Remembering PRESTAGS

The Return of PRESTAGS?

I opened the latest Strategy and Tactics last week and the map reminded me of something!

Of course prettier, but structurally just like PRESTAGS. The leader counters are reminiscent, though again prettier.

The archer and artillery had similar factors, but the absence of skirmishers (on of my favourites) was noticeable.

The combat results table was different, but not completely so - more like an evolution.

The title of the magazine - Fight the Fall. It features two battles from the end of the Roman empire. Desperate times for everyone, but the empire no longer represented anything worth saving: much the way Spetz sees 21st century capitalist democracies.

First Jumper (photos) of the season

I had just got back from a ride and sitting on the front steps espied a little jumping spider on the wall of the house ... Quickly inside to collect camera, minitripod and flash.  These are all cropped a fair bit.

Here is the setup - the little tripod allows me to brace against the wall and avoid camera shake.

Attempting to match MiLord

Getting in the car today i noticed a bee working the bottlebrush. I set the phone to close up and took 20 shots. I could not get the focus right and often blurred the flower. MiLord is the master.

some flies from today

Accidental naturalist

Today I saw a little spider flitting very fast on the window & sill. I captured him (I think it was a male) with a glass. Very pretty markings. How to photograph? First I thought I would put some gladwrap over the glass and shoot through that. was worried that wouldn't be very stable. Then thought of a little shallow porcelain dish I could try - luckily virtually the same diameter as the glass so transfer wasn't a problem. Used a piece of hard plastic to 'seal' him in. Then had another thought - a clear lens filter sitting on the dish would not fall off and should not affect too much the optics.

Here is that set up:

then to attempting to photograph. lots and lots of shots. spider wouldn't sit still. getting light tricky (couldn't use flash as it would just reflect). Tried a couple of different tripod setups. Had the jar on the floor under the big lounge windows and was lying / crouching on the floor to get angles for shots. D7500 + 85 micro lens

This is actually one of the early shots. Google provided me with an identification this evening - Nyssus coloripes or orange legged swift spider. http://www.findaspider.org.au/find/spiders/509.htm  http://www.arachne.org.au/01_cms/details.asp?ID=1807  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyssus_coloripes

From all the observations I did notice something really neat - he was cleaning his legs, one at a time by running them past the mouth parts. Depth of field proved an insurmountable obstacle to get a nice shot of that but I saw it nevertheless.  I also didn't register for ages that he was missing one leg.

A gorgeous little spider. I subsequently released him under the bushes outside.

 

In between changing tripods (teeny for small) I also noticed that a male blackbird was sitting quite still outside the lounge window. Grabbed the D3300 and wacked on the 70-300 AF-P and tried to get some shots through the (not very clean) window. The bird was also sitting in a patch of shade so lighting was tricky and trying focus on a black bird. I also noticed he had a grub or worm in his beak. The shot below is a moderate crop with some post processing but I don't think focus was nailed and that can't be provided after the fact. Might be a function of the dirty window too.

I like blackbirds - they have a beautiful song, and flit quickly about through the spring and summer. The hen bird is a drabber brown colour. Although an immigrant species they haven't gone nuts like Indian mynas.

dinner

usual big wok of stir fried vegetables with some honey and peanut butter. plus stir fried chicken from previous night - garlic, ginger, little chilli, pepper & soy sauce.

Very unconventional carbohydrate though - boiled potato.

Hoverfly

pseudo macro of hoverflies outside the backdoor. 8-10mm long. (70-300 AF-P lens but cropped a fair bit)

my one good 'hovering' shot - they wouldn't stay in stationary hover! (both crops)

 

 

opportunistic macro

I was playing around trying to shoot flowers near the backdoor. On closer inspection I saw there was a tiny fly feeding from one of the flowers ...

as shot (about as magnified as I could get). The flowers are probably about/< 1cm diameter.

successive crops - can you see the droplet of liquid at the head of the fly?

 

Last night while cooking, I noticed this fly on the cupboard (not a housefly or blowfly - also flower feeders I think). cropped image.

I saw my first jumping spider of the Spring this morning too but there was no time for photos ...

Light rain, jewels on plum flowers

Inspired by Paul

yummy but bloating ...

Puti, Eat your heart out!

VIEWER WARNING: The great censor should close his eyes now!

Puti needed photoshop to look this good. I look good because I love rubbing my deck! The Chump need not apply.

Existential Question #1: Is there a Dog? My previous dog (Pipster) did get stick on the deck a couple of oils ago. I take no chances this time around. As Julius Caesar, Pontifex Maximus, would say, "A Dog that is not restrained and controlled, is not worth having!"

 

Fly sunning itself in the late afternoon

I've seen these big flies doing this in the early morning and late afternoon - presumably warming themselves up.

This was the first macro shot using the little manfrotto tripod that was in a camera bag I bought - really helps with bracing against the brick wall. I hope it will help shots when the jumping spiders emerge too. a little sharpening and exposure adjustment.

big crop

lesser crop

view as shot (it was more or less upside down)

have to post obviously - the moon

hand held last night from my front porch, seeing how the Nikon AF-P 70-300 DX goes vs the Tamron 70-200 f2.8. sharpened a little and contrast adjust a little in View NXi

70-300 AF-P

Tamron 70-200. although shorter, the Tamron image holds up well even with the additional cropping. (it is a big piece of glass)

Existential this!

 

What will the Singularity really be like? I think the AI will just force us to play games like ATG forever, to keep us from distracting them.

Dog, death and life

Trying not to lean too far forward

Hard to get without scale, but about 10m down from a crumbling edge.

If you put a phone in the hands of a Wanker...

Amazing Blue Skies

Her beauty and her terror; The wide brown land for me!

Sunset light reflecting off wet sand

Note: No cabbages were harmed in the taking of this photo.

A Cabbage

I needed a better camera

One day a phone will have a decent zoom

I spotted this on a long evening walk. Not the kind of walk where I would carry a camera. And Toby is not the kind of dog that assists to photography or sound recording.

For the record, this is the Cook's river in Croydon Park. My old Vinnies president (who flew Spitfires in WW2) remembered that Aborigines still lived along this river when he was a kid.

Israel Folau - A Christian Man Of Courage

He puts so many to shame.

He is a free man. 

He kneels to God. Not to marxist anti-family baby murdering ideology.

All lives matter. Unborn babies' lives matter. Old people's lives matter.

Toby believes he deserves a photo in the right column, along with his girlfriend Lexi

Waves Breaking on Seaweed and Rocks

Missing the daily beach walk

Where to Shoalhaven meets the sea

Crookhaven headland in the centre, Shoalhaven river on the left.

Is this the best photo I have ever taken?

Margo thinks I am being too kitsch, but the water, rock, footprint and framing. It was a complete fluke though; as I pulled the camera out for a dolphin shot, it went click.

Same dog, new beach

Dolphins at dawn

Spetz suggested I do a sound recording

This is from my morning walk this morning. There were builders shouting at each other next door, but barely audible over the parrots.

Download Parrots on a cloudy winters day

Reflections in the sand

I tried to get some reflections on the draining waves. I think I would have got some excellent ones if the dog had given me more time.

Beloved does better Moon shots

The sky did not look this colour when I took it.

Italian Breakfast

Fresh and warm from the bakery. Spaghetti Bolognese Arancini and Pane Di Casa bread.

(This is also my first post using an iPad).

Community Sport is back

Morning sun breaking through the cloud bank

I like the way the line forms the faintest of orange lines along the sea. I used the two trees to frame the line cos I am a Woofter.

Moonlight on the waves

Fun by the Sea!

Seaweed at first light

Morning sun on the cliff face

The cliff has a lot of yellow and white ochre. The morning sun on it brings it out.

Why laptop keys need to glow

...because sometimes the sun is not up when  you are working.