Or Maybe It’s All a Mirage

photog Current Events, Trump , ,

There is an interesting phenomenon going on with political party affiliation shifts.  And it’s happening in both red and blue states.  There is a noticeable shift happening toward the Republican party and away from the Democrats.  Now, in most of the blue states this isn’t a game changer.  Here in New England, it will have negligible impact.  If a sixty/forty state becomes a fifty-five/forty-five state there’s no noticeable change in policy.  But there are a few swing states where a trend like this could be more than just a tweak.  And even some pretty blue states are flirting with electing Republican governors (e.g., New Jersey).

I’m on record as saying blue states electing republican governors is just a relief valve to prevent the state from blowing up its budget due to Democrat fiscal insanity.  Massachusetts has to do that all the time.  Anytime they’ve had a Democrat as governor for more than eight years they have to elect a Republican just to get out of bankruptcy.  And the definition of a Massachusetts Republican is just a progressive who can add and subtract numbers.  There are no noticeable conservative actions by him just slightly cheaper progressive policies.

But in places like Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin and even Nevada the shift of even two or three percentage points can be enough to change state legislatures and even add a senator or two to the red side.  And a lot of these voters switching parties are younger.  I’ve seen that where I live and believe me, I’m buried deep in enemy territory here.  So, if it’s happening here then it’s definitely happening in the swing states the same way only more so.

Now, I’m not so idealistic to think that there won’t be any elections where the Democrats make gains, maybe even big gains.  But what we’re seeing is people waking up to the inherent differences between the parties.  Biden and his regime allowed law and order to collapse in the cities and blue states.  That wasn’t something that could be ignored.  If Mamdani wins in November in New York City that will throw a spotlight on just what happens when an honest to goodness communist tries running the largest city in the United States.  I think his administration may turn out to be the most valuable advertising the Republicans could ask for going into the midterms.  If Mamdani goes with the policies he’s been espousing it should frighten the hell out of anyone living in a blue state or city.  It’s a possibility that we are looking at the perfect political storm happening just when it could do the most good.  Could Mandani turn New York City red the way Dinkins did back in the 1990s and got Rudy Giulianin elected twice?  I think it’s unlikely but not impossible.  But I do think he can provide a cautionary tale for the rest of the country and maybe help Donald Trump hold onto his Republican Congress.

Or maybe it’s all a mirage.  Time will tell.

Death May Have Its Advantages

photog Current Events, Science, Science Fiction / Fantasy , ,

Back in the 1960s and 1970s many post-apocalyptic science fiction stories included nuclear fallout causing widespread mutations in humans and other lifeforms.  And that made for all kinds of fun monsters with two heads and three eyes and other bizarre anomalies but in real life these mutations no longer seem very likely or dangerous.

But one thing that modern research into modifying the genome of humans and other living things has shown is that modifying lifeforms is well within our present scientific capabilities.  And with the advances being made in artificial intelligence it seems reasonable that at some point in the future we might be able to engineer creatures with traits and characteristics that have never heretofore been seen or even imagined.  Suppose we developed dogs with the intelligence of humans, possibly with the ability to speak.  Would that be a wonder or an abomination?  What if we could design insects who single-mindedly did nothing but hunt and eat ticks?  What if we could domesticate dolphins to patrol along beaches in the summer attacking sharks who intrude into the space where swimmers are?  All these things seem very possible.

But the supreme imperative has always been to improve man.  Currently you hear about tech billionaires chasing after the fountain of youth.  They search for diets, supplements and health regimens to extend their lives and youth.  But all of these things are illusory.  Maybe a sixty-year-old can look forty.  Maybe.  But the reality is the human animal reaches a point where even with hormone supplements and corrective surgeries it slides into senescence.  We age and fade and eventually die.

But it may be the case that advances in biological knowledge of human physiology may reach a point where we know which gene tells us when to die.  And when that happens, it will be the case, regardless of what laws there are against it, that very rich men will have scientists experiment with this knowledge and then it will be used to make long-lived humans.  What if it turns out there is a Methusaleh gene?  What if humans could remain young for a thousand years?  What would happen?  Would it make this a paradise on Earth or a hell?

What if you had a thousand years to accomplish everything you wanted in this life?  Would it be a blessing or a curse?  What if you could know your descendants for twenty or more generations?  Would you want to?  Would they want you?

So, all of these questions are speculative.  But someday they may be urgent considerations.  And what if the billionaires keep the fountain of youth just for their heirs?  Robert Heinlein toyed with this idea in his book “Methusaleh’s Children.”  In the story, the short-lived majority were enraged against their long-lived brethren and wanted to torture the secret of long life from them.  This was despite the fact that their secret was just their natural genetics.  Of course, in the future everyone may have the opportunity to have their children’s genomes tweaked using CRISPR gene-editing technology.  The only question might be whether after a few generations we might want to escape from eternal life.  We may find that death has its advantages.

FE 100mm f2.8 MACRO GM Lens – Damn You Sony!

photog Photography, Photography Reviews , , , , ,

Just when I think I’m immune to lens lust Sony drags me back in!

Alright, this is not an in-depth review because this lens hasn’t even reached the stores yet.  It come out in early November.  But it has already destabilized my photographic equilibrium with its compelling mixture of desirable features and the stellar reviews the experts are giving it.

So just to put my own spin on it, here are the features I find most exciting.

  1. Fast autofocus.  Okay, probably not blazingly fast because no macro lens can be.  There’s just too much focus racking needed in a macro lens for that.  But its four XD Linear AF motors make it orders of magnitude faster than my current Sony 90mm f2.8 macro.
  2. 1.4X magnification.  That compares with the 90mm and its standard 1.0X magnification.  This is a big deal.  Filling the frame with your subject is what makes for better macro shots.
  3. The reviewers stressed that the Optical Steady Shot (OSS) system actually did seem to work very well on macro shots.  That’s always been a sore point for me with the 90mm lens.  There’s nothing steady about the image unless I’m on at least a monopod.  If this pans out it will be a major upgrade to my macro experience.
  4. The reviewers also stressed that the images when using a 1.4X or 2X teleconverter were still very good which if true means that 2X and 2.8X magnification would be achievable.  I’m most skeptical of this claim.  Whenever I’ve used Sony teleconverters I’ve always noticed a very significant image quality degradation (especially with the 2X unit).  If this turns out to be true it would be a very nice benefit.

Okay enough hyperventilating.  So let’s give some of the bad news.  It’s fifteen hundred bucks!  And I’ve checked the resale value of my 90mm lens ($450).  So I’d be forking over an extra grand or so.  Gack!!!!

Oh, the pain, the pain.  Well, Christmas is coming up.  And I do have some rarely used lenses hanging around maybe I could shrink that grand down to five hundred bucks.

It’s funny just a few months ago I think I was saying how glad I was that I no longer obsessed about camera gear and lenses in particular.  Sure I’m always interested in descriptions of the new odd-ball super-macros that the various Chinese lens manufacturers seem to create constantly.  But I’m never too excited because these lenses tend to be not of the highest quality.

But here Sony has dropped this thing in my lap with basically everything I wanted except a 200mm focal length (and that would be compensated for if it actually does work as well as they claim it does with a 2X teleconverter).  And here I am with my mouth hanging open, desperate to get my hands on this piece of photo kit.  They truly are evil geniuses sitting there in Tokyo (or wherever the hell their corporate headquarters is in Japan) and saying, “Now we’ve got photog right where we want him.”

And they do.  Damn them!!!