What is never mentioned is the COST of doing something that will likely have little impact....
In La La land everything is free.....

Oh, I get it. G****l w*****g makes for milder weather and less e*****e w*****r in the U.S.
I seeeeeeeeee.
All along I thought e*****e w*****r was bad for the military.
I stand corrected.
This is revolutionary.... G****l w*****g causes less temperature extremes in the U.S....Hurray....

Here's an oddity.
Look at the chart of record high temperatures in the U.S.
Look at the 1930's
There have been only two record highs in any state in the U.S. since 2000...2006 and 2012
Apparently G****l w*****g does not effect the U.S.....You would think that if the average temperature in the U.S. is increasing you would at least get new highs....
Didn't happen.
From WIKI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._state_temperature_extremes

This data comes directly from NOAA.
https://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/extremes/scec/records

Good thing the IPCC didn't exist in 1930's....
Oh what a tangled web.

This whole Russian thing is hysterical.
I am sure they will find out somebody did something, somewhere to some degree.
The question... is who or what will it be.
Welcome to the absurdity of the collective known as congress......

я понимаю

Вы говорите по-русски?

Одного языка никогда недостаточно!

NO,
In fishing you don't know the size of the fish you will catch.
You don't know if you will catch a fish.
You don't know if the fish is going to steal your bait.
There are no laws if the fish does steal your bait.
All men are created equal... Men and fish are not equal.
Fishing is like gambling. Except that if you fish enough you will likely catch fish...Maybe too much fish and you have to throw some back.
BTW...Fishing limits are good laws.....Otherwise..."The Tragedy of the Commons" occurs.

Typically you know the product you are going to buy unless you are misinformed.
If the guy steal your money and gives you no product....There is law. I have been ripped off.....It only happens once from any given merchant.
Maybe with the people that you buy from, commerce is gambling....Not the people that I deal with.
I buy stuff from B&H..TO me that is not a gamble.
I buy from Walmart...To me that is not a gamble.
I buy from my local Grocery store that is not gambling.

I trade stocks for a living....That is almost gambling...Except The house is not setup to beat me.....if I do my due diligence. My business model allows me to take losses. My wins out pace my losses consistently.
Being an Entrepreneur is a risk and is a gamble for many.
Society is setup for all sorts of people....Naturally.
Those who take risk can be rewarded and penalized based on their ideas and their execution.
You can go safe and get a job.
I tend to be a risk taker. I have been rewarded for consistently taking risk.
I don't go to the casino. All systems in a casino favor the house. The house always wins in the long run. Even if you win they always win at the end of the day.

One note about trading stocks.
Stock trading is not a zero sum game. The house is slightly set up against you...Because.
There is a commission in the trade. Therefor my gain does not directly equate to someone else's loss.
Fidelity has $4.95 commission on trades. SO if I buy 2000 shares on a $50 stock... That is a very very low commission rate compared to a move in a stock.
I can hold 2000 shares of a stock for 30 seconds. It goes up 5 cents and I make $90.10. That's the game I play all day.
The stock market is perfect over time. Over a very short time the market is imperfect and you can take advantage of small moves based on volume.
That's what professional traders do. Unfortunately most people loose....The reason is... the psychological need to be right.... the inability to take a loss.
There are as many Professional traders in the U.S. as there are Professional athletes. The best ones make as much as Peyton Manning(What he used to make)
Then you have your Line Backers that make little compared to the best.....
I would not advise anyone to trade stocks that has a psychological need to be right. Your enemy is not the guy on the other side of the trade(Wall Street)...The enemy is yourself...

No, But I waste no ones time in woofing them down either.
Firstly the lady at Sams is likely not a trained professional.
Secondly, It's built into the business model for whoever buys the product.
Thirdly, "It's advertised as a free sample"
Forthly, there is likely no intent for anyone to buy the sample. When I go try a sample I'm shopping for something else. Sometimes I buy what they are selling sometimes I buy it later. sometimes not at all. I certainly don't try the sample ask them a bunch of question about it and then go somewhere else to buy it cheaper.
Morality here deals with intent.
You haven't gotten so wrapped up in the law that you cannot discern right from wrong...right?
Come on Green.
You are really not that dense are you?
Tell me it ain't so.....

P.S. I just used food here....I am sure there are other free samples...Food was just the first thing that came to mind.

Nice gimbal,
Which gimbal and camera?

Oops
Just realized DJI
Got the drone?

Thank you!

I like the eyes in this one better. They more closely match the contrast of the image.
One of the things I try and do is not fade the hairline to dark with a burn down.
This gives me better separation to show the edges of the hair.
I typically shoot on a background who's color can be separated from the color of the hair.
It's a little post processing trick that gives my images that hair background separation.
It would have been nice to have the hair lightness a little closer to the beard.
I will also add highlight to the hair when needed.
You have light haloing around the head which is indicative of an image burn down.
All of the images that you are producing are very good.
They fall more on the artistic versus more of a direct camera shot look.
Viewbug Judges can be real picky about that.
I started being really careful on contrast as well as attempting to keep my images as close to photorealistic as possible.

Best wishes
Russ.

Thanks Hershel.

Very nice image Dave.

Here are some thoughts.
This image is a what I refer to as a mid-tone image with good contrast in the mid-tones.
The mid-tones work well here.
My issue with this image is the eyes. The eyes are only slightly overdone.
The tonal characteristics of the eyes are a slight mismatch with the general midtones of the image.
I typically will push the eyes some especially in non midtone images.
When I do midtones I try and leave the eyes flat..I will still push the contrast a little but leave them somewhat flat.
What that process does is keep the image more photographic looking.
Often times there is very little difference(One or two brush strokes) between a perfect image and an overcooked one.

I created an image called Divus where the eyes were pushed to the limit. I got by with it because the image was not a midtone.
I have said this before.
"It is very easy to add contrast in an image...It is difficult to take that contrast away once it is there(or added).
Keeping tonal balance is very important for "the sell"

Again a very good image....
I hope my write up makes sense and gives you a little to think about.

P.S. The two buttons at the bottom I would probably have removed. It doesn't add much. It draws your eye down.

In many places sales people do work on salary. It just depends on the business model.
Sales can be a pretty tough business profession. The rule of 7 says you may have to meet a customer 7 times before he will do business with you.
This is especially true of high end sales.

It also never changes a photograph. It cracks me up when I see people who knows everything about a camera. They can tell you all the theory. They are gods gift of knowing how and why everything works in producing a great image.
.....and then you look at their images......and then there is Gravity(Reality)...
The proof is in the pudding not the components of the pudding.