Less Gear Equals More Productivity

When I had a roomful of music gear, I found it hard to make music. Managing the gear became a job unto itself; it took time and energy away from the creative process.

Too much camera gear can also have a negative effect on creativity. Either you carry around stuff that you don’t need, which weighs you down, literally and figuratively, or you waste time debating what to take with you.

I’ll carry four or five lenses when I have to, or when I want a workout, but I enjoy walking around with a body and two lenses. It doesn’t cover every focal length, but so what? I shoot with what’s in my hands and I don’t waste time mulling over choices. The light weight and small size are plusses when shooting in busy places.

I find that I’m gravitating toward a few lenses for most of my shooting. One is the wide-angle 14mm f/1.8. It’s lightweight and super sharp, and it’s great for shots like this where I want to fit a fairly large building in the frame. The f/1.8 aperture lets in a lot of light, so I can take handheld shots at night.

When I took this shot, I was crammed between a food truck and a bus lane; it would have been impossible to set up a tripod in that spot. Because of the ability to shoot handheld, I got a cool shot of this bus passing the nicely decorated Saks store.

Less is more. Lighter is better. Leave what you don’t need at home.

© 2024 Daniel R. South - All Rights Reserved

How Much Free Time Do We Really Have?

How Much Free Time Do We Really Have?

At my first job after college, a colleague approached me about a “business opportunity.” His proposal seemed sketchy, but he was a nice guy, and I didn’t want to decline without thinking it over.

One of my concerns was the time that would be required. My life seemed pretty busy, but in order to quantify how much free time I really had, I took a few minutes to add up how much time I spend each week on various tasks.

When I added time spent on work, commuting, meals, sleeping, exercise, errands and shopping, home chores, and time reserved for family, I realized how little discretionary time I actually have. I hadn’t even factored in things that I did for fun like seeing a movie or getting together with friends.

This quick analysis led me to two conclusions. First, I would have to disappoint my colleague. I didn’t have time to invest in his business venture.

Second, I needed to do a better job of using my free time productively. I didn’t have as much as I thought, and wasn’t managing it well.

© 2024 Daniel R. South - All Rights Reserved

That Darned Dog

The United States has real enemies, countries that actively seek to do us harm through unfair trade policies, currency devaluation, hacking, cyber attacks, military strategy, etc.

The US also has allies, stable trading partners who support our interests protect us by fostering good relations and sharing vital intelligence.

On the surface, it would seem that Donald Trump doesn’t understand this. He treats enemies like allies and vice versa.

When I saw the news about his intention to put 25 percent tariffs on goods from Canada and Mexico, our peaceful allies and our two biggest trading partners, I realized something.

A bully feels insignificant in the absence of conflict. Bullies instigate and intimidate because they thrive on drama. If everything is calm and running smoothly, the bully feels ignored.

Over the next four years, expect a daily deluge of outrageous actions and statements. The bully wants to be seen. He wants to feel important. He feasts off of your attention, especially negative attention.

The best thing we can do is to ignore the outrageous behavior. Refuse to take the bait. Focus on what’s important, adapt to unavoidable changes, and get on with our lives. Drown out the noise with success and good feelings.

The worst thing that we can do is to internalize the stress. The bully wants us to feel shocked and threatened, just as a barking dog wants us to be fearful about getting too close to its territory. Refuse to play the game. Think, “That darned dog is barking again. Oh, well. What can we do to make the most of the day?”

The Producers

Trump 2.0 is going to be like the play in the Mel Brooks film ‘The Producers’, scripted by zealots, funded by the gullible, designed to be awful, and most profitable when it fails.

What’s Coming Next

What’s Coming Next

With full control of the government, the newly elected regime will waste no time implementing their authoritarian policies. They will not be subtle.

Expect a shock and awe campaign of legislation and executive actions designed to overwhelm the courts, break the bureaucracy, and deflate the hopes of their opposition, i.e. supporters of democracy.

We’ll see things that have never happened within our country’s borders, abuses of power on a grand scale. It will be difficult to watch, much less respond to, but the goal of the authoritarians is to discourage dissent by breaking the spirit of the opposition.

These are the times when we will need to find strength in each other, in our passions, and in the values that we hold dear, the values upon which this country was founded.

The founding fathers knew that the most dangerous threats to democracy would come from within, up to and including an imperial presidency. We are about to witness what they feared most.

We have to stay strong and speak out against the hideous forces that are about to be unleashed by a government controlled by self-serving, unprincipled people.

The authoritarians will do what they want to do. They will take what they want to plunder. But we don’t have to make it easy by looking the other way. Legal action, states’ rights, shared information, and public outrage will be important tools in the fight to save our nation from the worst authoritarian impulses.

The Important Things

I refuse to worry about a future over which I have no control. I’m focused on today.

My goals haven’t changed.

My to do list hasn’t changed.

The weather report hasn’t changed.

The things I enjoy doing haven’t changed.

The people I care about haven’t changed.

I’m dedicating my time and energy to what’s most important.

As the 2024 election drew near, it reminded me of the one twenty years prior. George W. Bush was doing outrageous things that went against the norms of American foreign policy and ultimately were counterproductive for national and global security. The American people re-elected him anyway.

Four years later, the country elected Barack Obama. Perhaps there’s a lesson in there somewhere.

One final note to supporters of the new administration: please let me know when housing and grocery prices start going down. I’ll be eager to see how well your candidate’s economic plans are working.

Stay focused, my friends. Life is short.

Just Hanging Out

Who would you rather hang out with for an evening?

Dan Quayle

Al Gore

Dick Cheney

Joe Biden

Mike Pence

Kamala Harris

Those are the last six Vice Presidents of the United States.

Does anyone stand out? Be honest.

The Big Question

Do you love the women in your life? Would you do anything to protect them? Well, there is one very important thing that you can do. Vote for Kamala Harris.

Trump’s policies are killing women. Women who wanted children. Women who wanted to expand their families but experienced serious medical complications.

One day, someone you know will have a miscarriage or an unviable pregnancy. They’ll be in pain, bleeding, desperate. Doctors will want to help, but they won’t be allowed to. Draconian anti-abortion laws will expose them to criminal liability if they take any action to save the woman’s life.

And so this woman that you know, or that one of your friends knows, will not receive the care that she desperately needs.

Picture yourself standing beside her bed, holding her hand as she shakes and cries and wonders whether she’ll live to take care of her family.

Picture yourself at a cemetery watching her casket being lowered into a hole as her children, her husband, and her parents break down in unspeakable grief.

You have the power to save her life. Will you do it? Or will you elect politicians who will let her die?

Sources of Power for Authoritarians

Authoritarians rely on three groups of people to give them power - the True Believers, the Disbelievers, and the Low-Information Voter.

The Low-Information Voter can be persuaded to vote for something that sounds good on the surface.

The Disbeliever refuses to accept that the authoritarian will act on their worst impulses. They assume that the tough talk is rhetoric to get votes. Surely, those things couldn’t happen; they’re too outrageous. And since the authoritarian promises to be good for business and the economy, why not give him a try?

The final group, the True Believers, want the authoritarian to take bold action. They want him to punish critics and expel undesirables. They believe that such action will be helpful to society and to their own fortunes.

What the True Believers fail to realize is that those powers can and will be used against them when the leader no longer finds them useful or sufficiently dedicated.

Leaders with unchecked power have a history of turning on even their most ardent supporters. Think of what happened to Yevgeny Prigozhin in Russia when Putin no longer needed him. Recall what happened to Mike Pence and Michael Cohen despite years of loyalty to Donald Trump. No one is safe from the retribution of an authoritarian leader.

The Grift Agenda

If you think that Trump will lower prices and protect American jobs, why is he selling a $60 Bible that’s printed in China? Are you ready for $15 Trump gasoline and $20 Trump eggs? He’s not going to stop until every product you buy puts money in his pocket.