[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] Here! Have a bug.

<span style="float: right;" com="" photos="" dpoem="" 2825562863="" title="Cicada by DPoem, on Flickr">
I kind of feel sorry for cicadas. Their life-cycle isn't something I'd really envy.

First, they're born. Then, they hibernate underground for 17 years, or so. After that nice, long nap, they dig their way out of the ground, have sex and die.

About the only thing I can think of that has an existence even close to that meaningless would have to be the New Jersey Guido.

-DP

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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 9/08/2008 12:17:00 PM

[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] Now THAT'S a Typo.

My typing sucks. I mean, I make typos like babies make poop and cats make hairballs.

For instance, a few moments ago, I was using The Google to search for stories on the Large Hadron Collider. And, the page popped up, and all was well and wonderful and shiny and happy.

The thing is, at the top of my search results, I noticed a little blurb saying

Did you mean "Large Hadron Collider?"

Obviously, this got me thinking just what the hell it was I typed into the search box. So, I looked.

As it turns out, I was searching Google for something called a Large Hardon Collider.

Man... I'm dumb.

-DP

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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 9/08/2008 12:03:00 PM

[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] At The Beach.

Yesterday, I took a lumbering little hike through the woods and down to the beach near my house. As you can see, it was pretty much a really nice day with brilliant blue skies, occasionally nice temperatures (which I get to explaining a little later), very few bugs, and a handful of clouds left over from Gustav rambling his way all the way up here to Milwaukee to possibly get in touch with his Teutonic roots. In fact, you can see the dwindling remnants of ol' Gus there dying out there on the right (which is south, by the way) as he wanders over to Michigan and the good folks in Holland or Frankenmuth.

Now, as promised, the temperatures.

This little slice of the park is odd in terms of temperatures.

First, there are a lot of trees (natch). their shade keeps the earth nice and cool and damp and all that other stuff that fits that whole forest visage. That much shade really makes a huge difference.

Second, there's a deep, narrow valley running through here, and, as anyone who's taken one of those nasty, Satan-inspired, atheist science classes knows, cold air sinks.

Put those two together, and you've got a nice place to hang on a hot summer day.

Unfortunately, yesterday wasn't so much of a hot summer day as it was a seventy-two degree march into what seemed to be an early fall afternoon. And, in that tiny little valley, I'd say the temperatures were easily twenty degrees cooler. I'm sure that would have been incredibly refreshing had I not been dressed for temperatures in the eighties.

Nonetheless, it was freakin' cold, and I was shivering, and my pictures might be a little blurry.


In other, less prosaic news, I'm waiting on all sorts of camera stuff to be delivered (hopefully Monday). There were just some odds and ends and things I needed, and it's really nothing terribly new and exciting, but these are the things that will make picture taking easier for me.

I ordered a backpack designed to carry my camera and all my lenses. It's a Kata R-103. So, if anyone is familiar with it, let me know what you think. If not, well... just ignore that and move along people! Move along.

I also ordered a new camera strap to hopefully replace the scratchy, cheap Nikon number that came with my camera. And, seeing as how, these days, I am always walking around with my camera dangling from my neck, I figured comfort is important. So, I went with an Op-Tech pro strap with some bonus connectors.

Let's see... I also ordered some adaptor rings for my filters. Well, one filter. A while back, when I got my new 10-20mm lens, I also got a 77mm circular polarizer. The thing is, the filter ring on my other lenses are 67mm and 58mm, and rather than buy more expensive polarizers, I just picked up some cheap, cheap, CHEAP little hunks of metal so I can use the big filter on my little lenses (will it look dorky? You bet. But, I'm saving a couple of hundred bucks).

Finally, last and hopefully last, I ordered a tripod to replace the one that exploded on me. The old one was a cheap piece of plastic and rickety aluminum, and with one little twist too far of a tightening screw, the little mount on the top went bang, and shards of plastic were sent flying everywhere. So, I ordered a Bogen-Manfrotto. It was on sale, thankfully, and I didn't get one of their super-fancy five-hundred dollar numbers that, well, for a tripod, that price just seems a little crazy.

The one I ordered is under $150, and I'm hoping it's a little sturdied than my previous one. I've really heard nothing but good things about this company, and I am kind of excited to fiddle around with it. I figure with that, a couple of light stands, some other odds and ends, and some real estate tasks lined up, things should be pretty nifty.

I think the funniest thing is that I am actually most looking forward to the backpack. It can hold everything, and that's really going to make things much better, more diverse and a hell of a lot easier. After all, I've got some old hiking boots sitting here collecting dust, and I really do need to get out and put some muddy miles under my feet. And, well... Fall is right around the corner, and I am so looking forward to seeing how this camera handles those colors.

The only thing that sucks is that I really wish I had some mountains to play on. Don't get me wrong. Trees are nice. But, everything is so mind-numbingly flat, I feel like I'm living on a pool table. With folliage. Which is pretty weird when you think about it.

Well, people. I've got to run. I hope your weekends are well, wild and wonderful. If anyone's doing anything fun, please don't hesitate to share. I'm kind of couch-bound this weekend with a heap of aches and pains, so, you can give me a chance to live vicariously through your antics.

Ciao!

-DP

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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 9/06/2008 05:53:00 PM

[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] Ouch...

Well...

Today is "Shot Day," and I can pretty much tell that I am due. We had the remnants of Gustav creep through here yesterday to dump an entire summer's worth of much-needed rain on us over the course of 24 hours.

Nonetheless --and not to complain too much since I'm pretty sure everyone's sick of that by this point-- that whole damp stuff mingled with the cooler weather, and my knuckles and joints are kind of in rough and achy shape.

Don't worry, though. It's not too bad. But, it is annoying, and it sometimes knocks me into a bit of a funk.

In other news, I must have really been crashed last night as I had one of those coma-sleeps that are just so wonderful.

Unfortunately, before I went to bed last night, I let DogCat in the house, and I figured he'd just wake me up like he usually does on those odd moments when he comes in late at night to grab a snack and a nap. Normally, he just barges into my bedroom, grumbles and groans and whines at the foot of my bed, and I wake up, wobble downstairs, open the door and release him into the wild.

The thing is, I was so wildly conked out last night that I didn't hear him. He must've really tried hard to wake me up since, not only was the bedroom door flung wide open, most of the stuff that was atop my dresser was on the floor, and the lamp I keep on the nightstand was in bed with me this morning.

I'll tell you. It's a little weird waking to that sort of thing. I mean, I've rolled over and seen some strange faces first thing in the morning, but a freakin' lamp?

You know it's going to be a really weird day when you see that.

After that, it was the usual taks of getting downstairs, letting the cat out and spending the next several minutes picking cat food kibble out of the bottoms of my feet while waiting for my coffee maker to do its thing.

I was a little ticked off about that at the time, but, in retrospect, I kind of find my cat's tantrums to be pretty damn funny, and it's hard not to laugh at the image of a pissed off cat smacking the crap out of a bowl of cat chow for no other reason than the fact that he just can't work things like doorknobs and whatnots.

Anyway, that's my morning. How are you?

-DP

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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 9/05/2008 10:53:00 AM

[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] You damn slackers!

I found this interesting:

“I guess a small-town mayor is sort of like a community organizer, except that you have actual responsibilities.”
—Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin, acceptance speech, September 3, 2008

Now, this was Mrs. Palin's stab at belittling Barack Obama for the work he did in postponing his entrance to law school so as to aid his strife-stricken, South Side Chicago community when the steel mills closed, and a large collection of people were left with little to no options as to how to go about doing that surviving thing that people are generally rather fond of.

It was a cheap shot, and it missed by a mile.

Sarah Palin essentially took anyone with a charitable and giving bone to task for her own petty political trash-talking. And, she did so at a time when this naiton and this world really doesn't need the wretched, cold apathy of callous, self-serving politicos.

In reading over her speech this morning, I was gobsmacked by, not only the blatant lies and gleaming hypocrisy her speech contained, I found myself genuinely pissed off that this frigid little infant from Alaska had the unmitigated gall to attack a group of people who, though I may not agree with their faith or beliefs, I feel are doing good and positive works with and for people in communities who need them --even those in communities with a population of nine-thousand living beneath the fascist-shroud of a book-banning little tyrant.

Now, I think I can safely say that my pal Rachael would fall into the category of what qualifies as a "Community Organizer." And, if you think for one second that she doesn't have any responsibilities, well... I think, at the very least, you'll find yourself being pointed and laughed as she gasped for breath, and, at the very worst, on your hands and knees picking your molars up off the floor (it depends on just how irresponsible her day was).

Nonetheless, there are countless charitable people out there who do good works. Their numbers are independent of political affiliation and any childish, partisan bias. These are people who give so much of themselves to help those in need; unfortunately, it's clear from her frothy little rambling that Mrs. Palin would much rather stab those people --even those of her own faith and church-- squarely in the back in a sad, little game of pathetic, political pandering.

Aside from that, I've got a lot of reasons to dislike Sarah Palin. For example, during his interview with that odious toad Newt Gingrich last night, Jon Stewart succinctly pointed out with regards to Sarah Palin's teenage daughter, Bristol's, pregnancy, and the Palin family demands that it not be dragged into the campaign vernacular:

"In essence, what [Sarah Palin] is saying: 'respect my family's ability to make this decision, and elect me so that I can keep your family from having the same opportunity'."

Now, I couldn't care less about the Palin family, and I really don't think they should be dragged into this discussion other than to point out the dangerous hypocrisy of demanding that we respect something which she herself clearly does not.

Other than that, there's that whole book-banning thing. I think people who ban books are a certain sort of god-soaked paranoid. It's a book. If you are that terrible of a parent to be bothered with keeping an eye on what your kids are doing or reading, you should not force your community to suffer because of your own blazing incompetence.

However, our communities are suffering. And, it's genuinely disheartening that someone could be so vacant and dim that they would willingly attack and belittle the efforts of those who try to help. And yes. They would probably even help Mrs. Palin's family. That's just the kind of people they are. I consider that immensely responsible. Don't you?

-DP

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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 9/04/2008 04:40:00 PM

[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] A great voiced silenced.

Don LaFontaine has died.

If you ever went to the movies and sat through a trailer, you probably are familiar with Don LaFontaine. In fact, he's done over 5,000 movie trailers (and more than 750,000 TV spots) in his amazing, albeit quirky, career.

That's a lot of talking.

Anyway, one of the funniest things I've ever seen is the following video of five famous voice-over talents in a limo. It just keeps cracking me up.

He will be missed, and going to the movies just isn't going to be the same without his unique and rumbling voice.

-DP

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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 9/02/2008 09:51:00 AM

[The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind] Amazing.

It's hard to call myself an American after seeing this.

Amy Goodman, a brilliant journalist and peace activist, is arrested and rung up on bogus charges of "inciting a riot" while trying to find out why two of her producers were jailed during the Republican National Convention.

Peace activist! Inciting a riot?

I think it's the half-witted, knuckle-dragging, power-tripping police thugs who are the ones actively seeking to incite a riot. And, they're doing a good job of it. After all, the easiest way of pissing off those who seek to defend or restore the Constitution is to tear it up right before their eyes.

I'd laugh if it wasn't so disturbing. Instead, I'm just angry, and I'm tired of stories such as these coming out of a nation which lies to the world and itself that it is some sort of beacon of freedom. We are a nation of oppressed people living beneath the regime of inhuman torturers and astounding incompetence. We can not even define freedom any more. We gladly gave up our rights under the auspice of security, and we gave those rights away in order to stuff the pockets of the greedy, corrupt few who continue to send our nation's sons and daughters to die in the desert in their foolish, unjustifiable war --a war built upon nothing but lies.

In exchange, what have we gotten?

Lindsay Beyerstein has an example of that "security" we've received.

Glenn Greenwald has more.

What a stupid, stupid country we've become. If I had the money, I'd leave this country, and I'd be laughing all the way across the Atlantic. Unfortunately, I'm stuck here and left to wonder what the fuck happened to a nation where I once felt proud to be a citizen.

-DP

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Posted By Dan to The Wisdom of a Distracted Mind at 9/01/2008 11:12:00 PM