It’s been golden light this afternoon.
This shot was taken early in the sun setting process.
Notice how it’s burnt out in the whites.
It’s the JPG file from the camera, and is not what I was seeing.
This shot is no masterpiece but notice how the whites are all there? This isn’t exactly what I was seeing either, but now I have the choice to adjust it as I want.
That’s because it’s the RAW file, recorded alongside the above image in the camera at exactly the same time (simultaneously), but not processed (turned into a JPG file) by the camera for me.
That allows me to make the decisions about exposure adjustments later, saving the highlights and lightening the dark areas as I choose.
Provided I set the menu, I get a RAW file for every shot, alongside the JPG file. Double indemnity. A bet each way. The RAW file adds 15MB or more for every shot, but with SD card prices so low, … ?
So endeth the lesson. I’m a bit peeved because I set the camera up on the tripod and set the intervalometer to take a shot every two minutes to capture the changing light. When it got dark I went out to look, and found it hadn’t even started the sequence! I hadn’t realised you have to confirm the menu setting and press OK before the sequence will start. Duh. I’ll try again tomorrow night.
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I’m being driven mad at the moment (well, I was mad already, really) by a BIP! every 10 seconds from a smoke alarm in my spare bedroom. It means “replace the battery”. It started a couple of nights ago but stopped after about an hour. Just reminding me.
But this time it isn’t stopping, so a few hours ago I got the ladder and set about changing the battery. (7:30pm Ah! It’s stopped. Battery’s flat. Good. I’ll sleep tonight.)
Gloom. I can get up the first step of the ladder, but my just legs will not lift me to the next step. I tried every way to get up high enough, but it was getting dangerous, so I’ve had to close all the doors between the alarm and me and put up with it so far. The battery will conk out eventually, but if it continues to bed time, I may have to get a rake and just pull it down off the ceiling! It’s only a $15 double-sided tape stick-on, so it’s no loss, and I have a proper mains powered unit in the passage nearby so it doesn’t matter. But … sign of the times. I’ll have a couple of young guys here next week and they’ll do the job (battery or new one) in 2 minutes.
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I read last night (Sunday) that it was Bloomsday, the anniversary of James Joyce yesterday. I haven’t read any of his works, but I’m aware of them (Ulysses, Finnegan’s Wake etc.) Notoriously difficult to read, but if people still worship them a century later, he must have got something right!) What I wasn’t aware of is that copyright on his works finally expired on that day, yesterday, 108 years after his death in 1904.
It even extends to denying James Joyce admirers permission to read from his books at celebrations in Dublin, at the shops and pubs Joyce wrote about. It even extended to a man who had memorised whole sections of the books so that he could recite them at meetings from memory. This grandson got a court order and the Dublin organisers had to cancel the celebration events! Obviously, the guy is a nutter.
Even so, it’s not over. Even though the copyright has expired, courts routinely grant extensions and may well do so again in this case. Pshaw!
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Phew! Greece pulls back from the edge of the cliff. They have a long way to go, but at least the hatred party, the neo-nazis, the anti-immigrant party, have failed in their quest to gain power.
Note I said anti-immigrants? Hatred of “illegals”, immigrants, people they think have no right to be there. Hatred of foreigners. Queue jumpers. Boat people. Why don’t they join the queue, go through the proper processes, stand in line outside the embassies where the Taliban can pick them off.
I’ve been told, seriously, by someone I once respected, that Northam army camp has been turned into a luxury hotel for illegals while our army soldiers have to live in sub-standard accommodation. No need to check his facts; a mate told him this and he believes it. Sick.
I don’t get it. I must be dumb*. More on that in a minute.
I spent 25 years as the union delegate (union rep, shop steward, whatever) at my work, a TV station. My experience was that everyone wanted the benefits the union gained, but no-one wanted to pay. Everyone wanted me to explain the award (workplace contract) but no-one wanted to get involved in the union. Not “no-one” – we did have members, about 20% of employees joined and I have eternal respect for them. For the freeloaders, you get my eternal contempt.
Everyone wanted help from the union when difficulties arose or they got laid off. They ALL wanted me to explain their work conditions or interpret the award for them, even if they weren’t union members.
Many of the younger employees who asked me for advice didn’t even know what award they were employed under, what an award was, what rights they had or even their own pay grading! Yet according to the employer, they were supposed to be able to negotiate one to one for their own work contract with no outside help (ie union interference).
All the anti-union people wanted their own contracts, but the contracts they wanted included all the conditions our union had won. They couldn’t see the contradiction. I used to say, OK fine, negotiate your own deal, but start from scratch! Start from NO conditions and work it out for yourself. They looked at me in bemusement. What do you mean? OK, I mean start from working any number of hours the employer wants, 176 hours a week maybe. Then negotiate your hours. Er, um, gee, haven’t we always had 37.5 hrs? NO, the union got that. What about 40 hours a week? No, in the 1950s, 48hrs a week was normal, until unions won the 40hr week. Gee, I didn’t know that. Haven’t we always had 4 weeks annual leave? No, the union got that. Even in my own working life, it was only 3 weeks in the 1970s and 80s. Leave loading. No! The unions won that in the 1980s. Gee.
All the conditions you take for granted, 38hr week, 4 weeks annual leave, leave loading, long service leave, sick leave, maternity leave, bereavement leave, overtime rates, shift rates, transport allowances, meal breaks, public holidays — ALL were won by union actions paid for by members with courage, going back decades. Freeloaders, bystanders, cowards, contributed nothing but still want the benefits.
Before One-Tel collapsed in about 2002, all the staff were proudly proclaimed to be on individual contracts. But when the firm closed its doors and the staff found themselves literally on the street in Sydney, who did they turn to? Greg Combet was there to help the very few members, but all the other staff gathered around and said, “Help!” And he did.
In the James Hardy asbestos scandal, who did all the work in getting justice for all the victims of mesothelioma? Unions.
The other thing all the TVW non-members said was, “But Harry Bluck called that strike in 1969 and they all had to go on strike!”
a) it was 1969
b) it was a different union (though affiliated)
c) so? Sometimes it takes a bit of courage.
But above all, the question was, What does it cost to join? It always boiled down to that: I want it but I don’t want to pay for it. Why pay when I get it for free (via the fees and effort of the union members)? Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? It’s the mantra of this age: Why pay for it when you can steal (download) it?
Why is it that in every form of human endeavour (except literature and art, surprisingly), teamwork is prized above individualism? But when it comes to dealing with bosses, teamwork bad, isolated negotiations good. Funny that.
The answer? Employers hate dealing with union officials or employees who know their onions and can’t be bamboozled. The employer wants to have the upper hand and doesn’t want to have to deal with anyone who knows the law and knows how to negotiate.
Now, why did I say it paid off? When I and other employees in my nationwide network were offered redundancy payouts in 1999, the union got us double what the employer was offering and I walked away with enough money to not have to work again. My union fees were repaid a hundred times over.
But most of the the anti-union employes, surprisingly, got the same payout and took it!!! Hypocrisy ruled. I was and remain disgusted.
*I said I must be dumb because I can’t understand why employees want to stand alone in their workplace dealings. You employ a solicitor to do complex law things, an accountant to do your tax, a doctor to do your health, a plumber to do your pipes. Why do you reject employing a professional (at very cheap rates) to do your workplace negotiations?
Answer: because people know the union will do it for free when they negotiate for members. Same old story – people don’t want to pay if they see they can steal from others.
The other thing I really noticed in my working life was the lack of courage of my work colleagues. Any hint of possible union action and they faded away into the background. Didn’t want to get involved. One guy asked the union rep, “Why is it that so many union reps are Poms?” In my opinion, it’s because Poms, British people, have more courage than Aussies. YES, I truly believe that. UK people have a long history of standing up for themselves and others. I never saw that from Aussies in my workplace life here.