Early birthday toy

As I have done for countless years, I will buy a 'toy' for myself as a birthday present. This will always be more of a 'want' than a 'need'. For this year, it's a Canon Speedlight 580EX. I've been wanting a good bounce flash since getting my 30D D-SLR last year. I had a nice Speedlight with my Canon A1 SLR in the early 80s, but I lost it (I believe I loaned it and it never was returned). The 580 makes anything else I used in the past seem as sophisticated as a flashcube by comparison. Full 360 bounce capabilities, flash zoom to match lens length, strobe and wireless capabilities... it's da bomb.

I can finally take pictures in darkness that dont look like flash photography:




Sadly, the flash does nothing to keep me from looking like a fat, bald, old man.

It's gonna take a lot of effort to keep from going accessory crazy like I did with the A1. A couple lenses would be nice though...

Sadly, those things will have to wait, I found out the 18 year old heat pump here has pretty much bitten the dust. It's tough to believe that 1: it's been so long ago that I built this house and 2: I had so much enthusiasm in my youth.

Dark side of the force

I'm practically in stitches over this. Society is doomed, the tairists have won, it's all over but the crying.

The city of Boston has been thrown into a panic by an advertising campaign for Aqua Teen Hunger Force. For those not in the know, ATHF is a subversive animated thing run on Cartoon Network's "Adult Swim" segment of not-for-the-kiddies fare late at night. It seems that these LED panels were placed in various locations around bridges, overpasses, etc. With a pixellated character giving the finger, the devices were seen by some small-minded, live-in-fear people as perhaps a bomb or something. The 'authorities' arrested and charged a man hired to place the adverts with 'placing a hoax device' and disorderly conduct. From the article: "Hoaxes are a tremendous burden on local law enforcement and counter-terrorism resources and there's absolutely no place for them in a post-9/11 world".

A hoax device. It's a damn ad. And kinda clever if you ask me, though one that would really only work with the cognoscenti.

Such stupid, fear mongering people. Grow the hell up and get a damn spine. Too bad the city didnt devolve into a total panic situation. To me, that would have been comedy gold. You get what you deserve, and if living in such unfounded, unnecessary fear is how you run your life, then cower and be as dysfunctional as the fools you are.