Andrew West (feed)

There’s nothing like learning a new language to make a person feel stupid. Je ne suis pas...

Sat, 26 Sep 2009 00:05:17 -0700

There’s nothing like learning a new language to make a person feel stupid.

Je ne suis pas intelligent. Je suis seulement un Américain.

So, after dropping off the face of the Earth for a little while, I have returned. How much time...

Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:07:57 -0700

So, after dropping off the face of the Earth for a little while, I have returned. How much time I’ll have to devote to a blog anymore remains to be seen, but worth a shot, right?

Anyway, wish me luck. Anyone still even read this?

Just a warning to anyone who regularly reads this mess here. I’m setting up a portfolio...

Tue, 31 Mar 2009 18:18:21 -0700

Just a warning to anyone who regularly reads this mess here. I’m setting up a portfolio website and will be moving this domain, so the domain may stop resolving within the next few hours. Not to worry. It’s only temporary.

Am I the only one who doesn’t understand the Twitter phenomenon? I’ll admit I think...

Sat, 28 Mar 2009 02:07:03 -0700

Am I the only one who doesn’t understand the Twitter phenomenon? I’ll admit I think most, maybe all, of these fad social network/web applications are pointless and overhyped, but this seems to be a new level of inanity.

And I swear, the only thing more grating then the concept of corporate blogging or blog marketing, I don’t know the buzzword, is this idea of marketing via Twitter.

We’ll be back after these messages.

What's the Point?

Sun, 22 Mar 2009 21:43:00 -0700

dailymeh:

Here’s an article about the so-called New Humanism, which is attacked as militant, as not standing for anything positive, but simply being a negative attitude towards an imaginary enemy, and much else besides. I have debated that many times before and I’m not even going to attempt to get into it yet again. No, I’m more concerned with a statement made in the comment section there, and that I occasionally see made elsewhere. It’s this, from someone called Ryan:

For me, I couldn’t be a humanist. If I wasn’t a Christian, I think I wouldn’t care about humanity because I don’t see the point of morality - with no deity to offend, what’s the point?

Really? REALLY? At this point I thought that attitude was as good as dead except in fundie circles, but apparently not. When I read that I had an overwhelming urge to just stick that question out there publicly: REALLY? You can’t come up with any reasons to be good except for not wanting to offend a deity? I’m not even going to argue with it (I said, but then I wrote the below). I’m not going to extol the virtues of atheism or the vices of theism. I’m just going to put that question out there: anyone else feel this way? Are there any people on Tumblr who can’t come up with a good reason to be good except for this? Is this a prevalent attitude? How can anyone really believe this? And incidentally, what is a good reason not to be an ass in a godless world?

My reasoning is pretty simple. I’m lazy and in my experience, it takes more effort to be an asshole than not.

Science!

Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:29:05 -0700

mrgan:

Kottke writes:

The results of a survey commissioned by the California Academy of Sciences reveals that Americans don’t know a whole lot about science.

- Only 53% of adults know how long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun.
- Only 59% of adults know that the earliest humans and dinosaurs did not live at the same time.
- Only 47% of adults can roughly approximate the percent of the Earth’s surface that is covered with water.*
- Only 21% of adults answered all three questions correctly.

I think this is even more depressing than the headline and summary make it out to be, because questions about the basic makeup of the world we live in shouldn’t even be considered “matters of science”. When a question is put that way, many adults will simply say they’re “not good with science.” But given the simplicity of the above questions, that’s similar to pulling the “not good at math” card to justify not knowing how to count upwards of twenty.

Americans are stupid. This isn’t news.

Plain, Plainer

Wed, 11 Mar 2009 20:30:04 -0700

dailymeh:

1. I couldn’t help it: this and this inspired me, and I had to do a makeover of this site in pursuit of the goal. There may be glitches, since I kind of rushed it, because 2. I’m going skiing for the next few days; expect few (if any) updates the rest of this week. 3. As always, I’m hoping this is something I’ll stick with for some time. If I do say so myself, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world if this were the face of Daily Meh for an extended period of time.

I dig the new layout. I have to say though, I was rather fond of that pink.

Austerity Theme Available for Download

Sun, 08 Mar 2009 04:04:18 -0700

Austerity Theme Available for Download:

Now you can be like me. Hip, hip, hooray!

I found this at the library. Being the latent Artemis Fowl fan...

Fri, 06 Mar 2009 03:41:08 -0800

I found this at the library. Being the latent Artemis Fowl fan I am, I couldn’t not get it.

And I don’t even like “graphic novels”.

Call a Professional

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 22:59:00 -0800

I saw online where a student photographer was asking if it was worth the effort to pursue a career in the field. She said now that everybody had a digital camera and photo editing software, professionals were becoming less and less relevant.

As a guy with a similar stake in the future of photography, the thought has definitely crossed my mind. It’s not an entirely foolish concern, but I think it’s unfounded.

Lemme ‘splain.

Photography is one of the most deceptively simple skills I’ve encountered in my life (up there with walking, but the complexity of bipedal locomotion seems like a tangent for another day). You press a button, you have a photo, you’re a photographer.

It’s far easier to get started in than, say, music or painting. All you need is a camera (and depending on circumstances, film).

But therein lies the deception, friends.

All the great photographers had one thing in common. Yes, they were all technically proficient, but they also had what photo magazines have termed an “eye for composition”. Yes, yes, and they all knew how to recognize the “decisive moment”, whether or not they had a catchphrase for it.

Just owning a camera doesn’t do all that for you. It takes a professional. Well, a professional or an amateur enthusiast with really good equipment.

The coolest family name: Guitarfish

Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:07:39 -0800

The coolest family name: Guitarfish:

mrgan:

I had no idea there was a whole group of so awesomely named animals.

I especially like how the Wikipedia entry just sort of ignores that it’s shaped like, you know, a guitar.

And so a new low in puns was set.

Sun, 01 Mar 2009 20:06:00 -0800

And so a new low in puns was set.

Fauxtography

Tue, 24 Feb 2009 01:08:00 -0800

If you can forgive the God awful pun, I just have a few words to say on the subject of digital imaging and Photoshop.

For the longest time, I hated digital photography. I was actually one of those film nuts who made a point of calling it “digital imaging”. I had a digital point and shoot, but that was hardly suitable for serious picture making,

I’ve since invested in a DLSR and, yeah, I love it. But I’ve realized why I hated digital in the first place.

If you just casually browse the photography posted on online, you’ll notice that most of it (or at least, an amount way too much larger than none) could be considered bastards of a digital camera and Photoshop. Even if you exclude those with camera phones and a pirated copy of Elements and focus on the self-described “enthusiasts”, it’s a horrible, warped world of oversaturation, oversharpening, and half-assed imitations of cross-processing.

And I won’t even bring up selective desaturation. You know, where everything is black and white, but hey look, that woman’s wearing a red dress and it’s actually red! I won’t even touch on that. Just going to skip that little pet peeve.

Digital photography has it’s cons, but really, it’s not quite as bad as DeviantArt/most of Flickr would have you believe.

It’s a generic rock diddy. I was bored and wanted to make...

Sun, 22 Feb 2009 19:40:00 -0800

It’s a generic rock diddy. I was bored and wanted to make something entirely uninspired.

I think I succeeded.

Treeswing

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 21:52:05 -0800

Treeswing:

Another great photoblog.

joevaccaro: Very nice selective focus. What are you shooting...

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:58:55 -0800

joevaccaro:

Very nice selective focus. What are you shooting with?

I use a Fuji S3 Pro. For lenses, I just have a Sigma 4-5.6 55-200mm zoom, but I’ll be expanding my glasswares as my needs require and money permits.

But yes, I do love me some shallow depth of field.

I saw this commercial the other night. The bad pun is not the...

Sat, 14 Feb 2009 22:33:38 -0800

I saw this commercial the other night. The bad pun is not the worst of it.

Photoshop is to photography what Dreamweaver is to web design. Just saying.

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 19:06:03 -0800

Photoshop is to photography what Dreamweaver is to web design.

Just saying.

Yes, Another Redesign

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:18:10 -0800

But I have good reason, hear me out. I’ve added a “Photos” page (see above navigation), which is a separate tumblog entirely. Only you and I know that though.

As a matter of fact, the RSS feed now shows updates from both blogs. But secretly, to the outside observer, it all looks like one site.

Enjoy.

jaundicedeye: There are times the only response is to just sigh...

Thu, 12 Feb 2009 13:32:00 -0800

jaundicedeye:

There are times the only response is to just sigh and shake your head.