Talent, Weather, Bombings, and Cruisers XIII – The Details Part IV

Talent

I read an article that had me thinking about Talent. I mostly agree with the writer about the many misconceptions of talent. I’m often told . . . er . . . sometimes told . . . oh, OK, a couple of people have told me I have talent in something or other. 

I know I don’t, and I point that out. But, if it’s not talent, what is it? In the article I link above, the author points to putting the time and effort into doing something. I think that’s only part of the equation. I think the other part is having the interest in doing that something. More than interest, even, is passion. Many people want to do stuff but say they don’t have the ‘talent’ for it. What they mean is they don’t have enough interest and passion in that something to put in the time to actually do it. 

Photography  and writing are two things I showcase in this blog and both have, for many years now, taken up a lot of my time. It’s then not surprising that things I produce in both those areas are sometimes favorably perceived. 

In photography, I’m probably better than someone who takes photos on a lark but I’m a far cry from someone who is truly interested in photography. I don’t study it, I don’t take classes on it. I play with it. Occasionally, I hit one out of the park, but the majority of what I do is put to shame by the work of many people who have way more interest in the craft and who actively and purposefully dedicate themselves to constant improvement through experimentations, study, and practice. Do they have more ‘talent’? Only if one equates passion and talent.

I currently have more interest in writing, so I apply myself a bit more. But, it’s not what occupies my entire waking time. It’s not a passion. I say I want to get published and I’m working on it, but I’ll not attend conventions to befriend authors, editors, and agents. I’m not working to develop a “network” I can lean on to help me on my way. I’m also not writing every day. Listen to interviews with published authors . . . it’s what they live for. They are interested and involved in all areas of the craft, in the community, in the whole of the literary world. They live it. 

That said, I do more with my writing than I do with my photography. Not because that’s where I can find “my talent”, but because that’s where my current interest is taking me.  

I’ll be as talented as my passion pushes me, but it’s not an innate thing. 

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Weather

Yesterday, a couple of day into our Monument and Colorado Springs Spring, this . . . 

All of these are less than 20 seconds in length. I had a few others where you could not see the neighbor’s house but, you know, you basically can’t see anything, so they are a bit boring. I was hoping to capture the sound of the 60mph gusts but it didn’t work out. Instead, I added music. 

That first movie is looking out, at an angle, toward the road . . . which you can’t see. You also can’t see the houses across the street. This next one looks out toward the West. There’s houses out there as well . . . not that you can see them. 

This final one looks to the Northeast at a moment when we could see the house of the neighbor. We’re lucky the leaves are not yet out, or we would have lost a few branches from our Dogwood trees. 

We’ll have another storm come through late tomorrow and Saturday. By the way, Monday we had temperatures in the 70s, and I golfed. Tuesday, temperatures in the mid-to-high 60s and I puttered around the house.

Yesterday, 20°. I stayed inside and ate stuff.

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Bombings

So, another terrorist bombing. More talk of cracking down on Muslims, shutting down immigration, carpet-bombings . . . balanced by calls for calm and for basically not doing anything.

Regardless if you find yourself supporting one incompetent side or the other, know that you are likely a hypocrite. 

It will be interesting when, not if, bombings will come to these shores. It won’t be the first time, of course. 

I remember the 60s, and if one has forgotten, THIS. You might have seen THIS guy interviewed at one of the anti-Trump demonstrations. To my knowledge, he has never disavowed the use of any means necessary to reach objectives he is still passionate about. Some of that same attitudes permeate through various currently active and very vocal groups.

It’s not just the Left, of course. Did you forget THIS?

The point is, depending where you sit, you will be more sympathetic toward groups who align with your own beliefs and throw the label of “radical” in front of groups you don’t identify with.

BUT . . . when something horrific happens, you tend to lose any rationality and that sympathy — or antipathy — may go into overdrive.

So, if you self-identify as a Liberal, Democrat, or both, you are likely to call for the confiscation of about 300 million guns whenever someone commits a horrific act with one or more said guns. If you are a Conservative, Republican, or both, you are likely to point out the vast majority of gun owners are law-abiding individuals who have rights that are worth protecting. The Liberals/Democrats will counter with “what if it’s your child who is shot? How would you feel then?”

If you self-identify as a Conservative, Republican, or both, you are likely to call for cracking down on Muslims or illegal aliens whenever a member of either group commits a horrific act. If you are a Liberal, Democrat, or both, you are likely to point out the vast majority of Muslims and illegal aliens are law-abiding individuals who have rights that are worth protecting. The Conservatives/Republicans will counter with “what if it’s your child who is killed? How would you feel then?”

And yes, there are gradations of both Liberals and Conservatives. But, less and less, by my observation.

That “what if it’s your child” retort has always been the history of our country, and I can’t fault people. If it were my wife who fell victim to a member of any group, I would hate, with a passion, everything that group stood for, and do so irrespective of the color of their skin, what religion they followed, where they came from . . . . I would also forever mistrust every member of that group because what they stand for and what they believe fostered or even nurtured someone or group of someones who hurt a person I love more than life itself. 

If such unthinkable thing happened, I would remove myself from making decisions about what to do, because if I didn’t, there would be a bloodbath.

That said, I would want something done. If not confiscating guns, at minimum stricter enforcement of existing laws plus new measures (education, training, screening) to increase the percentage of responsible gun ownership and diminish irresponsible or illegal gun ownership. If not banning whole religious or ethnic groups, better enforcement of existing laws and less tolerance toward people who feel, for their own personal reasons, they have a right to act outside the law. All that, plus actual police footwork and investigations and integration within the communities. 

Heck, as long as I’m dreaming, I also want to see the various communities (groups) themselves realizing it behooves them to foster cooperation with law enforcement (without the associated harassment) and to not tolerate certain elements within their ranks. 

But . . . no. Instead, we have simplistic, ineffective, and outright ignorant proposals both pro and con every issue of importance to civilized society. It’s like both groups purposefully wait for something to happen so they can more easily manipulate and harness people on overdrive.

Ask me how hopeful I am for the future of mankind. Nevermind, I’ll tell you. Were the popular misconception about Lemings factual, we would be the embodiment of it.

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Cruisers Update XIII – The Details Part IV

Continuing with my late reporting of the June 14, 2015, Tri-Lakes Vintage Car show.

By the way — BTW, for short — I’m not identifying the various cars makes these macros belong to because, as I’ve oft asserted and repeated, I ain’t no car guy. That said, one can perhaps determine the car associated with the macros below by reading previous posts or going to the SmugMug gallery and looking at the photos of cars, matching them to the macros. 

That it, unless the macro says something like “Ford” or “Chevrolet” or has specific models like “Mustang” or “Corvette”.  Those, I could easily identify, but then there would be no mystery in life, would there?

By the way — BTW, for short — there is a SmugMug Gallery (HERE) for this, past, and future posts about this show. Also, you can click on the photos to open a larger version of the photo in a separate tab or window. Go ahead; try it.

The photo above, as much as it looks like it, is not, in fact, an emblem of a chicken. As near as I remember, it’s a Roadrunner.

Here are a few more variations on a chicken . . . 

I do have to admit the marketability of ‘Chicken’ is much less than ‘Roadrunner’. 

I thought this made for a visually interesting photo . . . 

I probably should have gone all B&W on it, but I didn’t. 

Here’s a different section of the whole.

Again, aside the fact it’s a Chevy, I don’t know or remember the particular car. But, if I go to SmugMug or look at the previous posts, I might guess it’s this car:

Which is identified as a 1932 Chevrolet Coupe in THIS post.

I would then guess this next photo to be from the same car . . . 

. . . as is this one . . . 

I could do the same for this next car, but, frankly, I’m exhausted. That snow I mentioned, it accumulated to more than knee-deep. And yes, I’m not very tall, but still . . . hard-packed and with a slushy bottom (that would be the snow, not me), it took us a couple of hours to clear our drive, and that’s with the snowblower. A big, nice, heated-handles snowblower that got clogged with frozen slush and ‘sticky’ snow every 4-5 minutes. We worked hard, I kid you not!

Based on the lines, I would guess a 50s-something Chevy.

Don’t know if this is from the same car. It might be.

Then again, it might be from this car . . . whatever it is.

or, even this one . . . 

No, wait . . . that has to be for this truck . . . 

CRAP! . . . I just realized I processed these differently than the earlier photos from this series. I used a different border. Holy Crap and double crap on a two-stack cracker!

Oh, well . . . what was it I said about talent and passion? 

Here are a few I was am pleased with . . . 

I’ve had an exchange of comments about a shot similar to this next one in a previous post. The thinking was that emblem belongs to a Mustang. The previous might have, but I don’t think so for this one. In fact, I could not find a car that belongs to, but I don’t think that grille is from a Mustang. As always, I could be wrong. 

I’ve dug way down into my knowledge of cars to identify the next shot . . . it’s from a Chevrolet 3100 pickup. 

This next one, on the other hand, is from a blue car. 

I think the features below would look good on a spaceship . . . The Bel Air Intrepid.

This next shot is from the same car (I think).

I must confess a certain affinity for that style of door handle. But, let me go back to the previous shot and convert it to B&W.

We, meaning, me, conclude this post with a beloved brand name that recently proved the only thing corporations ever really care about is money, and that they will stop at nothing to make more of it. Just like politicians. 

I hope you took the opportunity to click on a few photos. If not, that’s OK.

That’s it. This post has ended . . . except for the stuff below.

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