Category: Guest Contributors

27JUL2023 – H/T to ArthurinCali

photog ArthurinCali, Current Events

This is exactly right.  Make your laws a source of self-segregation and you will magically make your state a much better place.  Do the same with welfare, education, illegal immigration and crime and you start to turn your state into a functional and desirable place to live.

I have a feeling DeSantis will find out that being governor of Florida is a much more valuable position than president.  He has real power now.  He can make a real difference.  The blue states haven’t hit bottom yet.  Maybe then they’ll be ready to change.  Right now most of them are like the parents in that video clip.  They have a son in a sun dress taking puberty blockers and they blame the state for it.  Sanity is nowhere on their horizon.

Guest Contributor – War Pig – 25JUL2023 – Squirrel Hunt

photog Guest Contributors, War Pig , ,

The last time I went hunting squirrels I did it up right. I put on my old ghillie suit, used a camo screen instead of facepaint and had my .22 bolt action. I picked a spot where I could sit on a fallen log with my back against a tree. I sat and waited, enjoying the crisp air and the sounds and smells of the woodlands.

As I sat, I heard a flock of turkeys on the ground, approaching. Turkey flocks on the ground are amazingly noisy. It was not turkey season or I’d have bagged a big Tom, so I decided to have some fun. They approached, not seeing me. I waited until they were about ten yards away when I stood up, pulled the screen away from my face, waved my arms and shouted “BOOGA BOOGA BOOGA!”

You shoulda’ seen it. They tried to go in all possible directions. Some flew off and I could see and hear them smacking trees, falling then getting up to run. Wild turkeys are amazingly damage resilient. The rest ran off at all points of the compass besides at me. I sat back down and laughed like the Joker for about 5 minutes.

About an hour later I bagged three squirrels in a tree together. They were out on very thin branches and could move quickly enough. I field dressed them and put them in my pouch then walked back to the truck, laughing all the way.

My cousin complained she hadn’t had any squirrel gravy for years and asked if I’make some. I skinned the tree rats and went to her place and I made squirrel gravy and mashed sweet potatoes. We feasted. All I took home was a small Tupper container of gravy over the taters. I left her the rest.

Guest Contributor – ArthurinCali – 21JUL2023 – California Sights

photog ArthurinCali, Guest Contributors , , ,

Here is a photo I took on our last road trip to the coast around the Big Sur area. Anyone who gets an opportunity to travel the Pacific Coast Hwy (PCR) while in California should take full advantage of it. The views and landscape is stunning.

Also, Here is a photo of the main Hearst Castle swimming pool I took while taking the tour. Another site worth visiting.

 

 

Guest Contributor – War Pig – 19JUL2023 – Joe Was Wrong

photog Current Events, Guest Contributors, War Pig , , ,

Joe was wrong, as usual. It will not take F-15s to fight against the government. History shows that it takes from 3 to 5 percent of the people willing to take up arms to overthrow even a tyrannical government. There are far more armed conservatives than that. Also, Joe, again mistakenly, believes the US military would strafe and bomb US neighborhoods or drive Abrams tanks through homes and businesses. In fact, many individuals and even entire units may defect to the rebels’ side.

Americans can be tough to handle in the best of times. Get them fighting mad and we are not like the sheeples of Asia and half of Europe. Add in the fact that there are 20-24 million trained veterans to add to the mix and no sane army wants to get tangled up in that.

That the rebels would have support from about 50% of the population would also work in the rebels favor.

PS: Did you see where our fearless leader terrorized another young child by pretending to cannibalize her? Why isn’t he locked away in his Depends eating gruel in an asylum. If I did that to children unknown to me in public, I’d be in the hoosegow trying to keep the father rapers off me.

Guest Contributor – TomD – 18JUL2023 – Photo

photog Guest Contributors, Photography, TomD , ,

Tom | Flickr

TomD

I find myself gravitating to nature photography. My “long” lens used to be a Sony G 70-300, A mount that worked (via adapter) with all my previous E mount Sony cameras.A supurb lens. Until I got to the A7IV series, that is, same camera as yours.

I tried to replace it with a Tamron 70-300 but the image is missing something. The Tamron does workman like images, see image below, but it is missing the “pop”, I don’t know how to describe it, the something special that I got with the Sony. I go back through my photos and am really surprised at how many of my very best came from that lens.

I’m now lusting for the very new, now really released yet but heavily reviewed Sony 70-200 F4 GII lens. Apparently it also takes incredible images through a 2x converter or I could also shoot it through my ASP-C sensor A6400, which would change it to a 105-350 mm in case I need something taller. It seems to have the same, how do you say, ‘glow” as my 10-year-old lens does/did.

In the meantime, my Tamron is sitting dejected over in the corner saying, “What am I, chopped liver?” No, actually pretty damned good for the price but when you’re reaching for the stars—–

Tamron Shots below

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Pretty good lenses don’t have to cost a lot. Here’s a 30mm f2.8 Sigma on my Sony A6400.

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Another Tamron

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Guest Contributor – Chemist – 17JUL2023 – Vetting a Cabinet

photog Chemist, Current Events, Guest Contributors , , , ,

This illustrates my biggest issue with President Trump: He is very bad at picking people for the job. This is important because it is likely the most important thing a president does – Pick his cabinet and other heads of departments.
Trump gave us Jeff Sessions – who allowed the democrats to persecute Trump for the first 2 years of office.
He gave us Rex Tillerson who called Trump a fucking Moron.
He gave us Mad Dog Mattis who didn’t have a clue and publicly resigned.
I could go on with a dozen more, but why?
And Trumps biggest mistake: His son in law Jared Kushner who brought Kim Kardashian to the White House. If you like the criminals roaming around your state, thank Jared.
Trump is dazzled by athletes, Hollywood stars and medal wearing generals. There are dozens of generals who were working against him but Trump didn’t fire them.

To those of you who say that Trump has learned his lesson, I give you Dr. Oz and Herschel Walker. Those senate races should have gone GOP, but Trump anointed candidates who didn’t want to win.

You are very correct that the next GOP candidate needs to have a plan in place for stopping the steal. I don’t want to see another blue city in a red state truck in ballots and count until their candidate wins with zero repercussions.
We need a plan. We need lawyers on the ground with documents in hand and we need facts ready to go.

Make no mistake, if Trump is the candidate I will vote for him but I would really like to see some better decisions from him on who he surrounds himself with.

Guest Contributor – War Pig – 16JUL2023 – Grandchildren

photog Guest Contributors, War Pig , , ,

Great plan and very worth while. Since my grandson’s father died young, I became the masculine figure in his life growing up. I took him to many firsts. His first fish caught, teaching him to shoot, the first squirrel shot, then cooked, kindergarten “graduation”, elementary graduation, high school then college graduation. The first time his team won a football game in juniot high then high school. His first big job out of college. Great memories to take with me when the black camel kneels at my door.

It is said you die twice. The first time is when your heart beats its last, and the second is the last time someone thinks of you. I have tried to place myself in as many good memories as I could.

 

 

Homelessness Addressed

photog ArthurinCali, Current Events, Guest Contributors , , ,

Arthur has a short post on a solution to homeless encampments that are metastasizing across our cities.

Guest Contributor – TomD – 03JUL2023 – Sony Lens Options

photog Guest Contributors, Photography, TomD , , , , ,

Tom | Flickr

TomD

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We’ve both use the same camera body but your lens collection tends to the telephoto side compared to mine. I was left totally without anything longer that 105 mm when I moved to the A7IV and found that my old A mount 70-300 would become pure manual focus, even with the latest Sony adapter.

I grew up with manual focus but, back them, cameras had a split image focusing system to tell you when you were in focus. That consisted of twisting the focus ring while looking through the viewfinder until the upper and lower parts of the image perfectly aligned. Looking thorough the old Sony lens in the new body gave me no focusing information at all. So, bleah to that.

I thought about getting a new e mount version of the same lens but I thought $1300 a bit much for as little as I use long telephoto. But, I concluded, paying 40% of that figure for the Tamron version, which had good ratings, to be an acceptable bet.

Below is a shot of a female Cardinal that I photoed in my yard this AM at a range of around 70 feet. Even at 300 mm, this is a big crop.

Quick aside: The split image focus system is a spinoff originally derived from the Dreadnought era Naval gunnery optical rangefinders that prevailed in all the worlds navys in the until the advent of radar ranging during WWII.