…a photograph is completely inadequate to capture a sight. Somehow the filtering of a mind is needed to convey everything associated with what is seen from a particular vantage point, even when the influences of sound and smell are removed and the image alone is all that the mind focuses upon.

This inadequacy applies for a sight from my recent visit to Lyon, where the sight of an illuminated fountain/artificial waterfall on the hill below a prominent. also illuminated church thanking the Virgin Mary for her divine intervention in saving the city from an epidemic combined to make a striking image that I could not capture in a camera.

Below is my attempt (click on the image for a larger photo):

No matter how sophisticated the equipment, no matter how much you play with the image in the software, sometimes the view created within and by the mind with its own eloquent “software” cannot be conveyed.

Technorati Tags: letters from Europe, Lyon, photos, photos of Europe, photos of Lyon, photography

The weblogs on my RSS reader (and not just those listed at this site, nor limited to those who participated in a blog-meet this weekend) have been unusually quiescent this weekend.

I wonder, after the near universal expression of high emotions during the assault of the hurricanes, coupled with the recent political developments involving the decline and then stabilization of poll numbers for President George W. Bush, along with the indictment of Representative Tom DeLay and his consequent stepping-down as House Majority Leader, if all these factors and perhaps more have combined to create a collective exhaustion in blogworld.

Do we all need a moment to take a breath?

I hope that most are taking some time to gain a bit of perspective.

I spent Saturday walking around Grenoble, trying to take good photos in bad light, and getting rained on in the end. However, the day wasn’t a total loss, because I found a store that had my favorite single-malt Scotch, and it had one of my other favorites as well. I bought the last bottles of each they had in stock. So, despite the poor quality of the photos and my wet return back to my apartment, the day was not a waste.

Blogworld needs to gain some perspective. I have some thoughts on this that I am striving to coalesce together into a coherent whole, but it’s not working tonight. Perhaps tomorrow.

In the mean time, let’s all catch our breath, and try to think instead of react.

Technorati Tags: blogs, blogging, weblogs

Originally, I was going to award the Newsmaker Calvinball Play of the Week to those on the left-wing who are now ridiculing President Bush for making a few statements regarding conservation of gasoline, especially since one of the loudest complaints voiced against the administration-supported energy bill was that it had little in it to promote conservation. A fine example of Calvinball that is.

However, Representative Tom DeLay has gone over the top, and I stand in awe of his skill at Calvinball.

First, he accuses Travis County prosecutor Ronnie Earle of being partisan and vindictive. The Calvinball aspect of this move is obvious, as noted by Earle himself:

Being called partisan and vindictive by Tom DeLay is like being called ugly by a frog.
   -Ronnie Earle, Travis County district attorney

Next, there’s this little tidbit. DeLay claims “Never asking me to testify, never doing anything for two years.” However, his own lawyer points out DeLay’s Calvinball play:

Dick DeGuerin, the attorney representing DeLay, said Thursday that DeLay actually was invited to appear before the grand jury, where he would have been under oath.

Hmmm…

Like every politician, how can you tell when Representative DeLay is lying?

His lips are moving.

I can see how he would refuse to get under oath in front of a grand jury, because his head might explode from the pressure to be truthful.

Out-and-out lying about supposedly not being given an opportunity to go before the grand jury, though, and then being called on the lie by his own lawyer, well, that takes things to an entirely new level.

This is the epitome of Calvinball… where the rules you lay on your opponents don’t apply to yourself.

After this spectacular attempt at smearing someone as being “partisan and vindictive,” coming from a man whose photo should be in the dictionary next to these adjectives as an exemplar of these characteristics, along getting caught out in a lie by his own lawyer, how could anyone else be in contention for the Newsmaker Calvinball Play of the Week?

No one is allowed to question the masks.

Technorati Tags: Calvinball, Calvinball Play of the Week, DeLay, politics, quotes, Senator DeLay, Senator Tom DeLay, Tom DeLay