Photography Appreciation

Oh. My. Word.

I a fair number of things at the Osaka Aquarium that I will never forget. Among other things, it was the first and probably last time that I saw either a manta ray or a whale shark -- I doubt that I will ever have the opportunity to see either one in the wild!

Very nice perspective. I am surprised that there are so many fish in that tank with the whale shark. They must restock it quite frequently.

Whale sharks (like blue whales) are filter feeders, so they wouldn't hunt other fish.

When I dove off the coast of Cuba, there were reportings of a whale shark in the area. I didn't get to see it, unfortunately. That said, even though I know they are docile and harmless (unless you are stupid and get so close that you catch a tail), seeing something of that size in open water would have been unnerving.

The one in the tank at Osaka was only about 20 feet long -- its growth likely limited by the size of the tank. I cannot imagine running into a fifty-footer in the open ocean!

It would cure even the most stubborn cases of constipation.

And then some. Plankton feeder or not, one unintentional swipe of the tail would probably be curtains.

I couldn't imagine the force. It would be staggering.

Of course, I do not swim in the ocean, so I am in no imminent danger.

Don't be so sure. I have seen some of the things that roam around Wal-Mart. One swipe from their tails and it would be curtains.

Well, there are whale tails, and then there are whale tails.

/cue MaxK

He is busy chasing tail around campus.

Actually MaxK finally showed up for one of our poker games a couple of weekends ago, so I finally got to meet him.

That's cool. You did allow him to leave with some money, I hope?!!!

Not sure. I left first -- the rest kept playing.

What type of poker game do you typically play?

At least that means we can scratch MK off the mia list, well sort of.

Yes, he's just plainly ignoring us!

He is probably busy with school now that he is into the swing of things.

He is active on FB, like some other former Mutthaboarders.

We generally play dealer's choice, unless we get more than seven players, in which case we play straight Hold 'Em.

I really like the way the black and white makes the texture of the sheet metal on this rusted chevy look.

That almost looks painted. I assume that was a colour photograph converted to greyscale?

Excuse my ignorance, but is straight Hold 'Em the same as Texas Hold 'Em?

Definitely looks like a converted colour photo.

What I mean by "straight" Hold 'Em is playing nothing but Texas Hold 'Em. In other words, rather than dealer's choice we play just the one game. (Hold 'Em is one of the few poker games that can support ten players at a table.)

Although I would imagine that with 10 players that it would be quite difficult to bluff the table.

With our players, bluffing is difficult with only four. There is usually someone who will call even when they should not. (Although to be fair, there is less of that minus a few of our former regulars. We had one player who would play any and every hand regardless of what he had -- and usually go home empty-handed.)