Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Militantly superior in their own minds…

Make the republican party small enough to drown in a bathtub.

Not all heroes wear capes.

We need fewer warriors in public service and more gardeners.

Good luck with your asparagus.

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

… down to kool-aid drinkers and next of kin at the trump White House

I thought we were promised Infrastructure Week.

Sadly, there is no cure for stupid.

This really is a full service blog.

Reality always wins in the end.

Naturally gregarious and alpha

Mission Accomplished!

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

Shock troops for the Unitarian Jihad.

Our job is not to persuade republicans but to defeat them.

Perhaps you mistook them for somebody who gives a damn – Nancy Pelosi

False Scribes! False Scribes!

Deploy the moving finger of emphasisity!

Trump is going to draw a dick on that dog with a sharpie, isn’t he?

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

It’s always darkest before the other shoe drops.

Women: they get shit done

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On The Road – 🐾BillinGlendaleCA – Lake Hollywood

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🐾BillinGlendaleCA

Two years ago I visited the Mulholland Dam at the Hollywood Reservoir to photograph the Hollywood Sign. While I was pleased with the visual photos, the IR photos were flat. I shot them using a 720nm filter, processed them for white vegetation and added a visual overlay. While the visual overlay helped to provide some contrast, the Hollywood Sign still didn’t stand out enough. Being that I’ve been toying with Aerochrome emulation, I though I’d wait for a day with some clouds in the sky and try shooting the lake and the sign with a 590nm filter (they let in more visible light). I also took my Galaxy NX camera, since it’s so cool, for visual shots.

I’ve been trying to get madame and the kid to join me for a walk from the north end of the lake down to the dam for several years with little success, so I decided to do it myself. This is not really a hike, it’s more of a walk down a street. There are no hills once you reach the trailhead and it’s just a flat road along the west side of the lake. The only problem from a photographer’s point of view is there is a chain link fence around the lake so any shots of the lake need to be shot though the fence (I’ve had to crop a few photos to remove pieces of fence).

The hike reports on this “hike” noted that to keep an eye out on the ground in the Spring and Summer since rattlesnakes like to come out of the hills to sun themselves on the asphalt. Being that I made the “hike” in early January this wildlife encounter wasn’t an issue, but I did run into a pleasant wildlife surprise. Rounding one of the bends in the “trail”, there were bunch of folk along the fence, looking closer, I notice a deer on the other side of the fence, less than a foot from the folk. I moved to the fence a ways from the people at the fence and noticed 2 more deer eating some of the leaves and stuff a few feet away.

On The Road - 🐾BillinGlendaleCA - Lake Hollywood 7
Lake HollywoodJanuary 7, 2021

The fence.

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On The Road – randy khan – Venice and Environs, Part 2

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randy khan

Today’s going to be all glass, and actually all one piece of glass.  On our second day in Venice, we watched a demonstration by Davide Salvadore and his team.  Glassblowing almost always is a team effort, and everyone has a part.  The studio was pretty small, our group was incredibly close – close enough to feel the heat – and my wife and I were in the front row.

On The Road - randy khan - Venice and Environs, Part 2 9
Murano, Venice, ItalyMay 22, 2015

This sequence picks up after the preliminary parts were done.  The first thing they did was dip the pipe you see here into a furnace that was filled with molten clear glass to pick up the glass on the pipe in what’s called a gather.  They blew a bubble through the pipe, shaped the glass into cylinder, and cooled it somewhat.  (You can tell how hot glass is by the color – bright orange is really hot, and it gets closer to its real color as it cools.)  Meanwhile, the little disks you see were laid out on a metal table and heated with a blow torch, because cold glass touching hot glass is a recipe for disaster.  When the gather was shaped properly and cool enough, and the disks were hot enough, Salvadore rolled the cylinder on top of the disks, and they stuck to the cylinder.

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On The Road – Mike in Oly – Wooden Boat Fair – Olympia, WA

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Mike in Oly

Before the current circumstances, my little city of Olympia hosted a wooden boat fair every summer, and folks from all over the region would sail in, dock downtown and show off the beautiful styling and construction of their watercraft. It is always a treat to see them. Larger vessels often allow you to tour them too. In 2018 we had family visiting and decided to head down to check the boats out. Here’s what I saw.

On The Road - Mike in Oly - Wooden Boat Fair - Olympia, WA 7
Olympia, WA

Looking north toward the Olympic mountains.

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On The Road – randy khan – Venice and Environs, Part 1

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We’ll be in Venice for a couple of weeks.  Enjoy!

randy khan

My wife and I went on a glass trip to Venice in 2015.  (I guess I’ll find out soon enough if any of the other people on the trip are fellow jackals.)   Venice, particularly the island of Murano, has a centuries-long history of glassmaking, and there are lots of fabulous artists there today as well.  There will be a fair amount of glass, but except for one day I promise other things as well, including two excursions outside of Venice that were real highlights of the trip.

On The Road - randy khan - Venice and Environs, Part 1 7
Venice, ItalyMay 21, 2015

Welcome to Venice!  You arrive by boat or, in our case, by plane then car then boat.  We started the trip on Murano, and then moved to Venice proper later.  So the first slides are from Murano.

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On The Road – Albatrossity – Winter in Flyover Country 2

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Albatrossity

More winter birds from Flyover Country

On The Road - Albatrossity - Winter in Flyover Country 2 9
Manhattan KSJanuary 8, 2021

Many opportunities for seeing winter birds in Flyover Country or elsewhere are available if you have a bird feeder, and even more are available if you have water for them to drink or bathe in. Cedar Waxwings (Bombycilla cedrorum) have been scarce so far here this winter (an untimely freeze last spring hit the cedar fruits just as they were starting to develop). But a small flock paid a visit one afternoon, and I got a photo through the kitchen window.

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On The Road – Mike in Oly – Texture & Pattern in Nature: Wood

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This Textures and Patterns series has been fun.  Thank you, Mike!

On the Road: Week of January 25  (5 am)
Albatrossity – Winter in Flyover Country #2
Mike in Oly – Wooden Boat Fair in Olympia, WA
🐾BillinGlendaleCA – Lake Hollywood
Steve from Mendocino – Some Los Angeles Street Photos
Elma – Waterfalls From Two More Continents

On the Road: After Dark: Week of January 25  (10 pm)
In the coming week, we will be in Venice with randy khan!

🌺  And now, back to Mike from Oly, thank you for this lovely series of textures and patterns!

Mike in Oly

In my wanderings about western Washington and other nearby areas I am always taking photos of the things I find. One of my favorites types of photos to create are what I call texturals, for lack of a better term. They are often macros, but not always. They highlight color, texture and/or pattern over scenery or narrative. I find them fascinating and beautiful. I hope you will to. I’ll end this series with a theme dear to my heart. I love the forest and the textures and patterns created trees in always fascinating to me and catching my eye.

On The Road - Mike in Oly - Texture & Pattern in Nature: Wood 9
Olympia, WA

Sunlight and shadow on old cedar. The ancient forests were almost all logged in the past 2 centuries. Remnants of it are everywhere.

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On The Road – Lapassionara – Paris, Paris

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Lapassionara

Steve in Mendocino’s photos of Paris have been lovely, and they are a balm for my troubled psyche in these dark days. I was in Paris fairly recently, in October, 2019 and January, 2020, exactly one year ago this week.

I have some photos of the post-fire Notre Dame that I thought jackals might find interesting. Otherwise, I tend to photo small street scenes, as the streets of Paris are a never-ending source of charm and amusement.

On The Road - Lapassionara - Paris, Paris 3
Notre Dame, with scaffoldingOctober 12, 2019

This photo shows that almost every stone of the cathedral has been buttressed with scaffolding in some way. This view from the left bank actually minimizes the shock of the damage. The saddest view, for me, is of the place in front of the cathedral, which was for a while completely closed off to pedestrians. This place is one of the essential “heartbeats” of the city. For it to be off limits is so heartbreaking.

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