WWI

Wayne has a great list of recommendations for books on World War I. When I read his post I was humbled. I haven't read any of those books! Not one.

I've read so many works on World War II but I've completely neglected the first WW. I've got some catch-up reading to do. Luckily I have a little time. I think I'll start with Tuchman's The Guns of August. That's because I have a thing for well-told war narratives. I especially like eye-witness accounts or stories built up from interviews with combatants.

Hey, don't forget to vote (see yesterday's picture post).

Toy Town - Pick One

#1 - Toy Courthouse
Who needs a tall building when you've got the Arch downtown! Monday I went down to the riverfront and ascended the Arch to capture these images. You know, I've never been up in the Arch. I grew up in St. Louis. I watched the arch being built in the 1960's. The route for my grade school bus had us going East on Gravios every morning to Heege where you get an overlook of the city. We could see the two legs of the arch going up (with crane's poised on each one).

Anyway, after all these years I finally went up. There were times in the past where I tried to go up, but it was always too busy, the lines were too long. This time I went in, bought a ticket, walked over to the tram, waited about 2 minutes, got into car 6, and ascended to the top all in about 10 minutes. Hey, it's cool up there. Thankfully, the windows were not too scratched up and dirty. I can see scratches & blemishes on a few of my images, but by and large they are nice and clean.

Okay. Here are three Toy Town St. Louis City images. Choose which one you like the best. Whatever one tickles your fancy, makes you feel good, or even has some artistic quality (composition, lighting, etc.). Just pick your favorite. By the way, the last time we did this everybody mostly chose the black and white image of the Unknown Soldier grave stones at Jefferson Barracks. I did get in the top five in that contest. The theme for this current contest is "minuscule." I hope to win this one. Nothing less.

Remember to click on the image for a larger version. Don't vote for #1 just because it looks bigger because of it's orientation.

#2 - Toy Town St. Louis

#3 - Tiny Temple (Revised Edition)

$4 - Little League Stadium

Which image is the best?

#1 - Toy Courthouse #2 - Toy Town St. Louis #3 - Tiny Temple #4 - Little League Stadium

Veterans Day 2008

Random Stuff

My favorite breakfast: 1) three eggs fried in butter, crisp but over medium so the yolk is runny; 2) fresh biscuits and sausage gravy on the same plate with the eggs; 3) crispy cooked pancakes with real maple syrup; and 4) a big glass of very cold milk. Oh, and I like the new sausage and gravy biscuits at Hardies. Add an egg to the biscuit and it's wonderful. Just don't try to eat it while driving.

I heard on the radio news this morning that the US auto dealers are in trouble and "President-elect Obama wants to help." Really? That's great, I thought. Maybe he can volunteer some of his time at a factory. Maybe he has some extra money in his bank account or in investments that he can loan to them. Perhaps he can sit down with the executives at Ford and GM and share some of his ideas for streamlining the business and turning things around for them. That would really be cool if he volunteered some of his time and money to help them. But no. He doesn't really want help. What he wants to do is force the rest of the country to "help" them. Why can't the news accurately report what is going on? "President elect Obama has a plan that would take more money from productive citizens and give it to these failing industries. If anyone disagrees with this, that's tough. You don't fork over your money, you go to jail."

The hubris of academic religious studies is astonishing. For the past month or so I've been preparing for some lectures on the Gospels I'm doing in December. I've been reading the latest on the "synoptic problem," trying to get up to speed on current research. Sheez. Talk about the blind leading the blind. For example, there's more time and effort spent on understanding the make-believe document "Q" (supposedly behind what is common in Matthew and Luke) than on the actual extant Gospels! Essays, dissertations, and books have been written on the date of Q, the sources used by the author of Q, the background and presuppositions of the author of Q, the Q community behind the document, etc. Unbelievable nonsense. Q is make believe. It only exists in the minds of academics. If I want to know about Q, I'll read James Bond novels. They are just as imaginative, but infinitely more interesting.

Two Highways

Missouri

And Iowa
I should probably say: two skies.

Toy Cars & Trucks

I'm experimenting with creating fake miniatures with tilt-shift post processing. These are not great images because the subject matter is pretty boring. But the faux miniaturization is pretty cool. Now all I need is the right opportunity to capture something interesting. Anyone own a tall building downtown so I can get up on the roof and take some pictures?
Both of these shots were taken from the top of the parking garage at West County Mall.

Ghost House

I saw this abandoned house as I was driving on Hwy 163 about an hour west of Pella, Iowa. I turned around and was surprised that I could make it up the old dirt road to the house itself. I didn't have a lot of time, so I captured these 5 images.

Ghost house

Front Door

Kitchen

Sitting Room

Server

Anointing With Ketchup and Mustard!

Amazing video!


Closer to the Start - New Creation from Fellowship Church on Vimeo.

When I get back from sabbatical we're gonna start anointing people with kectchup and mustard at my church.

I never knew you could shine a black light on ketchup and mustard and get such colors! Cool! Modern liturgy! Liturgical innovation. A new creation! Or a new human burger. Whatever.

It's time to come into the 21st century, pastors! Let's get excited! Let's let some 50-year-old chicks to squirt ketchup and mustard on us while we sing!

HT: Wayne

Clock Tower - Fairfield, Iowa

Image of the Day

Lumix DMC-LX3 Review & Images

Well, not a full-blown review, but sometime more like a recommendation. I know that most of my blog readers will not necessarily be interested in this, so this is for those who are Googling and looking for reviews on the Lumix LX3.

I've been looking for a good "point & shoot" as a back up for my Nikon D300 for some time. I've actually tried a number of potential cameras over the past few years. A Canon G7. Nope, sold it on eBay. A Canon G9. Had it for a while but then sold it. I returned a few other smaller point and shoots, too. I just haven't found anything that I really like.

Part of the problem is that I'm spoiled with Nikon and Nikkor lenses. I haven't been able to find a smaller, pocket camera that comes even close to the quality of images I get from my Nikon equipment. I also need some flexibility to work in different "modes" so that I can set aperture or ISO quickly depending on the lighting and subject. I thought I was asking for too much.

A week ago I bought a new Lumix DMC-LX3. I read the reviews and it seemed like what I wanted. So far I've been very, very pleased.

Today I took it with me on my daily walk. That's something I just cannot do with my Nikon. Too big and clunky. I walk an hour every day in the neighborhood and in a park nearby. I snapped a lot of pictures while I was walking. All jpegs. The metering on this camera is really, really good. The dynamic range is impressive. The Leica lens is unbeliebably sharp for a little guy. The "intelligent auto" is almost always dead on. It choses pretty much what I would otherwise choose manually. I love the wider angle lens (24mm). I can set it to aperture priority, which is how I usually shoot with my D300. The "auto LCD" is a nice touch that gives you variable brightness depending on how bright the ambient light is.

Anyway, click the read more below to see some of the images I took today. There's a little post-processing with most of them, but not that much. This is one phenomenal little point and shoot.













You can go to my LX3 gallery to see more images.