Wow. I didn’t think it was possible for the Republican party to find someone dumber than George W. Bush. They did:
Sarah Palin & Katie Couric, Part One
Sarah Palin & Katie Couric, Part Two
Monkey Boy, move over. Here comes Monkey Girl!
If the real thing isn’t hilarious enough, head over to nbc.com and check out the Tina Fey & Amy Poehler SNL skits. Brilliant!
7 was a lucky number for me. Looking at this image, today I’m tempted to say I don’t feel so lucky. Seeing, feeling & quite literally breathing that day, I have to tell - force - myself, remind myself, that life is circular: every end is a beginning. Still: seven years on, why do I feel that this was a beginning of an end?
When I was in Germany recently to visit my parents, I was devouring two books on photography I’d brought with me: The Digital Photography Book, and The Digital Photography Book Vol. 2, both by Scott Kelby. I had just purchased my first real flash (i.e. a hot-shoe flash to replace the silly little built-in flash that camera manufacturers still bother to include on dSLRs, presumably more as a check-box item on their spec sheet than to provide something that’s actually useful), a Canon 430EX Speedlite. (Crap, when I jumped to Canon’s website just now I learned that they have announced the Canon 430EX II Speedlite to replace the one I purchased just a few short months ago.)
Aaaaanyway… The books really got me into the notion that I wanted to take better photographs with my flash & pointed me to the incomparable Strobist blog, whereupon I decided that hard light is da bomb. See Tim Tadder’s site to understand what I mean. That boy knows how to rock a flash. (Wow, the beer is really kicking in. I don’t usually use expressions like “da bomb” and “knows how to rock” in my standard, cookie cutter repertoire of the English language’s vocabulary, nor do I make so much use of parentheses that the bulk of my writing reflects random thoughts and observations rather than following the main thread of what I’m trying to say.) Needless to say, it wasn’t long before I started to assemble my own little list to buiild an off-camera lighting kit. I looked through the pre-grouped Strobist kits that Midwest Photo Exchange has available but decided that I wanted a bit more control, so I assembled my own:
Excluding taxes (I live in NYC, so B&H charges me tax) and shipping, this came out to US$ 177.45. More expensive than the Strobist kits, to be sure, but it’s what I wanted.
Because of the Hakuba case, the whole order was on hold for over a month. Unlike Amazon.com, B&H has a nasty habit of charging your credit card immediately upon placing the order, even if just one item is out of stock / on back order (as in my case). Today, I finally got an e-mail saying that my order had shipped and is expected to arrive tomorrow. W00t! Just in time for the weekend, and hopefully I’ll be able to put together some decent test shots from which I can move on to the Strobist assignments & get my game on!
Apartment hunting in NYC is a bitch, especially if you’re looking at new construction. These developers must think - and with some justification, considering how much they are still able to sell - that most buyers are morons.
I found a bit of perspective in Eddie Vedder’s rendition of “Society.”
It’s a mystery to me
We have a Greed
With which we have agreed
You think you have to
Want more than you need
Until you have it all
You won’t be Free
Society
You’re a crazy breed
I hope you’re not lonely
Without me
When you want more than you have
You think you need
And when you think more than you want
Your thoughts begin to bleed
I think I need to find a bigger place
’cause when you have
More than you think
You need more space
Society
You’re a crazy breed
I hope you’re not lonely
Without me
Society
Crazy indeed
Hope you’re not lonely
Without me
There’s those thinking more less
Less is more
But if less is more
How you keepin’ score
Means for every point you make
Your level drops
Kinda like you’re startin’ from the top
You can’t do that
Society
You’re a crazy breed
I hope you’re not lonely
Without me
Society
Crazy indeed
I hope you’re not lonely
Without me
Society
Have mercy on me
I hope you’re not angry
If I disagree
Society
Crazy and deep
I hope you’re not lonely
Without me
(c) 2007 Jerry Hannan
Ritika and I visited my parents in Germany in late June. They have rented the same apartment in which they lived when I was born. Wicked, eh? Managed to take some ok-ok pictures, too.
The latest World Bank report on rising food prices isn’t altogether surprising: “Almost all of the increase
in global maize production from 2004 to 2007 (the period when grain prices rose sharply) went for bio-fuels production in the U.S.”
Photography is a mad rollercoaster, with an unlimited access pass to my cheque book.
Ok, so now we know that I suck at metaphors.
Nevertheless, ever since graduation, I’ve reacquainted myself with two longstanding passions: electric bass guitar & photography. In Germany for the last week, I’ve made solid use of my latest acquisition: a Canon EF-S 10-22mm super wide angle lens. Have taken some wonderful pictures that I’ll post once I’ve had a chance to post-process the RAW images. In the mean time, here are some of the test shots I took in New York’s Fort Tryon Park prior to the trip.
The full gallery can be found here.
Having recently stumbled upon Eric Nehrlich’s blog, I also happened to read his (at the time) most recent post with the same title, which I shamelessly stole. I wanted to add my two cents here, since I actually found myself applying to MBA programs (not once, but twice; just search for “mba” on this blog) before learning about and being admitted into the EMSTM program at Columbia University. Oh, did I also happen to mention that I dropped out of the now defunct MSc in Information Systems program @ NYU’s Stern School of Business (where I got my undergraduate degree) to which I was admitted back in 2000 because it turned out to be a crock of shit? I’m not just saying that because I ended up dropping out; they abandoned the program a few months after I decided it just wasn’t worth it, so clearly, I wasn’t the only one who didn’t find it worthwhile.
In any event, I agree with Eric’s assessment of the program. It rocks because it sheds the ivory tower mentality of a university, by acknowledging that theory for theory’s sake confines knowledge in its purest form to academia and thereby renders it largely impotent for many students. Instead, the program emphasizes practical instruction over theory; the latter merely serves as a foundation for the former. The majority of the instructors are “real world” practitioners who bring their experience to bear in what they teach. Perhaps the most compelling component of the program are the mentors, who select their mentees based on proposals that eventually lead to a complete presentation of a student’s comprehension of the unique challenges of technology management. If you happen to be a mid-career technologist who is grappling between the choice of an MBA or something a bit more pertinent, I would urge you to consider the Executive MSc in Technology Management @ Columbia University’s School of Continuing Education. It really is a cut above the rest.
Perhaps I’m just too cynical, but I have a sense that the 21st Century, or at least this part of it, will come to be known as the era of idiocracy, or the Age of Stupid, or something equally ridiculous. On what planet does this or this even remotely constitute anything with which we should be concerned? Fear, uncertainty and doubt all the way. Can’t wait until November, though it’ll likely take decades to undo the waste of life that is Monkey Boy.
