Bonnie Altman (Templeton)

Ira, thanks for posting the description of the influenza epidemic of 1918-1919. 

Sharon Baum (Covitz)

Ira and Phil,

This was amazing.  I appreciate the work and the symetry to our times.

Thank you!

Philip Spiess

Happy 50th Earth Day!  Remember your Mother.

Paul Simons

For future readers of this - as of today, April 22, 2020 - Covid-19 Infected in U.S. - 831,643. Recovered - 75,540. Deaths - 46,013. Worldwide infected - 2,603,147. Recovered - 701,426. Deaths - 180,784. The figures show that with about 5% of the world’s population the U.S. has almost 25% of worldwide deaths.

Judy Holtzer (Knopf)

Thanks, Paul. I for one am interested in the epidemiology and statistics of this awful pandemic.

But the statistics that you gave on the States for corona deaths were terrible!!!

Please promise me, all of you, to be careful..... We may feel wonderful and still energetic, but the facts are that we are an endangered population vis-a-vis this particular virus.

Out of 8 million plus people in Israel, we have not quite reached 200 dead. Yet, in perspective, we had 350 people who died in traffic accidents in the year 2019. Every death is a tragedy; we tend to forget this.

Jerry Ochs

How is it possible that the U.S.A. accounts for 25% of the deaths when it represents only 4.2% of the world population?

Philip Spiess

Stupidity.

David Buchholz

Like choosing a New Year's resolution I decided to try to change something during this pandemic.  Some of you may have done the same, picking up a new Slavic language, memorizing the Torah, perhaps changing your sex.  For me it was learning "focus stacking." I'd always wondered how photographers who capture incredibly detailed images of insects and flowers accomplished this, then learned it was through a technique called "focus stacking."  By shooting as many as one hundred separate images of something, each at a slightly different focus, it was possible to combine the one hundred images into one, aligning each of the images into one coherent whole, then blending the images together to create one single image with sharpness and detail throughout. 

I started by plucking flowers growing around my house, then ventured into public property and parks, looking for flowers that were begging to be cut and photographed.  Almost all of the images are comprised of at least twenty-five separate exposures, some as many as one hundred.  All were taken in my kitchen with natural light.   A neighbor went through these and named some that I didn't know.  If you know of any that aren't identified I would appreciate your letting me know.

I'd also like to echo Judy's good wishes to everyone during this difficult time.  I'm hopeful that Covid-19 manages to miss all of you.  With the many dedicated doctors and nurses working long and thankless hours to beat this thing, I'd like to join the chorus of those thanking them for their hard and difficult work. I'd also like to thank those who are thinking outside the box (sometimes so far away from the box that they can't find it) in suggesting medicines and other treatments that might help keep us well.  Or kill us. 

For those still reading this...here's a link to the other thirty-seven images.

http://www.davidkbuchholz.com/focus-stack

Jerry Ochs

Phil,

And stupidity breeds ultracrepidarianism.

Paul Simons

Absolutely beautiful images Dave. And deeply perceptive and soulfully expressed heartfelt wishes, hopes, and prayers for a return to health to all from Jerry, Phil, Judy, Dave. Together we will simultaneously defeat the COVID-19 virus, and then broker an end to the Civil War. Yes, there was an error in American History class which happens probably too often. It actually didn’t end in 1865. We hope to broker an end to it in the next few years, maybe before the great cities of the Confederacy like Savanna and Richmond and Charleston are underwater.

Philip Spiess

Jerry:  Leave it to William Hazlitt to come up with a word like that!

Remarkable, Dave; you are a true artist.  But the third image down isn't the spinach (or broccoli) version of the coronavirus, is it?

David Buchholz

Bruce Bittmann

  David, how great is that!  Finally, a booklist that makes sense

Larry Klein

Certainly not bragging here, but the length of time it took me to read through the titles on David's bookshelf was longer than I've spent reading ANY book since "The Red Badge of Courage" in college English class.  And Phil's essays on Cincinnati's African-American history??  I packed lunch and dinner to get through each of those.  That said, the content was amazing, well organized, and certainly worth the time invested.  Great job Phil!

Some years ago, just prior to taking on the coaching gig for Walnut's golf program, I spent a year or so attempting to be the school's sports historian.  As part of that endeavor, I perused 115 years of Remembrancers and quite a few Chatterboxes.  Sports reporting at Walnut, sadly, has been somewhat lacking over the years and record-keeping was practically nil.  That project died, but one of the things I learned in the process was some of the history of the original high school building at Burdett and Ashland.  I remember wondering why we never had any "classes" on the history of the school (or if we did, I slept through them).  Apparently it still remains missing from the school's curriculum since none of my golfers had ever heard of that building.  Thanks, Phil, for including that phase in your latest edition here.

Now back to my mundane routine of eyeing the stock markets and latest Covid info on CNBC.  Go Eagles!

Jerry Ochs

Are any of these people graduates of WHHS?

Philip Spiess

Larry, I'm glad my posts have given you food for thought (or, apparently, thought for food!).  To my knowledge, the history of Walnut Hills High School has never been presented to its students (certainly never in a course), nor did it appear in "The Informant," the pamphlet that was issued to us students as "informing" us of all that we needed to know about life at WHHS.  There's more that could be told.

And what's with the history of WHHS sports?  Surely there were plenty of sports reporters working for The Chatterbox when we were there; what were they reporting on?  Couldn't a "sports history" be compiled from such (even if other eras failed to report)?  Couldn't you at least do a "history" of your golf era at WHHS?  Something is better than nothing, and WHHS has a rich history in a variety of areas, even if it must be only compiled from Remembrancers.  Let the current students do it!

Jeff Daum

Hopefully this finds all doing well and keeping a semblence of sanity.  With the stay-at-home in place, it has given me time to knock off some waaaay down on the to-do-list projects.  One was a year old request to do an article on our gorilla and chimpanzee treks.  Finally sent it off and it got published https://www.destinationwildlife.com/blog/mountain-gorilla-and-chimp-trekking-up-close-and-personal.  It got a great reception, so I followed with a couple of short YouTube videos on African Wildlife, including African Wildlife from above https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NF963yf34z0 and African Wildlife part 2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7q-c5ar9rM

Hope you enjoy the diversion.

Jeff

Nancy Messer

Jeff - Your photos along with the explanations are phenomenal.  The pictures made it seem like you could easily just walk up to the animals and snap the photos but your explanations made it obvious that there was much more involved.  Please continue to show us more of these expeditions.

Jeff Daum

Thanks Nancy!  The wonder of a medium length telephoto lens-  they were clearly in their element, and in no way could you approach them, even at Covid 19 spacing .  Really glad you enjoyed it.  When I shoot I try to capture in a way that hopefully makes it easy for a reader or viewer to feel like they are there with me.

David Buchholz

Well done, Dr. Daum.  You've had some extraordinary experiences punctuated with once-in-a-lifetime photographs.

Jeff Daum

Thanks Dave.  Appreciate your comments.  Indeed, we have been very fortunate.

Cheers,

Jeff

Paul Simons

Thanks for those photos Jeff. It amazed me to see so many different species of animals in the “Part 2” YouTube video - the one that stands out in my memory is the two zebras almost posing for the photo - along with the crocodile and the rhinos and others. They couldn’t have all been in close proximity, right? Various different parts of Africa, photos from different trips, that must be it. Many thanks and yes they certainly did take my mind off the occupation by COVID-19 and other various evils that we and much of the world are enduring at this time.

Jeff Daum

Thanks Paul!  So glad you enjoyed it.  Yes the wild life of video 2 are from multiple locations.  However, you can actually see many different species in one location, such as the Serengeti or Ngorongoro Crater, roaming somewhat near each other.  Some, like zebra and buffalo are often comingeled.

Nancy Messer

Philip Spiess

Jeff Daum:

I finally got around to seeing your two short African YouTube videos (lord, I have so much to do in my "stay-home" time -- take out the garbage, look for toilet paper at three or four different grocery stores, wake up from my second nap of the day), and I was really impressed.  The first reminded me of some of the great classic Victorian illustrated books of zoology (this is a compliment -- you must remember that I am a Victorian at heart, having grown up in Clifton) -- how do you find a hot-air balloon in the middle of Africa?  The second impressed me by the closeness to the animals -- telephoto lens, or something else?  Tell all!  (And that crocodile -- how long was it?)

Anyway, great photographic art!  -- Philip