The ability to take a leaf peeping October vacation has eluded me my whole teaching career. Just 2 more autumns and I will finally be able to make it happen!
This Californian cannot hype leaf-peeping enough. A few years ago Thanksgiving was so hot we considered not baking pies at all. But I imagine the hordes of peepers probably get annoying. I’ll try to behave when I visit.
When younger, I traveled with a ton of 35mm camera gear and was scrupulous about capturing images like your colorful hillside. Now, with a ubiquitous phone camera, I seldom stop to take pictures at all. Something about the technology has cheapened the value of a good photo to me.
I regret it. I don't like it, but I feel that there is no more craft to it.
Sep 27, 2023·edited Sep 27, 2023Liked by Martini Glambassador
I am still toting a 35mm around. I started doing photography when cameras had film rolls in them, on a manual-only camera, and I have become a decently competent amateur. I actually like that's it's a more complex process: my head is always thinking about lighting, composition, ISO, aperture, exposure comp, etc., and I am tweaking the controls to make it all happen the way I want. I also of course like the results: nice photos.
FWIW, camera phones are getting better and better. I've taken some really lovely shots with them, although I still do prefer using a stand-alone camera when I have one with me. Still, doesn't stop me from taking 3 gazillion cat pictures...
F stops are most useful at adjusting depth of field and lighting. Travel photos tend toward natural lighting and a deep focus, so you did the right thing.
Ansel Adams iconic Moon over Hernandez NM had a critical f-stop to get all the elements properly lit and exposed. He had just seconds to figure it out, set up the camera and take the shot. Nowadays anyone could grab their phone, get something half ass, then adjust it in photoshop to do everything Adams did in one take, operating on knowledge, artistry, and experience.
The maples perhaps undergo the most complete transformation of all the forest trees. Their leaves become fairly luminous, as if they glowed with inward light. In October a maple-tree before your window lights up your room like a great lamp. - John Burroughs, "Under the Maples"
I ordered two small items to be delivered by mail a week ago. Both were from local stores and I still have not received them. Now I hear that DeJoy is still destroying sorting machines. Why is this ghoul still in charge of the freaking mail?????????
That fucking Bari Weiss nonsense was called "A Clash of Female Titans."
ROFL forever. I've never heard of most of the women and Grimes seems like a talented artist but a hot mess of a person. I mean, choosing to have multiple children with Elon Musk shows her judgment is highly questionable. Apparently she showed up not even knowing what she was meant to debate.
today is the anniversary of the death of Clara Bow, one of my all-time favorites. She is just luminous on the screen, and if you ever have the chance to see one of her movies on the screen it's a real treat. "Runnin' Wild" is a very engaging biography of her.
I hate this never ending nightmare of getting dentures. Another fitting today that took much longer than it should, two and a half hours. And this step isn't done, I go back next Tuesday. Also the dentist torture teacher was there being as rude and disrespectful as usual.
My friend, I hate this whole process for you, but I am still very excited for it to be over--as one teeth-challenged to another, it is such total bliss like you can't imagine when they're finally fucking working like they ought to.
In the CNN daily “5 things” newsletter this morning, for the story about the strikes, they said the: “Meanwhile, President Joe Biden joined a picket line of autoworkers in Michigan on Tuesday in an effort to shore up additional support among blue-collar voters.”
I think that CNN should hire better psychics, so as to maybe offer any corroboration whatsoever when they report a person’s motivation. I mean, given the equally possible motive of “because he’s been on the record as a union supporter for decades,” for which they could offer actual evidence, this seems like a clear bias on CNN’s part.
Either way, they clearly went beyond “what” and included “why” in a sneaky way that changes the whole tone of the report.
That bee will join the others in my pretty floral bonnet.
"Tuberville: ‘Our military is not an equal opportunity employer’"
But:
"The US military has had an equal opportunity policy since 1948, when President Harry Truman signed an executive order desegregating the military and guaranteeing “equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.” That order, 16 years before passage of the Civil Rights Act, was a significant force in the desegregation of US society.
The first paragraph of the NY Mag article on Weiss'n pals is delicious:
The question “Has the Sexual Revolution Failed” contains within itself a number of other questions (failed at what? Failed whom? Why are we talking about this?), precisely none of which were answered Wednesday night at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, where 1,600 plaid-skirted e-girls and be- khakied normies and the aspiring canceled paid as much as $165 a seat to hear a British ideologue, a deft Dimes Square shape-shifter, an ex-Muslim podcaster, and Techno Mechanicus’s mother debate the resolution. You can’t really fault the organizer, even if the organizer was Bari Weiss. It ought to have worked. An ill-defined proposition, half of Red Scare, a random British lady very upset about BDSM, and Grimes? No notes.
The fucking NY Times. The article on Trump’s visit to Detroit to speak at an auto parts manufacturer fails to mention that the auto parts manufacturer is a NON-UNION shop. God. The newspaper of record, my ass.
I'll tell you why the Nazi thing happened in Canadian parliament- there has always been a faction within the Ukrainian-Canadian community that has taken the position of "Stalin was worse than Hitler, the Holodomor was worse than the Holocaust, and please ignore the black uniform my grandfather is wearing in that old photograph."
They're the same people who sent around an anti-semitic mailing to protest the building of a Holocaust museum in Winnipeg. They likely saw an opportunity to pull a fast one, and nobody in the Speaker's office thought to do a bit of research.
The reason they did this, even though most people could have told you that it would have potentially negative consequences for their own movement, is that they're not very bright.
This sounds nice. I emailed Loser Cornyn and Fled Ted already:
An Unlikely Alliance In Congress Has A Plan To Fix The Nationwide Rape Kit Backlog
Legislation from Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) would force state and local governments to identify untested kits or risk losing funds.
By
Alanna Vagianos
Sep 27, 2023, 08:00 AM EDT
There are more than 100,000 rape kits sitting untested in police storage units across the country. California has nearly 14,000 untested rape kits, Texas just over 6,000 and New Jersey around 1,200. In several states the number of untested rape kits is completely unknown due to a lack of oversight and reporting.
The Rape Kit Backlog Act, a bipartisan bill introduced Wednesday, is designed to change that. The bill, whose details were shared exclusively with HuffPost, was introduced by Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and seeks to improve reporting requirements on the number of untested rape kits in each state.
"The media spent the last 32 months pretending there were no voters who actually liked Joe Biden and they finally accidentally stumbled on a whole bunch of them on the UAW picket line today."
Here’s my small blurb about your hed gif today: https://open.substack.com/pub/martiniambassador/p/wonkitty-is-leaf-peeping?
The ability to take a leaf peeping October vacation has eluded me my whole teaching career. Just 2 more autumns and I will finally be able to make it happen!
I live right in the epicenter of leafer-peeper country. It's nice, but perhaps a bit overhyped.
This Californian cannot hype leaf-peeping enough. A few years ago Thanksgiving was so hot we considered not baking pies at all. But I imagine the hordes of peepers probably get annoying. I’ll try to behave when I visit.
Oh my goodness, hang in there! I remember when my dad retired from teaching, it was a very happy moment for him.
When younger, I traveled with a ton of 35mm camera gear and was scrupulous about capturing images like your colorful hillside. Now, with a ubiquitous phone camera, I seldom stop to take pictures at all. Something about the technology has cheapened the value of a good photo to me.
I regret it. I don't like it, but I feel that there is no more craft to it.
I am still toting a 35mm around. I started doing photography when cameras had film rolls in them, on a manual-only camera, and I have become a decently competent amateur. I actually like that's it's a more complex process: my head is always thinking about lighting, composition, ISO, aperture, exposure comp, etc., and I am tweaking the controls to make it all happen the way I want. I also of course like the results: nice photos.
FWIW, camera phones are getting better and better. I've taken some really lovely shots with them, although I still do prefer using a stand-alone camera when I have one with me. Still, doesn't stop me from taking 3 gazillion cat pictures...
I may very well be a victim of my own attitudes. It wouldn't be the first time.
I used to do my own B&W darkroom work. I just don't enjoy using a program to get what I want.
I have a pretty nice Canon digital slr, but still can't get enthused enough to enjoy it.
F stops are most useful at adjusting depth of field and lighting. Travel photos tend toward natural lighting and a deep focus, so you did the right thing.
Ansel Adams iconic Moon over Hernandez NM had a critical f-stop to get all the elements properly lit and exposed. He had just seconds to figure it out, set up the camera and take the shot. Nowadays anyone could grab their phone, get something half ass, then adjust it in photoshop to do everything Adams did in one take, operating on knowledge, artistry, and experience.
Well said.
The maples perhaps undergo the most complete transformation of all the forest trees. Their leaves become fairly luminous, as if they glowed with inward light. In October a maple-tree before your window lights up your room like a great lamp. - John Burroughs, "Under the Maples"
More autumn stuff here: http://inkhornterm.blogspot.com/2008/09/outono-ella-fitzgerald-and-joe-pass-tis.html
Just lost our 40yo front yard maple to a storm. It will be a sad autumn for us.
I love that!
Lovely!
Maybe get your paints and brushes and try to re-create that hillside.
"Fetterman's Shorts" is me new cosmic metal band. I'm trying to recruit Buck Dharma.
I ordered two small items to be delivered by mail a week ago. Both were from local stores and I still have not received them. Now I hear that DeJoy is still destroying sorting machines. Why is this ghoul still in charge of the freaking mail?????????
That fucking Bari Weiss nonsense was called "A Clash of Female Titans."
ROFL forever. I've never heard of most of the women and Grimes seems like a talented artist but a hot mess of a person. I mean, choosing to have multiple children with Elon Musk shows her judgment is highly questionable. Apparently she showed up not even knowing what she was meant to debate.
Great job, Bar. You're doing great.
The NY Mag piece was great....
As the birthday person, I will mention this:
today is the anniversary of the death of Clara Bow, one of my all-time favorites. She is just luminous on the screen, and if you ever have the chance to see one of her movies on the screen it's a real treat. "Runnin' Wild" is a very engaging biography of her.
It's sad to me that she's pretty much forgotten.
I hate this never ending nightmare of getting dentures. Another fitting today that took much longer than it should, two and a half hours. And this step isn't done, I go back next Tuesday. Also the dentist torture teacher was there being as rude and disrespectful as usual.
I'm so sorry this is so difficult for you.
My friend, I hate this whole process for you, but I am still very excited for it to be over--as one teeth-challenged to another, it is such total bliss like you can't imagine when they're finally fucking working like they ought to.
Stay strong, my love--it will be worth it!
In the CNN daily “5 things” newsletter this morning, for the story about the strikes, they said the: “Meanwhile, President Joe Biden joined a picket line of autoworkers in Michigan on Tuesday in an effort to shore up additional support among blue-collar voters.”
I think that CNN should hire better psychics, so as to maybe offer any corroboration whatsoever when they report a person’s motivation. I mean, given the equally possible motive of “because he’s been on the record as a union supporter for decades,” for which they could offer actual evidence, this seems like a clear bias on CNN’s part.
Either way, they clearly went beyond “what” and included “why” in a sneaky way that changes the whole tone of the report.
That bee will join the others in my pretty floral bonnet.
Tabs kitteh will definitely pounce on that leaf in a moment.
I wonder if modern syphillis is a liger of bacteria, only able to reproduce even better than its parents.
This might be something to post an article on. Tommy Tuberville further beclowns himself:
Link: https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/tuberville-military-not-equal-opportunity-employer-rcna117596
"Tuberville: ‘Our military is not an equal opportunity employer’"
But:
"The US military has had an equal opportunity policy since 1948, when President Harry Truman signed an executive order desegregating the military and guaranteeing “equality of treatment and opportunity for all persons in the armed services without regard to race, color, religion or national origin.” That order, 16 years before passage of the Civil Rights Act, was a significant force in the desegregation of US society.
The first paragraph of the NY Mag article on Weiss'n pals is delicious:
The question “Has the Sexual Revolution Failed” contains within itself a number of other questions (failed at what? Failed whom? Why are we talking about this?), precisely none of which were answered Wednesday night at the Ace Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, where 1,600 plaid-skirted e-girls and be- khakied normies and the aspiring canceled paid as much as $165 a seat to hear a British ideologue, a deft Dimes Square shape-shifter, an ex-Muslim podcaster, and Techno Mechanicus’s mother debate the resolution. You can’t really fault the organizer, even if the organizer was Bari Weiss. It ought to have worked. An ill-defined proposition, half of Red Scare, a random British lady very upset about BDSM, and Grimes? No notes.
Man, that has me barely hanging on by the fingernails when it comes to comprehension. I'm so .... out of it.
The fucking NY Times. The article on Trump’s visit to Detroit to speak at an auto parts manufacturer fails to mention that the auto parts manufacturer is a NON-UNION shop. God. The newspaper of record, my ass.
I'll tell you why the Nazi thing happened in Canadian parliament- there has always been a faction within the Ukrainian-Canadian community that has taken the position of "Stalin was worse than Hitler, the Holodomor was worse than the Holocaust, and please ignore the black uniform my grandfather is wearing in that old photograph."
They're the same people who sent around an anti-semitic mailing to protest the building of a Holocaust museum in Winnipeg. They likely saw an opportunity to pull a fast one, and nobody in the Speaker's office thought to do a bit of research.
The reason they did this, even though most people could have told you that it would have potentially negative consequences for their own movement, is that they're not very bright.
This sounds nice. I emailed Loser Cornyn and Fled Ted already:
An Unlikely Alliance In Congress Has A Plan To Fix The Nationwide Rape Kit Backlog
Legislation from Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) would force state and local governments to identify untested kits or risk losing funds.
By
Alanna Vagianos
Sep 27, 2023, 08:00 AM EDT
There are more than 100,000 rape kits sitting untested in police storage units across the country. California has nearly 14,000 untested rape kits, Texas just over 6,000 and New Jersey around 1,200. In several states the number of untested rape kits is completely unknown due to a lack of oversight and reporting.
The Rape Kit Backlog Act, a bipartisan bill introduced Wednesday, is designed to change that. The bill, whose details were shared exclusively with HuffPost, was introduced by Reps. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) and Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and seeks to improve reporting requirements on the number of untested rape kits in each state.
...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/an-unlikely-alliance-in-congress-has-a-plan-to-fix-the-nationwide-rape-kit-backlog_n_651349a7e4b0c7b559013486
"The media spent the last 32 months pretending there were no voters who actually liked Joe Biden and they finally accidentally stumbled on a whole bunch of them on the UAW picket line today."
https://twitter.com/What46HasDone/status/1706868967711653892
The Japanese McDonald's ad featured Halloween toys? I didn't think Halloween was a thing in Japan, but it turns out I was wrong about that: https://www.tsunagujapan.com/trick-or-treat-halloween-in-japan-how-and-where-to-celebrate/.