Disqus - Latest Comments for jakemckee

Re: Do You Really Need Help Writing Letters To Your Kids At Camp?

Jake — Tue, 30 Jun 2015 18:24:15 -0000

To echo others, writing letters to camp is a tricky balance, especially for first timers like me. I don't think there's a need to be so horribly judgmental here. As others have said, you want to walk a line of not making them miss home, make it a fun treat to receive, and not just be a waste of time for everyone.

(Side note: If this had been a woman (mom) rather than a man (dad), there's a good chance you wouldn't have been this harsh... )

Re: What Banana Republic's "The Startup Guy" Collection Gets All Wrong - by Stephanie Chan

Jake — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 08:52:42 -0000

So when advertising Men's clothes based on a line with a very particular style, we should make sure they also sell women's clothes and clothes that aren't inline with the brand?

Sometimes journalism fails with the goal is controversy at all costs rather than news....

Re: Assad On Using Chemical Weapons As Response To U.S. Intervention: ‘ItCould Happen’

Jake — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 10:32:11 -0000

Perhaps so. And I have no love for Assad. None.

But my point was directed towards the writer of this article who chose to go to the salacious rather than the accurate. There's plenty of things to write about (as you rightly point out), rather than effectively inventing things because they sell web page impressions...

Re: Assad On Using Chemical Weapons As Response To U.S. Intervention: ‘ItCould Happen’

Jake — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 10:01:48 -0000

Sorry, but no. Just no. I knew the moment I saw this interview that journalist and bloggers would immediately focus on the juicy tidbit they wanted, rather than the point Assad was trying to make. He wasn't saying HE or his government was going to respond to a potential US attack with chemical weapons. He was saying that he wasn't sure what the other players in the conflict and the region would do. The very clear implication (for any reasonable, thinking person not looking to write about the next "big scoop") was that there are a great many rebel/terrorist groups who might have access to such chemicals and he's unable to predict their actions. In the same interview, he talked about how it would be wrongheaded of the US to attack his government when both the US and Syria are fighting the same enemy in al Queda.

Disagree with his points. Or probe on the many, many inconsistencies that even the few short clips reveal, or ask why he can say that all we have is video and pictures, but no proof... but try to act like a journalist and move beyond the shocking headline that is flat out false.

UPDATE:
Not that I should have to say this, but hey, it's the internet and none of us have time to read anything....

I have NO love for Assad and this comment is NOT about supporting Assad. It's about being a journalist not a web page impression seller. This headline and the article content incorrectly paint the reality and that's something we should all be upset about. If Fox News was doing the exact same thing, we'd be up in arms. Just because we support the general position of this site doesn't let them off the hook.

Re: Here’s The Latest Mitt Romney “Scandal” You’re Supposed To Care About

Jake — Tue, 18 Sep 2012 11:10:44 -0000

I think it's cute that you're using an out of context remark as a counter to an out of context remark without even a hit of irony.

I agree that without the context it's hard to know what Romney was really saying. Kinda like how blissfully ignoring the context of the "you didn't build that" comment paints an entirely different and incorrect picture of what is being said.

Re: Why ‘Morning After’ Boudoir Photography is Absurd (NSFW)

Jake — Wed, 29 Aug 2012 15:39:03 -0000

From the article: "Nowadays the only reason us of this present generation take pictures of ourselves is to hang on the mantle and most importantly, share on Facebook."

Generalize much? I'm not sure what "present generation" you're referring to, but I'm assuming you're really saying "people 20-30 or so". Of course, not really sure that matters one way or the other.

There's a great deal of social psychology that goes into responding to your broadly incorrect, and downright silly generalization, but suffice to say that humans have always been storytellers. It's why campfire stories exist. It's why fiction books are written. It's why movies are produced. It's why the first and the current pictures were taken. We're documenting our lives in a why never possible until the last few years. We're telling stories for a vast number of reasons, not all of them narcissistic as you imply.

I think many of the shots shown above are beautiful, impressive work. I don't think that nudity or even post-sex photography is gross. The context and the background of *when* these photos were taken is between the models and maybe, maybe the photographer.

Personally, I think the idea of sharing such content (with future kids or on facebook, for instance) is silly and not something I'd do. But then again, I also think that the plethora of 20-something girls taking pictures with their girl friends with their faces smashed together are ridiculous too. I think that people who commission an oil painting of their family to hang above the fireplace is ridiculous. But so what? This isn't for me to decide in either case, except where I'm part of the composition and/or part of the decision to share/post/mount.

There are really two strains of thought this article is based on:

1. We shouldn't be posting/sharing/hanging/mounting as much as we do today
2. Wedding night/next day photography is creepy

Both of those topics would make an interesting *individual* article, but when you combine both into one conversation, you short sheet both topics.

Re: The next step in the Ant’s Eye View journey

Jake — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 22:02:07 -0000

Thanks, Richard!

Re: The next step in the Ant’s Eye View journey

Jake — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 22:02:00 -0000

Thanks, Lauren!

Re: The next step in the Ant’s Eye View journey

Jake — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 22:01:51 -0000

Thanks, Mark!

Re: The next step in the Ant’s Eye View journey

Jake — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 22:01:43 -0000

Thanks, Cindy! Looking forward to digging in and getting started!

Re: Obama’s Campaign Most Cynical in Recent Memory

Jake — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 15:08:02 -0000

Always nice to see that Wizbang is still known for quality conversation!

Re: Obama’s Campaign Most Cynical in Recent Memory

Jake — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:33:12 -0000

When the most watched news network is the one openly campaigning against the Democratic candidate, can we please stop with this incessant and ridiculous "MSM" foolishness?

Re: Obama’s Campaign Most Cynical in Recent Memory

Jake — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:32:25 -0000

Totally! And it's a good thing that Romney has been 100% politician-free since the start of this campaign (8 years ago?). Man, we really need Saint Romney the Non-Politician to lead us to grace.

Re: Obama’s Campaign Most Cynical in Recent Memory

Jake — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:31:13 -0000

"Romney is suffering the worst treatment a presidential candidate has gotten from an opponent since..." Perhaps you were out of the country during our last election cycle?

Re: There Was Advance Warning About Aurora Shooter James Holmes; It Was Ignored

Jake — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:21:20 -0000

"This is a conservative blog. At what point, as conservatives, do we acknowledge that BAD THINGS HAPPEN in this world, and slathering layer number 876,458 of a lead blanket of new laws, policies, and regulations is not helpful in the long run, and will be the death by crushing of liberty on this earth."

Bingo.

This is THE biggest areas I don't understand about the conservative agenda and the Republican party. The party who wraps themselves in the flag and goes over the top with eagle tattoos and "thanking the troops for protecting our freedoms" aren't willing to also fight for freedom by getting on a plane without a pat down, all while explaining away that "if you don't have something to hide, why do you care about body scans or pat downs?" I don't understand a party who's seemingly sole ambition is to protect my freedoms while simultaneously outsourcing the freedom protection to soldiers and doing very little themselves to risk something in order to fight for that protection.

I'm disgusted that the entire discussion after CO has been about a) increased gun control or b) arming every citizen to have been capable of firing back (in a crowded, smoky theater). No, the discussion really should be about *calming the f**k down*. This guy was crazy. Bad things happen. It's horrifying, but it was one guy. Let's not start restricting or arming until we can see some real trend.

Re: White Hispanic Ted Cruz wins Republican Senate primary run-off in Texas

Jake — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 14:10:55 -0000

As a proud Obama voter and Texan, I'm extremely pleased that Cruz won this. The ads Dewhurst were running were the stereotype of everything that made me turn from the Republican party. The absolutely ridiculous fearmongering on display in those ads was stunning, and the quantity was flat out overwhelming. I'm pleased that the truly distasteful guy won't be on the ticket. I'd still like to see a Democrat win something in Texas (ha ha ha), but at least now the truly vile candidate won't be an option. Dewhurst's rejection makes me proud to be a Texan.

Re: The speed of sound

Jake — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 12:43:19 -0000

Thanks for bring this one back to my foreground. I need to take another stab at post-processing this one, since I have new, better skillz. Man, what a great trip!

Re: Zombified

Jake — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 12:38:48 -0000

Very kind, very kind. Yeah, once you open your eyes to cool light and great opportunities, you can never unsee them, unfortunately. I now walk through ...well... everywhere thinking "I wish I had X lens and Y camera with me ... that light is amazing!" :)

Re: Zombified

Jake — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 12:37:41 -0000

Thanks, Dad! I just dropped him an email :)

Re: 7 ways to support an emotional bond to a product

Jake — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 16:58:26 -0000

Jay, thanks for the heads up. I'll definitely check them out!

Re: Building a Photography Studio

Jake — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:33:07 -0000

Ha! Well, if you make it down, I'd love to buy you a beer :)

Re: Building a Photography Studio

Jake — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 11:06:51 -0000

Any chance you moved back to Texas, meaning Austin? I too was at the Kelby LSR event and am also looking at setting up a studio :)

Re: My advice to frustrated novice photographers

Jake — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 14:08:09 -0000

So recommendations depend on goals. There could be a couple goals, for instance:
* Generally improving your photography
* Meeting other photo nerds
* Doing events like photowalks, or hearing speakers talk about photo topics

To that end, here's a few ideas:
* Google+ -- at this point, G+ is my "photography social network". I've largely followed only photogs, and there's a TON of great photo talk and inspiration happening there.

* Austin Photogs FB group - very general purpose and active local online group: https://www.facebook.com/gr...

* Local SmugMug chapter - a once a month meetup/event that has great topics: https://www.facebook.com/gr...

* If you're interested in learning other topics like off camera flash or HDR, I can point you to some more specific groups.

Tons of stuff there. Let me know if you're looking for other learning resources :)

Re: Strobist Bridget

Jake — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 10:52:27 -0000

Thanks, Carla! That means a lot coming from you. Your kid photos have really been great lately!

Re: Steampunk Style Lamps Made From Plumbing Pipes and Beer Bottles : TreeHugger Beta

Jake — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 02:28:46 -0000

Any idea how they're turning the gate valve into an on/off switch?