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>Googled it and it looks like a pretty great camera, I've got a Canon 650D but I've yet to take many photos around that part of London with it.

Yes, I love it, recently upgraded from a Pentax K-x starter model and it's been a blast taking pics with the K-5 IIs. I recommend you head on out to downtown and take some pics!

>Just noticed your lens is also pretty fancy, do you think it's worth investing in lenses like these? Still somewhat new to photography so just curious as you seem advanced

Absolutely. I had this lens before I had the K-5 IIs and truly the lens matters much more than the actual camera.

You can take a top line camera and slap on a starter lens, and you will take pictures that are barely better than the starter camera would with the same lens. If you take a starter camera and compare a top quality lens to a start lens, you'll notice a big difference is easy to achieve.

It's definitely $300 well spent for this lens. Its main advantage over the starter lens is its wide f/1.8 aperture which allows you to take much better night shots without being forced to prolong your exposure (shutter speed), because it lets in much more light in a short time. It's also lovely for depth of field.

If I can recommend a lens for you, I would say get a 50mm f/1.8 first of all. They're cheap and very useful for portraits and street photos, and there's a reason they're nicknamed 'nifty fifty'. On a cropped sensor like your 650D's, you might prefer a wider angle lens if you want to do landscape photos or city skyline shots like mine. In that case, look at lenses with focal length of 30mm and less. Conversely, if you're interested in doing sports photos, wild animal photos and bird spotting, or airshows and the like, look at lenses of 200mm and more, since those will let you zoom in real close.

We're listed as the most 'livable' city in the US. We're in the throws of heavy gentrification in the city proper, but there's huge opportunities here. We're also 12th in startup funding now.

The biggest thing of this city is that it's very neighborhood oriented. Each neighborhood has a very different vibe and culture, and in the last 5 years or so many are going through revitalization efforts. The university and healthcare systems are our two biggest industries, but we have quite a bit of tech and biomedical clout as well. The food is phenomenal here for the city size, any number of local joints to hit up.

Our biggest downside is a general lack of touristy spots (some would say that's a positive) and not as much art/culture/music as some larger cities (although it's growing yearly). I would also say we're kinda cut off from a lot of cities as we're not quite midwest, and we're not quite east coast (there's a great book on this). We're also not the craziest party town like say a Miami.


Great place to head to if you're looking to settle down though.

Both his debut novel "Förvillelser" ("Delusions") and "Den Allvarsamma Leken" ("The Serious Game") are awesome youth portrayals set in Stockholm - especially the latter novel is a classic.

And if you enjoyed Doctor Glas you could check out Bengt Ohlsson's "Gregorius", a bold reimagining of the story but from the perspective of the pastor. It got some praise and received an August award when it was released in 2004.

Japan's prosperity is definitely part of the equation. Edo, and the rest of Japan, had a flourishing merchant sector and a well-established cash economy (although said cash was backed by koku of rice). However, that's not the whole picture. Japan had a very powerful, very centralized government, especially after the Restoration. Since Japan had managed to evade the sort of invasive imperialism that plagued China and other East/South Asian countries, it was much more free to use its available resources to modernize. Basically from the time that Perry forced open Japan, the Tokugawa government, and then the Meiji government, made massive efforts to learn about Western technology and then utilize it to became a major world power. And, by the late 1800s, they had indeed become a major world power, evidence by their victory in the Russo-Japanese War.

Reasons Japan was able to modernize so quickly:

1. Cash economy with a flourishing merchant/banking sector.
   
   
2. Relative freedom from Western imperialism.
   
   
3. A centralized government determined to become a world power.
   
   
4. The genius of men like Fukuzawa Yukichi.
   
   
5. Ridiculous Japanese work ethic (this was also seen in the post-war era).
   
   I recommend reading Fukuzawa Yukichi's autobiography. http://www.amazon.com/Autobiography-Yukichi-Fukuzawa/dp/023113987X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1462424362&sr=8-1&keywords=autobiography+fukuzawa+yukichi

Building vertically has huge benefits both economically and environmentally. Of course it doesn't do much in terms of historic preservation and its visual impact is debatable. This book is a good read on the issue: http://www.amazon.com/Triumph-City-Greatest-Invention-Healthier/dp/0143120549

Jesus, that's terrifying. Imagine getting lost in there? Sounds like an awesome place for a noir detective novel.

Edit: which reminds me - I actually read one of those once. Sort of. It's called 2666 by Roberto Bolaño (the late, great Chilean author.) It's set partly in Mexico and follows several characters tenuously related to the events of a serial killer/rapist. Not sure why i didn't think of it, it's one of my favourite books ever.

Amazon

How accessible is Myanmar for a tourist? I've read this graphic novel and the author seemed to do alright, although he was accompanying his MSF-doctor wife.

Hopefully it's going to get better now that Aung San Suu Kyi is free(r).

I have a Sony a3000 which I purchased at Best Buy because I just had gotten my tax return and the money was burning a hole in my pocket and I wanted to walk out of the store with a DSLR. You can find it cheaper on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Interchangeable-Digital-Camera-18-55mm/dp/B00EH5UGR6/

I got the bundle with the 55-210mm zoom lens:

http://www.amazon.com/Sony-Digital-Camera-18-55mm-55-210mm/dp/B00EZS9JZU/

TIL they made a play out of Wicked. Good book!

I picked up a book called Nature's Metropolis:Chicago and the Great West the other day to read over spring break. I've only been to Chicago once in my life a few years back but there is something about that city that intrigues me.

It's appropriately called The Weather. It goes through Hot/Cold and Wet/Dry IIRC. I really enjoyed it as a kid.

Edit: Link didn't attach properly.
The Weather https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00009B8F5/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_d7ppxbZV3YPCP

It's actually written in Jewish Law (the Talmud) that Jews can't go under the arch.

Also, Titus gave ancient Jews ample opportunity to surrender, and ordered his troops not to loot the Temple, which they did anyway.

Unfortuantely, I can't find sources online but I read it in A History of the Jews

edit: formatting

Thanks for catching this, that is my bad. I'll add a mistaken map and wanting to play on the gold color of the photo. I have this poster on my wall (printed in 1999), which shows the Gold Coast reaching south to Olive Park where I took the photo. Wikipedia agrees with you on the boundaries of the Gold Coast Historic District, but this map seems shows a slightly more complex boundary when zoomed in to the area.

Wow man, memories. I've stood on those benches angling for the perfect shot....and trying to avoid those DAMN LIGHTS!

And all the food vendors thought I was crazy for asking why the Blue Mosque didn't look like the cover of my Lonely Planet Guidebook at night....grrrrrrr.

Mannahatta is the book this came from.

For more of the same...JUNCTION [Japanese Edition] (Japanese) Tankobon Softcover – 2007