National Geographic magazine photographer Joel Sartore is taking a working tour of the American zoos in order to take portraits of the world’s animals. It’s all part of the the Biodiversity Project. Learn more about the Biodiversity Project and see some of those awesome portraits up close at the Neatorama Spotlight Blog. Link

The broadcasting squad at Liberty Middle School in Madison, Alabama produced this video. It was entirely shot on iPads and mixed with music by Sigur Rós.

“As people were walking out of the school, it was clear that it was the best vibe in the school that had been there all year,” said broadcasting teacher Daniel Whitt. “Everyone was high fiving. People were smiling at each other. People were saying, ‘Hey man loved your sign.’”

Link -via Metafilter

Toronto’s motto is "Diversity Our Strength" which makes it kinda awkward for the City to be busted for this exercise in forced diversity: they photoshopped in (badly) a token black guy for the cover of their Spring & Summer 2009 Fun Guide!

Allison Hanes of National Post has the story:

The smiling, ethnically diverse family featured on the cover of Toronto’s latest edition of its summer Fun Guide was digitally altered to make the photo more "inclusive," which city officials say is in keeping with a policy to reflect diversity.

A spokesman for the department that publishes the guide listing recreation activities confirmed the publication was doctored to insert the face of a different father.

"He superimposed the African-Canadian person onto the family cluster in the original photo. It was two photographs and one head was superimposed over the original family photo," said John Gosgnach, communications director for the social development division.

"The goal was to depict the diversity of Toronto and its residents."

The cover shot caught the eye of a National Post graphics editor, who ran it through a program called TinEye that detects visual enhancements to standard art.

To add insult to injury, none of the people are actually Toronto residents: Link – via Torontoist