Compression Artifacts Become Unbearable at JPG Magazine

Some kind of storm's a-brewin' over at JPG Magazine. The friendly photo mag, a sort of side-sibling of Flickr, will be under new management as of its next issue. The founders, Derek and Heather, offer polite but wistful explanation -- for them, it's time to say good-bye to what was a beautiful thing, and to remember it when it was good, instead of when the CEO started deleting records of their ever having existed. Yikes.

It's a clear case of one of those fights that you see your friends get in -- or casual acquaintances, or as in this case, well-regarded blogebrities -- and you know there's a long, long story behind the battle that you'll never fully hear, and even if you did, you'd never understand. We'll miss the contributions of Derek and Heather to JPG, but we know that they're restless and sparkly enough that they'll soon be embarking on something even better. At times such as these, we like to quote these words of farewell:

Mike, let me tell you something. The whole world is a circus if you know how to look at it. The way the sun goes down when you're tired, comes up when you want to be on the move. That's real magic. The way a leaf grows. The song of the birds. The way the desert looks at night, with the moon embracing it. Oh, my boy, that's... that's circus enough for anyone. Every time you watch a rainbow and feel wonder in your heart. Every time you pick up a handful of dust, and see not the dust, but a mystery, a marvel, there in your hand. Every time you stop and think, "I'm alive, and being alive is fantastic!" Every time such a thing happens, you're part of the Circus of Dr. Lao.