Ann Coulter's "Today Show" Interview and religion

I must respond to Ann Coulter's interview on The Today Show this morning.

Ann Coulter does NOT represent the views of all conservatives or Christians. As a politically-conservative Christian, I very much resented how she represented those two groups of which I am a member.

Ms. Coulter's book (which I have not read, though I intend to) appears to be wrong even from the title. From what she said in the interview, how she said it, and how she named her book, she appears to be a political conservative (though NOT a Christian) trying to incite the large Christian base of the Republican party into a frenzy over whatever claims she makes in her book. What's sad is that she either doesn't know or doesn't care how much her own desperation is hurting her cause and that of those she claims to represent.

There IS a religion for Christians to be aware of, however, though Ms. Coulter misses it completely. I am sure that there are many well-meaning, sincere, and faithful Christians who vote on the left side of the aisle. I harbor them no grudge. I am also CERTAIN that there are many political conservatives who are as godless as can be.

And this brings me to the religion that Christians need to be aware of. Philosophers would (these days) call it "scientific naturalism". Preachers would call it "godlessness" (as I will in this post).

Godlessness is every bit as much a religion as Christianity. But to back that statement up, I'd better define the term "religion." A religion starts from a fundamental assumption. Someone who adheres to a particular religion makes at some point a decision to believe or accept the religion's fundamental assumption. This decision is made apart from any evidence pro or con. Those who believe in a religion will often expend considerable time, money, and effort to convert others to their religion. Most of these resources are spent trying to "prove" the fundamental assumption of the religion. But for some people (regardless of religion), the effort to "convert" is more of a jihad than anything else. These extremists consider as enemies those who do not accept their religion.

Now let's compare Christianity and Godlessness. The fundamental assumption for Christianity is that the Bible is true, and that God created everything we see and set it in order. The fundamental assumption for Godlessness is that God does not really exist, and that everything we see can be explained by the interaction of time, laws of nature, and random chance.

The Intelligent Design "movement" seeks to prove the fundamental assumption of Christianity. However their approach has two fatal flaws. First, they're trying to prove a decidedly metaphysical statement through physical evidence. Second, they're trying to prove something (the existence of God) while vigorously disclaiming any knowledge of the implications (the rest of Christianity).

The scientific community at large has the same fundamental flaws, however. They're trying to prove through physical evidence that God does NOT exist, which suffers the additional logical problem of proving a negative. They're also trying to support through evidence, research, and experiments a decidedly religious statement ("God does not exist") while emphatically denying that they support any religion at all.

I do not appreciate Ms. Coulter's representation of Christian conservatives. And I believe that she is wrong on several of her main points. But I appreciate her raising awareness that there IS a religion that's permeating the courts and lecture halls without acknowledging itself as a religion. I just wish she had correctly identified it, and been more tactful in drawing attention to it.

Mixing Flash and Ambient Light

I've been playing a bit lately with using flash in combination with available light for various purposes.

A lot of what I've done has been testing. For example, the following pictures I took in my car.

The first picture shows the scene as metered by the camera. The speedometer is washed-out, almost to the point of losing detail due to lack of contrast. And the sky is completely blown out.

The second picture shows the scene severely underexposed for ambient light, but I had my flash set to use high-speed sync. The shutter speed was 1/8000 of a second, forcing the flash to fire multiple times to illuminate the entire frame. Here you can see the speedometer is properly exposed, but the sky is quite dark.

In this next pair of images I illustrate the effectiveness of using bounced flash for fill. My daughter was looking out our front door while holding on to the gate (eating it, actually).

In this first picture you can see how the scene would be if it were lit only by available light. With the image properly exposed for the trees in the background, only a small sliver of Emily's face retains detail.

In the second picture, you can clearly see the effect of the bounced flash. While it's obvious that the picture is better-lit, it would be difficult to tell why without knowing. And someone who hadn't seen the first picture might not realize that any light had been added to the scene. (The same technique was used for the pictures at the top and bottom of this post.)

These last two images were taken at our church's annual Easter egg hunt. Both pictures would have had extremes of contrast, since the sunlight was very harsh. However, I had my flash on the camera for use as fill, and it saved most of the pictures I took that day.
The first picture shows how fill flash can be used to subtly reduce contrast in shadow areas. My daughter would have been recognizable, but the picture would have required extensive curves processing to get a similar result without flash.

The second picture would have left you wondering who the picture was taken of. As it turned out, my mother's smile shows up great despite her being strongly back-lit.

Sorry if this one post bored you, but it's exciting to me to see the possibilities opened - and the shots saved - by techniques like this.

MY D200

New class of camera, new class of photos.

I must say, I'm amazed. If you'll remember, I spent a week at my Dad's house playing with his D200 over Christmas vacation. I was impressed then.

I'm AMAZED now.

The D200 is SUCH a wonderful camera! It begs you to carry it in your hands all the time, despite the weight. Enough features to make you feel like you've got a pro camera, enough options to convince you it was tailor-made to your specifications. Yes, it's got banding, so it might go back to have the A/D converters replaced and calibrated at some point. But I've run into banding in perhaps 5 shots out of around 1000 I've taken in the month or so that I've had it.

And that lens! The 17-55/2.8 DX is worth every cent you pay for it. Like the D200, it makes your hand more comfortable to be holding it. Truly a luxurious lens, it's obviously designed for professional photojournalists who would have to live with it day-in and day-out. It can out-resolve my D200's 10MP sensor, even wide-open at f/2.8. And the contrast is like nothing I've seen (and I've played with some of Canon's L lenses from time-to-time). Truly an optical marvel.

The combination of D200 + 17-55/2.8 just can't seem to go wrong. Focusing is ALWAYS fast and ALWAYS accurate. Any focusing errors can always be attributed to user mistakes. And with the SB600 - on OR OFF the camera - the pictures almost make you cry. They're just that good.

Anyway, enough talk. Here's the pictures!


ISO 1600, WB set to Incandescent+3, lit by the chandelier over our kitchen table

Lit by SB600 on-camera, bounced off the ceiling. Yes, the ball hit the lens hood just a split second later. My daughter's face is in PERFECT focus.

Her Papa was throwing her onto the couch cushions when I decided to try for the mid-air shot. It took me four tries, and he had already been throwing her a while. But the camera did its job, and I love the results. SB600 bounced off the ceiling, after pre-focusing on my father-in-law.

I was playing with the SB600 on its stand bouncing through Carrie's sewing machine to get a good shot of her. While I still haven't gotten exactly the shot I want (will probably require multiple lights), this shot turned out great.

I really like this one. AS you can tell, it was almost bedtime, Carrie was holding Emily (our youngest). Then Mara got jealous and crawled up into her lap, too. SB600 on-camera bounced off the ceiling.

I'M GOING TO BE A DAD (again) !!!

OK. It's been a while since I've posted. Fine. I make the same money whether I blog once a day or once a quarter.

Carrie and I have found out we're having another baby! Currently due the first week of October. We won't know what "kind" it is until we get back from our Florida vacation, though. That means another blog post mid-May with the news. We might not have a name at that time. However, we'll DEFINITELY do better than some friends we have at church - they'd had two names competing for their child for months, but the hospital staff had to force the decision before releasing the child. !!!

Anyway, I had to post about that. EXCITING!

Later!

Nikon's D200

I've got Canon's Digital Rebel. It's a great little camera at a great price. Beautiful images at low cost, made by the market leader in SLR cameras. I'm married with two kids, and I just got really interested in photography a year ago. So my lens "collection" is really a pair of $100 lenses and my pride-and-joy, the $450 Sigma 30/1.4. (The Sigma is a non-zooming lens that offers a natural field-of-view and is great for low-light situational stuff.)

Mike (a friend at work) shoots with Nikon gear. He's single (never been married), older than I am, and has been collecting Nikon lenses since he majored in photography in college. So his lens collection is really a "collection". He just bought Nikon's newest pro digital - the $4500 D2x - to replace the other DSLRs he's worn out.

Mike and I regularly give each other grief about which brand is better. As a routine part of this verbal sparring, Mike has repeatedly stated that Canon is a marketing-driven company, while decisions at Nikon are made by engineers. I always dismissed this as a colored perspective that wasn't really harmful or offensive.

Until Nikon released the D200.

The Overpriced, Underfeatured Canon 5D

Really, it started with Canon's recent release of the 5D. It's way overpriced, in my opinion. At $3300, it's just a $1300 20D with a sensor the size of a 35mm negative. That makes it the first full-frame DSLR available for under $4000. But at that price, I was really expecting the feature set to closely resemble the sports shooters' workhorse - the $4500 1DMkIIN. Weather sealing, 45-point pro-speed AF, and other pro features should be in a $3300 camera. Nope. Just a bigger screen...and a print button.

That print button irritated me more the more I thought about it. Who among the target audience for this EXPENSIVE camera would want a button just for printing? It's a waste of money, a waste of real-estate, and - worst of all - a waste of a perfectly accessible button during shooting. Reviewers everywhere commented on it. And I realized that maybe Mike was right - maybe some Executive Vice President of Marketing decided that "all Canon digital cameras will have a Print button." Starting with the $3300 5D.

The Underpriced, Overfeatured Nikon D200

Meanwhile, Mike had told me what to expect of the D200 - basically a pro camera in a smaller package, priced around $2500 (as was its predecessor, the D100). Sounded like a nice camera (even if it was four years late), but it was WAY too rich for my blood. Besides - I had Canon lenses. Even my humble $650 of glass counts (for me, anyway) as an investment.

So when the D200 was officially announced, the specs were surprisingly up-to-date for a camera four years in the making. (That's a long time in digital land.)

But I almost jumped out of my chair when I saw the price: $1700, just $200 more than I was already planning to spend on an upgrade in the spring.

My initial elation stemmed from the effect this new camera would SURELY have on the new 20D's feature list. I realized Canon probably hadn't been caught by surprise, but we ordinary folk were just waking up to the pressure Canon had been living under for a few years. A pro camera, with pro AF and weather sealing and cast-iron build and controls for every photographic setting I knew of (plus some I didn't) priced for ordnary people like me. "Who knows what Canon will come up with?" I thought.

But the more I looked at the D200, and the more I looked at my investment in lenses, the more I realized that the D200 was an option for ME. (My increasing skills at selling electronics on eBay was also a factor.) I was already planning on selling the kit lens with my camera. I could sell the Sigma for a little loss and probably make up the difference between Canon and Nikon cameras.

And the features were calling to me: Pro-grade AF that could track my child around the frame. Selectable frame rates, up to 5FPS. A buffer large enough to hold 22 RAW files. Weather-sealing and build that would give me peace of mind should life happen while the camera was out. All are features I would use. All are features Canon has so far reserved for their pro cameras (even the $3300 5D has none of these features). Add to that Nikon's less-confusing control layout with a pro-level degree of control. And by all indications, the D200 yields ISO3200 images with almost as little noise as the excellent Canon 20D.

So my mind is made up...for now. My budget is preventing me from buying anything until after Canon has shown their cards. The 20D's successor is expected to be announced in late February at the PMA conference, with cameras shipping in March. I guess it's a good thing I can't upgrade until then.

But I can drool over the D200 in the meantime :-)

Recommended Reading

I STRONGLY recommend the following books:

The Francis A. Schaeffer Trilogy.
Shaeffer was a Presbyterian minister who realized that the "preach and they will come" model wasn't working any more in postmodern Western society. So in the midst of the hippie revolution he moved to Switzerland, where he opened his home to anyone with deep questions still searching for answers. Through his talks with people from all walks of life, and through his studies of Scripture, philosophy, and history, he worked hard to answer those deep questions from a Biblical perspective. This book contains his findings.

His whole-picture, "whole-history" view of society is intriguing, even if it's somewhat hard-to-follow. But the most notable aspect of his writing is the deep, emotional compassion for real people that drives every word on every page. Other works on worldview are dry, analytical, academic. This book is soaked with tears and prayers for those lost in the godlessness of today's culture.

Do Fish Know They're Wet? by Tom Neven.
If Schaeffer introduced modern worldview apologetics to the Church, Neven makes it accessible. Avoiding the rambling of Schaeffer and the "Christianese" of Colson, Neven manages to communicate a difficult subject easily and in a small paperback book. For only $10, you simply must buy this gentle guide to worldview apologetics.

New House

This is the long-overdue post showing pics of our new house. In fact, this post is SO overdue that we don't really think of the house as being "new" anymore. Oh well. Apologies to my many devoted readers.

This is our new house. Lots of trees mean smaller electric bills in the summer, balanced by running the AC more after clearing the yard of sticks and hickory nuts. We have four bedrooms: a master suite downstairs, and a "second master" plus two small bedrooms upstairs. There are 2+1/2 baths, formal dining room plus eating area in kitchen, and a rec room upstairs. Crown molding and smooth white ceilings throughout, with hardwood floors in every room except master suite and stairs. Corner lot in nice, established neighborhood in laid-back Smyrna, TN. Large side and front yards; already-small back yard halved by deck outside kitchen. Two-car garage under first floor.

Here's a view of the kitchen. The wall you're looking at is really an "island" of wall separating the entry hall and living room from the kitchen.

This is our "rec room." It's big enough to be a nice bedroom, but doesn't have a closet. Right now it houses all the boxes we haven't unpacked yet. It's nice to have an extra room big enough to simultaneously serve as attic, play area, guest room, and bedroom for the dog. There's another small bedroom upstairs that we're not using yet.

This is an artsy pic showing the view from the upstairs landing. The stairs go up from the far end of the living room up onto the landing, which is in the middle of the second floor. Doors lead from the landing into all three upstairs bedrooms, and you can walk down the hall to the upstairs bathroom and the rec room. Mara likes to look through the railing at whomever is in the entry hall.

This room has been turned into our nursery. You may think we're crazy, but both of us actually like the green color. The hardwood floors and smooth ceilings come together with the windows and fireplace to give the room an elegant, old-world charm. Of course, having a fireplace in a nursery isn't a good idea, so the crib will sit in front of it for a few years.

This is Mara waiting on us to finish looking through the house. She's sitting in the formal dining room, which became our playroom. It's a great place to keep the toys accessible...but away from the living room. We're planning to install built-in bookshelves and seats on all three walls. The living room is down the entry hall to the left, and the doorway you see goes into the kitchen.

Finally, this is Mara demonstrating the eating area in our kitchen (from which the other kitchen picture was taken). It's also the only picture of the group showing the house as it looks now. (I know, I know - but now that we live here, there's no point of taking pictures of the house by itself.)

It's Release Day, and I'm Bored

Well, for the third time this summer, today is Release Day. Really, it's been Release Week, but today is the big day. Today is the day we can't log into our system because we're rolling the projects we've been toiling over into production.

Release Week (from a developer's standpoint) is a week when projects stand still. Regardless of the official status of things, no developer is assigned to any project during release week so we can help with the preparations. Emails go out listing differences between the various environments. Those responsible reply to claim their code. The QA department goes into overdrive testing projects that are releasing. Development concentrates on bug reports related to the release.

Release Day actually starts at close-of-business on Thursday. That's when our system is shut down. It's also when the DBA and various project leads start rolling database changes to production. This process lasts late into the night. Friday morning they roll the changed database code. Usually around lunch on Friday the QA department can log in and begin testing. And this is the start of the real fun.

QA testing generally lasts from lunch on Friday to close to midnight, and can continue on Saturday. During QA testing developers are basically on standby. We're deliberately kept bored so we can respond immediately if a problem is ever found. We're allowed to bring in game consoles and TVs to help us waste time.

Food is never a problem. Investment Scorecard cares for its employees. We're given multiple menus to choose from for lunch, with different menus for dinner. The food is great - we're not talking about McDonald's, folks. Hot meals. Hot sandwiches and other entrees for lunch. Steaks, salmon, chicken for dinner. All paid for.

The game consoles usually attract a small crowd (whatever can fit in a cubicle). For each console there's generally 3-6 people watching, one person trying to beat the previous score, and occasionally someone working. The breadth of games brought in is impressive, though there are company favorites. Lines form for Halo 2 and Amped for XBox, and sometimes for Gran Turismo 4 for PS2. Card games are also common, with one or two going on at any given time. I have no idea what games they play, though.

I don't happen to have any projects rolling to production this week, and I've not been around long enough to be assigned any standard release-week duties, so I am bored. At least I'm honest about it - my supervisor knows I'm searching for something to do. But it's lunch time, and I know I'll be here another twelve hours watching my brain cells form a puddle beneath my feet.

I was bored, so I thought I'd write about my predicament. I hope you enjoyed it.

Thoroughly Contaminated

This morning, as I was eating breakfast, I saw my wife's copy of Sew Beautiful by Martha Pullen. As I'm interested in photography, I decided I'd look for the name of the photographer who took the wonderfully done cover photo. (No, I'm not gay or anything. It's my wife's magazine, remember.)

Flipping through the pages, carefully looking for the small print info I sought, I stumbled on the "Dear Friends" page - essentially the letter from the editor written by Mrs. Pullen and included in every edition. However, in this magazine, the letter from the editor takes the form of a short Bible study, complete with printed Bible verses (James 3:7-12 in edition 102). I had not yet had a quiet time this morning, so I read through the article as my study for the day. It was a great lesson on taming the tongue, with personal anecdotes about her father (who apparently did well in this area) and her grandfather, a circuit-riding Methodist minister.

After reading through the devotional, I thought about Mrs. Pullen. How she's obviously very interested in sewing and smocking and in teaching others, and how cool it must be to have her own business (a magazine, no less!) that follows her interests so closely. And I thought how good her business skills must be to have achieved that level of success.

But then I realized just how my last thought smacked of a materialistic (godless) worldview. It really surprised me that I had just held that opinion. Of course Mrs. Pullen is enjoying the blessings of God and the benefits of a life devoted to Him. Even in the secular world business skills are no real indicator of success; we as Christians know why. Mrs. Pullen has apparently been God's servant for many years, and continues to use her media reach to give Him glory. Since her will is aligned with that of God, He continues to bless her in order to further their mutual goals.

So why did I give her credit?

I realized (once again) just how thoroughly contaminated we are with the godless worldview. I continue to be surprised at just how warped my conception of life really is. I believe in God; that He created the world in six literal days' time, that man disobeyed God and fell from created perfection, and that God in His love inflicted our punishment on His Son so He could restore us fully one day. But those central pillars of belief seem to have made little headway into my day-to-day thinking.

I honestly wonder what it would be like if I managed to demonstrate the knowledge of God in every little area of my life. Would my wife think I was crazy? Or would she be amazed that dishes, laundry, and trash were no longer an issue? What would my boss at work think if I had every project on-time and bug-free? (I have known for years that it is God, not me, who writes the software. And He writes it through me most quickly when I'm close enough to Him that He can use my hands.)

This morning I realized (again) that I have much to do, much to learn, and much to unlearn.

Recent Canon New Product Announcements

The all-new EOS 5D

Great camera
Good to see full-frame prices drop
I'll never spend that $$ just for full-frame

The upgraded 1D Mark II N

A surprise: Same sensor, same framerate, same controls.
I'd have expected at least the 9-way joystick from the 20D, if they're going to the trouble of changing the model number and firmware.
At least they're not making you pay more for that bigger LCD.

24-105/4L IS
Kinda surprised, kinda not.
I know many people wanted this lens.
But others (including me) would prefer an 18-50/2.8L. An L-class normal zoom for 1.6x cameras would be great. After all - Nikon makes one.

430EX

The one announcement that will benefit me. This means the flash I buy will have:

• More power
• Manual control
• 2nd-curtain sync
• Less bulk
• Less weight
• Faster recycle time
• Same price (presumably) I was already planning to pay

It, too, is a surprise. I've not heard any complaints about the 420EX. I have, however, seen Canon lose many 420EX sales to Sigma's EF 500DG Super. That lens already has these features for the same price, plus it can act as a wireless-TTL master unit

I'm still hoping for a 20D replacement in spring.

First Picture Post

This is the obligatory first picture post. Slightly less annoying because it's got a picture. At least it's a good picture of two cute girls (my daughters).

First blog entry

This is the usual and annoying first post. Thanks for reading.