Alan Taylor's avatar

Alan Taylor

@kokogiak.bsky.social

218 followers 201 following 277 posts

Photo editor at The Atlantic. Former webdev. Former Alaska tour guide. Former farm kid. Elegant otter in a former life. kokogiak@gmail.com

Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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When you're looking for work and open to offers, no matter how spooky they may be. (From 'Adventures into Terror', April 1951)

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Go into your photo roll or whatever and post the first image that makes you laugh literally out loud. - The time when I uploaded a photo of me into MidJourney and asked it to render me 'as a barnstormer', so it made me into a freakin' barn.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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The insane hallway/infinite maze buried deep inside 'House of Leaves' comes to mind right away.

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Bjornebaer aka Bear's avatar Bjornebaer aka Bear @lilbjornebaer.bsky.social
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water stolen from the dog just tastes better

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NevadaWolf's avatar NevadaWolf @nevadawolf.bsky.social
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A story in four parts. Mom! Mom! Mom! WHAT?! I love you. 🪶

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Ha. When I moved from the west coast to New England, it took me forever to call fizzy drinks soda and not pop. My kids still tease me about it. That and pronouncing aunt as 'ant'. 'Awnt' just does not work for me.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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If you see this you have to post a picture from your phone but dont explain it

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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That's crazy - it's like 'everywhere but New England', how weird.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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This is like the third time I've tried the quiz, and it nails me every time. Despite living in New England the past 20 years, it's evident that I grew up in Spokane, and that my ancestors were from all over the upper midwest and California. Apparently 'kitty-corner' is a very-Spokane sort of answer.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Photo credits, in order: 1 (fish). Turgay Uzer / 2024 Audubon Photography Awards 2. (hummingbird) Soo Baus / 2024 Audubon Photography Awards 3. (gull) Eaton Ekarintaragun / 2024 Audubon Photography Awards 4. (heron) Kort Duce / 2024 Audubon Photography Awards

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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My contribution to the collection of articles posted to The Atlantic today consisted of a couple dozen amazing photos of birds, courtesy of the Audubon Society's annual photo contest. I'm pleased to have contributed to the discourse in this manner.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Cool, thank you. My memory is a line of many many birds, certainly dozens if not hundreds. They flew overhead for quite a while too. I want to say South Dakota or Montana, maybe?

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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They were spaced out somewhat sparsely, all flying in the same direction, along the same path (not offset like geese in a V-formation) - like a single-file river of birds in the blue sky. Help me BSky birdfolk - am I hallucinating this memory, or could I have seen such a thing.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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A question for people with bird knowledge, (hard to google) - Is there a kind of bird that flies in a straight-line single-file formation? I have a fuzzy memory of being somewhere in the upper midwest & looking up to see a line of birds stretching from horizon to horizon. #birds #birdquestions

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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The fireflies are back in our yard again, it's such a delight to watch them. No pics tonight, just another lovely memory. Where I grew up, there were no fireflies, so my first encounters with them have only been in the past 18 years or so, here in New England. What amazing creatures.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Make a band less 8.5-inch Nails

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Fantastic. I would not mess with this grebe

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Amazing. The second one really piques your interest - what's inside!?

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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I helped at the booth - running around being cute and encouraging people to visit our booth. The whole event and time made a huge impression on me, still sits pretty solid in my mind a half-century later.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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My family even took part in the Expo, opening a small booth in a local-business section, selling plans for a solar-warmed greenhouse invented by my Dad and his brothers (A giant tank of water, painted black, sat in the middle of the greenhouse, retaining heat & keeping things warm in colder months)

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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I was young, but I remember there being fireworks almost every night - we lived in a nice house on the South Hill, near a view overlooking the whole city. I was awestruck by the spectacle of it all - the new modern buildings in the park, the fireworks and bands and IMAX theater & colorful exhibits.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Photo story here: www.theatlantic.com/photo/2024/0...
I had just moved to the area with my family that year, and was about to start 1st grade (my Dad was in the Army, we moved all the time, between Germany and California, and finally to Spokane, after his discharge).

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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I just put together a photo story for my day job, looking back at 1974, and I wanted to share this amazing image of Expo 74, the Spokane World's Fair. It brings back so many memories. (Photo courtesy of Jacob Dormaier via the Spokane Public Library)

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Make a band milder: Thöughtful Crüe

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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O roar a roar for Alice, Nora Alice in the night, For she has seen Aurora Borealis burning bright!

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Reskeet with how old you are, using a vague proxy: The first PC videogame I ever played was "Star Trek", loaded onto my uncle's Hewlett-Packard minicomputer from an 8-inch floppy disk. Normally the HP was used to track our farm budget.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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So well-hidden! I love when they completely freeze as you walk past in the yard - "If I just don't move, nobody can see me..."

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Incredible. I'd end up resting the edges of my palms exactly atop each of the wing screens - sure hope they aren't touch-sensitive..

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Young bun paid us a visit today. Bold little guy.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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That entire soundtrack, yes, just incredible.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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I spend a lot of time just browsing through news photos coming across the wires, and every time I see these bonkers flares-in-the-crowd shots (devoid of context), I panic a tiny bit, thinking some disaster has happened in a stadium somewhere.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Also, weirdly, recalling the time I was asked by an arrogant pro photographer if I was a *photo editor* photo editor, like someone who hired & assigned photographers, or was I "just a picture picker." I'm closer to a "picture picker", but don't take kindly to being insulted, so I just walked away.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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I am photo editor. My greatest hits include: - No, I'm not a good photographer myself - I wish I was - Thanks - that photo of a rainbow you sent me really is nice, but I have all the photos I need at the moment - Does this photo from the North Korean government look photoshopped... Yes, yes it does.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Choose your Kaiju mood - Today, mine is Medium Crazy. Hopefully it does not progress to Medium Violent.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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Beautiful, thank you for sharing.

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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That's the last time I saw Bezos, back when Amazon had only about 9,000 employees (vs 1.5 million now) and when Jeff's net worth was less than $5 billion (vs $200 billion now).

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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He was very nice, seemed genuinely happy for me, wished me well and said he and the team would miss me very much—all while both of us were at the urinals (and then the sinks).

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Alan Taylor's avatar Alan Taylor @kokogiak.bsky.social
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When my wife and I decided to move (for family reasons), I had to leave Amazon, & on my last work day, I happened to bump into Jeff in one of the Men's bathrooms. Just the two of us, both awkwardly quiet. Then I chimed in with "Hey, just letting you know today's my last day," explaining my situation

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