The Expanding Man

I've been tossing up buying something mirrorless and smaller than my D7000. Can I ask what pushed you back to DSLRs?

More Holga shots. This time, I developed the film myself.

Can anyone name a more self-referential genre of music?

I'm in the market for a wide angle lens for my D7000. My research is pointing me to the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8. I can get the first model for a pretty good price. The newer model comes with internal auto-focus motors (which I don't need) and a new type of coating (which sounds interesting but probably not worth the extra $150). Anybody own one of these lenses and have any experiences to share? Anybody found a better option?

Realistically, how can this be achieved? I doubt private health insurers would meet these aims. Even if they tried, there would be gaps in coverage. Your political system seems unable or unwilling to introduce a universal subsidised health scheme. I'm an outsider, so forgive me if I get these things wrong.

I just ran my first roll of film through a $20 ebay Holga: It's quite a fun experience. Holga: makes the suburbs look interesting.

It determines how easy or hard it is for the mentally ill to get access to the weapons that make them more efficient killers.

Fair enough. Can I put it this way? Your car engine suddenly stalls and won't restart. Your fuel gauge says empty. Do you conclude you are out of gas, or do you conclude you have engine troubles and a seperate problem, a faulty fuel gauge? It may be the latter but it is far, far more likely to be the former. A Nation reduces levels of gun ownership. Homicide rates involving a firearm (as a percentage of all homicides) declines, and homicide rates as a whole also decline. Is it due to reducing gun ownership or lack of donuts?

Governments can't stop every bad thing happening. Hopefully the graphs posted above show that governments can reduce bad things happening. Governments could prevent all road deaths by reducing the speed limit to 5 mph. The cost is enormous: the economy would revert back to the pre industrial era. Governments could reduce the homicide rate by introducing gun control. The cost is not so great. Just reduce the availability of guns. Require a criminal record check as a condition of ownership. Enact the ability to revoke gun ownership due to mental health issues or criminal convictions. Restrict the type of weapons available. It won't solve the problem, but it will reduce the problem.

I acknowledge that as an outsider, there are certainly things to this debate that I do not understand. Please excuse any offence I may cause with this post. 28 people have just lost an even more basic right. What should a nation do when these different rights compete with each other? I'm genuinely curious - Is there more to this side of the debate than accepting that the costs of this constitutional right are these semi-regular tragedies?

All I'm really trying to do is to tell you how another country responded positively to such a tragedy. Food for thought. That's all.

There have been no further mass shootings that I can recall following changes in the law. The Port Arthur massacre that led to gun buyback laws involved the fatal shooting of 37 people by one lunatic with automatic weapons. As to overall statistics of the percentage of homicides involving a firearm (out of all homocides), a clear down ward trend since the gun buy backs laws: Overall homicides during the relevant period also show a downward trend: Source: http://www.aic.gov.au/statistics/homicide.html

My home country experienced a mass shooting in 1996, the Port Arthur Massacre. The government response was to legislate to forcibly buy back all automatic weapons at market value. In summary, the current position is that you can shoot a hand gun at a pistol club, but the gun stays at the club. Farmers and hunters are allowed small calibre rifles. We've had no further slaughter of the same scale for 16 years.

Paid.

I've just come off a 4 day jury trial that finished last Friday. This required working for 3 and a half full days of preparation, and working from 5:00 am to at least 7:00 pm every day of the trial to keep on top of things.

Apple will update the OS and kickstart his muthafucka pimp ass out on the street. And eventually release an equivalent product.

Possibly 4. Pro.

For the first time in a very long time, I walked into a record store and had to buy what they were playing:

It's about best reproducing the timbre of the instruments on the recording of the music you are playing. If you are listening to instruments primarily constructed from wood, such as classical string quartets or guitars (both acoustic and electric), then you should use a headphone constructed from wood. However, if your music is of instruments primarily constructed from plastic, such as synthesisers or drum machines, then you should use headphones with a plastic housing. This is true, I read it on the internet.

Shot in my home town.

I think they're trying to pull the wool over your eyes.

Just spent a week in Thailand trying out some new (to me) rangefinder gear (Leica M4 + Konica Hexanon 50 f/2 and Bessa R3A + CV 40 f/1.4). Can't remember what is what: