The trouble with this site is

[chiane]

Luckily the people of the US are as diverse in opinion and intelligence as anywhere else regardless of the policies of the government or our current unwelcoming behavior. We as a people are mending and growing. Hang in there with us!

Dan

Nice apology for being American. Grow a pair.

 

[palker]

I think about that all the time Billy. Like you I've been around for quite a while now and seen the cast of characters change many times over. Just more food for thought on how we treat each other, very easy from behind a keyboard many thousands of miles away to treat someone much differently than one would if face to face...

A good example is we filled up two threads on Kirk Tuck for what he said in his blog, fascinating to say the least.

I also find it fascinating and very cool, that you're in Aus. I'm stuck in a winter filled part of the Northern U.S. and we can have these conversations and share what each of us brings to the table....

Billy

--
Bill Wallace

http://bwallace.zenfolio.com/

"I'd rather laugh with the Sinners than cry with the Saints"

Well I guess the chaff will float to the surface, and maybe this anonymous posting is closer to our true natures.

I quite like some of Kirk's posting they make sense.

On another photo forum site I was chatting, and realised it was an old friend when he posted an image I recognised. Of course I teased him for a few weeks before I confessed my name.

 

[Vlad S]

The rest of us (English speaking) scattered about the globe very often have a different spin/slant on many things..some not quite so sparky as yours but none the less we sometimes go about things in a different way. Ever thought of that?

I think it would be great if we tried to post more images that are culturally connected. I recall about a year ago there was an amazing discussion based on a shot of spent gun cartriges: http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1041&message=36738721&q=rabbit&qf=m

Vlad

 

[Guy Parsons]

........... (looks like it is summer there, all that scorching brightness . . . hope he has enough water. . . )

Here in Oz in Victoria (Billy's state) and in New South Wales (Guy's state) plus also in Queensland (someone else's state) there has recently been LOTS of rain, general and also disastrous floods in places. We are currently getting weather warnings for most of New South Wales (way bigger than Texas) expecting huge rains and most river systems to flood over the next few days.

This makes a change from the previous 10 to 14 years of drought where city water supplies have been so low at times as to cause panic in places.

The most descriptive part of Dorothea Mackellar's famous poem "My Country" sums it up exactly....

........quote...........

I love a sunburnt country,
A land of sweeping plains,
Of ragged mountain ranges,
Of droughts and flooding rains.
I love her far horizons,
I love her jewel-sea,
Her beauty and her terror -
The wide brown land for me!

...........unquote.............

http://www.dorotheamackellar.com.au/
http://www.dorotheamackellar.com.au/archive/mycountry.htm

The poem describes Oz from the viewpoint of the typical migrant, who would in the early days be from only the British Isles. In fact many of my ancestors came as free passengers in chains in sailing ships, sent here from England and Ireland for crimes ranging from highway robbery to stealing bread.

What we Aussies see most is the "wrong" spelling of USA, in things like color and favor, instead of colour and favour, fall instead of autumn etc etc.

That is conveniently explained by the fact American English was established earlier than Aussie English. By the time Australia was being populated due to the doors shutting in America, the language had moved on and more fanciful spelling had evolved. So we got new English and USA had old English.

Not a stranger to USA as I've lived there for about 3 month periods each in 1967, 1977, 1979 (variously in Ohio, California and Massachusetts but travelling widely on weekends) for computer training and then holidayed for 6 weeks and 3 weeks in 1993 and 1996. I definitely like the general friendliness and hospitality offered. And the scenery..... southern Utah/northern Arizona fascinates me.

As for passports, in Los Angeles area in '93 we met a young woman (mid to late 20's I guess) working in a bookshop who admitted to never ever to have gone outside California, let alone out of USA. And there we were from Oz on a USA driving holiday that took us through 26 States in 6 weeks.

Just like in Australia, USA has lots of good people but a few nasty ones. The world is made up of people like that in every country. The problems start when the nasty ones run the country......

(Oh yes, we use Oz for Australia as it's easier to type, nice weather all year 'round makes for lazy people!).

Regards............ Guy

 

[alfredo_tomato]

Tell your friends about this site. The more diverse, the better.

I'd like to see some Armenians, Ethiopians, Persians, Mongolians, and Malaysians posting here. (If they aren't already)

 

[tedolf]

this is not a general photography forum?

Could someone please explain to him that there is an appropriate place for his photos on DPR but that this is not it?

Would someone tell him that the posting rules serve a useful purpose by allowing others to search threads using the automated search funciton?

Would someone tell him that the world does not revlolve around him and that it revolves around Tedolph?

If you coudl do it with a Cockney'd accent that would be appreciated, mate!

TEdolph

 

[Bobo Hodls]

I haven't travelled all that much, but where I want to return to is the UT/AZ area myself.

Thats the only response I have, other than noting a great appreciation for you taking that time for a good read.

--
...Bob, NYC
http://www.bobtullis.com

"Well, sometimes the magic works. . . Sometimes, it doesn't." - Little Big Man
.

 

[Bobo Hodls]

Do you think it is possible to just ignore Wiggersz? They're only photographs, and easily enough ignored. Or, is this just how you accumulate the prestige of saying nothing more than anyone else?

Your picking/choosing who can/can't post images is predictable and unfair.

Just hit the complaint button just the frack up, basically. You make the s/n ratio in this forum worse by trying to tame it.

--
...Bob, NYC
http://www.bobtullis.com

"Well, sometimes the magic works. . . Sometimes, it doesn't." - Little Big Man
.

 

[Hen3ry]

........... (looks like it is summer there, all that scorching brightness . . . hope he has enough water. . . )

Here in Oz in Victoria (Billy's state) and in New South Wales (Guy's state) plus also in Queensland (someone else's state) there has recently been LOTS of rain, general and also disastrous floods in places. We are currently getting weather warnings for most of New South Wales (way bigger than Texas) expecting huge rains and most river systems to flood over the next few days.

This makes a change from the previous 10 to 14 years of drought where city water supplies have been so low at times as to cause panic in places.

Except for last year and the year before when we had ENORMOUS floods -- high speed ones that killed about 150 people in Queensland and very, very slow floods in Victoria which took months to drain away. Generally, Australia is very flat, seriously, our highest mountain is about 5200 feet and when you drive the 3051 kms/1896 miles from Adelaide in the south to Darwin in the north, the highest point in the road is 727.2 metres/2390 ft above sea level -- that;s a fall (or climb) of 23 cm/km or 15" mile. However, the outback floods in New South Wales are looking like they will beat last year's. Two giant floods are moving together.

Hilariously, the highest point cairn, north of Alice Springs, doesn’t give the height! it does have the nme of the person who built the cairn, though!

What we Aussies see most is the "wrong" spelling of USA, in things like color and favor, instead of colour and favour, fall instead of autumn etc etc.

That is conveniently explained by the fact American English was established earlier than Aussie English. By the time Australia was being populated due to the doors shutting in America, the language had moved on and more fanciful spelling had evolved. So we got new English and USA had old English.

Well, not entirely, Guy. There were choices made in USA spelling to simplify it. They didn't go nearly far enough, however. Australia remained locked to the English/UK spelling because it was part of the British Empire until about 110 years ago, and then the British Commonwealth -- and because English publishers had a lock on Australia (and all Empire/Commonwealth countries).

BUT the Australian Labor Party (the current government in Oz) was a real workers' party back in the day and part of its platform was spelling reform to make it easier for people to become literate. That was crushed by the English publishers early on (Australia didn't get its own dictionary until about 20 years ago, the Macquarie), but the last remnant of it is in the party's name.

Personally, after being a hard line British English type for most of my life as a journalist, writer, and editor, I've turned to the simpler American English...and been amazed at how little difference there is between the two. I thought it was more than it is.

Fascinatingly, if you read older books published in the US, say in the first half of the 20th century, you'll find lots of variation in spelling and punctuation -- somewhat more than in UK publications -- some of it regional. Sadly, the style police in the concentrated publishing ownership have killed that off.

(Oh yes, we use Oz for Australia as it's easier to type, nice weather all year 'round makes for lazy people!).

And in Queensland, the beer is XXXX.

I thought we used Oz because we know the country is run by fake wizards (the money bags) and the whole place is built on a pea and thimble trick!

Cheers, geoff
--
Geoffrey Heard
http://pngtimetraveller.blogspot.com/2011/10/return-to-karai-komana_31.html

 

[JosephScha]

The LAST thing that I would say to ANYONE on this forum is "please don't post pictures".

Before I had u43 I had a Panasonic FZ7 and hung out on the Panasonic forum. I remember Wiggers from there, with pictures of his garden in Australia. The Panasonic forum had so many people posting pictures that every so often someone would point out that that's not what the forum was supposed to be for. And many more people would then tell that person to stifle his complaint. The Panasonic forum WAS about everyone showing, getting feedback, and improving their photography.

We should be so lucky as to have this forum have the congenial attitude, and tons of pictures, as in the Panasonic forum.

 

[Guy Parsons]

Except for last year and the year before when we had ENORMOUS floods -- high speed ones that killed about 150 people in Queensland and very, very slow floods in Victoria which took months to drain away.

Yes, the Southern Oscillation Index rules our weather and for years we had dryness, now we have wetness for a while, then it will go back to dryness. Australia evolved over millions of years to handle the often drought ridden climate so the ability of the wildlife to survive lean periods reflects that.

Generally, Australia is very flat, seriously, our highest mountain is about 5200 feet and when you drive the 3051 kms/1896 miles from Adelaide in the south to Darwin in the north, the highest point in the road is 727.2 metres/2390 ft above sea level -- that;s a fall (or climb) of 23 cm/km or 15" mile. However, the outback floods in New South Wales are looking like they will beat last year's. Two giant floods are moving together.

Yes, heavy rain in Queensland up north can take many months to creep down towards the low points, like Lake Eyre (dry for decades at a stretch) and the Murray-Darling river system and eventually to the sea in South Australia. But usually the water has all been used up or evaporated by then and flows to the sea from the Murray are very rare indeed now.

Oz is really the oldest and most weather worn continent, millions of years more wear and tear than anywhere else.

What we Aussies see most is the "wrong" spelling of USA, in things like color and favor, instead of colour and favour, fall instead of autumn etc etc.

Well, not entirely, Guy. There were choices made in USA spelling to simplify it. ....

I bow to your superior knowledge in these matters but a lot of the English spelling that we use is a wankerised bastardry from French, like the old English word for Fall migrated to USA OK but we ended up with the French affectation of Autumn instead. http://www.dailywritingtips.com/autumn-or-fall/ explains a bit of it.

Personally, after being a hard line British English type for most of my life as a journalist, writer, and editor, I've turned to the simpler American English...and been amazed at how little difference there is between the two. I thought it was more than it is.

I'm steadfastly Aussie English so reject the color/favor style in my scribbling.

Fascinatingly, if you read older books published in the US, say in the first half of the 20th century, you'll find lots of variation in spelling and punctuation -- somewhat more than in UK publications -- some of it regional. Sadly, the style police in the concentrated publishing ownership have killed that off.

I think WordPerfect was the original tool that started to kill Aussie English. Now it's just a matter of being swamped by USA "culture".

Regards........ Guy

 

[bskeet]

Every large, geographically isolated, and very populous country is insular.

In Canada we are very insulated.

 

[tedolf]

Do you think it is possible to just ignore Wiggersz? They're only photographs, and easily enough ignored. Or, is this just how you accumulate the prestige of saying nothing more than anyone else?

it bugs me that he changed his name.

Doesn't it bug you?

Your picking/choosing who can/can't post images is predictable and unfair.

Just hit the complaint button just the frack up, basically. You make the s/n ratio in this forum worse by trying to tame it.

Ack!

I can't hit the Complain button.

I just can't do it.

Can you do it for me?

TEdolph

--
...Bob, NYC
http://www.bobtullis.com

"Well, sometimes the magic works. . . Sometimes, it doesn't." - Little Big Man
.

 

[Detail Man]

Billy ,

I like the generous use of shadows in these pics. Light only emerges from darkness, and seeing shots that actually dare to not illuminate every square Micron of the image-frame are a welcome relief to my eyes and soul. Images that deny the place of darkness are like pieces of music that deny the important of space/silence in between the sounded tones for music to be interesting ...

Wiggerz wrote:

it is lop sided geographically/philosophically etc by Americans. Bless your souls. It has always been the balance and for the foreseeable future will probably remain so. For the last 10 years i have trundled about this place at almost every turn one encounters an all American way.

The rest of us (English speaking) scattered about the globe very often have a different spin/slant on many things..some not quite so sparky as yours but none the less we sometimes go about things in a different way. Ever thought of that?

No nation or culture has an "exclusive" on enlightenment - or it's inverse. While the "ugly american" is an absolute reality that (as it should rightly be, given our sensibilities, or lack thereof, and tangible actions in the world) shames this nation of my origin on a daily basis, it is also true (in specific, and not in overly or unfairly generalized cases) that Brits and Aussies can at times (themselves) be every bit as self-absorbed, abrasive, and inconsiderate as anybody else on the planet. We (Brits, Aussies, and Americans) are all the product of Empires which have speciously and brutally conquered, exploited, and summarily discarded indigenous cultures worldwide in favor of the control and diversion of natural resources on all of the world's continents - all in the name of pig-headed and self-serving "manifest destinies" that conveniently trivialize, exploit, and brutalize the other inhabitants of the planet in favor of our own personal betterment - and commonly while wrapped within the phony flags and banners of nationalistic jingoism and subjective theologies ...

In Lilliputian micro-worlds such as this "forum" - human character becomes clearly evident to those having a head as well as a heart - and the rest wallow in their own pig-headed and blind ignorance.

The company that we choose to keep either uplifts the human spirit, or relegates it to a dank swamp of self-inflated ignoramuses and self-serving bullies, all (in their own minds) desperately clawing their way to the top of some imagined heap of writhing festooned clowns and posers ...

Big fish love small ponds - but it remains dubious whether the opposite may, or may not, be true. Ask Captain Nemhole of the good ship Nutilus, and you will only hear his own myopic world-view. Perhaps best not to bother with the deeply touched, lest ones soul itself may become sickened ...

DM ...

 

[Trafford]

If you coudl do it with a Cockney'd accent that would be appreciated, mate!

Only Tedious can insult two great swathes of mankind in one
sentence. Australians do not have a London Cockney accent,
Cockneys do not sound like Australians.

 

[Vlad S]

this is not a general photography forum?

Could someone please explain to him that there is an appropriate place for his photos on DPR but that this is not it?

Would someone tell him that the posting rules serve a useful purpose by allowing others to search threads using the automated search funciton?

Would someone tell him that the world does not revlolve around him and that it revolves around Tedolph?

If you coudl do it with a Cockney'd accent that would be appreciated, mate!

TEdolph

 

[SirSeth]

Greetings Billy,

Yep, I've thought of that. It reminds me of one of my favorite bumper stickers that says, "America, I love you, but I think we should begin seeing other people."

That said, I'm curious as to what you mean by some phrases and what you wish to happen on the forums. What is the all American way? What does it mean to have a sparky spin on things? I don't think all American's go about things in the same way, but maybe that's because I have a passport.

Cheers,
Seth

it is lop sided geographically/philosophically etc by Americans. Bless your souls. It has always been the balance and for the foreseeable future will probably remain so. For the last 10 years i have trundled about this place at almost every turn one encounters an all American way.

The rest of us (English speaking) scattered about the globe very often have a different spin/slant on many things..some not quite so sparky as yours but none the less we sometimes go about things in a different way. Ever thought of that?

--
Best Wishes Billy

--
What if the hokey pokey really is what it's all about?

--
wallygoots.smugmug.com
wallygoots.blogspot.com

 

[tedolf]

If you coudl do it with a Cockney'd accent that would be appreciated, mate!

Only Tedious can insult two great swathes of mankind in one
sentence.

Tedolph tries harder.

Australians do not have a London Cockney accent,
Cockneys do not sound like Australians.

Tedolph

 

[tedolf]

this is not a general photography forum?

Could someone please explain to him that there is an appropriate place for his photos on DPR but that this is not it?

Would someone tell him that the posting rules serve a useful purpose by allowing others to search threads using the automated search funciton?

Would someone tell him that the world does not revlolve around him and that it revolves around Tedolph?

If you coudl do it with a Cockney'd accent that would be appreciated, mate!

TEdolph

you know I never thought of it that way.

I think you are right!

TEdolph

 

[Lights]

The LAST thing that I would say to ANYONE on this forum is "please don't post pictures".

Before I had u43 I had a Panasonic FZ7 and hung out on the Panasonic forum. I remember Wiggers from there, with pictures of his garden in Australia. The Panasonic forum had so many people posting pictures that every so often someone would point out that that's not what the forum was supposed to be for. And many more people would then tell that person to stifle his complaint. The Panasonic forum WAS about everyone showing, getting feedback, and improving their photography.

We should be so lucky as to have this forum have the congenial attitude, and tons of pictures, as in the Panasonic forum.

I remember the Olympus forum (non DSLR) was a bit like that too. They'd talk about gear some, post many pics, a friendly sort. The amount of pics kept the interest up some. Every time Wiggerz posts, I always think "a picture is worth a thousand words" (and usually is more interesting). A lot of people improved their own photography, learned about their cameras, and learned about photography in general. It wasn't a treadmill forum...not saying this one is. But some are.
--
http://www.pbase.com/madlights
http://barriolson.aminus3.com/



Like the Joker said: Why so serious?