RDTRN Archive - RDT Right Now #2093

RDT Right Now #2093

From: rdtrn@torithoughts.org
Date: Thu, 9 Aug 2007 06:40:02 +0000 (UTC)
Subject: RDT Right Now #2093
To: rdtrn@torithoughts.org

Do not hit reply to unsubscribe. To unsub, send a message to: <rdtrn-request@torithoughts.org> with "unsubscribe" in the subject and body. o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o Really Deep Thoughts Right Now Volume 07 : Issue #2093 . o - O - O - O - O - O - O - O - o . o o . o o O "Thoughts right now... O o What will become of me, o o Become of her, become of we?" o . o o . O O O - o - o - o - o - o - o - o - O o . o o o Tori Amos, "Thoughts" In this issue: o-o-o-o-o-o-o Re: Polarinds for Pele [ Mark Alexander <alexander750@earthl ] Missed a digest? Pick up a copy at the RDTRN archives: http://www.torithoughts.org/rdtrn/archives -o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o [top] Date: Wed, 8 Aug 2007 01:11:15 -0500 From: Mark Alexander <alexander750@earthlink.net> To: that redhead with the piano <rdtrn@torithoughts.org> Subject: Re: Polarinds for Pele In RDTRN #2092, John Bragazzi <utown@worldnet.att.net> wrote: > What kind of radio dramas do you listen to? New ones, or "old time > radio" > ones? At present, the only drama per se I have is ZBS's "Ruby 3" series. I do, however, have quite a few sample lectures from the Teaching Company, covering everything from Shakespeare to black holes, and also Feynman's "Six Easy Pieces" (an overview of physics and chemistry, circa 1960-61). > You mean you don't own anything newer than Scarlet's Walk? Or that > they're just not on your iPod for some reason? > > At the moment, the only one I'd put on would be the new one. I > still love > Pele, but sometimes I listen to it too much and have to stop for a > while. > > Mostly, in recent years, the best thing to get is the series of six > "official bootlegs." Those are great. No, I don't own anything newer than SW. I am considering the "official bootlegs" though...After hearing all the negative feedback concerning Beekeeper, and considering how seldom, pre-iPod, I listened to much of anything *newer* than Pele (and the live disc on TVAB), I stopped buying her studio albums. I may eventually get American Doll Posse. > Oh, [Polaroids] are ancient. I remember when those first came out > (at least > when people I knew started to have them). Mid-1960s, I believe. > You got > a little sponge thing in a tube that you had to rub on the pictures as > they developed. It smelled really bad. Try late 1940s--Ed Land invented the peel-apart instant picture in 1947, and Polaroid made roll- and sheet-film "Polaroid Land Cameras" from that time up until the late 1990s, along with the SX-70 (which Land also invented) and its descendants. They still make the film, mostly for commercial users (e.g., ID photos) who haven't yet switched to digital. I had two such cameras, both rigid plastic-bodied units dating from the mid 70s. The first was the Zip (aka Swinger). It was fixed-focus, took only square black-and-white film (Type 87) and used AG-1 or AG-3B flashbulbs. Exposure would be set by squeezing and twisting the shutter button until "YES" appeared in the viewfinder. Later I moved up to the Super Shooter Plus (aka EL-66), which took all five types of peel-apart film: Type 87, 105 and 107 black-and-white and Type 88 and 108 color. It used flash cubes, and featured all glass optics, automatic exposure, a development timer, and a little metal gadget called a Cold Clip, for keeping color pictures warm while they developed. Each film type came in a pack, which contained eight exposures. The camera back opened up and the film pack would be placed inside. Once loaded, the film was prepared for use by pulling a black tab, which removed the light barrier. On cameras like the Super Shooter that took both black-and-white and color film, you would also select the film speed (ASA 75 for color, 3000 (!) for black-and-white), typically via a lever atop the lens. Film packs typically cost about US$6-8 or so in those days, which made prints about 75 cents to a dollar apiece--about 3-4 times as expensive as conventional 35mm, 126 or 110 film and development. Batteries were conventional AA cells; these went inside the camera body, in a little plastic carrier that snapped into place behind the lens. This also meant that, if the batteries went dead in mid-pack, you were out of luck. After taking a picture, you would pull a little white tab, which made a big yellow tab pop out. You then grabbed this yellow tab, and-- pulling as smoothly as possible--pull the whole thing out. Development started from this time and typically took about a minute, after which time you would peel off the finished print and discard the yellow tab, known unofficially as a "Polarind," chock full of nasty smelly corrosive toxic chemicals. Pulling the yellow tab also made the next white tab pop out and reset the shutter. Type 105 also contained a peel-off negative; you would remove this at the same time as the print. The "little sponge thing" came with Types 105 and 107 film, and contained what pro photographers call a "fixer," to keep the image from fading. Immediately after peeling the print off, you would smear this onto it (and, if you were using Type 105, onto the negative as well). The funky smell was that of "hypo" (ammonium thiosulfate), along with wetting and glazing agents. Types 87, 88 and 108 were self- coating; later, Type 107 was made self-coating as well (circa 1980, designated Type 107C). > GIMP. Under Linux? In my case, under Mac OS X (via Apple X11) and Windows 2000. The GIMP is available for all three platforms, and it's a free download. For Linux (and many other Unices) just go to www.gimp.org for the latest version. It's almost always bundled with your favorite distro: Fedora/Red Hat, SuSE, Debian, Mandriva... For Mac OS X, go to gimp-app.sourceforge.net for a prebuilt, ready- to-use binary for OS X 10.3 or later (universal binary for PPC and Intel). If you don't have Apple X11 installed, just pop in your OS X install disk and reboot; look for it in the "optional components" list. And for Windows, go to gimp-win.sourceforge.net for all the necessary packages; which ones you'll need depend on what version of Windows you're running--it'll work with Windows 98 all the way to Vista (and I've tried it with both). Hey, it beats paying $600 for Photoshop! Or paying $1 a print, for that matter. Estraven. o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o o-o-o *** Subliminal Day Off digest *** To POST messages to this list: <rdtrn@torithoughts.org> Can't figure out how to SUB, UNSUB, or CHANGE ADDRESSES? Send a message to <rdtrn-request@torithoughts.org> with "help" as the subject. Digest PROBLEMS or QUESTIONS? Contact: <admin@torithoughts.org> Want your BIRTHDAY announced on RDTRN in 2006? 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