Since 2009, the retirement home of Shot On Site Photography... the source of the finest sighthound performance images in the world. As of August 1, 2022, the blog will become much more photo-centric. Not only will I post images from the homestead in the foothills of the Little Florida Mountains, and surrounding environs, but also tips about shooting, editing, archiving, software, hardware and more. The political rants will become few and far between (but not eliminated! It is 2022 after all!)
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Super Bowl Pick.
Tuesday, November 25, 2008
New Math Geography.
Nearly every day, the twirling globe widget on the sidebar records a visitor from yet another country. It's now up to 229 countries. So, as I was changing the header, yet again, I wondered aloud to Margaret, "How many countries are there?" She said, "Good question, why don't you Google it". So I did.
195 is the answer. Hmmmm.
I think the discrepancy can be explained in the last paragraph:
"However...
Recognize that there are dozens of territories and colonies that are sometimes erroneously called "countries" but don't count at all - they're governed by other countries. Places commonly confused as being countries include Puerto Rico, Bermuda, Greenland, Palestine, Western Sahara, and even the components of the United Kingdom (such as Northern Ireland, Scotland, Wales, and England - they're not fully independent countries, states, or nation-states)."
So, I'll be changing the header to better reflect the reality.
Unfortunately, I don't know all the countries and territories that are
represented there, as it only lists the 30 most popular. The rest are all
bundled under "Other countries". Whoever they are, 229 is still a lot!
Monday, June 30, 2008
Friday, June 27, 2008
Who is That Guy?
...supposedly this is John McCain. Does he look like this guy?
Now that looks like McCain.. (doing his best Pete Coors- well known right wing Nazi- impersonation; love the way the pocket flaps wave in the breeze!). Could it be that the first image has been manipulated to make him appear more... oh, I don't know... younger? Presidential? ...instead of like the old guy in your neighborhood who stands in the yard in his bathrobe, shaking his fist at all the cars, and yelling at them to "slow down!.. whippersnappers!" Hey, it works for all the fashion magazines.
Friday, June 13, 2008
With "Friends" (of the planet) Like This, Who Needs Enemies?
Any of you who may have viewed the Planet Green network in its brief life, let me know if it's really this bad...
"It's impossible to say whether the show's smug superiority is more grating than its anorexic thinness of content, but seeing them in combination may fill you with a kind of retributive rage. I for one want to go out and kill a dolphin."
Monday, May 12, 2008
"Grapes."
Uh... Thanks!.... Somebody.
Let me back up a bit and explain how our mail works.
Full time RVers, like Margaret and I, get to pick where we call "home". Pretty cool, huh? After a lot of research, back in 2003, we chose South Dakota. Thousands of other RVers call South Dakota home, as well, for a lot of reasons, but mostly because there is no state income tax, no vehicle inspections, and vehicle insurance rates that rank among the lowest in the nation.
Where there are incentives like that, there are numerous businesses that sprout up to cater to people like us. One such place, in the tiny town of Emery, SD, is My Home Address, Inc. When you send something to us by USPS, that's where it goes. It gives us a street address in the community that allows us to get driver's licenses, vehicle registration, voter registration and more. For all intents and purposes, were South Dakotans! Unlike many of the people who use this service, we actually stop in from time to time and pick up our mail in person. That lets us go to the bargain hot lunch at the Senior Center, and meet and chat with our "neighbors".
Usually once a week we call Ron at My Home Address and tell him where we'd like that week's mail sent. And that's where we came in...
Last weeks mail delivery came in two packages.. one Priority Mail envelope, containing all the bills, and check
The folks at My Home Address had to obliterate the original address and return address before they put their address label on it, so the original return address is mostly unreadable. I can make out the last three letters on the first line: "son", (maybe "sson"), and the last digit of the zip is "5" (maybe "45", maybe not).
So there it is... somebody knows about my checkered military past, and sent an appropriate gift. If someone doesn't fess up here, it will forever remain a mystery. But thanks... whoever you are. I wore it at the MGA trial this past weekend.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Bone AppetÃt
Tuesday, April 08, 2008
Whats the Matter With Kansas?
We've been on the move for the last week or so.. from Oklahoma to Kansas to Michigan. Kansas was our stop last weekend for an AKC trial outside of Wichita... which leads us to the title of this post. And no, I'm not talking about Thomas Frank's excellent book by the same name, wherein he investigates why hundreds of thousands of poor Kansans voted against their own economic self interest in the 2004 elections. (Hint: they drank the Bush KoolAid).
No, I'm talking about our own wacky experiences in Kansas. First, we stopped in the brand new Wichita World Market... where we've found a wine we really like. Once in the store, I discovered we weren't going to be there for very long. No wine and beer section! What the hell is this? When leaving, one of the employees asked if we found everything OK... that's all the invitation I needed. Like she was prescient, she said, "Ah, the liquor?... thank you, Kansas". I don't understand what convoluted statutes allow Sam's Club to have a complete liquor store attached to their building, and forbids World Market from selling wine and beer. We never did get any wine.
Then, as we were leaving the state on Sunday, we witnessed a phenomenon we saw a couple of years ago: Every Spring, Kansans set themselves on fire.
They have their reasons. Good ones it turns out, as explained at the link. It's just bizarre to drive past mile after mile of smoldering grasslands. The smell and the haze aren't all that pleasant, but they're working on that.
And then there's "Pastor" Fred Phelps in Topeka. Actually, God hates you, Fred.
Now, I don't want to leave the impression that all is bad and bleak in Kansas. Saturday night we were invited out to dinner at the Kabob House restaurant on Wichita's west side. An intimate (read: small) place, featuring Turkish and Mediterranean cuisine. This was clearly a winner. I had the "Donor Alexander Kabob".... grilled, seasoned lamb, covered with a tomato-butter sauce, together with rice and bulgar. It was sooooo good. Finished up with a delicious Turkis coffee.
Now we're back in Michigan... I'm so glad we weren't still in Kansas when Kansas University won whatever meaningless sports tournament we watched on TV last night. We might have gotten trampled by the celebratory run on the campus malt shops. "Rock. Chalk. Jayhawk." What the hell does that mean? (Can you tell my money was on Memphis?).
Michigan. Snow in the forecast for the weekend. Figures.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Not With a Bang, but a Whimper
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Leave it to the Finns & Russians...
HT Steve Bodio, and/or whoever sent it to him, with info on the band at the link.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
You Want Fries With That?
Whoa!
If you're one of those people, leave a comment, and let me know how you really came to be here. And thanks for helping my visitor count!
Friday, February 22, 2008
"I Don't Know Art.. But I Know What I Like"
Monday, February 04, 2008
The Dark Side.
This was the kind of "luck" that Notre Dame used to have before their god deserted them after the hiring of Charlie Weis. There must be supernatural forces in play here... but not benign forces. These are dark forces. These are Faustian- Robert Johnson down-to-the-crossroads kind of sinister forces. I'm convinced of it. What other explanation could there be for this...
So enjoy your brief notoriety, Eli. Down the road, the piper will still have to be paid.
Damn... I despise that whole hillbilly family ;^)
Friday, February 01, 2008
Life Comes At You Fast...
No indication if Amtrak is looking into the technology for getting the trains to run on time.
Saturday, January 26, 2008
What Bulgarians Want.
I don't know what's more disturbing.. the search, or the fact that we had a post that was, at least on the surface, relevant.
I'm going to go out on a limb, and say this visitor is an old Soviet Bloc female Bulgarian Olympic weightlifter.
Friday, January 11, 2008
T-Rex vs. Blind Faith
We got hooked up, fed the dogs, and went back into Glen Rose for a damn good Italian dinner at Juliany's. (No review links or web page). Second time we've eaten there, and it was just as good this time as the first.
Monday morning we were able to hit a part of the park's extensive hiking trail system. Extensive enough to have a lot of back country camping locations. Our objective, however, was to follow the trail along the river to see the dinosaur tracks, left in the sand over a hundred million years ago, during the Cretaceous Period. The tracks were left by the two critters below,
one vegetarian, one meat eater. The tracks can be seen clearly in the below image, and also in more detail if you click on the new slide show on the sidebar. There's something just really cool about being able to "time travel" like this.
Not to worry, though. Look at those teeth. My T-Rex can shred their Dog-ma.