Cosmic

And the star of the show is my remote shutter release. Aside from my tripod, this if possibly the most valuable photographic accessory I own. As many of my pictures require multiple exposures of the same scene, often including myself as a prop, being able to fire the shutter remotely is a boon. Yes, I can use the camera's timer, but that sets exposure and focus without me in the picture and therefore gives unpredictable and often poor results. This is a cheap Chinese version that was fraction of the cost of the official Canon item (also made in China) but it works a treat.

I've mentioned before that I find the news almost unbearable to watch these days. not because of what is going on in the world, although that is bad enough, but because of the crass questions that the presenters ask, or the way they treat the audience as though they are stupid. A few examples from the news and the papers this week:

Reporting on the poor woman found beheaded in her garden just yesterday
~ She was found collapsed - sorry, collapsed means unable to stand, either because of unconsciousness or some physical impairment. When your head has been removed, you're dead, not collapsed.
~ She was pronounced dead at the scene - really? I would have expected the paramedics to give the hospital a chance to save her before officially writing her off

Breakfast TV today, the lady who does the business news reporting on an article earlier in the week suggesting that you can test a battery by dropping it on the floor. If it bounces, it still has charge, if it doesn't bounce, it is dead.

~ First off, if you care, it's probably because you want to use the battery in something, so why not just put it in and see if it works
~ Secondly, she warned against trying this at home because the battery might crack and leak acid. She then also added this little gem - don't try it with a car battery! No kidding, so I shouldn't try and lift that 20lb plastic cased acid filled container above my head and drop it onto the concrete floor at my feet. So glad she warned me off that one

And just to prove that we are not the stupid ones, we have Susanne Read who in an interview with British actor Dan Stevens came out with the line 'You must have had to beat off a lot of American men to get this part' and couldn't understand why the poor man was rendered speechless.