Category Archives: Best Of

30 Years Later, My Epileptic Seizures Return with a Vengeance

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Les Jones

The last time I had a grand mal seizure I was 12 years old. Wednesday night I had a pair of them that hospitalized me for three days. Wednesday night after work I took the girls to soccer practice. At … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Home Life | 10 Comments

Picture: Closeup of Bumblee on Purple Coneflower

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Les Jones

Photography Notes The first four variations are done with Adobe Lightroom presets. The last two are manual color desaturations. Click to enlarge, or mouseover for notes. Pics taken at F16 to get enough depth of field. There was enough light … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Photos | Tagged | Comments Off

Is polarized light why birds run into windows?

Posted on June 4, 2011 by Les Jones

Birds sometimes run into windows, especially big plate glass windows. Is polarized light or the blocking of same part of the reason? I went into a store and forgot to switch to my regular glasses my prescription sunglasses, which are … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Science | 2 Comments

Happy 5th Birthday, Natalie

Posted on June 3, 2011 by Les Jones

Some things about you at age five: You just graduated preschool. You just started a summer kindergarten program at the elementary school. After school you and your sister go to swim practice. You love animals. You remember what cats and … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Home Life, Photos | 2 Comments

LuckyGunner Shoot Semi-Autos: Coonan, S&W M&P, Kel-Tec PMR, RFB and KSG

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Les Jones

The Luckygunner shoot was mostly about fully automatic weapons, but there were plenty of interesting semi-autos to shoot. Yesterday: 7 Full Auto Videos from the LuckyGunner Machinegun Shoot 2011 Today: Video and Notes for non-Full Auto Guns Thursday: People Pictures … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Guns | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

7 Full Auto Videos from the LuckyGunner Machinegun Shoot 2011

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Les Jones

Dear Guns and Ammo, I had read stories like this in your magazine, but I never thought it would happen to me. I spent the weekend shooting machine guns at the Luckygunner Blogger Machine Gun Shoot/Bulletfest 2011 near Maryville, Tennessee. … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, East Tennessee, Guns | Tagged , | 7 Comments

Back from the Beach / DSLR Video and Audio

Posted on May 27, 2011 by Les Jones

The Jones family was at Panama City Beach this past week for vacation. This post might have been a hint. We’re back now. We brought back a pound of sand and that was just in one pair of shorts. For … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Misc, Photos | 1 Comment

Jack McElroy Defends the Editorial Hive Mind Collective

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Les Jones

Newspapers love to note when bloggers are anonymous. In return, bloggers love to note that newspaper editorials (as opposed to op-eds) are likewise anonymous. Yesterday the Knoxville News-Sentinel editor addressed that topic on his blog. Jack McElroy – Editorials aren’t … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Media Behaving Badly | 1 Comment

Char-Broil Oil-less Turkey Cooker is Great, May or May Not Replace a Deep Fryer

Posted on November 26, 2010 by Les Jones

I’ve been cooking turkey in a deep fryer for three years. I love the taste, but I don’t like spending 30 dollars for the peanut oil to cook a turkey. Too, I have a six and four year old, so … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Food & Drink, Holidays | 7 Comments

Playing Around with Gelling a Flash / Concert Photography

Posted on November 22, 2010 by Les Jones

A while back I bought a Lumiquest gel holder and sample gels. Gels are colored plastic that change the color of your flash. Ever been to a rock concert with colored lights? They used gels to add color to white … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Photos | Tagged | 1 Comment

Knoxville’s 1797 Ramsey House

Posted on November 15, 2010 by Les Jones

We were bored Saturday, so the wee wifey and I took the kids to a couple of historical sites around Knoxville. One that neither of us had ever visited was Ramsey House Plantation, off of Strawberry Plains Pike. The house … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, East Tennessee, Photos | Tagged | 2 Comments

Mystery Goat

Posted on September 7, 2010 by Les Jones

Posted in Best Of, Photos | 3 Comments

Happy 4th Birthday, Natalie

Posted on June 3, 2010 by Les Jones

Natalie, here are a few things about you at this age for you to remember. Some of the Cutest Things You Say “Come sit next by me.” “Mommy, I tired. Let’s go back to the hope and tell.” “I never … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Holidays, Home Life | 3 Comments

Word of the Day: EVIL Cameras and Four Thirds Cameras

Posted on May 12, 2010 by Les Jones

EVIL – Electronic Viewfinder Interchangeable Lens. Also known as a hybrid camera. The EVIL system is a digital camera that’s at a point somewhere between compact point and shoot cameras and full-featured DSLRs. The new Sony NEX-3 has me thinking … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Photos, Word of the Day | Tagged | 2 Comments

First Infrared Pictures with the Hoya R-72 IR Filter

Posted on March 12, 2010 by Les Jones

I dig the outrageous contrast between the black and white ends of the histogram. The IR filter turned this serene city park into something incredibly dramatic. For comparison, here’s a plain Jane non-IR photograph of Natalie, same place same time. … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Photos | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

Internet Movie Firearms Database – The Greatest Web Site on the Entire Internet

Posted on January 6, 2010 by Les Jones

HFS!!!11!!ONE!!! Internet Movie Firearms Database is what Wikipedia would look like if an army of Mad Ogres staged a raid on Wikipedia headquarters in Hong Kong dual-wielding slow-mo style and took over the joint. This is the greatest bet-settler since … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Guns | 6 Comments

Screw You, Too, 2009

Posted on January 1, 2010 by Les Jones

When a year starts with the discovery your mom has Alzheimer’s it is not going to go well. When your wife’s company goes out of business a few weeks later it’s really not going to go well. So I for … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Holidays, Home Life | 2 Comments

Conversation About New Year’s

Posted on December 31, 2009 by Les Jones

MELISSA: Natalie, do you know what tomorrow is? THREE YEAR OLD NATALIE: Um, Friday. MELISSA: Yes, but what else? Today’s the last day of the year. So what’s tomorrow? THREE YEAR OLD NATALIE: New Year. MELISSA: That’s right. What year … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Holidays, Home Life | Tagged | 1 Comment

Pocket Holsters and Gun Pants

Posted on December 31, 2009 by Les Jones

SayUncle isn’t crazy about pocket holsters. It’s true that drawing from a pocket isn’t as fast as from a belt, and it’s hard to draw from a seated position, like a car. I mostly pocket carry because it fits the … Continue reading →

Posted in Best Of, Guns | Tagged , , | 3 Comments

Merry Christmas from Katie and Natalie and Melissa and Me

Posted on December 23, 2009 by Les Jones

Posted in Best Of, Holidays, Home Life | Comments Off