[Update:  In a really interesting twist, the photo to which I refer in the NYT article has apparently been removed sometime in the last several hours.  Instead of the original photo, the NYT decided to substitute a photo of someone holding the original photo.  Go figure.]

A picture is worth a thousand words, or so we often say.  That adage seems to fit a famous photo — it turns out to be the only photo — of the United Flight 93 crash.  Funny enough, I had never seen it or even knew it existed before I read this article in today’s online version of the New York Times.  As one of the persons interviewed for the article points out, this photo is redolent with deeper meaning.  The bucolic scene in the foreground presents a striking contrast to the ominous mushroom-shaped cloud of the crash in the background.  Some argue, apparently, that the photo proves or at least supports their conspiracy theories about what happened on September 11, 2001.  The article mentions that the owner of the photo, Valencia M. McClatchey, has had to deal with an enormous amount of problems stemming from the publication of her photo, including a legal battle with the Associated Press over violation of copyright by distributing the photo without permission.  Am I the only one, then, who finds it quite odd that the New York Times not only provides a copy of her photo as part of its story, but also credits it to the Associated Press?!  Granted, the lawsuit between McClatchey and the AP is pending but still, identifying the photo as belonging to the AP in the article seems at the very least to be in poor taste.