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Music Direct is having a Black Friday "preview" sale. One thing stuck out for me, the Elac Debut 6.2 (newer revision) for half price....abut $150/pr instead of $300. I had owned their Debut 6 model from the original series. It was VERY good, but just a bit too soft for my ultimate liking. The .2 revision supposedly has a better tweeter, so I expect a more balanced sound. If I didn't have maybe 9 other bookshelf speakers I'd grab a pair! ? Fuck, maybe I will anyway.... https://www.musicdirect.com/speakers/ELAC-Debut-B62-Bookshelf-Speakers

Hole in the wall, SF Chinatown fare

Went kayaking at Silver Springs today. Great day for wildlife viewing. Tons of water birds, basking turtles and alligators and most importantly our first manatees. Now relaxing with a wee dram (see imbibing thread for more details).

Agreed....the video makes it especially more compelling

So, Dropped Joanne’s niece, Sophie, off in Corte Madera to enjoy some retail therapy while Joanne and I were at work. Joanne had pointed out https://www.marinij.com/2018/11/19/marin-kitchen-caters-to-canine-connoisseurs/ So Sophie visited and told us all about her trip The fresh vegetables on ice, the open kitchen, how the “consultant nutritionist” “individually tailored” her requirement for some doggy treats for a friends Husky back in Cayman She went with the venison. And sticker shock (maybe the lack of posted prices should be a clue) I would say “only in Marin”, but they have branches elsewhere. https://www.justfoodfordogs.com/

I just got back in touch with my inner 500mm mirror lens. I've had a 500mm f/8 Reflex Nikkor since, basically, forever. For years, well decades, it rode around in my trunk. Eventually - like twenty, twenty-five years ago - the old mirror lens was supplanted by more "practical" long lenses, like a 400mm 3.5, and a 300mm 2.8, then a 500mm 4, 400mm 2.8, and a 600mm 4 when I needed it. You get the idea. The old mirror lens eventually moved from my trunk to the back of my camera cabinet at home. Which I am now trying to civilize. I'm selling old and stupid stuff, putting things in order, getting stuff repaired - the kind of thing you do every ten years or so, whether it's needed or not. And I pulled out the old mirror lens. So I marched outside to the creek with it and sat on the bank and photographed whatever happened by for five minutes and six seconds (according to the Exif data) And this thing is just so damned cool! It used to be that you had about three choices for exposure level for any given film speed (1/500th, 1/1000th, and 1/2000th. Well, and 1/250 most of the time.) Neutral density filters made the lens unfocusable. On a modern digital camera, you've got two more shutter speeds and four more instantly changeable ISOs. The lens fits in a bag, weighs nothing, and is hand holdable to an easy-ish 1/250th. Close focus is very reasonable. It's sharp and contrasty. Not 400 2.8 sharp, but 300 4.5 ED IF sharp, easily. It's "practical" all of a sudden! And now with everybody all about bokeh, those annular highlights are the bee's knees. I checked on eBay. You can grab these things for less than $300 (for the newer series no less) Mr ibis here was shot at 1/250th, handheld, at ISO 400. I don't know if anybody else will find this intriguing, but I'm all (re)excited.

Senior Threat. "The Commodores" The Milky Way rising over Le Bons Bay, New Zealand. An hour of exposure time.

I'm not too proud to like poppy stuff. Bit more punk tonight.

RIP George Ranz, https://www.facebook.com/georgeraczlvd Owner and founder of the Las Vegas Distillery. A big hearted man that was taken before his mission was done - (51 yo) Plowed is sad tonight. Cheers My Friend