So weird

[solarbird]

It is now just barely above freezing (0.1C) out back. (I wrote this paragraph last night) This wouldn't be interesting if it hadn't been colder than that all day, at -0.2C all afternoon and well after sunset.

It's been doing that a lot lately, too - all this past week. It's gotten reliably warmer, though not very much, at night, long after dark. So strange.

Hee, there's an online questionairre to help you determine which Iraqi political party you should vote for. It's in multiple languages, one of which is English! (The URL is to the English version.) Apparently, were I Iraqi, I should vote Iraqi National Accord (INA). I find the idea that there is now a World's Smallest Political Quiz for Iraqis vaguely heartening. ^_^

One of the fundamentalist news email services I get just sent out a special bulletin entitled "Give the Gift of <foo> This Christmas." They're advertising flyers about their mailing list as stocking stuffers. "Gosh, mom, it's a flyer! Thanks! It's what I've always wanted!" Seriously, what kind of tiresome old crank do you have to be to want to give something like that as a present?

And I haven't done a leaf picture in a few days, so now that the snow has mostly melted, let's get back to it! This isn't a typical leaf picture, because it isn't turning; it was a potted plant outside the grocer's down at the shops.


Quicksilver Rain

I've got an alternate take below the cut that I also like a lot. Which to post above and below a cut is a really difficult decision, so... I'm punting on making it. Here, have the alternate take above the cut, too:


Quicksilver Rain (alternate take)

Comments

[verbonaut.livejournal.com]

Gorgeous leaf pictures. The business about the flyers made me think of those poor children who get Bibles and Jack Chick tracts (http://www.chick.com/default.asp) in their trick-or-treat bags. Oy!

[nimbrethil.livejournal.com]

It's been doing that a lot lately, too - all this past week. It's gotten reliably warmer, though not very much, at night, long after dark. So strange.

It's not just you. I've noticed that a few times the past couple weeks. Not a perpetual thing, but several times I've chanced to look at the weatherbug several hours past dark and notice that it's anywhere from two or three to ten or fifteen degrees warmer than it was around noon.

[solarbird]

Neh, neh, not just noon to late - that can be reasonable, since around here in the summer it gets hotter until 5pm or so. It's even happening between twilight (post-sunset) to late. It's getting warmer after sunset! Very strange.

[nimbrethil.livejournal.com]

Thats' what I meant, actually. That it's warmer somewhere around ten o'clock at night or even midnight, than it was at noon or so.

[quen-elf.livejournal.com]

I like the second picture much better. The subject, and a close look at it, is very cool either way; second is a better picture imo.

I should apparently vote for the Iraqi Islamic Party, which is amusing :) It didn't give you a way to assign importance to the choices, though. BTW, very nice graphic design...

[solarbird]

The ways in which the second picture is better are very clear. But there are a couple of key elements in the first photo - colour depth in the leaves, limited focus, solidity and character of the largest water drop - that I prefer strongly as well.

I think you're right in that the second is the better overall photograph, but not in every way, and I'm really into the ways the first one is more successful. I wish I had one image with both sets of properties. ^_^

[cafiorello.livejournal.com]

I agree. The color and the character of the drop really make the first picture.

[quen-elf.livejournal.com]

:) Yeah, that's frustrating (and yes, that water-drop in the first pic is indeed cool).

My current photo-related frustration is with the colour/alphabet games - like, if I have 3 decent pictures that are all red, and nothing for purple, so I end up putting up something so-so for that, but not showing the 2 other decent pics... I'm seriously considering doing a 'b-sides' gallery at some point.

[solarbird]

Iraqi Islamic Party
INFIDEL!

oh wait

^_^

[catwingz.livejournal.com]

I like them both almost equally, but the first one, just because of the water, is -gorgeous-.

[solarbird]

The water just looked so bizarre. It looked heavy, like plastic, or, well, quicksilver - but it was perfectly normal to the touch. The silver came from a powder coming off the leaves of the plant itself. So strange.

[catwingz.livejournal.com]

It does look rather gel-like.

[darthhellokitty.livejournal.com]

GORGEOUS!

I'm an Iraqi Communist??

[kvogel.livejournal.com]

And I didn't rate all that high as that.

Re: I'm an Iraqi Communist??

[solarbird]

WEB POLITICAL QUIZZES NEVER LIE, YOU COMMIE BASTARD! ^_^

(The Commies were my 2nd choice party too. I think I was 66% for Iraqi National Accord, and 60% Commie.)

[llachglin.livejournal.com]

Iraqi National Accord, 64%. 52% for the two Kurdish parties, and everything else below 50%.

My big disagreements with the INA are on allowing US troops to remain in the country and the death penalty. They support both and I oppose both. The first is a particularly big disagreement.

For comparison, 64% is significantly above my compatibility with John Kerry in one of the quizzes that was going around last year, and far above my compatibility with Bush, so that's amusing.