Month: April 2021

Republicans Showing Signs of Intelligent Life on the State Level

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Two state legislatures showed themselves willing to step in to curtail practices that do not align with the beliefs of the state’s citizens.  These actions certainly increase my opinion of them as places to live.

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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The Arkansas General Assembly has voted to override Gov. Asa Hutchinson’s veto of a bill that would ban certain medical treatments for transgender youth.

The vote came one day after the announcement of Hutchinson’s veto of HB1570, called the “SAFE Act” by its sponsors.

The vote in the Senate followed a quick vote by the Arkansas House. Both chambers originally passed the measure by wide margins.

The bill is now set to become state law 90 days after the end of the legislative session, which is currently scheduled for April 30.

During his weekly COVID-19 address, which was happening at the same time the debate and votes on the veto override, Hutchinson said he fully expected the legislature to reverse his decision.

 

When a conservative state has a RINO or at least a timid moderate as its governor it is comforting to see a legislature that takes its duties serious enough to defy him and quickly restore necessary legislation to their state.

 

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Boise, Idaho

…  Immediately after the initiative vote, the House took up SB 1179, the budget for the state’s four-year colleges and universities for next year, and in a highly unusual move, its sponsor, Rep. Paul Amador, R-Coeur d’Alene, urged House members to defeat it.

“Folks, this budget was drafted approximately six weeks ago,” Amador said, “what’s feeling right now an eternity ago. I think we all recognize that the grounds of the game have potentially changed.” Amador said he no longer believed the budget bill, which passed the Senate 27-6 on March 17, was the right budget to pass, and said JFAC will draft a new version.

Rep. Ron Nate, R-Rexburg, decried “social justice or critical race theory” being taught on campus. “It’s a systemic problem at our universities, it’s baked into the curriculum and the campus culture,” he said.

The proposed budget had cut $409,000 from Boise State University’s social justice programs; Nate said the cut should be more like “$4 million, for example.”

Rep. Dorothy Moon, R-Stanley, told the House, “We had the president of BSU come and talk to us about how wonderful things were going on campus, and we all knew different. … It is unbelievable what the students of Idaho have been going through, and they have been pleading with us.”

 

Here we see a legislature pass good legislation but because of changes to the federal funding to their state colleges they defeated the bill and plan to increase the budget cuts to punish these schools for their social justice curriculum and policies.  If more red states were as brave and intelligent as these examples we wouldn’t be as beleaguered as we currently find ourselves by the awful laws and institutions that assault us.

11APR2021 – OCF Update – Vultures, Ringnecks and Hellebores (Redux)

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I spent a little time today going over some recent photos.  Nothing in the news has grabbed me lately as all that interesting so a little photography is fun for me as an alternative.

 

My snake tin (copper actually) flipped a ringneck last week.

They are interesting looking little buggers with their glossy scales and their eponymous color pattern.  They eat earthworms I believe and there is a fellow who studies them and believes that the venom that they use to subdue worms would be a threat to humans if the snake was a hundred times bigger.  In the American west they have ringnecks that are considerably larger but even these could barely get their fangs into your pinkie finger and even then you’d have to help it get a purchase on you.  But wildlife scientists are always trying to make some ridiculous point about “dangerous snakes.”

 

We had seven black vultures in a tree on the edge of the property last week.  Unfortunately they were back lit by the setting sun so the photos stink but it was interesting to see them there.  They’re pretty ugly looking creatures but I guess they serve a useful purpose and I’m sure God loves them anyway.

 

I have two or three kinds of hellebores in the gardens and they are an early flowering perennial.

The ancient Greeks and Romans thought hellebore was a medicine to cure the insane.  It also is a poison I believe so maybe they thought death was a good treatment for crazy people.  We may have to revisit that thought someday ourselves.

Here’s an oddball plant.

 

I discovered growing near the house that I transplanted a garden last year.  I’m not sure what it is but I like it.  It forms long thin stalks like vines.

 

 

And here are some yellow flowers because I like yellow.

A little photography to add some interest to my day.  And now I return you to the apocalypse already in progress.

Buckaroo Biden and the White Supremacist Space Pirates – Chapter 3 – Biden Family Values

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This week marked the resurfacing of Buckaroo’s sidekick, “The Parmesan Kid.”  Hunter has returned to the spotlight with new tales of his incomparable lust for life.  And it’s hard to imagine that anything he could say at this point could compare with his former exploits.  A man who captures video of himself having sex with underage girls surely has already hit bottom.  But for the sake of having something new with which to sell his new book, Hunter shares the trials and tribulations of his search for remnant crumbs of crack cocaine in his carpet.  Apparently, parmesan cheese and Cheetos dust resemble crack cocaine when you’re as strung out and stupid as the son of Dementia Joe.

Now we’ve had loser relatives of the president before.  Jimmy Carter had his brother “Billie Beer” Carter who would urinate on Air Force One’s tire on the tarmac when the urge hit him.  And Chelsea Clinton was guaranteed to embarrass the country if for no other reason than her parents are Bill and Hillary.  But Hunter is in a class of his own.  Here’s a guy who impregnates a stripper, refuses to pay child support but has to relent to avoid having his financial records inspected.  He’s kicked out of the Navy because he couldn’t pass a drug test.  He works one no-show job after another because of his father’s political clout and he launders all his father’s kickbacks.  But without a doubt the absolute bottom has to be bedding his dead brother’s widow.  You have to wonder whether he thinks he’s competing with Caligula or something.

But you have to know that Hunter is just the logical conclusion when someone like Joe Biden has a family.  How else can you end up when your crooked politician of a father makes you his bagman.  What could Joe possibly say to Hunter to dissuade him from doing any fool thing?  It’s wrong?  Please!  It’s dangerous?  How could anything be dangerous when the fixers in the FBI and the CIA have got your back?  It’ll look bad?  With the News agencies and Silicon Valley at your beck and call?  Why shouldn’t he become the Charlie Sheen of Washington?

No, no, no.  Hunter is not the villain, he’s the result of someone as corrupt as Joe Biden being elevated to the highest power in the land.  In a way Hunter almost seems moderate.  As far as I know he’s never been accused of cannibalism or necrophilia.  But we’re still pretty early in his career.  I have to assume that sometime after Kamala’s third term Michelle Obama is going to need a running mate and then who knows, when Hunter is close to eighty maybe it’ll be his turn in the White House.

Of course, by then it’s hard to imagine there’ll still be much of a country left for Hunter to pillage.  But that’s where his experience picking crumbs out the carpet will really come in handy.  There should be just enough left for him to keep the orgy going right to the end.  If not, he’ll have to get the stripper’s kid up to speed on shaking down foreigners.  Maybe he can impress the Zimbabweans.

Buckaroo Biden and the White Supremacist Space Pirates – Chapter 1 – The Haunted Staircase

Buckaroo Biden and the White Supremacist Space Pirates – Chapter 2 – Hidin’ Biden Jibber Jabber

11APR2021 – Quote of the Day

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Am I not rather deserving of praise for the moderation which marked my proceedings? Consider the situation in which the victory at Plassey had placed me. A great prince was dependent on my pleasure; an opulent city lay at my mercy, its richest bankers bid against each other for my smiles; I walked through vaults which were thrown open to me alone, piled on either hand with gold and jewels! Mr. Chairman, at this moment I stand astonished at my own moderation!

Major-General Robert Clive

Auto-Focusing Motorless A-Mount Lenses on the Sony E-Mount Cameras – 10APR2021 Update

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Up until last year the only way to auto-focus motorless A-mount lenses on the A7 and higher e-mount cameras was with the LA-EA4 adapter that Sony sold.  And it had a translucent mirror built into the adapter to provide autofocus points to control the autofocus of the lens on the camera.  This had several difficulties.  One was the translucent mirror itself which acts as a beam splitter and wastes 30% of the image light to the autofocus function.  And because it uses the adapter’s autofocus system instead of the camera’s, all the advances in autofocus that have accrued over the time that the E-mount cameras have evolved are unavailable when using the LA-EA4.  In other words the autofocus is very limited.

But in 2020 Sony launched the LA-EA5 adapter with the ability to autofocus motorless lenses through the camera’s autofocus system and without the beam-splitter in the light path.  This was a marvel when it was announced and there was great rejoicing among the owners of old but sharp Minolta and Sony A-mount glass.  But because it is Sony we’re talking about, they had to make it a tragedy.  They only programmed the adapter to provide this capability for three cameras, the A7R IV, the A1 and the APSC camera the A-6600.  I have since attempted several times to contact Sony to determine if they will update their firmware to let this adapter work for my camera, the A7 III.  Of course, they have completely ignored my requests.

But there is one other option.  If you have an LA-EA4 adapter you can purchase a third-party kit from China to replace the firmware on this old adapter, remove the translucent mirror and use it to auto-focus these motorless lenses with any of the Sony E-mount cameras.  Gary Friedman has been an E-mount expert user since the mount was invented and he writes how-to books about their cameras.  He has produced a couple of YouTube videos on this subject.  One demonstrates how to modify the LA-EA4 and install the Chinese autofocus firmware.  The other demonstrates the way both the LA-EA5 and the hacked LA-EA4 focus with various Minolta lenses.  It is valuable to know that even with the LA-EA5 and a compatible camera the speed of the autofocus is much slower than with E-mount lenses.  And the autofocus with the Chinese firmware on the LA-EA4 is very uneven.  It starts and stops several times to reach a focus point.

I have an LA-EA4 and after seeing the video I am considering doing the retrofit myself.  It costs about $200 which is about the cost of the adapter I think but I am intrigued with the thought of being able to autofocus my Minolta 200mm f4 macro and Sony 135 f1.8 A-mount lenses.  I guess that sort of makes me some kind of a fanatic but Sony leaves me no choice.  When I buy and install the firmware, I’ll do some tests and post them for the curious.

09APR2021 – OCF Update – Life Imitates Art

photog Movie Reviews, OCF Classic Movie Reviews, photog's Corner, Reviews

On such a beautiful day I naturally decided to spend it extracting thorn brambles and Russian olive trees with a shovel and a 6 foot pry bar.  After a couple of hours of sweat and back ache I remembered a line from the movie “Treasure of the Sierra Madre.”

Curtin:  What are you going to do with your hard-earned money old timer when you get back and cash in?

Howard:  I’m getting along in years.  Oh, I can still hold up my end when it comes to a hard day’s work but I ain’t the man I was once, and next year, next month, next week I won’t be the man I am today.  Reckon I’ll find me some quiet place to settle down.  Buy a business maybe … a grocery or a hardware store, and spend the better part of my time reading comic strips and adventure stories.  One thing’s for sure … I ain’t going to go prospecting again and waste my time and money trying to find another gold mine.

I certainly know what Howard was talking about in that scene.