I see Trump got J.D. Vance over the finish line in the primary. But I see the very unpopular governor won his primary. Is there any narrative that explains where Ohio politics is today?
Category: Guest Contributors
Guest Contributor – War Pig – Ulfberht Steel
And we still don’t know who by or where the Ulfberht swords were made. The steel was centuries ahead of its time.
Ulfberht steel was crucible steel. It was remarkably fine grained and had very few inpuruties. Likely imported from south Asia. Europe did not work out crucible steel for centuries after the Ulfberht swords were made. You can learn a great deal in the NOVA special on PBS.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6ciave
Also MAN AT ATMS REFORGED did a short on making an Ulfberht sword from scratch. They made their own steel from ore and all.
The flexibility and strength in sword steels today we rather take for granted. Ulfberht steel would have seemed to be magic to the smiths if the age. An Ulfberht sword would be equal in value to a small castle back then. Of course, where there is quality there were counterfeits. Humans haven’t changed much in the last thousand years or so that way. The NOVA special references fakes. Just like fake Rolex qatches today, there were fake Ulfberht swords.
Guest Contributor – TomD – 02MAY2022 – Photo
Here’s my impression of Mr. Brooks ravings.
From Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel: “The Damned” A man at the moment he releazes that he has chosen the wrong course and is damned for eternity.
Have fun, Mr. Brooks and don’t let the door hit you in the butt on the way down.
Guest Contributor – The Fat Man – 11APR2022 – Photo
Guest Contributor – TomD – Photo – Converting From A-Mount to E-Mount on the 70-300MM Zoom
Speaking of lenses, we were talking about lenses, weren’t we? Ahh, I thought so—-
Anyway, back in the days of my Sony A mount cameras, one of my most productive lenses in terms of the real “keeper” shots that it produced was a Sony G series 70-300. It was pretty slow with a maximum variable aperture of f3.5-5.6, but that didn’t matter much because I used it almost exclusively outdoors with lots of light.
What did matter is that it was extremely sharp and had a great bokeh (that soft blur in the out of focus areas of the picture). Any time I would be looking through my pictures of that time frame and saw one that I thought was particularly good, the EXIF date would show that was the 70-300 lens on a percentage of the GOOD shots that far exceeded the percentage of the time I used it.
I got into the E mount Sony era in 2017 with a A7RII and added a A7III to it about year and a half later. While I was building a E mount lens collection, I bought a Sony LA-EA 4 lens adaptor to mount A type lenses to E type bodies so that I could use my old lenses.
The adaptor worked to a certain extent to tie the 70-300 to those bodied but the auto focus was sluggish and not as accurate. The lens fell out of use and was used a time or two a year and yielding acceptable but not stellar results.
I recently sold both the older Sony cameras and bought the latest Sony A7IV. When I tried my LE-AH 4 adaptor on the A7IV with the 70-300, I got nothing. Sony is apparently abandoning the older A series and a little research told me that the 70-300 lens does not and will never work with the A7IV or later bodies. Well.
That left my existing E mount lens collection biased to the short side, the longest lens being 105 mm and I really needed a replacement to that lens. A direct replacement, a new version with the exact same optics as my old lens but in e mount costs around $1300 these days. I’m retired now and don’t spend $1300 without at least some research so I spent a couple of hours on google (whom I hate but use anyway).
That search yielded a large number of reviews stating that the new Tamron 70-300 E mount is at least equal of the Sony version with one caveat. That being there in no in lens image stabilization. But that’s okay because my A7IV has 5 axis in body stabilization, so in lens would be redundant. But here’s the kicker: the Tamron cost $499 vs $1300 for the Sony.
The Tamron arrived a couple of days ago. I really haven’t have a chance to wring it out other than 40 or 50 snaps at stuff around the house, but it shows promise.
Couple of examples below including a shot of the camera and lens. These shots are just out of the camera, not modified and not examples of picture that I would keep. But they do show the image quality of which the lens is capable in terms of sharpness, color and bokeh.
#3 a Bottlebrush Bush, seen these only in Florida. Just a microsecond after this shot, a Hummingbird flew into my field of vision, but only for only a half second. You snooze, ya loose.
The purpose of these shots is to demonstrate the lens’s potential, not artistic quality. I think it’s hard to imagine the IQ (image qualiity) being much better. It certainly exceeds expectations of a “cheap” lens.
Guest Contributor – War Pig – 03MAR2022 – On War
(In reply to comments on the review of the 1965 movie “The Battle of the Bulge”) – photog
I’ve never heard what Eisenhower had to say about it. I get my lean on it from my uncle, an enlisted man. Battles are seen quite differently if you’re one of the dogfaces in the ranks than by staff generals and politicians and people who write about it later.
Having been in a couple or so battles myself I can say the troops fight a battle intimately, not cooly and detached like they do at headquarters. You fight what is in front of you and you do not fight for king or country. You fight for the dogfaces to your right and left, your brothers. Your own world in battle is quite small, really. Your brothers on your right and left, and what you can see to your front. Usually about 400 yards or so. Modern thermal sights changes that for tank xrews and the like, and better optics on rifles extends that range a little bit but the soldier with the rifle in the ranks can only worry about what he sees and what can see him.
I generally don’t watch war movies that involve ground action. They are so fake overall. I’ll watch Battle of Brirain or In Harms Way about planes and ships, but I usually don’t watch ground war movies. I saw Bulge before I went to Vietnam. After that I gave up on ground war movies. I especially never watch movies about conflicts or operations in which I took part. They remind me of things I’d rather not remember and they are so wrong I get angry.
Guest Contributor – War Pig – The Battle of the Bulge
My uncle, who fought under Patton, told me of how the battle shaped up for him and his tank crew. It was snowy and icy and muddy all at the same time. The Germans did blow up trees to block roads and used mines and panzerfausts with skill and daring. They shelled trees to make splinters to wound the infantry. Pattons forces did have to fight without air cover. I don’t know if it was the prayer Patton uttered or just a warm front moving in but when the skies cleared, P47s, B25s/26s and British Typhoons feasted upon the Germans. The brave men of the 101st Airborne were heroic in their stand which brought down the entire offensive. Both the last stand of the 101st and Patton’s charge are excellent examples of American military exceptionalism.
Guest Contributor – Chemist – 01MAR2022 – Texas Primary Election Day
Today is primary day in Texas. (Or if you are a republican in my town, the only voting day that matters.)
While voting an older man and his elderly, wheelchair bound, father came in.
The older man was irate that he didn’t get an absentee ballot for his father like in years past.
“Last three years, the ballot comes in the mail. This year – nothing.”
The clerk replied that you now have to request the ballot.
The older man countered that “Dad doesn’t do computers. How is he supposed to request one?”
The clerk told him that he could call for one and the man said this was a pain.
I wanted to jump in and say:
“Yup. Another thing the democrats fucked up for everyone.
After the wholesale cheating in 2020 we had to change the laws which make it more difficult for everyone, so thank a Democrat!”
But I kept my mouth shut.
-Chemist
Guest Contributor – TomD – 23FEB2022 – Thoughts on the Battle of Midway
I’ve spent a great deal of time throughout my life reading about WWII in general. I was born a few years after the end of the war and grew up in a society in which virtually everyone’s father took part in one way or another. My father was a 1943 West Point grad who was a company commander with the 101st Airborne when the Germans shot him up very badly at the Battle of the Bulge, crippling him physically for life, but not mentally as he later got a MS Degree in Chemical Engineering.
But for some reason, I’ve always been most fascinated with the Pacific war, and especially with Midway. I’ve lost count of the number of books I’ve read on the battle and can specifically recommend Shattered Sword, a history taken from the Japanese viewpoint.
Midway, the battle turned on the purest of luck and very easily could have gone the other way had 3 or 4 isolated throws of the dice gone otherwise. The US would have eventually won the war anyway but it would have been a longer and harder version of the already desperate and bloody struggle that it was.
Below, a photo of interest, it is the last actual aircraft still in existence to have taken part in the battle. This SBD Dauntless was based on Midway Island and wasn’t one of the 3 squadrons of SBDs from Enterprise (I think) that luckily found the Japanese fleet as all their fighter defenses were down at wave top height finishing off a squadron of torpedo bombers. The next 5 minutes proved decisive as those SBDs sank 3 of the 4 Japanese carriers.
The plane in the photo made it’s attack earlier but none of the Midway Island aircraft made any hits. After the battle, this plane was flown to the point of decrepitude and sent back to the US for use in training new pilots. Some US Navy Ensign pilot candidate managed to put this aircraft in the drink while trying to land on a training carrier in one of the great lakes where it remained until salvaged 50 years later. The wreck was taken to NAS Pensacola where it was restored and is currently on display at the US Naval Air Museum.
A Little Fun Music
Tyler over at the Portly Politico in one of his music posts has a link to the William Tell Overture (but better known to non-musical types like myself as the theme song to the “Lone Ranger”). I enjoy classical music but I have to be in the mood.
And just to show that I like me some classical music here’s a little opera. Figaro, Figaro, Figaro.
“Largo al factotum.” I’ve always liked this bit of opera because it allows me to revel in one of the few character traits of the Italians that seems positive, the irrepressible love of life. Here’s a peon in the lowliest of professions but in his mind he’s a king. He’s an absurd braggart but his unjustified confidence and swagger allows him to make his life a compelling adventure (at least for him). The irrepressible clown prince. And truth be told that kind of attitude is contagious and can be responsible for outbreaks of unbridled enthusiasm when it’s least expected.