Late 1960’s, Journalism at The Ohio State University. Paul Peterson was the photo instructor, who stressed that the most important thing in the world was the TPN – Technically Perfect Negative. Started class on a Speed Graphic then quickly moved to a Nikkormat. Also did darkroom work.

Graduated in 1972 (AFROTC) and went on active duty at Dyess AFB, Texas. The office had a Canon FTb I could use on weekends, so I bought my own (replacing my Kodak Brownie) plus a couple of lenses. Been using Canon ever since.

Since I have you “on the line” so to speak, I’ve been trying to locate the two photo books we used in class. One was about 6x9 inches, dark red hard cover, mostly text, but I seem to remember a sequence of football pix showing a football player deliberately slugging an opponent. The second was oversize, maybe 9x11, blue hardcover, mostly photographs. I remember a color photo center section. Any ideas?

My wife is visually impaired and wants to get a tablet to download audio books from the Library of Congress. I currently download the books in ZIP form then extract them to a USB drive which she uses in a dedicated reader. But with a tablet she will be able to download her own books.

All she needs is a touch screen and an Internet connection. Doesn’t need word processing, e-mail or graphics since she has a desktop computer with a screen reader (JAWS) for those.

Suggestions?

Larry

When the movie Tron came out in the early 80s it was nominated for a couple of Academy Awards, but the judges wouldn’t let it be entered in the special effects category because they said using a computer to create the graphics was “cheating.” And some publishers wouldn’t allow submissions that had been created using the newfangled word processors, so some authors used a font that looked like the output came from a typewriter. I had an article rejected because I submitted it on fanfold paper (yes, I separated the sheets) using a dot matrix printer!

Dustie makes some good points, but I think grandma, grandpa and the parents WILL ask AI to create an image for them. Many people aren’t interested in reality, they are interested in a picture (pardon the pun) of reality. Think of all the people who cheat at sports, family games or even solitaire: they know they didn’t really win, they only appeared to win, other people think they won, and that’s what counts for them.

Think of all of the photographs of vistas, sunsets, horses in fields and cats by windows: the scene, and the picture, may be fine as it is, but we’re going to “enhance” it and make it a better scene. Why? Because some people prefer the enhanced over the original.

Yep, I can relate to the rank thing. I was assigned to Andersen AFB, Guam, on the northern end of the island. At the southern end was a huge Navy base. I was a captain, Air Force type, and when I had to call the Navy base I got all kinds of attention and assistance. Unfortunately, there was a time or two when a captain (Navy type) called my office, and the call was taken by a young airman who didn’t know, or understand, the difference! Ooops.

There have always been technological changes, and not just with rolls of film. I remember in 1970 I had a perfectly adequate Kodak Brownie. Then I took a photo class at The Ohio State University we used Nikkormats. What a difference! When I went on active duty in the Air Force the office I was in had a Canon FTb we could use on weekends, and all of a sudden that Brownie just wasn’t good enough. Had to spend about $600 to upgrade body and lenses. Even in the days of film, if it was important for the shooter to upgrade their images, it wasn’t just buy new film. You had to buy a new camera as well. Just like today.

If you cover the name with tape wouldn't that be a clue to thieves you were trying to hide the name of an expensive camera? Unless everyone covered the name of their camera, including covering "No-Name Special," then putting a piece of tape over a major brand name would be announcing, "I'm trying to hide the name of this expensive camera."

Thanx!! I'll give it a try.

Time for a stroll down Amnesia Lane. I’m looking for a couple of photo books I used in the late '60s at The Ohio State University. One was blue hard-cover, slightly oversized length and width, but fairly thin. There was a color section in the middle with a few textured (I’m thinking “plasticized”) pages.

There might also have been a section on photo stories, this particular one with a series of photos following a football play in which a defender knocked out a receiver. But this might have been a different photo book, dark red hard-cover, slightly smaller than 8x10.

Any ideas?

Hmmm. I picked pi, and that number didn't work, so I tried e. That one didn't work either. I bet there are an infinite number of numbers that won't work.

My very first camera was a Kodak Brownie, then when I took a photography course at The Ohio State University the school had Nikkormats we could check out. Kept the Brownie, but when I went into the Air Force the office I was in had a Canon FTb and a couple of lenses. I was able to use the FTb when it wasn’t “on duty,” but that became a little awkward so I bought my own FTb and haven’t looked back since. I still have the FTb and original lens, but just for fun I think I’ll try to figure out my ownership sequence from the FTb to my current EOS 1D X MK III. Can anyone else trace their “first” to “last”?

Ah, how things change!! I thought this was going to be about a zoom lens. Sigh.

When I was assigned to Dyess AFB, Abilene, Texas, I was involved with something called AICUZ (pronounced A-CUZ), Air Installation Compatible Use Zone. We had B-52s, KC-135s and C-130s. As Abilene began to creep closer and closer to the base we sure didn’t want the city to build, for example, a school off the end of one of the runways, or within so many lateral feet of departures and landings. We developed a set of contour maps, which were strictly advisory, showing noise levels and accident potentials. The idea was to work with the city to try to limit exposure through various kinds of zoning in the affected areas.

Take a look at this video produced by the ACLU, Scary Pizza Order.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNJl9EEcsoE

A young married couple was having their first at-home Sunday dinner together, and as the wife prepared to cook a ham she cut off the bone. When her husband ask why, she said she wasn’t sure why you have to cut the bone off to cook it, but “That’s what my mother taught me.
It just so happened the next Sunday they were at the young bride’s parent’s home and wouldn’t you know, the mother was fixing a ham for dinner. Before she put the ham in the oven she cut the bone off. When her son-in-law asked why, she said she wasn’t sure why you have to cut the bone off to cook it, but “That’s what MY mother taught me.”
Well, guess what, the very next Sunday they were at the bride’s grandparent’s house, and the grandmother was fixing a ham for dinner. The grandson-in-law, really curious now, asked why you have to cut the bone off to cook the ham. “It’s the only way I can get it to fit in the pan,” she said.