Big Blue Huddle

Quote from: Shoelessjoe on July 07, 2021, 08:51:26 PM
The Supreme Court ruled a while ago, I'm going to say about 100 but I'm not sure, that schools can require that students get vaccinated.  It was required by our local school district to have specific shots.  Small pox and polio are basically eradicated world wide. Around the year of 1900 the average life expectancy in the US was only 40 years.  Today that number has doubled to 79 years.  A large reason for this was vaccinations. 

Lenn, in PA doesn't have a helmet law and Florida is another state that doesn't.

I think that the better example would be cigarette smoking being band in public places, work place or restaurant because of second hand smoke.

I remember a high school history teacher once told us our freedom is limited to protect the rights of others.

These states that have low vaccination rates like Mississippi which has less then 30% of it's population which is only 2.9 million.  Just wait a few weeks after fourth of July parties the infection rates in these areas of the country where the vaccination rates are low will have outbreaks.  Maybe then some of them will start to see the light but by then for some it might be to late.

I posted this a few weeks ago just after the fourth of July.  Look at the states that are now hotspots.  Look at how these states medical facilities are now being taxed to beyond what they can handle. 

I saw a stat the other day that 99.5% of the Covid deaths in this country are attributed to people who are not vaccinated.  That's 199 out of 200.  These vaccinations do work.

On a related but not USA Covid subject.  There was an article in the Times today that the continent of Africa where Covid is rampant they are in desperate need of vaccines they just can't secure that would impact the continent.  The US should divert the vaccines, that are not being used by those states where their people will not protect themselves, to Africa.  If this were done you would definitely see outcries by the same people or groups that don't want to be vaccinated.

The bottom line, if we don't start address this virus on an international basis the world will not get out of this mess anytime soon.

Ghost Busters.  They don't make ambulances like that anymore.

Tree Growth.

The dreaded dandelion.  The weed/flower that we want to eliminate from our lawns. Here are 13 potential health benefits of a dandelion.

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/dandelion-benefits#TOC_TITLE_HDR_2

In this photo I used some color enhancing techniques to attempt to bring out the blue in the sky and to draw the yellow and orange out of the sun and the surrounding tree line at the top of the hill.  The original was completely washed out at and around the sun and along the rim of the hill.  I was able to bring out the trees with this technique.  The streaks of yellow sunlight at the bottom of the sun was done in camera by using a smaller aperture.  The settings were 125 sec shutter, f8 Aperture, and 125 ISO and the picture was taken on a tripod.

Hitchcock is one of my favorite directors but Michelangelo Antonioni who directed my favorite movie "Blow Up".  It was the film that got me interested in Photography back in 1967 and 1968.

The French absolutely loved Hitchcock.  If you ever get a chance to see the interviews by French director Francois Truffaut you will see absolute admiration for Hitchcock. 

Hitchcock was not to fond of mysteries but loved suspense.  He defined the difference between the two as being with a mystery it is more about who did it.  The audience doesn't know and they are focused on this aspect.  While with suspense you know who did it but you are brought along with epiphanies only to be brought down and then back up again.  It's almost as if he is toying with the audience.

Hey Lenn, was that on Wednesday Hump day?

The Supreme Court ruled a while ago, I'm going to say about 100 but I'm not sure, that schools can require that students get vaccinated.  It was required by our local school district to have specific shots.  Small pox and polio are basically eradicated world wide. Around the year of 1900 the average life expectancy in the US was only 40 years.  Today that number has doubled to 79 years.  A large reason for this was vaccinations. 

Lenn, in PA doesn't have a helmet law and Florida is another state that doesn't.

I think that the better example would be cigarette smoking being band in public places, work place or restaurant because of second hand smoke.

I remember a high school history teacher once told us our freedom is limited to protect the rights of others.

These states that have low vaccination rates like Mississippi which has less then 30% of it's population which is only 2.9 million.  Just wait a few weeks after fourth of July parties the infection rates in these areas of the country where the vaccination rates are low will have outbreaks.  Maybe then some of them will start to see the light but by then for some it might be to late.

The famous Maryland Crab.  There is a real shortage down here and prices have gone off the charts with a doubling of the price in restaurants to the point where some places are taken it off of the menu.  Apparently there was a visa program where workers would come for the summer season to work in the crab processing plants.  This visa program was stopped by a few years ago by the Trump administration.  Another factor was blue catfish in the Potomac apparently feast on the crab.  The two have combined to cause the shortage.

I walk 3 miles a day.  One day I day a week I cut my lawn.  It's about the same in distance but with a little more physical exertion. 

The fitness room of my community is reopening on July 1.  At that time I hope to get back to a little weights for about 10 to 15 minutes and an hour on the stationary bike with every 4 minutes of regular riding followed by a 1 minute burst.  I think that this is OK for a 72 year old man.

I do too Lenn.  It brings out the little antenna from the head showing the way he captures the pollen.  Love the detail of the hair on the back and on the legs.  But what strikes me the most is the detail in the Transparent wing structure.  To me it like stain glass windows.

I haven't posted to this thread in awhile.  Here is something that I have been working on for the last few days using Lightroom Classic (LRC), Topaz AI Sharpening and just added to LRC a photo enhancer which allows you to use a cropped photo and add back resolution.  Don't ask me how this stuff works as it is beyond my pay scale and with people way smarter then me.

Now to the photo.  The three are of a bee around 9 AM. 

The first or original is the RAW file out of the Camera. 

The second, Bee Lunch 1, is the output of using Topaz Sharpen AI.  First I made some color adjustments, cropped in closer, adjusted the exposure and ran it through Topaz.  I was elated about the detail in the Bee's wing. 

After the adjustments and running it through Topaz I ran the picture through the new enhanced tool in LRC.  Because I was able to recover some of the resolution, I cropped in closer to see if I could retain some of that detail. The result is the third photo.  I'm still debating which one I like the most but I'm really enjoying what I've learned in working with this.  Lots of fun.

Lenn, the manual I was referring to was manual focus over (AF) autofocus.  You can still use your automated mode for exposure which is usually on the dial on the top of most cameras.  The lens that I was using was a 105 macro. These lens' are great at getting close up to the subject however, the closer you get to the subject narrower the Depth of field.  With the lens that I have I can get as close as 12" but it creates a problem where the autofocus systems sometimes have difficulty obtaining focus because the depth of field is very narrow.  You may have noticed when you try to focus the camera has trouble.  It will go back and forth trying but it can't.  This effect is more prevalent in a Macro lens but can also happen in other lens.  When this does happen under difficult conditions like the wind that you are referring too you should turn autofocus to manual and try turning the focus ring on the lens while keeping your exposure set to auto.

I have one basic premise that I follow.  I'm not privy to the information that people that do this for a living have at their disposal.  As a result I have an investment firm that I'm comfortable with handle it for me.  I guess I'm more like Lenn then some us but I feel that there is no way that I can compete with the big guys who have too many tools that they they use.

This past week my wife and I each got a set of hearing aids.  The place where my wife retired from has a good insurance policy that covers hearing aids up to $4,000 for each of us so we agreed that we take advantage of it while it was available to us.  We went to get tested and finally got fitted this past thursday.  I can now hear things that I never heard before.  Like a light switch making a strange sound. The other day when we were checking out of a grocery store I mumbled something with my back turned away from her and she heard everything that I said. I don't know if this is a good thing.

The pieces that fit in the back of the ear have blue tooth so we are able to connect my cell phone to the devices and listen to music, podcast or whatever.  We got the one that recharge so we don't have to change the batteries.

Now all we need is for this state to get some vaccines so that we can protected.  We are on several wait list but we have been checking with the state, the local hospital, and pharmacies and nothing is available.