Recent content by collinsmark

Figure 1. Emergency, makeshift "paper fortune teller," a.k.a. cootie catcher. Found in the wild. Leica Summilux-M 50mm ASPH.

Yep. I almost fell for one of these a few months ago. I clicked on a YouTube video (didn't recognize the author). The video was about some sort of modification made to the rear gunner sights of the B17 bomber in WWII. The YouTube video's graphics did not concentrate on the mechanism itself; it...

Figure 1. "All in a day's work." 50mm Summilux-M ASPH. No, that's not me. It's just somebody passing by. I'm not sure how the person is holding the guitar. I've had many acoustic guitars in my lifetime, but I've never carried one around quite like that. I suspect the person is gripping the...

‘Intoxicated’ raccoon passes out in bathroom after ransacking Virginia liquor store https://www.koin.com/news/intoxicated-raccoon-passes-out-in-bathroom-after-ransacking-virginia-liquor-store/

Maybe it's saying the cooks might sleeping when they make your food?

Yes, this was a thing back in the day. You can tell by the people who look exceptionally sharp in the photos. Those who were alive were a bit blurry (due to inevitable motion blur) and were subsequently often touched up by the artist/photographer with a brush/pencil post-print. But the one...

Yep. ISBN (numbers) for books have a similar thing going on with the check digit. (ISBNs are book identifiers. They're useful for bookstores, book sellers, book readers, libraries, etc, to help avoid errors finding and ordering a specific book.) The check digit is the same idea as with the...

Thanks! :smile: Did I mention that Balboa Park also has a Natural History Museum? https://www.sdnhm.org/exhibitions/dino-jaws/

... Continued from previous post (this post is part 2 of 2). Figure 7. "Broken bulb." 50mm Summilux-M ASPH @f/6.8 Figure 8. Untitled. 50mm Summilux-M ASPH @f/5.6 I posted a pic of the above location just over a year ago, but this picture was taken at a different time of day (after sunset)...

November 2025 Balboa Park pics (Part 1 of 2) After running an errand in Balboa Park late Saturday afternoon, I decided to do some reconnaissance to search for a vantage point for a future photograph I'm planning. I found a good spot, but that photo will have to wait; the lighting wasn't right...

It's somewhat fitting, I guess. According to Norse mythology, the god Thor did go drag in the Þrymskviða (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%9Erymskvi%C3%B0a). (Sex and gender in Norse mythology were not wholly binary, as evidenced by the god Loki becoming pregnant and giving birth to offspring...

It's a sea lion. Its ear flaps are small, very small (like [pretty much] all sea lions), but present. https://becausetees.com/blogs/articles/sea-lions-vs-seals-what-are-the-differences-because-tees It's always a good idea to keep a good distance between yourself and the sea lion (or seal for...

I love photography and have for years. But I admit that the first time I learned about Robert Cornelius and deguarreotype portraits was actually from playing a video game. The video game is "Life is Strange."

Specifically for US borders: You could travel between US <==> Mexico or US <==> Canada with just a drivers license (no passport required) by air until ~2007 or by land/sea until ~2009. This passport requirement is a pretty recent thing.

What I meant to convey is that languages change over time. Sure you can define your terms for a specific document (as @Nugatory points out above), but expanding usage outside of use specific documents with well defined terms (e.g., a glossary), the general usage of any given common language...