Gate 21

Gate 21, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

Taken while i was waiting to catch an early morning flight from Houston Texas back to St Louis. It has a very big contrast between the light and dark tones.

Exposure: 0.1 sec (1/10)
Aperture: f/6.3
Focal Length: 105 mm
ISO Speed: 200

BIG Mushroom!

Taken with my LGVX8600 1.3Megapixel phone.
From RMStringer

New York gig marks end of the road for The Police

Truly the end of an era. I loved The Police back in the day and also Sting and saw him in concert several times in Houston. They did amazing things in the music industry and many bands copied their styles and sounds.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - British rock trio The
Police played their final concert together on Thursday and were joined
by the real police -- the New York City police band.

By Claudia Parsons

NEW YORK (Reuters) - British rock trio
The Police played their final concert together on Thursday and were
joined by the real police -- the New York City police band.

Singer and bassist Sting, drummer Stewart Copeland and guitarist Andy
Summers reunited for a world tour last May and have since played 150
concerts for 3.7 million people, Sting told the crowd between songs at
Madison Square Garden.

"The real triumph of this tour is that we
haven't strangled each other," he said, adding: "That's not to say it
hasn't crossed my mind, or Stewart's, or Andy's."

There were
touches of the surreal in the final gig by the band that made its name
in the late 1970s and 1980s with such hits as "Walking on the Moon" and
"Every Breath You Take."

Sting took an unusual break after the
main set and before the first encore -- lying back in a barber's chair
backstage as two blond women shaved the salt-and-pepper beard that he
had been sporting, the most obvious sign of the passing years.

The beard had come in for some harsh criticism from fashion mavens in
recent days, though the former teacher was quoted by media this week as
saying, "The ladies love it."

His make-over was beamed to a
giant screen above the stage as fans cheered and chanted for more
music. He bounced back on stage fresh-faced and looking as lithe as
ever without his shirt to deliver crowd-pleasers "Roxanne" and "So
Lonely."

The band opened with the Cream song "Sunshine of Your
Love" and were then joined by around 20 drummers and musicians of the
police band for "Message in a Bottle."

They may be more used to
playing in a marching band, but the burly uniformed police officers
sang along and banged their drums with gusto as Sting strutted his
stuff in a police cap.

Later in the set, three young women who
looked like fans popped up on stage, joking around, dancing and taking
snapshots as the band played "Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic."

"These are my daughters," Sting explained.

The band played all of its big hits, as well as a few cover songs,
ending the encore with "Every Breath You Take." The band came back for
a brief second encore before finally calling it a day with the song
"Next to You."

The concert marked the end of a tour that has grossed more than $350 million and was the biggest selling tour of 2007.

The Police fused punk with reggae grooves and intricate arrangements to
gain global popularity before splitting in 1984. Sting went on to a
hugely successful solo career, while Copeland and Summers have also
stayed in the business, recording and scoring music for the movie
industry.

(Editing by Vicki Allen)

Alton Illinois 1.21

Alton Illinois 1.21, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

Another photo taken using the kit lens for a wide angle showing the bridge and moon over it. You can see the light being projected from the top of the support piers. That is a very neat effect and it can be seen in several of the photos that i took in this set. This was taken from the Illinois side of the bridge. In the upper left you can see another jet flying in a line.

Exposure: 19 sec (19)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 50 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Alton Illinois 1.8

Alton Illinois 1.8, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

We are standing in Downtown Alton close to the water front. To the lest of my location is the Mississippi River and the Clark Bridge. I was set up at an intersection and i was using my 70-300mm for this photo. It was really neat as i was able to capture several directions of traffic trails at once. I love how the light bends when a car ot truck turns in a different directions. It is just amazing to me!!

Exposure: 30 sec (30)
Aperture: f/16
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Alton Illinois 1.10

Alton Illinois 1.10, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

"Sony 18-70mm"

This was a good photo of the bridge from the East side in the city of Alton. I was using the kit lens so i could get a wide angle shot of the center portion of the bridge. In the upper right corner you can see a jet flying. I love the crisp, bright feel that this photo has.

Exposure: 12 sec (12)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 20 mm
ISO Speed: 100

Alton Illinois 1.12

Alton Illinois 1.12, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

"Sony 18-70mm"

We were standing the a levee near the beginning of the bridge on the East side of the Clark Bridge. I was using the kit lens as i wanted to get a wide photo of the structure looking from East to West. It is a very interesting bridge in its construction and style. You can see the Moon over the top of the bridge with the light being projected from the top as well.

Exposure: 19 sec (19)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 50 mm

Alton Illinois 1.13

Alton Illinois 1.13, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

"Sony 18-70mm"

I love the light that is being projected from the top of the bridge. There was so much light with several cars traveling West on the bridge that it got washed out but it creates an interesting effect no the less.

Exposure: 11 sec (11)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 400

26 cheerleaders get stuck ...

26 cheerleaders get stuck in elevator at UT's Jester Residence Hall

AUSTIN -- Forget Aggie jokes.

Cheerleaders attending camp at the University of Texas have provided
more than enough funny fodder for the state this summer.

Ever wondered how many cheerleaders can fit onto an elevator? We’ll give you a hint: Not 26.

But a group of peppy campers found this out the hard way at UT’s Jester Residence Hall.

Twenty-six cheerleaders packed into an elevator there, but it got stuck
and stayed that way for about 30 minutes.

Some of the girls passed out.

Others used their cell phones to call for help.

One girl was treated and released at a hospital and two others were
treated at the scene after the Tuesday night prank, officials said.

UT officials didn’t think the prank was all that funny.

“It’s dangerous, actually,” said UT police spokeswoman Rhonda Weldon.
“They’re lucky that that’s all that happened.”

Just a few
weeks ago, teens at another campus cheerleading camp had an entire
dormitory evacuated after they smelled an unidentifiable odor.

Hazmat crews descended on the scene and discovered the culprit: burnt popcorn.

But the benign source of the smell didn’t stop dozens of cheerleaders
from complaining of respiratory problems.

TSA to Allow Laptops in Approved Bags: Time

(WASHINGTON) — There's a new option for people annoyed at having to
take their laptops out of their bags at airport security. The
Transportation Security Administration will now allow travelers to
leave their computers inside "checkpoint friendly" cases.

The new rules, announced Tuesday and set to take effect Aug. 16, are intended to help streamline the X-ray inspection lines.

TSA said it reached out to bag manufacturers this year to design
laptop cases that would provide a clear, unobstructed image of the
computer as it passed through an X-ray machine. The agency said the new
bags will be available for purchase this month.

To qualify as "checkpoint friendly," a bag must have a designated
laptop-only section that unfolds to lie flat on the X-ray machine belt
and contains no metal snaps, zippers or buckles and no pockets.

Among the manufacturers selling TSA-approved laptop bags are Mobile Edge, Skooba Design and Targus Inc.

Mexicans in US illegally at more risk of AIDS: REUTERS

By Mica Rosenberg

MEXICO CITY, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Mexican men
living and working illegally in the United States are more likely to
sell their bodies for sex, take drugs or frequent prostitutes than they
would have been in their homeland, increasing their risk of AIDS
infection, U.S. researchers reported on Wednesday.

And if they
are deported, they can take the virus back home with them, the
researchers told an international conference on AIDS in Mexico City.


"They are in a new environment, they are discriminated against, they
are living in harsh conditions, sometimes just in boxes covered in
plastic near the farms where they work," said George Lemp of the
California HIV/AIDS Research Program at the University of California,
who studied 458 Mexicans before and after they left their homeland.

"When people live that way, they engage in high-risk behavior," Lemp said in an interview.


About 11 million Mexicans live in the United States, more than half of
them undocumented, and a recent U.S. crackdown on illegal immigrants
and increase in deportations could make the danger of HIV infection
worse, conference delegates said.

The men in the study were
three times more likely to have sex with a prostitute in California
than they were before leaving Mexico, Lemp's research showed. They were
five times more likely to have sex while using drugs or drinking and 13
times more likely to have sex with another man.

The men were
more likely to use condoms in the United States, according to the
study. But their risk-taking behavior nonetheless increases the
possibility of infection, Lemp said.

In Mexico, 0.3 percent of the population is infected with HIV. In the United States, the infection rate is 0.6 percent.


Hispanics make up about 15 percent of the U.S. population. They account
for 18 percent of new AIDS diagnoses, according to the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, but determining the infection rate
among illegal Mexican immigrants is difficult, as many do not seek
testing.

Steffanie Strathdee, a professor at the University of
California, San Diego, found that residents of the border city Tijuana
who injected drugs and had been deported from the United States were
four times as likely to be infected with the AIDS virus as drug users
who had not been deported.

New outbreaks of the virus are also being detected in small towns far from the border, researchers said.


Indigenous Zapotec migrants from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca
contracted HIV in the United States but were often too afraid of
deportation to seek medical care, a joint study by Mexico's health
ministry and the California HIV/AIDS Research Program found.

If
they return to their villages, they can infect their partners if they
do not know, or are unwilling to reveal, that they have the disease,
ministry researchers said.

Prison Unit

Prison Unit, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

We were traveling through Huntsville Texas to get to Houston to visit a few more people before we were to travel back home. We stopped at the Texas Prison Museum and also I took a few photos of some of the TDCJ Units that are located along I45 South. This is one of them.

Exposure: 1/3200 sec
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 105 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Reflections on floor.

Taken with my LGVX8600 1.3Megapixel phone.
From RMStringer

Neat Light.

Taken with my LGVX8600 1.3Megapixel phone.
From RMStringer

Death Becomes It 1.4

Death Becomes It 1.4, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

Up close and personal with the head...

Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/25
Focal Length: 230 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Death Becomes It 1.3

Death Becomes It 1.3, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

Different view...

Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Death Becomes It 1.2

Death Becomes It 1.2, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

So close you can nearly smell it!!!

Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 210 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Death Becomes It 1.1

Death Becomes It 1.1, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

I was on a golf cart with my brother going around the lake at our grandfather's house looking for something interesting to photo. We came across this gruesome animal and he said to get a few pics of it. I did and this is what i got. It is some kind of animal that has been picked nearly clean. There a total of 4 pictures in the "Death Becomes It" series. It was very hot and dry as you can tell but there was no bad smell from the skeleton which was very strange to me

Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/22
Focal Length: 135 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Texas Prison Museum: Black/White

Texas Prison Museum: Black/White, originally uploaded by RMStringer.

Texas Prison Museum

Exposure: 1/2500 sec
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 400

Me...

Me..., originally uploaded by RMStringer.

I took this while looking at a mirror in our bathroom. It is my "Self Portrait" if you will. I was cleaning my camera trying to get some dust out of the chamber and i had to take a "test" photo. This is how it turned out. I have the Quantaray 70-300mm lens on the cam which i shoot with most of the time.

Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/5.6
Focal Length: 70 mm
ISO Speed: 400