pingelblog

The Problem is Bigger Than You Imagine

2012-02-15T00:53:00.002-05:00

When the long-term unemployed run out of unemployment benefits, a significant portion of them migrate to "disability" payments. Once addicted to disability payments (whether they are truly disabled or not), most of them leave only when they're eligible for Social Security (to which they haven't contributed since they became "disabled."

Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of these newly "disabled" are diagnosed with "soft" disabilities: back pain, muscle pain, mood disorders (?!), etc.

I am not kidding when I say that people become depressed because they can't find work for 99 weeks - and then they use their depression as a justification for their disability application. Talk about a vicious circle.

This phenomena is actually being encouraged by the Obama administration, because it lowers the unemployment number when people leave the workforce and it increases dependence on the government (and near permanent voter loyalty to Democrats) among the newly "disabled."

For Democrats, it's a win-win. Lower unemployment without actually creating jobs. And more votes for Democrats, by spending money extracted from people who don't vote Democrat in the first place.

Reward your friends, punish your enemies and bankrupt the country all in the same masterstroke.

Heck of a job, Barack!

Capitalism is better for humankind than socialism

2012-02-14T15:56:00.006-05:00

This letter from T.J. Rodgers (CEO of Cypress Semiconductor) is a GREAT response to a shareholder who had written to implore him to adopt a "social justice" model of running his business. For starters, "social justice" is neither 'social' nor is it 'justice.' It's not social, because it is anti-freedom (it substitutes bureaucratic statism in place of individual choice) and it's not justice because it prevents individuals from getting "what they deserve" whether that's good or bad. Social Justice is a "feel-good" term for giving government the power to take freedom away from people. Which is what most normal people call socialism or statism or communism or tyranny - depending on how far you take it. But don't kid yourself, it's all the same thing: surrendering your freedom in exchange for some imagined security.

Rodgers explains to his do-gooder shareholder that so-called "ethical mutual funds" aren't just bad business, they actually create poverty:

The May 13, 1996 issue of Fortune magazine analyzed the "ethical mutual funds"
which invest with a social-issues agenda, and currently control $639 billion in
investments. Those funds produced an 18.2% return in the last 12 months, while
the S&P 500 returned 27.2%. The investors in those funds thus lost 9% of
$639 billion, or $57.5 billion in one year, because they invested on a
social-issues basis. Furthermore, their loss was not simply someone else's gain;
the money literally vanished from our economy, making every American poorer.
That's a lot of houses, food, and college educations that were lost to the
"higher good" of various causes. What absurd logic would contend that Americans
should be harmed by "good ethics?"

And that is the logic of social justice, in a nutshell. Let's all do something that makes government bureaucrats feel good and useful, but that harms the people it is "intended to help," creates poverty, exacerbates dependency on the government, and restricts individual liberty and destroys the individuals' freedom of choice.

Read the whole thing.

The Language of Diversity

2012-02-13T10:29:00.005-05:00

Whether you like it or not, the world we live in is controlled by the language we use to describe it. Language is unlike any other tool humans use, however. Language is not only a tool, it is a set of moral rules as well as a tacit agreement on those moral rules. These moral rules are essential to ensure that reason and logic prevail over force and violence. We all agree on the meanings of words and we agree to use language to reason with one another, without resorting to violence. Our language is moral force that provides a foundation for our shared cultural values: Reason and logic over force and violence. So much so that it is trivial to think of examples where an individual who achieves a result by force of reason is seen to have greater moral authority than someone else who achieves the same result by physical force.

The feature of this arrangement is that physical strength does not always prevail, and when it does, it is limited by, or legitimized only to the extent that the result achieved by physical force is ALSO the result that would have been achieved by moral reason. Over time, and as society has reinforced this social contract, it has also come to mean that those who prevail are assumed to have done so BECAUSE they were logically correct, not merely because they were physically stronger. This is a moral good and carries with it significant cultural weight and cultural authority. A result achieved by physical force alone is not as legitimate as a result achieved by moral (language-based) suasion. See, generally, the American Civil Rights Movement, civil disobedience, the Cold War, etc.

But, in the last century we have also witnessed that those who would resort to physical violence go to great lengths to appear as though the have prevailed by reason without having done so. They have learned the lesson that a victory is only a victory to the extent that it is viewed as having been achieved by means of reason. And so, to accomplish this task, these individuals have resorted to undermining the language. In other words, they know they need the moral authority of prevailing through language. But they can't achieve their ends using the moral code embodied in our language, so they set out to destroy the language, by perverting it. They violate the rules of the language and pervert the moral agreement that underlies the foundation of the society.

That - in essence - is the moral of Orwell's Animal Farm. Even Humpty Dumpty understood the import of language. To control the language is to be the master:

'When I use a word,' Humpty Dumpty said, in rather a
scornful tone, 'it means just what I choose it to mean — neither more nor less.'
'The question is,' said Alice, 'whether you can make words mean so many
different things.'
'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be
master — that's all.'

When you can make a word mean 'so many different things" you not only corrupt the language, you violate and erode the moral foundation implicit in language. That way leads back to the rule of force, to "might makes right" and to the tyranny of the morally repugnant and ignorant.

This is why the games people play with the language of "diversity" are so dangerous.

Don't believe me? Let me illustrate with a seeminlgy mundane example from today's headlines.

First, a chart showing the grade point average and MCAT scores of medical school applicants, correlated against acceptance rate and ethnicity:

This chart means that if you have a GPA between 3.4 and 3.59 (or any category, for that matter) and an MCAT score between 27 and 29, you are 3x more likely to be admitted to medical school if you are black; 2x more likely to be admitted to medical school if you are Hispanic, compared to a Caucasian or Asian student. These are nationwide statistics, but Michigan (relevant to my next point) is exactly in line with these numbers.

Now look at this: In Michigan, according to a democratically passed and Supreme Court-approved law, it is ILLEGAL to discriminate, or grant preferential treatment to, any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity or national origin.

Now, look at this:

This is a picture of the "Admissions Team" for the medical school at the University of Michigan.

These are the people who are completely and totally responsible for granting admission to one of our nation's most prestigious medical schools. You tell me what's going on here. And yet, this is what Michigan calls "diversity." This is not diversity in any connotative or denotative meaning of the word. According to Merriam-Webster, diversity is a variety, particularly connoting inclusion of different races or qualities or opinions:

1: the condition of having or being composed of differing elements : variety; especially : the inclusion of different types of people (as people of different races or cultures) in a group or organization:
2: an instance of being composed of differing elements or qualities : an instance of being diverse
[Emphasis added].

But what you notice in the picture of this group is the specific exclusion of a certain race and gender (white male) and what you notice by the results of this group's admission decisions is the specific exclusion of a particular opinion (that it is illegal (and immoral) to discriminate against any individual on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity or national origin).

Can you IMAGINE what kind of Hell would break loose if these statistics ran the other way? Imagine, if a group of white male school administrators revealed a racially exclusionary pattern of denying Blacks and Hispanics entrance to school. Oh yeah, we don't have to imagine that, do we? Because it happened. And it was a moral outrage that was opposed by all morally upstanding people. And we ended it.

Now. You can argue ALL DAY and ALL YEAR and maybe ALL DECADE about whether this kind of invidious discrimination is warranted. And I could even - maybe - understand if reasonable people disagree on the subject. But the one thing you cannot argue is that this is something other than invidious discrimination. It is discrimination beyond a shadow of a doubt.

And to my earlier point, the reason this matters is that the people who want this racially discriminatory policy to be acceptable cannot win the argument by using the unmolested language. And yet, they want the moral imprimatur of having won the argument by force of reason and logic. So, they pervert the language. Diversity, to them, is perverted from "non-discriminatory inclusion and variety" to "racially discriminatory and uniform."

Wait a Minute...

2012-02-13T08:28:00.002-05:00

This can't be true. Because, this doesn't sound anything like what I hear when I listen to the media or college professors or the Occupy movement.

Why...it's almost as if the media is ignoring the big picture and cherry-picking facts to fit the narrative they want to advance...

That doesn't seem very "diverse" of them. That's not very "tolerant" of them. The media would never lie....

Would they?

Seriously, let me put the "myths" (and the debunking of the same) in common sense language:

Myth 1. Working-class whites are more religious than upper-class whites.

Religion encourages moral behavior and people who engage in moral behavior tend to be religious. DUH. Even removing "religion" from the equation, 'morality' is nothing more than a set of learned behaviors designed to promote the successful transmission of one's genetic information. Why then, is it surprising then that subset of people who are successful correlates with people who believe in and follow a moral code?

Myth 2. Elite colleges are bastions of white upper-middle-class privilege.

Entrance into college is predicated on hard work and discipline, not family connections. DUH. Hard work and discipline is a long-standing hallmark of the middle and upper middle class. Because it works. And? Your question is? If this "myth" were true, then ask yourself, why does Affirmative Action most dramatically negatively impact first-generation Asian kids applying to college?

Is that an inconvenient-enough truth for you?

Myth 3. Marriage is breaking down throughout white America.

Marriage works. Again, DUH. Despite all the media and cultural propaganda baked into our entertainment culture, humans want to be married and marriage works. It especially works among people who, a) recognize and follow a moral code, and b) work hard at self-discipline and delayed gratification.

Myth 4. White working-class men have a strong work ethic:

This one is slightly less obvious, but nonetheless, it shouldn't be a surprise. Since at least the 1930s, for better or worse, the government has made it easier to not work. It has steadily undermined the motivation for a work ethic and the result is obvious: some people (a non-trivial subset of the population) respond to stimuli the rewards sloth and avarice.

Myth 5. White Americans are yesterday's news.

I'm not even going to touch it. Look around your world. Look around the REST of the world.

The Difference Between Climate Science and Climate Religion

2012-02-06T22:54:00.002-05:00

And now, the unexpected...

2012-02-05T23:23:00.002-05:00

In which I post a video from the radical, left wing political advocacy group "MoveOn.org" and then I tell you I agree with it. In fact, if MoveOn.org had even one shred of honesty, they'd run this ad today one thousand times over. Because if you think Bush's deficits were bad, then you've got to be besides yourself with outrage at how much WORSE Obama's deficits are. Here's the video. Watch it all the way to the end.

Priceless. A better exemplar of radical left wing hypocrisy? I can't imagine what it could be.

Velvia in Oregon

2012-02-03T09:55:00.006-05:00

I finally sent the film I shot in Oregon (in March) off to be developed and scanned.

Wow, do I love Velvia 50 at dawn and dusk. I still haven't quite figured it out during full daylight, but in soft light it is really great.

Neither of these shots has any digital trickery. I was using a 1990 Nikon N90s, with a Nikon 50mm 1.4, shooting Velvia 50. I had a neutral density graduated and polarized filter on it, but no color filters. This is what the film saw.

Here's one shot in harsher light that highlights how much trouble I have with this film in less than ideal light. Please excuse the composure, I didn't want to take the time to crop and straighten a shot I'm not going to do anything with.

In Terms Anyone Can Understand

2012-01-15T21:09:00.002-05:00

Me?

I'm just glad I voted for the guy who PROMISED he would enact policies that would ~~double our deficit in 3 years~~ enforce a net cut in spending in order to finally reduce our deficit. Because, that worked out so well.

Not.

Shorter Occupy

2012-01-15T09:58:00.003-05:00

Shorter Occupy Movement:

They would rather the poor were poorer, provided the rich were less rich.

Unprecedented wealth and economic mobility throughout the 80s; the poor in Britain and the United States enjoyed - in comparison with the rest of the developed world - access to unparalleled services AND opportunity for success, and the only thing the envy-mongering left can muster is mewling about the income gap. By EVERY meaningful measure the poor were vastly better off under Thatcherism than anything her opponents had to offer. Longer life span, better cheaper food, better medical care, better cheaper cars and transportation, safer work, cleaner environment, lower energy costs, and on and on.

In 1990 in Britain not one single citizen would rather have gone back to economic conditions in 1979 and yet that's what Thatcher's opponents sought.

That is the inevitable result of the left's vision for the world: Shared misery in the name of radical egalitarianism, with an exception made for the "elite" who must acquire such power as to enforce equal misery. And with that power, they exempt themselves from the inevitable consequences of their miserable policies. No wonder they love socialism. They get all the power AND all the perquisites. And the rest of us get the misery.

All must be equal, except for the politicians who shall be more equal.

No self-respecting, freedom-loving populace should tolerate the assault on their human dignity and liberty.

The lady doth protest too much, methinks.

2012-01-13T10:04:00.004-05:00

Have you heard the news that some Marines videotaped themselves urinating on the corpses of dead Taliban?

Some people think it's "simply inhuman."

Daniel Pearl was unavailable for comment.

Social Justice is Injustice

2012-01-10T21:46:00.002-05:00

Here's a video clip of Dennis Prager explaining a modern truism: Any time you put an adjective in front of a noun, you alter the noun. Any time you put an adjective in front of a noun where the noun expresses some moral viewpoint, you necessarily alter that viewpoint.

Yes, I realize the subject matter is controversial, but the fact that adjectives modify nouns is not. It's a grammatical fact. Now, we can debate all day about whether "social justice" is a valid concept or a worthwhile concept, but you cannot argue that "social justice" is a different concept than plain, unmodified-by-adjectives 'justice.'

"Tax The Rich!"...but don't ask the rich to pay more

2011-12-27T11:34:00.003-05:00

"Tax the Rich" is the message of the President and of the hypocrites in this video. "Tax the Rich!" say those who have already accumulated a lot of wealth as they lobby Congress to raise taxes on people who earn a lot of money (but who are not yet independently wealthy):

But, whatever you do, DO NOT ASK "THEIR KIND" OF RICH PEOPLE TO ACTUALLY PAY MORE MONEY.

Because that would be "unfair." According to them.

The trick to the "tax the rich" slogan is that there are different kinds of "rich" in the world. And there are different kinds of taxes (and tax rates) that apply to different kinds of rich.

When most people think about "rich" they think about annual income: How much money some company pays you every year. Sure, someone making a lot of money in 1 year could have an income that MIGHT place them in the "rich" category. But, what about the person who opens a small business and struggles for 5 or 10 years making no money at all. And then after all of their hard work (and borrowed money) the small business starts turning a profit and starts being able to repay loans or reinvest to hire more people. This applies to a vast number of small businesses in the US. I sincerely doubt that the local pediatrician who has spent the last 10 years building a medical practice from the ground up is suddenly "rich" because he is making $500,000 this year even though he made less than $50,000 each of the last 10 years. He is not somehow suddenly "rich." He most likely has two mortgages on his house, huge medical school loans, a small business loan, medical equipment loans, capital improvement loans and considerable monthly payroll for 5 or 10 employees. That's not rich. That's the middle-class American dream. I guarantee you these people are NOT out advocating for higher taxes. Nor are they advocating for lower taxes just so they can buy another new yacht this year. They are trying to find a way to afford college for their kids and fund their retirement, plain and simple.

Another kind of rich is the Al Gore rich. This kind of rich comes from money that is inherited and/or owned through corporations and other self-supporting tax-sheltered corporations. This kind of money actually grows all by itself. Income from this kind of money is taxed at a MUCH lower rate than "annual salary." Most, if not all, of this kind of "rich" is free from income tax. Further complicating the matter is the fact that LOTS of older retired people live off this kind of growing money. So, a retiree who saved his entire life and is now living off capital gains is NOT rich. They have no other income. And raising taxes on capital gains hurts them tremendously. While, at the same time, Al Gore and other wealthy people like him take advantage of these capital gains rates to avoid higher income taxes on salary.

You might be SHOCKED if you looked at the tax returns from these Al Gore kind of "rich" people. If Al Gore is any indication, he paid almost no income tax last year. Yet he's "worth" an estimated 100+ million dollars and he owns several enormous houses and is a board member of Apple (one of the richest corporations in the world.) Not only that, but Al Gore gave almost no (as in ZERO) of his personal fortune to charity last year. Whereas the "evil" Dick Cheney gave away over 10% of his income. So did Don Rumsfeld. Look it up.

As usual the problem with simplistic slogans like "Tax the rich" is that no one is bothering to ask, "If all these rich people want to 'tax the rich' why won't they step up and pay more when they have the chance?" The answer is because the "rich" don't want to pay higher taxes. It's a misdirection. A slight of hand. A trick. A lie. They want you to think the rich are paying higher taxes, but what they really want is for you to protect them from competition from the not-yet-wealthy.

You see, wealth and income in America are very, very dynamic. And these people know that. They also know that making a lot of money one year is no guarantee of making a lot of money next year, nor is it any guarantee of keeping a lot of money. It's also a lot of hard work, earning and keeping a lot of money. These people have grown acustomed to having a lot of money and they don't like the idea of losing it. So as an additional strategy to working hard, they are seeking to insulate themselves from competition by making it harder for up-and-coming hard workers to becomee rich like them. What better way to prevent other people from becoming wealthy than by using the power of government to take income away from people before they become wealthy. If these rich "tax the rich" types were REALLY serious about taxing the rich they would instead be using the power of government to tax people who have already accumulated a lot of money. Like them. The fact that they won't do that tells you everything you need to know about these people.

Greedy cheaters, liars, and hypocrites. All of them.

Did He Really Say That?

2011-11-17T23:20:00.002-05:00

Q: "Would you share your iPad. . . ? "

A: "No . . . This is a personal possession. I’m against private property. This is personal property.”

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

No matter how hard I tried, I don't think I could come up with a better takedown of the narcissism, the condescension, and the sheer idiocy of this menagerie of mountebanks.

Orwell on Despotism and Moral Suasion

2011-11-07T11:07:00.002-05:00

"Despotic governments can stand ‘moral force’ till the cows come home; what they fear is physical force."

George Orwell

The Rockford Files explains the "Occupy" movement

2011-11-03T20:50:00.001-04:00

Go Figure...

2011-10-31T09:35:00.003-04:00

I hope this is a prank. If it is not, this is really pathetic.

A Blog Beg.....I need some technical advice...

2011-08-22T22:40:00.012-04:00

Not computer stuff, but a question about how to test an electrical circuit in a car.

I drive a 1990 MB 300SE that has never really had strong AC. Then earlier this summer the AC stopped blowing altogether, except that I noticed I could feel cold air when driving faster than 40mph. I figured the blower motor had expired after 20 years of near continuous use.

So. I set out to repair the motor myself. There are 4 potential items that would cause the symptoms I noticed.

1. The blower motor is dead. It is basically an electrical motor hooked to a fan, so if the motor is blown it should be a plug-and-play replacement.

2. It could be the regulator (the fan speed controller). The regulator functions by diverting some (or none) of the electrical current from the battery to a heat sink. At low speed, the fan gets about 6v of electricity, with six volts being transmitted to the heat sink. At high speed, the fan gets 12v and the heat sink gets none. The heat sink is actually a funky-looking deal that the guys on the MB World forum call "the porcupine." This is the regulator, with the three prong side connected to the dash (between my thumb and pointer finger), the two prong side connected to the blower (back of my hand) and the larger connector (near my middle finger) would be connected to the heat sink. I removed the porcupine for ease of handling.

This is the picture of where the regulator is hooked to the car body and where it hits the connection that goes to the dash selector.

I need to know how to test the female receptacle in this picture and whether I'm doing it right...

3. It could be a the dash selector, although I think i this is the case, it is a subset of 4.

4. It could be faulty wiring. I eliminated a fuse as the problem. The AC fuse on this car is NOT in the fuse box, but I found it and it's still intact.

UPDATE - After closer inspection, I rechecked my work and after breaking out a magnifying glass, I found a hairline fracture on the 30 AMP strip fuse! BINGO!!! I will have a new strip fuse installed tomorrow and that should solve the entire problem...WOOHOO.

The toughest part of this was the variable symptoms:

It started with weak fan strength me think it was a problem with the blower motor.
Then right before it died completely, the fan worked PERFECTLY for almost 30 minutes during my commute one day....which caused me to consider delving into this adventure in the first place.
Then once the fan died completely, and I removed it and tested it, it was logical to work back up the wiring diagram (to the regulator and the dashboard selector)...when I should have been more thorough with the fuse check in the first place. Ah, well, live and learn.
On top of that, the "check the simple things first" is a lesson I should have learned from my DIY mentor, my father in law...who solved a more complex diagnosis problem with his '00 S430 in much the same way...try all the hard stuff first and then back up to the simple stuff (which, naturally, solved the problem).

END UPDATE.

So, as I set out to eliminate these problems, I removed the blower motor and disconnected it from the regulator. When I hooked it up to the battery with some small alligator clips, it spun quietly and produced a strong quantity of air. It's not the blower motor. That eliminates 1.

On to 2 and the reason for my blog beg (bleg). How do I test the regulator? Or more accurately, how do I test whether I can eliminate the regulator as the problem? Initially, I left the regulator in place hooked and hooked up a multimeter to the blue and red ends that connect directly to the fan. Then I turned the car on, turned the AC on and started selecting different fan speeds looking for varying voltages. Nothing. No matter what I did, there was no voltage.

But, to make sure this wasn't a false negative, I ran the wiring back to where the regulator connects to the dash selector. Actually, I discovered a plug-and-play socket that made testing easy (or so I thought). And here's my bleg: How do I test the female side of the connector in the second picture. The "male" receptacle is connected to the regulator and is not powered in this picture. BUT, the female receptacle is supposed to be powered. It is still connected to the dash selector and (theoretically) the battery. So, I put the multimeter prongs in the 3 female sockets and repeated the AC fan speed drill. NOTHING. No voltage. No matter what I did.

So, I'm stuck. I've eliminated the fan, but I can't eliminate the regulator, nor can I eliminate the dash selector. My question is, how do I know I've tested the female receptacle properly? I can't tell why there are three live sockets? Is one a ground? Which one is it? If one is a ground, why is there no ground hooked to the blower motor?

heh....

2011-08-03T19:04:00.006-04:00

I just had the greatest three-day weekend in a LONG, LONG time.

Knocked out an absolutely great hearing/mediation. Hooked up with family I hadn't seen in two years. Reconnected with the lawyer who gave me my first break in the legal world and his delightful family. Thanks Mark and Jeannette! Ate lunch and made up for lost time with a law school classmate. And spent two days tripping around one of the most beautiful (if most dysfunctional) cities in the world. AND. I found the mysterious "lost staircase"...which, to me...is one of the coolest hidden gems of the City by the Bay.
Here are a few shots I took along the way.

Geli - this is the mysterious staircase I tried to get you guys to find when you were out in SF...but, it's *really* well hidden...and unless you know it's there, it's very easy to miss. I'll leave it at that.

Finally!

2011-07-10T23:47:00.003-04:00

I'm finally starting to feel a bit better and I don't look like a OGWGFIWASTWAY. Here I am starting my second lap at the Camp Hilbert Mountain BIke Race #2 outside Richmond, VA this Sunday. I *think* I finished in the top 15 in the Sport Men 20+. Results aren't out yet, but I'll post 'em when I get 'em.

Give me a couple more months and I may actually start to look like I've ridden a bike before.

Oregon Silo

2011-06-02T22:49:00.001-04:00

Stars!

2011-05-27T16:11:00.003-04:00

2011-05-17T08:16:00.001-04:00

Cannon Beach, OR

2011-05-15T11:42:00.001-04:00

Two Views of Kabul

2011-04-20T08:19:00.006-04:00

This is Kabul from my seat on the plane on the way back to Dubai. Kabul itself is hiding behind the brown cloud in the middle of the picture.

This guy perfectly represents what I saw in Kabul: Traditional Afghanistan in his clothing, vegetable cart, beard, and new Afghanistan in the surfer shades.

Nothing better represents the difference between the old and the new than the way this butcher shop handles its fresh meat.

What Does This Mean?

2011-04-14T18:22:00.002-04:00

“There are any number of courses that deal with some group aspect of America, but virtually none that deals with America as a whole. For example, there is African-American history from 1619 to 1865 and from 1865 to the present, but there is no comparable sequence on America. Every course is social or cultural history that looks at the world through the prism of race, class, and gender. Even a course on the environment (offered in the history department) “examines the links between ecology and race, class, and gender.” Do Bowdoin alumni know their alma mater offers not one history course in American political, military, diplomatic, constitutional, or intellectual history, and nothing at all on the American Founding or the Constitution; that the one Civil War course is essentially African-American history (it is offered also in Africana Studies); and that there are more courses on gay and lesbian subjects than on American history? Is it possible this is one reason why some conservatives are disinclined to send their children to Bowdoin? Mr. (Barry) Mills (president of Bowdoin) did not inquire."

--- Thomas D. Klingenstein,

Excerpt from “A Golf Story,” Claremont Review of Books,

http://www.mindingthecampus.com/forum/2011/04/us_history_as_taught_at_bowdoi.html

I'm not sure what to make of this. As a law school grad and practicing lawyer, I can tell you I got no civics in high school. I got no civics in college (University of Oregon, Psychology, 1993). And I got almost no formal civic history in law school (Santa Clara, 1997). No one in my law school was required to even read the Federalist Papers. My education in civics is almost entirely self-taught. Supreme Court decisions and dissenting opinions. Federalist Papers, de Tocqueville, biographies of Jefferson, Hamilton, and Madison, and curiously, an intense, almost manic interest in the history of Russia (and the Soviet Union) from 1860 to 1930.

But, what do you make of an exclusive university offering this kind of curriculum? Good thing? Bad thing? Indifferent? What kind of citizen is this institution molding? Can this kind of education produce responsible citizens?

Black and White On The Coast

2011-04-05T12:36:00.002-04:00

This is a Randall shot, taken with a Canon 5D Mark II with a Canon 300mm f/2.8. I cropped it a bit and made it B&W with Aperture, but the artistry is all his. Nice.

Piece of Cake Road Race 2011 (Amity, OR)

2011-04-02T13:05:00.002-04:00

Mens Agitat Molem

2011-03-29T22:54:00.002-04:00

This was Sunday's sunset at the Oregon coast.

This particular shot was on the digital, with no filters or any other through-the-lens trickery. I did monkey around with the in-camera color settings (a bit) and did a little light processing with Aperture, but nothing obscene.

Wait until my film comes back and we'll see how it compares!

Apple's Aperture 3

2011-03-06T16:31:00.004-05:00

I've started using Apple's Aperture 3 as my primary photo management tool and I've been having some rather considerable trouble making my workflow work with Aperture's unique workflow. The program itself is easy - simple, actually - to navigate around in. The controls are nice, well laid-out and don't require advanced skills to make them work. And, because Aperture's editing never touches the actual digital file itself (all of the editing is non-destructive) it has encouraged me to experiment. All of which is great. Except, not unlike iTunes, Apple has a very Apple-centric way to manage your Aperture photo database.

The first thing I had to realize is that Aperture is the equivalent of a photographic darkroom. You bring your "negatives" into the darkroom, you select the good ones, you "develop" them and then you display (or "export," in Aperture terms) the ones you want to display. Aperture is NOT the primary place you view all of your photos. Instead, it is your photographic workspace. Now that I've figured out that difference (and adapted my workflow), I'll describe how I use Aperture.

Let me warn anyone reading - up front - that what I'm doing takes a TON of disk space. In fact, I'm using two separate hard drive set ups. One for the Aperture library and the second for the "exported" final products. The first drive is a 2TB LaCie drive connected directly to the iMac. This is where I store the Aperture master library and is the primary repository for every single photograph I take in any given day/month/year - and I mean everything. The second drive is actually not a drive, but an HP Home Server, with 8TB of redundant storage. Keep in mind, that I have somewhere between 150 and 200 THOUSAND pictures, all of which are automatically duplicated on at least two different physical drives within the server.

Anyways. When I go shooting for a day, I come home and slide the CF card into the slot and Aperture opens and I "Import" everything on the card. These shots then reside in the Aperture main Library (the LaCie 2TB drive). From there, I weed out the obviously "bad" shots: duplicates, out-of-focus, wrong subject, accidental exposures...whatever. With the remaining shots, I will use Aperture's Highlight tool and the Shadow tool to perform a blunt correction tool to the remaining shots. Then, I look at everything in "Full Screen" mode and determine which shots need further work. Once that is complete, I will "Export" the finished product from the Aperture main library to the main photo library sitting over on the Home Server.

I'm still working through the quirks of the Aperture system, but this little initial piece took me about a month to bring to a conclusion, so I thought I'd share it.

UPDATE: NIX ALL THAT. I've now solved the Aperture import issues, in a MUCH friendlier way. More later....

Phenomenal

2011-02-01T13:27:00.004-05:00

If you read one thing about "sports" this year, or even this decade, read this. It is a complete transcript of a 7-hour interview that Floyd Landis gave to Paul Kimmage about his life and the ordeal of his Tour de France victory in 2006. I have never read anything like it from any public figure, ever.

Landis is matter-of-fact, flawed, honest, and full of details. Details, details, details and more details. The system in place around "cycling" that Landis describes is spot-on-perfect. Full of scumbag characters, pay-offs, grudges, petty bureaucratic wrangling. A system, where no one is honest and there is no shred of beauty or grace. Kafka would be so proud.

If you ever had any doubts about how dirty cycling is, about how dirty, dishonest, petty, and loathsome the bureaucrats who run cycling in Europe are, read this.

The bottom line: Landis was very talented, and very naive when he went to Europe. He unwittingly irritated the wrong people at the UCI very early in his career and those very powerful people were afraid of him, because they got an inkling that they wouldn't be able to control him. And they kept the grudge until they could ruin him. There's nothing a stuck-up Euro-bureaucrat dislikes more than an American he can't blackmail. Bravo, Floyd!

Check This Out

2011-01-04T22:53:00.008-05:00

Back in November I got lucky with this handheld digital shot at Great Falls. Trying to see what I could do with film, I returned to the same spot the very next day with a tripod and the N90s loaded with Velvia. Film is very challenging for me. Velvia, in particular, delivers great colors, but is just plain hard to get "perfect." Anyways, here's what happens when I get Velvia as perfect as I can make it. This is why I love film. Check out the difference between film and digital, in these pretty good (and very similar) shots. The first three are film, the last one is digital. Keep in mind, this is nearly identical light, with the same polarizing filter - look at the color differences:

Nikon N90s, Nikon 50mm f1.4; "S" mode, at 1/2 second; Hoya Polarizer, Velvia 50.

Nikon N90s, Nikon 50mm f1.4; "S" mode, at 1/2 second; Hoya Polarizer, Velvia 50.

Nikon N90s, Nikon 50mm f1.4; "S" mode, at 1/2 second; Hoya Polarizer, Velvia 50.

Nikon D200; 27mm f18; 1/5 second; ISO 400; WB shade; Hoya Circular Polarizer.

Hello Coffee...

2010-12-20T22:10:00.002-05:00

"Hello coffee. Meet Mr. Coffee-Bong"

Both of you: Prepare...to pleasure me.

O.K., O.K., I should back up a bit, before you all think I'm too strange. It may be too late for that, but, oh well. It is what it is. My Christmas gift to myself arrived today.

A few years ago - and I don't remember the exact order of events - but a few years ago -Mr. Randall and I exchanged mischevious little gifts. He sent me the best coffee on earth, Kenya AA from zbeanz in Portland, Oregon and I sent him an Aeropress, espresso maker, affectionately-named the "coffee bong." If you have never tried the "Aeropress" to make your coffee, you are missing the whole point of coffee. I mean, once you've tried it, you will never want to make coffee any other way. Period.

So, because zbeanz Kenya AA is so delicious, I can never repay Randall for sending it to me. And likewise, because the product the "bong" produces is so utterly addictive, Randall still blurts out an involuntary curse under his breath whenever he hears its name...

All kidding aside, this is damn fine coffee in a damn fine preparation. The combination of the best beans on earth, roasted to prefection, with the best (and simplest) coffee "machine" on earth is an absolutely wonderful treat. Enjoy!

In Praise of Reading and Fiction

2010-12-08T22:26:00.003-05:00

"Let those who doubt that literature not only submerges us in the dream of beauty and happiness but alerts us to every kind of oppression, ask themselves why all regimes determined to control the behavior of citizens from cradle to grave fear it so much they establish systems of censorship to repress it and keep so wary an eye on independent writers. They do this because they know the risk of allowing the imagination to wander free in books, know how seditious fictions become when the reader compares the freedom that makes them possible and is exercised in them with the obscurantism and fear lying in wait in the real world. Whether they want it or not, know it or not, when they invent stories the writers of tales propagate dissatisfaction, demonstrating that the world is badly made and the life of fantasy richer than the life of our daily routine. This fact, if it takes root in their sensibility and consciousness, makes citizens more difficult to manipulate, less willing to accept the lies of the interrogators and jailers who would like to make them believe that behind bars they lead more secure and better lives."

Mario Vargas Llosa
The Nobel Prize in Literature 2010

Wow.

Finesse

2010-11-18T22:16:00.002-05:00

Geometry

2010-11-18T21:34:00.002-05:00

Heat

2010-11-18T21:23:00.001-05:00

Reason

2010-11-18T21:21:00.002-05:00

Great Falls Blur

2010-11-10T21:09:00.004-05:00

Nikon D200; 27mm f18; 1/5 second; ISO 400; WB shade; Hoya Circular Polarizer.

Hand held and straight out of the camera. Taken 30 minutes before sunset, in deepening shadows and perfect light.

Macros with a point and shoot

2010-11-06T00:20:00.003-04:00

I've ben using this new Canon S95 a lot over the last few days and it is fantastic. It's a little more complex than a standard point-and-shoot, but it's got an "auto" function so it's easy for newbies. The really cool part is that you can control the aperture and the shutterspeed with two very ergonomical (and programmable) dials - and you get to see the results of your tweaking in real time on the rear monitor. Talk about a quick and dirty education in photo basics. This was manually focused at about 2 inches in front of the lens.

Canon S95 ISO 80, at 1/100 sec F2 (very cold White Balance).

Canon S95 ISO 80, at 1/100 sec F2 (auto White Balance).

Happy Halloween

2010-10-31T21:19:00.002-04:00

The Stream

2010-10-31T15:36:00.005-04:00

Fall Commute

2010-10-27T15:06:00.005-04:00

This is my commute to work in the Fall. These were all taken from the driver's seat as I drove to work this morning. I pulled over, of course. But you get the idea of the colors. Imagine if I actually got up early and tried to catch this in half-decent light...or if I took the time to get out of the car to explore a little to compose a shot.

2010-10-22T15:09:00.000-04:00

Douthat State Park

2010-10-19T18:19:00.008-04:00

Here's a cool Garmin embed of the main ride at Douthat State Park near Clifton Forge, VA. Click on the "Terrain" tab for a topographic map of the ride.

4,500 feet of climbing in 16 miles is no slouch of a ride, either.

Here are some pictures I snapped along the route. First, a great view from a spur trail right near the top of the first climb. This is the view from the Tuscarora Overlook.

The first climb wasn't bad at all. I was a little tight from sitting in the car and not getting any sort of warm up, but the entire climb was rideable. Nice singletrack and the lower slopes were graced with rhododendron bushes that would be amazing in Spring.

This next shot was at the false summit of the third climb, which was a nasty little surprise of an incline. At this point in the ride, Flickinger and I had been on the trail a little under 4 hours (about 2.5 of that riding). We had just climbed and descended off the nasty second climb. The second climb was absolutely brutal. Granny gear from the bottom, an overall gradient at 12.5%with pitches at 25% on very, very narrow singletrack. At the very top, there was a 200 yard section that neither of us could ride. Tough terrain. So, after that climb and an all-too-short descent, the third climb was a little rough on morale. Makeable, but rough.

The descent off the third climb made the entire ride worth the effort, however. Beautiful smooth singletrack, navigable switchbacks, not too much exposure and great, swoopy, banked turns down ridgelines. And a sketchy suspension bridge at the bottom to cap it all off.

Update: I googled around and found a good video of the Douthat trails. The music is a bit suspect, but if you turn the sound down, it's fine.

Douthat State Park from Sir Bikes on Vimeo.

Kodak Portra 160VC for Landscapes

2010-09-25T11:11:00.004-04:00

A while ago I experimented with a Kodak film called "Portra 160NC" and I loved it for landscape shots. As I understand it, the NC stands for "neutral color." It is also fantastic for portrait shots in natural light. I liked it so much I decided to try Kodak's Portra 160VC - the VC stands for "vivid color." Well, I discovered that I am not a talented enough photographer to make that film do what it's supposed to do. My portrait shots looked terrible...so thought I'd try it outdoors to see what it would do. I thought it might turn out like a slightly less vivid version of Fuji's Velvia 50 which I love, even if I struggle with it a bit. Portra 160VC is very, very different outdoors - muted to the point that I wonder where the "vivid" went. Here are some examples. As I was standing on the beach looking at the sky, the colors were beautiful, subtle pinks, and lavenders in the sky. In these shots, all the color is gone. I'm either doing something wrong (likely) or the result I'm after isn't possible with this film.

Falling Water on Film

2010-09-25T10:06:00.005-04:00

Black and White

2010-09-25T09:57:00.004-04:00

Relax

2010-09-03T11:05:00.005-04:00

I've been playing around with filters, and film, and low light here at the beach. This one, however, I took on the digital at ISO 100, f1.4, without a tripod. When I took this, the film camera was sitting on the tripod right net to the digital. My thought was that it should give a reasonable idea of what the film will look like. Hopefully, without the blur.

There was a cool transition from blue to orange in the sky when I started shooting this. I hope that turns out on the film I shot.

0.6 Neutral Density Grad filter

2010-08-18T15:26:00.004-04:00

Check out these two shots and notice the difference in exposure of the trees and the foreground, especially the grass. The notice the difference in the details in the clouds. The clouds look better defined and more like "real life" than in the second shot.

Both pictures were taken on "M" for manual on a D200 with Nikon's 18-200 DX lens at 18mm. 1/200 second at ISO 100, F7.1.

On this first shot, I used the filter:

On this second shot, everything is the same, 1/200 second at ISO 100, F7.1, but with no filter.

While the sky is really very similar (only slightly over-exposed correctly for retaining details of clouds), the foreground is horrible.

I can't wait to start shooting this filter with some nice film!

Metal Sunrise

2010-06-05T14:19:00.003-04:00

2010-05-17T23:24:00.001-04:00

Chicago!

2010-05-08T23:29:00.008-04:00

Chicago is a great city. I was only there for a half-day, but the city was brimming with energy and everyone I met was friendly.

The Sears Tower (now renamed the "Willis Tower" from the bottom looking up.

And from the top looking down.

Standing in the plexiglass enclosure on the 103rd floor was really cool!

Home of one of the world's great symphony orchestras.

And a famous fountain with an even more famous skyline.

And, lastly Wrigley.

Film from this Winter

2010-04-01T16:04:00.005-04:00

I finally sent in a package of film for developing and scanning.

These were shot as slides, but the scans do an OK job with colors. Actually, it's not the colors that are off, the computer screen makes these shots darker than they are through a projector.

Vierundzwanzig Stunden in Köln

2010-03-16T14:55:00.011-04:00

Arriving in Köln by train from Frankfurt was amazing. Before you can even exit the Köln Hofbanhof you can see the Kölnerdom, the enormous gothic cathedral across the square.

The Kölnerdom itself is enough for a separate post, so for now I'll just say it's bigger than I could have ever imagined. It's dark, imposing, intricate, and beautiful.

But, the purpose of my visit wasn't to admire the architecture! It was to meet a dear friend in her city, to trip around her world, and to catch up with the one and only Angelika!

After finding my hotel and walking around for a bit on my own, I met Geli about two hours after I arrived. My hotel was one address up the street from her apartment (thanks for the tip, Geli!). Geli then took over and showed me all over her delightful city:

down to the Rhine and the Schokoladenmuseum Köln;

across the Rhine on the bridge that is famously covered in "Love Locks" - padlock mementos left by couples;

all over the downtown shopping area and into the biggest - and coolest - outdoor store I've ever seen (they've got a dive well, a rain storm generator and an arctic room with a wind tunnel and a thermal imaging camera, all for testing out their gear in the store before you buy!!) There are people testing out kayaks in the photo.

For dinner, we ate schnitzel and zweibelringen at a brauhaus (we mistakenly thought "onion rings" would be American-style fried onion rings - heh, joke's on us they were fresh raw onions!) and drank Kölsch (regional beer); wandered around in a snowstorm and planned the next morning's adventure.

The next morning it was off to breakfast for meuslix, cappucinos and PB&J on bagels at Cafe Cafe and then over to the belfry tour at the Kölnerdom where the view of the city and the inside of the cathedral is stunning.

Notice that there was snow at the top of the cathedral, but none on the ground.

The belfry itself was beautiful.

This is looking down the cathedral dome from above the bells. When you're up here, you're really high off the ground. To give you an idea, the windows are roughly 75 feet tall!

One more tourist picture before walking back down all those stairs!

Sadly, all too quickly I had to jump back on the train to Frankfurt to catch my flight home. Right before I left I snapped this last picture! The Pingel family misses you, Geli! Can't wait for this summer!

One last cool little item. On the ride to Frankfurt it snowed, making the countryside picture-perfect beautiful outside the train window.

Wiesbaden, Germany

2010-03-04T15:45:00.007-05:00

Wiesbaden is beautiful. Clear skies, crisp, cool air, small streets and great food. The drive from the airport was completely uneventful, except that the in-car nav system avoided the autobahn entirely. It took us through every small village and hamlet possible between Frankfurt and Wiesbaden. Not sure why, but it was educational.

It seems everyone here drives some kind of wagon. Audi, BMW, Benz, Fiat, Alfa, Opel, Jaguar, Ford, Chrysler, you name it, it's a wagon. Over half the cars are some kind of cool-looking wagon.

Marktkirche, Marktplatz, Wiesbaden

Bonifatiuskirche, Lisenstrasse, Wiesbaden.

Wilhelmstrasse, Wiesbaden. Cool trees and a cobbled sidewalk.

Futterneid? Nein. Rheingaupfanne (Schweinnefiletmedaillon), de Pinte, Dorint Hotel, Auguste-Viktoria Strasse, Wiesbaden. All three of us ate something traditionally German and everything was great. Rheingaupfanne is pork medallions with bacon and a sunny-side up egg, potatoes and a delicious onion-wine reduction sauce. Yum.

Tomorrow it's the train from Wiesbaden to Frankfurt to Koln. I expect to be in Koln around 3, for dinner with Angelika. Can't wait.

This Is Getting Ridiculous

2010-02-07T23:32:00.003-05:00

This is 22 inches of snow on our back deck. That's right, 22 inches.

And, this is the second time this Fall/Winter we've had 20+ inches.

Oh, and we're supposed to get another 6+ inches on Tuesday afternoon and night.

Locals in our neighborhood keep telling stories about how it's not unusual for the worst snowstorms to hit our area well into late February or early March. Good Grief.

Snotcycle 2010

2010-01-30T22:22:00.003-05:00

Photos are up from Snotcycle 2010. Great weather for a mid-winter mountain bike event! Temps in the 20's and blowing, dry snow on a fun course. Click over Pingelphoto and, once there click on "Go to the Galleries" and look for Snotcycle 2010 for the link to subgalleries.

I Wonder

2010-01-10T22:31:00.003-05:00

This is regular-old Fuji film. I've been trying out all different kinds of film and having a great time with my Dad's old N90s and a Nikon 50mm 1.4 AF-D lens.

A couple of things I wonder about: Why does a film SLR (with era-appropriate lens and flash) look better than what I would have gotten with a similar digital set-up? I mean, this isn't my 20th shot to get the one I like. I took one shot of this dog and (technically, anyways) it's perfect. And it was some cheap Fuji film I found in a drawer at my Dad's. It's probably 10+ years old and it still produces nice results.

I wonder why people don't make a bigger deal out of fast lenses, whether prime or zoom? This 1.4 lens is cheap and superb. It makes great colors (here on film) and works just as well on digital. Sure, with digital you can take pictures at ISO 1200 or 2400 with a slower lens, but with such a fast lens, I can shoot at ISO 100 or 200 much longer and the colors it captures are so much more alive.

I wonder what this dog is thinking? He doesn't seem too thrilled with me.

Still More Film

2009-12-23T11:30:00.008-05:00

Antiques - rural Virginia.

This time, a roll of Kodak 400TX. This is not what I expected from this film, but I think I could work with it, now that I know what it does. It's very grainy - which could be very cool - and prone to blowing out highlights. This is the identical camera and lens that I used to get such great results with the Portra film...so this was unexpected.

The Yellow House.

Kodak Portra 160 NC

2009-12-22T21:50:00.004-05:00

More film. Last month I bought two rolls of Kodak's Portra 160 NC film. Then, I spent the month shooting the old-fashioned way: a film SLR, a lens that lets in lots of light, and manual focus. Wow. This film is great. Great skin tones, not hyper saturated, but also really natural landscape colors. Almost every one of the shots came out in tack sharp focus, with beautiful colors. I'm hooked.

Sunrise

2009-12-07T23:46:00.003-05:00

Out here on the Right Coast, we don't get as many stunning sunsets or sunrises as you tend to in, say San Diego.

So, when I drove out of the garage this morning and saw this, I had to stop and snap some photos.

Christmas Trees!

2009-12-06T21:37:00.003-05:00

First Snow

2009-12-05T13:37:00.004-05:00

Snow Before Halloween

2009-11-03T15:06:00.006-05:00

A few weekends ago I took a day trip out to Virginia's Skyline Drive. As we approached the entrance, you could see glimpses of what looked like snow on the upper meadows, and sure enough, when we got to the gate, we were informed that the road was closed 4 miles in.

The views were great and there was a nice contrast between the lush green grass and the light dusting of snow.

We wanted more, though, so we backtracked and drove 30 miles south to the next entrance.

**UPDATE** Ever since I picked up the camera again about 3 years ago, I've wondered how the "pros" get shots like this to look as good as they do. I mean, look at my sky...it's flat, boring and washed out. In person, it was intense and beautiful. So...how do they do it? Is it pure patience, or luck? That's how I got my favorite shot (the title of the blog)...I was in the right place at the right time and I waited until the scene was perfect? Is it really that simple?

Well, no. To make the sky look more like what I saw, I've since discovered I should have been using a Neutral Gradient filter, or a "grad". Rockwell, as usual has the goods: www.kenrockwell.com. Go there, search for ND Grad or Grad filter and marvel at his shots with/without the grad filter.

**END UPDATE**

This is what we came for! The wind was howling over the ridges and you could tell there snow had been much more intense, with a nice 3-4 inch layer of snow blanketing the mountainsides, the road and the trees. It was still melting, but there were pockets of ice and icicles hanging from some trees!

I'm holding out hope that this winter will be long and dark and snowy and cold. I can't wait to be able to skate on the pond across from our house, and to make a whole lot more of these fun winter drives!

B&W Portraits

2009-10-28T23:10:00.011-04:00

Cyclocross Challenge Race #2 of the MABRA Cyclocross Series

2009-10-01T09:57:00.003-04:00

For anyone paying attention to my race coverage schedule, I'll be at the MABRA #2 event this weekend. Unlike last week when I missed the Cat 4 event, I will not have any scheduling conflicts, so I'll be there for the whole day! That means coverage of the Cat 4's from start to finish!

2009 Ed Sanders Memorial Cyclocross Event

2009-09-27T22:30:00.002-04:00

After a long summer delay, I'm back attending races and shooting pictures. This Sunday, September 27th, I attended the 2009 Ed Sanders Memorial Cyclocross Event in Maryland.

This is the first race of the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Bike Racing Association (MABRA) annual cyclocross series. After it rained all day on Saturday and most of Saturday night, I knew this race was going to be sloppy, muddy, and spectacular for cross. And it was. When I got there in the morning, the course was brutally muddy, but most racers could ride the whole thing. As the day wore on, however, the sun came out and turned the slop into thick, clingy mud that was more like peanut butter than anything else. Peanut butter with long, nasty strands of wild grass in it.

But then, after another two hours of sunshine the course started getting tacky and fast - just in time for the Women's 1/2/3 race, and then the Men's 1/2/3.

The shots turned out really well, minus the first 30 or so that I wasted because my race-photography muscle were so out of shape. Two things about that: 1. I'm surprised that my skills atrophied so fast. It really hasn't been that long since my last shoot..., and 2. it's nice that everything snapped back into shape as fast as it did. For a while there, I was worried it was going to be a long, frustrating day. Thankfully, everything worked out.

If you're at all interested, head on over to www.pingelphoto.com and click on "Go To The Galleries" for some big preview shots in the "Ed Sanders" Gallery (and subgalleries).

2009 Cranky Monkey MTB Series - Fountainhead

2009-07-31T14:07:00.002-04:00

The few people who read this blog know that I have recently found a creative outlet that combines two of my favorite hobbies: bike racing and photography. Over the last several months I've discovered that I really love photographing bike races, and, in the course of doing that, I started selling some of my shots. The feedback I've received from racers has been overwhelmingly positive. And while the money I've earned has been nice, I've also found that when people place an order with me, the greatest joy I have is delivering a cool photo to someone who truly appreciates it.

Some of you know that I used to race competitively. Unfortunately, I have a grand total of 3 photos from all 6 years I raced. So, with that in mind, I can't tell you how happy it makes me to be able to give a racer a great photo they will enjoy for years to come.

So....all that to say, that I recently had a very interesting conversation with an individual that has caused me to rethink my motivations for taking photos at bike races. The next race I attend, I thought I'd try something entirely new. I'm going to give away as many of my photos as I can, to as many people as want them. That's right, FREE digital downloads of everything I capture with my camera.

I will see you all at Race #2 of the Cranky Monkey MTB series at Fountainhead Regional Park!

Enjoy!

The Recipe

2009-07-28T15:37:00.012-04:00

The ideal day at the beach starts with picking up boards at the local surf truck.

Then heads to the lovely crystal clear water of Hanalei's beautiful crescent beach...

...for some tasty, ankle-slapper waves shared with friends.

and a lot of humor;

Followed by chow at Bubba's - where they clearly have their priorities in order.

Not a bad idea, eh?

Red

2009-07-27T16:01:00.004-04:00

Black and Gold

2009-07-27T11:59:00.009-04:00

Shenandoah Hike

2009-07-22T00:42:00.002-04:00

It has been such a great summer for low humidity, that we haven't needed to escape to the mountains. But, it is really nice to be able to get out for a hike.

As much as I would have liked to stay longer, this little guy was causing enough of a traffic jam. And with a little guy this small, I was actually worried his presumably bigger mother would be around somewhere.

12 Hours of Quantico pictures

2009-06-30T07:41:00.003-04:00

I attended the 12 Hours of Quantico MTB race this weekend and tried some new stuff while I was walking around the course. If I told you what I tried out, you'd laugh. But it worked. Really well.

All I will say is that I'm finding that photography (cycling photography at least) is a bit like makeup. I know that sounds strange, so let me explain. Women who wear makeup "right" use it to make themselves look "natural." Strange, no? Applying makeup to make yourself look like you're not wearing makeup. Because, no woman wants to look like she's wearing makeup.

So, when I set out to take a picture of a bike racer, I want to make the shot look as "natural" as possible. To get a shot to look natural, it helps to apply some photographic "makeup." But it has to look like there's no makeup in my shots. Get it? And, no, I'm not talking about Photoshop,or cropping, or shooting raw files and manipulating them to death. I really dislike the over-processed look that Photoshop produces. I want to get it right in the camera, the way photographers used to do when they shot 35mm film...before the days of Photoshop. Anybody can use a computer. Not anybody can get it right in the field. Plus, getting it right means I can work faster once the event is over. Nobody wants to wait a week to see pictures of themselves racing.

All in all, it was a great weekend for racing and for pictures. The weather was spectacular, the course was mostly rideable (not too much rain) and the shots are turning out to be fantastic. This one, in particular, looks great! Natural light, a sense of action, crisp focus, and when you blow it up you can see his eyes intensely focused on the trail. In fact, I doubt this guy even saw me sitting right next to the trail as he zoomed by.

Footy!

2009-06-24T23:01:00.002-04:00

Wow! The US beats Spain 2-0! and moves to the final.

Watching soccer at this level of intensity and this level of skill is almost like watching a different sport. I love that the US team won, but the highlight of this video recap is the ball-handling footwork of the Spanish forward with his sublime behind-his-own-feet pass and shot right in front of the net. This guy is more talented at passing a soccer ball with his feet than many, many people would be with a basketball and their hands.

The Baritone

2009-06-22T00:38:00.003-04:00

Bugs

2009-06-20T11:40:00.002-04:00

Divide

2009-06-13T14:57:00.001-04:00

Portrait

2009-06-02T22:23:00.002-04:00

B&W print film. Nikon N90s, 50mm f/1.4, with Kodak print film. Scanned at Costco. Lots of fun. I really love the B&W.

More than anything, shooting with B&W film made me think a lot more about what I wanted in the picture, and how to make things interesting with fewer tools. Or maybe, simpler tools is a better way to phrase it. You really have to try to make pictures with good "bones", because if you don't there's less to distract you from the fact that your subject or composition is boring.

The other thing it's teaching me is how much I like a good lens. I prefer a $250.00 used manual focus 50mm f/1.4 shooting good film on an old film camera than almost any digital camera. The pictures just look better. I can't explain it, really. Fun stuff.

It's a Small World...

2009-05-31T22:56:00.004-04:00

Although more of a technical feat than anything else, these were a whole lot of fun to create.

About 30 minutes of set up time, another 30 to really dial in the remote flash set-up and the camera, and voila, some cool water shots. After the first several shots, I decided that cool colors would really make these different, so I lined the edge of the bucket with colored construction paper and aimed the flash at the paper, instead of at the droplet. Once I covered the bottom with black, and the sides with red and purple the colors really started popping out.

Ahead of His Time

2009-05-18T21:59:00.003-04:00

"How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?

Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."

- Abraham Lincoln

Spoken at least 150 years ago, but never more applicable than in these strange times.

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T21:46:00.003-04:00

This year was the first Mother's Day since my Mom passed away. As overwhelmingly sad as that felt at points in the day, there is so much to be thankful for, I can hardly consider being sad for too long.

Sometimes in life, things happen that are so far beyond our human ability to explain them, that I find the only thing left to do is leave these things in God's hands. I don't know why Alzheimer's took my Mom just as she was beginning to fulfill her dream of being a Nana, and to have daughters-in-law to love, and grandkids to adore! I can only tell you it profoundly hurts. But along with the sadness, there was celebration as well.

Hey Mom! Your namesake learned to ride a bike today! It only took a couple of tries, before she worked up the determination to ride around on the driveway, and then up and down the street! Right before she did it for the first time, she got this look in her eye that reminded me so much of you. She had bobbled a few times, but gotten really, really close. And I asked her, "Are you going to do this?" She looked right at me and put on this mischievously determined little grin that told me she knew she was going to do it, as if to say, "Are you kidding me, Dad? I've got this!" and off she went. Wow, you would be SO PROUD!

12 Hours of Lodi Farm - May 2, 2009

2009-04-30T23:22:00.007-04:00

Hey! I'll be at the 12 Hours of Lodi Farm mountain bike event this Saturday May 2, 2009. I will be pulling double-duty, taking pictures, and riding in the Duo Category with the excellent Mr. Mead.

Pictures of riders/racers should start appearing during the event, assuming I can find a WiFi connection. If not, they'll be posted Sunday morning in the 12 Hours of Lodi Farm gallery at http://www.pingel.exposuremanager.com/.

See you there!

UPDATE: Well, that was tough. Double-duty proved almost impossible. The racing itself was extremely challenging. Instead of the planned 5 laps at 10 miles per lap, I could only manage 3. With roughly an hour between laps, I had no time to take pictures. Between resting, refueling, changing clothes, and laying everything out for the next lap, there was no time. Plus, none of the racers had numbers identifiable on the front of their bikes, so the gallery is a mish-mash of 250+ pictures. All in all, a big challenge.

As for the course...wow, it was tough. In a 10 mile loop, there was literally nowhere to rest. Over 1,200 ft. of climbing per lap, but without any sustained climbs meant constant small, technical grunters, requiring gobs of power in short bursts. There was no cruising up a steady incline at 250 watts for 15 minutes. Nope, it was 30 seconds at 6-700 watts, or you were walking. Repeat 20+ times per lap, all while navigating tight trees, heavily rooted sections, downed trees, narrow bridges, and low hanging trees. I knew I was in trouble at about halfway through the first lap. I realized that I couldn't find a time to take my hands off the bars to get a drink of water. And not from a bottle, either. I couldn't get the tube from my Camelbak from the clip on my jersey up to my mouth, a matter of mere inches. I literally couldn't find time to take my hands off the bars to move the tube to my mouth. Anyways, what pictures I did manage to take are at the link above. I did manage at least one cool picture, though.

Leesburg Baker's Dozen 2009 Event Pictures

2009-04-19T19:21:00.004-04:00

There is a full gallery of the event HERE. I think I managed to take at least one picture of every rider who was on the course between 2 and 5:30. The fill flash worked really well, illuminating faces and eliminating helmet shadows, and preserving well lit backgrounds.

The Sparrow

2009-04-08T16:49:00.002-04:00

This reminds me of my Mom, and how wise she was and what a wonderful blessing she was and continues to be.

Kodachrome 64 versus Velvia 50

2009-04-02T12:37:00.005-04:00

Well. I finally got around to shooting and developing a roll of Kodachrome 64 slide film on the N90s. When I was out in San Diego in February, I took several rolls of Velvia 50 and one roll of Kodachrome. I just got the Kodachrome back from the only lab left in America that processes the stuff. Let me tell you there's a reason no one shoots Kodachrome any longer.

This stuff is awful. Worse than awful, it's dreadful. It makes beautiful scenery and makes it look worse than it really is. That's an achievement, especially in La Jolla's tidepools during a winter sunset.

Let's just say, I originally bought 2 rolls of Kodachrome. I'm going to process the second roll as B&W. It's a waste to try to shoot anything in color with this film. Especially compared to Velvia. Good grief.

Here's a Kodachrome sunset:

Compare that to the sunset on the header of the blog. That shot was taken with the same camera and the same lens, on Velvia 50.

Here's Windansea on Kodachrome:

Here's the same beach on a similar winter day with a D200.

What a huge difference.

Optimism

2009-02-07T00:55:00.001-05:00

Grand Canyon Scans

2009-02-05T08:01:00.002-05:00

Below Dominy Falls

2009-02-04T00:07:00.004-05:00

The Neighborhood, part 4

2009-02-02T11:40:00.002-05:00

The Neighborhood, part 3

2009-02-02T11:39:00.002-05:00

The Neighborhood, part 2

2009-02-02T11:38:00.002-05:00

The Neighborhood, part 1

2009-02-02T11:31:00.006-05:00

Same door, different composition.

The Strange

2009-02-02T10:53:00.007-05:00

Whenever the subject of strange places to eat comes up (not as infrequently as you might expect), I tell people about this funky little purveyor of cornmeal encrusted meatsicles that has inhabited the same ski-chalet building on corner in San Diego for as long as I can remember, they refuse to believe me. It exists, here's proof. And, no, I have never eaten there.

Right down the street from the lovely schnitzel-haus you find an outdoor picnic table style Mexican food joint that has had the same menu and the same staff through, at least, 10 name and ownership changes. No matter the name, they make decent carne asada burritos. Every time I eat there, I feel like I'm rolling the dice with food poisoning, but, because I've never gotten sick, it's worth it. And if you look closely, you can see the County Health Dept. gives them an "A", so it can't be that bad. Here's "Roberto's #4", then the "'Real' Roberto's"; then "Norberto's", then "Noberto's" now "La Posta de Acapulco's." Next year, it will have another name, and the menu will be the same, hopefully.

Further down, you run into CJ's. How this place stays in business is beyond me. I've never seen anyone enter or exit the building. It's about the size of a tiny Manhattan apartment, there's no parking, and it shares a lot with a nasty Jack in the Box that was last refurbished in 1976.

And, finally, at the end of the street, you'll find another mystery, this one called, "Donut Star". I love a good doughnut as much as anyone, but this place baffles me. Their doughnuts are below average, the selection is bad, and the place isn't clean.

The Familiar

2009-02-02T10:44:00.006-05:00

Which is digital, which is Velvia 50?

2009-01-30T02:34:00.008-05:00

Can you tell a difference?

Camera: Nikon D300

Lens: Nikon 12-24mm f/4 AF-S DX

Settings: 24mm, ISO 200, f/22, 1/30 sec., manual WB.

Camera: Nikon N90s

Lens: Nikon 50mm f/1.4

Settings: Fuji Velvia 50, f/11 @1/8 sec.

San Diego, January 2009

2009-01-28T16:25:00.005-05:00

This is what happens when I'm in San Diego. First, I'm up really early (jet lag), so I grab a camera and before sunrise I drive up to my favorite doughnut shop in Cardiff. As I'm ordering, Rob Machado walks in right behind me. Rob is a pro surfer and Solana Beach local celebrity. Then, I drive down to Seaside Reef to see if the surf is worth taking some pictures and another pro surfer (either C.J. or Damien Hobgood, I can't tell) is pulling aerials in waist high surf, less than 100 feet from shore.

Here's more of Hobgood and another guy whose performance was way above the rest of the guys in the water:

Midnight

2009-01-19T09:36:00.005-05:00

50mm, 1/15 sec, f1.4 ISO 1600, auto WB.

50mm, 1/30 sec, f1.6, ISO 100, handheld, shade WB.

50mm, 1/90 sec., f5, ISO 100 handheld, auto WB.

Ice Cold Fun

2009-01-19T00:21:00.003-05:00

Believe it or not, this was shot in color. Gives you an idea of what a mid-winter day looks like in D.C. This is a Rails-to-Trails bridge that crosses over Canal Road in D.C. Nikon 50mm, f 5.6, 1/125 sec. at ISO 100, cloudy WB.

Nikon 50mm f 1.4, 1/125 sec at ISO 800. The depth of field is amazingly shallow at f1.4. No complaints, though. Without this lens, I wouldn't have a picture at all.

Nikon 50mm, f5,1/250 sec., ISO 280, exposure at -0.7.

Shooting on this grey, overcast day was really difficult. There "seemed" to be enough light, but really, it was rather low light. In order to stop motion, I had to move the shutter speed up, but that kept driving the ISO through the roof, leaving very grainy shots.

I need to find a way to set the camera to default to "action" mode, instead of landscape mode. The default I normally use is pilfered directly from Rockwell, which I suspect is set for landscape, and is generally suitable, but it may be time to start experimenting with the shooting "banks" the camera makes available....if you know how to program them.

Landscapes and Lenses

2009-01-17T23:24:00.008-05:00

Nikkor 50mm, f2.2, 1.20th sec at ISO 100, cloudy WB, corrected with DxO

Handheld, Nikon 10mm f2.8, 1/15th sec @ ISO 1600, manual white balance, corrected with DxO.

This shot was taken about 15 minutes after sunset on a frozen pond. I shot this in RAW, and ran the file through DxO's new high ISO processing module (which was free). Normally, any brightly colored area on super high ISO (1600, here) would be horribly grainy, but DxO did a really nice job of making the pink look great, without blowing the details on the air bubbles in the ice.

One of the things that shooting a modern dSLR did to me, was to allow me to take good pictures, without spending a huge amount of money on hyper expensive equipment (lenses, tripods, etc...). I could work on composing pictures, rather than making sure I got the right f-stop, or shutter speed or whatever. The camera takes care of the details and lets me do the "important" stuff, like catching the right facial gesture at the exact instant. Digital SLRs are great at allowing an amateur to take very competent pictures without spending $3,000 on each single lens. I don't want to sound like a stuff shirt, here, because I've only started taking pictures on a regular basis in the last 2 years and I'm not some expert or anything. But, here's what I mean. After about a year of re-teaching myself how to drive my camera (shutter speed, ISO, aperture - and manually manipulating these functions), I asked my Dad if I could use his mid-90's film SLR. And I started shooting with film and digital, instead of just digital.

I noticed right away that the the color slide film I picked is very, very thirsty for light. It loves to soak up bright colors and the more light you give it, the better your colors look. Previously, I had never really noticed a lack of light making a huge difference with the dSLR. Instead of low f-stop numbers and expensive glass, the dSLR makes up for the lack of all that expensive stuff, with automatic ISO, and VR lenses.

So, since I started shooting film again, I wondered how much difference a really fast "pro" lens would make. Not fast-focusing. Rather, a lens that would allow the film to get a LOT of light, really fast, with no gimmickry. So, after letting my curiosity get the better of me, I went down to the local camera store and bought a used (but practically brand new) Nikon 50mm f1.4 lens. It's the cheapest "fast" pro lens I could find. The first and third shots above were taken with this lens on the D200.

Over the course of my first hour with the lens, I snapped probably 100 digital shots. Right away I noticed a difference. Somehow, these pictures look less "virtual" and more "real." I'm not really sure I can explain it any better than that. Over the next day or so, I'll try to post similar pictures, taken with different lenses, to see if I can illustrate the difference between a good shot with a "digital" lens, and a good shot with this "film" lens.

The Lion

2009-01-14T00:10:00.002-05:00