Posts
February 19, 2010 12:07 pm
Uh… you could look around a little. Here on the bill’s eye blog you’ll find…
- the in the news category, where you’ll see examples of why I find myself in the headlines
almost every day.
- the photography category with words and images together
The other sites that comprise the bill’s eye project include…
- bill’s eye photos – where I keep my best photo work with several different options for viewing.
- the genius chronicles – a memoir I’m writing about what it’s like to raise a daughter
who was conceived with a little help from an anonymous donor to the Nobel Prize Sperm Bank.
July 26, 2010 8:33 pm
Here are a few of my photos from the World Wide Photo Walk on Saturday, July 24.
Click to view larger image, press “N” for next, “P” for previous.
June 26, 2010 1:33 pm
March 24, 2010 9:48 pm
Here are a few photos from a day trip to Anza Borrego on March 20. Most of these
are first attempts at using the new 100mm macro lens.
March 6, 2010 4:22 pm
Woo Hoo!
Fame is thrust upon me.
In only my second entry for the online San Diego Photo Forum’s monthy Contest/Challenge I have emerged victorious. For the month of February, 2010, my photo (below) was voted the best of the month. The category was Patterns/Repetition. It’s a heady achievement. My work stood out from over seven other entries (eight to be precise) and received a plurality of votes cast (okay five votes out of 13 cast). My photo raced ahead of the nearest competitors by 1 and 2 votes respectively.
I’m pretty certain that the image won because of the subtle connection of the subject to the cateogory. At first glance, the only repetition in it is the repeated rows of candles that light the prayerful observers face. But on further reflection, one would have to suspect that the subtle message of prayer itself as a patterned/repetitive act was clear to the astute observer/voter from the SDPF.
Wow, am I full of s*** or what.
Okay… in all seriousness this is no BFD – but gratifying anyway. And I think there’s some kind of prize associated with winning. A limited term paid membership on SmugMug.com, which is a non-free competitor to Flickr. Not sure how long the membership is for, but using it will eventually obligate me to stop using it or start paying for it.
Anyway, getting more than just my own vote slightly reduces my guilt at buying a new Canon L-Series 100mm macro lens this week. And it seals the deal for me to purchase a used circular polarizing filter that fits my new lens from one of the forum’s talented members.
Here’s the the winning image (click to enlarge)…
Click here for a link to the forum post that shows the 9 entries for this month. Take a minute to check out the forum. It’s a friendly place…
February 7, 2010 12:00 am
Bikers Push Bill Banning Profiling Past House Panel
[read more... at The Spokesman Review]
February 5, 2010 12:00 am
Bill Banning Texting While Driving
[read more... at WPCO.com]
12:00 am
Bill Banning NIH-Like Public Access Resurfaces
[read more... at LibraryJournal.com ]
February 1, 2010 12:00 am
Bill Banning Abstinence-Only Education in Schools
[read more...at LifeSiteNews.com]
January 29, 2010 12:00 am
House Approves Bill Banning Junk Food in Schools
[read more... at Wicked Local Somerville News]
January 11, 2010 12:00 am
Republicans to Introduce Bill Banning Immigrants from “Terrorist” Countries
[read more... at change.org]
December 21, 2009 9:09 am
September 27, 2009 • Escondido CA
Canon EOS 50D • f/9 • 1/200• 17mm • ISO 1600
This is posted here and linked to an entry on San Diego Photo Forum, a community of professional and wannabe photographers. Each month there’s a challenge and contributors to the forum post images based on the monthly theme. This month (December) the theme is “Clouds”. Being the literalist I am, I posted the above image.
As an aside, it looks to me like the monthly entries run the gamut from beautiful professional images to snapshots. The December group is very strong. My work is definately sub-par when comapared to the majority of images on the site. But, hey… I don’t pretend to be any more than an avid amatuer with LOADS to learn. It’s why I do it. It’s what makes it fun.
You can visit the site (and register if you want) at http://www.sdphotoforum.com/.
December 13, 2009 12:00 am
Bill Banning Use of Offshore Platforms for Fish Farms
Could Affect Gulf Aquaculture
[read more...at the Press Register (Mobile, AL)]
December 12, 2009 5:50 pm
Well crap.
Last year the old Christmas lights that made it through almost twenty years of abuse finally joined the ghosts of Christmas Past. So I bought 200 feet of new ones and decided to add some coverage to what had been my long-standing, standard, eave-running, window-circling template for illuminating the festive mood in my dark winter heart. I even bought a new extension ladder to give me access to the apex of the gable on the front of the garage. The damn thing even held my weight without collapsing. Wobbling, shaking, creaking… yes. Collapsing? No.
For some reason I have a childhood memory of outdoor lights on our house having changed over the years from multi-colored to an alternating pattern of red and green. I convinced Becky last year that I needed to reconstruct that childhood memory (accurate or not) and buy strings of red and strings of green, then remove every other light and recreate the alternate red-green pattern that held such irrational attraction to me. Eventually she agreed and we spent the afternoon rearranging bulbs on exterior light strings with joyous sounds of Grandma getting run over by a reindeer blasting through the house. Nevermind the part where we somehow managed to get out of sequence, or start one string in red, then another in green. Makes sense right. We’re trying to alternate. Except that we didn’t bother to think about whether the string had an odd or even number of bulbs. Crap.
Hanging the lights is always a breeze – since I’ve discovered the power of a staple gun and lost my fear of shorting out the wires and burning down the house when a staple cuts through the protective coating of the wires. I guess I just thrive living on the edge. So somehow my random attempt to add more footage worked out really well. The 25-foot strands ran out in logical places and access to the limited outside electrical sources was reasonable, too. When I turned them on, they lit up and looked just like I had imagined they would. The red-green memories came flooding back… and I realized that it really wasn’t all that cool after all.
Then the last strand on one of the runs shorted out. Crap. It had to be an errant staple. I spent the next hour in the dark on a stepladder with a tiny LED flashlight looking for someplace a staple was too tight. I found a couple of places, replaced the staples and the fuse for that section and re-lit my red and green wonderland. They stayed on for less than an hour and then shorted again. I repeated my failed method three more times over the next two nights and each time the result was the same. Then Becky suggested that I read the box.
What a ridiculous idea. There’s nothing a box of of Christmas lights can tell me that I don’t already know…. except that for some reason these new and improved lights aren’t supposed to have more than three strands run together. It was the fourth (maybe fifth, come to think of it) strand that had been shorting out. Crap. The inelegant solution was to split the strand at two and run a long extention cord from the power source to the mid point of the run. Worked like a charm… except for the orange power cord running up the side of the house. It’s the most wonderful time of the year. So I hear. Along all the racket of the pipers pipers piping and the drummers drumming. Where’s a silent night when you need one.
Fast forward to December 12, 2009. The lights aren’t up yet this year. Should be easier… the strands are already merrily alternating in red and green (although I’m yearning for mulitcolors again, or maybe some icicle lights). I was supposed to do this two weeks ago after Thanksgiving, but somehow a day of rest seemed like a better way to induce holiday cheer than hanging lights. It could wait until the next weekend. On the following weekend, the four-year-old drought AND global warming seemed to cry uncle at the same moment. It really hadn’t been wetter, windier, or colder here at the same time since as long as I could remember.
Today is December 12. Another week has passed – and a relatively dry one at that. I planned to get the lights up today. Except the rain has returned. So I do what I can. I get the boxes of Christmas decorations down from storage above the garage. I set up the fake Christmas tree and then open the box of outside lights. As I’m opening it, I wonder if I remembered to put a diagram in the box to remind me of the set up from last year. There’s nothing but lights. Crap. I don’t even remember how long a strand is.
So I measure one strand, count the number of strands and head outside during a lull in the rain get some critical measurements of the areas I intend to light. I’m at a loss as to what I did last year that was so logical, that used up just the right amount of lights – no coming up a few feet short, or too long. There doesn’t seem to be a way to do it. Finally I find the solution. I’m pretty sure it matches what I did last year. Until I remember that it requires running four strands together, and I need to end at three. Crap.
Forty-five minutes later I have a workable solution. And the rain is back. The dog, a loyal nine-year-old Golden Retriever – who’s not sure why he has to be outside with me in the first place- is alternating between laying at the front door, wondering when someone will open it, and standing in the rain wondering if he likes it or not. There’s a fifty foot run that’s mostly under cover, so I decide that me and the staple gun are going to get started creating Christmas spirit, damn it.
The first fifty feet are done. The next section needs to wait until the rain stops. Tomorrow’s supposed to be drier.
Which brings me to the point of this wandering tale. I’m not going to be finished hanging the lights until I make note of how the strands go together. Next year, I won’t need a note in the light box that says anything but, “Read the blog entry from December 12, 2009. Skip all the crap at the beginning of the post and check out the unordered list at the the bottom:
Christmas Light Map:
Run 1 – Three strands (entry way and eaves off the living room)
- Start at the northeast corner of the entry way (outside left facing from the front door).
- Start with a female end of a strand and move clockwise around the entry way until you return to the northeast corner
- Run the remaining portion of the strand out to the northeast exterior eave
- Remove lights from the transfer section under the eaves (better yet, use the strands from this year and the lights will already be removed.
- Proceed back toward the house on the eave, turn right and proceed to the corner of the house closest to the palm tree
- Run excess up the side eave to a point in line with the electical plug near the chimney.
Run 2: Outline of living room window (one strand)
- Start with female end of strand at upper right corner of window.
- Proceed counter-clock wise around window
- Run rest of strand without light under the eaves to join the end of run 1
- Run timer from electrical plug. Connect extension (with two female plugs – one for each of first two runs) to the timer.
Run 3: Outline of gable in front of house (two strands)
- Start at the lower left gable eave with female end of strand
- Proceed up and down the gable
- Proceed around corner – continue to position on the eave where it crosses the gate
- Do not staple past gateline (leave remaining strand loose
Run 4: Icicles (three strands) on back of eaves behind lights from Run 3
- Start with male end at gate line where Run 3 ended
- Staple behind eave for front gable
Connect electrical and…
Feel the Christmas Spirit. Feel the Love. Damn it.
November 25, 2009 4:19 pm
The Random Stuff Category:
Hmm…. I guess this is where all the stuff that doesn’t fit in the other categories might go. There’s just so much amusing stuff out there I felt like I should have the option of birdwalking a little bit.
Posts in the Random Stuff category might include:
- Random stuff
- Not-so-random stuff that doesn’t fit my other categories
- Links to stuff I run across in other blogs and sites that I find amusing
- Nothing at all but this post
- You never know
- You know?
4:18 pm
The Photography Category:
I’m not a professional photographer, but I play one in my head.
I’ve been taking pictures as a serious amateur since 1972 when my dad gave me a Minolta SRT-101 SLR for a school trip to Europe. I learned the technical stuff from reading and friends… but mostly from trial and error. I built a darkroom in my garage, joined the school newspaper and yearbook, turned out the lights and developed a passion for photography that has been a consistent part of my life for more than 35 years.
There is an extensive online collection of my photography in the bill’s eye photos area of billbanning.com. Posts here in the Photography category might include:
- Notifications of new images posted at bill’s eye photos
- Single or multiple images of interest and commentary on their content
- Essays inspired by or illuminated by image content
- Other content related to my photography
May 26, 2009 12:00 am
Bill Banning Recreational Suction Dredge Mining Sails Through Senate
[read more... at California Coastkeeper Alliance]
April 16, 2009 12:00 am
State Senate Approves Bill Banning Language Discrimination
[read more... at the Los Angeles Times]
March 14, 2009 12:00 am
N.Y. Congressman Plans Bill Banning Internet-Usage Billing
[read more... at Multichannel News]
February 20, 2009 12:00 am
Senator to Force Vote on Bill Banning Fairness Doctrine
[read more... at The Business and Media Institute]
Uh… you could look around a little. Here on the bill’s eye blog you’ll find…
