kbobam

And I hope there aren't any fights about who gets to 'pick up the check' like there were last year. To be truthful, I'd enjoy my present even more coming from four or five of my close friends here splitting the cost!

As always, the site is a 'must-see' with spectacular work. ( : Glad you mentioned the camera (sensor) size vs. depth-of-field relationship. Don't think many people are aware of that, and those that are still underestimate it. Using a smaller camera will not only be easier, but in many cases will result in a better photo. Depth of field (which in this case just means getting the entire marble in focus) is a real bee(marble name!)otch when you start getting into really 'close-up' situations. In my oh so humble opinion, the absolute best thing that most people shooting close-ups of marbles or anything else can do is to 'back up a little!' This applies both to telephones and five thousand dollar cameras. You'll have to crop the photo a little more, but it'll look a lot better than an uncropped photo with parts or all of the marble blurry. (And backing up and cropping is essentially using a 'smaller' camera.) (When I got my macro lens, I also spent a lot of money on the factory extension tube so I'd be able to get 'even closer'. Getting even closer to a marble means that you can take a picture which will be one big blur, but there'll be a 1/64 inch round spot that's really sharp! So I've never used it, and pretty much feel like an idiot.)

It's getting to be that time of year when many of you are probably asking yourselves "What would make a really good present for Bob?" http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/746006-REG/Hasselblad_70480512_H4D_40_Ferrari_Limited_Edition.html

Even as a relatively inexperienced and pretty casual collector, I'll say this. A 5/8 is a 5/8. To say <3/4 is no more accurate than saying <2 1/4. To me, < or - 3/4 suggests that a micrometer has been used, and that the marble is at least 1/64 but no more than 1/32 shy of that figure. As such, your 41/64 could have properly been called a +5/8.

I was just in the middle of responding here when that last message appeared. Give me one minute.

It's a little cold tonight, sleeping out by the mailbox. But it'll be worth it!

From 'Modern Family'. A vase filled with marbles gets knocked over at a very inopportune time. ( :

I would never question Steph on any particular point. I did one time, and all I can say now is "ribbit!" But wanted to mention that in some different situations, a tube page that isn't working correctly, or at all, can sometimes be temporarily fixed by adding the 's' to 'http'. Worth a shot if you haven't tried it. ( : http://allaboutfrogs.org/weird/general/songs.html

Hey Winnie, Hope you're not up because of the same insomnia bug I have. Can't contribute to the primary discussion, but wanted to say that you have one heck of a great marble caddy there. ( :

I know I have at least a couple contributions for this one. Just can't think of them right now. I like the 'narrow ledge vase'. Don't think I've ever seen one of those. It's fitting that this topic would attract serious fishermen, since the only possible alternative title is 'The One That Got Away'!

Just had a vision of the B-52's singing 'Mib Sack'. It's late. I should get to bed. ( :

Ha! This is all great stuff! It looks like I missed this one, so thanks for bringing it up. That was definitely a great commercial. ♪Candy-coated popcorn, peanuts and a prize!♪ is what I remember most.

Geesh! I was just in the middle of responding to the previous message! So my next response will be to that, and I'll check out the mib sack later!

I'm assuming this is sort of a dim sum thing, but don't really know. Was taken to a dim sum place when I was a kid, and really hated it. Think I went so far as to proclaim that this couldn't possibly be Chinese food. That was at least forty years ago, so maybe I should give it another shot.

Thanks for the close-ups! Was already pretty sure I liked the marble, but now I have closure! What I really like here is that depending on what 'face' you want to show, the marble is completely different. I think somewhat larger marbles like this are better suited for the sort of 'Three Faces of Eve' effect. The extra real estate helps. ( :

Thanks for keeping this one going. So many nice marbles here and in prior posts. So I'll limit myself to asking about the larger marbles on the top and bottom of the right-hand column of photo 1. What would you call those, and what's the size? My limited experience has me thinking that it's harder to find larger marbles with nice patterns than small ones So I really like these. ( :

Dear Steph. I saw your ad in PLAYTHINGS. Now that I've "start your letter right"ed, I need to humbly apologize. Something wasn't feeling right about what I said earlier. I think I was taking numbers I knew and extrapolating others using D.C., not N.Y., street rules. 350 Fifth Avenue is the fricking Empire State Building! So that's at 34th. Street. A major 'crosstown' street. 200 Fifth Avenue is at 23rd. Street. (The next major crosstown street south of 34th.) 45 East 17th. Street isn't as close to 5th. Ave. as I thought. Was fooled by the low number. Fifth Ave. is the dividing line between East and West. So 1 East 17th. is just east of 5th. 1 West 17th. is just west of it. Numbers increase as you go in either direction. Causes lots of problems. The scans are really great looking! I've never had much luck with those things. ( :

The address for Berry Pink shown elsewhere was 350 5th. Ave. No idea if that's the "Fifth Avenue Building" mentioned above. The Rosenthal Company is shown as 45 East 17th. St. Anyway, for what it's worth, I just wanted to point out that in New York those two addresses would be very close to each other. Maybe three blocks apart at best. ( :

Thanks! That was worth waiting for. I'll pick the whale tail as my number one, Although most of the rest of them are in a second-place that's really close! ( :

Holy cow. I know I'm going to enjoy this, but have to wait until tomorrow. Very tired. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eT6Hi3M13rU

I have no idea. And I can't check back to that program, since Windows Media Center in '7' has no form of 'recycle bin' and I've already deleted it. This is probably because the television files are somewhat sizable, and for most people it's smart to delete them as soon as you're done watching them. But there should still be a recycle bin option which allows you to choose how much disk space you want to dedicate. I didn't mean to get on my soap box. Never mind! ( :

I still haven't tried it. And I'm feeling a little bad about even mentioning something I haven't tried myself. But it seemed like a limited-time-offer sort of thing from respected people. And in case it was a serious 'bargain of the century', I wanted to mention it before it went away. ( :

That title doesn't look quite right now. Please don't sue me if a ham sandwich doesn't show up. I'm just saying that this appears to be a no-hassle deal for any of you photo-people who like checking things out. I haven't tried it yet, but I did download it (280MB!) and the ZoneAlarm seems to think it's okay, so I'll probably install it and give it a try. Nothing required but an e-mail address so they can send you an activation code. Sounds like it's a full non-restricted program, but is last year's model and they're hoping you'll want to continue. (I wish Photostuff would do this!) http://www.stevehuffphoto.com/2013/09/19/free-sony-and-dxo-offering-film-pack-3-essential-for-free/ If you don't like using other people's links, you can just go to stevehuffphoto.com manually. I have no connection with it, but enjoy the site and maybe you'll like it too. http://petapixel.com/ is another good one imho, and even 'broader' photography-wise.

Here are a couple pictures of a Firebird II. (That was supposed to be a Roman numeral two, but the default font here doesn't do that very well.) As you can see from the captioning, this particular tv show thinks of it as 'aircraft-like'. Which is pretty ridiculous, when it's obviously more of a 'shark'. Especially when you look at the third picture, which is a Firebird I. This is clearly aircraft-inspired. Any other features don't really matter. It's all in the fin/rudders! ( :

A happy coincidence! Here are a few more. I thought it was interesting that there was only one phone available, pretty much for the sole purpose of saying to friends and family what the guy below is saying. Would love to know how many calls were made. I'll bet they had someone on staff just to collect all the change regularly. ( :