Was the 2013 World Press Photo Of The Year A Fake?

In February, the winner of the prestigious World Press Photo of the Year award came under fire after allegations surfaced that it had been significantly altered. The organization has stood by the photo, but a forensic image analyst, Neal Krawetz, now claims his analysis proves that it is a composite of multiple photos.

The photo in question, an image by Swedish photographer Paul Hansen called "Gaza Burial," shows a group of men carrying the bodies of two children killed in an airstrike through Gaza City. According to the results of a forensic analysis published by ExtremeTech yesterday, it might be a composite of three different photos spliced together and then altered to illuminate the faces of the subjects. The photographer has denied the allegations.

Krawetz, a computer scientist and author who specializes in "non-classical computer forensics," blogged about his reservations with the photo, which he saw after a friend sent him an article on the controversy. By looking at the file's Photoshop save history, the shadow placement in the image and an error-level analysis of the pixels in the photo, Krawetz says he found that Hansen's image was significantly manipulated--a controversial topic in documentary photography.

ExtremeTech wrote:

Basically, as far as we can surmise, Hansen took a series of photos — and then later, realizing that his most dramatically situated photo was too dark and shadowy, decided to splice a bunch of images together and apply a liberal amount of dodging (brightening) to the shadowy regions.

Hansen responded today in an interview with news.au.com, denying that the image was a composite or in any way fraudulent. He explained his process like this:

In the post-process toning and balancing of the uneven light in the alleyway, I developed the raw file with different density to use the natural light instead of dodging and burning. In effect to recreate what the eye sees and get a larger dynamic range.To put it simply, it's the same file - developed over itself - the same thing you did with negatives when you scanned them.

World Press Photo has previously defended Hansen's work. Santiago Lyon, the director of photography at the Associated Press and chairman of the 2013 contest jury, said in a press conference earlier this year that "we are confident that the images conform to the accepted practices of the profession" and that some images had been disqualified from the competition based on alteration.

"Paul Hansen has previously explained in detail how he processed the image. World Press Photo has no reason to doubt his explanation," the organization stated to the Huffington Post UK today. But they will be doing some forensic sleuthing of their own in response. "However, in order to curtail further speculation - and with full cooperation by Paul Hansen - we have asked two independent experts to carry out a forensic investigation of the image file. The results will be announced as soon as they become available."

(source:popsci)

Vatican declares Mexican Death Saint blasphemous, might inevitable

Inevitable

According to a paper:

With globalization and widespread movements of populations struggling to maintain their identities within the contexts of both the old and new societies, changes of religion—including religious affiliation and religiosity—are inevitable.

Event

Santa Muerte

The president of the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Culture, Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi, said worshipping Santa Muerte was a "degeneration of religion".

Cardinal Ravasi spoke at a series of events for believers and non-believers in Mexico City.

The cult, which reveres death, has been growing rapidly in Mexico.

It is represented by a cloaked female skeleton clutching a scythe.

It is particularly popular in areas of Mexico that have suffered from extreme violence carried out by the country's drug cartels.

The cult is believed to date back to colonial times.

It merges indigenous beliefs with the tradition of venerating saints introduced by Christian missionaries after the Spanish conquest of Mexico.

Anti-religious

Devotees pray to the saint at home-made altars and often offer votive candles, fruit and tequila in the hope Santa Muerte will grant their wishes.

Cardinal Ravasi said the practice was "anti-religious". "Religion celebrates life, but here you have death," he said.

"It's not religion just because it's dressed up like religion; it's a blasphemy against religion", he said.

The cardinal also referred to the fact that the cult is particularly popular among members of Mexico's drug cartels and accused "criminals" of invoking it.

Cardinal Ravasi said a country like Mexico, where more than 70,000 people are estimated to have been killed in drug-related violence over the past six years, had to send out a clear message to its young generation.

"The mafia, drug trafficking and organised crime don't have a religious aspect and have nothing to do with religion, even if they use the image of Santa Muerte," he said.

There are no reliable figures showing how many people worship Santa Muerte, but academics studying the subject say more and more Santa Muerte shrines have been popping up in Mexico and the US, where the cult is popular with Mexican immigrants.

Last year, police in northern Mexico arrested eight people in connection with the killing of two boys and a woman in ritual sacrifices which prosecutors said were linked to the cult of Santa Muerte.

Children likes tease mother more than father , this is a phenomenon over the world

Do you often tease mother or father when you are a child?I think most people may tell me :It is mother. It is very common in our life.

A research made by Nerea Portu-Zapirain  explores representational models in a sample of 111 children aged between 3 and 6.Finally confirm that security in the representation of attachment is higher with mothers worldwide.

Why?I think it is may be when we are a child,mother takes care of us more.There has been a research indicated that the baby's conscious and memory starting around 5 months after birth.So at the age of 6 month’s old,the baby may have a certain sense.

Besides, “The older the child, the greater the security manifested in their relations, and the younger the child, the greater the insecurity. ” Nerea Portu-Zapirain wrote in his paper.

How to deal with problem child?A case that Obama warns daughters on “family tattoo”

In order to discourage teen rebellion，Barack Obama has warned his daughters that if they get tattoos, he and his wife will get matching ones on the same place on their bodies.As US President，Obama also have to consider education of children.

Indeed,children's education is of great importance for parents, especially the problem children.When we found our children deviating from the right orbit,we are anxious.For some parents,they are helplessness. Not everyone is Obama.Some parents don’t know how to effectively prevent children do the wrong thing,and how to deal with their “problem child”.

There is an article introduces a method or makes a research on this common phenomenon.I hope it can be helpful for parents and the researchers in this field.More and more better researches are excepted .

Which city planning makes for reducing bicycle crash

Compared with cars,bike seems to have some advantages that cars can’t instead.Such as: environmental protection, save money , no traffic jams and good for health.Thus,some people prefers bikes.But there lies a big problem for riders: safety.A research from Scientific Research Publishing analyses 5 years of bicycle crash data from the city of San Francisco and make recommendations on how planners and design professionals can keep bicyclist safety considerations in mind.You can learn more by reading the full article.

(source:SCIRP/Safety Science and Technology)