Month: January 2018

Categories
Photography Uncategorized

First Attempt at Photographing a Fluorescent Specimen

I’ve taken an interest in fluorescent rocks. This is my first attempt at photographing such a specimen. It’s a piece of petrified wood I found at Blue Diamond Nursery in Las Vegas, better known as Cactus Joes. (external link). The mineral in the wood causing the color may be Autunite.

I was actually looking for radioactive rocks, another new and mad hobby of mine. This petrified wood tripped my Geiger counter so I brought it home, not thinking until later about putting it under my UV lamp. Which rewarded me with what you see here.

Any subject is rarely well defined or sharp when there is little light. In this case, the only light is the glow of the mineral infused in the wood. Using a tripod, I first focused on the rock, then turned out the lights. I am working on other techniques to sharpen. Practice, practice, practice.

For you geeks, here’s the EXIF. I did the color correction in post, using Adobe Photoshop CC 2018. The original image was green, but, using the UV lamp, I went back to the rock and Photoshop until I had the yellow in the image that I was seeing in real life. I had a handheld ultraviolet lamp which I moved around for the fifteen seconds of exposure, trying to “wash” all areas of the rock with UV light. I used a tripod. Of, course.

Aperture Value: 4.969
Camera Owner Name: Thomas Farley
Color Space: sRGB
Components Configuration: 1, 2, 3, 0
Compressed Bits Per Pixel: 3
Custom Rendered: Normal process
Date Time Digitized: Jan 29, 2018 at 9:22:23 AM
Date Time Original: Jan 29, 2018 at 9:22:23 AM
Digital Zoom Ratio: 1
Exif Version: 2.3
Exposure Bias Value: 0
Exposure Mode: Manual exposure
Exposure Program: Manual
Exposure Time: 15
File Source: DSC
Flash: Off, did not fire
FlashPix Version: 1.0
FNumber: 5.6
Focal Length: 55
Focal Plane Resolution Unit: inches
Focal Plane X Resolution: 6,825.939
Focal Plane Y Resolution: 6,825.939
Photographic Sensitivity (ISO): 100
Lens Model: EF-M18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM
Lens Specification: 18, 55, 0, 0
Max Aperture Value: 5.596
Metering Mode: Spot
Pixel X Dimension: 6,000
Pixel Y Dimension: 4,000
RecommendedExposureIndex: 100
Scene Capture Type: Standard
Sensing Method: One-chip color area sensor
SensitivityType: Recommended exposure index (REI)
Shutter Speed Value: 14.9933410728824
Sub-second Time: 42
Sub-second Time Digitized: 42
Sub-second Time Original: 42
White Balance: Manual white balance
AFInfo: 0.45, 0.4, 0.1, 0.2, n
Firmware: Firmware Version 1.10
Flash Compensation: 0
Focus Mode: One-shot AF
Image Stabilization: Panning (Tripod)
Lens Info: 18, 55, 0, 0
Lens Model: Canon EF-M 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS STM

Categories
Thoughts on writing Uncategorized

We Are Traveling at Amazing Speed

Mahatma Gandhi once said that there was more to life than increasing its speed. Yet, it’s likely our rate of travel will keep increasing without us noticing it all, much as passengers don’t feel an airliner going from four hundred to five hundred miles an hour.

Do you remember what’s called the inverted pyramid of knowledge? We start at the bottom. Let’s say that’s the start of recorded knowledge. Knowledge builds on knowledge, throwing the pyramid skyward and to the sides. The more man learns, the more the inverted pyramid grows.

For the most part, population has followed this model. More and more of us increase the inverted pyramid every second, upward and outward. I would say that speed increases, too, for everyone, getting faster and faster as our society knows more and has more people.

We can go into the woods and retreat from society and slow down our own lives. But down the street, back in the city, the laboratories and the classroom, experiment is building on experiment, research comes to new conclusions that are analyzed and developed and everything keeps moving faster.

We’re all building on something we can’t see and we’re traveling at a speed we can’t feel. I’m not trying to be profound or say something millions haven’t thought before. But the other day I was researching an article, sitting in a chair, wearing an Apple watch, and I felt I was going very fast.

Categories
Thoughts on writing Uncategorized Writing by others Writing tips

Proofreading, Editing, and Revising

I frequently work on the writing of others, chiefly foreign speakers for whom English is a second language. Proofreading is the lightest correcting I do, revisions involve the most work. People argue greatly over what these terms mean. Here are some standard definitions along with my thoughts.

Proofreading: Careful reading and rereading of a yet to be finally-printed document, to detect any errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar.

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/proof-reading.html

Proofreading may involve nothing more than adding or removing commas and apostrophes, correcting misspellings, and making consistent the use of certain words and phrases. With proofreading, the document stays strongly with the writer’s voice.

Editing: Arranging, revising, and preparing a written, audio, or video material for final production, usually by a party other than the creator of the material. The objectives of editing include (1) detection and removal of factual, grammatical, and typographical errors, (2) clarification of obscure passages, (3) elimination of parts not suitable for the targeted audience, and (4) proper sequencing to achieve a smooth, unbroken flow of narrative.

Read more: http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/editing.html

Editing demands more work. At this point, the editor becomes a shadow collaborator, occasionally taking command of the piece. If done well, editing retains the voice of the writer, consistent throughout.

Revising: In revising you can change the way you present the material. Revising is more time consuming compared to editing because it involves more critical thinking.

Read more: https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Professional_and_Technical_Writing/Basics/Revising

Revising is the most difficult task. When a document has multiple revisions, it becomes extremely hard to make the work consistent, it becomes patchy, as the words of the writer go one way, the words of the editor the other. The editor is now a full partner in the piece. Recommendations for new content or material may be made. Openings, summaries and conclusions may be debated. Although deadlines rarely permit a complete revision of the writing, a full rewriting is sometimes the only way to make the document flow smoothly and with sense.

B42ART Editing an English language document
Categories
books Uncategorized Writing by others

James A. Murray: Butte’s Radical Irish Millionaire

My brother’s book on James Murray (internal link) is now available for pre-order for $14 from Amazon. (Prime) Congratulations, Bill!

James A. Murray: Butte’s Radical Irish Millionaire

Paperback – February 20, 2018

by Bill Farley (Author),‎ David M. Emmons (Foreword)

Jim Murray’’s rise to great wealth began high in the Rocky Mountains in the small town of Pioneer, Montana. There he hit his first big strike, hired others to work his claims, and earned a reputation as someone who “couldn’t be bluffed, wouldn’t be cheated, and didn’’t scare at anything.” He parlayed his mining wealth into banks, theatres, resorts, waterworks, and commercial properties from Seattle to San Diego. In western business circles, it was believed his ready cash was second only to W. A. Clark. Where Murray shared no peers, however, was in his decidedly radical politics.

From the Irish Land League protests of the 1880s through the Easter Rising of 1916, he supported the violent overthrow of Britain’s rule in his homeland. Hoping for the Crown’’s defeat in World War I, Murray’s extremism reached its peak when future World War II General Omar Bradley was dispatched to Butte, Montana, to stop Murray’’s network of Sinn Féiners from impeding the supply of copper to Britain’’s war machine.

Told for the first time, this is the unvarnished story of Murray’’s rise to great wealth and power, and the flamboyant cast of friends and family who endured his violent mood swings and his eccentric generosities. Farley relates the entirety of Murray’s audacious life: ruling over mining camps in Montana, dining with Diamond Jim Brady and Lillian Russell in New York, showering the Monterey art colony with philanthropy, and propelling a loyal nephew— future U.S. Senator, James E. Murray —to the top of a radical Irish-American organization with 60,000 members.

The elder Murray’’s story concludes with the bitter fight over his massive estate, involving twenty-six relatives, nine years of court battles, and headline coverage by newspapers throughout the West. This is the tale of a western iconoclast, a pioneering and dominating spirit, more comfortable in saloons than board rooms, who fought for wealth and mother country to his last breath.

Pre-order price: $14.00 from Amazon. (Prime) Link to book below:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/0878426825/ref=olp_product_details?_encoding=UTF8&me=

Categories
Poetry Thoughts on writing Writing by others Writing tips

The Frumious Bandersnatch!

I always return to the poetry of Lewis Carroll. It is the height of arrogance to invent new words yet Carroll did it time and again, effortlessly, beautifully, inviting us into a world entirely of his own imagination.

Jabberwocky

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

“Beware the Jabberwock, my son
The jaws that bite, the claws that catch!
Beware the Jubjub bird, and shun
The frumious Bandersnatch!”

He took his vorpal sword in hand;
Long time the manxome foe he sought—
So rested he by the Tumtum tree,
And stood awhile in thought.

And, as in uffish thought he stood,
The Jabberwock, with eyes of flame,
Came whiffling through the tulgey wood,
And burbled as it came!

One, two! One, two! And through and through
The vorpal blade went snicker-snack!
He left it dead, and with its head
He went galumphing back.

“And hast thou slain the Jabberwock?
Come to my arms, my beamish boy!
O frabjous day! Callooh! Callay!”
He chortled in his joy.

‘Twas brillig, and the slithy toves
Did gyre and gimble in the wabe;
All mimsy were the borogoves,
And the mome raths outgrabe.

Lewis Carroll, 1832 – 1898

Categories
Stanton Delaplane Thoughts on writing Writing by others Writing tips

Would The #MeToo Movement Find This Funny?

Stanton Delaplane loved his daughter and treated her accordingly. Still, that did not prevent him from enjoying a rich fantasy life when envisioning her future. Would the #MeToo movement find this writing from 1953 offensive? Or could they find that some things are simply funny and not part of today’s poisonous atmosphere?

“Small children do not attain age in jerks like a car meshing into higher gear. They grow up smoothly until they are eighteen and beautiful and talented. Then they go in the movies and their poor old work worn father manages their incomes, grows a sporty mustache, and flings cocktail parties for their beautiful starlet friends. . . . ”

Read the entire column here (internal link)

Categories
Poetry Uncategorized Writing by others

On a Cat Ageing

On a Cat Ageing

He blinks upon the hearth-rug,
and yawns in deep content,
accepting all the comforts
that Providence has sent.

Louder he purrs, and louder,
in one glad hymn of praise
for all the night’s adventures,
for quiet, restful days.

Life will go on for ever,
with all that cat can wish:
warmth and the glad procession
of fish and milk and fish.

Only-the thought disturbs him-
he’s noticed once or twice,
the times are somehow breeding
a nimbler race of mice.

Alexander Gray (1928?)

Categories
Thoughts on writing Uncategorized Writing by others

An Irritated Introduction

An exasperated James Roof at Tilden Regional Park, writing in 1959. If all writing could be so honest. This passage is from his introduction to Guide to the Plant Species of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden:

Some Unhelpful Notes

We are miles from the nearest post office and we have absolutely no facilities for mailing out plant material, seeds, or other requested items from the Botanic Garden.

We also have no secretarial staff. Answering the volume of mail, domestic and foreign, that the Garden naturally attracts, was a task that only the Garden Director could handle. He was and is delighted to receive communications from native plant lovers, but when answering such mail became full-time work the Director had to forego the pleasure. It is much more necessary to work in the Garden than to answer letters about it.

Regrettably, the crystal ball the Director uses in planning his work does not foretell “surprise” visits, even from professionals and friends. He doesn’t, as has been remarked, dwell in an ivory tower, but he does plan his work. Surprise visitors shouldn’t be at all surprised if he goes on working (or is away on a field trip) during their visits.

Requests to us, in person or by mail, for information on how to grow plants or landscape home gardens, are unfair, unwelcome, and unanswered. Every trained professional that we deal with these days charges us a fee for his services. Commercial native plant growers and landscape architects profit from dealing in native plants. Since we are researching farther ahead on the native species than either commercial growers or landscape architects, our services would be so expensive that few could afford them. Aside from that, our work in the Botanic Garden requires every bit of our time. . . .

I e-mailed this to an arboretum director I know. She replied,  “Ah, the botanic garden curmudgeon. They’re more common than you think, but typically they get more censored than Mr. Roof.”

http://www.ebparks.org/parks/tilden/botanic_garden (external link)

Categories
Poetry Uncategorized Writing by others

The Elephant’s Child by Rudyard Kipling

Endless campaigns abroad are not something unique to America. I am amazed with Kipling’s brevity and wit.

The Elephant’s Child by Rudyard Kipling

Just So Stories (1902)

I Keep six honest serving-men:
(They taught me all I knew)
Their names are What and Where and When
And How and Why and Who.
I send them over land and sea,
I send them east and west;
But after they have worked for me,
I give them all a rest.

I let them rest from nine till five.
For I am busy then,
As well as breakfast, lunch, and tea,
For they are hungry men:
But different folk have different views:
I know a person small—
She keeps ten million serving-men,
Who get no rest at all!
She sends ‘em abroad on her own affairs,
From the second she opens her eyes—
One million Hows, two million Wheres,
And seven million Whys!

More Kipling at this site:

The Cat that Walked by Itself
https://thomasfarleyblog.com/2017/06/28/the-cat-that-walked-by-himself/
The Elephant’s Child
https://thomasfarleyblog.com/2018/01/08/the-elephants-child-by-rudyard-kipling/
Mandalay – Fine reading by Fred Proud
https://thomasfarleyblog.com/2017/04/29/celebrating-my-300th-post-with-poetry/
Kipling and Long Sentences
https://thomasfarleyblog.com/2017/08/30/kipling-and-long-sentences/
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Categories
Thoughts on writing Uncategorized Writing tips

When Do Your Eyes Glaze Over?

“A reader’s eyes may glaze over after they take in a couple of paragraphs about Canadian tariffs or political developments in Pakistan; a story about the reader himself or his neighbors will be read to the end.” Donald E. Graham — Brainyquote.com (external link)

It is at precisely the point where our eyes glaze over that we need to rewrite. This is the danger zone, for wanting something interesting, we scan over boring writing and seek something better further on. If we, as writers, can’t maintain concentration, how can our readers?

This is also the place for the closest editing when we proofread for other people. A really boring spot means we really have to pay attention. Skipping boring text means skipping possible mistakes. Slow down. Re-read. Concentrate.

I’m currently battling a bad paragraph. What I’ve written is accurate but hard to follow. The text needs an illustration which it will have. But what else can be done? Rather than reword, I think a list might help. See which one you like below. Here’s the original paragraph:

N 1/2 SE 1/4, SW 1/4, S24, T32N, R18E

Locating a property is best done by reading the description backwards. Yes, backwards. First, the principal meridian is determined, in this case the Mount Diablo Meridian or MDM. Next, the township is located. Look for township and range numbers. In this instance T32N, R18E.  Having located the township, the legal description’s next part reads S24. That stands for section 24, on the east side of the township. After finding section 24, the next identifier is SW ¼. This places the property in the southwest corner of section 24. Next, SE ¼. That’s the southwest part of the previous, larger quarter. Still following? Lastly, the ½ identifier. This puts the parcel in the north ½ of the quarter just discussed. This indicates a 20-acre property, a common mining claim size.

N 1/2 SE 1/4, SW 1/4, S24, T32N, R18E

Revisions

Locating a property is best done by reading the description backwards. Yes, backwards.

A. First, the principal meridian is determined, in this case the Mount Diablo Meridian or MDM.

B. Next, the township is located. Look for township and range numbers. In this instance T32N, R18E.

C. Having located the township, the legal description’s next part reads S24. That stands for section 24, on the east side of the township.

D. After finding section 24, the next identifier is SW ¼. This places the property in the southwest corner of section 24.

E. Next, SE ¼. That’s the southwest part of the previous, larger quarter. Still following?

F. Lastly, the ½ identifier. This puts the parcel in the north ½ of the quarter just discussed. This indicates a 20-acre property, a common mining claim size.

N 1/2 SE 1/4, SW 1/4, S24, T32N, R18E

Locating a property is best done by reading the description backwards. Yes, backwards.

  • First, the principal meridian is determined, in this case the Mount Diablo Meridian or MDM.
  • Next, the township is located. Look for the township and range numbers. In this instance T32N, R18E.
  • The legal description’s next part is S24. That stands for section 24, on the east side of the township.
  • After finding section 24, the next identifier is SW ¼. This places the property in the southwest corner of section 24.
  • Next, SE ¼. That’s the southwest part of the previous, larger quarter. Still following?
  • Lastly, the ½ identifier. This puts the parcel in the north ½ of the quarter just discussed. This indicates a 20-acre property, a common mining claim size.

I like the list in A, B, C, D format, with white space beneath each line. Bullet points have never appealed to me. Is there another way that you would break apart the text to provide easier reading? Or would you rewrite entirely the original paragraph?