One of the self-imposed questions that is central to my concept of what it is to exist is when it makes sense to buy a Leica. The question amuses me. I have multiple guides. I have resources, mostly a large team of experts keeping an eye on my decisions and helping me with my delusions. This includes all my friends and family. I cannot express in words the gratitude I have for all those at Hunt’s in Kenmore Square. The assistance and guidance and above all service are un-paralled. I simply cannot do without it.
I’d like to write more about photography but there is no time. I’ll try. These shots are all taken with a Canon Rebel 2000 using Phoenix 200 film. I’m not crazy about this film. It plays games. You have no idea what you are going to end up with. But the camera is probably THE best of the last modern Auto-focus 35mm film camera simply because of its weight and sleakness. Silver. It’s a pretty camera with all EF glass. Superior. The Nikon N80/90s are made like tanks and I have one but who needs that? Great camera. But I bought both so you don’t have to. I own a lot of cameras. I haven’t done a proper count but It has to be near 20 film cameras manufactured between 1969 and 2000 roughly. 3 Nikons, 1 Olympus, 3 Canons, 5 Contax (RTS, 167 MT, 139q, 137 MD, Aria), 3 Fujica, 3 Minoltas, 3 Yashicas, 1 Canon QL17III, [22]
According to American officials, U.S. President Donald Trump vetoed Israel’s plan to kill Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. (Reuters)
Elon Musk announces on X (formerly Twitter) that Starlink will provide internet access to citizens in Tehran, Iran after the Iranian government shut down the internet in the country due to Israeli strikes against the nation. (The Times of Israel)
A series of protests occur across the United States in all 50 states, the same day as the United States Army military parade in Washington DC. (Politico)
An Iranian ballistic missile strike on a residential building kills 7, including 2 children, and injures over 200 in Bat Yam, Israel. (The Times of Israel)
Israeli forces in Gaza recover the body of Israeli hostage Aviv Atzili, who was killed and abducted by Islamic Jihad during the October 7 attacks. (Haaretz)
Seven people are killed, including an infant, when a Bell 407 aircraft crashes in a forested area in bad weather while en route to the Kedarnath Temple in Kedarnath, Uttarakhand, India. (The Free Press Journal)
At least six people are killed, twenty-five are swept away and thirty-two others are injured, including six critically, when a bridge over a river collapses at a popular tourist destination in Kundamala, Pune, Maharashtra, India. (CTV News)
A Mw 6.1 earthquake hits Lima, Peru, leaving one person dead and at least five others injured. (Agencia EFE)
Between 100,000 and 150,000 protesters march in The Hague, Netherlands, demanding that the Dutch government pressure Israel to halt its military campaign in the Gaza Strip. (AP)
Iran and Israel continue to launch missiles and drones at each other after the preemptive strike on Iran yesterday. Israel targeted Iran’s Ministry of Defence headquarters while Iran retaliated by launching missiles at Tel Aviv and Haifa. (AP)
At least 79 Palestinians are killed by Israeli fire across the Gaza Strip, including 15 people near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) site, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. (Al Jazeera)
At least 79 Palestinians are killed by Israeli fire across the Gaza Strip, including 15 people near a Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) site, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. (Al Jazeera)
At least 100 people are killed, including many who were burned to death, hundreds of others are injured, and dozens are still missing, in an attack by unidentified gunmen in Guma, Benue State, Nigeria. (Star Tribune)(AP)
The death toll from flooding caused by a winter storm in the Eastern Cape, South Africa, earlier this week increases to 86, as police continue to find bodies in the water. (AP)
At least 19 people are killed in floods and landslides caused by heavy rainfall in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. (Niagara Falls Review)
A fire breaks out late Friday night at a residential building in Dubai‘s Marina area, prompting evacuations. The fire is successfully contained. (Gulf News)
Minnesota state senator John Hoffman, state representative and former speaker Melissa Hortman, and their spouses are shot in two targeted spree shootings at their homes in Brooklyn Park and Champlin, Minnesota, United States. Hortman and her husband are killed, while the conditions of the Hoffmans are “grave”. (ABC News)
Anti-immigration protestors use fireworks and Molotov cocktails against riot police across Northern Ireland, injuring at least 63 police officers. Police deploy water cannons in return to control the protestors. (Reuters)
Friday, June 13th, 2025
An Air IndiaBoeing 787-8 Dreamliner carrying 230 passengers and 12 crew members crashes into a residential area shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport in Gujarat, India. Authorities find one survivor from the plane, and 204 bodies have been recovered from the crash site so far. (Fox News)
The death toll from the crash of an Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India, yesterday rises to 279 as a police source says 38 ground fatalities are confirmed. (Philippine Daily Inquirer)
The Israeli military confirms it has targeted nuclear facilities in Iran with the main goal of the operation being to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirms Israeli warplanes have targeted Iran’s main Natanz Nuclear Facility. It is later confirmed that the underground nuclear reactor at Natanz has been destroyed by a bunker buster. (The Jerusalem Post)(BBC News)
The Israeli Air Force launches a bombing campaign against Iran targeting nuclear facilities with the main goal of the operation being to destroy Iran’s nuclear program. A special state of emergency is declared in Israel by Defence Minister Israel Katz and Israeli airspace is closed to all flights. Iranian state television reports that 60 people were killed in the attacks, while Israel claims only three people died and dozens got injured. (BBC News)
Israel also launches targeted assassination strikes against senior Iranian government officials, Iranian military leadership and senior nuclear scientists. (Reuters)
Those killed in the Israeli decapitation strikes include commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Hossein Salami, senior nuclear scientist and former head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran Fereydoon Abbasi, and chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran Mohammad Bagheri and Quds Force commander Esmail Qaani. (The Times of Israel)(BBC News)
Exiled crown prince Reza Pahlavi, the son of Iran’s last Shah, writes in Farsi calling for the Iranian military to abandon the Islamic Republic and accuses Supreme LeaderAyatollah Ali Khamenei of forcing Iranians into the war. He also refers to the war as “Khamenei’s war and the Islamic Republic’s war”. (Jerusalem Post)
The death toll from Israeli missile strikes on Tehran rises to 78 with at least 329 others injured. (Anadolu Agency)
At least three people are killed and 172 others injured in Israel after Iran’s retaliatory strikes. (The Jerusalem Post)
Iran launches over 100 Shahed drones and ballistic missiles towards Israel in retaliation for the strikes. (Reuters)
Five people are killed, including two children, and sixteen others are injured, including two critically, in a traffic collision when an Andhra Pradesh State Road Transport Corporation bus loses control and crashes into the back of a truck at Gottipura Gate in Hoskote, Karnataka, India. (India Today)(Deshsewak)
Four people are killed and 34 others are injured, including eleven seriously, when a bus carrying Ukrainians crashes on the A81 autoroute in Sarthe, France. (Midi Libre)
U.S. district judge Charles Breyer issues a temporary restraining order directing President Donald Trump to return control of the National Guard to California, saying he violated the Tenth Amendment and exceeded his statutory authority. Later, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals temporarily blocks the order. (AP)
Kenyan police constable James Mukhwana is arrested over the death of blogger Albert Ojwang, which prompted protests and clashes with police this week. (BBC News)
In South Korea, five-term National Assembly lawmaker Kim Byung-kee is elected as floor leader of Democratic Party, replacing acting party leader Park Chan-dae. (The Korea Herald)
Eight Palestinian GHF workers are killed and several others are injured after their bus was attacked en route to an aid distribution site in southern Gaza. The GHF claims that Hamas was responsible. (The New York Times)(Reuters)
Israeli forces kill one person and detain seven people, all Syrians, who they allege are Hamas members in an early-morning raid on the village of Beit Jinn in Rif Dimashq Governorate, Syria. (AP)
Police fire tear gas at demonstrators gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, to protest against the Kenya Police and its chief, Eliud Lagat, after bloggerAlbert Ojwang is confirmed to be killed in custody by the police force, demanding Lagat’s resignation. (DW)
A new government is formed in Lebanon, with former International Court of Justice president Nawaf Salam as the new prime minister, following two years of the country under a caretaker government. (AP)
Seventy-nine countries jointly speak out in a statement against the sanctions imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump on the International Criminal Court officials. (NOS)
International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Ahmad Khan becomes the first person to have economic and travel sanctions placed on him by the U.S. government following an executive order signed by U.S. President Donald Trump intended to target the war crimes tribunal over investigations of U.S. citizens or allies. (The Times of Israel)
Two tourists die in Colombo, Sri Lanka, when their hostel room is fumigated with a pesticide for bedbugs. (CNN)
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that influenza in the United States is at its highest peak since the 2009 swine flu pandemic. (CBS News)
Officials in New York City, United States, order the closure of all live poultry markets in the city as well as in the surrounding suburban counties of Westchester, Suffolk, and Nassau due to an increase in cases of avian influenza. (DW)
At least 41 people are killed when a bus collides with a semi-trailer truck in Escárcega, Campeche, Mexico. (Reuters)
Three more Israeli hostages are freed by Hamas as part of the January 19 ceasefire deal. (Saudi Gazette)
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.6 strikes the Caribbean Sea southwest of the Cayman Islands. (CNN)
A crisis summit is held involving the regional blocs SADC and the EAC, along with Rwandan President Paul Kagame. DR Congo is represented by Prime Minister Judith Suminwa, while President Félix Tshisekedi attends virtually. The blocs call for a ceasefire and negotiations involving the M23 movement, while the Congolese do not comment. (BBC)
Friday, February 7th, 2025
In an operation led by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the U.S. formally seizes a Venezuelan government airplane in the Dominican Republic. (CNN)
Russia says its forces have taken full control of Toretsk, Donetsk Oblast, after months of urban warfare. (Reuters)
Between 45 to 60 civilians are killed after an ambush by Islamic State gunmen against a convoy of buses in Kobe, Mali. (Xinhua)
The Somali National Army, supported by local Ma’awisley clan militias, kills dozens of al-Shabaab insurgents during heavy clashes which erupted after allied forces launch an offensive targeting al-Shabaab stronghold positions in the Jicibow area of Shebelle River, Hiiraan, Somalia. (Hiiraan Online)
U.S. President Donald Trump orders a freeze on all foreign aid to South Africa citing a South African law that allegedly allows land to be forcibly seized from white farmers. Trump also calls for the U.S. to accept Afrikaner refugees to protect them from “government-sponsored race-based discrimination”. (NDTV)
A person is killed as a fourth shooting takes place in Brussels, Belgium, within a few days. The murder is related to the other three non-fatal shootings. As a result, the six separate police zones in Brussels will start working under one command. (AP)
German Federal Police detains 16 Indian nationals found in a van in Aachen, North Rhine-Westphalia, including 15 passengers and the driver, as they attempt to enter the country without valid documents. (DW)
Three people, including the perpetrator, are killed and three others are injured in a mass shooting familicide when a military police officer opens fire at a house in Prey Ampok Commune, Cambodia. (Khmer Times)
United States federal judge of the D.C. District Court Carl J. Nichols temporarily blocks President Donald Trump’s executive order to place over 2,200 USAID employees on paid leave. (AP)
FIFA suspends the Republic of the Congo and Pakistan from official international competitions for violations of its statutes, citing third-party interference in the Congolese Football Federation and the Pakistan Football Federation‘s failure to implement constitutional reforms ensuring fair elections. (Reuters)
Moldova Prime Minister Dorin Recean calls for the breakaway state of Transnistria to take steps to avoid a new gas crisis. (Reuters)
Azerbaijan authorities announce that they will close their local Rossotrudnichestvo (House of Russia) branch in Baku. (Trend)
artificial stupid 