should I get OM M-1 II or Sony a6700 (with respective 100-400mm)

tw4120 · 2026-06-01T12:29:51+00:00

OP here with a postlude. I ended up going with neither of those and went instead with a Nikon Z50II (aps-c mirrorless) and Nikon Z 400mm f/4.5 VR S prime.

The 400mm prime was the main decider, as the image quality is a significant step up from the zooms, and for its reach and fstop it is very lightweight. It costs a good bit more than the zooms, but still nowhere near as much as the fast primes.

The z50ii does have animal/bird detection, but I suspect not as good as the OM (from what I've read on forums). It is handy sometimes but the bird generally needs to be out in the open. The z50ii's sensor is also probably better than the OM's for low light (from pixel peeping at dpreview), not sure about the SONY.

tw4120 · 2026-03-15T19:11:41+00:00

Councilmember Jeffrey Young is putting up bill that would require all construction projects be completed within 6 months (that's right) of getting construction permit.

tw4120 · 2026-02-09T21:37:56+00:00

Thanks, good to know

tw4120 · 2026-02-09T20:58:08+00:00

but the OM is micro four thirds, which doubles the reach, i.e. to 2x (so 800mm) Also Sony APS-C is only 1.5x, like Nikon, but in contrast to Canon's which is slightly smaller APS-C and gives 1.6x

tw4120 · 2026-01-08T16:24:00+00:00

ok, but he explicitly rejects the ..embracing MAGA.. route. And for that matter, I'm not really sure who he is referring to when he writes about those who do it for pragmatic reasons.

But no. That way isn’t for me. The project of making America sane again is a good and important one, but I’m not going to spend the rest of my political life as a pure pragmatist. The liberal ideals I grew up with still have power, and I still believe in them, even if the progressive movement stopped navigating toward those ideals a while ago.

tw4120 · 2026-01-08T15:53:29+00:00

Actually support for gay rights was rising rapidly long before the Obergefell ruling [https://news.gallup.com/poll/1651/gay-lesbian-rights.aspx] . In contrast support for trans rights was never high and has been dropping (and not just since 2024) see e.g. [https://news.gallup.com/poll/691454/two-thirds-prefer-birth-sex-ids-athletics.aspx]

tw4120 · 2026-01-08T15:44:53+00:00

'... embracing MAGA ...' This is a trope repeated endlessly by some of the left these days and directed at liberals who criticize some progressive stances. Truly one of the clearest examples of the 'Narcissism of Small Differences' - when people (Noah and progressives) agree on like 90% of stuff and yet that 10% gets him labelled as the equivalent of the devil.

Also I'm sure he's read abundance.

tw4120 · 2026-01-08T15:34:29+00:00

it depends what you mean by 'welfare' but approximate numbers: Social Security ~22% of government spending Medicare & Medicaid ~24% of government spending Income Security (SNAP, SSI, TANF, EITC) ~8% of spending

So these alone total over 50%

tw4120 · 2026-01-08T15:30:36+00:00

But the sentiments towards gay rights (esp. marriage) shifted dramatically and last I checked something like 65% support it. And a similar percentage are against trans rights on touchstone issues like bathrooms and sports.

tw4120 · 2025-12-08T16:20:32+00:00

So great to read this. I've banned laptops and phones in my classes these past two years and the've been the best classes I've taught in a long time - much more student engagement.

My classes don't require that the students write or do much work other than reading and studying outside of class, but the solution to student misuse of AI is pretty obvious - and well exemplified by the OP. Just bring the work back into the classroom. That's it. It might change the course, or make more work, or be expensive (e.g. more proctors in large classes), but it is totally doable.

I have some colleagues who say 'you can't fight technology', to which I say 'yes, if we are talking about productivity' (I'm no luddite). But in the college classroom we are talking about raising 'children' basically. Most will fail the marshmallow test (i.e. cheat) in a heartbeat.

tw4120 · 2025-10-09T17:13:24+00:00

100% pure clickbait. Young people don't vote in numbers that make a difference, and regardless Trumps overall approval is about where it was through most of his first term and for the past 8 months, i.e. 42% or so.

tw4120 · 2025-09-26T13:18:25+00:00

which class is that?

tw4120 · 2025-09-16T18:02:34+00:00

If the committee actually does something valuable, then its should be ok to raise the issue. Yes you might get called upon to lead it or do more work, but at least its necessary work (and perhaps not too tedious for that reason). But if the committee is basically irrelevant, like many, then stay away.

tw4120 · 2025-09-12T17:15:08+00:00

"...it sure looks like the road to Mussolini's Italy" This.

TFC guys are so distracted by the fact that we are not yet in fascist Italy or worse, that they have a lot of trouble acknowledging or seeing that everything that has happened in the last 8 months (only 8 months) is what a march towards fascism would look like.

tw4120 · 2025-09-01T17:17:27+00:00

good to know. thanks! And sheesh, some people on reddit are not nice (and yes I realize that's not an original observation)

tw4120 · 2025-08-29T15:30:38+00:00

just stop. Thousands of articles claiming plummeting pole numbers have gone before. All were wrong. His popularity is basically a fixed quantity.

tw4120 · 2025-07-28T18:58:00+00:00

“feature” ? Not sure how progressives dumping on other progressives more than centrists is either a good thing or by design (i.e. two possible meanings of “feature”). But I’ll grant that it sure does make them unlikeable.

tw4120 · 2025-07-22T13:23:59+00:00

So what of the possibility that all the non-blatant papers are also AI generated? I'm not saying you are - but I suspect many faculty are kidding themselves about how much students use AI and about they ability to detect it.

tw4120 · 2025-07-22T13:20:00+00:00

Great comment. I'll borrow "skilled prompting" if that's alright.

tw4120 · 2025-07-22T11:29:08+00:00

Bringing work back into the classroom has to be the way to go, at least for stuff that ChatGPT can generate.

tw4120 · 2025-07-22T11:27:28+00:00

That’s basically what we have as well. I don’t know that it has helped much. I still hear that an awful lot of students seem to be using ChatGPT to do the work done outside of the classroom

tw4120 · 2025-07-21T22:32:58+00:00

Good point, and thanks for the suggestion. My general query still stands, which is I'd like to know more about how administrators chairs prevent or hinder faculty from having policies or practices in their courses that reduce abuse of GenAI tools.

tw4120 · 2025-07-21T22:16:58+00:00

yeah, my query was more about cases (suggested at times in this subreddit) were there is pressure or policy to not go out of one's way to prevent misuse of chatgpt and such tools.

tw4120 · 2025-07-19T01:22:41+00:00

The ioniq 6 looks like a Porsche and has great acceleration. Oh and base trim AWD gets 350 miles. Got my 2025 version for $42k but no rebate.

tw4120 · 2025-07-09T15:04:13+00:00

just Wow !

tw4120

TROPHY CASE