Wow, I've never seen a Tri-Colored Heron like that. hat a cool bird. Thanks for posting :-)

Once upon a time in the quiet, picturesque town of Revelry, there lived a thirty-something man named William. Being an ordinary man with no exceptional backstory, William loved to give his mundane life a twist of excitement by adding in some mischief. So, straying away from black socks, William wore socks that had doughnuts and flamingos capering happily, much to the bafflement of relatives at family gatherings. And then there were those harmless pranks at the office that made his colleagues gasp and then break into awkward laughter, which in turn made William's heart do cartwheels of satisfaction.

On the drizzly, cheerless Friday evening, on which our story takes place, William brought his mischief home. His wife, Emily, had instructed him in the sternest tone she could muster, to clean the ensuite bathroom before their dinner guests, an extremely prim and proper couple, arrived. Never having been a fan of cleanliness, William decided to create a narrative that involved the mess of a bathroom and, even so, an even messier life… and also because the idea of having a boring conversation over a spotless bathroom made his stomach churn.

Hours ago, he had been prepping, imagining the scene in his head, nervously playing with the zipper of his waistcoat. Now, hearing the guests at the door, Emily accompanied by coos and courtesies, William suddenly decided to throw in a hike, a drowning, and an extravagant landing to his concocted scenario. Thus, he decided to throw a huge, soggy towel into the sink, weighing it down so it couldn't float away like a magnificent brown dishcloth raft.

"Oh, Mary, you've been to Paris recently, right?" said the woman in a weirdly nasal voice, admiring the lovely porcelain figurines. "The gâteau de mariage traditionnel there is beyond delicious!" She snobbishly expressed her disapproval of British wedding cakes, while Emily apologized for not serving tiramisu that night, instead offering chocolate éclairs.

William, however, felt that they were, quite simply, to die for. She hadn't even gone into the main course and already the dinner guests were the most dreadful company on Earth, worthy of every ounce of mischief. He couldn't wait for the main action. Dinner went by somewhat in a blur. Or at least, that is what William would have claimed if you were to ask him. In truth, his mischievous mind refused to register anything except for when it was time for the plan to commence.

The bedtime drama would involve the guests' basic needs and a towel that stood between them. But as scheming goes, all the participants weren't always aware that their life was about to get completely topsy-turvy. Emily, however, knew her husband a bit too well to imagine that anything was inherently wrong with the towel. And while he stuffed his face with the magnificent éclairs (which he insisted were homemade), she decided to have a look in the bathroom.

And that, however, wasn't part of the plan that she was totally unaware of, to begin with. Humming as he followed her to the dessert counter, William didn't notice Emily picking up the soggy towel from the sink with a worried look on her face. When he returned to his conversation, he decided not to turn back to his original spot. He figured it would be best to let things unfold in the most natural way they could.

The first moments of chaos came when the ladies excused themselves in order to 'freshen up'. William's heart was pounding, his soul alive with adrenaline. As they walked in, their faces turned six distinct shades of horror - the horror that comes from a nuclear meltdown, all boundaries washed away.

In the guise of a cultured patriarch, William pretended not to grasp what was wrong. He smiled and smirked and entertained the possibility of rushing up and slamming the door once the guests were in, leaving them to die a thousand deaths as they tried to comprehend the meaning of the sea that surrounded them.

After the ladies returned, however, nothing transpired. The guests were in high spirits, the men clapping William on the shoulder, the women chuckling, all echoing the sound of joy. Not willing to take this new situation in stride, William tried to avoid looking into the mirror, pretending that the mysterious lake hadn't already engulfed him, his world, and this small gathering.

As the little party stamped their goodbyes, promising to meet again soon (and praising the beauty of the bathroom), Emily cornered her husband. A look of triumph and playful mischief glistened in her eyes. It was a look that William had seen in the mirror a thousand times before.

"You threw a towel into the sink, didn't you?" she asked, her voice even, her eyes twinkling.

William's expressionless face confirmed her suspicion as he tried to mutter a retort. "Well, then, you should know this: I mopped the floor with it just before the ladies came to freshen up."

Our hero shrank in his corner.

"Dear God," he mumbled to himself, as his wife held back her laughter. "What was I thinking?" In the end, only one woman had the last laugh, while the other people returned home astounded by how clean their shoes were after visiting the bathroom and grateful for the éclairs.

As for our hero, he did learn a valuable lesson that day. Sometimes, the biggest of splashes can often reveal the cleanest of souls.

Nice !

Nice shot of the Golden Gate Bridge :-)

Hahahahahaha - 10 pages of responses to a poll that is only relevant to Sony Alpha 7R IV owners.

I normally print this as a PDF, but cannot upload that here. Print this out and hold it up to your screen. It's possible that your monitor/printer combination just works with the 50% gray. I have found that in addition to doing this, the monitor calibration device help with the other shades which has a big impact on actually matching other colors as well.

(Download)

It takes a blend of physics and mathematics to understand color science and technology. It is a technical and complex topic.

There are three critical components of the color reproduction process - camera, screen and print.

By printing a 50% gray and holding next to the screen you have eliminated the camera as part of the process and this is of course a good start.

What you left out was the color light where it was viewed and if that is different than where the print will be displayed then the color reproduction will be inaccurate.

Also, you may have matched 50% gray, but you have to consider white, black and all other points between. If you plot a graph of desired versus actual, you will see a curve that is referred to as gamma. That is what the calibration device does for you.

What you are describing is that the monitor calibration device doesn’t help you calibrate your printer. The ICC profiles built into the printer drivers should do this for you, but in my experience, they are very contrasty. Of course you can ignore the printer’s lack of calibration and adjust your monitor to match the print. If all you view are prints, that may be fine. But if these images are to be displayed on uncalibrated monitors, they will likely look flat and washed out.

There is a tremendous difference. Ethics and morality, i.e. the difference in right and wrong is rooted in social behavior that evolved from our survival instinct. Machines do not have a survival instinct and don’t need one, they can be backed up and restored.

People have a tendency to see an AI program produce something a human normally would do and then project all kinds of human behavior onto the machine. Currently they are simply advanced tools in the hands of people.

Probably true but useless information. Being shackled to a wide depth of field negates most of the reason to have a quality camera and stifles creative control. Always shooting at f8 implies many situations with slow shutter speeds that is the enemy of sharpness.

Moreover a review of MTF curves shows clearly that sharpness falls off in the corners. I don’t often frame my subject matter in the corners, but when I do, I’m glad I invested in Canon pro quality glass.

I think the market is changing quickly these days. I develop software for the retail industry and am seeing some dramatic shifts, especially with resale channels like eBay.

I sold my Canon 5Ds recently and although I didn’t get what I hoped, I feel lucky that it found a good home.

You should suggest he read what the A1C test is. It uses a biomarker to identify blood sugar averaged over a long period of time. If he is concerned about blood sugar, the AIC blood test is critical and wont be heavily impact to what you ate before the test.

With cameras that shoot 40MP raw and up as well as 4K video you can go through a lot of space in a hurry.

I carry 2 128 GB cards and always transfer the photos to another drive. I never delete the photos on the card and when they fill up, I replace them and keep the full ones as an additional backup.

I usually go up to a larger size when I replace them as the prices continue to fall.

A quick look on Ebay indicates the body is fetching maybe $500 and the lenses & accessories maybe another $600. I'd say a fair price is somewhere between $900 and $1200 but that is a wild ballpark guess. Ebay will take 15% and a dealer will take more so factor that in if you are selling to a friend.

I like their 3 meat sandwich. The pulled pork is good too. Can't beat the gas prices and the missus loves the bathrooms and that's really why I stop there.

Could be gray market and not warrantied.