Thursday, July 08, 2021

Thursday Rambles - Perspective






How we see or understand things, so changes what we see or understand.  

A couple of recent news items.  

Bill Cosby was released from prison.  The prosecutor, broke an agreement, resulting in the admission of evidence in the criminal trial, that the prosecutors office had previously agreed they would not use.  The outcome is painful, but I think the judge did the right thing. The conviction was the result of using evidence that should not have been used by the state. It is hard to say if that evidence made a difference, but the state has to stand by it's word, or face the consequences.  I still wouldn't let my loved one's party with him in a hotel room.  

A high rise condo in Florida collapsed, killing what will likely be 100 people by the time they are finished searching through the rubble.  I live in a reinforced concrete high rise.  There are tens of thousands, probably hundreds of thousands of building like this around the world, and collapses are rare, but they can happen.  Usually a result of defective construction, and or lack of maintenance.  The lack of maintenance was obvious in Florida. The board had been fighting for several years over the need to repair deterioration of the structure, no one wants to pay, but high rise buildings are expensive to maintain or repair.  When I was condo shopping here in Northern Virginia, I looked at a couple of places that had much lower monthly maintenance fees - and it showed.  I stepped out on the the terrace on one, and felt that it was going to fall off, I looked over and the brick was seperating from the wall ten stories up.  My condo fee is high, higher than the mortgage payment on my first house - but the buildings are meticulously maintained.  As I see it, you get what you pay for.  If you don't pay for it, it falls down.  

I bought another camera.  I had been thinking for sometime now that I wanted a second one, at times it will be handy to be able to change lenses without changing lenses, just grab the second camera, and I wanted a back up, in event of a mechanical failure.  Cameras are pretty reliable, but they are machines and they can break.  A few weeks ago I looked and the salesmen kept showing me the latest and greatest, trying to convince me that I would be happier with the newest.  What I really wanted was a second one of what I have.  I went back last Friday, and was helped by a different salesmen, who understood what I have, what I wanted and why.  He had taken in trade a slightly updated version of the Nikon D5500 DSLR I have been using. I can tell that it has been out of the box, but it looks like new. It works like new, and less than half the price of new.  And it came with a updated version of one of the lenses I already owned.  Again a little back up against future failure, the auto focus mechanism is in the lens, and those will fail in time. Oh, and I can't help myself when looking at a used anything, I simply asked "what is your best price on that?" and he took 6% off the price marked on the box. 

The four images above, are the same scene.  With different effect filters.  Really changes the perspective, depending on how you look at it.     
 

13 comments:

  1. So tragic for Cosby’s victims that that evidence was even used. At least he was released on a technicality and it wasn’t suggested he was falsely accused. The technicality doesn’t make him any less guilty in the eyes of others(, Phylicia Rashād).

    Perspective is fascinating. I love the last version of the “swamp” scene.

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    1. I printed the black and white one in 11 by 17.

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  2. Anonymous7/08/2021

    I think the condo in Miami received the first report in 2018 about the major works to be undertaken. I can't remember if the report said action was urgent. I am not saying there wasn't fault, but three years between a report and the selection of a contractor, due this month, is not a long time line by standards here.

    I like the second photo for colour. Heavily forested areas should look a little gloomy. Really though, I love the black and white.

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    1. I need to think about those settings more often.

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  3. "no one wants to pay" -- a common issue in condos, from what I understand.

    Congrats on the new-to-you camera! The four different filters are really eye-catching.

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    1. We have had good management, I am always careful I vote for board, maintaining high rise buildings is not a place to be cheap.

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  4. The fact that a rapist wants to go on a comedy tour speaks volumes about the ego of That Man.

    I've read that there were plenty of warnings about that building in Florida that went unheeded.

    I love the four photos. They all invoke different feeling of the exact same spot.

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    1. I can't imagine a lot of venues wanting Cosby's name on the sign out front.

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  5. Interesting how you get four different moods from one scene.

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    1. Four shots in a row at different settings.

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  6. Just taking a little time out of my procrastination packing to visit for a bit. I like all of the photos but #3 is my favorite. It reminds me of Bambi, Thumper and the gang. Butterflies and turtles. The others? Alligators, Bigfoot and Swamp Thing. I can appreciate the gloom, but I need the cheer. Stress depression sucks big time!

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    1. The highlights option does look fairytale or artists impression. It will all be okay, I assume you are getting closer to being close the the grandkids?

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    2. Yep. I'm outta here on the 23rd! Yay! We sure have accumulated a lot of stuff in the 18 years we've been in this house. Tell me, are five boxfuls of DVDs too many? I could open my own video store if there still was such a thing!

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