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Balloon Juice

Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Welcome to day five of every-bit-as-bad-as-you-thought-it-would-be.

I’m starting to think Jesus may have made a mistake saving people with no questions asked.

The next time the wall street journal editorial board speaks the truth will be the first.

Since we are repeating ourselves, let me just say fuck that.

Hey hey, RFK, how many kids did you kill today?

I would try pessimism, but it probably wouldn’t work.

The lights are all blinking red.

… pundit janitors mopping up after the gop

Also, are you sure you want people to rate your comments?

Let me file that under fuck it.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

If you still can’t see these things even now, maybe politics isn’t your forte and you should stop writing about it.

A thin legal pretext to veneer over their personal religious and political desires.

Relentless negativity is not a sign that you are more realistic.

The rest of the comments were smacking Boebert like she was a piñata.

The worst democrat is better than the best republican.

Wow, I can’t imagine what it was like to comment in morse code.

Boeing: repeatedly making the case for high speed rail.

Just because you believe it, that does not make it true.

Today in our ongoing national embarrassment…

This isn’t Democrats spending madly. This is government catching up.

Nothing worth doing is easy.

T R E 4 5 O N

Jesus watching the most hateful people claiming to be his followers

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Photo Blogging

Photo courtesy of Dave Rintoul
You are here: Home / Archives for Photo Blogging

On The Road – dmkingto – Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden (possibly NSFW)

by WaterGirl|  July 11, 20255:00 am| 23 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging

dmkingto

Warning! Scenes of full-frontal nudity, violence, and fierceness below the fold.

When I first started working on the Stanford Campus in the spring of 2017, I was commuting from San Francisco. If I finished work during the normal evening rush hour(s), I would take 30-45 minute walks around campus to let traffic die down a little. It’s a beautiful campus, but I tended to keep wandering around the same areas – the main quad, etc. One day I took off in another direction as dusk was falling. After 5 minutes or so, I came across a small wooded patch. Although it was getting dark pretty rapidly, I figured it was still just light enough to wander through the woods. So in I went and came face to face with the Gates of Hell! Well, the Papua New Guinea interpretation of Rodin’s famous sculpture (there’s one of those in the Rodin sculpture garden in another part of the campus). I had no idea this sculpture garden even existed until I stumbled into it. But try to imagine coming across the sculpture below in a gloomy forest and you might understand why I was startled. There are lights in the garden, but they either weren’t working or hadn’t come on yet.

The genesis of the sculpture garden was in 1989 when PNG artists Naui Saunambui and Yati Latai proposed the creation of an art project in the US to Stanford anthropology student Jim Mason. (Mason was doing fieldwork on the Sepik River.) It came to fruition in 1994 when ten artists from the Sepik River region of PNG were invited over for a 4 month residency to create the garden.

On The Road - dmkingto - Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden (possibly NSFW) 9
Stanford, CAApril 8, 2025

The Gates of Hell / Opawe and Namawe Simon Gambol Marmos and Jo Mare Wakundi

This is what I’m calling the front of the Gates of Hell sculpture. I don’t know if the sculpture has an official front, but this is what I came across first. It’s carved out of pumice, which apparently was a completely new medium for the artists.

On The Road – dmkingto – Papua New Guinea Sculpture Garden (possibly NSFW)Post + Comments (23)

On The Road – dmkingto – SF Bay Area Benches, round 2

by WaterGirl|  July 10, 20255:00 am| 13 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging, SF Bay Area Benches

dmkingto

More photos of benches at random times and places around the SF Bay Area. (See my previous post from March 18th if you missed it – and really like benches.)

On The Road - dmkingto - SF Bay Area Benches, round 2 9
Saratoga, CAJuly 22, 2018

This bench makes for a nice shaded resting spot on the John Nicolas Trail in Sanborn County Park. It’s a pretty steep trail, as is common along the peninsula. (iPhone X)

On The Road – dmkingto – SF Bay Area Benches, round 2Post + Comments (13)

On The Road – dmkingto – SF Bay Area Scenes

by WaterGirl|  July 9, 20255:00 am| 26 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging

dmkingto

Just some random scenes from around the San Francisco Bay Area over the years.

On The Road - dmkingto - SF Bay Area Scenes 9
San Francisco, CANovember 28, 2015

Late afternoon at Ocean Beach, SF. That’s the Marin Headlands in the distance and the opening to the Golden Gate is along the right edge of the photo. (Taken on iPhone 5s)

On The Road – dmkingto – SF Bay Area ScenesPost + Comments (26)

On The Road – mayim – Digging out Dad’s work

by WaterGirl|  July 8, 20255:00 am| 66 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging

mayim

As a photographer, I’m definitely more enthusiastic than skillful. My [late and much missed] father was an excellent photographer ~ award winning, he had individual shows in four countries.

His camera was a constant in my childhood. As I got older, my mother and I would sit in the car, reading or knitting and talking, while we waited for him to find just the right shot. When we asked how it had gone, he’d always mutter about nothing really working. But somehow he managed to take a huge number of excellent photographs despite his pessimism.

After my mother died, he was thinking about getting a new camera, as digital cameras were getting much better and less expensive. He kept dithering, so on one visit, I asked him why  he hadn’t gone ahead and gotten one. He replied “what if I die in three months.” My response to him was that then one of his children would have a really nice camera.

On a different visit, we stopped at a yarn shop for me. It was very hot outside, so dad sat inside, as the shop had a nice sitting area for non-knitting companions. The woman at the register commented on how patient he was. I wasn’t surprised ~ it was cool, he had a good book…. And he owed me (and my mother) for all those hours waiting for him to find just the right angle and lighting.

Since he was living alone after mum died, I’d call him just about every day to check in. His response on weekdays was pretty much always the same: he’d seen some doctor or another and he’d made a new print. So it wasn’t a surprise when we put out a table covered in duplicate mounted photographs at his memorial service and pretty much told people they could only leave if they took one.

I’ve got lots of favorite pictures of his. Below are a few I have on my computer ~ the CDs with his life’s work are packed away.

I’ve thought about doing a post with dad’s pictures for a while now but only finally started typing this on Father’s Day. I’ve just gotten to sending it in. Any typos are the fault of Scout, my big goofy cat who loves to “help” me at the computer.

On The Road - mayim - Digging out Dad's work 8
Buffalo NY

Dance of Freedom: a dance performance at the 1976 bicentennial celebrations in Buffalo NY. Dad rarely took pictures of people, but he always loved this one ~ I think he managed to snap it at just the right moment.

On The Road – mayim – Digging out Dad’s workPost + Comments (66)

On The Road – Albatrossity – The Birds of May

by WaterGirl|  July 7, 20255:00 am| 8 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging

Hope everyone had a great holiday!

I saved the “possibly NSFW” post for Friday!

On The Road - Albatrossity - The Birds of May 10

Albatrossity

Mid-May is the time when many of our passage migrants have moved through, and the regular Flyover Country summer residents have found mates, built nests, laid eggs, and are otherwise occupied with getting the next generation off to a good start. Clearly they are not Republicans, who are still inventing ways to screw over the next generation (and probably the generations after that). So, let’s forget about those guys for a while, and concentrate on the birds of May.

On The Road - Albatrossity - The Birds of May 8
Near Manhattan KSMay 16, 2025

Not a lot of shorebirds stay here for the summer; apparently the 24-hour Arctic sunlight and abundant mosquitoes are a deal too good to pass up. And although some Spotted Sandpipers (Actitis macularius) head to the high Arctic, some can be found along creeks and near farm ponds across most of North America. Their characteristic bobbing gait helps one ID this species at a glance, and has earned them several quaint nicknames such as teeter-bob and tip-tail. These are most assuredly not Republicans, since the males usually incubate the eggs and care for the young. Click here for larger image.

On The Road – Albatrossity – The Birds of MayPost + Comments (8)

On The Road – dmkingto – Noncompliance Issue

by WaterGirl|  July 4, 20255:00 am| 16 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging

dmkingto

A serious issue of social and political import.

On The Road - dmkingto - Noncompliance Issue 1
Morro Bay, CADecember 4, 2024

Do people comply with simple reasonable requests?

On The Road – dmkingto – Noncompliance IssuePost + Comments (16)

On The Road – Deputinize America – Moorea 2024

by WaterGirl|  July 3, 20255:00 am| 13 Comments

This post is in: On The Road, Photo Blogging

Deputinize America

Following our visit to Melbourne, we moved on to Moorea by way of Auckland and Papeete.  Originally, we intended to connect via Noumea in New Caledonia, but there was significant political and labor unrest occurring there, rising to violence.  Given that our dive gear and warm weather clothing was going to come in checked baggage, we really needed a more assured level of baggage service that could be provided in Noumea – so we opted to come through Auckland, necessitating an NZ visa.  That overnight was incredibly cold and windy going from the airport to the hotel, but the coffee was first rate.

Papeete was utterly charming in that French colonial way – we had another overnight before our ferry to Moorea would be available.  Compared to Melbourne and Auckland, life was much more slowly paced on Tahiti.

The ferry ride was relatively short and uneventful.  Moorea is small, and while there are cars, I deemed it a “scooter and chickens island”, full of local charm with really good French wine and cheeses. our accommodations were in an overwater villa.  Diving was decent, although the coral was pretty rough and the reefs have taken a real beating from storms, bleaching events and overabundant Crown of Thorns starfish (which were being collected from the house reef by the score).

On The Road - Deputinize America - Moorea 2024 7

On The Road – Deputinize America – Moorea 2024Post + Comments (13)

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