Noteworthy entries.

My first time getting caught by photo enforcement of a traffic violation.

It didn’t take long to realize what that that "Photo Enforcement Program" letter from the City of St. Louis was all about.   As I opened the letter, the only thing that occurred to me was to make sure whether the letter was for me (as opposed to my wife).  It was for me.  I had gotten nailed by the new photo traffic enforcement system that the City of St. Louis installed near my house.   Over the past 30 years, I've received a total of 2 traffic tickets.  I guess I was due. I was pissed, of course.  This was going to cost me $100 even though I didn’t do anything flagrant.  I had rolled a right turn onto a high entrance ramp through a red light.  This occurred at a traffic light 1/2 mile from my house.  I had done it hundreds of times; hundreds of other safe drivers do it every day.   My crime is that I failed to come to a complete stop before turning right to accelerate down that highway ramp.  I was going about 5 mph around that corner. I remembered the strobe flash going off that day last week; at the time, I wondered whether it was aimed at me.  Sure enough.  I should clarify:  I don't always roll through that right turn.  If ever there is any traffic in the area, or any pedestrians, I always come to a complete stop.

Continue ReadingMy first time getting caught by photo enforcement of a traffic violation.

Stay back because . . .

I saw the sign on the back of the van and I understood that I was to "Stay Back." I just didn't understand why. Not that I was tempted to disobey. I wondered, "Did they forget to lock the back door? Will a prisoner throw the door open and scratch my car's bumper?" I suppose the sign means that drivers should give the sheriff lots of room to get the prisoners in and out of the van. Perhaps the warning could be better phrased, though.

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High-resolution multi-stitched inauguration photo

At Barack Obama's inauguration, David Bergman kept busy with his robotic camera mount used in tandem with his Canon G10 camera. After the inauguration, he used his Macbook Pro to stitch together the resulting 220 images into one gigantic 2gb tiff file. The resulting 1,474 megapixel image is dramatic and fun to explore. Equally impressive is that the Gigapan camera mount and the G10 camera he used are not expensive--they can both be purchased for less than $1,000 (less than $500 each).

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A Rant in Rhyme Saves Time

Here is a beat poem that first appeared on YouTube as a concert bootleg with subtitles about a month ago. The artist quickly had the bootleg taken down. And then received a Storm of protests, requests to post it again. Finally, he put it up himself. Sans subtitles, or even video. So listen well to a rational rant that many of us would love to be capable of delivering. Storm, by Tim Minchin I've seen those warning eyes from both my wives, and held my piece for a while. But the temptation is great to emulate this artists storm of bile.

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… and Non-Believers

Yes, our new Potus has, for the first time in an address by a President, explicitly included in his description of America that faction among us who don't have imaginary friends. Hemant Mehta commented on this, but I saw it live via satellite and felt included. My fellow curly-headed 47 year old with a foreigner for a father took the oath of office, and included me. Not by name, but by my most often ignored demographic categories. In the name of Fair and Balanced, the name of Jesus was also uttered for the first time during an inaugural ceremony during a painfully theistic invocation. Many in the VIP section crowd appeared uncomfortable with it. Ted Kennedy, brother of the first Irish-American and/or Catholic president, was there to see it. Then he was taken to the hospital. Four former presidents dating back to the election of 1976 were there. And I forego naming the other 2,000,000 or so present at the moment. The scene was so overwhelming that the President Elect (a seasoned and elegant public speaker) briefly fumbled during the oath. Quite a day!

Continue Reading… and Non-Believers