Brooks and Lindalee came up for the weekend and we had our friends over for a patio party on Saturday. Everyone had fun and I had a little too much vodka/beer/tequila so I was content to watch TV all day Sunday. Brooks and LindaLee had to head home Sunday morning as they had a small fencing job to do before Brooks headed back to work in Fort McMurray on Tuesday.
My new lens arrived for my Nikon D200. I went down to the water to take a few test shots with it and they look pretty good. It is lighter and smaller than the old one. I had to pay $56 taxes on it which seldom happens. Usually things just arrive in the mail but this package was flagged to go through customs inspection. Like I say, it doesn't happen often so I can hardly complain when it does. I still saved a hundred and fifty dollars over buying it here.
I have been watching the Zimmerman trial in Florida. They are just about to put it to the jury. I do not have good feelings about the outcome. Too many people in the US feel it is OK to shoot an unarmed teenager just because you don't like the "look" of him. The victim is a young black male and the jury is all women, five whites and one Hispanic. The tide is definitely against minorities these days what with the Supreme Court's recent decision on the Voter Rights Act. Like I say, I do not have good feelings, I think he might get off. Too much time was spent of who was on the ground and who was screaming what. Face it, the "crime" committed by the teenager was "Walking While Black" and he paid the ultimate price.
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ReplyDeleteSorry, "Unknown", I do not accept comments from anonymous people and registering as "Unknown" with no profile is the same thing.
ReplyDeleteJuries should represent the makeup of the community, white, black. young, old, male, female. Not all of one of the above but a mixture.
ReplyDeleteStill sounds like a great deal on your new lens, had fun with it.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSpelling error on the previous post.
ReplyDeleteHow about we just let the legal system do it's thing and then accept the outcome?
Or were you actually there and know exactly what happened?
And one other thing. Nobody in this country thinks "it is OK to shoot an unarmed teenager just because you don't like the "look" of him". That's absurd.
ReplyDeleteAnd one last thing. The SCOTUS decision on gay marriage seems to me like it shows the tide is turning *for* minorities.
Say what is on your mind Don! ;)
ReplyDeleteI just can't stop thinking, what did the Martin kid do wrong? He bought snacks to share with his younger half-brother (father's girlfriend's son) and was going to his dad's place to watch a basketball game. He had every right to be there. He was followed (stalked) by an armed adult who outweighed him by 40 pounds. How can he end up shot dead and it be OK?
No, I was not there, no one was except the two of them and one can no longer speak for himself. That is the problem. I was not there but I heard everything the jury heard. If it was a white kid walking through Zimmerman's neighborhood to his dad's house, Zimmerman probably would not have taken a second look at him. He would not have made the news. He would have been the "right" color.
Say what you want, Trayvon Martin was profiled. All Zimmerman knew or could see was that Martin was black. Because of this he was "suspicious" and a "f...ing punk" and he was not going to get away with it, whatever Zimmerman thought "it" was. Maybe the jury will say that is NOT OK.
I am awaiting the verdict with baited breath.
And yes, SCOTUS did get it right on the DOMA case. I will give them one out of two.
Again Croft you are making assumptions based on your bias.
ReplyDeleteNobody is arguing whether Martin had a right to be there.
But you HAVE to look at the evidence. Zimmerman had quite a few injuries yet the only one Martin had was a gunshot.
I know you understand this but here's a very possible scenario. Martin gets pissed because a "crazy white cracka'" is following him. He confronts him (we know this happened because we heard Martin's (credible?) friend say she heard it). Martin then initiates a fight (we also know Martin liked to fight although the biased judge wouldn't allow it as evidence). Martin is on top of Zimmerman pounding his head into the concrete (we know Martin was on top because of the one person who saw it best, and incidentally was a witness for the prosecution).
Just because Zimmerman outweighed Martin says nothing about the fitness difference between a 17 year old kid (pretty close to a man) and a much older Hispanic man. I outweigh many, many people yet many, many of those could beat me to a pulp.
I don't know what happened nor do you but you refuse to consider so much of the evidence. All you want to see is the poor little black kid who was hunted down and killed. There is 0 evidence to support your theory. Even that nutjob girl he was talking to on the phone gave evidence that Martin was not a simple victim. If Martin had just kept walking home this never would have happened but he chose to confront Zimmerman.
I think that if the situation had have been reversed it would have ended very differently. If George Zimmerman had been walking home with a loaf of bread or a can of ice tea and Trayvon Martin was driving around with a gun. If Trayvon Martin had got out of his car and stalked and killed Zimmerman what would have happened?
ReplyDeleteWould you now be saying Zimmerman liked to fight? After all he was taking MMA training and carried a gun. Obviously a fighter. I have no martial arts training and do not carry a gun, but that's OK, I am not a fighter. Would it matter then who was on top the most and who wasn't? Or would it have even have gotten this far? Would Sean Hannity have been raising a million dollars for Trayvon Martin?
Well, we got our answer. It IS "OK to shoot an unarmed teenager just because you don't like the "look" of him". Gotta love that Gun Culture!
ReplyDeleteInvestigate Benghazi? No way. Investigate Fast & Furious? Nope. Investigate the IRS? Can't be bothered. Investigate someone who was found Not Guilty by a jury of his peers? Absolutely!
ReplyDeleteThis shows just how wacko the left wing is.
What does a black parent in America tell their son? Don't go out in the evening? Don't feel safe walking the same streets and subdivisions that white people can walk? Watch what you wear?
ReplyDeleteYou say Trayvon "liked to fight". I saw little evidence of this. Zimmerman on the other hand took MMA training and carried a gun. Trayvon had a cell phone. Which one was "looking for a confrontation"? Which one was the "fighter"?
An innocent, unarmed kid is stalked and killed by an armed adult who is judged to be innocent. And you justify it. Trayvon was a human being with all the same rights as Zimmerman and yourself. Do YOU fear walking in the evening in case some gun toting cop wannabe sees you as a "fu%$ing punk" and kills you. Should we live in that fear?
Is wanting or expecting a society where we can go about our peaceful business without being attacked and killed "wacko"? I don't think so.
Don says to "look at the evidence." The most telling evidence was the police recording of Zimmerman when he phoned the PD as he was following Martin. On the recording Zimmerman said, "This guy looks like he is up to no good or he is on drugs or something." Zimmerman is also heard saying, "these assholes, they always get away."
ReplyDeleteAbout two minutes into the call, Zimmerman said, "he's running." The dispatcher asked, "He's running? Which way is he running?" The dispatcher asked Zimmerman if he was following him. When Zimmerman answered, "yeah," the dispatcher said, "We don't need you to do that." Zimmerman responded, "Okay."
The bottom line is that Zimmerman wasn't acting as a neighborhood watch. Neighborhood watch are trained to watch only and let the police do the pursuing. Zimmerman profiled Martin, stalked him and did not stop when advised to do so by the police dispatcher. He acted more like a vigilante than a neighborhood watch. That is evidence Don.
Actually Bill the MOST telling evidence was the many contusions on Zimmerman's head and his broken nose while the only injury on Martin was the gunshot.
ReplyDeleteYou folks keep saying things that weren't in evidence. There is NO evidence that Zimmerman "stalked" him. There is NO evidence that Zimmerman profiled him. NBC made that up, or did you forget?
There was evidence that Martin confronted Zimmerman. There was evidence that Martin was on top of Zimmerman and pounding him. There was evidence that Martin was angry about a "white ass cracka'" following him. There was lot of evidence that Martin was the aggressor but you guys just completely ignore it.
And Croft, carrying a gun is perfectly legal when you have a permit. Concealed Carry is not given to people who just want to be a vigilante.
I'm amazed at how you guys ignore so much evidence that shows Martin was the aggressor in the incident. I'm amazed at how anyone can look at a verdict delivered by 6 older women of whom 5 of them were mothers themselves and not realize they rendered a just verdict. They saw all the evidence the 2 sides were permitted to show and came back with a Not Guilty verdict. They did that because they couldn't say Zimmerman deserved anything else "beyond a shadow of a doubt".
I will agree with both of you on a couple points. Martin was an innocent kid when it started and if he had just kept walking home instead of confronting Zimmerman this wouldn't have happened. If Zimmerman had just stayed in his car it wouldn't have happened. But neither of those things did happen and we have to deal with what did. And what did was the taller, more physically fit kid was beating on a balding chubby man and that man felt his life was in danger so he did what he had to do.
Nice spin Don.
DeleteWhatever Bill.
ReplyDeleteLet's see what Croft was saying back when this first happened.
From the Tioga George forum. Here's a link to the post.
http://forums.vagabonders-supreme.net/post/show_single_post?pid=1273053292&postcount=55
And here's what Croft said.
"Charges! That is all I wanted. Now it is up to the jury to decide. Does anyone think it would have come this far without the public outcry? It would have been buried on page 12, just another case of an unimportant black kid getting shot. Now his parents will at least get some satisfaction."
Seems to me Croft really meant to say "Guilty! That's all I wanted."
Just like all those on the left who only wanted to get it to a jury and then whatever the jury decided was okay with them. And then when the jury decided something they didn't like they changed their tune.
And one more little thing Croft posted.
Here he is with his girlfriend. The one he was talking to on the phone seconds before he was shot.
http://static.globalgrind.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/gallery_image/images/2012_april/trayvon-martin-girlfriend-larger.jpg
Umm, that's not the same girl that testified.
Here's something that you really should be angry about.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.soopermexican.com/2013/07/14/in-513-days-between-trayvon-dying-and-the-zimmerman-trial-verdict-11106-blacks-have-been-murdered-by-other-blacks/
OK, I suspected who you were Don, now it is confirmed. Tioga George has a forum with a "Politics and Religion" section where wide open unmoderated discussions take place on all kinds of subjects. Don and I are participants (sparring partners) of that forum. It has been inactive for a few months so Don must have gotten bored.
ReplyDeletePlay nice Don, this Blog is Family rated and I don't want to pull out the "Moderate" button.
Of course Croft. I played nice on George's board until vancamper turned into a major jerk.
DeleteAnd I certainly wasn't trying to hide who I was.
I have stopped posting on George's forum because he asked me to. How much nicer can I get? ;)
Well, that forum pretty much died since you left, probably not entirely a bad thing. I just saw your comment on a previous post on that 8 mm fisheye lens you bought! Very nice, I would love to play with one of those. I did not realize they were that cheap. I see you can buy one with a chip that works with the Nikon's "in focus" light, although with the depth of field provided by that wide an angle lens, it is hardly necessary.
DeleteI have the Tokina 12 - 24mm but the 8 takes things to a new level.
Comments on posts older than 5 days automatically go to moderation which I always forget to check so I was not ignoring you.
Don, have you seen this report? That same 8mm is sold under several different names.
Deletehttp://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/8mm-f35.htm
I hadn't seen that one but I had seen a different review where the reviewer liked the lens a lot.
ReplyDeleteI had heard it is made by Samyang and then sold by several different companies like your review says.
If you are interested I got it on Ebay. I think I mentioned it was only $249 including shipping. Looks like he has 1 left.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/350811944981?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1497.l2649
The one I got has the AA/AE chip. Rokinon advertises it for $399 I think.
As you mentioned the infinity focus setting is pretty close. It's something like 5 feet. It would be nice if the lens was a little faster but for outdoor shooting it's great.
I think I have all the glass I need now. Not sure if I mentioned I have a D5000. I would love a D7000 but I'll keep the 5000 until I break it or win the lotto.
Do you have a favorite type of shooting? I enjoy doing panoramas. Here's the link to a few I've done.
http://donlafferty.com/vacation2010/
I use PanoramaStudio 2 and like it quite a bit. I had to pay but it does a great job.
Where they get you on some of those eBay deals is the shipping to Canada, $52 in this case which brings the cost up to $301 so other sellers who want more for the lens but give reasonable shipping are the better deal. It would just be a toy for me and I do have the Tokina 12 - 24 which I don't use as much as I should. My camera is a Nikon D200.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite lens has to be my Tamron 90mm 2.8 Macro. Great flower lens but it cost a bundle.
I have not tried panorama or stitching. My favorite photos are candid telephoto shots of Mexican kids but you really have to be in stealth mode and not let them see as they are typically very shy. Other than that, landscapes and street scenes top the bill.
I just got Lightroom 4.4 and am starting to learn it. I also have PhotoShop CS2 and Nikon Capture NX, both old versions but they still work with Windows 7.
** I just checked out the panoramas on your website. Very nice! I have to admit this is the first time I have ever really looked at a panorama like this. It is something I will have to investigate.
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ReplyDelete