john_harper9

Miner's cemetery. Zortman MT

+1 on transparency of how the site is structured, operated, and funded. During the massive upgrade a few years ago that lost my portfolios and subjected us to months of dismal performance, I declined to renew my paid membership. Having an understanding of the site's infrastructure and challenges to keep it operational would encourage me to support w/paid membership - to keep Photo.net available and vibrant.

My perspective on building Windows systems from components ... don't. Been there, done that. I used to build business systems (servers, workstations), but a couple of decades ago, Dell, HP, et al, became competitive with price. The aggravation of replacing a failed component wasn't worth it when I could outsource that problem to the manufacturer. Careful shopping can get you a high-end workstation for a good price and if there are any issues, the manufacturer will fix it under warranty. My current workstation is a small form factor workstation ordered with a fast CPU, ports I needed on the motherboard, and minimal storage. I replaced the small NvME boot drive with 2T NvME drives and added memory. Haven't seen a need to upgrade the graphics yet. Works well for Adobe software. (BTW, I experienced a component failure which was replaced on-site the next day by the manufacturer).

Coming not so soon to an L2 point near you ...

An article in a recent Jackson Hole News and Guide caught my attention. The article stated that the National Park Service will no longer charge fees for 'low impact" commercial filming. Filmmaker Gordon Price sued the NPS in Federal Court claiming that NPS regulations on commercial film making violated his First Amendment rights. The court agreed. In Price v. Barr, U.S. District Judge Colleen Killar-Kotelly entered a permanent injunction enjoining the permit and fee requirements of the NPS for commercial filming. That's good news for filmakers and bloggers. The bad news ... Still photography was excluded from the Court's decision. The decision applies to the NPS and does not apply to other Federal lands. NPS Statement Filming & Still Photography Permits (U.S. National Park Service)