mattblaze

mattblaze, 12 days ago to random

Trump before: "Where's my Roy Cohn?"

Trump now: "Where's my Gerald Ford?"

mattblaze, 12 days ago to photography

West Trenton (Ewing), NJ, 2015.

A bunch of pixels streaking by at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/21010463488

#photography

mattblaze, 12 days ago to random

Since nothing at all newsworthy is going on right now, I guess it’s a good time to rewire my network, cutting me off from all news and information for the next few hours.

mattblaze, 12 days ago to random

Another peculiarity of NY courts: the foreperson, who speaks for the jury and who, by default, chairs the deliberations, is always whoever is Juror #1 (the first selected juror). In federal courts, the jurors generally are asked to select a foreperson at the start of deliberation.

mattblaze, 12 days ago to random

Cue “rigged juror ballots” in 3… 2… 1…

mattblaze, 12 days ago to random

God damn it, if you arrange a phone call with me for a particular time, don't send me a "Microsoft Teams meeting invite" 5 minutes before the time when I'm expecting you to call me.

mattblaze, 13 days ago to photography

Washington Hilton ("The Hinckley Hilton"), Washington, DC, 2023.

Enough pixels for a gala event at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/53007102796

#photography

mattblaze, 14 days ago to random

Closing statements in the Trump hush money / business records fraud case look like they'll wrap up this evening. They're on a break now (after 5pm). Long day for the jury.

A peculiarity of NY State criminal courts is that the defense gives their statement, followed by the prosecution, with no rebuttal statements. This is generally a procedural advantage for the prosecution, who gets the last word, with possibly a lot of time having passed since the jury has heard from the defense.

mattblaze, 14 days ago to photography

Gramercy Park, NYC, 2020.

Pixels, securely locked behind an iron gate, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/49594943761

#photography

mattblaze, 15 days ago to photography

San Francisco Bay, with Alcatraz Island, 2020.

All the pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/49460593833

#photography

mattblaze, 16 days ago to photography

Vacant Store, BZ Corner, WA, 2011.

Pixels, on sale like we're going out of business at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/6110374799

#photography

mattblaze, 17 days ago to photography

Pennsylvania Avenue Subway, Reading Railroad, Philadelphia, 2004.

#photography

mattblaze, 18 days ago to photography

#photography nerditry:
I make mostly (but not exclusively) B&W images (at least for my fine art work). Is it worth using a dedicated monochrome sensor?

Most digital cameras are designed to record color, using a special mask in front of the sensor called a "Bayer filter". This allows color information to be derived from the raw sensor output, which otherwise would just record brightness. But the Bayer filter can also reduce effective resolution of the image a bit.

So what's the tradeoff?

mattblaze, 17 days ago to random

I did a thread yesterday on the tradeoffs of using regular color vs. dedicated achromatic cameras for B&W photography.

https://federate.social/@mattblaze/112498145840738150

mattblaze, 18 days ago (edited 18 days ago) to random

The Google AI summary suggesting that people eat rocks is amusing, but it's not a great example of AI "hallucination". The text is a pretty straight and accurate summary of a satirical Onion article. This isn't a complex algorithm synthesizing bogus conclusions from good data (something that's definitely a real risk in AI systems). This is simply Google mis-categorizing non factual input as factual, something it could have (and has) done just as easily without "AI".

mattblaze, 18 days ago to photography

Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (with neighbors), NYC, 2017.

Luxury pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/32609074081

#photography

mattblaze, 18 days ago to random

I am glad I'm not the person who answers the phones at the UC Berkeley Geology department this week.

mattblaze, 19 days ago to photography

Three Persimmons, 2008.

More than three pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/2207576183

#photography

mattblaze, 20 days ago to random

So with the Alito flag kerfuffle, we don’t just have the overt partisan bias that can be read in just about his every vote and decision since joining the Court, but now also the APPEARANCE of bias. Now we’ve got him, for sure.

mattblaze, 20 days ago to photography

Wind Turbines, Near Tracy, CA, 2010.

A histogram of pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/4491948497/

#photography

mattblaze, 21 days ago to random

I spent about an hour an a half the other day on Roosevelt Island, shooting Big Allis. Mostly trying out different vantage points and then shooting different versions as the light changed.

While I was there, a guy went by on a bike, did a double take, and stopped dead in his tracks. He wanted to ask me about my tripod head (an Arca-Swiss "Cube"). We talked for a while about tripod preferences, which is much more interesting than camera preferences.

mattblaze, 22 days ago to photography

Moynihan Train Hall, Pennsylvania Station, NYC, 2021.

A trainload of pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/51205135362

#photography

mattblaze, 23 days ago to photography

Ravenswood Power Station ("Big Allis"), Queens, NY, 2024.

Gigawatts of pixels at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/53732990785

#photography

mattblaze, 24 days ago to photography

31-41 Union Square West, NYC, 2024.

All the pixels, each of which will be famous for 15 minutes, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/53731622110

#photography

mattblaze, 25 days ago to photography

Track 13 (Watch Your Step), Grand Central Terminal, NYC, 2013.

All the pixels, waiting to commute home, at https://www.flickr.com/photos/mattblaze/10101066135

#photography