Friday  25 Aug 2017           comment?

A US Attorney recently moved to postpone a trial because

The case agent in this matter, ATF Special Agent Chad Horst, will be unavailable for trial from August 21 through to August 23, 2017. Agent Horst will be out‑of‑state from August 19 through to August 23, 2017, on a pre‑paid trip to view the total solar eclipse, scheduled to occur on August 21, 2017. The last time such a total eclipse is estimated to have occurred is June 1918.

The path across the USA of the June 8, 1918 eclipse was similar to the one this month but there have of course been various other opportunities to see total solar eclipses since 1918.

The judge denied the request, quoted lyrics from the Carly Simon song You're So Vain, took issue with the description of an eclipse as "total" when you can still see the sun's corona, found the phrase "scheduled to occur" odd when applied to an eclipse, and said

The present motion proposes to subordinate the time and resources of the court, of the opposing counsel, of the witnesses, and of the jurors to one person's aspiration to view a "total" eclipse for no more than two minutes and forty‑two seconds. To state the issue distinctly is to resolve the issue decisively.

The trial ended up being heard yesterday (by the judge; the defendant waived his right to a trial by jury) so maybe Agent Horst went to see the eclipse anyway.

The case was about unlawful possession of firearms. The defendant claimed he hadn't consented to a search of his car but according to the police he said, "Uhhh, sure." The prosecution cited another case as precedent in which a response of "yeah, I guess" was ruled to have expressed consent.

Wednesday  23 Aug 2017           comment?

I didn't see this week's total eclipse because I didn't feel up to making a long drive. Had I gone, though, I would've liked to have found a spot to be alone during totality. I've seen a total eclipse in the company of others (in 1991) and I'd like to try the alternative. You can't hear how silent an eclipse is when people around you are making all manner of noise.

I like seeing the thin crescent moon after a total solar eclipse (any eclipse, not necessarily one visible near me). I imagine the moon to be discreetly preening, basking in the satisfaction of having contributed to the spectacle a few days before.

Monday  21 Aug 2017           comment?

It is the punishment of the South that its Robert Lees and Jefferson Davises will always be tall, handsome and well‑born. That their courage will be physical and not moral. That their leadership will be weak compliance with public opinion and never costly and unswerving revolt for justice and right. It is ridiculous to seek to excuse Robert Lee as the most formidable agency this nation ever raised to make 4 million human beings goods instead of men. Either he knew what slavery meant when he helped maim and murder thousands in its defense, or he did not. If he did not he was a fool. If he did, Robert Lee was a traitor and a rebel—not indeed to his country, but to humanity and humanity's God.

- W. E. B. Du Bois, 1928

Nowadays we have Republican politicians standing by Tr‑‑p lest they fall out of favor with their constituents.

Friday  18 Aug 2017           comment?

I wandered around the grounds of the Googleplex for the first time yesterday. I was underwhelmed.

Google used to number at least some of their buildings with transcendental or imaginary numbers but all the ones I saw this week were numbered with integers (boring).

There weren't many pieces of outdoor art and none that I found interesting.

My favorite part of the campus was an embedded non‑Google property, i.e. a holdout:

Wednesday  16 Aug 2017           1 comment

Monday  14 Aug 2017           comment?

A discussion in a photography forum got me to thinking about what I like about black and white images (only some of which I can put into words).

Smooth gradation looks awesome in black and white, e.g. an area of sky fading from one gray level to another. Smooth gradation is of course also possible in color but there's something sublime about how it looks in black and white.

Black and white lets you take considerable liberties in altering contrast. When you darken skies with a red filter (or the digital post-processing equivalent), the resulting image is artificial but it doesn't look blatantly, annoyingly artificial.

Sometimes color is a distraction. Some compositions are about form and shape.

In any case, my interest in black and white is not about nostalgia. I don't aim to make pics that look like they were taken 100 years ago, nice though some 100 year old pics are.

Thursday  03 Aug 2017           comment?