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I'm sorry, but I am not sure what you are trying to imply. Just because no one comments does not mean that no one has an opinion (informed or otherwise) or that silence means that you are right or that everyone agrees with you or that there are not counter arguments to what you have written. The lack of comments could simply be that no one wants an argument with you (especially with your privileged role as a moderator), or start a flame war. If the protagonists on both sides in Palestine where equally reserved perhaps there would be fragile peace or even better a pathway to some solutions to the problems. Each side can point to the past, to past atrocities from the other side, atrocities that fuel more retribution and atrocities and naturally lead to attack is the best form of defense arguments. Until there is forgiveness and a willingness to not look at the past the deaths on both sides will probably continue at infinitum. International law says Israel illegally occupied the west bank (United Nations resolutions, including 446, 452, 465, 471 and 476 and United Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 of 2016 reaffirmed this yet again) and then illegally (advisory opinion by the primary judicial organ of the UN in 2004) built settlers homes on what amounted to the front line. If this had occurred elsewhere in a different context the international community would be sending an army to throw the occupiers out... Given this it is hardly surprising Hamas and the Palestinians also use the argument that the Israel is responsible for the deaths and that attack is the best form of defense. And so the atrocities and deaths continue on both sides, each blaming the other and each attacking the other and calling it defense and the human suffering continues.

Two things, actually a number of things: I haven't replied in however many hours because something I ate tried to kill me. Longtime listeners will know that I have chronic digestive issues on the best of days. When I ear the wrong (combination of) things, the results can be catastrophic. I spent much of today accomplishing such tasks as "staying in an upright position" and "keeping solid food down." After that I decided to get my Sonnar on in the afternoon light. The median age in the Gaza Strip is 18. 40% of its population is under 30. The last and only time Hamas got elected was 2006, over 17 years ago. The population of Gaza as it is now, did not vote for Hamas. To suggest otherwise is akin to blaming Gen Z for Trump or Millennials for GW Bush. I find accusations of bigotry are almost never productive to any discussion, especially as we now live in the age where such allegations are constantly being weaponized. In the last few months I had a post on Facebook that had the word "assholes" in it mass reported by a bunch of buttmad cretins and I ended up in the tentacles of FB's AI moderation. There are no humans who monitor content at FB anymore. I now have a strike against my FB account with an unknown number remaining before it gets deactivated. Normally, this would not be an issue, but half of MV life takes place on that accursed site and I need to be there. Similarly, I pluralized the word "autistic" and got an official strike on fucking reddit for hate speech. This is a site that still allows people to have the hard R N-word in their username. With all of this said, anti-semitism is on the rise globally. The richest man in the world gave his praise and approval to some fuckwit pushing the "great replacement" theory. The idea is that Jews are somehow magically using dark skinned people to worsen the lives of good God fearing whites. Also, and it pains me to say this, I have seen supposed leftists chanting "gas the Jews" and other horrible shit. I'm sure some of them are bad actors posing as protestors, but there's no way they ALL are. This behavior is inexcusable. The rise of the toxic left is a worrisome trend. A major and important distinction is that being anti-zionist, or even offering mild criticism of zionism is not the same thing as anti-semitism. Similarly, calling Bibi a corrupt and evil clownstick is not even the same thing as being anti-zionist. Bibi doesn't own zionism, zionism doesn't own Israel and more broadly the country of Israel doesn't own the global Jewish identity. Also, we live in the "No True Scotsman" age. The moment the member of a group does something horrid, that person is magically no longer in that group according to its members. An incel or alt-right loser goes on a mass shooting, and suddenly he's no longer one of them. Similarly, a trans man shot up a bunch of school children this year. There was a not insubstantial amount of denial as to his status as a trans person all over social media, extending as far as (once again) weaponized accusations of bigotry for merely acknowledging the fact that he was in fact trans. This line of non-thinking has certainly been visible in the discussion of the Israel/Palestine conflict. I think comedy has an important role in the discussion of war. The greatest comedian of the modern era had quite a routine on Gulf War I: George Carlin had a thing or two to say as well: I'm not saying that the above two men had a massive shaping of my worldview, but if the shoe fits.... Lastly, I cannot stress how important it is to ignore things like "likes" and other reactions. They're a fucking curse. I use scripts and browser plugins to block them on sites like FB. HC is sufficiently small that TBH they don't have much impact, but they are still best ignored. I say this as someone whose mental health is an a precious balance on the best of days. Ignore that shit.

This is gonna be a long walk, as most such posts are. In early 2010, a now long closed second hand store on MV had two 1990s point and shoot film cameras. They gave them both to me because they didn't want to deal with the hassle of testing them. The first was an awkwardly titled Olympus Trip XB AF 44: Seen here in 2010, taken with my 30D and Orestor 135mm F/2.8 manual, stopped down to F/I-have-no-idea-that-was-13-years-ago. I got the Olympus working, but it died halfway through the first roll I put through it and and would not come back to life no matter what I did. The other camera was a lower end Fuji Smart Shot II: Seen here a few months ago, taken with my 5D IV and 135mm F/3.5 CZJ Sonnar. As I'm fond of saying, the Sonnar is the best actual lens among the ever growing army of manual focus 135mm primes I own. Unlike the Olympus, the Fuji kept running through an entire roll of film. Nothing says quality like "CVS Photostar." The Smart Shot II was made in 1994. I have no idea how old the above roll of film is, nor how long it was the camera. It might be utterly ruined. With that said, I shot the entire thing this summer. As with the other, uh, 4 exposed rolls I've amassed, I still have no idea where I'm going to get it processed. I've also been shooting a fair amount of digital. It's taken me quite some time to make friends with the 5D IV. It's quite a camera, and has a very dense set of controls. The AF system is very complex and I don't like it. I was much faster with my 2006 EOS 30D than I will ever be with the 5D IV. It's a good thing I don't shoot sports. With that said, I have had some successes. This time of year, last light is a fleeting and intense moment. The colors that appear for a few minutes at the end of the day are nuts. I live next to a pod, but across the street is a farm. I traipse through it with my 5D and lens du jour, trying to capture what I can. The above were taken with the 17-40L. The same phenomenon a few days later, taken with the '86 nifty 50 (a lens I much prefer.) These are all more or less "SOOC" with slight edits at most. I also visited the Edgartown waterfront with the 5D and 50, but those shots will have to wait for the moment.

The world is shit enough right now that some smooth music and bourbon together does not go astray.

Maestro: Music by Leonard Bernstein (Original Soundtrack / Dolby Atmos) London Symphony Orchestra, Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Bradley Cooper 2023 https://album.link/i/1716774772 Example: I cannot really recommend it, just because I will never go back to this to listen to. There are some really nice recordings in here, along with rich performances. And then there are works that are clearly outtakes from the movie - that I have not seen. So it becomes very disjointed. Reminding me of the Tar soundtrack. Just give me the full works as they were recorded and then if you want the other stuff stick them in as extra tracks. Anyway, I probably would still like to see the movie.

Started the process of naming all of my equipment after Marvel characters. Still have the Cyclops graphic for the Fiber laser that is still in bound.

RIP former first lady Rosalynn Carter. She was married to Jimmy since 1946(!)