Photo: Wolfy

Photo: Wolfy

A dog we used to have in 2005. Wolf / husky mix.

Fujifilm FinePix A360, 1/60, F3.5, 6mm, ISO100, 2005-06-21T09:51:02-04, 2005-06-21_09h51m02

Location: Thripp Residence, Ormond Beach, FL  32174-7227

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Photo: Ocean in Motion

Photo: Ocean in Motion

The waves at Daytona Beach in January of 2005. There were a lot of birds there; you can see one at the bottom.

Today is my 19th birthday!

Fujifilm FinePix A360, 1/140, F8.7, 18mm, ISO100, 2005-01-16T12:43:36-05, 2005-01-16_12h43m36

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Photo: Leafy Droplets 7

Photo: Leafy Droplets 7

Another leafy droplets photo, this time of a bright yellow leaf. I made the background black. This photo is from 2005.

Fujifilm FinePix A360, 1/12, F2.8, 5.8mm, ISO100, 2005-12-08T16:32:22-05, 2005-12-08_16h32m22

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More of the Leafy Droplets series.

Thripp 2010

Thripp 2010

I’m launching two new websites today: Thripp Photography 2010 and iseeafish.com. Thripp 2010 reuses what used to be the Thripp.com development blog, and iseeafish.com is an online comic about dating and relationships.

From now on I will only post photos from 2009 or earlier on Thripp Photography and all photos from 2010 or later will go on Thripp.com.

For the next 20 weeks I will post one pre-2010 photo per weekday on Thripp Photography, one 2010 photo per weekday on Thripp.com, one musical composition per weekday on ComposersJourney.com, and one comic per day on iseeafish.com. I already have 8 weeks of photos prepared in advanced and 4 weeks of comics. Composing music will be the hardest part. It takes 10 times as long to write a piece of music as it does to prepare a photograph or write a comic. I have nothing planned for the weekends, but I may write something from time to time.

In all I will post 200 photos, 100 compositions, and 100 comics from 2010-08-16 through 2010-12-31. I’m calling this project “Thripp 2010.” I am also planning on releasing four albums on ComposersJourney.com. Today I released my first CD, Inferno.

The photo for Thripp 2010 is “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and the theme is “Inspired Creativity.” The photo “Bridge Over Troubled Water” will be posted to Thripp Photography 2010 on 2010-08-24. My objectives are:

1. Get 50,000 absolute unique visitors in total for the three sites (track with Google Analytics).
2. Earn $2000 in Google AdSense revenues (including other sites such as Th8.us).
3. Increase the Alexa ranking of Thripp.com to 40,000.

Getting 50,000 unique visitors will be about a 10% increase over what I get currently. In the past four and a half months, I’ve made $1570 from Google AdSense, so I will have to increase my income by 22%. My Alexa ranking is about 70,000 now, but for the past month only it is 54,000. I will have to increase traffic from visitors using the Alexa toolbar by 26% compared to the past month, and sustain it for the months of October, November, and December. Since Alexa only counts the past three months, whatever happens in September or the remainder of August doesn’t matter.

For the first time in three years of on-and-off blogging, I am going to play this game dead seriously. If I don’t commit myself fully, I will never be able to make enough money to live comfortable from only my websites. Starting tomorrow, you’re going to see some serious shit.

Constitutional Morons

There are a lot of morons out there who believe the U.S. Constitution gives them privileges and protections that simply don’t belong to them. Here, I will examine the Bill of Rights in brief.

First, the first amendment:

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Little do most morons know that this amendment is barely worth the paper it’s printed on. Even the third amendment is more important than this piece of crap.

Notice that is says Congress SHALL MAKE NO LAW abridging the freedom of speech. It does not say that you have freedom of speech, because more often than not, you don’t.

For example, you have no freedom of speech on the Internet because every website you visit is owned by other people… except your own website. Even then, your hosting provider or ISP has the right to censor you. You have no freedom of speech in businesses or residences because those are not public places. The owner has the right to kick you out.

When you make a comment on my blog, you forfeit all your rights. I have the right to delete your comment or edit it however I want. I also gain key information about you such as your email address, website, location, ISP, and IP address. This is my space and my rights trump yours.

You don’t have the right to hand out fliers or demonstrate at Wal-Mart, even in the parking lot. Unless you live in California, whose state government affords you additional rights.

The government has the right to regulate the “time, place, and manner” of your speech through the use of free speech zones which may be far away from where you would like to demonstrate. This is often done at political rallies and has been authorized by federal courts.

If you are soliciting, all your free speech rights go out the window. Commercial advertisements can be banned even in public places.

Just because you have the right to free speech does not give you the right to slander or libel people. Many types of obscene, offensive, and defamatory are not allowed based on local or state laws.

If you write a letter to the editor of a newspaper, does your “free speech” give you the right to have it published? Of course not. Whenever you are contributing to a venue that is not your own, be it a newspaper, magazine, book, T.V. show, or website, you waive all your rights.

Also note that the first amendment didn’t really kick in until 1925, when the Supreme Court ruled it applies to state houses. Before that, states and local governments were free to abridge whatever they wanted.

Moving on… The second amendment upholds your right to possess firearms even if you are not in a militia, although gun-grabbing nuts will tell you otherwise. The last half says “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.” This was affirmed in the 2008 Supreme Court case “District of Columbia v. Heller.”

The fourth amendment protects you against unreasonable searches and seizures, but only when you are under duress. Policemen are free to knock on your door and “ask” to look around, even when they are armed with pistols and clubs. They call it “knock and talk.”

The fifth amendment protects you against self-incrimination, except when it comes to the IRS. If you steal a car, you’re guilty of grand theft auto AND not telling the IRS. Also, the “nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation” part is called eminent domain, and “just compensation” is usually 50% below market value.

The sixth amendment guarantees your right to an impartial jury, but since juries have no power, what good is it? If they convict you and recommend a sentence of 1 year, the judge is free to sentence you to 10. Juries do have power, but jurors don’t know it, so they’re useless.

In cases involving more than $20, the seventh amendment gives you the right to a jury. Yeah. Good luck with that.

The eighth amendment protects you from cruel and unusual punishment. That’s why we use the electric chair. Nothing cruel or unusual about that.

The ninth amendment protects rights not mentioned in the Constitution. Oh really?

The tenth amendment gives all other powers to the states or the people. Another useless amendment.

Don’t even get me started on the rest of the Constitution…

10 Reasons Why All Bloggers are Gay

1. Bloggers share their FEELINGS with the world. Who does this? Women and men pretending to be women (gays). MEN do not share their feelings because they do not want to appear gay. Women are already gay, so it doesn’t matter for them.

2. Blogs can be commented on because bloggers love feedback and discussion of their sad lives. REAL publishers don’t get a f*ck what anyone thinks of them (besides maybe the New York Times). They don’t need feedback because feedback is for wimps.

3. Bloggers are self-involved and like to talk about themselves. They derive their identities from their blogs, just like gays derive their identities from gay sex.

4. Bloggers install plugins because they enjoy have widgets inserted into their blogs… Just like gays enjoy having carrots inserted into their holes. Bloggers and gays both want to be penetrated.

5. A blog is a public diary. Bloggers, therefore, enjoy sharing intimacy with loads of strangers, without commitment. JUST LIKE FAGS. Normal people are private and open themselves up to only a few other people. Normal people guard themselves against rape. Bloggers and gays invite rape and dream about being raped because they all have rape fantasies and Daddy issues.

6. All blogs look and act the same, just like all fags and all women look and act the same. Normal people (straight men) are interesting, varied, deep, passionate, conscious humans. Gays and bloggers are dull, simplistic, shallow, apathetic drones. You’ll never see a blogger criticize another blogger, just like you’ll never see a gay criticize another gay. They stick up for each other like weak hive-minded ants. Real men are just that: real. Gays and bloggers are fake.

7. While real men value quality over quantity, gays and bloggers are the ultimate measurbators. Whether it’s pageviews, RSS subscribers, in-links, penis size, or Twitter followers, you can bet there is a metric and a community for it. “Sites” (or should I say, piles of crap) like Technorati are a blogger’s ultimate wet dream. Normal people look at Technorati and say “eww, gross,” just like normal people look at gay anal sex and say “eww, gross.” Blogging is so gay.

8. Gays have Gay Days, just like bloggers have Blog Carnivals. Both are sickening displays of peacocking and indiscretion.

9. WordPress.com, LiveJournal, and other blogging service providers give their members (yes, members) SUBdomains under the main DOMain, just like gay relationships involve and DOMinant partner and a SUBserviant slave. Compare this to a normal website, which is owned by one person with a TOP LEVEL DOMAIN. Normal people OWN their websites. They are not sharecroppers.

10. Bloggers and gays have no souls. A blogger or a gay’s entire life is a series of hedonistic debaucheries. They have no connection to God. They are proud “atheists” who believe in the magical tooth fairy known as “evolution.” All bloggers and all gays love feeling superior. They put on a mask of power to LOOK superior when in fact they want to be controlled like children. Bloggers and gays believe they were abused as children. They hate children while secretly coveting their freedom and power. BLOGGERS AND GAYS ACCOUNT FOR 99% OF THE WORLD’S PEDOPHILES. Michael Jackson wanted to start a blog but his attorneys said no. He was going to call it “Pikachu, I CHOOSE YOU.”

Photo: Ripe Oranges

Photo: Ripe Oranges

Delicious oranges on Grandma’s orange tree. Photo from 2005.

Fujifilm FinePix A360, 1/30, F2.8, 5.8mm, ISO79, 2005-11-19T14:57:31-05, 2005-11-19_14h57m31

Location: 1985 S. Carpenter Ave., Orange City, FL  32763-7334

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.

Photo: Downspout

Photo: Downspout

Rain water draining out of a downspout after a storm. Photo from 2005.

Fujifilm FinePix A360, 1/714, F4.7, 5.8mm, ISO64, 2005-11-14T16:40:23-05, 2005-11-14_16h40m23

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License. Please credit me as “Photo by Richard Thripp” or something similar.