First Takes: K-7 Video

We will be uploading some videos that headquarters has produced in the next week or two. However, being the sort of hands-on guy that I am, I thought it was important to post some other samples so there would be a wider range of video for all of you to look at.

When I started to write the copy for my post yesterday, K-7 Movie "Sound" Primer, I was thinking that I'd briefly touch on the sound recording options of K-7, and then in a separate post share my initial impressions as a "user" about the video recording capability shooting with a pre-production camera with firmware versions 0.34 and 0.35.

However, I realized that there are so many facets to the new movie mode in the K-7, as well as it's other rather "deep" set of improved and new features, that I decided to try and combine a few initial observations about both sound and video in this post which is clearly only my first take on this new video era of SLR's that we're embarking on. As we've been extremely busy testing and confirming all the various features in the pre-production samples, I will not list the specs here. Sites like dpreview and imaging resource have down a great job in detailing all the speeds and feeds in their respective "first looks". Since I did post some photos yesterday of the Rode Stereo VideoMic, you might want to check out imaging resource's comments about the K-7 internal mic and their use of the Rode mic since we gave them a unit to test as part of their K-7 Hands-on Preview.

Based on my initial and limited experiments shooting video with the K-7, here are some observations.

STABILIZED VIDEO
The K-7's in-camera shake reduction is going to be a big plus for allowing one to produce smooth, non-jerky video clips. I've fooled around holding the K-7 at arms length and shot video in wide sweeping motions moving the camera up and down as I walk around. The resultant video looks remarkably smooth. Based on my hand-held and very casual videos shot with the DA*200 and DA*300, SR video will be very important when using longer, heavier lenses.

SOUND RECORDING
Advancements in technology typically never come without some compromise or challenge. Our SR system is doing an incredible job in stabilizing images, and offering even greater capabilities than possible in the past. For example, "Composition Correction" is a new feature of the K-7 that takes advantage of our stabilization system. When shooting on a tripod, it's possible to fine-tune your framing by manually adjusting the position and rotation of the image sensor. The drawback to SR, now that we've incorporated video, is that the SR motors create a definite "whine" or "buzzing" that despite our attempts to totally dampen it can be detected when using the internal mono mic on the K-7. Depending on the type of video you're shooting and the level of ambient noise that's present while recording, you might find this noise less than pleasing. For casual video footage, such as my little league baseball video clip, you're likely not to even notice. However, if you're doing serious video work, we included a 3.5mm stereo jack on the K-7 thus allowing you to use a high quality external mic.

TRUE APERTURE CONTROL
Based on my initial experiments, being able to explicitly set your aperture when shooting videos is going to be a big plus. It's really important in video to have control over the DOF and decide when you want a soft look or let everything in the frame be sharp. While you can only select aperture at the beginning of a video clip, in most cases you wouldn't shift from say f/2.0 to f/8.0 in a single scene. The other benefit of aperture control is being able to match the same DOF and "look" from a video with the way you control that same lens when shooting stills. For example, I've started to experiment shooting with my beloved FA 31mm f/1.8 Limited and it's really encouraging to see that the 31mm is going to produce the same beautiful color, contrast and feel on video.

FIRST TAKE VIDEO SAMPLES
One thing that immediately struck me when I started testing the K-7 is just how challenging it will be to thoroughly test video. Not only do you have to test a wide range of lighting and sound situations, there are the tens of lenses of different focal lengths and speeds that need to be shot with, as well as seeing the effects of shooting at different apertures, etc, etc. For this reason, and recognizing that I had to start producing some sample videos, I've tried to keep the selection of videos for my first take pretty simple. However, I have tried to select video clips that show or give you a glimpse of the likely capabilities inherent in video recording with the K-7.

UPLOADING AND SHARING VIDEO
Just a word of caution for anyone that's viewing or planning to upload videos. Not all video hosting sites are delivering full HD video when you play them. From my experiments and talking to a very seasoned cinematographer, even though YouTube offers "HD" video playback, in reality your videos are being processed and down sampled to the equivalent of 540p. Therefore, I would place no faith or base your judgement on any camera's video capability by pixel peeping through videos on YouTube. I've chosen to use Vimeo for my video hosting and sharing, and have confirmed that the size of my native file (.AVI) is the same as the HD file that Vimeo is streaming to you.

Lastly, I have embedded my first take video in this post directly from Vimeo and it does play in HD mode, as indicated by the little blue bug on the right side of the viewer frame. If you want to see a larger view of this video, simply click on the Vimeo logo at the bottom of the viewer frame.

First Takes: K-7 Video from Ned Bunnell on Vimeo.

K-7 Movie "Sound" Primer

Preparing copy for this post. I'm also working on my first K-7 video samples and hope to have these uploaded to Vimeo in the next few days.

Disclaimer: To ensure I am not attacked by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), please note that the 5th photo is not of a dead cat or squirrel tail. It's what Rode calls a windshield, which they recommend should be left on at all times as even the slightest breeze can cause sound interference.

(Note: Click on any of these thumbnails to see larger view. Photos shot with K20D and FA50 f/1.4 lens.)

Lilly Heart: Considering the Lilly...again.

At the center is the heart of it pulsing with life and light.

The stargazers soul ...held loosely.

Momentary.

Knowing he will rise again He gives it to you freely...

knowing it to be the death of Him.

He has dressed for this repeat performance.

May 28, 2009 - On Not Jumping the Gun

Today I read an online article about prostate cancer – specifically, how some men who get regular PSA tests may end up getting overtreated for the disease.

It’s a situation that’s parallel to my NHL, because of the similar, watch-and-wait treatment protocol.

Man gets PSA test. Test detects a small, almost insignificant presence of cancer. Knowing most prostate cancers are slow-growing, doctor recommends watchful waiting. Patient, who’s just heard the word “cancer” for the first time in a medical diagnosis, flips out, imploring the doctor get rid of the cancer, whatever it takes. Under pressure, doctor initiates treatment – despite the possibility of debilitating side effects and the knowledge that the treatment is likely to be no more effective now than later.

It’s all because of the patient’s panicky reaction to the word, “cancer.”

I know. It’s only human to respond that way. I did, myself, when I was first diagnosed. We’ve been taught to think of cancer as a killer, that must be excised from the body instantly, no matter how difficult that process may be.

You can see this in the way some people use the word “cancer” as metaphor. If someone speaks of “a cancer on the organization,” or something similar, it means the offending member must be drummed out of the corps, post-haste. That’s what we do with cancers, right?

Sometimes, but not always. Not when it’s a slow-growing cancer – like most prostate cancers, or my indolent NHL.

I’m away at a church conference this week, the national meeting of the Presbyterian Association of Stated Clerks. Today, at the breakfast table in the conference center dining hall, a colleague I haven’t seen in a while asks me how I’m doing. I explain the watch-and-wait thing, and she at first assumes I’m in remission. No, I’m not in remission, I correct her. It’s been 3 years since my treatment, but my remission only lasted about 8 months. The cancer’s been back ever since then, but we’ve yet to treat it, because it’s still too small to treat.

She gives me a quizzical look that reveals she clearly doesn’t get it.

I explain to her that my cancer is one that doesn’t – in fact, shouldn’t – be treated immediately (and that this is a tough idea for any of us to wrap our minds around). Doing so will just deplete the number of implements in the doctors’ treatment toolbox, tools that may be needed later when the cancer does get big enough to treat.

After my lengthy explanation, my friend does get it – but, I rather suspect she goes away thinking I’ve got some superhuman reserves of psychological endurance, being able to get up and walk around each day, as I do, with the knowledge there’s untreated cancer inside me.

It’s not that big a deal, though. It really isn’t. Once you get used to the idea that you’ve got an indolent cancer, and understand what that sort of cancer really is, you can function rather well. Sure, there’s a constant, low-level sense of unease about the future, but it is low-level.

You have cancer. You live with it. Somehow, with a little help from your friends, and your God, you get by.

As long as you don’t jump the gun.

Faculty Announced for WDI World Schools Workshop

Rhydian Morgan & Debbie Newman

Alfred Snider & Bojana Skrt

There is still room at the workshop. July 25-August 7 2009. Held at the University of Vermont in Burlington, Vermont, USA.

Contact Janet Nunziata to register -- janet.nunziata@uvm.edu

Bojana Skrt, ZIP Slovenia, Director

As director of the national debate program of Slovenia, Bojana has become one of the most respected debate trainers in the world. She has directed countless teacher and student workshops, and her team has been EFL World Champions at the World Schools Debating Championship three times.

Debbie Newman, UK

Debbie has been debating champion of England and Wales and president of the legendary Cambridge University Union in the UK. She has taught at WDI a number of times. She coached England to the World Schools Debating Championship in Washington in 2008 and to second place at WSDC Athens in 2009.

Rhydian Morgan, UK

Rhydian is a professional communications trainer who has an endless love for debating. He has won numerous tournaments and has also been chief adjudicator at countless tournaments in Europe. He is a returning WDI faculty member, has taught at the Department of State Study of US Institutions program for students from India, Pakistan and Bangladesh in 2008 and is a regular faculty member at the International Debate Academy Slovenia.

Alfred Snider, USA

Has been WDI director, since 1984 director of the Lawrence Debate Union since 1982 and is the Edwin Lawrence Professor of Forensics at the University of Vermont. Has trained debaters in over 28 countries, published over 50 books about debating and for debaters and has won every major award given to debate coaches in the USA. As a student debating for Brown University he finished third at the USA National Debate Tournament and second at the Tournament of Champions.

WDI Reorganization Points to Global Expansion

The world is full of changes, and this is also true for the World Debate Institute. One thing that has not changed is that WDI remains as one of the leading global sources of sophisticated debate instruction.

The World Debate Institute announces a number of changes in the program.

Due to escalating costs and the economic downturn many of the summer programs hosted at the University of Vermont will not take place this year.

However, in Vermont the World Schools Debating Workshop will continue with strong attendance and a celebrated international faculty. July 25-August 7 2009. http://debate.uvm.edu/wdi/

During July WDI will be assisting in the planning and implementation of a high school debate workshop at Piedmont College in Georgia.

There will be some additional smaller debate workshops held in Vermont for university students in August that involve WDI faculty but are not official WDI programs. See http://debate.uvm.edu/edi.htm .

The World Debate Institute will continue to sponsor and hold training events around the world. In some ways it makes more sense to bring the program to the world than to try and bring the world to Vermont (although it is a wonderful place).

WDI will be working with ZIP Slovenia to sponsor the World Schools Debate Academy for high school students to be held in Slovenia 5 July-12 July 2009. http://debate.uvm.edu/wsda.html

WDI is working with the US State Department and the Faculty of Organizational Sciences at Belgrade University in Serbia to hold a university workshop in Serbia 15-22 July 2009. Contact Alfred.snider@uvm.edu for information.

WDI is working with ZIP Slovenia to present the Seventh Annual International Debate Academy Slovenia 21-29 November 2009 to be held in Ormoz, Slovenia. Information can be found at http://debate.uvm.edu/idas.html

WDI is beginning to make plans for a debating workshop to be held in Iraq in cooperation with ZIP Slovenia and local Iraqi partners.

K-7 Brochure Copy

I have uploaded a "draft" copy of the text to be used in the US version of the K-7 brochure. This piece is targeted to come off the press late June/early July to coincide with first customer shipments here in the states.

Since it's sometimes hard to get a sense of how the various functions actually work from reading a pretty dry spec sheet, I thought some of you might find this brochure copy helpful. Obviously, not seeing the associated photos and images that will accompany this copy might make it a little difficult to fully understand the context of some of this copy. However, if this copy helps answer a few questions that have not been addressed elsewhere, then this post has served its purpose.

K7 Brochure Copy

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Brochures & Catalogs Pentax

Library computers

I had a really cool collage of all our spring happen'ings and the dumb library computer wont read my key port :( I was proud of myself for getting my act together and I was going to do a real update with pics and all. So sad.

Well, the morning sickness goes on but seems to be getting better. I'm getting a bump - that's fun. I spend most of my days in a morning sickness foggy headed state, bumbling around my house trying to figure out what to do with myself LOL

Hugs and love....

Library computers

I had a really cool collage of all our spring happen'ings and the dumb library computer wont read my key port :( I was proud of myself for getting my act together and I was going to do a real update with pics and all. So sad.

Well, the morning sickness goes on but seems to be getting better. I'm getting a bump - that's fun. I spend most of my days in a morning sickness foggy headed state, bumbling around my house trying to figure out what to do with myself LOL

Hugs and love....

Variations on a theme!

A photo, a painting and an art photo...all from the same inspiration. One beautiful red Lilly...A Lilly that I often "consider", think about, ponder over. I love this Lilly (long gone form the planet now). It lives, etched in my mind. " Even Solomon in all his glory could not compare! What more inspiration do I need?

What is it? (Manna)

When the Israelites left Egypt to wander the wilderness while God made a nation out of them they were afraid and complained that they would die of starvation. So Moses talked to God about it and The Father did an amazing thing that fed them all the years they wondered in the dessert. He made Manna. It was such strange stuff that they named it "What is it?" (In Hebrew: Manna.) Each morning when they awoke it would be lying all over the ground. The rules were that they were only to gather enough to eat for one day with one exception...the day before the Sabbath they were to gather enough for 2 days. The leftovers ( with the exception of the 6th day!) would spoil and if they ate it and they would become very ill. Some died from this.

I have often wondered what this stuff looked like?...tasted and felt like. It was so important to them that they were to keep some in the Ark of the Covenant (or Promise) which eventually ended up in the Temple and Contained the Very Presence of God. (ARK: You know that thing Indiana Jones made famous again).

All of this is leading up to my point: A number of years ago I had a very significant trauma at the hands of someone I really trusted and it shook my life to the very core. Healing took a long time and here is the thing I learned that gave me my life back: Forgiveness is like manna...you must harvest it each day! On occasion it will last for 2 days but sure enough, if you eat it old, it will make you ill. I have pondered this for years now..it is like Jesus' love for us. It is such a foreign thing to us that we ask "What is it?" How could someone die (be murdered in the most brutal way imaginable and not be bitter about it?) for me when I am soooo unworthy? There is absolutely nothing else like it on the planet...but then that IS the point. God IS Love.

May 16, 2009 - Farrah's Story

It’s hard to believe it’s been a week already since my last blog entry. Life has been overflowing, of late – not so much with rich and wonderful experiences as with the sort of minutiae that distract from the main thing.

Anyway, last night I did manage to take some time to view Farrah’s Story on NBC TV. For several years, Hollywood celebrity Farrah Fawcett has had anal cancer that’s now metastasized to her liver. Her prognosis is not good. For the past couple years, she’s brought a video camera along on most of her medical visits. Her intention, at first, was simply to keep a personal record of the complex medical information the doctors were feeding her, but eventually it occurred to her to make a documentary out of the footage.

This is the program that premiered on NBC last night. As the documentary airs, she’s no longer receiving chemotherapy, but is said to be receiving other anti-cancer drugs. It does seem, sadly, that her doctors have just about run out of options.

The film records Farrah saying, long before she reached this stage in her treatments: “So I say to God – because it is, after all, in his hands – ‘It is seriously time for a miracle.’”

It’s a gritty, realistic documentary. It pulls few punches in displaying the pain and exhaustion that so often go along with aggressive cancer treatments. So eager was Farrah to receive the most cutting-edge treatments that she left the care of her Los Angeles doctors for a time, and flew to Germany. There she had found a surgeon willing to undertake the tricky removal of her anal tumor, as well as another doctor who was willing to directly destroy her liver tumors, one by one, with a painful laser ablation treatment that involved sticking needles directly into her abdomen.

Farrah evidently wanted to show it all: a rather surprising move, for a movie star who’s spent her life carefully managing her public image. “There were things that I thought were too invasive to film,” Farrah’s friend and collaborator Alana Stewart explained, in an interview. “But Farrah said, ‘Film it. This is what cancer is.’”

The treatments seem to have bought her some time, little more. Hers is the story of a cancer survivor who's determined to do everything possible – even pushing the limits of the possible – to aggressively turn back her disease.

Because Farrah Fawcett is who she is – a world-famous celebrity, and a very wealthy woman – she has access to treatment options few other patients can consider. The film portrays her flying back and forth to Germany on a chartered jet, and staying, during the time of her treatments, in a picturesque alpine chalet that looks like it comes straight out of Heidi. Here’s a woman who’s lived her adult life at the pinnacle of privilege, but at the end of the day, she’s like any other cancer patient. Cancer is a great leveler, that way.

Towards the conclusion of the film, Farrah even loses her trademark mane of blonde hair. I found it a strange experience to watch some of her close friends describing what a horrible sacrifice this was for her, as though a coiffure were life itself – but then, I had to remind myself, these are Hollywood people. Their aging faces display the craft of the cosmetic surgeon. For them, physical beauty takes on disproportionate importance. It seems less so for Farrah herself, actually, than for those around her.

In the film, Farrah’s longtime companion Ryan O’Neal pays tribute to her inner beauty – and that’s the impression I’m left with, from this rather roughly-edited, but very realistic film. Farrah’s Story is the tale of a survivor. Whether or not she gets the medical miracle she tells God it’s “seriously time for,” there are miracles aplenty of strength, perseverance, community and love.

Seeing patterns in all things!

Photography:

As I begin the great Blogging adventure I am seeing patterns in everything! In color, texture and even in seeming chaos...I am seeing patterns. The pattern of a raindrop on a sundrop...the pattern between leaf and lilly or apples and basket. All things work together....for good.

Worst morning sickness ever - Oh yeah and Happy Mother's Day!

So first the unplesantness, this may be my last baby because I am so freakin' sick! I can't do anything it seems. I've never been this "morning sick" *sigh* But I'm really excited for this baby! I announced today in church that I'm pregnant, it was perfect it being MOther's day and all. Everyone so so happy for me.

I had some spotting so I went to a midwife to check it out and got to see the baby on an ultrasound (which I normally wouldn't do). The babe is fine and of so cute! Tucked far back in my womb. Seth was bummed to hear it wasn't twins. LOL But thrilled that the baby is healthy and looking great!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms and all of you who come from moms! As many of you know I have an adopted mother, Kim, and I love her so much! She has loved and accepted me, been there for me, and cherished my family. I don't know who or where I would be without her.
She always has time for everyone. She loves her childrenw with the passion of a mama bear. She is raising her youngest child (who is still at home) in the ways of the Goddess and my heart rejoices that he will learn of our Heavenly Mother from a young age and have all the advantages that holds for his life and direction. She is a magical, lovely woman and I am so happy to be her daughter! She is heaven sent.


And speaking of heaven it's on Mother's Day that I am reminded of some very important heavely Mother's. Heavenly Mother, the spiritual mother of us all, wife to our Heavenly Father. She has been called by many names, Innana, Isis, Freya, Spider Woman, Mother Earth, the Great Silence. Without her love, compassion and direction I would literally not exisit.

Then of course there is Mary Magdalen, wife, mother, female messiah. Our beloved Savior's beloved wife. Mother of Sarah the daughter of Christ. (And for those who think that last bit doesn't line up with Mormon thought, I direct you to read "Jesus was Married" by Ogden Kraut. Our prophets told us He was married and to Mary Magdalen, he also fathered children and lived the principle)

Mary, Mother of God. I don't even know where to begin. No words can describe this holy woman, chosen by our Heavely Parents to birth and raise Christ. The ultimate earthly mother. Her face is pictured in all Waldrof schools for the spiritual direction of our children. Her face adorns the walls of The Bear House, rooting my children in the Divine Feminine - a Mother's holy love.

Blessings!

Worst morning sickness ever - Oh yeah and Happy Mother's Day!

So first the unplesantness, this may be my last baby because I am so freakin' sick! I can't do anything it seems. I've never been this "morning sick" *sigh* But I'm really excited for this baby! I announced today in church that I'm pregnant, it was perfect it being MOther's day and all. Everyone so so happy for me.

I had some spotting so I went to a midwife to check it out and got to see the baby on an ultrasound (which I normally wouldn't do). The babe is fine and of so cute! Tucked far back in my womb. Seth was bummed to hear it wasn't twins. LOL But thrilled that the baby is healthy and looking great!

Happy Mother's Day to all you moms and all of you who come from moms! As many of you know I have an adopted mother, Kim, and I love her so much! She has loved and accepted me, been there for me, and cherished my family. I don't know who or where I would be without her.
She always has time for everyone. She loves her childrenw with the passion of a mama bear. She is raising her youngest child (who is still at home) in the ways of the Goddess and my heart rejoices that he will learn of our Heavenly Mother from a young age and have all the advantages that holds for his life and direction. She is a magical, lovely woman and I am so happy to be her daughter! She is heaven sent.


And speaking of heaven it's on Mother's Day that I am reminded of some very important heavely Mother's. Heavenly Mother, the spiritual mother of us all, wife to our Heavenly Father. She has been called by many names, Innana, Isis, Freya, Spider Woman, Mother Earth, the Great Silence. Without her love, compassion and direction I would literally not exisit.

Then of course there is Mary Magdalen, wife, mother, female messiah. Our beloved Savior's beloved wife. Mother of Sarah the daughter of Christ. (And for those who think that last bit doesn't line up with Mormon thought, I direct you to read "Jesus was Married" by Ogden Kraut. Our prophets told us He was married and to Mary Magdalen, he also fathered children and lived the principle)

Mary, Mother of God. I don't even know where to begin. No words can describe this holy woman, chosen by our Heavely Parents to birth and raise Christ. The ultimate earthly mother. Her face is pictured in all Waldrof schools for the spiritual direction of our children. Her face adorns the walls of The Bear House, rooting my children in the Divine Feminine - a Mother's holy love.

Blessings!

Rites of Passage

Some of my most enjoyable memories as a parent were coaching little league baseball and teaching my three sons to play the game. This morning I had a chance to see my three grandsons play on teams coached by their dads.

I haven't shot much with the DA18-250mm, since I tested this pre-production sample right before we announced the lens. However, I thought it would give me a good zoom range for these baseball games. Photos shot with this lens and the K20D. RAW files processed by CS3 to produce jpeg's for posting here on blogger.

(Note: click on any thumbnail to see a larger image.)

May 9, 2009 - A Most Useless Place?

Dr. Wendy Harpham sent me a link to the blog of Rabbi David Wolpe, who also has non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Several years before that, he had surgery for a brain tumor. Here, he writes about receiving his last Rituxan infusion, ending a two-year follow-up regime after chemotherapy for NHL:

“Recently I had the final infusion. But I was not at all sure that pulling away the safety net was a cause for celebration. My doctor poked his head into the curtained chamber to assure me that he expected a long remission. Kind of him, but what could he say?

Remission is cancer's suspended animation. The renegade cells are poised to return but no one knows when. It could be a month or a decade; for my type of lymphoma (one of the more than thirty varieties of Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma) there is no cure. So I am stuck in what Dr. Seuss – in a book I used to read to my daughter – calls “a most useless place. The Waiting place....’”

A most useless place. That phrase does sum up how it feels, sometimes. Unlike David, I’m out of remission – have been for a couple of years – but there are days when I, too, feel like I’m in suspended animation.

David’s experience is similar to mine, too, in that he is a member of the clergy, serving a congregation:

“I had the strange, surreal experience of hearing my congregants' shock that this could happen to the family of the Rabbi – as though professional piety was a shield against disease. As though God played favorites.

Right before my brain surgery I appeared in front of the congregation and asked them for their patience and their prayers. Three year later I was standing before them, bald. I witnessed the realization in their eyes that there are no guarantees, no protected people. No one is safe.”

No, no one is safe. Yet, that observation ought to be surprising only to those who believe God is some cosmic puppeteer, manipulating the lives and loves and illnesses of us poor, benighted souls who dwell below. Is cancer a thunderbolt, cast down in righteous anger from Olympian heights? I’ve never seen it that way – although I’ve met plenty of people, both inside and outside my church, who fear it may be.

Granted, there are strains within the biblical tradition that portray God that way. God punishes the ten spies who brought back an unfavorable report of the promised land by killing them with plague (Numbers 14:37). God gives the adulterous David and Bathsheba’s infant love-child a fatal illness (2 Samuel 12:15-17). Even worse, God famously afflicts Job with boils, not because he’s an unjust man but simply because God wants to win a debate with the devil.

Yet, before everything is said and done in the Hebrew scriptures, the Lord is portrayed as “merciful and gracious, abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 103:8). That’s the majority witness. When it comes to the New Testament, of course, God not only sympathizes with human suffering, but personally undergoes it, becoming incarnate as Jesus Christ.

Yet, the ancient images of a capriciously angry God, that dread smiter of sinners, are maddeningly persistent. “What did I do to deserve this?" is the anguished cry we pastors hear again and again, whether spoken or unspoken, standing at the foot of many a hospital bed.

No one is safe. We’re all going to die. Some of us sooner than others. If we’re spared from some fatal catastrophe on the highways, we’re all going to hear some doctor admit to us, someday, “I’m sorry, but there’s nothing more medical science can do for you.” Is this God’s judgment?

The story of Adam and Eve in the Garden suggests it is. Death is, that story suggests, God’s judgment on the entire human race. That may be so, but, unless we toss out all the biblical witnesses to God as patient and merciful, it’s hard to make a case for God micro-managing the entries in our individual medical files. We belong to a race for whom that dark, old lullaby is all too true:

“Hush, little baby, don’t you cry,
for you know your mama is born to die...”

The divine decree of death is meted out to the human race en masse, not on a case-by-case basis.

The fact of death is perhaps the deepest mystery we children of Adam and Eve seek to plumb – as Rabbi David has himself come to realize:

“For now I am just waiting. I am trying to find my own way through this because, inevitably, I will be asked how I did it. Rabbis are supposed to be figures of authority and calm. It was hard enough to reassure my congregation that a fickle universe does not mean that God is absent. That belief does not indemnify me against adversity. That my faith through all this is unshaken. How does one live, Rabbi, is the question my congregants ask, of not so directly. Tell me, Rabbi – it is your job to know.

My answer, I now realize, is: Live as if you are fine, knowing that you are not. Death is the overriding truth of life but it need not be its constant companion. My safety net is gone. I feel, as all people in remission do, that each time I fly my hand may slip from the trapeze. But to live earthbound is to give the cancer more than it deserves.”

The place David and I find ourselves in may feel, at times, like “a most useless place.” On deeper examination – and, viewed through the eye of faith – it turns out to be anything but.

May 7, 2009 - Microscope-Ready

Good news, today, in the form of a news article about government allocations for medical research. The article in Bloomberg News reports on what one researcher calls “a stunningly large number” of dollars – $10.4 billion of ‘em, to be exact – that will be devoted to curing what ails us. “Breakthrough findings on obesity, AIDS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and cancer” are on the way, the article predicts.

President Obama has included this amount as part of his $787 billion shot in the arm for the economy. There’s been lots of talk about rebuilding the nation’s crumbling infrastructure through “shovel-ready” projects like bridges and highways. It’s nice to know there are some microscope-ready projects, as well, to benefit those of us with chronic illnesses.

There are some who say that, once you have cancer, never a day goes by that you don’t think about the disease, at least once. I’m pretty sure that’s continued to be true for me, during this extended period of watch-and-wait. Some days I think about it a lot, other days it’s no more than a fleeting thought. Yet the though is always there, if only lurking below the surface.

I would a great thing, indeed, if I didn’t have to think about it anymore.

It would be a great thing, as well, if some additional billions would be used to buy health insurance for those without it – although I suppose that’s coming down the pike soon enough, along with the rest of the President’s healthcare-funding proposal.

Why is this important? Check out this 7-minute video that tells what an impossible fix a hard-working American family can get into when cancer comes knocking at the door:



Quite apart from the humanitarian factor, cleaning up our nation’s broken healthcare-funding system – that leaks dollars like a sieve – will actually strengthen the economy.

Now, that’s the sort of win-win scenario that even a fiscal conservative ought to be able to appreciate.

Outside Magazine Recommends K2000

With a circulation of 400,000 and a shelf-life until September, the Summer 2009 Outside Magazine's Buyers Guide features 349 hot, new products and dubs less than 10 percent of them as “KILLER VALUES.”

We were pleased to see that the PENTAX K2000 digital SLR flash kit has received the KV distinction for being a sweet deal. Here’s what Outside Buyer's Guide had to say...

“Beginner-friendly features include built-in image stabilization that works with any PENTAX lens, a point-and-shoot mode that automatically assesses the subject and chooses the best exposure and scene mode, and a help button that pulls up shooting tips and technical information. One tester compared it with having the camera manual in your pocket at all times.”

(Note: click on any thumbnail for a larger view)

100mm Macros of Early Season Tomato Plants

My father was a serious gardener who typically grew at least 200 tomato plants every summer. My job as a kid was to help him water, prune, pinch off the "suckers" (first photo) and fertilize the plants. He'd constantly remind me that the size and quality of the harvest was directly related to the care you gave the plants throughout the growing season. While there is no fruit to photograph right now, I spent a little time this weekend using the K20D and 100mm Macro lens to capture a few different views of the early plants.

The last photo is not a tomato plant, but the Japanese herb, Shiso, who's purple and green leaves are great in salads and frequently used as a wrap with sushi.

(Note: Click on any thumbnail for a larger file. Images shot in RAW and processed with CS3 to produce jpegs for posting here on blogger.)

Beatles Pentax Photo

Beatles Ringo Starr and George Harrison on board aircraft, June 1964
Photographer: Morrie Hill

I'm sure that a few Pentaxians have seen this classic photo of George Harrison apparently trying to figure out one of the dials of his new Pentax. I had seen this photo previously, but had never been able to confirm its provenance. By coincidence and a little Googling, I uncovered that this photo was taken by Morrie Hill during the Beatles tour to New Zealand, and is part of a collection owned by the Alexander Turnball Library. There's a page on Flickr you can check out to learn more about this Beatles Photo.

While it's not obvious at the present time, you might want to refer back to this photo for a particularly small detail after certain announcements are made in the near future. Call me what you will, but if this is considered a "tease", it's actually part of some thought I've had recently trying to determine if it's possible for high technology products to have an innate personality. In other words, I'm talking about the "soul of a camera" and is this something that can be felt and appreciated by the photographer who uses that tool? Happy postulating and if you have a well thought out view on this, I'd enjoy reading your reaction and comment to this notion. Cheers!

Note: I can see from a few posts on various forums that some folks literally took my words to mean that I'm referring to specific features in a future camera, which could not be further from the point of this post. Guess the tendency on forums to immediately react to someone's words is similar to firing off a few shots before you've taken off the lens cap. I was not suggesting that we're bringing back features in that 1964 Pentax that George is holding. That would be like BMW using the same exact engine from the original Mini Cooper in their re-incarnation. What I'm really thinking about is the idea that certain products have a synergy where the different features and functions cooperate advantageously for a final outcome. Simply defined, it means that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

And again, please consider these are thoughts not necessarily related exclusively to our next camera. Any company that designs a new product suffers through many long review meetings trying to decide if their offering will resonate with its customers in a way that the experience and emotional attachment the end user has will be far greater than any one feature. This is what separates the iPod from all the other MP3 players. This is what I'm sure Microsoft is working feverishly to achieve in Windows 7. If anything, I'm simply saying we're as anxious and excited about the next few months as some of you are :-)

Discovery of 70 yr old Negatives by Robert Capa

A shot of a woman and child at a Spanish refugee camp in France, taken by Robert Capa in March 1939.

There was an interesting article in yesterday's NY Times about the discovery of 4,300 negatives taken by Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and David Seymour during the time of the Spanish Civil War.

If you're interested in photography history, here's the link to
From Battered Boxes, New Works By Photography's Old Masters

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS OF WOMEN IN INDIA

If the principle of gender equality is enshrined in the Indian Constitution, then why are Indian women treated as second citizens in their own country? The Constitution officially grants equality to women and also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favour of women. However, the varied forms of discrimination that women in India are subject to are far from positive.

It is claimed that from the Fifth Five Year Plan (1974-78) onwards, there has been a marked shift in the approach to women’s issues from welfare to development. Where is the development? Yes, the status of the urban woman has shown some improvement but the changes in their lifestyle were not coupled by changes in the general mindset of the people in our patriarchal society. Thus, some laws should have been framed for the protection of the newly emancipated and urbanized Indian women. What is the percentage of urban women in India, anyway? What about the rest? These privileged few would have prospered with or without the laws. Has there been any significant change in the status of rural women after the Fifth Five Year Plan?

The National Commission for Women was set up by an Act of Parliament in 1990 to safeguard the rights and legal entitlements of women. “The 73^rd and 74^th Amendments (1993) to the Constitution of India have provided for reservation of seats in the local bodies of Panchayats and Municipalities for women, laying a strong foundation for their participation in decision making at the local levels.” These reserved seats often go unoccupied or are taken up by male candidates because women rarely contest for such seats. Why? The mere existence of laws cannot automatically bring about a revolutionary change in the society. In a country where women have no control over their own lives and do not even have the decision-making power in their own household, do you think they will be encouraged to join local governing bodies?

In India gender disparity is found everywhere. The declining ratio of the female population, in the last few decades is a proof of this. The stereotypical image of a woman haunts her everywhere. Domestic violence is commonplace. The underlying causes of gender inequality are related to the socio-economic framework of India. As a result, the women belonging to the weaker sections of the society i.e. the Scheduled Castes/Scheduled Tribes/ Other backward Classes and minorities, do not have easy access to education, health and other productive resources. Therefore, they remain largely marginalized, poor and socially isolated.

The following are some of the provisions made in favour of women, in our constitution:

Article 14 in the Indian Constitution ensures equality in political, economic and social spheres. Article 16 provides for equality of opportunities in matters of public appointment for all citizens. However, the ratio of women in Politics is far less as compared to men. How many women hold positions of power in government run institutions? Single women do not get jobs easily because the employers fear that they might get married and quit. They also find it hard to get rented accommodation whereas that is not the case with single men. Cricket is a religion in India. Is the government promoting cricket for women or any other form of team sport for women for that matter?

Article 15 prohibits discrimination against any citizen on the grounds of religion, race, caste, sex etc. There are certain places of worship in South India where women are not allowed entry. Advertisements of ‘Fairness’ creams are aired on television without any restrictions. It is shown in these ad-films that the ‘brown’ Indian woman can’t get a job, can’t find a man and is generally looked down upon by everyone but when she becomes fairer, the story changes.

Article 15 (3) of the Indian Constitution allows the State to make any special provision for women and children. Wife bashing is a favorite sport in India. Women are subject to physical and mental torture by their husbands and their families. Women and children are always under the control of the ‘Male’ head of the family. A child is identified by his father’s name in this country. Whereas in western countries, the mother’s name forms, the middle name, of a child.

Article 39(a) mentions that the State will direct its policies towards securing all citizens, men and women, the right to means of livelihood while Article 39 (c) ensures equal pay for equal work. When a male government employee is transferred from one place to another, is his wife given a new job in the new place? Her career goals are of little importance to anyone. She can be displaced and uprooted anytime! The daily wages of women labourers in India are lesser than that of male menial workers. Bollywood Actresses also get less money as compared their male counterparts.

Article 42 directs the State to ensure just and humane working conditions. More often than not, women are exploited by their bosses. It is believed that women who keep their bosses happy get promotions very easily in the Corporate world! What about the others? Male colleagues never fail to make passes at women. Women have to put up with their bawdy jokes, lascivious remarks and glares, all the time. The plight of women labourers at construction sites, tea and rubber plantations etc, cannot even be described.

The constitution imposes a fundamental duty on every citizen through Article 15 (A) (e) to renounce practices derogatory to the dignity of women. What is the government doing about eve-teasing? Can a woman spend an entire day on the streets of the National capital without getting a series of comments, derogatory to her dignity? Another law that protects women against a seemingly milder crime is Section 509 of the IPC. This law punishes individuals who have insulted the modesty of a woman. Offensive language, sounds, gestures and intrusion of a woman's privacy are punishable under this law. Outraging the modesty of a woman is also punishable under Section 354 of the IPC. Under this law, an individual who has assaulted a woman, used criminal force on her or outraged her modesty in any other way can be punished with imprisonment of up to 2 years. In fact the people who are employed by the State to ensure that people don’t flout any rules, the policemen, are the ones who have given consequence to many crimes against women. Policemen are often found mouthing obscenities, glaring and passing bawdy remarks on women, not only on the roads, but also inside the police station. Many of our honourable politicians are also involved in all manner of crimes against women.

Laws such as the Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, Sati Prevention Act, Dowry Prohibition Act and Indecent Representation of Women (Prevention) Act protect women from the more "traditional" crimes such as rape, abduction, dowry, torture, molestation, sexual harassment and selling of girls into slavery. However trafficking of women is still very common in this poverty-stricken country. Women from economically backward families are kidnapped and forced into prostitution. Incidents of women being charred to death after their husbands’ death, have been reported recently. Giving and taking dowry is officially, a crime but the practice goes on. In fact, it is taken for granted that if you want to get your daughter married you should arrange for her dowry first, even when your daughter is educated and financially independent.

Female foeticide and infanticide are common practices in this country. If at all the girl is allowed to live, she is subject to all forms of torture in her own house. She is not allowed to go to school, instead she is forced to take up menial jobs and married off almost as soon as she enters teenage. People in rural areas fear that their daughters might be raped so it is better to get them married. Ironically, The Child Marriage Restraint Act specifies the cut-off age for marriage as 18 years, protecting women from child marriage. Women, be it urban or rural, face all forms of sexual harassment throughout their lives. So what is the use of these laws?

There are many women in India, who are caught in violent marriages. Owing to the social stigma attached to divorce, not many women have the courage to break free. Housewives account for 52% of the total female suicide cases in India. Section 306 of the IPC can punish the suicide victim's husband with up to 10 years imprisonment if found guilty. How many such men have been punished till now?

Thus, there are a number of laws to protect women, but what is the use of having these laws when no one follows them? In fact, the people whose business it is, to enforce these laws are the ones who publicly flout them. Besides, not many women are conversant with law and few are aware of the rights and privileges accorded to them by the constitution. So they suffer all forms of discrimination, passively.

References:

Ø http://wcd.nic.in/empwomen.htm

Ø specials.msn.co.in/sp08/wmday/women_rights.asp