1000 words
B & W, early 70s
When I was in junior high, once a year we had a week where we were permitted to bring our cameras to school and take black-and-white pictures for the yearbook. Two of these pictures are from that. I no longer remember the people in them. There is a streetscape from near my house, and the grayness of the season, the dirty snow, the dried salt on the road, the bare trees in relief against the sunless sky return to me that feeling of endless winter that occurs in the North. And there is my younger sister, just a girl in elementary school at the time. I’ll throw out the pictures from school. I’ll keep that of my sister and the street near my house.
Viscerally, I’m Glad We Bombed Syria, BUT…
you do realize that without boots on the ground we are not going to save the innocents caught in the crossfire of warring bad guys? Is there a follow up to this? Do we even have a Syria policy?
Prediction: We will not have an informed and constructive debate about how we use our military. We don’t have informed and constructive debates about anything any more. Look at the morally challenged maroons who now control all branches of government, and the cause is obvious. Lasciate ogni speranza, boys, we’re headed on a bad trip.
Remember, it’s official Urinate on Mitch McConnell Day!
A Picture Worth Reprinting.
Polaroid of the Day
Pinhole again. 7 seconds. My cat, Zoot, under a light. She’s almost all washed out. I did some manipulation with Mac Photos. See below for the cell phone picture. 
Polaroid of the Day
I no longer need or want the new and the shiny.
Pinhole taken with PX 600 Impossible Project Film, Natural light, 10 second exposure, 0.5mm aperture. 
I like fixing things, and if something is still usable, although damaged, I’ll hang on to it if I like it. (That’s kind of how I–and hope that those near to me–feel about myself at this point in my life. All of these items are broken, some partially repaired. The mug on the left was a father’s day gift from my daughter, with a crayon drawing of herself. I dropped it shortly after getting it, but I couldn’t bear to throw it out.
The Bialetti Moka is probably 6 years old. I’ve changed the gasket a couple of times. but there’s no way to replace the handle that I melted off by ignoring the fact that it was over a flame too long. I’ve done this to more than one moka. More than two. In fact, by the time I melted this one off I said the hell with new ones and I just wrap a coffee-stained towel around it to pour it into my mug. That’s just as well, too, because the Bialettis tend to drip down the front.
Next is a mug that states “Will Work for Slivovitz”, with a broken handle, 
and next to that is a mug that says, “It’s a Katy Thing” with the same problem. But they function. 
Next to it, a big mug (I like big mugs because you can use them for oatmeal and soup as well!) with this great logo 
and a broken handle, and in the foregound, an Army Strong mug that has been pieced together with cyanoacrylate (super glue). It still has a handle! None of the repaired mugs has ever come undone due to the heat of the liquid in it. 
Polaroid of the day
One the left, the pinhole camera Polaroid version; on the right, the iPhone photo
One of the things that I find most disconcerting about the Impossible Project Polaroid film is how slow it develops. Instant photography was made for instant gratification. In a digital photo world, 30 minutes is an eternity. You really won’t have any idea how your shot came out for at least that long under normal circumstances. They may have some film that develops faster, but the stuff I’ve been using specifies a half-hour wait-time. I’ve found that by putting the developing picture on a warm lamp that it speeds up the process considerably, but I’m not really sure how it is affecting the quality of the final result. Yesterday’s picture was developed this way, and it’s not bad, in comparison with the other shots I’ve taken. The color is a bit off, but I think that’s due more to the film’s age than the extra heat applied to develop it. The 600 ASA (remember that, filmies?) is a bit grainy when enlarged.
Mac Photos vs iPhoto: Has Anyone Else Noticed That Using Pictures Has Become More Difficult?
I had intended to make my best post ever this evening, but instead I got caught up in that endless annoying loop when you try to solve a computer problem but everything just keeps getting worse.
Is it just me, or has using photos and sharing them between your iPhone and computer become excruciatingly more of a pain in the ass? Is iCloud missing some photos, inexplicably? When you go to post a picture to your blog or a website is it harder to locate? Do you find yourself having to go through more steps to get a picture from one place to another?
How many ways can there be to have a photo album? Is the organization of pictures such a complicated thing that it will be necessary for Apple to constantly tweak a process that was far better than adequate? Do we have to spend time relearning to do the basic stuff, thereby taking time away from learning more powerful uses for computers, or just having more free time to develop products that help the Drumpf supporters treat the wounds they get from their knuckles dragging on the ground (we are nothing, if not compassionate)?
The Meta-Bug 