PictureRoom

mostly_harmless

I went down to the dock this evening to catch the sunset and make a few photographs. As I walked up, I noticed a girl standing there, looking down into the water like something had her attention.

Turns out there was a dolphin swimming back and forth in the shallow water. I’ve never seen one that close before. It was beautiful - and surprisingly large. It passed through the same spot four times.

The girl was really nice (and kind of cute). We talked while watching the sunset, which made the whole moment even better. I walked her back to her car afterward, and we went our separate ways.

A very enjoyable evening.

https://v.nostr.build/knZXf9NuAZFrqmpo.mp4

Dolphin this evening

Animal_World

I went down to the dock this evening to catch the sunset and make a few photographs. As I walked up, I noticed a girl standing there, looking down into the water like something had her attention.

Turns out there was a dolphin swimming back and forth in the shallow water. I’ve never seen one that close before. It was beautiful - and surprisingly large. It passed through the same spot four times.

The girl was really nice (and kind of cute). We talked while watching the sunset, which made the whole moment even better. I walked her back to her car afterward, and we went our separate ways.

A very enjoyable evening.

![](https://m.stacker.news/126357)

Photography

Photos at the reserve on mushrooms (again)

I took another trip to the wildlife reserve near where I live. It’s my go-to place to disconnect - phone stays in the car, camera comes with me. I did have a small mushroom edible, which made the whole walk feel a bit more expansive. Honestly, I could do this every day.

When I spotted the baby stroller, I had a brief moment of panic, thinking a baby had been left behind. Turns out the family had just wandered off into the marsh in the distance. It actually looked really beautiful. I’ll have to explore that area next time. Hard to believe I haven’t yet, considering I’ve been coming here for almost 20 years.

Shot on my Leica M262. Edited in Lightroom.

![](https://m.stacker.news/125859)

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Beautiful day at the river with a sunset finish

I spent the other evening by the river, wandering around for a couple of hours while waiting for the sunset. I try to go a few times a week and always bring my camera - just in case something worth seeing shows up.

That day delivered a beautiful sunset and some really nice weather. Grateful for these warmer winter days here in the South.

Shot with my Leica M262, as always. I love this camera - simple, reliable, no frills. No video, just photography. I’d highly recommend finding a camera that works the same way. Distraction is the enemy.


![](https://m.stacker.news/125672)

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Music

Just finished recording this tonight. Been feeling a certain way lately, maybe it came out here.

Short and sweet. Use headphones. Enjoy.

Find me on Wavlake - https://wavlake.com/album/801c36d5-5115-4167-ba28-230dc0ff396b

![](https://m.stacker.news/125631)

"Pitter Patter"

Just finished recording this tonight. Been feeling a certain way lately, maybe it came out here. 

Short and sweet. Use headphones. Enjoy.


![](https://m.stacker.news/125630)

Using a dumb app to get cool effects - my Photo Journal

plebpoet

Circling back after downloading the app...

It's sick actually. I love the simplicity of it. Very tasteful effect I will admit

Interesting, I'll have to check it out. Thanks for sharing. These feel good though. 

There's another mobile app called DazzCam worth checking out. Have you tried that?

Also, you would be into my photography publication: https://noicemagazine.com/

I'm in the process of revamping the website actually. Perhaps some more knowledgeable developers might be interested in helping me. Trying to get it to a good point myself though. It's difficult, lol.

Moving picture from this evening.

Every day is a good day.

I go through a list in my mind of things that I am thankful for every day. 

What are you thankful for? (3 things)

![](https://m.stacker.news/125510)

Beautiful evening

Something quick + lesson in compression

Thanks T, f/5.6 for this one. I always consider that before anything really

Me playing "The Clap" by Steve Howe of Yes.

Something quick - shot while traveling to see family. I stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom and had a brief moment to walk around. This scene caught my eye.

The absurd gutter on the left, the lead-in of black streaks, the bollards, the red square, and the red ATM tucked in between.

It feels like a good reminder to use the entire frame and strip away the superfluous. Make sure everything earns its place.

Leica m262 / Edited in Lightroom. 

![](https://m.stacker.news/125167)

Vibe Engine (Ai image prompt tool)

I find using LMarena helpful, also Google Gemini is good too:
https://lmarena.ai/

PPQ.ai is also good
https://ppq.ai/

Holidays photo dump

Spent the past few days during the holidays at the reserve and such. Took my mother to visit it as she doesn't get to see the parts that I like to voyage off into. Also spent a bit of time visiting my sister and new son which was nice.

Photographs taken with my trusty Leica M262. Edited in Lightroom

![](https://m.stacker.news/123918)

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![Uploading L1001909.jpg…]()

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I wanted to have an image prompting tool that had options that I would want to use for my own work, so I ended up making this Vibe Engine tool.

I think it works great for what I am needing personally. Many back and forth iterations, but let me know if you find this useful. I come to this from a photographer / designer, so keep that in mind...

https://v0-vibe-engine.vercel.app/
![](https://m.stacker.news/123813)


ideasfromtheedge

On Christmas I received a copy of The Forgotten Way by Matthew Kelly. I started reading and felt something subtle but powerful: not “new information,” but a return to fundamentals. I started to question what kind of growth is actually real? What endures? What becomes larger without becoming corrupt?

That question pulled my attention into three seemingly unrelated directions: James the Greater, sequoia trees, and Bitcoin. 

One sits in the realm of religious tradition, one in biology, and one in technology. And yet they began to converge around the same underlying pattern: durable transformation often starts small, grows slowly, and compounds through networks, especially when the system is open enough to adapt and robust enough to endure.

Enter James the Greater. 

The details of early Christian missions can be debated historically, but the philosophical image is clear: a person carries a message outward with no guarantee of measurable success. Even the idea of “only a few converts” functions as an antidote to modern thinking. We live inside dashboards - metrics, virality, instant scale - so we forget that some of the most consequential changes spread through human-scale transmission: one relationship at a time. In network terms, the message travels through edges, not broadcasts.

Sequoias make the same point without language. 

A sequoia becomes immense through gradual accumulation across time: ring upon ring, season upon season. Its strength is not spectacle but consistency. It is also a symbol of robustness - the capacity to withstand stress without falling apart - and generativity - the ability to contribute to renewal beyond itself. It doesn’t merely survive; it participates in a system that keeps producing life.

Then there is Bitcoin. 

The point is not price or ideology. The point is structural: Bitcoin is an open-source protocol and a decentralized network that continues because many independent participants choose to coordinate around shared rules. That architecture creates a distinctive form of robustness - no single owner, no single point of failure, no single permission gate. Participation is voluntary; verification is public.

This also highlights an “evidence-based” principle that appears across many systems: feedback loops create non-linear growth. Networks often don’t grow like straight lines. More participation can create more utility and more infrastructure, which lowers friction and attracts more participation. 

In some settings, these dynamics produce highly skewed outcomes that resemble power laws, not because of magic, but because compounding dominates.

Placed together, these three images rhyme. James suggests that meaning often spreads relationally, not instantly. Sequoias show that time and consistency can create a form of greatness that cannot be faked. Bitcoin illustrates how openness and distributed participation can produce robustness at scale.

So when I use the word “goodness,” I’m not claiming that everything that grows is good. I mean something narrower and more practical: goodness as a system property - robustness and generativity, grounded in openness. Openness matters because it permits correction, adaptation, and learning. Closed systems can be efficient, but they often become brittle because they lose the ability to evolve.

That is the thread I keep returning to; unexpectedly prompted by a Christmas gift and a few pages of reading: the deepest changes often have a recognizable shape. They begin quietly, grow patiently, compound through networks, and remain alive by staying open enough to adapt.


![](https://m.stacker.news/123667)
