LensHero

Since I'm one of those gear-junkie type photographers, I spend a lot of time researching camera bodies and lenses.  My obsession has even helped a friend or two pick a lens (and get a good deal).  My go-to resource has always been The Digital Picture; Bryan has ridiculously in-depth reviews, sample photos, and recommendations.

Today, though, I added another resource to the list: LensHero.  They've got a nice little tool that lets you choose what kind of lens you're looking for and how much is in your budget.  They also include a good deal of third party lenses, which I haven't spent a lot of time studying.

If you don't want to wade through a novel of information on each lens (I usually do), head on over there now and check it out.

I've submitted this portrait for a contest at Photrade. Please help me win!

Vote here!

Obama in Bloomington

Ah, my poor neglected blog. Maybe this post will breathe some life into you.

Obama was in Bloomington today for a semi-surprise visit. He was traveling from Columbus to Terre Haute, and made a stop at the Women's Little 500 race. We arrive about five minutes before he stepped off the bus, but still managed to wrangle some excellent views. I even got to shake his hand!


After leaving the bus and walking the crowd, he presumably gave a speech at Armstrong Stadium prior to the race. (Alas, we were too far away to hear.) He played the crowd again before returning to the bus, then headed downtown to Nick's. The mob was so thick on Kirkwood that traffic had to be redirected, as the police were unable to keep people confined to the sidewalks.

Although he was scheduled to give a live interview for NBC at Sample Gates just after Nick's, the bus instead departed for Terre Haute. The throng of people at the Gates seemed largely unaware that he had left, despite the police announcing that he wouldn't be showing up.

I was in attendance largely to take photos, and I shot about 600 total. My new 70-200 f/4L performed admirably. I was very happy with how many of them turned out.

The Hang

I stumbled upon a video of Dante Bucci playing a Hang. I've never seen these things before, which makes a bit of sense since they were invented only seven years ago.

I'm completely mesmerized, and I must own one. That seems to create a problem, as only 5000 or so currently exist, and they're all handmade in Switzerland. I found two in eBays past, with winning bids of £3,850.00 and £4,197.97. My only recourse may be to try and build one myself.

Hear more at the HangBox from Hang-Music.com.

Write Your Congressperson (I Did)

The ill-named Protect America Act passed the U.S. House of Representatives with 227 yeas to 183 nays. You've probably heard of this bill, though named something more appropriate like The Warantless Wiretapping Act.

This preposterous law allows President Bush to legally continue doing what he was illegally doing previously: spy on his country's own citizens without the hassle of getting a court order, and without the bother of judicial oversight. It's clear that checks and balances just don't work for this administration.

More importantly, perhaps, is the incredulous idea that 41 democrats voted for this preposterous law. These are the same democrats who hold a majority in the House; the same democrats who gained that majority because the populous had it up to here with President Bush. To thank us for voting their party in, they hand Bush a silver platter, adorned not just with the victory of more control over the citizens of the United States, but also vindicating his previous illegal actions, essentially clearing him of any wrongdoing.

I wish I could channel my lividity into something more concrete. Instead, all I manged was a letter to my congressman:

I'm writing to express my extreme disapproval of your vote in role call 836 for the "Protect America Act." Frankly, this bill does nothing to "protect America." It does, however, require your constituents to hand in yet more civil liberties. It also hands more authority to the power-hungry executive branch, which gives you, yourself (and thereby the people you represent), less license over their own decisions.

I understand that you voted with your party, but you would have been in better company with Representatives Johnson and Jones, the two republicans who voted against this abominable bill.

Sincerely,

Josh Prud'homme
A politically conscious, voting member of Indiana's fourth district.

You can write your congressperson here, and see how he or she voted here.

Guns for Peace

According to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, selling arms in the Gulf will help counter terrorism and "bolster forces of moderation." No, really. I'm not even making this up. Look at this:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12349890

Now I'm not one of those pro-gun-regulation liberals. In fact, it's one of the big areas where I disagree with the "blanket liberal agenda." I believe I should be able to buy, own, and carry a gun if I damn well please. Sure, the government may be the arm of my protection, but what if we need to protect ourselves from our government? But I digress.

My government is trying to tell me (and the rest of the world) that handing out guns, depression-era soup-line style, to a bunch of war-tired countries that don't agree on very much, is going to bring peace in the Middle East. I really can't think of one instance where pointing weapons at an enemy has lead to peaceful co-existence.

The new sales to Arab countries, notably Saudi Arabia and other Gulf states, will be balanced with a more than 25 percent increase in military aid to Israel over the next 10 years. This will enable the Jewish state to keep its qualitative military edge over neighbors with which it has no peace deal.

It sounds to me like our plan is to let them kill each other until no one is left. I suppose that's one way to maintain a superpower. And it's not as though weapon sales have ever come back to haunt us.

It must take a bureaucracy the size of the United States government to create a plan so complicated that giving away guns will produce peace.

“A mighty oak has fallen in God's forest.”

“If you're not a born-again Christian, you're a failure as a human being.” --Jerry Falwell (August 11, 1933 - May 15, 2007)

From CNN.com:

Falwell has found himself at the center of several controversies, such as the one sparked by his comments two days after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in which he seemed to blame "abortionists," gays, lesbians, the ACLU and People for American Way for causing the attacks, saying they "helped this happen."