CHG_CANON wrote:
An artist can capture beauty with any camera. The rest of us need the best camera.
But the best camera cannot make up for someone with no vision, no concept of light, contrast, brightness, apertures, or composition. I'm sure we have all seen beautiful photographs taken with a cell phone, as well as crappy pictures taken with a high-end 35 mm. A friend of mine long ago took a trip-of-a-lifetime safari, brought his newly purchased (film in those days) Nikon with several lenses, but came back with several hundred very poor quality photos. Blurry, poorly composed, bad mid-day lighting, bad exposures. It was truly sad. The best camera cannot make up for an incompetent user.
Portland has been suffering from the "pro-Palestine" protests this past week. The Portland State University Library was taken over by "protesters" - mostly comprised of outside agitators who have no connection to the University, nor really any pro-Palestine agenda. These are likely the same sort of a****a bad actors whose only agenda to to create chaos and tore Portland apart in May 2020. This last week, the library was vandalized, furniture was destroyed, and rare books were stolen or destroyed.
What is really sad is that the few students involved didn't really realize that they were being manipulated. There was nothing "organic" about the coming together of those who are allegedly protesting against Israel's attacks on Hamas. These agitators were very organized and front-loaded in the hand and power tools needed to create barricades inside the library, food, and other necessities, and set about influenced these impressionable students.
At one point, they began barricading the front doors. I don't understand why police didn't start tearing down the barricades as they were being erected (a soccer net, shopping carts, plywood sheets, tarps, chairs . . .) Some complainers on the streets didn't think police should be brought is as that only "escalates" the situation, but good grief! The police arrived to keep bystanders from interfering. The escalation began when the barricades went up. The police finally announced at one point that everyone had to leave the building, and anyone who did not leave voluntarily "now" would be considered under arrest. Of the 32 arrested, only 6 were students. Those who will have charges brought against them can probably kiss that expensive degree goodbye.
So it's amazing that a couple of "always angry" politicians haven't suffered such a fate.
Beautiful. Here in Portland, we have the Crystal Springs Rhododendron Garden, 9.5 acres of rare species and hybrids, azaleas and other lesser-known ericaceous (I had to look that up, which led me down the rabbit hole of unfamiliar terms) plants, as well as many companion plants and unusual trees. Plus a large pond, streams, and birds! I try to visit every year, though the last two years I didn't make it. Now you've made me really, really want to return.
That is going to be a GORGEOUS peony! I hope you post the flower when it is fully open. I can't wait for mine to bloom.
BAchme wrote:
Thanks. I'm not sure where to find a lawyer, but I will think on it. I'm honestly kind of scared in that my brain feels very muddled, and I can't remember exactly anything that happened! Have lost track of time. I was going to go to a walk-in clinic, but the day got away from me, and I honestly can't even tell you what I did! Things feel very upside down!
Thanks for the advice it is greatly appreciated!
Barb
So sorry this happened to you, glad you're (pretty much) okay. Personal injury lawyers abound! Just check them out to be sure you're getting a good one, not a shyster. Use Nextdoor Neighborhood to ask for recommendations.
"This one trick!" is another warning that it's going to be a ridiculous "article", if you can call it that.
dbfalconer wrote:
I rarely post photos anywhere but thought I'd put up a few favorites from past few years. Most are from Sony a7iii with Tamron lenses.
Beautiful pics. Love the praying mantid having lunch!
jerryc41 wrote:
As I was trying to get to sleep last night, I heard loud music playing from one of my neighbors. After a while, I looked out the window, expecting to see lights or activity. Nothing. At that point, it seemed that the music was coming from downstairs.
I have an FM transmitter and an iPod in the TV room, and that sends the signal throughout the house. I was playing it yesterday morning - only in the morning. My son and I were in the house all day and all night, and there was no music coming from that radio. In order for it to work, the radio must be turned on. The button on the transmitter must be pushed in, and that activates a bright red light. The iPod will start playing at that point.
How did the music start around 10:00 last night?
If the radio had been turned on, I would have been hearing the static hiss. If the transmitter had been turned on, I would have seen the bright red light all day, as I was about ten feet away from it. The radio can be turned on by a remote control, so it's theoretically possible that a stray signal from an alien spaceship activated it. Still, it takes some force to push in the button on the side of the FM transmitter. I have to hold it down with my fingers while I push it in with my thumb.
If this keeps happening every night, I'm destroying the radio, the transmitter, and the iPod.
As I was trying to get to sleep last night, I hear... (
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You may have to burn your house down . . .
Sometimes I get these reels on Facebook - drivers th8nking they can push an 18-wheeler around. They are hilarious!
https://youtu.be/EKxoJq3Eafw?si=5x_bZxaT9XdKIeEH
bobbyjohn wrote:
While AI is an interesting technology in the world of photos, videos, search engines, advertising, etc. etc., and with a myriad of legal and ethical concerns, it is my belief that there is NO SUCH THING as Artificial Intelligence.
I have used AI to produce strange and weird images, and will likely continue to do so...because it's fun!
Before retirement, I was in the IT field for many decades, and back even in the 2000's, the term and delivery of AI was in its infancy. It was the belief then, as now, that AI is produced by humans, humans writing computer programs, and as such takes on the characteristics and leanings of its authors/developers. A computer cannot think, it is just a series of 0's and 1's, created by some human, with a myriad of IF-THEN-ELSE logic. A computer cannot have emotions. When an AI deliverer want his program to react in a certain way, he programs it that way...it is a reflection of the developer. Such it is with AI that has permeated the world today.
While the term and delivery of AI is here to stay, we should always remember that in using AI, we are catering to the whims of the developer(s). We should not assign "intelligence" to a machine that can have no intelligence.
While AI is an interesting technology in the world... (
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The AI of today encompasses so many areas. That one can open ChatGPT and give it some direction of what you want to "write", and it scours the Internet for maybe relevant information is so-called Artificial Intelligence. What I see as the problem with that, is that ChatGPT cannot discriminate between misinformation, disinformation, and fact, so what you get from ChatGPT is probably not factual. The indiscriminate use of such AI by a naive person, or a conniving person, is scary. I have started recognizing AI-written material by it's total lack of "personality" or emotion. On Facebook, websites for "Short Haircuts" is another example. They aren't using real models any more, and it's obvious. The hairstyles are too perfect, the models too perfect. It's becoming more and more pervasive in social media and so many people take what they see on social media at face value, that THAT is scary. Disinformation (the purposeful act of spreading false information disguised as fact) was so widely disseminated about Covid this and Covid that, and about political rivals, it became a full-time job for those of us who value truth to fact-check. Even fact-checking will soon become moot, as the use of AI-generated speeches/appearances will become less easily discerned.
More than okay to me. It's wonderful! Good job.
JohnSwanda wrote:
Since this is Photo Analysis, you are supposed to ask something specific about the photos you wish to have analyzed.
Top of the scroll says Photo Gallery.
Manglesphoto wrote:
Found a new weed
Sweet. Even weeds have a purpose.
Ooh, so sorry your Nikon was trashed. Good thing you had a ba k up! Beautiful images.