#APicADay 2018: Day 30

This is the last day. I'll probably do a retrospective post as well, but this is the last photo of the exercise. I'm fairly pleased with it.

 I also took these.

Quote of the Day: 30 November 2018

“Maxim 21: Give a man a fish, feed him for a day. Take his fish away and tell him he's lucky just to be alive, and he'll figure out how to catch another one for you to take tomorrow.” -Howard Tayler

#APicADay 2018: Day 29

Today I learned a modified version of yesterday's lesson. I went out to get a shot (or at least to where I hoped the shot would be ready) and passed up several opportunities to shoot some amazing sights where there was beautiful soft pink light. I got the shot I set out to get, but when I went back to where the good shots were, the light had changed. So, don't pass up shots that you are already at. Lesson learned.

 And these two are what was left of the pretty light.

 And I just liked these lights.

Throwback Thursday: Ape hunting a boar

Detail from a Book of Hours

These days, apes aren't armed with crossbows, and wild boars have largely been eradicated from areas where apes are endemic. But what must it have been like to see the majestic ape pursuing not one, but two or more boar at a time, armed only with a crossbow? Majestic is the only thing that comes to mind.

Quote of the Day: 29 November 2018

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” -Oscar Wilde

#APicADay 2018: Day 28

I had been thinking about what I wanted to shoot today, and I had decided to try to find somewhere that had Christmas lights on before it got very dark. Then as I was driving I saw these really pretty clouds off to the south east. I quickly drove to a spot that is elevated with a view of the valley. By the time I had gotten there however, the light had changed, and there were not as many clouds illuminated by the soft pink light. But I took a picture anyway. I should have called it, and gone back to my original plan.

Forest Grove Police Log excerpt, 28 November 2018

This week's selection from the log of local police activity brings us a tale of a distraught consumer.

Sunday, Nov. 18A woman called police distraught that a new mattress had been delivered but the delivery man would not take her old one.

This is another instance of a case where I cannot imagine myself calling the police over this. I'm interested to see that there are people who would. I honestly don't know what to think about this. I'm simultaneously grateful to know about the idiocy all around me, and horrified at it.

Quote of the Day: 28 November 2018

“Resistance to stereotyping is a laudable moral position, but the simplistic idea that the resistance is costless is wrong.” -Daniel Kahneman

#APicADay 2018: Day 27

The light was fading, so I went out and got my shot for today. I'm not disappointed with it, but it isn't a great shot.

Quote of the Day: 27 November 2018

“The effect of every sort of New Deal is to increase and prosper the criminal class. It teaches precisely what all professional criminals believe, to wit, that it is neither virtuous nor necessary to suffer and to do without.” -H. L. Mencken

#APicADay 2018: Day 26

I think that in order to capture images like this the way I would like to I will need to do one of three things: learn to use a fill flash, perform HDR photography, or go while the light is not quite so dark. Or possibly a combination of the three. Anyway, HDR won't work within the rules of this exercise because it requires multiple exposures. So, I might just have to experiment with that once I've got a better camera outside of this exercise.

Quote of the Day: 26 November 2018

“Common sense can be more readily expected when writing for the general public than when writing for the intelligentsia.” -Thomas Sowell

#APicADay 2018: Day 25

The sunrise wasn't that spectacular this morning, so I hope my composition choices lent some interest to the scene.

Quote of the Day: 25 November 2018

“[W]e must remember that the purposes of the Lord in our personal lives generally are fulfilled through the small and simple things, and not the momentous and spectacular.” -M. Russell Ballard

#APicADay 2018: Day 24

I saw the falling snow this morning, and I knew what I wanted to get. This is the result. Thinking about it now, I probably should have used exposure compensation to "under expose" the image. I was hoping to get the reflection from the falling snow to show up in the picture, but I did not succeed on this attempt.

This is a bit closer to what I wanted to get.

Quote of the Day: 24 November 2018

“Focusing on leadership alone is like trying to understand clapping by studying only the left hand.” -Jonathan Haidt

#APicADay 2018: Day 23

I went to get a shot I had seen earlier in the day, but the lighting wasn't good at the time. When I got there I discovered the scene had been changed. The lovely little display of fall decorations had been removed and the home where it had been was being decorated for Christmas. Oh well.

 The pattern on this fence looked interesting too. I wasn't able to get a shot I was pleased with though.

Quote of the Day: 23 November 2018

“That’s the trouble with a brain—it thinks more than you sometimes want it to.” -Terry Pratchett

#APicADay 2018: Day 22

This came out OK. I should have had a better background for it, but I'll work with what I've got. The lighting could have been better as well.

Throwback Thursday: Blacksmithing I Guess

Detail from Dits de Philosophes

I presume that this is a depiction of blacksmithing. Mostly because I can't think of anything else it could be. I've seen blacksmiths at work before, and I have never seen one work from a seated position, nor have they used two hammers simultaneously. The garb is a bit odd too. I guess things were done differently then.

Quote of the Day: 22 November 2018

“If ingratitude be numbered among the serious sins, then gratitude takes its place among the noblest of virtues.” -Thomas S. Monson
[Happy Thanksgiving! This is my favorite holiday.]

#APicADay 2018: Day 21

I've been busy today making pies. So, I went and got this shot I saw yesterday while I waited for the oven to be available. I'm pleased with it.

Forest Grove Police Log excerpt, 21 November 2018

The selection from the log of local police activity for this week is a rather petty call that I just found amusing.

Saturday, Nov. 10A caller reported a neighborhood juvenile was screaming songs and nursery rhymes while mowing the lawn. Police contacted the lad, who agreed to sing at a more reasonable level.

 I am sometimes astonished by what triggers some people to call the police. I might go have a word with someone doing this, but I doubt I'd call the police over it.

Quote of the Day: 21 November 2018

“[Y]ou can swim all day in the Sea of Knowledge and still come out completely dry. Most people do.” -Canby, The Phantom Tollbooth

#APicADay 2018: Day 20

I went out looking for my shot today, and I didn't find it. I found this, and then I saw some others that I liked OK too, but I didn't find a shot I was really happy about today.
Anyway, here's the one I decided would be the shot for today.

And then there were these as well.

Quote of the Day: 20 November 2018

“While our thinking colors all our experience, more often than not our thoughts tend to be less than completely accurate.” -Jon Kabat-Zinn

#APicADay 2018: Day 19

My camera lacked the dynamic range to capture the image I truly wanted today. I went for this instead. I'm pleased with the shot I did get, but sad I missed the one I wanted.

Quote of the Day: 19 November 2018

“History isn't markers on a map, it's people.” -Roberta X

#APicADay 2018: Day 17

Need my time today for other things, so here's a shot of leaves in frost. I'm pleased with it.

Quote of the Day: 18 November 2018

“Christ is the helper and consoler. His ways bring joy and hope—eventually and always.” -Dale G. Renlund

#APicADay 2018: Day 17

I've been busy today, but I took some time to go grab this shot. A location I've hoped to see if I could get a decent shot from for a while. I think I got a good one. It would be nice if there wasn't so much haze in the distance, but that's what was going on.

Quote of the Day: 17 November 2018

“I suppose it was naive of me to think paying the mortgage and taxes meant I owned the house.” -@WaveDilson

#APicADay 2018: Day 16

This was taken as I took the Pup on a walk this morning. It was more of an 'I wonder if' than anything else. I'm mostly pleased with it, but I should have taken more time getting the framing just right. I didn't intend to cut the weather vane's top off.

Fiction Friday: The Hero

Harold rubbed his hands together in front of himself. The priest glared at him over his glasses from the rostrum. He quickly dropped his hands to his side. He shifted from one foot to the other. He had been standing there with the other candidates for a half hour already, and there was still another thirty minutes in the ceremony. It wasn't as though he hadn't been prepared for this. Everyone knew what the ceremony consisted of. But Harold hadn't counted on the robes making things worse. The rough fabric chafed his neck, and wrists. And he had developed an itch on his nose that had been pestering him for what felt like fifteen minutes, but was likely only thirty seconds.

Somehow, Harold managed to stay mostly motionless for the rest of the silent portion of the ceremony. All that was left was the administration of the advancing sting. The candidates formed a line leading to the altar. Each took a position marked by depressions worn in the stones of the temple over the hundreds of years boys had been presented here to become men. Harold watched as Amund stepped up to the altar, and stretched his arms forward, bowing his head. The priest's assistants each extended a wand and tapped Amund twice in a designated location. Amund snatched his right arm back to his body, followed quickly by his left as he fell forward on the altar, his face contorted in presumed agony. Two acolytes dragged Amund off the altar and out of the temple. Brome stepped forward and took his place at the altar.

It proceeded in like manner for the other three candidates ahead of Harold in line. Harold stepped hesitantly forward and reached forward with his hands. As he bowed his head, the priest tapped him on the chin with his scepter. Harold looked up at him.

“Open your mouth, candidate, and receive your advancement,” the priest said. The congregation gasped, and a hushed murmur rose above the crowd. Harold had never seen or heard of this happening before.

Harold swallowed, and opened his mouth. The assistant tapped his tongue, and his entire existence was a blaze of fiery pain. There was no consciousness, only the pain existed. Harold was no more. He was a mass of twinging nerves.

Harold opened his eyes. He raised a hand to his lips and was surprised not to touch his tongue. He rolled his legs off the cot he had been laid on and attempted to sit up. As a wave of dizziness swept his head, and his vision darkened he fell back to the cot. A moment later he was sitting upright. He swore his lips would look like a peach with its cleft laid horizontally. But the mirror showed no visible swelling.

“Welcome to manhood, Harold,” the priest said from behind him.

Harold slowly turned to face the aged man. His balance was still unsure.

“And to your calling.”

“Mmmth, hmmth, rarrgh,” Harold responded.

“Don't try to speak, Harold. It will pass in some days.” The priest held out a glass of water. Harold took it gladly, and raised it to his lips. Most of it dribbled out. “I suggest going slowly, Harold.”

He looked at the priest. He put the glass down on the small table.

“You are to be The Hero, Harold. Do you understand?”

Harold shook his head.

“You have heard the prophecies, correct?”

Harold gave a small nod.

“Well, now you will fulfill them.” The priest refilled the glass and sat down on the stool in the corner. “There is nothing about you that contradicts the prophecies, which is what we have been waiting for. And you've now taken the first step, by surviving the advancing sting to the tongue.”

Harold looked at the priest quizzically.

The priest sighed. “Harold, the prophecies are not true. At least not as you have believed them to be. There is no one person who is destined to come and save us. It could be almost anyone. Unfortunately, there are some specifics in the prophecies that limit the potential candidates to only a few people in a host of years. You are the first to come to us without a clearly disqualifying condition since we have understood the prophecies. So, it is you who will be the fulfillment.”

Harold expressed disbelief, then anger.

“Yes, I know. It is not fair. You experienced pain, more than any other boy presented for advancement, and it seems so capricious. And it is. But now you know, or will know when you have calmed down, that life is not fair. And what appears to be a punishment may be a blessing. Remember that the converse is also true, Harold. Or should I say, Our Lord Protector, the Hero of Salamasas?”

Quote of the Day: 16 November 2018

“There is no inconsistency between a free market system and the pursuit of broad social and cultural goals, or between a free market system and compassion for the less fortunate[.]” -Milton Friedman

#APicADay 2018: Day 15

I don't usually share pictures of the Pup, but if you can't see his face ...

Anyway, I had a fast moving subject, and I've got a bit to learn here. My shutter speed was too slow to freeze his motion, and the autofocus was too slow to keep up with him. What I really wanted was a shot from behind as he pointed at the bus, but I was too slow getting the camera out, and his patience had gone. This was the best I could do given the model.

Throwback Thursday: When Reading Meant Something

Detail from Dits de philosophes

I wish it was still the case that reading, or being able to read, bestowed power and authority. I'd like a retinue of adoring monks. And I could make them wear funny crowns like this dude did.

Forest Grove Police Log excerpt, 15 November 2018

This week's selection from the log of local police activity is about a suspicious part of town.

Saturday, Nov. 3A man called police to inquire about caution tape that had been set up around the parking lot of a local bar. Officers advised the man that it may have been related to wet paint and fresh asphalt at the scene, to which the man expressed suspicion regarding the legality of the situation. Police explained that it is perfectly legal for companies to repair driveways they own.

This is another in the series of police calls that I just can't understand. How do you not realize that caution tape is warning you of a danger, and that it is possible for private citizens to own and use said tape? Why would you ever think that it would be illegal? And how do you not realize why it was put there when you can see fresh asphalt and new paint?
Sometimes I worry about the intelligence of those around me. The rest of the time I've forgotten.

Quote of the Day: 15 November 2018

“I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been called a Nazi for advocating minimal government, personal freedom and the equal application of law.” -Sarah Hoyt

#APicADay 2018: Day 14

I think I did OK here. There are a few parts that are overexposed, and I should have used exposure compensation (which I do have on this camera) to get a handle on some of those highlights.

Quote of the Day: 14 November 2018

“It’s an unfair world, child. Be glad you have friends.” -Granny Weatherwax, A Hat Full of Sky

#APicADay 2018: Day 13

This is one I've been thinking about off and on for about a week and a half. I think I caught some interesting light, and the composition shows some juxtoposition of disparate elements. I think the story is compelling.

Quote of the Day: 13 November 2018

“You can’t examine something fully if you are busy rejecting its existence.” -Henepola Gunaratana

#APicADay 2018: Day 12

I need to give these a bit more thought, but also ensure I have time to grab them. But I tried for a shot of a fire hydrant that was some kind of interesting, but it wouldn't cooperate. So, I did a texture shot instead.

Quote of the Day: 12 November 2018

“Society can and does execute its own mandates: and if it issues wrong mandates instead of right, or any mandates at all in things with which it ought not to meddle, it practises a social tyranny more formidable than many kinds of political oppression[.]” -John Stuart Mill