The American Expat

Does it make sense using a Nikon EM film camera in todays digital world? I recently came across a supposed working example of a Nikon EM 35mm SLR camera from 1979, bought some Fuji 400 film, and plan to take the thing out to see what it can do after all these many decades, more than I have been alive. The Nikon EM was among the first cameras to implement computer components in order to help users find the best exposure without being an expert at photography. The portion of the exposure triangle taken over in this case is shutter speed. Simply tell the camera what speed of film you have loaded, set the aperture for what you are trying to accomplish, and the camera will set the shutter speed to whatever it needs to be for perfect exposure. At least it's supposed to work that way in theory. Today we are going to see if the Nikon EM can still pull it off after all these decades using 1970s technology. #film #filmcameras #nikon Acid Jazz by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

A mass gird attack could come at any time according to FBI director Christopher Wray. While we have been watching the back and forth between Israel and Iran, China has been infesting our critical systems for water, electricity, and telecoms. They are in position now to take them down with a massive attack at their leisure. Are you prepared? The infiltration has come at the hands of the hacker group Volt Typhoon. The Chinese government has said in response that Volt Typhoon has been declared a criminal group. If they are a criminal group, then I would ask why there have been no arrests? The answer is obvious. The FBI has further said that catastrophic attacks may come in order to distract from potential military action.

The rule of law is a critical piece of the foundation of civilization. Rule of law is currently being eroded in New York by activist judges, prosecutors, and attorneys general; who bend/ignore written law in order to pursue political aims.

I have finally figured out why so many people are quitting YouTube, and I am too. It is exactly what you think it is, and not quite at the same time. It is all related to a misunderstanding of what Youtube cares about. Youtube does not care about viewers. Youtube does not care about creators. We are a long way from the days of YouTube being just a fun place for creative people to upload videos, YouTube is a big business now, and their customers are advertisers. Did you think that algorithm was designed to find the best videos for you? Did you think that, as a creator, the algorithm was designed to find you an audience? Nope, none of these things. The algorithm was designed to serve YouTubes customers, the advertisers. Have you wondered why YouTube would promote woke stuff when it turns most viewers off of the platform? Its because advertisers still believe that is what gen z wants, the same gen z they are trying desperately to court. As far as YouTube is concerned, the customer is always right, so thats what you get. If you don't want to make that sort of thing, or you don't fit into the category, or you just don't feel like keeping up with the schedule they set for you then its going to be a hard slog. That is why so many are quitting.

I've got another SLR film camera body. It's not new, not even to me. It actually came along with the Minolta I bought before, but I have not messed with it until now. Turns out this one is an M42 screw mount, meaning it can use a lot of very interesting lenses that come with a very cheap price tag. When I bought the set of old cameras I was originally interested in a Nikkormat, but that one is all locked up. This Mamiya/Sekor seems to be working, at least the shutter fires anyway. Now I have the perfect excuse to get an adapter for my digital camera and start getting strange soviet lenses to try out.

A former member of the FBI, who is being persecuted and living abroad has requested to be a guest on my show. It seems odd to me that someone who gets around 30K upvotes on their video would have any interest in being a guest on a channel that gets sometimes 30 views for a video. Could this be a trick? In the previous video we talked about the moron who got exposed spilling the beans about all the bad stuff we suspect the FBI of doing, one of them being fake social media posts. I couldn't help wondering to myself if that is what I am seeing. What do you all think? Should I respond to the guy? Are you the guy? lol

An FBI super spy moron was caught by Sound Media admitting to everything you'd expect the FBI of doing these days. It gets even better, he works for an agency he cannot mention by name (CIA) even though it is public information found on his Linkedin profile. According to this moron who fell for a honey trap of the James O'keefe variety, the FBI and CIA can arrest anyone they want, and its quite easy. They go around setting people up, and then "nudging" them to commit crimes so the heroes at todays fine agencies can step in and make the arrest for the crime they were actually party to. On top of that he says they were behind the lawsuit against a certain celebrity of the conspiracy theory kind. How the mighty have fallen. It is sad to see these once well regarded agencies hiring the kind of person who would spill the beens just to impress someone they met on an online dating app. Maybe they have always been up to this sort of thing, but at least they could keep it secret in the past.

Have you ever wondered about an eclipse, and the meaning behind it? If you try to search online for the meaning of an eclipse, you are likely only to find articles treating you like a child, explaining that an eclipse is just the result of the moon moving in front of the sun and casting a shadow on the Earth. Right now I’m going to assume you are all intelligent enough to understand the physical mechanics of how an eclipse happens. For those who see an eclipse as nothing more than a shadow cast by the moon, I will explain it this way. You are correct that an eclipse in and of itself has no power. It is more akin to a point on a divine clock. The hour hand on your watch moving over the 10 doesn’t mean anything more than the start of the tenth or 22nd hour of the day. The eclipse is like that as well, but a point on a celestial time piece. That out of the way, we can ask the question, is an eclipse associated with good or bad? I have searched far and wide, Taoists, Christians, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindus, et cetra, in pretty much every circumstance an eclipse is considered a bad omen. At the very least it is considered an omen of change. An eclipse means the end of the status quo, or things as they have been. Important events are often associated with an eclipse, like the rise and fall of dynasties and empires. In western cultures we are likely familiar with biblical references associated with eclipses like that in Revelation 6:12, where it says, “And I beheld when he had opened the sixth seal, and, lo, there was a great earthquake; and the sun became black as sackcloth of hair, and the moon became as blood;” As mentioned before, an eclipse is a harbinger of change, or the end of things as they have been. All around us are signs of significant change. Old traditions are being pushed aside in the name of something new, and different. There is an election taking place this year that is seen as especially significant by people on both sides. Both sides see the potential outcome as the end of democracy, or the end of extreme corruption and the restoration of freedom. Either way, both parties see great change on the horizon. This is also a time of global conflict. Wars are being talked about in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, and even South America. For those in western nations, it likely brings to mind another biblical passage in Matthew 24:6 through 8 “And ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines , and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows.” Many people hear this, and see parallels with our own time. In verse 29 of the same chapter it even goes on to say, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not giver her light, and the stars shall fall from the heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:” We have seen so much over the last several years, perhaps this is the beginning of sorrows. We may be looking at the end of the relatively peaceful times since the end of the tumultuous 20th century. There are certainly modern sociological theories that suggest as much. According to the Strauss-Howe generational theory, we are at or near the fourth turning. This “fourth turning” refers to a cycle of generations throughout American and western history that eventually lead to a crisis, and then are followed by a rebuilding period. You’ve possibly heard the line from G. Michael Hopf’s novel Those Who Remain, it says, “Hard times create strong men, strong men create good times, good times create weak men, and weak men create hard times.” In many ways it appears as though we are heading into the harder times created by weaker generations that followed those who fought in World War II. This eclipse may very well be a sign of our time. Despite the desperate attempts of our current leadership and their pet propagandists in the media, people are waking up to the fact that these are very difficult economic times. The standard of living, which has been so high in the United States in previous decades, seems to be on the decline. The wealth of the everyday member of society seems to be evaporating. And everywhere war seems to be on the horizon. Whatever it is this eclipse brings with it, if anything at all, I wish you good luck in this new era. I hope you find it prosperous and uneventful, at least uneventful as far as negative events are concerned. An eclipse is meant to symbolize a change of the status quo, that is not always a bad thing, and is often necessary for the benefit of mankind. Let us all hope for a better future going forward, and that this is the sign of good change to come. You have been listening to the American Expat, I welcome you to the underground.

Have you noticed all the YouTube know it alls? From Matt Walsh to PenguinZ0, these people talk as if they know all the answers, and you better not question their authoritative opinions on whatever issue it happens to be. I have to admit I don't know these people, so maybe its just me, but they do sometimes come across as arrogant. Now I will also say that I am new to the PenguinZ0. Seems he's pretty big, so maybe thats just the way you've got to be in order to be taken seriously on the YouTube. I find him entertaining myself. Matt Walsh and others at the Daily Wire? I often find that I don't quite agree with their take on things, but to question is to invite wrath upon oneself. I should be glad I am not a big channel, or their notice might just fall upon me.

Are your eyes open to the truth? There’s something wrong with the world today. Somewhere we made a left turn away from the hopeful, everything is possible world of our youth, and ended up here. Where children starve, and people live like zombies in tents and shacks beneath the skyscrapers of our greatest cities. The rich and powerful grind their heels into the faces of the poor, and tell us that some lives are better off not lived at all. People no longer strive for great achievement, they’re too busy trying to scrape together enough money to afford hotdogs and rent for their roach infested shared apartments. And all the while, our so called leaders and their pet propagandists in the media tell us things are better than ever. They point to the stock market and earnings reports. Well, $%#@ you, I cant afford to play that game. We raise our voice in protest, but the only response is, “the bugs don’t taste that bad”. We’ve been blindfold with social media brain rot. We’re told we have to ignore nature and reality itself. We’re shamed for seeking knowledge for ourselves, and told instead to trust their chosen experts. They don’t want us to see the world crumbling all around us. They don’t want us to see the planes falling from the skies, or trains flying off the tracks. They don’t want us to see them quietly enslaving us. But we’ve already seen through the crumbling façade to the rotten structure underneath. And what’s been seen, cannot be unseen

It has been revealed that P Diddy is a Fed. By that I mean that his former bodyguard has said in an interview that P Diddy, the diddler, is in fact a confidential informant working for the FBI. This revelation has started the wheels turning in my head, and I begin to wonder how much of what Diddy is in trouble for had FBI involvement. Typically the sort of crimes he is accused of would fall under the jurisdiction of the FBI. Was Sean Combs, P Diddy or the Diddler, trafficking across the US border? I have to wonder if the Department of Homeland Security raid was because rouge elements of another federal agency, the FBI, were involved in criminal activity. Other theories on the internet suggest that the feds moved in to take the evidence of their involvement so that it would not fall into the hands of local law enforcement who had obtained a warrant. It is sad that we have reached the point where the worst would be assumed about the Feds, but maybe there are still enough good guys left.

It's Friday photo time, meaning you sent in your photos, and today we share them. I am no expert, and so I will refrain from giving much in the way of feedback, other than my envy at your skills. Share your thoughts, send your own photos in for the next one.

What's the cost of hot dogs these days? I've heard it's going up, and that means more votes for Trump. That is the elitists who hate the poor say the cost of hot dogs going up means more votes for Trump. In the past I never realized how much the people who see themselves as being at the top of our society absolutely despise the poor and lower classes. When they talk of the cost of hot dogs driving votes for Trump, they say it with hatred. According to them the economy is better than ever. They can even quote you the metrics that say its better. You and I go to the store and see that we don't have enough money to get healthy food. We keep getting pushed further and further down, until we land at something like hot dogs. Eventually even the hot dogs are out of reach. We experience being unable to make rent, or pay utilities. We list off real life experiences, and these elitists tell us we're just too stupid to see how great things are. You aren't alone in this experience, and you aren't the one who's too stupid to see whats really happening. email photos to theamericanexpat76@gmail.com

Trump wins on the stock market driving liberal "journalists" mad. After a merger, Truth Social is now being publicly traded under the ticker DJT. The price per share jumped 50% at times, making the former president billions. This is ironic considering yesterday was supposed to be the day Letitia James was set to seize Trump Tower. Not only did he manage to avoid the seizure of his properties, he dramatically increased his net worth. As mentioned before, this turn of events has liberal journalists at CNN foaming at the mouth as they spit pejoratives at Trump and anyone who supports him.

Trump has some breathing room as his bond necessary for filing appeal has been reduced to $175 million. Trump should now be able to cover the bond, saving Trump Tower and his other properties from being seized by the government in this attempted land grab. I don't know how he does it, but Trump always seems to get through the hardest attempts of crazy judges and corrupt officials to damage him. I can't imagine its been easy, but he has certainly proven, at this point, that he is made of the right stuff to be president.

A suggestion came in the comments saying I should request that you all share your photos. It sounded like a good idea to me, so here's the ask. Send in your best photos to share with the community. They could be from phones, cameras, whatever you've got. Everyone pretty much has a camera in some form these days, and we all have at least one photo we are especially pleased with. So send them in to theamericanexpat76@gmail.com and lets have a look.

The US government provided warning to it's citizens in Russia, as well as the Russian government that there may be an attack up to two weeks prior to the deadly events in Moscow. There are plenty of people who have suggested the US government had some involvement, and CIA was trending along with other posts related to the attacks. I do not believe this is the case, but the news stories do remind me of the kinds of stories that would be released in the evening Chinese news while I was living there. Instead of reporting on the attack itself, the news media is being used as the US government's own PR outlet. Will we ever get back to the days of real journalism?

Candace got fired, or she quit, or something like that. I find myself wondering why so many people in right wing social media are such volatile people. I sometimes feel as though they lack professionalism. I say that, but they are the ones getting all the fame, so I must be doing something wrong. Maybe I need to borrow a bit from their playbook and start being a bit more bombastic. All kidding aside, I do wonder what happened with them. Apparently she and Ben Shapiro have some bad blood over Israel.

The world is a chaotic place today full of bad news and struggle. There are some small things to help endure the hard times however. In my past I spent time doing missionary work, not the digging wells in Africa kind, the proselyting kind. I no longer go to a particular church, but some of the lessons from those very busy days have stuck with me. One in particular came from a speech that was given to a group of us at a conference. The speech talked about finding small things in daily life to look forward to. At the time we would wake up at 6:30, study, pray, plan, and then go out to teach people from 9:00AM to 8:30PM every single day. It was a pretty busy and hectic schedule, so that advice really came in handy. I have kept that advice ever since. Find small things in every day life to look forward to, and the day won't seem as hard. When I lived in China it became my walk home from work every evening. Chinese cities are full of neon lights and people. I would walk home through that cyber punk blade runner like world watching the people go about their lives. Today the small thing has become photography. It could be anything really, but finding that thing can help in these troubled times.

What if the grid goes down? Have you ever thought about it? America has so many enemies, many of which are capable of very sophisticated cyber attacks that could bring down the grid of utility services that all of us rely upon, and much more. What would you do if the grid went down? Are you prepared for it? It's one thing to have water and canned food set aside, but what if it goes down for a long time? Where do you get water, and how do you treat it so you can actually drink it? I understand there are tablets and other chemicals that can be used, but what do you do when they run out? I am starting to ask these questions because I don't believe most people would be ready to survive in that situation. We are all too far removed from life before all the modern conveniences to even know where to start. So what will you do if the grid goes down?

Donald Trump is unable to pay the bond necessary to appeal the ruling in his New York fraud trial, and will now have his properties seized. This is communism, plain and simple. Based on precedent set in this case, the city can bring charges on any property owner who has been loaned money by a bank, rule summarily against them, attach an unplayable fine, and then take the properties for the state to do with as they please. The government is set to start taking property away from the "landlord class".

After allegedly offending officials in their military, Niger kicks out the US military. Apparently the United States has been operating a very important drone base in Niger, and now I am starting to fear another Bagram situation. We still have the same leadership in both the presidency and the military. Is that bad that I am worried their plan for evacuating the base will be to leave all the very expensive and sensitive equipment behind? This all comes, as mentioned, after a diplomatic visit from the United States. Whoever was sent apparently offended the military leadership who received them, resulting in this situation. There is also word that Niger leadership under their military junta has been secretly working out agreements with Iran and Russia. If that is true, then it should place Niger squarely among the list of hostile nations. It also means that leaving any equipment behind would be a terrible mistake that would go to benefit our enemies. Whats going on here?

I couldn't help notice all the videos talking about the struggles of gen z as they are coming of age. To be honest, I was surprised at the realization that they are coming of age. So many of them are moving out on their own, and discovering a world that is far more difficult than they expected. Some, upon reaching their limits, have turned to the internet in search of sympathy, or to see if they are really all alone in their struggles. In many cases they have instead received enormous backlash from older generations saying they just need to toughen up, get married, get another job, or quit being safe space cry babies. I am here to tell you that this harsh judgement is unfair, and zoomers are in fact facing challenges that have not been faced by any generation since the great depression. Life really is harder, and I am sure you will agree if you take a step back and consider the situation when you came of age. For my part I can recall getting my first car with no credit history and no down payment, simply walking onto the lot and choosing a jeep. I even did the same with a second car, a GTI VR6 Mk IV. I also had the experience at that time of telling the bank about a small raise at work ( pay went up to $12.75 per hour) and getting a credit line of $15,000 without even asking for it. My coworker making the same pay as me managed to get a mortgage on a second brand new two story home. Clearly its not like that anymore. Gen Z is facing massive inflation, a terrible economy, and massive competition from illegal immigrants who are willing to take lower pay. The struggle is real, and we all need to open our eyes and recognize the problems so we can get them solved.

Tyson is the chicken betrayer of America, according to reports in several news outlets. While closing many plants and laying off American workers, they have apparently been working to recruit over 40,000 illegals in New York to work for them in Tennessee, even promising to provide lawyer packages (presumably due to their immigration status). Tyson has made a statement claiming that they always follow employment rules, but still not saying the reports are untrue. As a result of this move a boycott is underway for Tyson products and brands. What's your take on it?

Do you need an expensive camera to vlog? Today I'm setting out to try the iPhone 13 Pro Max in the real world to see if I can get a good enough or better result from a phone that is now a couple generations old. The truth is that you don't need a heavy interchangeable lens camera to make a vlog. In fact, it will only make your life more difficult when you are out walking around. A phone or action camera is perfect in size, weight, and being inconspicuous when recording yourself in the real world.