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Dubai based Airine
bloggers
TampaxTowers
Style High Club
The Trolley Dolly
Life,as I know it
(now Edmonton!)
Bjorn Moerman
James Nixon
TheEKSource
Jens
Krüger
Egypt
Sandmonkey
Hammonda.net
Thailand Blogs
Bangkok Noir
Bangkok Pundit
-
politics
Thai-blogs.com
- rather serious
2bangkok.com
-
not really a blog but always up to date on Bangkok news
BKKOK.com
Thailand Voice
promoting blogs from Thailand
Thailand Golf
Thai-blogs
-Thailand life and culture
trythaifood -
thai recipes
CityLife Chiang Mai
Thailand Crisis not
updated but important in understanding 2006-2009.
Absolutely Bangkok
Bangkok Bugle
Thai
Girl The exotic adventures of a literary
sexagenarian.
Thailand Jumped the Shark
Thai Films
Siam Report
Thai ENews
- In Thai
Photo-journ -
news blog plus pics
Prachatai
- Thai news in English
New Mandala - new
perspectives on SE Asia
NewsInBangkok - another news blog
Thailand Intelligent News
- interesting opinion and links
Political Prisoners in Thailand
GregToDiffer
Hua Hin Golf
Philip
Golingai (mainly Malaysia)
ThailandVoice
Musings
from Thailand
Women learning Thai
Vaitor
Ricefield Radio
Reporter
in Exile
Robert Amsterdam - Thailand
Somtow's world
Dirtii laundry
Thai Cables
Siam Voices
ThaiWomanTalks
Tasty Thailand
Siam
Intelligence Unit
Mouth of the Mekong
Carabao in english
Asia Blogs
Banyan - The Economist
Asia Unbound - CFR
Zen Journalist
The Marmot's Hole - Korea
The writings of MD Nalapat
Democratic Voice of Burma
Ideas for India
Dubai Blogs
Mainly Photos; mainly from Dubai
- Gerald Donovan at work!
dxbae
- picture blog - also Gerald Donovan
UAE Community Blog
- uniting all UAE bloggers
Dubai informer
- news and events.
The Grapeshisha Blog
- commentary on a changing Dubai
One Big Construction Site
- a long term expat on life in Dubai
Secret Dubai Diary
- rather disillusioned expat commentary - sadly seems to have died - but
again worth keeping for some interesting recent history.
Dubai As It Used To be
- self explanatory - fascinating!
Kippreport - news and commentary
Life In Dubai - moved to Oz
Fake Plastic Souks
Dubai Astronomy Group
Gulf Photo Plus
Dubai Media Observer
The Gulf Blog
Dubai Construction Update
Dubai Race Night
Burj Khalifa
Grumpy
Goat
Ever changing lanes
Spontaneous
Euphoria
Christopher Saul - Dubai Blog
MattJDuffy
Sport360
The Hedonista
Dubai as it used to
be
DubaiDevelopmentsGuide
Al Serkel Avenue
Arabic affairs blogs
The Arabist
Felix Arabia
MidEastPosts
The Culturist
Pan
Arabian Enquirer
Doha News
Al Monitor
The
Gulf Blog
Al-Bab
Hong Kong Blogs
Digital
Life
- A Hong Kong picture blog - interesting pics
A Big
White Guy in Hong Kong - self
explanatory
Ordinary
Gweilo
Hemlock's Diary.
And people think I am opinionated - try this!
BigLychee
EastSouthWestNorth - commentary
Glutter.org
- Greater China democracy news and many great links
Hong
Kong Hustle
Hong Kong Paintings
Hong
Kong Outdoors
Hong
Kong and Macau Stuff
Hong Wrong
In China:
Danwei
- media and advertising news from China
Shanghaiist.com
The China Beat
- how the east is read.
Hong Kong Cinemagic
Shanghai Scrap
The Paper Tiger
Peking Duck
China Law Blog
China Rises
China Media Project
China in
Africa: The Real Story
LivinginChina.com
Sinocism
Chinageeks
Beijing Cream
China Daily Show
Ministry of Tofu
In Macau:
In Singapore:
The Singapore Daily
Xiaxue
- self-confessed mean, bitchy, sex goddess who says "wah" a lot!
Mr Brown
- colourful commentary from Singapore
Singapore Democrats
The Online Citizen
Icarus flew too high
Bonjour Singapore
In Burma:
National League for Democracy
In Canada:
BlogTO
Now Toronto
Media:
On the Ground ND Kristof
Tabloid
Watch (UK)
The Diplomat - Asia Pacific
CJ Purcell
Foreign Policy
Vanity Fair
Watchdog reporting
Fleet Street Blues
BellingCat
Aviation:
Amadeus (airline schedules)
Airline
meals -
see it b4 you eat it!
Airliners
- aviation forum, trip reports and pix
archive
A
Captain's Blog - the routine of a California based 767
captain
FA Uniforms
- interesting collection of the old and new
Planenation
- commercial aviation news
Airchive
- a web museum of commercial aviation.
CrankyFlier - mainly US commentary
AvHerald - daily log of airliner incidents
RandPeck's blog
Rand Peck
- writing and photography from a US based 757 captain
PlaneBuzz
- airline financials
SmartCockpit
Sharjah -
1937
Boarding
Area business travel
World Airports
Flight Wisdom
ATC - Toronto (YYZ)
Today in the sky
Ask the pilot
The Flying Scotsman - A BA pilot blog
Key Magazines - UK
Crossing the Sky
Blogging at FL250
Flight Level 390
The wings stayed on
PilotOutlook
Birmingham Airport
Aviation Queen
LiveATC.net
AirplaneFood
Flight to Success
Routehappy
KPAE - Paine Field Blog
UxMilk (mainly Qantas)
World Stewardess Crews
Airways magazine blog
DubaiAirportsConnect
APEX Editor's Blog
In a Foreign Sky
Better on a Camel
Simon Blakesley Photography
Travel:
Johnny Jet
Paris photo blog
Business Traveller - Asia
Camels and Chocolate
GranTourismo
Legal
Nomads
Circle of Asia
Tales of Asia
Smart Travel Asia
Untraveller
The World and his TukTuk
QuiteAlone - Matthew Teller
Around the World in 80
Elephants
Mouth of the Mekong
GranTourismo Travels
Seat 61
News:
The Guardian
- UK
BBC World News
CNN Asia
Bangkok Post
Gulf News
Arabian
Business
CNNfan.com
scary fan site!
Twitmericks
vox - Research-based policy analysis
and commentary from leading economists
Next Media - news animation
Bangkok info sites:
thailand.com
learningthai.com
sawadee.com
thailandstories
bangkok a-z
stickboyBangkok
Worthy Sites:
Niall Ferguson
Rconversation - from Rebecca
MacKinnon, ex-TV reporter-turned-blogger.
RGE Monitor -
macro-economic
analysis
Migrant Rights
Cricket Archive
Good
experience
Heresy
Corner
What Matters - McKinsey
Freedom House
Golf Sites:
wei under par
The Christina Kim
Cricket sites:
Alternative
Cricket Almanac
99.94
Cricket with Balls
The Old Batsman
StumpedForADuck
The NightWatchman
Lords.org
The Full Toss
Other Sports
Sulia.com - football
Fun Sites:
Fun signs
Urban Dictionary
Earth TV
Useful Sites:
World Time Clock
Cooking
Cooking Light
Technology Ideas:
Loose wire
Stuff -
gadgets
TechCrunch
Boing Boing
The Next Web
TNooz - Travel Tech
The Immedium Blog
ViralBlog
The Next Web
Now and Next
The Sports Scientists
FacebookStories
LiesDamnedLiesstatistics
Mixed Topics
Photography
unchartedphotography
Glen Calvin
Photography
GulfPhotoPlus
The Rest:
Black
Flamingo - recipes and life (no golf!)
Mixed Topics
Watford Mad (WFC)
BHappy - a
Watford Blog
Watford Legends
All
About Cricket
Brain Pickings
Ballpark-it.com - recipes
TV:
Northern Exposure
Author
Robert Scott lives
and works in Dubai; born in England I have since lived in Canada, Hong
Kong, Singapore and Bangkok.
I am very happily married to Tai.
If you want to know
more you only need to ask!
ask.
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28 February 2015
Exposed to tactically
refined elite‑level modern football the Premier League's second- and
third-placed teams came stumbling out of the trees like a group of
19th-century goat-herders catching a first glimpse across the plains of
the steam-driven iron horse.
Bless
Barney Ronay at the Guardian for putting English football into
perspective!
**************************
Why Thailand is screwed
- reason number 887:
IsraNews has reported
that over 50 NLA members have appointed wives, children and relatives as
assistants & advisors @15-24K/mo salary.
Now of course we should all try not to confuse that with any sense that
nepotism is rampant among elected corrupt politicians, since the ruling
mindset is clear that Good People (TM) cannot possibly be corrupt.
Honestly it iss
astonishing that an assembly supposedly set on abolishing corruption sees
nothing wrong in hiring family members. Bizarre.
But it is a mindset; it
is only corruption when bad people do it. When good people do it, its
smart problem solving
As
the Nation newspaper noted without any sense of irony -
"National Legislative
Assembly President Pornpetch Wichitcholchai said the regulations did not
prohibit NLA members from appointing their spouses and children as their
helpers, and thus making them eligible for salaries from the state.
When asked whether the practice was appropriate, Pornpetch said the NLA
simply wanted to have helpers whom they could trust and the practice has
been done earlier."
27 February 2015
50 shades of grey -
what a dull movie. Saved only be some lovely aerial pictures of Seattle.
**********************
Emirates has announced on the GDS system that they will be suspending all
their 4 weekly DXB-DKR services effective 29MAR15. It was operated using
their A343s.
The Africa expansion is
not going quite to plan!
26 February 2015
Happy Birthday hon...
*********************************
On twitter today: "It's almost beyond comprehension why 65million Thai
citizens would sit so passively and submissively by while just about all
of their political rights are totally removed...."
Indeed.
25 February 2015
Welcome to
Thailand in 2015:
"I misunderstood, I
didn't know that the government has a forum for expressing opinions at the
Government House...The officers have adjusted my attitude and
understanding about that. From now on, I will cooperate with the
government in developing the country as a citizen."
Orwell could not have
phrased this better.
22 February 2015
Fly Dubai is adding new
destinations in Iran - it will start flying to Shiraz, Isfahan and Ahwaz
from March 8, 11 and 14, respectively, while flights to Hamadan and Tabriz
will commence from March 16.
The carrier started
operations to Tehran and Mashhad in 2014.
Ghaith Al Ghaith, the
chief executive of flydubai, said that adding the new Iranian destinations
was a result of the strong demand from travellers between the two
countries.
“The addition of flights to the five points increases our frequency to the
Republic [of Iran] to 23 flights weekly, allowing more people to travel
conveniently between the UAE and Iran.”
Got to say one thing
for FlyDubai - they really do have some interesting destinations - great
experience for the cockpit crews - and of course a critical feeder of
passengers into the Emirates hub.
20 February 2015
My blog is feeling
ignored.
I have been in Thailand
- in the northwest - Mae Sariang, Mae Hong Son and Pai.
A part of the country
where Bangkok feels like a very long way away.
Mae Hong Son is the
provincial capital and it has just over 7,000 people. The Myanmar border
is about 40kms away. The hill-tribes are still well represented.
The Japanese occupied
this part of Thailand in WW2. Now there is a growing Chinese influence.
There have been Chinese residents for decades - primarily Yunnanese.
The new visitors are
Chinese tourists - OK it was Chinese new year - but they were all over Pai.
And some of them drive there. Left hand drive, Chinese built cars are
appearing on the road from Chiang Mai to Pai.
Tai and I took her
family to Pai in 2007. It has changed. Busier. More developed. Traffic
lights. 7-11s.
But noticeably fewer
Thai visitors.
And that is a shame -
as it feels less like Thailand - and more like a holiday home for
back-packers. Like Khao San Road - without the air conditioned bars.
And sadly Thai tourists
do not visit Pai now - eight years ago it was the place to be seen. But it
has changed. Maybe there is also less domestic tourism due to the
increased activity of the low cost airlines.
But Pai is not the
calm, laid-back retreat of old.
But the Chinese will be
coming to visit for years to come and that means good business for some.
And it was cold -
nighttime it fell to around 12 or 13C.
******************************
Just a note that after 12 years the US sitcom Two and a Half men has
ended. No loss. Occasionally mildly amusing.
12 February 2015
Bangkok’s Moral
Promotion Center also revealed its “Just a Meal for Valentine” campaign
that encourages teens to stick to dinner dates on Valentine’s Day and
avoid putting themselves in situations that would tempt them to engage in
premarital sex.
In addition to the ministry’s orders, nightclubs and entertainment venues
are encouraged to report any inappropriate behavior.
10 February 2015
Interesting exercise
buying tickets for Bangkok to Chiang Mai last night on Thailand's three
low cost airlines.
Mr. Dennis and I are
planning to fly to CNX on Monday 16th in the morning and return on Friday
around lunchtime.
All the airlines have
flights at similar times - but each is a very different booking
experience.
NokAir quotes prices
before airport taxes. It also automatically adds in travel insurance and
an extra 5kg of baggage (to give a total of 20kg). You can remove these
two items. But you should not have to remove something that you do not
want.
Air Asia quotes prices
inclusive of airport taxes. But without baggage. The airline then adds a
fee for 20kg of baggage and for travel insurance. Both can be removed.
Air Asia also charges a
fee for choosing your seat. Nok Air only charges if you want a premium
seat.
Worst of all Air Asia
is the only airline that adds a fee for using either a debit card or a
credit card.
The Thai Lion AIr site
was the easiest to use. The fare includes 15kg of baggage and all airport
taxes. There are no extras. Simple.
What were the
comparable fares - quoted for two passengers with baggage on similar timed
flights:
To CNX:
Nok Air
Bt. 3,598
Air Asia
Bt. 3,246
Thai Lion Air Bt. 2,750
To DMK:
Nok Air
Bt. 3,948
Air Asia
Bt. 3,246
Thai Lion Air Bt. 3,580
***************************
In its first full year of passenger
operations DWC welcomed 845,046 passengers in 2014.
Trouble is at least 50% of those passengers were during the three months
of the runway closures at DXB.
The
small terminal at DWC is still woefully underused.
****************************
A quick note on the latest and biggest step backwards in benefits for EK
crew - being able to properly plan trips from and to Dubai is very
important for crew and families who are almost all expat families who want
to be home to see family and friends.
The
latest changes are very bad news for anyone wanting to get home or to make
short trips out of Dubai.
Crew used expected load numbers to plan their trip and to better ensure
that they would be able to get back to Dubai to be legally able to fly
their duty rosters.
Good information allowed stff to plan their travel - it was one positive
motivation when there were so many other issues that are demotivating -
increased working hours, poor rostering, and reporting to be certified as
sick.
The
issue has been written about at length by EK insiders on PPRUNE.
2 February 2015
The genius of Northern
Exposure: Series 3 Episode 18 - Democracy in America:
"My friends, today when
I look out over Cicely, I see not a town, but a nation's history written
in miniature. Inscribed in the cracked pavement, reverberating from every
passing flatbed.
Today, every runny nose I see says "America" to me. We were outcasts,
scum, the wretched debris of a hostile, aging world. But we came here, we
paved roads, we built industries, powerful institutions... Of course,
along the way, we exterminated untold indigenous cultures and enslaved
generations of Africans.
We basically stained our star-spangled banner with a host of sins that can
never be washed clean. But today, we're here to celebrate the glorious
aspects of our past. A tribute to a nation of free people, the country
that Whitman exalted."
The genius of the United States is not best or most in its executives and
legislators, nor in its ambassadors or authors or colleges or churches or
parlors, nor even in its newspapers or inventors, but always most in the
common people." I've never been so proud to be a Cicelian. I must go out
now and fill my lungs with the deep clean air of democracy."
************************
Here we go again - another Thai airline start up story - Skylar Airways is
a privately-backed Thai carrier aiming to start operations during the
second quarter of this year. Using a pair of A320-200s.
Skylar plans to operate
international charter flights from China and India to Thailand before
expanding into the scheduled services sector later next year.
Once operational, Skylar chief executive Darika Sarunyagate said other
jets will be added with the EMB-190 and the A319-100 currently under
consideration.
****************************
Rory McIlroy won the Omega Dubai Desert Classic at a canter.
He could be about to
embark on a great 2015.
*****************************
The Emirates golf course was beautifully presented this week but the
course is really becoming a bit too short for the very best in the game.
For Rory it was almost a par 66 with the par four 2nd and 17th reachable
from the tee and all of the par fives in range in two shots.
******************************
Drive of the day came from Thongchai Jaidee at the 13th - a massive drive
on the par 5, a friendly kick along the fairway and just 155 yards to the
flag.
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28 January 2015
New A380 routes from
Emirates - replacing 77s that currently fly those routes.
As of 1st July, EK055 will be operated by an A380, leaving Dubai at
0830hrs and landing in Dusseldorf at 1325hrs the same day, while EK056
will depart Dusseldorf at 1525hrs and arrive at Dubai International
Airport at 2355hrs the same day.
As of 1st August, EK142 will be operated by an A380, leaving Madrid at
1530hrs and landing in Dubai at 0045hrs the following day. The return
flight EK141 departs Dubai at 0740hrs and arrives in Madrid at 1340hrs the
same day.
**********************
"“I don’t have much in common with you any more, if I ever did. Truth
be told, I don’t really like you, and what’s more, I don’t need you. In
fact, I find you really annoying.”
Simon Tisdall in the Guardian on the west's growing distance from Saudi
Arabia.
The catch here is that
by disengaging with the KSA the west loses much of its front line defence
against extremists and terrorism. By disengaging with Saudi the risk is
that the kingdom fails to modernise. The USA may no longer need Saudi oil
but it does need the support of Saudi moderates and ideally reformers.
27 January 2015
There are some strong
comments on the Yingluck impeachment in the online magazine - The
Conversation. A few highlights:
"This was one more act
in a political tragedy in which elected politicians have been repeatedly
defeated by the military and judiciary."
"The impeachment was a
show trial. An unelected assembly, packed with generals and Yingluck’s
political opponents, threw out an elected politician who had already been
sacked by the Constitutional Court before the May 2014 coup. That putsch –
itself illegal – ejected the elected government, scrapped the 2007
constitution and set its own rules to retroactively impeach Yingluck from
a position she no longer held."
"The rice subsidy
scheme was part of her Pheu Thai Party’s election platform when it won a
landslide election victory in 2011. Thai governments have long intervened
in the rice trade. The scheme Pheu Thai promoted was a variant of a policy
begun more than 30 years ago."
"The junta hopes that
the final act in this political drama will be an election where the result
will at least be a royalist and pro-military government and more likely a
military-dominated one."
"Whatever the outcome, it won’t be a democratic regime."
25 January 2015
Another failing Thai
airline - I have written about his problem before - The Thai regulator
simply allows too many under-funded and poorly managed airlines to
start-up.
Business Air is the latest to be grounded.
24 January 2015
I missed this news
earlier in the week but Ken Furphy died last Saturday aged 83. He became
the first manager to guide the Hornets into the second tier of English
football in the 1968/69 season and also led them to the FA Cup semi-finals
the following campaign.
He managed the first
Watford teams that I ever saw back in 1968.
Furphy managed Watford
for six years - once having his team talk before an FA Cup tie with
Manchester United, broadcast on BBC sport programme Grandstand.
He also coached for six
years in the USA - including managing Pele at New York Cosmos in the
glamour years!
From the USA he then
managed the Bermuda national team. He returned to England and 15 years ago
became technical director of Exeter City.
A real football man.
****************************
Winston Churchill died 50 years ago on 24 January 1965. One of my first
solid memories is of sitting watching his state funeral and of the body
being taken by steam train to be buried in his family home.
For my parents and for
their generation the second world war was still a fresh memory and
Churchill's defiance of Hitler was for many the rallying call that kept
England strong.
23 January 2015
Saudi Arabia's King
Abdullah died overnight - the pro Saudi US and European newspapers are
calling him a reformer who nudged Saudi Arabia forward.
But as one commentator
not unreasonably noted: ISIS beheadings: horrid atrocities. King Abdullah
beheadings: A reformer who nudged Saudi Arabia forward.
Western leaders are
very tolerant when black gold and terrorist funding are shared agendas.
***************************
Princess Sirindorn arrived in Chiang Mai in the morning reducing the
city's traffic to gridlock. One hour from the hotel to the airport - a
journey that would normally tae 15 minutes.
***************************
Have been in Chiang Mai for a couple of days - it is cool here in the
mornings - just 15C this morning.
The Chiang Mai
pollution is unpleasant. Even at this time of year the air is think with
fuel emissions. Unpleasant.
But it can be a very
agreeable city to visit. Good food. Nice weather. Plenty to see.
15 January 2015
Thailand's dear leader
yesterday at the start of the tourism authority's nauseous Thainess
campaign - "Thailand is now full of smiles. Anyone who causes unrest in
the country is not considered as Thai. I would like Thai people to learn
the national history to develop love and care for the nation and refrain
from ruining it. Everyone is the owner of the land and must not let
anybody harm it," Gen Prayut said."
Like regular coups do
not cause unrest?
14 January 2015
The Sydney Morning
Herald reports that a "Thailand shuts down Australian gold mine over
health fears" -
"Thai authorities have ordered the suspension for 30 days of an Australian
gold mine in northern Thailand amid concerns over the health of thousands
of villagers living nearby.
Random urine and blood
tests showed above-standard arsenic and manganese levels in villagers near
Kingsgate Consolidated's Chatree gold mine 280 kilometres north of
Bangkok, according to Porntip Rojanasunan, director-general of the Justice
Ministry's Central Institute of Forensic Science."
Porntip has been hugely
discredited by her support of the laughable GT200 bomb detection advices.
As always in Thailand
there is a sub-text to this story that is not and will not be reported.
Meanwhile 1,100 jobs are at stake.
9 January 2015
"As demonstrated by the
Paris attack, the fear now is not whether al-Qaeda and the Islamic State
can establish sleeper cells in Western cities, but how many and in which
cities, and whether the West becomes a new battleground for the growing
jihadist feud."
From the website
Al-Monitor. Hard to argues with this and an alarming thought.
And in reality - if
someone has a gun and wants to creat mayhem he or she can do so in any
major city in the world. It is impossible to stop this while still
maintaining a reasonable degree of freedom.
**********************************
"Anyone who looks on the world as though it is a game of chess deserves to
lose" - Person of Interest
3 January 2015
Here are the known new
flights/changes for EK for 2015 as they are right now:
1st January:
DAR from 12 weekly to double daily
1st February:
KUL (EK346/347) from daily B77W to daily A380
BRU from daily B77L to daily B77W
SEZ (EK707/708) from daily A345 to daily B77L
8th March:
NEW 3rd daily JFK with A380
1st May:
PER (EK420/421) from daily B77W to daily A380
2nd May:
NEW 2nd daily BCN with B77L
1st July:
DME (EK 131/132) from daily B773 to daily B77W
1st August:
NEW 3rd daily BHX with B77W
2 January 2015
Emirates issues:
A year end report
noted that there were 349 Ab Initio courses in 2014 to train 4,052 new
cabin crew".
As someone sensibly
noted on PPRUNE: "Hardly something to brag about. Perhaps if some effort
went into retaining people, rather than pissing them off - the training
load / cost might be well and truly reduced. Hell, we might even have some
experience (instead of a kindergarten) in the cabins..."
Just as a sidenote the
rather angry webpage "https://donotflyemirates.wordpress.com"
has been blocked in the UAe....not with the usual you are looking at
inappropriate content banner but simply - This page can’t be displayed...
***************************
Jose Mourinho has become a sorry bore...a parody of himself. Just for once
he might find it revealing to give some credit where it is due.
And Chelsea were Kaned
last night - beaten by a much better team on the night.
*****************************
Well one of my new year resolutions was not to get angry - it lasted two
days until a Dubai taxi stopped too block access to or apartment building.
Grrr.
Tai is in HKG for 24
hours. Lucky girl.
*****************************
I feel the need for a new year rant.
I was all set up to
take pictures of the Burj Khalifa fireworks. Tripod set up at the right
height with two of the legs supported from the balcony railing. Camera.
Remote release. ISO 100; f8.0; 8 second exposures.
We had a few friends
over and we are gatherd on the balcony. A couple who I do not know (but
who knew one of our friends) came to join. They had already had a few
drinks. A bit giggly. A bit silly.
They get into the
corner of the balcony. They lean against the balcony railing to start
taking pictures; selfies and to bounce eachother around. Right next to my
tripod. They held up a card that got into a few of my pictures. They
bumped into the railing. With eight second exposures all that did was
leave too many of my pictures unfocused. There was one excellent picture;
a few decent ones; and too many spoiled pictures.
Disappointing.
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