Like many people, I have watched the erosion of privacy and the increase in government secrecy with some healthy skepticism.  A high school reading of Orwell’s 1984 has stuck with me over the years and has been no small part of my feelings of consternation.  The notion of Big Brother watching over you, the Though Police, and the Two Minutes Hate are not hard to forget and something we should be working to avoid to avoid.

I recently picked up a copy of 1984 from the library and started in on it again.  While the main themes are as I remember, I was struck today by a specific quote from the first chapter that rang so true for me.  The three slogans from the Ministry of Truth are bad enough:

WAR IS PEACE

FREEDOM IS SLAVERY

IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH

I feel like I could write quite the diatribe on those alone in the context of the Global War on Terror, but they weren’t what stopped me reading and had me staring out the bus window for a while, depressed:

… an attack so exagerated and perverse that a child should have been able to see through it, and yet just plausible enough to fill one with an alarmed feeling that other people, less level-headed than oneself, might be taking in by it.

If that doesn’t perfectly describe our current level of political discourse in this country, I don’t know what does.  It seems like every debate and campaign quickly devolves to the level described by that quote.  I can cite instances from the Iraq war debate, discussion of illegal immigrants, the 2004 elections, and the Democratic party’s 2008 nomination battle.

The Hate needs to end; I just don’t know how it ever will.

In the mean time, I got a new iPod Touch (which I should write about at some point), which got me listening and watching a few podcasts on my bus to/from work.   The two podcasts are photography related.  One is a video podcast with critiques of user-submitted photos to The Radiant Vista and the other an audio podcast from The Digital Photography Show.  Both have piqued my interest in advancing my own photography (as have a trip to the Udvar-Hazy Air &  Space museum and thoughts of possible gifts for my upcoming birthday).

All this has me thinking about why I haven’t been too good at keeping up with my photography in the past (and this blog, for that matter).  I have good runs here and there, but there’s been an overall lack of commitment to producing final images.  It really comes down to a character flaw of mine, which is a paralysis that comes from not wanting to make a mistake.  I have failed to start editing photos before because I haven’t really figured out my preferred workflow for copying, archiving, editing, and finalizing images.  Why start something when I might figure out later that I should have done it another way?  I also have dozens of images that I started to edit, but have never been finished, largely because I don’t know what I plan to do with them.  Should I size them for prints?  If so, at what aspect ratio?  What will I do with them after they are printed?  Should I save them for the web? At what resolution? Too big and they useful for people to steal.  Too small and what’s the point?  Even worse, what if someone sees a flaw in my work?

This is all ridiculous.  I know it; I just have a hard time getting past it.  For each of my concerns, there is an easy answer.  Resizing images is a quick process, someone stealing my images isn’t a real loss right now (they don’t provide any income to me), and my work certainly has room for improvement and always will. In fact, critiques are one of the best ways to improve…

My wife will probably laugh at me when she reads this, because she has to deal with my crazy all the time.  Hopefully my mounting frustration with myself over inactivity in photography and blogging—my two big personal interests—will force me to reprioritize my free time.  How much crappy TV do I really need to watch?

Clipped from www.washingtonpost.com

Bill Targets Frequent Test-Takers at DMV

Tens of thousands of Virginians fail the tests multiple times. One applicant failed the written test 80 times last year. Another failed the behind-the-wheel test 10 times.

In a little-known problem just coming to light, state officials believe the excessive test-takers are trying to get a driver’s education class at the state’s expense. On Thursday, the Virginia Senate is scheduled to take up a House-passed measure cracking down on the test-takers, who clog the already-long lines at DMV offices.

Instead of taking a class that can cost hundreds of dollars, they keeping coming back to the DMV to use the tests as a cheap way to learn.

The proposal before the General Assembly would restrict applicants from taking more than three written or behind-the-wheel tests in three months. Those who fail three times would be required to complete a class at a driver training school before taking another test.

At work, I booted up my machine for the day, only to hear a beautiful clicking sound and see the message “Drive read error” on the screen.  Awesome.  Given that the two backup systems we had recently died unrecoverable deaths, I have now lost a decent amount of work.

This day is getting on my nerves.

Update: At least I fixed the comment problem now.  They should correctly show the number of comments on the main page and the actual comments on the individual post pages. Whew.

I left work a half-hour earlier than normal, catching the early bus out of Crystal City.  Normally, this bus hits a little bit of traffic on 66 west, but it usually moves along.  Not yesterday.  Like so much of the region, ice was causing major delays.  Over the span of what is normally a 20 minute segment of the bus route, I managed to complete a Sudoku puzzle, write out a task list for the next day, and take a nap. Refreshed after my nap, I settled in for the second half of the bus ride.

This part was no better, as the driver inexplicably choose not to use the express lanes on the Dulles Toll Road, instead opting for the heavily congested toll lanes.  As we sat in traffic while the express lanes screamed by, there were quite a few looks thrown about the bus.  I sent a text to my wife letting her know that I was going to be late.  I only just refrained from calling the bus driver an idiot in the message.

Turns out, that was a good omission, as the express lanes soon came to a complete stop.  An accident on an icy overpass has completely stopped those lane.  With no possible exit, the folks there were trapped for quite a while.  We slowly puttered along and eventually made the bus depot.  My leaving 30 minutes early had landed my less than 10 minutes ahead of my normal schedule.  And that was before seeing my car.

There’s a really cool look to glass when ice has frozen over it.  It gets a nice mottled look that is exceptionally pretty, when you don’t have to look through it and drive.  Unfortunately, that what I had to do, so out came the ice scraper and five to ten minutes later, I was finally heading to vote.

The trip was uneventful (though I passed a few more accidents) and the polling place was fairly efficient.  [Big thanks to the folks who brought the doughnuts for all the voters, by the way!]  With about two hours to go before close there were ~480 votes in the Democratic primary and ~240 in the Republican.  I was somewhat surprised at the 2:1 margin, but that margin held up statewide in Virginia.  Even more impressive to me were the 973,221 voters in the Democratic primary (based on vote totals from the Washington Post, with 99% of precincts reporting).  Almost one million voters in a primary with no local implications has to say something about the frustrations of a large group of people with the status quo.

Update: A little article from the Post on the ice and traffic yesterday.  Just in case anyone thought I was exaggerating.

I took the shot in an alley next to this stage in Bethesda. I liked the simplicity of the poster against the texture of the wall. I pushed the colors a little in the poster and stripped a strong yellow tint from the wall, in order to almost make it almost monochrome. I worked for a bit on burning in the bright highlights on the right, but didn’t get them down as far as I wanted. I probably need to reprocess the raw image, reducing the exposure, then merge the two together, but I need to really up my Photoshop skills for that.

This sprinkler bell was down a set of stairs and I loved the old look to it, highlighted by the fading paint along the top ridge. Here, I used one set of curves to add contrast to the bell and another set to do the same for the wall. The exposures of each were so different, I ended up getting more experience with layer masks that I had anticipated.  I had to burn the upper left corner quite a bit, as sunlight was creating a real hot spot up there. I’m not sure if I left the bottom right of the image too dark, but I like this shot quite a bit.

Being in Virginia, I can choose which party’s primary I vote in on the spot, with no party registration required.  I’ll vote in the Democratic primary, as I tend to lean a little more to the left.  One of my staunch Republican co-workers decided that he, too, would vote in the Democratic primary.  He wanted to vote for Clinton, with the thought that she’d be the easier candidate for the Republican nominee to defeat.  He was all set to do this, until he found out that he would have to state out loud that he was voting in the Democratic primary, and he felt like that act alone would sully him; not intentionally trying to select what he thought was a poor candidate for the opposing party.  He ended up voting for a Republican.

That planned of gaming of the system makes me understand why many state parties require registration to vote in their primaries. I just hope that behavior is few and far between.  If I were to vote in the Republican primary this cycle, I would vote for the candidate I thought would make the best president, not the easiest mark (unless they were the same;).  I would rather have two good options in November than have to worry about getting stuck with a poor choice if the election didn’t go my way.

So, I will head to the polls later today and cast a vote for Obama.  I appreciate his energy and enthusiasm and worry about Clinton’s polarizing nature.  Also, the few articles I’ve read about Obama’s economic plans make me feel that he has some good advisers, which neutralizes the concerns about lack of experience.  Hopefully, he’s a good choice; it’s just so hard to tell this early in the process.

This was a great experience for me and I can’t wait to participate in more of these. My collection of photos can be found over on Flickr.  It’s a small set today, but should grow over the week.

I learned as much from just watching the other photographers as I did from talking to them.  I learned even more from the resulting photos that have been posted.  Biggest lesson: I tend to get neither very close or very far from the subjects in my pictures.  I need to look for ways to get up close and involved or really step back and take in the bigger picture.

Anyway, getting to the walk was a bit of a pain.  I had to decide between driving all the way or driving to the metro and taking two trains to get there.  Driving is easier, more direct, but you have to deal with parking.  Parking in Bethesada is sometimes scarce and almost entirely metered.  My lack of quarters and disdain for searching lot after lot for parking spaces lead me to opt for the metro.

I left home a few minutes late, but everything was working out nicely.  When I tranfered to my final train, I was in perfect time to walk up the metro steps exactly at 2:00 PM.  Unfortunately, metro had other plans.  One stop from my destination, the train I was on went out of service, due to track maintenance ahead.

Needless to say, I wasn’t too pleased with this occurrence.  I had checked the metro website earlier in the day and saw no mention of single-tracking between those stations or potential delays, even though I searched the exact route I was taking.  Either way, I was left with a choice of waiting for the next train, 15 minutes back, or walking the 1-1.5 miles between stations.

I headed above ground and started to hoof it - in the wrong direction. Thankfully, I realized my error halfway across the first street, spun around and started to power my way to the meet up.  The walk was very straightforward, following a single major road. Unfortunately, it was also slightly uphill the whole way.  No major inclines, but no real level ground either.  My calves are still reminding me of that today. One more sign that I’m getting old.

After my brisk walk (which warmed me up nicely in the surprisingly temperate weather), I got to the meeting place.  I was about 20 minutes late and had spent half the walk trying to decide what to do if the group was gone when I got there.  Did I bail and just go home, photowalk on my own, or try and remember the route and catch up?  I never really made a decision, though I think I was leaning towards wussing out and heading home.

I found a couple of people still milling around the meeting area snapping a few last shots.  I took a moment to get my camera out and get set-up before awkwardly introducing myself to the couple of guys there.  They were both very nice and more importantly, knew which direction the main group had set off.  We took off after them and soon caught up.  I did get one (I think) good shot off before we started walking:

I didn’t talk much at first, as I’m not the most outgoing guy to begin with.  Missing the start of the walk and more importantly all the introductions didn’t help my cause either.  Eventaully, I did start chatting with another photographer, Scott, who was nice enough to lend me one of his lenses to try out.  It was a 70-300mm monster, which for surpassed any zoom lens in my limited arsenal.  I haven’t finshed processing the best shots I took with it, but, man, was it fun - and a nice ice breaker into talking with others.

It also got me a little more jazzed about the event in general.  Up to that point, I felt a little like an outsider, but after some conversation, I started taking more pictures and trying a few different things.  Was came a across a row of brilliantly colored shops, and that lead to one of my favorite photos of the day:

As we moved along, I spent some time walking and talking to three other guys, discussing technical preferences and general photography.  I spent the last half of the walk chatting with some combination of these three and Mark, the organizer.  It was a great experience and one that I hope to enjoy again over the next few months.  Go check out my photos from the day, leave comments, and check back often as the set will grow.

A couple facts:

• This a county bus, not some dinky little shuttle
• The SUV and bus were on the same road, heading toward each other
• There was a clear line of sight from bus to SUV for a decent distance; no way the driver should have not seen the bus if they were paying even a slight bit of attention

Irregardless of the above facts, the driver of the SUV decided they were more important than anyone on the bus.  Using this logic, they executed a left-hand turn directly in the path of the bus, forcing our driver to slam on the brakes.  After a collective exhale and unclenching of various body parts, everyone in the front of the bus was saying how amazed they were that the bus driver managed to avoid t-boning the idiot.

During all this, I was sitting along one of the walls of the bus, and got slammed sideways into the back of the forward-facing seat to my left.  This has not done wonders for my back or neck, both of which are currently telling me that my plan to work late today sounds like a miserable idea.  I’m going to go give myself a few paper cuts and close my hand in a safe to start feeling better.

Details from the Washington Post:

Bogden is the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed against four local restaurants in U.S. District Court in Alexandria. The suit seeks to require the restaurants to become smoke-free, arguing that they must accommodate Bogden’s disability, coronary artery disease, and eliminate secondhand smoke so he can eat at them. Each of the restaurants allows smoking in designated areas.

Lawyers said that it’s rare to ask a judge to intervene in the debate over smoking in restaurants and bars and that the suit is unusual because Bogden is not seeking monetary damages beyond his court costs. After his doctor warned him to avoid secondhand smoke, all Bogden wants is an order requiring the restaurants to ban smoking.

Asked why he doesn’t eat at smoke-free restaurants, Bogden, who filed his claim under the Americans With Disabilities Act, said those establishments are hard to find.

“And I shouldn’t have to do that,” he said. “The ADA says restaurants can’t discriminate against a person with a disability.”

I find myself completely torn on this story.  I love the thought of a VA smoking ban, but I hate the misuse of the courts and the ADA to try and bring it about.  I disapprove when big companies, patent trolls, and anyone else abuse the legal process, so I can’t just commend the guy for doing the same.

That being said, if he’s successful, I will definitely celebrate the end result.  I went to dinner last week with my wife and 15-month-old daughter at Ruby Tuesdays.  They had a bar where smoking was allowed and non-smoking sections for dining.  We requested non-smoking and were taken to a booth on one side of the restaurant.  We didn’t even sit down because the smoke from the bar was so strong (and from only two people, at that).  We shifted to the other side of the restaurant, which worked well until a woman came at sat at the bar and lit up.  The last half of our meal was disturbed by nasty smelling cigarette smoke.  There was no way to get away from it.

Now, we’re on a budget and limited in dining choices by our daughter’s desire to try and communicate using her outside voice at random times.  So, we’re not frequenting the highest class of restaurants out there.  Certainly not places that are installing separate ventilation for smoking and non-smoking customers.  Outside of the mall food court, few options present themselves for a family meal out without someone else’s smoking becoming an issue.

I can’t imagine that the lawsuit will be successful, if even allowed to proceed.  I am hopeful, however, that a split legislature and a strong governor may help a smoking ban actually get codified in law.