Mostly So My Mom Knows I'm Not Dead.

So it's been about a year since I've posted here. Yes, I've been busy, but that's no excuse. The good news is that some of that "busy" has been spent on herping and photography, and I've been able to add a modest number (10 to be exact) of species to the life list. I will provide a fully updated list in a later post, but but thought I might leave you with a photo essay (of sorts) of the additions.

Here they are, in order of appearance.

Plethodon dorsalis /Zig-Zag Salamander (Indiana)

Plethodon electromorphus /Ravine Salamander (Ohio)

Hemidactylium scutatum /Four-toed Salamander (Ohio)

Trachemys scripta elegans /Red-eared Slider (Ohio)

Nerodia sipedon pleuralis /Midland Water Snake (Illinois)

Bufo americanus charlessmithi /Dwarf American Toad (Illinois)

Pantherophis (Elaphe) obsoletus /Black Rat Snake (Illinois)

Lampropeltis c. calligaster /Prairie King Snake (Illinois)

Eumeces fasciatus /Five-lined Skink (Illinois)

Pantherophis (Elaphe) vulpinus /Eastern Fox Snake (Ohio)

Not a huge haul of new stuff, but some of those (such as the skink, the Black Rat Snake, and the Fox Snake) were long overdue. Sort of like this post . . .

Photo Update

All were taken on my new camera, a Canon Powershot A720 IS. Click on the photos below for the unobstructed version.

I think the biggest way my new camera has improved my picture taking has little to do with the camera itself. In researching cameras and, especially, reading the manual for my new Powershot, I have learned alot about photography in general, and playing with the manual and semi-manual settings has helped me understand how each affects the resulting image.

Yeah, I might be the next Ansel Adams. We'll see.

Follow Your Heart, Not the Law?

One of the most lasting impressions any president makes on our nation is made indirectly. I am talking about the judges he (perhaps someday, she) appoints to the Federal Court system. While policy direction and decision making changes with each administration, and laws enacted can be altered or repealed, judges can, if they wish, serve for life. Because their decisions become the basis for future decisions (this is called "precedent"), the ideology of a judge can impact decisions directly for decades, and, indirectly for literally centuries.

Many, myself included, believe that while the Constitution can demonstrate flexibility by being applied to a nearly infinite number of situations, the principles themselves within the Constitution are essentially unchanging, and ought to be construed to mean what they meant to the founders. Words mean what words mean. This is called "constructionism".

Senator Barack Obama, however, sees things a bit differently, as this article points out.

Speaking in July 2007 at a conference of Planned Parenthood, he said: "[W]e need somebody who's got the heart, the empathy, to recognize what it's like to be a young teenage mom. The empathy to understand what it's like to be poor, or African-American, or gay, or disabled, or old. And that's the criteria by which I'm going to be selecting my judges."

On this view, plaintiffs should usually win against defendants in civil cases; criminals in cases against the police; consumers, employees and stockholders in suits brought against corporations; and citizens in suits brought against the government. Empathy, not justice, ought to be the mission of the federal courts, and the redistribution of wealth should be their mantra.

If elected, Barack Obama will have the responsibility of nominating up to 6 Supreme Court Justices and many, many more judges to lower courts. This is one more arena in which a vote for Obama is a vote for pragmatism over principle.

Don't Faint, Pray!

Hey Folks,

I thought it would be appropriate after the last two "downer" posts to kind of give you "the rest of the story". It was, in fact the day that I linked the article below on Sen. Obama's (Dem., IL) positions on abortion, that I was immediately reminded of the prayer of Nehemiah. I have prayed it several time since, and quote it below for your encouragement.

And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.” As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father's house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant Moses. Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’ They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand. O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of [the king].”

Nehemiah 1:3-11a (ESV)

Obama's Tax Cut: Just Words.

You may recall one particularly impassioned speech (some of which was borrowed, with permission) Senator Barack Obama gave during the democratic primary race, decrying the claims of Senator Clinton's campaign that Senator Obama was merely a gifted speaker who had little more than words to offer. Here's a snippet.

Don't tell me words don't matter. 'I have a dream' -- just words. 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal' -- just words. 'We have nothing to fear but fear itself' - just words. Just speeches.

Sounds good, right? But Senator Obama's true regard for words and their meaning are exposed in this article by Phillip Klein.

[Senator] Obama is getting away with defining tax cuts so broadly, that future candidates will simply claim any form of increased government spending as a tax cut. Under Obama's logic, higher food stamp allowances and expanded state funding of the arts could be dubbed "food tax credit" and "arts tax credit" respectively, and also qualify.

Senator Obama's usage doesn't merely reduce the term "tax cut" to just words; it reduces it to words devoid of any meaning whatsoever.

P.S. And Philip Klein gets an A+ in journalistic questioning.

Hitler Only Killed 6 Million Jews

The United States of America allows the murder of over 1 million unborn babies every year, about 40 million since 1973.

For Senator Barack Obama, that number isn't quite high enough.

In an act of breathtaking injustice which the Obama campaign lied about until critics produced documentary proof of what he had done, as an Illinois state senator Obama opposed legislation to protect children who are born alive, either as a result of an abortionist's unsuccessful effort to kill them in the womb, or by the deliberate delivery of the baby prior to viability. This legislation would not have banned any abortions. Indeed, it included a specific provision ensuring that it did not affect abortion laws. (This is one of the points Obama and his campaign lied about until they were caught.) The federal version of the bill passed unanimously in the United States Senate, winning the support of such ardent advocates of legal abortion as John Kerry and Barbara Boxer. But Barack Obama opposed it and worked to defeat it. For him, a child marked for abortion gets no protection-even ordinary medical or comfort care-even if she is born alive and entirely separated from her mother. So Obama has favored protecting what is literally a form of infanticide.

God have mercy on our nation.

Don't Take My Powershot Away

Cuz you can clearly see what I'm capable of doing with it (click on all pics in this post for a higher resolution image).

Actually, the photo above was taken on my old HP 733 Photosmart camera. The Canon Powershot A720 IS (or perhaps the A650 IS) is the camera with which I hope to replace what has become a barely serviceable dinosaur. While we've been able to capture plenty of memories (and more than a few herpetological records) with it, it does have it's drawbacks. For starters, it has 3.1 megapixels, which used to be a fair amount, but, as with all things kilo, mega, and giga, has been left in the dust. It also has only 3x optical zoom; I would like more. But the main reasons I am looking at new cameras are more related to quality issues than cutting edge features.

The picture below illustrates one of the reasons I am moving on. As you can see, the average quality of candid shots in full point and shoot mode on the HP 733 is, well, below average. This was the best of several shots, and its still only ok. By the way, this is what became of the cantelope above. Ella nearly put a hole in the countertop eating hers.

And while taking the shot above, the other two big quality problems with my current cam manifested themselves. For some reason when I take a picture, the 733 can take several seconds writing it to the memory card-- occassionally it never does "take". This can cause me no end of frustration when taking several pictures in short succession. Also, my battery ran out. This camera gets about 75 shots per set of batteries. Irritating.

While looking for a new camera, I have actually learned quite a bit about photography. I am now fairly knowledgeable on such subjects as f-stop, ISO "speed", shutter speed, white balance, etc. The two pictures below made use of my new found knowledge, again, on the weary HP 733.

This first pic was taken at the highest ISO setting on my current cam-- 400. I was hoping to introduce a bit of distortion (noise) into the picture so that when I did a couple minor things with it in Photoshop, it would look more authentically old-fashioned. I think it worked fairly well.

This next photo was taken at my cam's highest f-stop (smallest aperature or opening), which is 4.8, in order to get a greater depth of focus (or is it field-- I still get those two mixed up). I also adjusted the white balance to compensate for the afternoon sunlight that was flooding this west-facing window.

Really, the box of crayons makes it, no?

The camera I hope to get has a much greater range of ISO settings, aperature sizes, shutters speeds and such options, as well as boasting a 6x optical zoom and a 12.1 megapixel picture size. It even has image stabilization and face recognition capabilities. Pretty soon they'll make cameras that can be your best friend!

At any rate. That's my newest deal. Hopefully the quality of my pictures reflects the investment ($ for b-day is a great idea, wink-wink), as I suspect in my Alzheimer's-riddled old age, they will be all I have for memories.