Mokka mit Schlag

I am not yet convinced that newspapers are doomed. I am however convince that the inbred bluebloods running major American newspapers will kill their companies. Latest example: I’m reading an interesting article at the Washington Post about the future of newspapers no less. I decide to link to it from one of my sites with the title and the URL and the source, and suggest people go read it. So I try to go back to the first page of the article and I’m hit with a fucking registration page! Why the hell should I have to waste my time typing in yet another fake name and address, and letting them track what I read? What exactly do they expect to gain by this?

I can tell you what they lost: a few hundred extra page views and a few ad clicks that would have made them some money. Not a lot of money I’m sure, but more than enough to cover the miniscule marginal cost of the extra page views. Get enough page views and maybe they can actually cover their fixed costs and start showing a profit on the newspaper for the first time in lord only knows how long. (The Washington Post company did show a profit this quarter, but only because of non-newspaper businesses like Stanley Kaplan, which is apparently now more than half their revenue. Yes, you thought the Washington Post is a newspaper, but really it’s just a corporate shell for test preparation.)

The New York and L.A. Times are just as bad. Half the time I don’t even follow links to those sites because I can never tell when they’re going to show me the article and when they’re just going to block me with a pointless login page. They complain about bloggers stealing their content, but they actively chase potential readers away from their own sites. When your business model is ads (the only business model that has ever worked for newspapers) you don’t try to keep people from looking at your ads. Nor do you reject people who are attempting to boost your circulation. Bloggers know this. New media knows this. Hell, anyone under the age of 40 knows this! Who doesn’t know this? Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr. and Katharine Weymouth to name two. In a world that wasn’t based on nepotistic dynasties, these dinosaurs would be lucky to have a job running the local Penny Saver.

The Internet is over 30 years old. The Web is almost 20. Isn’t it about time newspapers hired someone to run them who actually understands the world we live in? Unfortunately given the shareholder-hostile preferred stock plans at the major media empires, this seems unlikely. When new media writes the final obituaries for the Times and the Posts of the world, the cause of death won’t be listed as the Internet. It will be nothing less than sheer managerial incompetence.

Red-eared Slider, 2009-07-26

Found this one up a hill in Mason Park last weekend. She climbed quite a ways from the ponds to find a spot to lay her eggs.

Black Phoebe (Sayornis nigricans)
William R. Mason Regional Park, 2009-07-26
Canon EOS 50D, Tamron 28-300mm DI VC Zoom, f/8.0, 1/500s, 300mm

Garden Tortrix Moth, Clepsis peritana, Hodges 3688
Irvine, CA, 2009-07

Today’s moth is a fairly commons species, and comes to light on my balcony fairly often; but it’s also relatively small at just over a centimeter. This photo is several times actual size. I didn’t get a decent photo of one until quite recently. It’s a pest of strawberry farms, and although Orange County is mostly paved over these days, there are still a few farms dotted around here and there including Tanaka Farms just a couple of miles down the road from me.
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I’ve had it for about six months now and given it more than a fair shake, but ultimately I’m not happy with the Tamron AF28-300mm F/3.5-6.3 XR Di LD Aspherical (IF) I got for my primary lens for the EOS 50D. When I put this lens on, I want to be able to shoot at the long end, and I spend a lot more time there than at the short end. Unfortunately it’s just not nearly sharp enough for my tastes at 300mm. Even on a tripod with image stabilization turned on, it needs a shutter speed below 1/400s, ISO no bigger than 200, and aperture f/8.0 to f/11.0 or thereabouts to achieve adequate sharpness. That’s just too limiting. Even then, it’s far from perfect. I’ve gotten a few good shots with it like this Snowy Egret in Mason Park in March, but that’s about it:

Outside direct sunlight, it really doesn’t perform well at all. In fact, this image stands out precisely because it is so sharp. By contrast, I routinely get images that sharp while handholding my non-stabilized Canon EF 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM, like this Great Blue Heron from San Joaquin a few months later:

Most of my Tamron shots end up looking like this American White Pelican from the Salton Sea instead:

So I think it’s time to look for a new general purpose zoom lens. What are my options?
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Children of Earth just finished on BBC America last night, and despite having to get up at 5:15 A.M. this morning for a marsh census, I couldn’t avoid staying up to watch it. Wow. Russell T. Davies surpassed himself and reached new levels of creepiness with this one.

Sadly it was marred by an ending that would have embarrassed a Star Trek TNG writer. Torchwood might as well have saved the day by reversing the polarity on the deflector shields. It was that bad. I can think of at least five preferable and more plausible endings: (Light spoilers follow)
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