Category: Guest Contributors

Guest Contributor – Glenn W – 16APR2024 – Photo-Expedition – 2024 Eclipse

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Editor’s Comment:

Glenn was kind enough to allow me to publish a private e-mail he sent me.  As some of the regulars know I set up this website originally because I resented the left-bias that permeated most if not all of the photography websites.  So I am always excited when someone on the site has a photography-based post to share.  And going on a trip to get a special photographic shot is near and dear to my heart.

 

Hi photog,

 

Since you were kind enough to give me photography advice for the eclipse I wanted to get back to you and let you know how it went.

First off, I purchased a Tamron 150-500mm f/5-6.7 lens. Rather than buying brand new I decided to buy a “good as new” lens from MPB. I think it was a good choice and I like the lens. I don’t know what reputation it has in the photography community but the non-solar images I’ve taken seem really sharp and I like it.

Leading up to the eclipse I was practicing by taking pictures of the sun. I felt like I was having problems getting sharp focus (you can’t use auto focus when using a solar filter, there’s not enough light). I found a tip by a solar photographer that you can get a good focus for solar photography by going out after dark and focusing on a far away star at the f-stop you will be using for the photographs. I did that and marked the spot on my focus ring using a marker.

I took a lot of photos of the eclipse but in the end I am disappointed in my photographs. I am not surprised that they weren’t as good as I hoped but I wouldn’t have missed the opportunity for the world, I still had a great time. I made a newbie mistake that I only found out about after the eclipse. I had my shutter speed set to 1/30 sec in order to get good color and detail. Well, I found a page on reddit where some experienced folks were chatting and they say that the minimum shutter speed for photographing the sun should be 1/250 sec otherwise motion blur will be induced. Sigh… I never imagined the earth and sun could move that much relative to each other in 1/30 of a second.

I still had a blast and enjoyed trying my hand at the photography. My wife and I sat on a berm on the edge of a Walmart parking lot in Decatur, IN. We ended out chatting with a bunch of fellow eclipse watchers and had an all around good time. The sun moving from partial eclipse to full eclipse in the blink of an eye was one of the most dramatic things I have ever witnessed. It was sudden and dramatic. Many people in the crowd let out a gasp when it happened. I witnessed a solar prominence moving with my naked eye from over 90 million miles away. It’s one thing to read about such things and another thing to see it in person.

Once again thank you for the help!

 

photog’s reply:

Hi Glenn. Thanks for sharing your experiences during the eclipse. The point of totality must have been very impressive. Very exciting.

I’ve always wanted to see a total eclipse. But life intervenes.

I know what you mean about photographic mistakes. A couple of years ago I went on a river trip to see bald eagles. I had the right lens and the camera was adequate but what I failed to notice is that I had the exposure set too slow for the focal length and it introduced too much shake into the shots. Out of more than a thousand files barely a handful were truly sharp. But you live and learn.

I don’t know all the latest tastes in lenses but my feeling is if the lens allows you to get the shots you want and provides a quality you’re happy with, then it’s the right lens. 500mm is a good long focal length. Birds, other wildlife and landscapes and cityscapes fit right in with such a lens. As you can probably tell from my daily photos I have a 90mm macro lens on my camera a lot. But when an interesting project presents itself it’s good to make sure you have the right lens.

Recently I was talking to a friend about a “walk-around” lens. He was enjoying a 24-105mm zoom. I told him that I used to have a 28-75mm f2.8 zoom that had been described derisively as kind of plastic-y. And it was made of a lot of plastic. But what it was good for was a walk-around cityscape lens. It was plastic so it was light but the images looked excellent to me. Now that was an a-mount lens so I sold it when I bought into e-mount. But I never forgot how much fun it was to have this light, versatile lens when I was walking around Manhattan for hours. So it’s great to learn all the places where different lenses serve their purposes.

Thanks for sending this message. This was the original reason I started the site. I was tired of the liberal bias on most of the photographic websites. They would ruin the fun of talking about photos by saying something stupid about politics and then because the moderators were also liberal they’d punish only one side for arguing. Very annoying.

Guest Contributor – Milo Mindbender – 10APR2024 – End of Empire

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Manipulation by our “betters” is a long standing tradition, ever since the first gathering of hominids there was a Bernie Sanders/Karl Marx to tell people what they were owed for the privilege of being in charge, and the penalty for being productive. When the Roman empire stopped expanding, and became unworthy of defending by Roman citizens, they were forced to hire the barbarians as mercenaries, and began to play games with the currency.
The practice of embedding veterans into captured territory, and wedding them to the natives, producing a new generation of Roman soldiery to take up arms for the empire, and reducing rebellion because no father in law wanted to destroy their grand children’s inheritance.
This stopped with the ceasing of expansion by the empire. We have now reached the point in our history where we are at the limits, defined by our neighbors, and the global community, of our expansion, and now begins the first stage of ossification. We have a citizenry that no longer is learning to love our country, believes JFK got it backwards with ” Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”, emotionally crippled, sexually confused, and financially abused. Debasement of our currency was inevitable, it just seems that we get to live through the cashing of the checks our government wrote.
The hiring of barbarian mercenaries has begun as Los Angeles has just graduated a class of LEO cadets , that are here illegally, not legally allowed to own a firearm, but are now sworn police officers, a judge in Illinois just ruled that citizens must have FOID cards, but illegals can not be required to obtain them. I have no problem with “Dreamers” enlisting in the military to earn their citizenship, and actually encourage such programs. They come out of the shadows and are then legal, complete with the Responsibilities and privileges that come with citizenship, but draw the line at creating an armed organization that has less loyalty to the US, the. Constitution, and the people of the US than the agencies we already have in our borders.
I don’t always agree with Michael Weiner/ Savage but his statement that “Any country that doesn’t protect its borders, language, and citizens is not a country anymore” rings true.

Guest Contributor – War Pig – 07APR2024 – Dark Premonitions

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war pig

 

I, too, fear the day of the cartridge box. We have proven that only Americans can kick Americans’ asses. When roused, Americans are insensate fighters. The only example being our civil war, the casualties on both sides in that war exceed all casualties from all other wars combined. If it actually comes to fighting it will not be pretty. I am also fairly sure that the military leadership will not use the full powers of war against The People. As before, I believe the military will itself split. Also, it will be the left who actually fires the first shot, as the Confederacy did at Ft Sumpter. My dearest hope is a bloodless revolution. After all, the elite left talks a good fight, but they have no guts to actually get bloody.

The next thing that will happen will be a lot of criminal executions. No more revolving door justice. No more blaming the defender. Try to kick in a door and now get shot through the door. Felons caught in possession of firearms will not be put back on the street. Prison riots will be settled with shotguns and flamethrowers. Riots will be quelled with dispatch. Antifa and BLM will be sharply curbed. Looters run the risk of being shot in the act. It will take a few years for things to reach equilibrium, but they will settle.

Guest Contributor – Milo Mindbender – 04062024 – Several Thoughts

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Trump vs Biden

I find it interesting that Trump couldn’t fill a stadium, Biden couldn’t fill a high school basketball court, Trump campaigned nationwide, and got huge support, Biden “Put a lid on it at 0900” and did not travel due to kung flu, Trump was leading until the 0200 shut down in several states and then color me shocked, Biden surged in a manner that exceeded the capacity of the vote tabulators in use, but there is nothing to see here.
They almost pulled it off in 2016, they did it in 2020, and I do not doubt that they will do it again. Stevie Wonder can see there is something fuckery going on here, but by questioning the narrative I am accused of wearing my tin foil beret too tight.
My first election I voted in was 84, and the only one I missed since then was 92, I was deployed in Task Force Andrew and did not get registered vote before the cutoff date being out of state. I sat that one out, but consider my franchise to be an obligation, and responsibility as it is the only time my representative actually wants to hear from me.
If Trump pulls this one off, and defeats the cheat, he needs to surround himself with proper experts, not self serving jackapes, and be willing to accept criticism when warranted. If he doesn’t, win, I think we just need to drop the curtains, lower the house lights, and file towards the exits, the show is over. Claire Wolfe talked about the three boxes, that soap box has been used for the bonfire of the vanities in charge, we are teetering on the Splinter’s of the ballot box, that leaves the last box, and I don’t want to go there anymore than those who are trying to stampede us that way.
Once that starts I don’t forsee a solution that brings us out the other side intact.

Anarcho-Tyranny Comes to a City Near You

When the act of charity becomes dangerous, charity dries up. This is the result of the same policies that were put in place, creating a giant open air prison, with hidden fences. Releasing these criminals with a “Semi stern scolding”, and telling the to go out and try not to do it again, doesn’t seem to be working, but God forbid some innocent civilians are forced to defend themselves, break out the charge book, and warm up another cell, we gotta put a stop to these vigilante activities.
Daniel Penny wasn’t available for comment.

Guest Contributor – Ed Brault – 04APR2024 – The Witch’s Curse

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I grew up not too far from Dunwich; Danvers, MA, better known among the arcana-read as the real site of the Salem Witch trials. Back then it was known as Salem Village, while modern Salem was Salem Towne. Growing up I noticed that when a storm was forecast to bring, say nine inches of snow, we got 12. Or a Foot was forecast and we got 18 inches.

I finally had a chance to put this question to no less than Don Kent, meteorologist at WBZ-TV. He looked me in the eye and said “You’re from Danvers aren’t you?” I said yes, and just why is the weather so weird? He answered honestly “We don’t know…BUT…” and then he told me about how, during the Trials, one of the accused witches, on the way to the gallows, laid a curse on the town, that it should always suffer a harder winter than the rest of the county. And this curse WORKED! Even changing the town’s name didn’t help (That’s why the town seal says “Without the King’s Consent”. They did it without the approval of the Colonial Office.)
Best regards to the First Select-Entity. The Eldrich Powers are hard at work in other regions as well.

[Editor’s Note – The First Selectman sends his greetings to his cousins on the shore and hopes they are enjoying the weather they ordered a while back from his cousin.  Gurgle, glug, gurgle, gurgle glug glug glug.]

 

Reply from Tregonsee 314

I live just down the road from Danvers, Close enough that when the leaves are off the trees I can see the remaining building of the Danvers State Hospital (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Danvers_State_Hospital )

the alleged inspiration for Lovecraft’s Arkham Asylum (amazingly there are now expensive Condos there, with only the historic main tower remaining as a shared space). Our little town was part of Salem Village but split in the early 18th century from Danvers. We also seem to share in that curse 🙂 . It has to be true Mr. Kent was one of New England’s top meteorologists for most of my life and if that was the explanation he had that is good enough for me, certainly nothing else makes sense,

Reply from photog

Tregonsee. there used to be a similar mental hospital in Worcester.

Likewise it was recently demolished leaving only a replica clocktower to mark its former presence. But when it stood it was an eerie reminder of a different world.

Voigtlander 10mm e-mount Clock Tower vertical angle

 

 

Guest Contributor – War Pig – 02APR20204 – All They Respect is Power

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war pig

As a soldier, when I was stationed temporary duty at Ft Indiantown Gap, PA, I was tasked to assist the recruiting command on occasion. I went to Happy Valley and the University of Pennsylvania in uniform and was usually greeted by Nazi salutes. Disrespectful, especially since I had an uncle in WWII who was one of the group who liberated Buchenwald.

The overall opinion of the general populace in Pennsylvania concerning the armed forces was pretty low. Sure there were veterans but many of them were Vietnam vet draftees and they were disallusioned, especially if they had to use the VA.

What a difference after 9/11! All of a sudden everyone was thanking us for our service. High schools which had tried to block our recruiting activities were suddenly friendly.

The civilians had been frightened. The Homeland had been attacked and they were afraid. Liberals who seldom deigned to recognize our existence suddenly were waving American flags.

But we remembered who called us baby killers just weeks before. We knew once the fear factor lowered they’d be right back to their old ways.

Liberals don’t change. Not really. They only get worse. They went from calling the armed forces Nazis to forcing drag queen shows on to elementary school kids to secretly going behind parent’s backs to try to transition children to change their sex.

Probably all we can do is wall them off and let them devour each other.

Guest Contributor – TomD – 29MAR2024 – Non-Engineering Engineering

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Tom | Flickr

TomD

“I had to deal with the newer engineers that, in my opinion, didn’t have the skills needed to design quality work.”

Don’t get me started!

But, here’s a news flash: a just-out-of-school EIT or brand new engineer isn’t really expected to have any sense, just like a just-minted 2nd Lt. There are supposed to be competent superiors to mentor them through the know-everything-but-understand-nothing phase. Problem is that, increasingly, the mentors are non-existent.

I see so many plans where it is blatant that the designer hadn’t a clue for practicality, cost or effectiveness.

One of the my main gripes is that engineers used to be primarily involved with engineering. 90% of their time is currently used in government guidelines, government forms, government bureaucracy and government compliance.

I’m retired now but still have a few clients that I do things for on an hourly basis. One of the things is reviewing a US Gov grant for a public works storm drainage project to alleviate hurricane flooding. The multi-million dollar grant is coming from a covid money distribution to the State I live in. Other than being a legit public project, there is just so much wrong with that.

ArthurinCali Fisks Jamelle Bouie’s Diatribe Against Trump

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Arthur has dissected the NYT leftist’s screed complaining that Trump is not being persecuted enough!

Good long form analysis of all the Left’s talking points against the man they love to hate.

https://arthurincali.substack.com/p/the-left-burns-down-every-institution

My favorite line:

“Keep in mind that you do not have to be a fan or even a supporter of Donald Trump to be able to see the different set of standards currently being deployed against him, and how that is a danger to the entire faith and allegiance to our political system and institutions.”

Guest Contributor – Jess – 27MAR2024 – Woke Work Ethic

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One of the contributing factors for my retirement was the lack of competent human resources. With the Covid fiasco, and the availability of a steady paycheck of unemployment benefits, it was much easier for many to just stay home, not pursue work, and in many situations, the amount of money received was more than could be made due to weather affecting construction. To aggravate the problem, suppliers faced the same problem, which could lead to expensive delays. Although the problems I faced were gradually becoming more apparent before Covid, everything snowballed and even good employees became less interested in performing quality work. The younger generation that was needed to be trained to replace the older craftsmen were woefully unprepared for the environment that construction demands, and I found I was more of a babysitter than a superintendent.

In my later years of construction, I had to deal with the newer engineers that, in my opinion, didn’t have the skills needed to design quality work. Plans wouldn’t fit site conditions, pointing out anticipated problems could lead to either bad decisions, or avoiding decisions. In one situation, even though the specifications demanded additional work, the engineer refused to pay for the work. I did it anyway to prevent an accident and bigger problems. Their ridiculous reason for not paying for the work only proved they were not only a coward, they had no integrity.

Is it too late to demand excellence, honesty and a good work ethic? I don’t know. I do know things won’t change much until DEI, EEO and other bizarre ideas of equality are abandoned. Nobody is equal, and pulling everyone to the lowest level of competence with policies only makes things worse.