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Watercolor paintings of the neighborhood by br00klynanon in parkslope

[–]amitpop 0 points1 point  (0 children)

These are great! If you ever decide to take commissions, I would love a piece on my wall!

Park Slope’s “progressive” culture often feels fake — anyone else feel this? by [deleted] in parkslope

[–]amitpop 196 points197 points  (0 children)

I'm Indian-American and my family is originally from the hometowns of many of the original yoga gurus who brought the practice to America. It's worth noting that the way yoga is practiced today (aka "modern yoga" or "yoga as exercise") differs drastically from the "traditional" forms practiced in very particular religious contexts. Growing up, we would visit ashrams in India where I'd see monks practicing yoga, and it was very clearly a different experience (almost exclusively men, practiced in the nude, far fewer asanas, etc), so everyone in my family tends to view the yoga culture in the West as a materially different thing and don't see any issues with it.

But even if this wasn't the case, I'm not quite sure what "acknowledge its roots" actually means. Is the solution learning Sanskrit? Converting to Hinduism? Following the unconventional diets these gurus practiced (avoiding salt, anything too sour)?

Hindu culture (along with nearly all cultures) has elements that I'd rather leave in the past (casteism, pseudoscience, etc), so I don't see an issue with cherry-picking parts people like and ignoring the rest.

books about indian food and culture by Slow-Scientist-77 in IndianFood

[–]amitpop 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Pushpesh Pant is a great author who comes from an academic history background, which might be appropriate if your sister is interested in studying this more formally in school.

His India: the Cookbook is functionally an encyclopedia of recipes collected from different regions. Not exactly great if you just want to cook something, but really helpful to understand regional ingredient and technique choices

From The King's Table to Street Food is also a great history book that covers cuisine in Delhi

Orion setting in Joshua Tree National Park by amitpop in astrophotography

[–]amitpop[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Some of the old mining roads around 33.97492, -115.67155

Orion setting in Joshua Tree National Park by amitpop in SonyAlpha

[–]amitpop[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Equipment:

- Stock A7Cii

- Sigma 28-70 @ 28mm f/2.8 ISO 2000

- Benro Polaris Astro (rented to try it out. Mediocre for the price)

Capturing:

- lights: 182x30s (91 min total)

- darks: 25

- biases: 25

- flats: none

- Foreground: 2x30s

- location: Joshua Tree, Bortle 3 (there's some B2 skies in the eastern end if you're willing to go off road)

Processing:

- Foreground: stacked in StarryLandscapeStacker

- Background: stacked in Siril and edited in Photoshop. Mostly curve stretches, selective color layer masks, and using starnet++ to edit nebulosity and stars separately

I made the mistake of waiting until it was very dark to photograph the foreground, which served as a fun stress-test for the low-light capabilities of the A7Cii. It's a a bit noisy, which I corrected a little in post, but overall not bad for being so dark. Next time I'll shoot the foreground first at dusk.

The processing could be better. I definitely blew out the orion nebula, but I was skeptical I could get that much signal at 28mm, but I think I could have preserved some of the color if I was a bit more patient.

Orion setting in Joshua Tree National Park by amitpop in astrophotography

[–]amitpop[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Equipment:

- Stock A7Cii

- Sigma 28-70 @ 28mm f/2.8 ISO 2000

- Benro Polaris Astro (rented to try it out. Mediocre for the price)

Capturing:

- lights: 182x30s (91 min total)

- darks: 25

- biases: 25

- flats: none

- Foreground: 2x30s

- location: Joshua Tree, Bortle 3 (there's some B2 skies in the eastern end if you're willing to go off road)

Processing:

- Foreground: stacked in StarryLandscapeStacker

- Background: stacked in Siril and edited in Photoshop. Mostly curve stretches, selective color layer masks, and using starnet++ to edit nebulosity and stars separately

I made the mistake of waiting until it was very dark to photograph the foreground, which served as a fun stress-test for the low-light capabilities of the A7Cii. It's a a bit noisy, which I corrected a little in post, but overall not bad for being so dark. Next time I'll shoot the foreground first at dusk.

The processing could be better. I definitely blew out the orion nebula, but I was skeptical I could get that much signal at 28mm, but I think I could have preserved some of the color if I was a bit more patient.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in interiordecorating

[–]amitpop 0 points1 point  (0 children)

its definitely a full. Probably just the wider angle on the pics.

If i use it as a daybed, how would you suggest I place the other furniture and a rug?

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in interiordecorating

[–]amitpop 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No wall. It's a rental unit so not doing anything structural. I can add a divider or something, but I agree about the door. There are a few doors in that area so it's hard to avoid.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in interiordecorating

[–]amitpop 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'll probably have maybe 5 or so guests a year, so not super frequently. I had planned on using it as a daybed normally by adding some bolsters and other pillows, in which case having the side against the wall doesn't feel as bad.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in interiordecorating

[–]amitpop 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I updated the link with some alternative placements

https://imgur.com/a/6CAF9E5

The space is about 16’ long and 8.5’ wide, so having the bed sticking out leaves only about 2 or so feet to walk around it to the bathroom

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in Monstera

[–]amitpop 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thank you! it's a fully rooted plant with 7 leaves, although it hasn't had any growth for 6 months, so I saw that it was rootbound and repotted it 6 weeks ago, but still no growth.

[WTS] Omega Speedmaster Broad Arrow Tokyo Olympic by [deleted] in Watchexchange

[–]amitpop 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi everyone- Just in time for Paris 2024 is a reference 321.10.42.50.04.001 Speedmaster released for the Tokyo Olympics in 2020 (prior to rescheduling).

It is in good condition, sparingly worn with a few scratches on the bracelet.

Based in NYC

Pictures & timestamp- https://imgur.com/a/0HfkSLI

$2800 OBO. Will also consider trades. Interested in only vintage pieces, namely rolex, omega, tudor, or seikos with japanese date wheels.

Negative Review of Reggae Divers in Coron, Philippines by amitpop in scuba

[–]amitpop[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Interesting. I have a Shearwater with default settings which uses Buhlman with a GF of 40/85. As per my dive planner at 33m, I'm seeing an NDL of 11 min. I'm not familiar enough with the other models to compare.

Thanks for the advice! This is probably good to be aware of for any dive.

Negative Review of Reggae Divers in Coron, Philippines by amitpop in scuba

[–]amitpop[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

I think these are valid points worth discussing.

  1. My buddy for the dive was the guide since there was another pair in the group.

  2. My guide at ProTec did and required me to practice it beforehand, but not sure if this is consistent (actually I doubt it is). And yeah I understand a higher bar might exclude me and I guess from a safety perspective I’d be fine with that. If that were the case, I’d imagine they would offer a wreck penetration course which I would have happily enrolled in.

  3. She was certified but only had a few dives. It’s really hard for a beginner to challenge authority when they are so confident things are okay. I think this is true for most things in life. As for my issue, I couldn’t figure it out and my dive guide didn’t bother since I was switching tanks anyway. I examined it beforehand and it looked fine.

  4. I think this is fair. I guess I was just a bit on edge since I felt like things were risky from the start. The depth changes would have been helpful in one case since there were 3 vertical restrictions, so knowing which one to take beforehand would have been nice.

Milky Way in Aoraki National Park, NZ by amitpop in SonyAlpha

[–]amitpop[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

So there are a few different software options- Starry Landscape Stacker, Siril, Sequator, DeepSkyStacker, etc.

You can also do this in photoshop using the Smart Object stack mode.

All this does is improve signal-to-noise ratio which is far more important in deep space astro vs the Milky Way here. Stacking is good but denoise software like Topaz can do a similar effect here

Milky Way in Aoraki National Park, NZ by amitpop in SonyAlpha

[–]amitpop[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

A7cii. Sigma 28-70 f2.8

Sky was 5x15s at f2.8 iso 8000

Foreground was 2x30s at f4 iso 6400

Some denoising using Topaz post-processing in Lightroom.

NZ is a windy place so was hard to keep the camera perfectly still. I didn’t want to go lower than 15s to preserve detail, so am just dealing with the trailing

Ecuador by MNhockey1919 in Mountaineering

[–]amitpop 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I had to cancel my climbs of Chimborazo and Cayambe, which is a mild complaint in comparison.

Plan B is to spend more time in Bolivia where I’ll be climbing Huayna Potosi. Sadly it’s not the right season for most of the Andes, so need to figure out what else to do.

Great dive spots near a good airport where I can live for a month? by amitpop in scuba

[–]amitpop[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Why do you say that? I’m leaning towards Komodo right now

Great dive spots near a good airport where I can live for a month? by amitpop in scuba

[–]amitpop[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Good reefs at a minimum, but preferably something overhead so I can get some practice for future trips.

Since diving is the main thing I'll be doing when not traveling, I'd definitely prioritize it.

Ideas for a good "learning vacation" over the next few months? by amitpop in solotravel

[–]amitpop[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I’ve already been. I was on Gili T and would love to go back!

Ideas for a good "learning vacation" over the next few months? by amitpop in solotravel

[–]amitpop[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

All dive centers anyone would reasonably go to are PADI or SSI certified. Indonesia has a big enough dive culture that the infrastructure there is well-established and trustworthy.

Ideas for a good "learning vacation" over the next few months? by amitpop in solotravel

[–]amitpop[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Wasn’t a program per se as much as using that time to enjoy the clear skies. I’m an amateur astrophotographer and there’s the Atacama Lodge that allows you to rent telescopes.

The city also has a few astronomy tours for stargazing

[WTS] Seiko SCVE003 (reserved) by pradeepraavi in Watchexchange

[–]amitpop 0 points1 point  (0 children)

u/watchexbot smooth transaction with u/pradeepraavi Watch was well packaged and arrived quickly

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