It's odd, as I said to my uncle this evening, I'm coming to value things which are not mass produced (at least, not in the modern sense). I wear mechanical chronometers and chronographs by preference, my working cameras are a Rolleiflex and a Leica (courtesy of my uncle and father), and my newly acquired turntable is a Thorens (a 20+ year old belt drive).
All of them are near the pinnacle of design in the Mechanical Age (generally accredited to have started shortly after the 1st World War). The Rolleiflex, I might argue is at the pinnacle of that design. First-rate optics, second to none in the industry, married with precision mechanical gearing. Even forty-five years after its manufacture its shutter keeps perfect timing. Clockwork gears internally and lenses generating negatives so crisp that no digital made can compare.
What these items have in common other than my appreciation for them is that they represent evolved mechanical design. But not finicky things which will not survive, too delicate to be used. All are quite functional many years after their initial design and creation simply because they were well cared for (or restored after some neglect). No batteries, no circuit boards to deteriorate. With some care, there is no reason that they might not live well over a century.
Contrast that to our experience with a modern DVR or CD player (or computer). The repair costs typically exceed the value and the best option is frequently to simply junk the object in question and buy the next generation.
With some study these Mechanical Age products could be repaired by someone with the interest and proper tools. I despair of ever repairing a DVR. And I'm university-educated, technically capable, and build computers from components for fun.
Maybe my interest in these devices grows as a bulwark against the despair I feel for our society's inevitable decline towards disposable consumerism?
This is just too damn funny.
Yes, I'm alive.
Just in hiding.
Tell no one.
I must say, I have to like the modern library.
I was spurred to use my local county library the other day when I found that a book I was looking for (a rather obscure book on the use of the Rolleiflex camera) was out of print and not otherwise available.
Since my local branch is right across the street from where I live I thought I would pop in and see what they could do for me. I found that I can now do catalogue searches online, put a book on hold online and check the status of my account online. I get up to 100 books out at once, for 28 days each. All for no money down!
Very cool.
I've gradually been working my way through a new naval fiction series (Dewey Lambdin's Alan Lewrie) and with fifteen odd books in the series it was looking like a major expense. Add to that my reborn interest in photography and the associated cost of photography books and the library looks like a great idea.
Funny - I really hadn't used a library since I left university. But being Web-enabled makes it very darn convenient. Kudos to the King County Library for being in the 21st century.
I've been away from making entries for a while because life intervened.
First, my contract position at MS came to an end last week (prematurely) and I had to scramble to find another.
Fortunately, I've made some friends in my brief time here and one of them had a need in his group for a versatile program manager so I'm back in the fold again after a mandatory 48hr period on the bench. Odd, but they have to change over "resources" and the System cannot apparently deal with rapid movement from one group to another.
So I spent some time visiting the island, playing with cats and dogs (another story as my cat became very, very ill and needed an expensive trip to the vet to fix her) and I was able to spend a little time doing some photography.
Much delayed but much enjoyed. I'm loving the new Rolleiflex (more on that in another post) and it seems to take lovely pictures. I did a little landscape photography which I love because it is quite contemplative.
I came across some writing where the author suggested that using a medium format camera was good for relieving stress. You have to think with each picture (unlike digital) and so the end product is quite a bit better. Or so I think.
I'm now in the Windows Genuine Advantage Group - the new MS anti-piracy initiative. It looks to be interesting work as it is a very new group that will probably end up having a pretty high profile. Good, sharp people -- as is the norm with Microsoft.
Very cool. I just bought a lovely Zeiss Ikon light meter (selenium) in what looks like excellent shape on eBay. Selenium light meters, like this one from the 1950s, use a photovoltaic cell to generate a current. Exposure to light kills them over time (or it may be moisture, folks aren't certain). In any event, Zeiss Ikon's come in a case that frequently protects the selenium cell, leaving you with a still usable meter. The output curve of selenium maps really well to color film and thus you have a "high-value" light meter. It is accurate throughout most of the range.
Heretofore, a somewhat tedious process of sending payment through PayPal would ensue after the auction closed. But since PayPal and eBay have merged (eBay bought PayPal) things have smoothed out greatly.
It couldn't have taken me more than two minutes to complete the purchase and receive assurance that the package would be on its way shortly. In contrast, in the past it might have taken more than ten minutes.
Quite painless now, and if you have a PayPal account set up already (and are using the same computer) you too should be able to zip through the transaction. I can only believe this will need to really large growth for PayPal.
Interesting. Any Catholic male, unmarried, may be selected Pope.
Unlikely to happen to little old me, but if I were the Pope I would ring in some changes right away:
I think that would deal with 90% of the most pressing issues facing the church and would do a long way to ensuring that it thrives in the 21st century.
Churches should evolve, not stay static.
Last five entries on my iTunes playlist (randomly selected):
Electic, but very listenable.
Arrgghgh. My favorite cheese, in the whole wide world, is St. Marcellin. I recently discovered it in my local max luxe supermarket, Larry's.
However, it's not the same as in la belle France. The law in this silly country requires cheeses to be pasteurized (a process invented by a Frenchman). Even those imported.
In our "nanny state" we are prohibited from eating that which might harm us. So importers are forced to pasteurize it, killing the bacteria that matures and ripens it.
I am undone.