Ron C

I have a Canon A620 and need to take some photos of a children's book for a lecture (no copyright issues here). The pages are quite glossy. Can anyone give me advice on how to get the best pics with the least glare? (E.g., should I go for a manual setting? if so, aperture priority or shutter priority? if aperture, what ASA? if shutter, what speed?) I realize you don't know about my specific lighting conditions nor the distance I'd be set up, but if you could give a rule of thumb, that would be great. Thanks so much for your help.

For those potential answerers who happily ascribe to your parents' belief system, what about children who grow up in traditions radically different from your own?

For example, I don't believe in the idea of an eternal, immutable 'soul,' though I say it. When I swear, I'll throw out an occasional 'God' or 'Jesus.' Or, I might say someone is 'guilty as sin.' On the non-religious front, maybe you say, 'Button up or you'll catch cold,' even though you may be a microbiologist who knows better.

'Tis the season.

What kinds of dogma do you espouse, while you act contrariwise?

Documentable. Not second-hand, not double hearsay. For 'science,' read 'rational thought,' 'realism,' or 'nature.' This is not to say that science explains every phenomenon; it doesn't. Show your work.

...or have them clipped? If so, how often? If not, then how might one be said to be 'created in [His] image?

How would the life of a believer ACTUALLY change if it were possible to convince him/her once-and-for-all that the stories of miracles and all the requirements and prohibitions were just so much stagecraft?

I'm appalled that more than a passing mention in the press comes out of this steroid story. The real drug-use problems in this country - the ones that have a huge and crushing effect on our culture - are mostly alcohol-related. This story has glamour, so it's a national crisis we're all meant to be interested in. If you look to big-money sports for your role models, you're looking in the wrong direction. Even the idea of a 'team' as a cultural icon is a silly myth.

I hope this isn't an incredibly naive question. Have been reading Michio Kaku's "Parallel Worlds," which discusses data from the WMAP satellite. It includes a "baby picture" of the universe as it was 380,000 years after the Big Bang.

If all matter and energy erupted from that singularity, why wouldn't all of the electromagnetic energy, moving at the speed of light, have overtaken - passed - the matter that comprises earth and all of us long ago (and thus be unavailable for us to view)?

I understand the concept of light-years, and know that we're seeing the sun, for example, where and how it was 8 minutes ago. But if I train my telescope where a star or planet USED to be, it won't be there. Likewise, how could I train a telescope on deep space and find a picture of where all energy and matter WERE, if they ARE somewhere else?

Please answer the question seriously. I'm a good-humored guy, but I really am only interested in apposite answers and links.

Thanks.

Just a suggestion from an outsider. How incredibly irresponsible is it for anyone to be riding in an automobile in 2007 without wearing a seat belt? What does it say about his fundamental respect for public safety and the rule of law.

At the very least, his driver should be ticketed.

Last year I heard Katie Couric say hers would be:

"Perky no more."

I've asked this before, but would like to read a new crop.

I can't believe people waste so much bubbly. Is it just the pure joy of throwing money away, or do they actually not know that it's possible to pop the cork without losing a drop?

I've been teaching for over 15 years. Each semester, it gets harder and harder to get up the nerve to mark a stack of essays. I love teaching and am lucky to have some very bright 1st- and 2nd-year university students. Still, I procrastinate. I will talk myself into avoiding it. Eventually, of course, I do; but I wonder if you have any strategies to make it more palatable, less onerous.

Thanks.

I'm an average-sized guy - a little over 5'9" - and am happy with my height. I just thought it might be fun to see what it's like to view the world from 6' or so now and then. I've been to my neighborhood shoe repair store, but they don't have lifts. Anybody know where to buy them in Manhattan? If not, I'll just order some online.

Thanks for your help.

One example is the site of Hitler's bunker in Berlin. The German government didn't want to develop the site in such a way as to make it a gathering place for Neo-Nazis, although it was obviously an enormously important historical spot. Your answer doesn't need to be this awful or polarizing; and the ethical problem may be very different.

By the way, the reason I'm asking this question is that I'm looking for interesting material to broaden an assignment for a course I'm teaching.

Thanks for your help.

Any advice about finding an intelligent and honest real estate agent? If you bought directly from an owner, how did you find the listing?

I'm curious about the M.C.I. (Major Capital Improvement) increase. Please, please don't answer if you don't know what I'm talking about. I've read up on the city housing websites; what I'm wondering is whether you've had a personal experience with a landlord offering money to get you out so that s/he can charge the market value of the apartment. I've been in mine for 18 years & am not keen on going.

Thanks for the info.