For the record: I don't generally post pornographic material, gore, or subjects that I believe might reasonably cause harm or undue distress. And if I do, I would put them behind a CW.
But I do post about a variety of topics that may not be of universal interest, such as US law and politics, geeky technology stuff, ponderous art, and so on. Undesired exposure to my posts on those subjects is one of the risks of of following me. Feel free to block or mute me if that scares you.
#photography meta-note: I've taken lately to posting (approximately) a photo a day, generally with a link to the full res version (on Flickr), followed by a short thread with technical details and a few thoughts on composition and subject.
My model is Ansel Adams's "Examples", in which he mixes technical detail with comments on the subject, his artistic goals, and the circumstances under which each photo was made.
I'm not my comparing work with his, of course, but I really like the format.
Those who follow me on The Bad Place have heard me repeat this a thousand times, but once more won't hurt.
Election security is incredibly complex, full of seemingly impossible tradeoffs. But disinformation about supposed "rigged" elections is perhaps the most serious threat to election integrity today.
The best defense is to learn how elections actualy work! Becoming a poll worker is a great way to do that
Also, this National Academies study is a terrific resource:
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25120/securing-the-vote-protecting-american-democracy
Also, any serious discussion of election security has to grapple with two simultaneous realities:
- there's no evidence that any US election outcome has ever been altered by hacking
- there are real, exploitable vulnerabilities in many parts of our election infrastructure
I've written a bit on what these vulnerabilities are and how to fix them, See, e.g., this brief article:
https://georgetownlawtechreview.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/4.2-p505-522-Blaze.pdf
Those who follow me on The Bad Place have heard me repeat this a thousand times, but once more won't hurt.
Election security is incredibly complex, full of seemingly impossible tradeoffs. But disinformation about supposed "rigged" elections is perhaps the most serious threat to election integrity today.
The best defense is to learn how elections actualy work! Becoming a poll worker is a great way to do that
Also, this National Academies study is a terrific resource:
https://nap.nationalacademies.org/catalog/25120/securing-the-vote-protecting-american-democracy
This is a composite of two captures with the Rodenstock 70mm HR-Digaron-W lens, each made with the back shifted up 15mm, and then with the individual captures shifted 18mm left and right, respectively. The result is two "side-by-side" 4x3 vertical images, with just enough overlap to allow them to be stitched together into a single 5x7 horizontal frame, yielding a total of about 270 megapixels.
The equivalent field of view on a "full frame" 35mm camera would be roughly that of a 26mm lens.
A technical challenge here was capturing the Bellagio fountain, which is split in half across the two shifted captures. Because the fountain changes continuously, it was hard to make two captures that could sensibly stitch together. After some trial and error, I ended up capturing them 15 minutes apart at about the same point during successive fountain "shows".
Las Vegas Strip, Paradise, NV, 2023.
An all-you-can-eat* pixel buffet at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/53029334521
* some restrictions apply
#photography
This is a composite of two captures with the Rodenstock 70mm HR-Digaron-W lens, each made with the back shifted up 15mm, and then with the individual captures shifted 18mm left and right, respectively. The result is two "side-by-side" 4x3 vertical images, with just enough overlap to allow them to be stitched together into a single 5x7 horizontal frame, yielding a total of about 270 megapixels.
The equivalent field of view on a "full frame" 35mm camera would be roughly that of a 26mm lens.
Las Vegas Strip, Paradise, NV, 2023.
An all-you-can-eat* pixel buffet at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/53029334521
* some restrictions apply
#photography
Once again, I'm reminded that my longstanding "don't go to private billionaire underage sex islands" policy has been pretty well vindicated.
Georgetown just announced another snow day (with classes held via Zoom) for tomorrow.
After several days of sub-freezing weather, any unplowed roads and sidewalks (and there are many) in DC are especially treacherous - essentially solid ice. Stay safe, friends.
Georgetown campuses closed again tomorrow (with zoom classes).
Major arteries in DC are mostly cleared, but many local streets and sidewalks are basically solid sheets of ice at this point.
Stay safe and warm, DC friends.
Bondi's extortionary demand for the Minnesota voter rolls is curious. Minnesota's voter rolls, like those of most states, are essentially public, including name, address, phone number (if given), and elections voted in. The only information redacted (by law) is DoB, SSN (etc) and which party's primary elections they chose to vote in.
One can only speculate on why DoJ would want the redacted information.
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/201.091
Minnesota has open primaries - any voter can select which party primary they want to vote in at the time of the primary. There's no party registration, so the primary selected (and not made public) is the only indicator of party affinity in the voter database there.
Bondi's extortionary demand for the Minnesota voter rolls is curious. Minnesota's voter rolls, like those of most states, are essentially public, including name, address, phone number (if given), and elections voted in. The only information redacted (by law) is DoB, SSN (etc) and which party's primary elections they chose to vote in.
One can only speculate on why DoJ would want the redacted information.
https://www.revisor.mn.gov/statutes/cite/201.091
Remember that the violence and brutality of ICE is outrageous, but it's not the only problem with the administration's immigration enforcement surge. It started out being about the "worst of the worst" (violent criminals), then quickly morphed to include anyone found with a status violation. But now they're CREATING status violations by mass revoking visas (especially of asylum seekers).
Many of the people being targeted and detained followed all the rules and committed no crimes or violations.
So in other words, this is not about deporting "illegals" and criminals. It's about getting rid of "foreigners" - anyone who doesn't fit the narrow, xenophobic MAGA vision of what constitutes an America.
Remember that the violence and brutality of ICE is outrageous, but it's not the only problem with the administration's immigration enforcement surge. It started out being about the "worst of the worst" (violent criminals), then quickly morphed to include anyone found with a status violation. But now they're CREATING status violations by mass revoking visas (especially of asylum seekers).
Many of the people being targeted and detained followed all the rules and committed no crimes or violations.
Matt Blaze