The early days of the internet or as we called it way back when the " world wide web" saw heated debates as to the impact that online advertising would have to the fundamental ideas that the web was founded on. In the end the debate came down to simple economics of whether users would prefer to pay for subscriptions or be able to use the web freely. Early users of the web envisaged commercial enterprise entering the web as the "end of days" for their new found information super high way. 

"If I had to choose, I would rather have birds than airplanes." - Charles Lindbergh

History has been witness to the constant change that technology has brought in our lives - from the horse driven carriages to automobiles, from the typewriter to the keyboard, from gramophones to mp3 players. The world around us constantly changes. As technology advances and new inventions come in fashion, older ones slowly become obsolete. Can you imagine a life without automobiles, computers and cell phones? Is there no room left for the slow, old inventions of the past? Or is it that the technological advances have made our lives drastically better and we need to let go of the nostalgic past? Like every other invention is it now time for books to depart?

The desire and need to preserve artifacts has predated our existence. Man has communicated by telling stories, through saving bits and pieces of history, by communicating through pictures or memories. Some call it nostalgia, others call it living in hyper-reality. Museums, arts and culture have always played a vital role in societies. In many ways they define and shape the personality of civilizations and give meaning to our existence.

The sad news came through today that Roy DeCarava has passed away. Roy died of natural causes in Manhattan on Tuesday at the age of 89.

The Library of Congress has done a terrific job at creating an online source for historic photography. Among their recent claims to fame are the color images of a turn of the century Russian photographer who documented his country just before the 1918 revolution.

 After Microsoft's Photoshop snafu this week, everyone is abuzz about altered images. The New York Times took a look at a bunch of photos throughout history that have had severe editing done, and lets just say there are a lot more than you'd think.

I always knew John Quincy Adams was one of the cool presidents. How could you not be if your Dad was a founding father and the sixth president. Apparently his journal entries are all under 140 characters in length.. making him one of the very first Tweeters.

Between Global Warming and spiking oil prices, we are surrounded by reminders of the waning resources on Earth. For many fishermen along the East Coast, vanishing fisheries have been a reality for quite some time. Starting in 1979, Barbara Mensch documented the death of the Fulton Fish Market in Brooklyn with her Rolleiflex camera. Now her work is being used to show the impact unsustainable fishing can have on the people that rely on it.