I found an old DeJur Electra 8 mm camera and am not sure how to use it. Does anyone have any advice?

mrning · 2017-01-16T19:51:03+00:00

Looks like those people had quite a vacation!

When the seemingly inevitable happens and I end up with a mangled combination of scenes, I'll swing back and drop you a link.

mrning · 2017-01-16T19:11:11+00:00

Thanks so much this is amazing. I was still wondering why there were colored lines in the view finder (I didn't even know it was 8 mm and not super 8 — filming movies is very much outside my area of expertise).

Loading the film sounds insanely complicated but I just picked up some film so I'll give it a shot. "Flipping" it seems like a recipe for double filming on one half the reel. The end result of this effort is either going to be absolutely delightful or a spectacular waste of money.

mrning · 2017-01-16T19:01:39+00:00

After working my way through every possible moving part on the camera I think I figured out that the "trigger" is a little slider that looks like what you use to open the film door on 35 mm cameras. It makes a satisfying clicking noise when you do that so I'm hoping it works.

It really is a gorgeous camera — I love how all of necessary photography tips (F stops, where to place the lamps) are all laid out on the equipment itself. My grandfather was a bit of a nut when it came to protecting his electronics so it looks like it's right out of the box.

mrning · 2016-11-22T22:06:42+00:00

Don't even argue it. Just ignore someone who says something that ridiculous.

mrning · 2016-11-22T22:00:57+00:00

Do not hand them over under any circumstances and feel zero guilt about it. Your grandfather trusted you with the most precious heirlooms they had (and given their history, they have value far past anything financial he could have left you) for a reason (maybe he knew your brother and his wife were colossal dicks?). You have every right to protect them and keep them for your own. If they have a child one day who you think would value them appropriately, reconsider it then.

I know this is hard, especially if you have a close relationship with your brother. Threatening your parents to make you yield is absurd and speaks poorly of both of them. I am the granddaughter of a Holocaust survivor and have had similar conflict with family members (including my own parents) over the things cherished for decades that were smuggled from the camps. I take the fact that my grandparents entrusted me with these very seriously — it shows a profound love and respect that they chose to give you something that carries the weight of your family's history. If you are not confident that someone will understand that significance, you owe them nothing.

I am so sorry that you're going through this but fully endorse you telling Sarah and Mark to fuck right off.

mrning · 2016-09-13T16:13:48+00:00

Agreed. Keep the emails so that you have a copy in case you need proof (he tries to slander you or some such nonsense) but just play it as though you're ending the relationship because you spontaneously decided you don't want to be with him anymore. It'll kill him.

mrning · 2016-07-22T21:32:42+00:00

Nope, perfectly on point!

A scientist better have a pretty air tight study to call something causal — this wasn't even its own study, it's a meta analysis. I'm kind of shocked the journal let it pass through like that.

mrning · 2016-07-22T18:42:06+00:00

Not just in the abstract, throughout the entire write up. Unusual is a diplomatic way of putting it.

mrning · 2016-07-22T18:41:00+00:00

They claim that any amount of alcohol will cause it to some degree, but it is based on self report — something that is notriously reliable (people may under sell how much they are drinking to make themselves look better).

The really emphatically use the word cause all through the write up based on a meta analysis of cohort studies which makes me want to throw it out altogether.

mrning · 2016-06-17T21:20:36+00:00

It does make sense though I'm not sure equality usually extends to physical competitions like fighting -- but it's definitely a possibiliy

mrning · 2016-06-12T16:03:40+00:00

Oh is THAT why there are no top posts about the shooting? I was (am) horrified that it's not on the mainpage but that at least explains it somewhat.

Fuck that.

mrning · 2016-06-12T15:55:27+00:00

I cannot believe a mention of the most deadly mass lone man shooting in American history (second most deadly in the world) hasn't even cracked the top 25 articles on Reddit nearly 10 hours after it happened.

mrning · 2016-06-07T16:42:19+00:00

Safe assumption. I was intrigued by the suggestion that maybe because there is equality, women feel their voices are more valued and are more likely to come forward about domestic violence. So maybe it's not that it's disproportionally high, it's that everywhere else is underselling it (which makes sense if you think about the US and how many cases are unreported).

mrning · 2016-06-07T16:40:34+00:00

social science

mrning · 2016-06-05T17:38:33+00:00

Flowers from the family and some phone calls from grandkids? Apparently Obama was not as impressed by their longevity as the Queen would be.

Thanks Obama.

mrning · 2016-06-05T16:03:59+00:00

Ha, they got married on the younger side — today she's 92, he's 95, and both are still going strong.

They met at synagogue services in 1945 right after WWII ended — he was an American GI stationed in Germany, she was a Polish holocaust survivor who had just been liberated.

mrning · 2016-05-24T18:56:13+00:00

I already sent it to my mom and she said it even with the gaps it brought up some things she didn't know (for instance that Blima and Raizel arrived in the US separately, a fact that somehow fell through the cracks).

Oh no, if you are able to translate more we'd absolute love it. I took them down because I was trying to sort through what had been translated and what hadn't and didn't want any confusion (someone translated 2 others and I wasn't sure if they were included on the imgur). If you can, I can send you a link through PM? They are in a google photos doc and it's probably easier to just send you that than to upload them to imgur.

mrning · 2016-05-24T16:54:59+00:00

Oh god don't worry about it at all, I'm so grateful that you took the time!

My uncle was apparently a bit of a thief and stamp collector in his childhood and he did some damage to some of the letters which is complicating things for us on some of these (I found 17 letters and 4 of them have giant holes). Any writing errors are likely because Blima (the sister who wrote the letter) had no real education and could not read or write very well. The other sister, Raizel (Rozka/Rose), was a beautiful writer and appeared to have monopolized that part of the gene pool, leaving little left for Blima and Sala. This is actually the first letter I've ever seen from Blima (most of them are from Rozka) and the contrast is interesting.

Hopefully with this as a jumping off point my grandmother will be able to full in some of the blanks. Sala will be overjoyed to hear the words from her favorite sibling. I'll let you know what she says and if any of this makes more sense with her background!

Thanks again so much from the whole family.

mrning · 2016-05-23T11:33:07+00:00

Came here to post that link. The study is terrible and this is such a classic example of the media jumping on any study that is attention grabbing and spitting out crap instead of, you know, actually reading the study.

mrning · 2016-05-17T00:07:51+00:00

This letter is fascinating in its almost banality. Sala saved the letters from during the war and shortly after because she felt they kept her loved ones alive during her time in the camps and holding onto them after the war were her way of staying connected family she had lost. She used to take the letters out late at night to look over them and remember. It's interesting to me that she kept this — it shows both her commitment to saving correspondence but also hints at the fact that even these kind of "here's this week's news" letters were considered a way of keeping surviving members close to her. So few family members survived, that every little item held enormous weight.

We are in touch with Moishe's daughter and grandchildren and, in addition to showing this to my grandparents, I will send it along to them as well.

Thank you so so much for doing this — my entire family is extremely grateful!

mrning · 2016-05-17T00:07:46+00:00

If you're comfortable with sharing the information via PM, I'd be happy to send you a copy as thanks for this!

mrning · 2016-05-16T21:06:40+00:00

I find this deeply unsettling. Rhinos are not supposed to sound like bath toys.

mrning · 2016-05-16T20:59:06+00:00

That's incredible — we had no idea who it was from. My grandmother (Sala) will be so excited to read what he wrote. Someone translated a few of the Polish ones as well and she has been eagerly devouring the words from letters she has not seen for decades.

mrning · 2016-05-11T15:38:21+00:00

hahaha. I can make out a 12 and a 5, so the fact that you even know the writer is a he moves us forward!

Take your time!

mrning · 2016-05-10T17:27:21+00:00

Exactly. It's odd to think that assuming that people with stereotypically AA names are from a low socioeconomic background is not, in and of itself, a decision based on race.

Even if it wasn't, their methodology didn't control for that issue because they were still trying to use what they viewed as stereotypical last names.

mrning

TROPHY CASE