“We will not let the destructive few wreak havoc in our community,” said Minister of National Security Wayne Caines today, following a series of shooting incidents this week, with the most recent happening this morning. Minister Caines added, “All of Bermuda should be outraged that gun shots are being sprayed indiscriminately into to private residences. […] (Click to read the full article)

Last night the police received several reports of gunshots in the Jones Village, Warwick area, however police “found no forensic or other evidence to confirm that a firearm had been discharged.” A police spokesperson said, “At around 10:30 pm on Tuesday 3-Mar-2020, the Bermuda Police Service received several reports of gunshots in the Jones Village, […] (Click to read the full article)

[Updating] Police can be seen in high numbers in the Court Street area this afternoon [March 17] with crime scene tape also visible in the area. Unofficial reports suggest that the police may be responding to reports of a firearm incident. Further details are limited at this time, however, we will update as able. Update […] (Click to read the full article)

The police have confirmed that one of the men who was shot yesterday afternoon has died. A police spokesperson said, “The Bermuda Police Service can confirm the death of 28-year-old Clarke Fox. “Mr. Fox succumbed to injuries sustained in a firearms attack shortly before 2:45 pm yesterday, Tuesday March 17th, at the corner of Court […] (Click to read the full article)

Two men have been arrested following a shooting on Court Street on Tuesday [March 17] that resulted in the death of one man and injuries to another. Following the shooting, a police spokesperson said, “At around 2:45 pm today, Tuesday 17th March, police were called out to a reported firearms incident at the junction of […] (Click to read the full article)

[Updated with video] Police are on scene in the Parson’s Road area in Pembroke this evening, and there are multiple police officers as well as crime scene tape are visible at the junction of Deepdale Road. Police have confirmed that there was a shooting and one man has been taken to hospital. Further details are […] (Click to read the full article)

The police have warned people that the ‘mystery shopper’ scam —  which tries to lures social media users by offering purported employment as a mystery shopper — has resurfaced, with the police urging residents to be wary of it. A police spokesperson said, “It appears the so called “mystery shopper” scam has resurfaced and the […] (Click to read the full article)

Following a shooting on Parsons Road in Pembroke , 20-year-old Kyari Flood was arrested and charged. A police spokesperson said, “As you recall, about 11:00 p.m. on Tuesday 24th March police responded to a report of a shooting that occurred on Parsons Road, Pembroke. “Officers found that a man had been shot in his arm […] (Click to read the full article)

[Updating] Police can be seen in the Warwick area this evening [May 8], with crime scene tape visible, and unofficial information indicating that there was a shooting. Further details are limited at this time, however we will update as able. Update 7.05pm: A police spokesperson said, “Police are investigating a confirmed firearms incident which occurred […] (Click to read the full article)

Next month’s “Courts & Shorts Weekend” in Bermuda will be rescheduled following today’s suspension by the United States Tennis Association [USTA] of all its sanctioned products and events due to the global coronavirus crisis. The USTA and the Bermuda Tourism Authority [BTA] are working to reschedule the two days of events—previously slated for April 3–4—for […] (Click to read the full article)

The Bermuda Tourism Authority [BTA] has launched an online platform to support local businesses that have moved quickly in the wake of COVID-19, innovating what they do to remain viable and continue serving customers. “Couriers and restaurants are offering kerbside, takeout and home delivery. Yoga instructors are promoting classes online. How-to webinars have been created […] (Click to read the full article)

A male motorcycle rider was transported by ambulance to the hospital following a two-vehicle collision involving a car and a motorcycle on North Shore Road this morning. A police spokesperson said, “At around 11:15 this morning, police responded to a reported two-vehicle collision involving a car and a motorcycle, near the Terceira’s gas station on […] (Click to read the full article)

Critical Issues in Trucking Workforce Development , released by the Mineta Transportation Institute at San Jose State University

One of the most fascinating things about planet Earth is the way that life shapes the Earth and the Earth shapes life. We only have to look back to the Great Oxygenation Event (GOE) of 2.4 billion years ago to see how lifeforms have shaped the Earth. In that event, phytoplanktons called cyanobacteria pumped the …

Continue reading "New Data Show How Phytoplankton Pumps Carbon Out of the Atmosphere at an Enormous Scale"

The post New Data Show How Phytoplankton Pumps Carbon Out of the Atmosphere at an Enormous Scale appeared first on Universe Today.

Have you heard of Heath Freeman? He's a thirty-something hedge fund boss, who runs "Alden Global Capital," which owns a company misleadingly called "Digital First Media." His business has been to buy up local newspapers around the country and basically cut everything down to the bone, and just milk the assets for whatever cash they still produce, minus all the important journalism stuff. He's been called "the hedge fund asshole", "the hedge fund vampire that bleeds newspapers dry", "a small worthless footnote", the "Gordon Gecko" of newspapers and a variety of other fun things.

Reading through some of those links above, you find a standard playbook for Freeman's managing of newspapers:

These are the assholes who a few years ago bought the Denver Post, once one of the best regional newspapers in the country, and hollowed it out into a shell of its former self, then laid off some more people. Things got so bad that the Post’s own editorial board rebelled, demanding that if “Alden isn’t willing to do good journalism here, it should sell the Post to owners who will.”

And here's one of the other links from above telling a similar story:

The Denver newsroom was hardly alone in its misery. In Northern California, a combined editorial staff of 16 regional newspapers had reportedly been slashed from 1,000 to a mere 150. Farther down the coast in Orange County, there were according to industry analyst Ken Doctor, complained of rats, mildew, fallen ceilings, and filthy bathrooms. In her Washington Post column, media critic Margaret Sullivan called Alden “one of the most ruthless of the corporate strip-miners seemingly intent on destroying local journalism.”

And, yes, I think it's fair to say that many newspapers did get a bit fat and happy with their old school monopolistic hold on the news market pre-internet. And many of them failed to adapt. And so, restructuring and re-prioritizing is not a bad idea. But that's not really what's happening here. Alden appears to be taking profitable (not just struggling) newspapers, and squeezing as much money out of them directly into Freeman's pockets, rather than plowing it back into actual journalism. And Alden/DFM appears to be ridiculously profitable for Freeman, even as the journalism it produces becomes weaker and weaker. Jim Brady called it "combover journalism." Basically using skeleton staff to pretend to really be covering the news, when it's clear to everyone that it's not really doing the job.

All of that is prelude to the latest news that Freeman, who basically refuses to ever talk to the media, has sent a letter to other newspaper bosses suggesting they collude to force Google and Facebook to make him even richer.

You can see the full letter here:

Let's go through this nonsense bit by bit, because it is almost 100% nonsense.

These are immensely challenging times for all of us in the newspaper industry as we balance the two equally important goals of keeping the communities we serve fully informed, while also striving to safeguard the viability of our news organizations today and well into the future.

Let's be clear: the "viability" of your newsrooms was decimated when you fired a huge percentage of the local reporters and stuffed the profits into your pockets, rather than investing in the actual product.

Since Facebook was founded in 2004, nearly 2,000 (one in five) newspapers have closed and with them many thousands of newspaper jobs have been lost. In that same time period, Google has become the world's primary news aggregation service, Apple launched a news app with a subsription-based tier and Twitter has become a household name by serving as a distribution service for the content our staffs create.

Correlation is not causation, of course. But even if that were the case, the focus of a well-managed business would be to adapt to the changing market place to take advantage of, say, new distribution channels, new advertising and subscription products, and new ways of building a loyal community around your product. You know, the things that Google, Facebook and Twitter did... which your newspaper didn't do, perhaps because you fired a huge percentage of their staff and re-directed the money flow away from product and into your pocket.

Recent developments internationally, which will finally require online platforms to compensate the news industry are encouraging. I hope we can collaborate to move this issue forward in the United States in a fair and productive way. Just this month, April 2020, French antitrust regulators ordered Google to pay news publishers for displaying snippets of articles after years of helping itself to excerpts for its news service. As regulators in France said, "Google's practices caused a serious and immediate harm to the press sector, while the economic situation of publishers and news agencies is otherwise fragile." The Australian government also recently said that Facebook and Google would have to pay media outlets in the country for news content. The country's Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg noted "We can't deny the importance of creating a level playing field, ensuring a fair go for companies and the appropriate compensation for content."

We have, of course, written about both the plans in France as well as those in Australia (not to mention a similar push in Canada that Freeman apparently missed). Of course, what he's missing is... well, nearly everything. First, the idea that it's Google that's causing problems for the news industry is laughable on multiple fronts.

If newspapers feel that Google is causing them harm by linking to them and sending them traffic, then they can easily block Google, which respects robots.txt restrictions. I don't see Freeman's newspaper doing that. Second, in most of the world, Google does not monetize its Google News aggregation service, so the idea that it's someone making money off of "their" news, is not supported by reality. Third, the idea that "the news" is "owned" by the news organizations is not just laughable, but silly. After all, the news orgs are not making the news. If Freeman is going to claim that news orgs should be compensated for "their" news, then, uh, shouldn't his news orgs be paying the actual people who make the news that they're reporting on? Or is he saying that journalism is somehow special?

Finally, and most importantly, he says all of this as if we haven't seen how these efforts play out in practice. When Germany passed a similar law, Google ended up removing snippets only to be told they had to pay anyway. Google, correctly, said that if it had to license snippets, it would offer a price of $0, or it would stop linking to the sites -- and the news orgs agreed. In Spain, where Google was told it couldn't do this, the company shut down Google News and tons of smaller publications were harmed, not helped, but this policy.

This surely sounds familiar to all of us. It's been more than a decade since Rupert Murdoch instinctively observerd: "There are those who think they have a right to take our news content and use it for their own purposes without contributing a penny to its production... Their almost wholesale misappropriation of our stories is not fair use. To be impolite, it's theft."

First off, it's not theft. As we pointed out at the time, Rupert Murdoch, himself, at the very time he was making these claims, owned a whole bunch of news aggregators himself. The problem was never news aggregators. The problem has always been that other companies are successful on the internet and Rupert Murdoch was not. And, again, the whole "misappropriation" thing is nonsense: any news site is free to block Google's scrapers and if it's "misappropriation" to send you traffic, why do all of these news organizations employ "search engine optimizers" who work to get their sites higher in the rankings? And, yet again, are they paying the people who make the actual news? If not, then it seems like they're full of shit.

With Facebook and Google recently showing some contrition by launching token programs that provide a modest amount of funding, it's heartening to see that the tech giants are beginning to understand their moral and social responsibility to support and safeguard local journalism.

Spare me the "moral and social responsibility to support and safeguard local journalism," Heath. You're the one who cut 1,000 journalism jobs down to 150. Not Google. You're the one who took profitable newspapers that were investing in local journalism, fired a huge number of their reporters and staff, and redirected the even larger profits into your pockets instead of local journalism.

Even if someone wants to argue this fallacy, it should not be you, Heath.

Facebook created the Facebook Journalism Project in 2017 "to forge stronger ties with the news industry and work with journalists and publishers." If Facebook and the other tech behemoths are serious about wanting to "forge stronger ties with the news industry," that will start with properly remunerating the original producers of content.

Remunerating the "original producers"? So that means that Heath is now agreeing to compensate the people who create the news that his remaining reporters write up? Oh, no? He just means himself -- the middleman -- being remunerated directly into his pocket while he continues to cut jobs from his newsroom while raking in record profits? That seems... less compelling.

Facebook, Google, Twitter, Apple News and other online aggregators make billions of dollars annually from original, compelling content that our reporters, photographers and editors create day after day, hour after hour. We all know the numbers, and this one underscores the value of our intellectual property: The New York Times reported that in 2018, Google alone conservatively made $4.7 billion from the work of news publishers. Clearly, content-usage fees are an appropriate and reasonable way to help ensure newspapers exist to provide communities across the country with robust high-quality local journalism.

First of all, the $4.7 billion is likely nonsense, but even if it were accurate, Google is making that money by sending all those news sites a shit ton of traffic. Why aren't they doing anything reasonable to monetize it? And, of course, Digital First Media has bragged about its profitability, and leaked documents suggest its news business brought in close to a billion dollars in 2017 with a 17% operating margin, significantly higher than all other large newspaper chains.

This is nothing more than "Google has money, we want more money, Google needs to give us the money." There is no "clearly" here and "usage fees" are nonsense. If you don't want Google's traffic, put up robots.txt. Google will survive, but your papers might not.

One model to consider is how broadcast television stations, which provide valuable local news, successfully secured sizable retransmission fees for their programming from cable companies, satellite providers and telcos.

There are certain problems with retransmission fees in the first place (given that broadcast television was, by law, freely transmitted over the air in exchange for control over large swaths of spectrum), and the value they got was in having a large audience to advertise too. But, more importantly, retransmission involved taking an entire broadcast channel and piping it through cable and satellite to make things easier for TV watchers who didn't want to switch between an antenna and a cable (or satellite receiver). An aggregator is not -- contrary to what one might think reading Freeman's nonsense -- retransmitting anything. It's linking to your content and sending you traffic on your own site. The only things it shows are a headline and (sometimes) a snippet to attract more traffic.

There are certainly other potential options worth of our consideration -- among them whether to ask Congress about revisiting thoughtful limitations on "Fair Use" of copyrighted material, or seeking judicial review of how our trusted content is misused by others for their profit. By beginning a collective dialogue on these topics we can bring clarity around the best ways to proceed as an industry.

Ah, yes, let's throw fair use -- the very thing that news orgs regularly rely on to not get sued into the ground -- out the window in an effort to get Google to funnel extra money into Heath Freeman's pockets. That sounds smart. Or the other thing. Not smart.

And "a collective dialogue" in this sense appears to be collusion. As in an antitrust violation. Someone should have maybe mentioned that to Freeman.

Our newspaper brands and operations are the engines that power trust local news in communities across the United States.

Note that it's the brands and operations -- not journalists -- that he mentions here. That's a tell.

Fees from those who use and profit from our content can help continually optimize our product as well as ensure our newsrooms have the resources they need.

Again, Digital First Media, is perhaps the most profitable newspaper chain around. And it just keeps laying off reporters.

My hope is that we are able to work together towards the shared goal of protecting and enhancing local journalism.

You first, Heath, you first.

So, basically, Heath Freeman, who has spent decade or so buying up profitable newspapers, laying off a huge percentage of their newsrooms, leaving a shell of a husk in their place, then redirecting the continued profits (often that exist solely because of the legacy brand) into his own pockets rather than in journalism... wants the other newspapers to collude with him to force successful internet companies who send their newspapers a ton of free traffic to pay him money for the privilege of sending them traffic.

Sounds credible.

I largely gave up political blogging after November 8, 2016, when it became obvious that I have no idea what...

I get asked this question a lot. There are two questions, actually, that students ask me all the time.  One is: how did I get my job? The other: do I really need a PhD?Today I will attempt to answer the second question.So I was going to start out by saying that whether or not a PhD is the right choice for you depends on what you want to do with your life. Essentially- where do you see you; (read more)

Source: Suzy - Discipline: Careers

I realize that sounds kinda nuts — why are we asking PARENTS to show us their KIDS being independent? Who, after all, is better at making videos? Mom or little Ava (who’s 5)? But legally we can’t ask anyone under 13 to do anything. So go document your children doing something new on their own, […]

It’s no secret that I love Japan. I mean, I really, really love Japan. I felt more at home in Tokyo than I ever have anywhere else, and I think about going back all. the. time. I’m even thinking about it right now. You’re probably reading this right now because, at the very least, some tiny part of you is curious about whether you should do it. It might be the tiiiiiiiniest little part, but I’m sure it’s there. Maybe you don’t want to admit it because it seems pretty impossible, and yeah, I will admit that if you have a job that you don’t want to leave, strong family ties, kids, pets, or no money (among other things), it must seem like a distant what-if that will never happen. Here’s the thing. If you’re really, honestly interested, then make it happen. Because guess what? You freaking can make it happen, and don’t let anybody tell you no. If you’re coming up with a “But…” right now, I’ll stop you right there! “But I have kids/pets…” Figure out how to take them with you, because you can! “But I don’t want to leave my job…” Take a sabbatical for a year, look into transfers to a branch abroad, look for a better job in the same field in Japan, or look into whether this job is really worth giving up on this dream (maybe it isn’t). “But I can’t speak the language…” So? I moved to Japan and didn’t speak a word. Some people learn before they go, some people learn while they’re there (me), and some people never learn (I don’t recommend this). I could go on forever, but the whole world is at your fingers if you really want it! I seriously believe that. It’s not always easy, but if you want something badly enough, don’t you owe it to yourself to at least try? Anyways, let me give you the top reasons why I think that you should give living in Japan a try! 1. Living in a different culture opens your eyes. This especially is true if you immerse yourself in as much of the culture as you can. Make Japanese friends, learn about what people do on a daily basis and what they believe in. Try doing things in ways that are new to you. Try new foods! Mochi is the schiz, by the way! Once you’ve experienced doing new things, it will change how you do things even if you return back home. I will always have a no-shoes policy in my house (it’s so much cleaner!), I absolutely CRAVE a train system (if only!), and I have a newfound respect for walking and cycling. I never did this when I was little, but now, if I can, I walk! 2. You’ll have a fresh start. In your new home in Japan, you won’t have any of the drama that surrounded you in your old one. Thanks to the internet, we can still keep in touch with friends and family, but being a few thousand miles away from them will keep a lot of the drama to a minimum. Take a chance to stretch your wings and see what kind of person you are when you have the freedom to be you without their judgement. Trust me, it takes a weight off being in a new place where nobody knows who you used to be (or who they thought you used to be). Oh, and you know what? I bet that you will love yourself more than you ever did before. 3. Japan is a magical place! Seriously. Cherry blossoms, gorgeous temples and “castles” (I wouldn’t call them castles, but they’re called that nonetheless, and they’re really cool anyway), a rich history filled with Samurai and ninjas (who doesn’t love ninjas?), seasonal treats, and an entire culture that grew up reading manga. How does this not sound like an amazing place to live?!  And no offense to any other country, but Japanese trains come quickly, go almost everywhere, are extremely punctual, and pretty clean, which makes them (Tokyo especially) easily #1 in the world in public transportation. Now that sounds magical to me. 4. Universal Health Care. If you’re American like me, this will make a HUGE difference in your life. Trust me. If you come from pretty much any other 1st world nation, it probably won’t matter as much, though. But at least it’s good! 5. Japan is safer than where you came from. There’s no gun violence. There’s very low crime in general. You can walk in the dead of night in the seediest parts of town, as a woman, alone, and still feel perfectly safe from other people. From earthquakes is another matter, but you’ll get used to them really fast, and Japan is built to withstand all but the biggest. 6. Wa. There is a concept called wa in Japanese society, which essentially promotes practicing peace and harmony in your daily life. Wa is obvious in everything from traditional architecture and decor to the way that people act around each other– courteousness, quiet, and respect are what you expect most from your neighbors. You’re never going to wake up to your neighbors blaring music at 3am having a raucous party. Even drunken people wandering the street are more polite than not (although most of them just sort of stumble home or sit down where they are for the night– but remember, Japan is safe so they only thing they have to worry about is getting chilly). We could all use a little bit of harmony in our lives, and that’s something that Japan taught me to value. I’m surprised that yoga isn’t more popular, since they’re pretty in tune with each other. 7. All the new gadgets, and all of the old culture. Sure, Silicon Valley is where a lot of new apps are coming out, but if you want lots of little weird but useful gadgets to make your life easier (or more interesting), take a stroll through Akihabara. Plus, there are tons of cheap versions of what you’re used to, like large-capacity flash drives and SD cards. And I would be remiss in not mentioning the used electronics! Smartphones! Right next to small neighborhood temples, btw. It’s the only place to find Ayanami Rei in a kimono, wandering the street. The best of both worlds! 8. MANGA AND ANIME EVERYWHERE. This should be your main reason. This should be enough of a reason. Not only is it available everywhere, but events abound. If you wanted, you could go to an anime-related event every weekend of the year. Also, let’s not forget that it’s the only place to see all of the anime movies released in the theater, go to the official events (like Jump Festa, Comicket, World Cosplay Summit, and Anime Japan, among others), and see the musicals, seiyuu radio shows, and stage plays. If this isn’t reason enough, you’re probably in the wrong place. 9. It’s cheaper than you think. I lived in Tokyo, and then I moved back to the US, thinking that because I was living in a place often called “The Most Expensive City In The World,” it would be cheaper here. Nope.. Apartment rents, even in small cities, are at least the price that I was paying in Tokyo (~$600/mo). And try finding that in LA. So far I haven’t had any luck, and especially not in the areas that are actually sort-of-kind-of safe. Food is also about on-par with the US, especially domestic food. Considering that it’s an island, it’s actually really, really cheap. Food in Hawaii cost sometimes 3-4 times what I was able to get it for in Japan. Then, when you factor in healthcare, which is pretty cheap (what you pay for the insurance is based on your income, and then it covers 80% of all your bills — this is a simplification, but generally holds true), and transportation costs (you don’t need a car, therefore no gas, no insurance, no car maintenance fees), it’s downright cheap. Even living in Tokyo. 10. You will never run out of things to do. In nearly a decade, I never ran out of cool things to do. Can you say the same about the city that you live in now? Thought so. Ah man, I kinda feel ready to jump back on a plane and move across the ocean… three cats and all! Somebody hold me back… resistance is fading……………….  

Apple has launched a new web page that brings together links and information about its online services for customers shopping from home during the global health crisis.


Titled "Everything you love about our stores is online," the new catch-all page links from the Apple.com home page and includes details about no-contact delivery options, Apple Specialist help, financing and credit options, Apple Trade In, Apple Card, order status checking, service and support.

The page also links out to "Today at Apple - At home," a series of fun how-to videos to help users get creative during the ongoing stay-at-home measures, and there's a series of category links for customers to explore products on Apple's online store.

Apple has been gradually re-opening its retail stores in countries where lockdowns have eased, although some are operating on limited hours.

Apple CEO Tim Cook last week said that Apple was going to reopen stores in Austria and Australia this week, and Apple's sole Apple Store in Vienna will be reopening on Tuesday, May 5.

We're still waiting to hear exactly when stores in North America will reopen, but Cook also said that Apple is planning to reopen a few stores in the U.S. starting in May. Store openings will be staggered, with Apple evaluating data that includes local guidelines and recommendations before reopening.
This article, "New Apple Web Page Directs Customers to Its Online Shopping Services" first appeared on MacRumors.com

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IBM and Sesame Workshop today announced that Georgia’s Gwinnett County Public Schools, one of the nation’s top urban school districts, has completed an initial pilot of the industry’s first cognitive vocabulary learning app, built on the IBM and Sesame intelligent play and learning platform. The new platform, powered by IBM Cloud, enables an ecosystem of software developers, researchers, educational toy companies, and educators to tap IBM Watson cognitive capabilities and Sesame Workshop’s early childhood expertise to build engaging experiences to help advance children’s education and learning. The cognitive vocabulary app is one of the first of many cognitive apps, games, and educational toys that will be built over time on this new platform, as a result of the two companies’ collaboration announced last year.

I added my own commentary to Sacramento Gun Show signs

Last year I had an incredible night with the Rocky Challenge table in Sacramento. I offered people an opportunity to try something weird (drinking raw eggs) and it was a big hit! Since then, I've set up the Compliment Exchange table a few times, but I always had my mind on creating some kind of physical or psychological challenge. In August, I came up with a plan: Mystery Shots.

Desperate to see a show? Bring a sign and come alone.

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today that Workshop FX, a Wellington 3D Computer Animation and Visual FX company, is the first New Zealand customer to implement IBM SONAS, its scalable enterprise-class network attached storage array. SONAS (Scale Out Network Attached Storage) has enabled Workshop FX to significantly increase rendering productivity while preparing the studio for future business growth and emerging industry standards including 3D film production.

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UPDATE: Both workshops filled very quickly. I only do these about once a year; apologies for the imbalance. I have set up a system so people who are potentially interested in future small-class lighting workshops can receive advance notice. More info here.

__________
I'll be teaching two, full-day lighting workshops in the suburban Baltimore/DC area on December 6 and 7.

They are two separate one-day events. These are small-group workshops, with a maximum class size of 12 people each day. These are shooting workshops, and you'll be behind (and/or in front of!) a camera for most of the day.

Assuming you arrive at this class with a basic understanding of f/stops and shutter speeds, you will leave with a strong foundation in the fundamentals of off-camera lighting. You will be comfortable using single and multiple lights both alone and/or balanced with a mix of ambient lighting.

All lighting gear will be provided. We will also provide lunch.

You will need to bring a camera that is adjustable in manual mode and has a hot shoe connection for a flash, a lens that covers normal and/or portrait range, one or two fully charged batteries and an empty storage card. Maybe a notebook and pen if you like.

That's it. Just show up ready to learn and to have fun. Leave the rest to me.


Details

Dates:
December 6 and 7, 2019

Time:
9:30am - 5:30pm

Price:
$259

Location:
Sandy Spring Friends Lyceum
17715 Meeting House Road
Sandy Spring, MD 20860


Note; These are the only small-class lighting workshops I'll be teaching in the US this year. In the past, these have tended to fill very quickly. So if this is something you'd like to do, I'd suggest signing up sooner rather than later.


Sign-Up Links

Friday, December 6 [FRIDAY'S CLASS HAS BEEN FILLED]

Saturday, December 7 [SATURDAY'S CLASS HAS BEEN FILLED]

COVID-19 Update:

Things are kinda crazy right now. And as a result we have temporarily suspended our workshop program until it is safe to resume them. But we'll be back! And if you think you night want to join us, make sure to add your name to the list below.

Thanks,
David

I very much enjoy teaching small-class lighting workshops. But because of time constraints they only happen about once or twice a year.

When workshops do open up, they fill very quickly — often before many people even know they were available. So I have decided to create an interest list to help make notification of an upcoming workshop a much fairer process.


About the Classes

Strobist^® Lighting Workshops are held as both single- an multi-day events. They have small class sizes and feature lots of time behind the camera. In the longstanding tradition of Strobist.com, our goal is to deliver as much value and knowledge as possible while keeping the costs economically accessible.

We work in an environment of rotating small teams, with lots of one-to-one instruction. We have fun, and I can guarantee you'll have a solid understanding of lighting principles before you leave. Or I won't let you leave.



Single day workshops are usually held near my home base in the Baltimore/Washington area, but are occasionally held elsewhere. That is why I am also collecting geo-information, so I can notify people if a one-day workshop would be occurring near their home.

Extended lighting workshops (usually 2-3 days in length) are generally held in an area that is both economically accessible, and very much worth the trip. Because if you are going to travel for something like this, why not go to a cool destination?

The goal for multi-day workshops is a fast-paced/fun/firehose weekend, in a fantastic setting, while working to keep everything to a manageable cost.


Might Be Interested? Let Me Know.

The interest sign-up list approach has proved to be both fair and efficient for our X-Peditions trips. So I am going to use that approach for single- and multi-day small-class lighting workshops as well.

Here's how it works.

1. If you think you even might be interested in a single- or multi-day lighting workshop, please submit your name and email below. This confers no obligation on you whatsoever.

2. I will only use your email for the purpose of giving you advance notice for small-class lighting workshops. I do not sell, rent or otherwise share your email. Because I hate companies who do that.

3. When I have an upcoming workshop, you'll get an email notice well before it is publicly announced. In fact, because of this interest list, future lighting workshops likely won't be publicly announced at all.

4. Make sure to include your city/state/country. If I suddenly find I have 30 people from Pitchfork, Nebraska who are interested, it may well make sense to reach out to those people and work out a nearby location.

That's it!

Thanks,
David

How best to put this?

The Godox TT600 is, objectively, a screaming bargain. It is a full-sized manual-only speedlight with power comparable to OEM speedlights that cost over eight(!) times as much.

It features a reliable, built-in transceiver, a suite of different remote triggers and is part of a ridiculously comprehensive lineup of lighting gear.

I honestly don't know how they can possibly sell them for under $70 and still make a profit. Read more »

Hey, there's a pandemic. Have you heard?

Looks like we might be spending a lot of time in the house with our immediate family these days. Maybe that family includes kids. And maybe they are starting to go a little stir crazy.

Keep reading for some ideas for any lighting photographer who might be looking to make the best of some unscheduled family time.Read more »

IBM, (NYSE: IBM) today announced the findings of its 2016 Global Customer Experience Index (CEI) Study, which showed that Australia is above the global average when it comes to providing a good shopping experience for consumers, with a CEI rating of 43 percent compared with 40 percent globally. The results provided a snapshot of the Australian retail sector, revealing that some businesses are still struggling to provide a seamless cross-channel experience, personalisation and convenience for customers.

(I know I've been scarce lately -- it's been a bad two years or so -- and I keep swearing I'm going to get back to posting regularly and it keeps not happening, but this was worth using up some spoons for.)

Background

The context, for those who've missed it: The Archive of Our Own was awarded the 2019 Hugo Award™ for "Best Related Work" in August by the voting membership of this year's Worldcon™. As fandom does, a lot of people predictably joked about "welp, my Stucky tentacle porn just won a Hugo" or "my Stucky A/B/O has won 0.0000482% of a Hugo!" The World Science Fiction Society™, who holds the service mark for "The Hugo Awards"™ and licenses the ability to award those awards each year to the independent organization that seeks the license to throw each year's Worldcon™, decided that they would like us all to know we should stop doing that and this award being given to "The Archive Of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works" does not mean that we, users of the AO3 or members of the OTW, are 'Hugo winners'. (Repeatedly. In great detail and at great length.)

( cut for length )

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Photo by 蜷川実花

THE SHOP HAS RE-OPENED!

CHAPTER 3 IS NOW AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME!

We also have new prints and Chp 2 back in stock, if you have been meaning to pick it up!

I FEEL LIKE SANTA~

I hope you all enjoy!

-Hamlet

I just wanted to add; we've got a bunch of new merchandise in production, but a lot of it isn't quite ready yet, so keep your eyes peeled over the next couple of months, because we'll be adding a bunch of new exciting items to our inventory!

*cough* body pillows *cough* *cough*

-Thisbe