly or completely. They are seeking a way to for advertisers to truthfully and accurately characterize the extent to which an image has been altered while allowing the public to make informed judgments. The goal is to create a metric that provides an objective assessment of how much alteration has been made.
The authors propose a rating system that takes into account common practices such as cropping and color adjustment while providing assessment of other kinds of modifications that dramatically change a person's appearance. They consider geometric alterations such as slimming legs, adjusting facial symmetry, and correcting posture, as well as photometric manipulations that might include removing wrinkles, "bags" under the eyes and skin blemishes.
"We start with the before and after digital images from which we automatically estimate the geometric and photometric changes, effectively reverse engineering the manipulations that a photo retoucher has made," Farid says.
In the study, to crosscheck and validate their metric, human observers were asked to compare and rank the differences in hundreds of pairs of before and after retouching images. The results correlated highly with the mathematical metric.
"Such a rating may provide incentive for publishers and models to reduce some of the more extreme forms of digital retouching that are common today," the authors conclude, but they add, "It remains to be seen if this rating can mediate the adverse effects of being inundated with unrealistic body images."
###
[ | E-mail | Share ] ?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2011-11/dc-rit112311.php
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Tuesday, November 29, 2011
Egypt Islamists pull out stops in post-Mubarak poll (Reuters)
CAIRO (Reuters) ? Egyptians voted for a second day on Tuesday in an election that Islamists hope will bring them closer to power even though the army generals who took over from Hosni Mubarak have yet to step aside.
The parliamentary poll, the first since a popular uprising toppled Mubarak in February, has confounded fears of violence after a week of riots against army rule in which 42 people were killed.
The Muslim Brotherhood, banned but semi-tolerated under Mubarak, hopes its grassroots organization will help it sweep into parliament but it is not clear how much influence the assembly can wield while the generals remain in power.
Monitors said turnout was high on the first day, although no official figure has yet been released. They reported logistical hiccups and campaign violations but no serious violence.
In a voting station in Cairo's Zamalek district, judges put turnout at 50 to 60 percent. Among dozens of waiting voters were some who were back after being deterred by Monday's long queues. Judges elsewhere had put it at 30 to 50 percent on Monday.
"I wasn't sure whether to vote yesterday for fear of violence that marred past elections. But the impressive order and security have encouraged me to venture out," said Fathi Mohammed, 56, an early voter in Alexandria, where he works in the port authority. "I'm hopeful this country will rise."
Armed with laptops and leaflets, party workers of the Muslim Brotherhood's political wing and its Islamist rivals approached muddled voters to guide them through the complex balloting system and nudge them toward their candidates.
The ruling army council assumed Mubarak's formidable presidential powers when it eased him from office on February 11. It has promised to hand over to an elected president by July, but may seek to retain military perks and power behind the scenes.
If the staggered election process goes smoothly over the next six weeks, the new parliament will nevertheless enjoy a popular legitimacy that the generals lack. It may try to assert itself after rubber-stamping Mubarak's decisions for 30 years.
PEOPLE OF THE REVOLUTION
"Real politics will be in the hands of the parliament," said Diaa Rashwan, an Egyptian political analyst.
The next assembly could compete for authority with Kamal Ganzouri, an economist named last week by the army council to form a cabinet, which he hopes to unveil by Thursday. Ganzouri, 78, was prime minister under Mubarak from 1996 to 1999.
The United States, which has urged its longtime allies in Egypt's military to make way swiftly for civilian rule, said early reports on the first day of voting were "quite positive."
Many Egyptians had feared election violence after last week's bloodshed when frustration against army rule boiled over, as police fought repeated battles with protesters in and around Cairo's Tahrir Square, the heart of the anti-Mubarak revolt.
In a polling station in the capital's Nasr City district, two old women baffled by the welter of obscure candidates on offer, asked some youngsters: "Who are the people of the revolution so we can give them our vote? May God protect them."
Some Egyptians yearn for a return to stability, uneasy about the impact of political turmoil on an economy heading toward a crisis sure to worsen the hardship of impoverished millions.
Others worry that resurgent Islamist parties may dominate political life, mold Egypt's next constitution and threaten social freedoms in what is already a deeply conservative nation of 80 million people whose 10 percent Coptic Christian minority complains of discrimination from the Muslim majority.
As voting resumed in the chilly, rain-swept coastal town of Damietta, Sayed Ibrahim, 30, said he backed the liberal Wafd Party over its main local rival, the Islamist Salafi Nour Party.
EGYPT POLL REVERBERATES
"I'm voting for Wafd because I don't want an ultra-religious party that excludes other views," he said, in jeans and a cap.
"It's the first time I feel there are honest elections. Last year it was probably 10 percent honest and 90 percent rigged. It was thuggery," he said, referring to the last Mubarak-era election a year ago. "Now the army's doing a good job."
Islamists expect to do well in the poll, but the outcome is hard to predict under a complex voting system of party lists and individual candidates. Full results will emerge only in January.
Political transformation in Egypt, the most populous Arab country, will reverberate across the Middle East, where a new generation demanding democratic change has toppled or challenged the leaders of Tunisia, Libya, Syria and Yemen.
"It's important for every citizen to vote so this parliament represents the people and their voices reach the government," said Sara Fekry, 29, an advertising agent voting in Zamalek.
But Howeida Hussein, a 40-year-old teacher, said after casting her ballot she still feared the military might interfere in the election outcome.
"They might try, but they will not succeed because the Egyptian people are very aware."
Smooth polling helped Egypt's benchmark share index to jump the maximum five percent allowed in one day's trading.
"People perceive yesterday's turnout positively. It was much better than expectations," Osama Mourad of Arab Finance Brokerage said shortly before the market opened.
(Additional reporting by Marwa Awad in Alexandria, Shaimaa Fayed in Damietta and Tom Pfeiffer, Patrick Werr and Edmund Blair in Cairo; Writing by Alistair Lyon, editing by Peter Millership)
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Monday, November 28, 2011
"Warning: This Car Is Inefficient"
Imagine, for example, four people playing a game in which contributions are doubled. If everyone contributes their $10, they all end up with $20. But a player who refuses to contribute while the others put in the full amount ends up with $25 while the rest get $15 each. If only one player contributes their $10, they end up with just $5 and everybody else $15. The self-interested thing to do, therefore, is never to contribute.
Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=3528be80b100418b8687e440cbabd5f0
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Maggie Daley inspired countless breast cancer patients ? Arlington ...
Post a story 
Yesterday at 11:51 a.m.
Linda Borton, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2002, is pictured in Arlington Heights on Friday, Nov. 25, 2011. Borton learned Maggie Daley was also diagnosed with cancer on the day Borton started her chemotherapy. Daley died on Thursday after a long fight with cancer. ( Keri Wiginton/ Chicago Tribune)
On the day Chicago?s first lady announced that she had breast cancer in 2002, Linda Borton of Arlington Heights started her chemotherapy treatments for the same affliction.
Though Borton, a health executive, didn?t know Maggie Daley, she knew they were going through a shared traumatic experience, and immediately felt a kinship with this strong, positive woman.
?I knew I certainly was not alone,? Borton said, as she reflected on Daley?s death Thursday evening from complications of that cancer. ?I wanted to write her a note, just to say I?d been diagnosed myself and to try to send her some words of encouragement.?
Read more at Chicago Tribune.
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