May I Have This Post?

Is Your Post Card Filled?

Value and Romance on a Small Bit of Paper

You see them around all over the place, now mostly in tourist travelled trading places, guest shops, souvenir shops, and landmarks and you might have heard people telling you to send in a card with your name, address and current phone number to various places. (image to right -- image from Image*After¹) Of course you have seen the business reply cards in magazines and as warranty registration cards. Of course I am talking about postcards -- something that has been with us for over a century now. They officially came into being in 1861 -- developed by John P. Charlton from Philadelphia who transferred his copyright to H.L. Lipman -- "Lipman's Postal Card, Patent Applied For". Governments took over, including exclusive right to call them "Postcards" in 1893.

What is the value of a postcard? They are a very simple way to send a message by post for one thing and often they can be sent at a lower price than a regular letter. Today the cost to mail one is not too much different from a letter and of course anyone can read what is written on them. My Mom used to say that the person on vacation sending you a postcard -- or post card -- most often already had returned home by the time it reaches its recipient because each person in the post office who handles it take a moment to read it.

(images above from A Brief History of Post Cards²)

I imagine there are no secrets in a post card... unless you put it into an envelope or parcel or deliver it by hand.

But postcards have something special to them, mailed or not. In picking out a postcard to send someone, you are in a foreign location perhaps, maybe on vacation, maybe on business, but taking a few moments out of your day to think of others. I am getting away from the business sorts, like business reply mail and warranty cards here. They also are something from that place although it is possible to order postcards of exotic locations from the comfort of your home. A person might take their own photographs and write something on the back of them as mementos to send or keep, but still there is an interesting feeling with postcards.

Postcards historically are of values in that they capture a bit of a time and place and sometimes sentiment and feeling of that time. They trace the progress of a community with their snapshots of buildings and roads. Even showing one thing they often show others. A shot of a building might also show cars and people in it and give a glimpse at how they lived. If you look at a postcard from two different periods you might see how telegraph wires were added to be replaced by telephone wires to be replaced by underground wiring.

Postcards could be "wishes" of places a person wanted to visit or things they wanted to purchase or they might be telling of where they finally got or what they got. Businesses have often created PR with postcards and often very artistic ones.

You can find Canada's official Postcard Barrel at the Port Moody Station Museum. Deposit or pick up unstamped postcards during Museum open hours for hand delivery around the world.

Some subjects of postcards: Distant places, Architecture, Vacation Destinations, Advertisements, Street Scenes, Artwork, Landmarks, Cities, Towns, Wars, Heroes, Events,  Politics, Celebrities, and probably other subjects.

Our museum -- The Port Moody Station Museum³ (image to right) -- has a "Postcard Barrel" which is Canada's Official Postcard Barrel! I know there is one on the Galapagos Islands as well. They are an odd sort of thing, you drop a post card into it that you want sent somewhere in the world and people visiting have a look through and pick out ones close to where they are going and hand-deliver them. (see inset left)

You can always send an email, or take a picture to share, or buy postcards to take with you and give to friends -- but to mail it from afar, where it takes on a postal cancellation stamp, and perhaps a local stamp as well, and travel through the postal system until it reaches a friend's home and hand -- that ads something special and romantic to the whole thing. It is a bit more than a photo or a letter. It is a special souvenir not only of a place, but a time and a person.

Later!
~ Darrell

136.

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¹ Image*After Unattributed images from Image*After.

² "A Brief History of Postcard Types" Stefano Neis - Yahoo! GeoCities/Heartland/Meadows.

³ "The Port Moody Station Museum" 2734 Murray Street, Port Moody, BC

"Why Use A Postcard" Anders Eriksson - Post Cards usinfo.info

"History of Postcards" Emotions Greeting Cards.

Of Belts and Books, Briefcases and Backbacks... Part-1

Belting One On -- Front Seat Bad-Backseat Good

I come from a reckless generation... perhaps lucky we were wreck-less.

When I grew up, cars seldom had seatbelts as standard equipment -- as I mentioned in "Wandering Wags: Travelling Time With Your Dog" -- with our first car with seatbelts being a '66 Meteor. (image to right -- image from "Winged Messenger - Canadian Cars") That is referring to our Parent's car, that is. Our '72 Mercury was the first care that had convenient seatbelts and we only really started regularly using them towards 1976 or so. Those were such reckless times...

Back then too, my Sister and I considered it a treat to ride up in the front seat with Dad. There really were only a few times when that happened: When Mom stayed home -- she didn't drive and so the passenger seat was Mom's seat; when we went on a long highway trip and my Sister got carsick -- and Mom would have her sit up front with her; when there were more than two guest passengers in the car meaning that the back seat was full so there'd be three up front; and when on a few rare occasions when the trunk was so full of stuff -- like when Grandpa gave Dad a side of beef one Christmas -- that the suitcases took up the half of the back seat that my Sister normally sat on and so she had to sit in the front seat. Those were such reckless times...

(image to left, 1972 Mercury Monterey -- image from "Down On The Street")

I won't say my Parents were neglegent. Things were different in the 60's and early 70's. My Parents were quite strict actually that my Sister and I were to stay seated in the car while we travelled and that we were not to be standing on the seat like it seemed at least half the parents let their children do. They also didn't let us hang out the window like the family dog either like it seemed some families did. Even our dogs were required to keep their heads inside the car... true they were allowed to have their front paws on the back of the front seat so their nose could get out the window, but they had to keep their head in the car.

As time went on, accelerated -- perhaps with my defensive driving courses which my parents thought it was a good idea to have -- I began to figure it a good idea to wear a seatbelt. I worked to get myself into the habit of wearing one which was enforced in Driver Training. I decided I would always wear one driving and that it became part of my driving ritual when I got my first car when I was 17. I have always worn one since if there was a seatbelt and if it was at all possible or prudent. On some jobs as a security officer doing patrols on the dock it wasn't prudent. Driving without wearing a seatbelt feels naked to me.

Airbags seemed like a good idea to me. I did worry about people deciding not to wear seatbelts becausethey had airbags, but... people will be people. I do recall there being discussions early on about the dangers of airbags, but airbags were only found on upscale cars as options. Issues about dangers of airbags to children and smaller adults were something that were in the hands of the people who opted for the airbags. Things were different when airbags started becoming the norm. (airbag deployment image to right -- image from "GarageLibrary.com")

That is history. Since then seatbelt use, like helmet use on motorbikes and now bicycles, has become manditory and enforced by law. (image of child in bicycle helmet to left from "HAMAX") There have been stricter and stricter regulation on seating for children riding in motor vehicles. At first the regulations did rankle me because I was a poor student and though I had a car never had much money and I tended to taxi around friends who did not have cars yet had children. I could not afford to buy carseats for children or modify my older though well loved and cared for cars. Still since then there have been put into place resources for low income families to buy carseats for their kids even if they don't have a car so that they have them when it comes time to transport their children.

I think that carseats are a good idea, just like I think seatbelts are. (image to right from U.S. Census Bureau) I think that other safety equipment like airbags are good things too.

But there is something that has been bothering me... it is about the whole thing of it being a bad thing for children to be in the front seat of a car. I can agree that if the airbag is dangerous to children and small adult, that a child should ride in the backseat. ...but... I think there is a problem -- the problem not being with where the children ride, but why they must ride there. I think that the problem is with airbag design and rather than moving children and small adults out of the front seat, airbags should be made safer!

I see many arguments about the back seat being inherently safer from objects penetrating the interior of the car or crumple damage. There is validity there, and long, long ago I recall Mom talking about the front passenger seat being called "the suicide seat" -- though a lot of that was from pre-seatbelt days due to the fact that the front passenger would be catapulted through the windshield since they didn't have anything in front of them to stop them. The driver had the steering wheel and the back seat passengers had the back of the front seat to stop them from hurtling forward... remember this was before people so regularly wore seatbelts.

Okay so there were more dangers in the front passenger seat. That is especially true I know when nobody wears seatbelts. I think though where the argument wears thin is that if the back seat is safer... why let even the driver sit in the front seat? I know that sounds stupid. But if the seat is dangerous, then should anyone be allowed to sit there? Couldn't the front seat be made as safe as the back?

(image to left of forward facing car seat from "AAP -- Car Safety Seats: A guide for Families -- 2008")

I think in part the airbags and shoulder harness in the front seats -- especially for the passenger seat -- were to increase that safety, as were things like padded dashboards and so forth.

I think rather than all the propaganda to push children to the back seat, airbags that are not dangerous to them should be designed! There is a flaw in the airbags if they injure. I would have thought more research would have been done in the time since they were invented to solve this problem. There are better airbag systems coming out now and in development, but I rather think that kids are being asked to sit in the back of the bus.

Later!
~ Darrell

130.

Here's the Caboose!

What's a Caboose?

When I grew up any child -- at least in Canada and the USA knew what a Caboose was. I figure most folk who spoke English natively might know that. The "caboose" was the special train car that came at the end of a train. In fact it confused me that passenger trains didn't have them!

Now they no longer put cabooses at the end of freight trains, they have been replaced by electronic boxes of some sort they put at the back of the last car in the train. The function of the caboose as a car for the train crew no longer exists and the entire crew is -- I imagine either in the engine or in the various railroad offices.

Perhaps cabooses have become "extinct" on today's railroads, but what does this mean for the caboose in the English language? I don't imagine that many will miss it and people will simply think that those who talk about getting a "swift kick in the caboose" are a bit eccentric. They might wonder at some of the children's books that talk about trains and mention cabooses. (image of CPR caboose to right -- image from "Railway Photography by Chris vanderHeide") Of course "caboose" might not be the only word that gets you weird looks. What do you think kids today make of "Choo choo train"? Other than special tour trains and museums and in movies and on TV they might not see a steam engine or even if so not equate it with "Choo choo trains".

It is something that has happened again and again with changes in society and technology. When was the last time you talked about a "Hi Fi"? "Gramophone" "Victrola". I wonder how long before "record player" disappears from our normal vocabulary and is relegated to Scrabble games or Crossword puzzles?

I hope that doesn't happen with something like "polar bear".

Later!
~ Darrell

112.

Craftsmanship - Still a Great Need

Craftsman vs Worker -- Caring vs A Job

Perhaps a "Skilled Worker" can do as good a job as a "Craftsman" can in many cases and perhaps the difference between "craftsman" and "worker" and "professional" are all semantics, but I am using them in a particular way for the moment and not really talking dictionary or vocabulary here -- so bear with me.

When my Father was buying his second house -- this one custom made to his specifications -- many issues came up that got me thinking about something. The same thoughts came up when my Sister bought her first car and when my Father bought his next house. When someone is making a major purchase of their lifetime doesn't it make you feel a little uncomfortable that the people working on it might just be considering it "another day's work"? In a factory making cars -- a young person's first car is a pretty important purchase to them of their lifetime -- the car is made by many people just putting in their hours. You here jokes that you don't want a car built on a Monday... or a Friday... because the cars would be substandard since the workers would either be tired from their weekend or not have their minds fully on their jobs.

Perhaps on a mass produced consumer product it "might" be acceptable since you can just take the car back and get any problem remedied. I do find that this is almost a bit too routine. I don't know of anyone who doesn't have to take their new car back for some fairly important work when they first buy it -- things that were wrong from the factory.

I understand that a car has many components and many relatively complicated systems. That means many more things that can go wrong. I think that for some reason it might be easier to do quality control on computers which might be more complex -- so the two really aren't comparable, although some might at first think so. Other products you buy are simpler and even if they do turn out defective you can often return them to exchange for one that is in good condition.

I think that when you are buying something like a house, you are seeking a higher degree of quality because you are making one of those lifetime purchases and you can't just take a house back for another. It is also an imposition to have repairmen coming and going for the months following the purchase of your home... It might be for months as well it seems to me.

The time imposition might seem like the big problem, but an equally large problem is that many of the tradesmen who build things for some reason have no concept of how to work in a home that is finished and furnished. That at least is how it seems to me or they would do simple things like wipe their feet or not wear their grubbiest work boots onto new carpeting. Some just seem not to know how to work where there is finished flooring installed and will do things that will gouge floors and stain and tear carpeting. I have seen construction tools tossed into bathtubs and shower stalls as well -- scratching the enamel and other surfaces. The installers of the flooring and plumbing fixtures aren't responsible for that damage, and even if the tradesmen are willing to pay for any damage they do it means that there are more tradesmen coming in to do repairs and more chance for damage being done -- not to mention loss of privacy and the pleasure to enjoy your home.

I wonder how many new home owners throw up their hands and say "enough" and just stop calling the contractors, subcontractors and tradesmen to call back simply because they are tired of these invasions?

It all comes down to the idea of craftsmanship. I think that the difference between craftsmanship and work is that with craftsmanship the worker takes pride in their work and their reputation as a craftsman is important. Their reputation as someone who does quality work is very important and not just that they will come back to fix anything that goes wrong, but a step further -- that things that it is unusual that anything is wrong with their work or will go wrong. A craftsman will not normally let anything that is defective go out of their shop or anything that is likely to go wrong. There are some products that are delicate and then a reputation as being quick to remedy problems is important. That reputation is important in any case even if it is rarely necessary.

I think that fine furniture was once made by craftsmen and that was what was meant. The furniture would not be going out of the factory if blemished or faulty or damaged. It would be made right in the first place. Now it seems to me that factories turn out products that are more likely to be faulty.

A friend once told me what he thought the solution to "automation" was. He said that instead of simply putting in machines and laying off employees, instead increase the productivity, but train the employees and put them in positions that machines can't do. Put them into positions of craftsmen doing hand detailing and hand work. Put them where the work can produce pride and products of value. Add that to the increased productivity and do more with the same number of employees instead of doing the same amount with fewer.

Perhaps that attitude might lead to a surplus of goods... It might be very naive, but I think there probably is something important there. I do think that we do need to train people for those quality craftsman jobs. I think that there is a need for more people for whom their occupation is not just a job, that they are not just workers, but craftsmen.

Later!
~ Darrell

106.

Boys are from Earth, Girls are from Earth

Girls Can Do Math Just As Well As Boys

As a adult it always seemed strange to me when I heard that girls fell behind boys in school when it came to math and science. When I was in school I always thought of girls as the better students. I know there were always guys who did well, and when I was in Computer Club -- at a time before there were programming or computer courses in secondary schools -- there were only one or two girls in it for the dozen or so members we had. But the lab assistants seemed to be at least as many girls as boys and I recall perhaps more.

The girls always seemed the more studious and diligent with their schoolwork. Perhaps though I am remembering the earlier grades to grade 9? Perhaps at the time the girls tended to behave more politely and the teachers thought better of them as many of the boys were rough and tumble? I am not sure but I got that impression of girls being more scholastic than boys so it came as a surprise to me that they were falling behind in the maths and sciences -- especially calculus and physics -- in high school.

Now it seems that girls have caught up to boys in the standardized tests for Math*. They are discovering that there are fewer differences between how boy's brains and girl's brains are wired. The working theory has been that boys were expected to be going into occupations that would require the maths and physics and so took more of those courses so that when it came time for the standardized exams, they did better. The girls did not have the practise and so could not preform as well on those tests of academic ability.

There still are differences, but they are becoming smaller and smaller to the point of not being statistically relevant. More important though is the difference in performance between children in richer and poorer communities. Children in underprivileged settings are falling behind in their education.

I think that can be said regardless of race, creed, or background.

Later!
~ Darrell

100.

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* "Girls close math gap" Tom Spears -- Canwest News Sevice July 24, 2008, Ottawa Citizen.

Rhubarb Rhubarb Rhubarb

Rhubarb is an Interesting Fruit... Vegetable?

I am not sure if rhubarb is a fruit, I suspect that it is really a vegetable. I believe that tomatoes are considered a fruit by botanists, however by agriculturalists -- at least those who are in charge of import, export and shipping type stuff -- they are considered vegetables like most people do when considering their mealtimes.

I shall call it a fruit!

Rhubarb is the first fruit that I ever really experienced that was actually being grown where I lived! We had a huge yard in the city and a huge garden. We did have a crab apple tree, but it kept getting "winter killed" and never bloomed for a long stretch of my childhood and we didn't have any other fruit trees or even berry bushes or plants on our yard. We did have a very strong pair of rhubarb plant roots though!

I recall that we received the plants from an elderly neighbour -- though we were in a very new district -- and rhubarb plants with older large roots produced better rhubarb. Our plants sure were good! As a child we would be allowed to have a stalk each and our friends as well and we were given a cup with sugar on the bottom to use as we ate it. It was fun to leave the great elephant ear like leaves on the stalk as we dipped the end into the sugar and bit off bites of the sour flesh.

In some ways it was an excuse to eat the sugar, but the rhubarb was neat too! Then we were left with the huge 40-50cm across leaves to play with!

I think even better was what Mom did with the rhubarb! She would cut the stalks into 1cm chunks and then cook them down into either a sort of sauce or she would mix it with brown sugar and oatmeal and other stuff to bake into rhubarb crunch and rhubarb crisp... probably rhubarb crumble too, though I don't recall that name. I think Mom also made rhubarb pies and experimented with rhubarb upside-down cake and muffins. The rhubarb sauce would sometimes be made into a jam, I think -- but it has been so very long.

I loved the rhubarb crunch warm from the oven with vanilla ice cream melting over it. I think it really was one of my favourite foods in the world -- next might be apple crisp...

I think that when we moved from that house in Calgary to the West Coast hear in BC we did not have quite so sweet a rhubarb in our garden patches. True later we had strawberry patches, blueberry patches, and raspberry patches. We also had producing crab apple, apple, pear trees and even a hazelnut tree! Mom made what I figure was the World's best crabapple jelly -- red as ruby and clear as glass -- but the rhubarb crunch has a very special place in my heart.

Later!
~ Darrell

89.

Wandering Wags

Travelling Time With Your Dog

I was going to title this Pet Pilgrimages, but my experiences in life lead mainly to travelling with the family dog so I figured best to write about what you know at least a little about. While I am on that topic -- don't take my word as gospel! Ask your Veterinarian, SPCA, Groomer, or other Pet Professional for advice and take that before you take mine -- Please! I know they should have good advice and information. I imagine that should include "Kennel Clubs" and Breed Associations, though not being an expert I can be missing some... and I think in the US, what we call the SPCA (Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals) is called the ASPCA.

Perhaps we have always been lucky in our family, but our dogs always travelled well. We never had a problem taking them on the highway with us on our vacation trips and quite often those trips could be 2000 mile round trips. (That was in the days the Mile was King which is why I used miles... that's over 3200 kilometres.) That was the round trip between Calgary and Southern Manitoba where my paternal Grandparents lived and it crossed the very hot and dry Canadian Prairies in Summer and equally frozen and windy same Canadian Prairies in Winter. As a child I much preferred the Winter crossing -- I didn't do too well in hot temperatures -- although with a parent who smoked in Winter with the car closed in we were all fairly well cured by the time we reached our destination. (I wonder how many packs 20 or so hours of second hand smoke is worth?)

Those were on simpler times, many of them at a time when seat belts were options on North American Cars and no thought was given to dogs or children being lose in the back seat. (or front seat for that matter) Mom would fret about the dog sticking his head too far out into the 80mph windstream... (sometimes faster) in summer worrying that the dog might take a hit from a big bug like a bee and the dog would end up being content with his head on Dad's shoulder while driving getting not quite so much air. I would worry most about the dog getting lost in a strange town. Dad was confident that the Dog would always come when he called him. We never did lose a dog. (A golden lab, a long haired corgi, a Chihuahua-Pekinese, cross, and a miniature poodle, over the years.) We never had problems with car-sick dogs or whining and crying or barking in the car. Maybe we were lucky or maybe we just acclimatized the dogs gradually with short trips that most often did not end up at a groomer or vet.

Today though we are a bit more conscious of things. They even have seat belts for dogs! -- I hear they don't allow children in the front seat any more though. I'm thinking that they'll be having us kennel the children in the near future.*

I totally agree with the concept of having a kennel for the dog. Dogs are den animals and so having a den in the home can be a comforting thing I am told. A nice cozy kennel with favoured blankets and cushion (I almost said pillow! We all know that never happens.) and a place for some toys. We never had a kennel for our dogs, but I think there is provision for food and water in the too. There are appropriate sizes for the different breeds too and if you ponder getting a nearly 50kg dog plus kennel into a car, van, SUV, or truck -- the dog has 4 legs and can jump up and into the kennel after it is in the vehicle. Then not only is there a secure place for the pooch that you can strap down, but the dog has their own home den with them and there is a place for the dog to stay at your destination as well.

Kennels are also well ventilated and while there are some cage sorts there are others that have vents that can be opened or shut. Regardless you don't keep the dog locked into the kennel the full time either, just as you wouldn't keep a child locked in a small room.

For shorter trips, I know there are harnesses which are intended to allow you to link your dog to the car's seatbelt system. I recall ones that allow limited movement allowing the dog to sit or lay down, but not run around and if there should be an accident keep them from being hurtled about the car. I think I might invest in a harness style collar though rather than the simple neck one. I have also seen systems for the backs of trucks which allow larger breeds more freedom while still restricting them and keeping them safely in the box of the truck. I note that professionals tend to use kennels still and if I recall K-9 squads actually have the back of the car set up as a kennel?

Most important is not to leave the dog in a car on even a warm day. The temperature will climb quicker than you would ever expect to levels lethal for a dog -- or for a child or elderly person for that matter. This is even with the window cracked a bit for ventilation. Dogs can not survive the heat that a Human can. Their panting is not as efficient as our sweating. When it gets hot, canines in nature have already sought out cooler spots with good ventilation and a source of water. That is one of the natural instinctive ways that animals survive heat. A dog in a car can not do that. Dogs, children, and the elderly die each year in cars due to heat on days that you wouldn't consider part of any heatwave or even excessively hot. I would imagine that cats and other small animals might even have it worse.

The last horse trailer I saw had air conditioning! Of course it was for the horses of the police department.

It does make me wonder if there is a market for air conditioned kennels...

Still, not all dogs travel well, for some it would be a gift to put them up in a canine kennel for the vacation time. They might fret and whine a bit when you leave them, but from my experience they tend to just settle in for a wait after if they are the sort who really miss you. For the ones you might have to sedate to travel with, maybe better they nap and mope a bit in a kennel rather than having to tranq and sedate them for a journey which might make them sick. For some dogs it might even be an adventure. I think it would be a good idea to know how they treat animals there and if you are comfortable leaving your dog in their care. Then at least there is an option if you absolutely must leave your dog -- even if normally you include them in on vacation trips.

Traditionally some people also have had house sitters who were also pet sitters. Often they were neighbours, nephews, and nieces who were responsible enough -- sometimes under supervision of an adult -- to come into your own house to take care of your dog. I have done it a few times. Traditionally too some people would leave their pets with a friend or relative for the duration of the vacation.

Regardless of what your plan is, do that -- plan! Do more than throw a cottage cheese container and bag of kibble in the back seat before making sure you have the leash that works with the collar. Do your homework, find out about hotels; motels; relatives allergies; shots and paperwork needed if you cross the border or even enter a national, or provincial park; special booking and requirements if you travel by boat, plane or train; and so many other things...

Consider this, even on a day trip -- if you plan on eating in a restaurant, where will the dog be? If it is anywhere between spring and fall and not a rainy day it will be too hot to leave the dog unattended in the car, someone might have to dog-sit while others are in the air conditioned restaurant. Some picnic grounds might even be a problem. How about getting the dog across a lava hot parking lot?

Things to consider. We normally were travelling to Grandma and Grampa's farm and only had to worry about keeping the dog out of the barn and cow pies.

Later!
~ Darrell

88.

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*Yah, yah, I know why children are not allowed in the front seats of cars. I do not agree with it... I think there is something wrong if airbags are too dangerous to allow children to safely ride in the front seat. But that is another article.

A Need for Censorship?

Blushing Boys

I wonder if there are two stages of keeping scandelous images from young eyes - or maybe four? Three if you include young enough not to care and four if you include old enough that it is deemed permissible. I am wondering about in between infancy and adulthood.

Where I am considering this from is from an age when I used to be horribly embarrassed by the ladies of the covers of "Cosmopolitan". I might have just been a very easily embarrassed young boy, but I think boys who are old enough to understand, but aren't ready can just be very embarrassed by sexual images. For me it was the cleavage that was always showing. As far as I knew at that young age it was the whole breast that was what perhaps shouldn't be seen and there it was on display on magazine racks at the grocery store.

Of course at the time seeing any bit of underwear was shocking. The sight of a bra strap for example was shocking. That was the 60s -- before material girls started wearing lingerie on the outside of their clothes or slips as dresses. It was also when burning a bra was a real statement because all women wore bras.

I guess this is a bit sexist, but I can only really speak from my point of view at the time and not a girl's.

I know I was also fairly scandalized by the catalogue and the lingerie section... and then there came a time when it became intriguing.

It makes me think that there is a time when young people really do not want to see anything blatantly sexual. It is a time perhaps of innocence -- a time when they should be allowed to keep that innocence. That age is different I think for everyone, but I think it is a reason why we kept adult magazines behind counters and kept children out of certain sorts of places. It wasn't so much to keep them from being perverted, but because the children really didn't want to see it and were very uncomfortable with it. I am meaning before that age where they become very interested.

Mind you I suspect that I might be in the minority with my belief on that..

Later!
~ Darrell

84.

These Are the People in Your Neighbourhood

These are the People in Your Neighbourhood

What happened to home delivery?

If you were around in the Sixties you probably still remember "The Milkman" beyond colourful references in comedy sketches. Otherwise it might only be from movies, comedies, or "Saturday Night Live Sketches". If you were around in the Sixties you might even remember "The Bread Man"!

I remember these and vaguely remember the "Fuller Brush Man". I also remember when you would see delivery vans proudly boasting the colours of each of the major department stores travelling into your neighbourhood. Some of them were delivering goods from the catalogue sales, but others were delivering furniture and other things too bulky to take home in the car, taxi, or by bus.

You don't see nearly so many folk on your street or down your lane. I am well past the day of coal delivery, though I know there are parts of the country which still get bulk heating oil delivered.

Of course now -- and of course speaking from experience I am speaking from growing up in Calgary Alberta and now Metro Vancouver -- a person might feel lucky if they have mail delivery from a mailman -- I mean mail person to the door.

I am not sure if it is changing demographics where more often there is nobody home or more often the person home has access to a car -- either a second car if the person working during the day drives on their commute or their primary car if they commute in other ways to work. (Or whatever other combination that still is more likely to leave the person at home now with access to a car when in the past they would be without.)

The Cable Guy still occasionally calls, as does the Phone Guy; and the Gas Man and the Electric Man still come to read meters occasionally. We still do have paper deliveries though some households are opting for electronic news papers. There are also the charities that pick up old clothes and the like.

I guess there are still rare furniture deliveries, though I am thinking more and more people have to find a friend with a van or truck to help hauling the goods.

I am too young to remember when there might be others coming door-to-door to deliver their wares like meat deliveries. I guess we still have deliveries though most are fast food.

I do wonder if children will be curious about the "Milk Chute" by the back door and wonder why there is a special small door with a cabinet in the outside wall. Perhaps it will be like when I wondered at the coal chutes leading into cellars of older homes when I was a child?

Later!
~ Darrell

82.

Biting the Apple: How Do I Back Up Files to a DVD?

How Do I Burn Files to a DVD?

I might be more computer literate than your average bear, but I sometimes look upon new tasks with trepidation. It wasn't so hard to use my CD Burner -- I guess you would call that a CD Writer-ReWriter if you even still remember such things associated with computers. At least it wasn't so hard to use the CD Burner to create disks that I could essentially use as small removable hard drives or like very large "floppy disks".

Just a little Aside:

Now if CD Burners are alien to you, floppy disks will even be more so. Floppy disks were the medium of choice for transporting files from computer to computer long before Internet connection even by dial-up was common. While many offices had networks, smaller ones often had what was referred to as "sneaker-net" which basically meant you copied the files to a "floppy" and carried it to the other computer physically -- "sneaker" referring to your common ordinary running shoe. They started out being flimsy plastic discs permanently contained in slightly less flimsly plastic (vinyl?) envelopes with windows and notches cut into them. The first ones were around 8 inches across. Later they shrunk to 5 1/4 inches square or the 5 1/4" floppies. Tandys, Apples, Commodores, Ataris, and even the original XT's and all the way up to the 386's of the PCs had them. The Classic Mac went away from them as did the Amiga, though the Amiga I know had an available external one. The Macs and Amigas went to the more robust, faster, more powerful, bionic... well not bionic... 3 1/2 inch floppy. A lot of people don't realize that these 3 1/2" disks were still floppy disks because they came encased in a protective hard plastic shell with a sliding window that protected the disk inside. That disk inside was still very much like what was in the 8" and 5 1/4" floppy disks. Eventually they held typically a whole 1.44 Mb of data and that is what everyone got their software to install on their computer on. Windows 3.1 came on floppy disks for instance.

That worked well until I tried to take disks I created to other people's computers only to discover they didn't work as the system I was using was "proprietary" -- meaning does not play well with others -- and this was an issue. It was possible for me to create disks nearly anyone else could use, but it took more learning to do and for some reason I just never made many disks other than necessary backups.

The CD's were also limited to around 700MB and while at one time that was "HUGE", huge has a tendency to shrink very quickly in the computer world.

Well, one of the reasons I was upgrading to a newer system was to be able to work with DVDs. DVDs could hold more than the 700 MB that the CDs could. I am not sure how much the original DVD recordable media could hold, but the current DVD-R discs can now hold 4.7GB of Data. Considering that 700MB is not even 3/4 of 1GB, that is a large jump in size. I discovered actually that DVD players came way down in price and started saving for that. I wasn't sure how my cobbled together system -- I don't think it really has a "Powered by Frankenstein" sticker on it -- would handle a DVD player or Writer. But I realized when saving my birthday and Christmas money that I might consider saving for an actual new computer... That is how I got the cobbled together desktop computer in the first place really. My income did improve and rather than the low end notebook computer I was aiming for I realized I could aim for an Apple notebook. So I did.

The bottom of the end of the 13" MacBooks still had the CD Writer DVD Player combo -- I think that was called the Super Drive? -- and I wanted to be able to back things up in larger chunks than 700MB. Currently people buy multi-GB memory cards and card readers for some sorts of storage or memory sticks of multiple GB size. GB is Gigabyte or a thousand million bytes using binary numbers which means the actual numbers come out weird. MB is Megabyte or million bytes and KB is Kilobyte or thousand bytes.

So I got the middle of the line MacBook which I am fairly pleased with still after 7 months.

Getting back to backing up files to a DVD. Now I still don't know all the ins and outs, but one very simple way is to create a folder and give it the name you want the DVD to eventually have. Then copy all the files you want to go onto the DVD onto that folder. If you had already opened an Info window on that folder you could watch as the file size increased. I don't think you want to go much over 4.3GB though I am not 100% sure on the exact value. DVD recording material is not very expensive so I think that perhaps organization is more important than ramming every last byte you can onto the disc. Also I am not sure what happens if you go over. Also this is for DVD-R discs. I think DVD+R disks are the same and am not sure that there are other sizes or not?

Once you have the files in that folder you created and you have named and renamed them to your satisfaction and I figure if you have an obsessive nature you might want to sort the folders the way you want -- not sure it makes a difference -- then place a blank DVD into the drive. The Mac will spin up the drive and look to see what sort of disc it is. When it discovers that it is recordable and blank it will ask you what you want to do. In this case I click on "Ignore". There are other ways to do things, but this is how "I" am doing things at the moment and not an all inclusive manual. Once you have done that, Open up the folder you have created with the name you want on the DVD. It now has all the files you want to put on the DVD as well. If you have this folder open and it is the active folder, the "Finder" menu will be at the top of the screen. Click on "File" and when the menu drops down, towards the bottom will be a choice: Burn "DVDTitle" to disc

"DVDTitle" of course will be the title you gave to the folder you want to turn into a DVD. Conversely the computer is telling you that it is preparing to turn "DVDTitle" into a DVD. I left things as they were, It selected 8x for speed though I think my discs are rated for 16x. I think that is the maximum speed for the burner in the notebook. I clicked okay and the computer started creating my DVD. There was a progress indicator which showed how much had been done so far. Once the DVD had been written onto the DVD it then verified the data went on okay... I am not sure what would happen if it didn't -- would it be able to correct the error or just say "Sorry we have to try again, please insert another disc."

Simple -- the next thing I did was to eject the disc and use my permanent marker to label the disk. I do that right away now... I don't know how many of those darned floppy disks I have without labels...

Later!
~ Darrell

81.

Boys and Their Toys

Boys and Their Toys Sometimes Don't Change

Now perhaps it is true that as the boys grow to men the toys just get more expensive, but I think that the saying has more to do with instead of there being bicycles there are cars. I am thinking of adults who think fondly of some of their childhood toys.

I have written about my own fond memories of Lego blocks (image to right -- image from Lego.com)and Plasticine modelling clay (image to left -- image from Mastermind Toys)already, but I also have fond memories of other toys.

There were my Tinker Toys (image to right -- image from Hasbro) which are the rods and disk and drums of wood that you join together to make structures. They could even be motorized and could be substantial in size if you engineered them correctly. I tended to build... space ships and submarines... with them...

There was the original GI-Joe (image to left -- image from ComicBookMovie.com) which of course was the 12 inch (1:6 scale) action figure with fully poseable limbs and uniforms and equipment to scale. Mine mostly was used as a rescuer or explorer and never really as a soldier. I had a "frogman" suit for him and made a few spacesuits.

There was also my Best Friend Brother's Mecanno Sets (image to right -- image from Meccano Canada Borgfeldt (Canada) Ltd) which were mechanical building toys made of metal with perforated strips and sheets; rods, pulleys, and wheels; and nuts, bolts, and washers in addition to a few wrenches and screwdrivers. They also sometimes included motors either battery powered or wind-up -- although my friend's brothers either didn't have them or wouldn't let us have them to use. We would build robots and spaceships and other vehicles with them... but mostly robots.

Those are among the other toys of my childhood and youth I sure seemed to want to play with spaceships and astronauts; submarines and aquanauts much of my youth -- and much of the time wanting to build. I had other toys too, but often eventually adopted them to those same two themes somehow.

Still when I had grown older -- over 21 -- and I found myself sitting with a large set of "Space Lego" I found I had great fun creating spaceships once more and it was even more fun with the new parts that came with the new sets. A younger cousin was visiting from out of town and brought his rather impressive (to me) collection.

What got me thinking about this was an image I stumbled upon using Stumble Upon. It was of a diorama-like setup that is very impressive looking. (image to the left -- image on cthulhuland 3) It is based -- I think -- on a Call of Cthuluu game, though it could be a story or comic to do with the mythos created by H.P. Lovecraft for his books. I'll link the image here to the originating page, but I can't find more than the link to the photo rather than the page that the photo might be included on. In case things move around and not to be stealing bandwidth. You can find a copy of the image here: cthulhu-lego.jpg, 1200x900 pixels

It is a very impressive diorama and I wonder just who might have put it together. I suspect that whomever wasn't a young kid and perhaps not even in their teens.

I think some adults stick with hobbies like Lego as an adult and build great things with them. Just as there are Etcha Sketch artists out there (you can look up that toy yourself) there are many toys I think that still captivate the young at heart.

I would like to do some diorama work myself using the art techniques I have learned combined with what I have learned about miniature painting and model railroading. I would like to bring in my computer graphic and design skills as well. I once thought about making my own model spaceships too, but why stick with Lego or Meccano, why not buy plastic sheeting and light metal to do work myself. I could get a few light tools to work with lightweight metal and plastic. I could buy nuts and bolts. I have an artist's skill to be able to hand craft things as well through sculpture and carving. I know a bit about mould making and casting too, though not nearly enough about pewter or brass casting... well next to nothing about brass casting and little about pewter other than a rough knowledge of how.

Still only slightly different toys than I tended to play with as a child. I want to make scale spaceships and submarines. I would like to make them sturdy enough to handle and detailed as well with working parts like hatches and ports.

I do think that adults can do pretty impressive things with "children's" toys. Maybe some day if I catch some more on Stumble I shall post links to them here.

Later!
~ Darrell

78.

KA-BOOM! Celebration!

Canada Day Fireworks

Before I moved to the Gnomestead here in Port Moody BC there were Fireworks every July 1st for Canada Day! I am not sure if the last year they did that was July 1st 2000 or 1999. The fireworks were wonderful.

Port Moody stretches around the end of Burrard Inlet and the fireworks took place on a barge anchored in the inlet off Rocky Point Park. People could gather in the park for the Canada Day Celebration at the "Golden Spike Days!" with all the performances and other events and then finish the day with the fireworks. The fireworks could be seen from all around the inlet and the surrounding mountain slopes.

Sadly they decided that hosting the fireworks display just was too expensive because in particular of increased policing expenses. People would come from other surrounding municipalities to enjoy the show with their families and I think it was a great event. There were larger fireworks displays in downtown Vancouver for other events including an international fireworks competition held annually now. But where I think most places once had fireworks for Canada Day - once called "Dominion Day" and representing Canada's independence as a nation in 1867.

I think that the Canada Day fireworks displays dwindled to maybe 3 or 4 in British Columbia a year or two ago with locally there being one show in Port Coquitlam and another in Surrey. I am not sure if the one in Victoria - BC's Capital - still has been happening. I did not see very many local private shows either this year. But this year and in 2007 Vancouver had a fireworks display again finally.

The last show I went to was at Port Coquitlam and it was pretty impressive. It was held in a park surrounded by homes in a subburban neighbourhood. That did lead to some parking and traffic issues, but Port Coquitlam did seem to have things well planned. Scattered across the park were many portable lighting towers with telescoping booms and their own generators. The organization of the event was as impressive as the actual fireworks display was. The fireworks were indeed impressive too.

I was impressed at watching the police going quietly through the crowd making their presence known in a relatively non-threatening way - in a way that gave some feeling of security for what was intended to be a family event. I didn't mind watching them confiscating beer and other alcohol from underage drinkers - in fact being that it against the law to drink in public locations they could confiscate it from adults too - alcohol was restricted to the beer garden which was on site if I recall correctly.

There was a cheerful joyful sound of families having fun - children squealing and laughing, teens giggling and chatting, adults murmering - and then with the fireworks silence and a few shrieks followed bye oohs and awes. When the display ended, the generators on the light standards were started and the park became awash with electric light and there was light for families to pack up to leave for home. There was also enough light to give security and prevent vandals from making problems.

But I imagine all that had its price. Port Coquitlam seemed happy to have people from all over come and celebrate with them.

Other places are not so willing to pay the price to invite others in to celebrate.

I do wonder what the value is of a child's delight at a fireworks display? What is the value of a family outing once a year to something like a summer holiday complete with picnic or barbecue and maybe some cotton candy or other things you shouldn't have regularly finishing up with fireworks?

Some people might think that it is okay to have displays which are far afield, but more and more families do not have cars and buses do not run so frequently or to all neighbourhoods for coming home after a display. Not so good for parents with tired children.

The Port Coquitlam fireworks display is pretty neat, but I think that the display would be so much nicer in Port Moody - and that is not just because I could probably see it from home. The inlet would be a much nicer setting and is right net to major transportation corridors for public transit even for those parents with tired children. The Port Coquitlam site is a bit out of the way transit-wise. In future the site will even be close to rapid transit. There will also be a large chunk of population a walk away from the site or able to see it from parks close to home.

Now all we need to do is find a way to fund such a show and display?

I think that such family events are important for healthy family life and creating good memories for the future.

I remember things like fireworks, family picnics, and air shows from my childhood - but maybe I am getting ancient?

Later!
~ Darrell

76.

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Fireworks image above is used with permission from Image*After - The Raw Base For Your Creativity

Biting the Apple

Going For a Mac Instead

Perhaps a year and a half ago... maybe even two years ago I decided I was going to somehow get a new computer. I wanted a notebook - laptop - computer. My reasoning was that I wanted to be able to work on my writing whether I was at home here at my Gnomestead Apartment or at the Parental Homestead across the river. I also wanted the option to work at the museum where I volunteer at or the library. I also do some web management and have been known to do some other computer work where it would be handy to actually be able to show people stuff in their own home rather than scribble it on paper for them and then translate it to computer at home to then print off and show at home.

So I had reason to get a notebook computer. This decision was perhaps a greater one than for most as I am on a small fixed income with a bit of addition from those few outside jobs I mentioned - those jobs are not under the table. I considered going to a company like Dell or MDG to buy the computer on credit. They say that they will extend credit to almost anyone and talk about "a buck a day" on at least one of their advertisement themes. I did talk to a friend about it and she suggested that I instead wait and put the money aside and that a larger down payment might mean smaller payments or lower interest so I started adding a bit of money each month to the money I already had saved up. I had saved up a fair amount for a DVD player-recorder-re-recorder for my computer and I added to that sum for the new computer would have that built in. I looked to save up for a notebook which would have that and priced out the lower priced ones that would suite me.

After all I already had a functioning desktop model, I could wait and save money. I then got a bonus for some work I was already doing that added to my fixed income. I put half of that to savings. The savings for the computer could also be emergency money for... emergencies.

I realized that perhaps I might be able to get a nicer computer and started looking at tablet computers before I remembered discussions I had with my cousin about the Apple Mac. I knew about it of course. I have been around computers from before there were personal computers. But my cousin talked about things like how robust the Apple was in regards to things like viruses. My good friend's husband bought a Mac Power Book before they went to Japan and they liked it enough that when they came back, they bought an Apple desktop computer system.

I looked at the prices on the MacBooks - the entry level 13" ones - and compared the new OSX Leopard operating system with the new Windows Vista and with the Intel MacBooks being able to actually run Windows XP or Vista if I wanted as well as Leopard, I was sold. Eventually I had the money and the courage to spend it!

I bought the MacBook. (image to left - image from Apple Canada) It really seems to fit what I wanted. I am not sure if I should have gone for the 160 Gb hard drive instead of the 120 Gb one that I got, but I realized that I could get a 250 - 500 Gb external hard drive for the $200 price difference between the two models. I think if there was a choice in the stores locally I might have gone for the black one rather than the white one, but only the much more expensive 15 inch ones were available in the black.

I found it easy to move over to using the Apple and OSX Leopard after using Windows 98 and Windows XP. Granted I learned about computers in a rather organic manner. I grew up with them. I started learning on machines where you used punched cards with your program punched into them one line per card and fed into a card reader by a technician and graduated to using terminals both on campus or via modem with acoustic-couplers - you literally rested the telephone handset into a cradle with a speaker and microphone to connect the modem to the phone line. Directly connected modems were not common. Luckily at the time nearly all handsets were the same. Later the personal computers came out. Radio Shack's TRS-80, Apple II's, and Commodore Pets followed the earlier kits of Altair 80-80's and their like. then the Commodore VIC20 and Commodore 64 and... eventually the Compac, and other machines running CPM and then cam MSDOS and the IBM and IBM clones. I can't forget the Texas Instruments computers and Hewlett Packard ones as well. The XT and others ended up taking a large chunk of the market from the Mac, Amiga, and the Atari which ran on Motorola processors. Eventually, at least in America it was the PCs and the Macs that were left.

With learning the various operating systems as they were introduced and the various keyboards and other control devices - I used GUI's similar to windows using a Joystick because mice were very expensive and not something one casually bought when you were just getting used to a new system like GEOS. So I learned how to switch from one thing to another with minimal instruction. Perhaps that made transition easier?

On the other hand... I am mostly using EXACTLY the same software I use on my desktop PC for most of my usage with the exception of some new software I am learning. For instance, I am writing this blog entry using the ScribeFire Application for the Mozilla Firefox Browser here on my MacBook. It is identical in appearance, function, and capability to the same software that I use on my Windows XP Desktop computer. The biggest differences are that the screen is a bit difference in proportion and that the keyboard feels different and does not have a numeric keypad. I do have a mouse for the MacBook, but choose to use the trackpad by choice. If I were to shift down two screens and activate "Remote Desktop Connection" I would be able to access my PC via my wireless network and router and could run Firefox on my PC using my MacBook keyboard, trackpad, and monitor and there would be no difference.

For most of my office type work I use Open Office on the PC - it is a good alternative to the MS - Office line of software and even has some advantages. It is one of those pieces of software that you can pay for essentially by donation and it is worthy of donating to. I use Open Office on my PC and there is a variation for my Intel Mac called NeoOffice which is nearly 100% identical to the Windows version.

That takes care of 90% of my usage.

The other 10%... Well I am not 100% converted. I still use my old faithful venerable copy of "Adobe Online" on my Windows XP box - but I use it via Remote Desktop Connection from my MacBook so it feels like it is running there and I can use it anywhere in my apartment. I could experiment with accessing it via the internet, but so far... haven't felt too compelling a need for that possible security weakness. I still could install Windows XP or Vista on the MacBook. But I don't know about taking up room from my 120 Gb internal hard drive... that was where I was contemplating whether that decision to chose it over the 160 Gb drive was wise or not springs from. However if I get the right external drive... I would install Windows XP on it and then either used the built in "boot camp" utility in Leopard to boot up as a Windows computer or one of the available for purchase programs that would let me run Windows XP concurently while running Leopard. Then I could run the few programs I go back to the PC for.

I think I shall get back to this subject later and tell you more about the transition to working on an Apple. It isn't all apple blossums like some might lead you to believe.

Later!
~ Darrell.

71.

Of Course It Is Only a Scale Model...

Of Course It Is Only a Scale Model... and it's Green

The Joy of Plasticine!

Perhaps even more hours than I spent playing with my LEGO I played with my Plasticine! (image on right from Mastermind toys.com) I am not sure if I discovered the incredible stuff in Kindergarten - that is for five-year-olds here in much of Canada, and was not yet mandatory when I was five in Alberta - or if I discovered it earlier. I am fairly certain it was in Kindergarten for I didn't have it at home... yet!

What we had at kindergarten for the most part was all coloured a strange sort of grey colour. The colour really didn't matter to me and at the time I didn't know that Plasticine, or modelling clay, came in different colours. I just thought it was incredible stuff that you could roll into lon snakes and make stuff out of. Perhaps much time was spent making balls and snakes and flat disks. But I also progressed to making basket or bowl shapes and the like. They were not huge sit on the shelf sorts of things, but just small kid things that you might be able to make with a quarter to half a cup of the clay... perhaps even a whole cup! I did wonder how you could make the stuff harden like the clay they made stuff on TV. I also knew that a few of the TV shows I watched use "clay" for the puppets. There was "Davy and Goliath" (image on right) and "Gumby and Pokey" (image on left) though the latter came later.

Mom made some modelling dough stuff at home for Sunday School out of salt and flour, but that just wasn't the same and it was so very salty and didn't mold right. I think my cousins had "Play Dough" but that smelled like a sort of candy-dessert that I really didn't care for and it really didn't feel right either. I sometimes discovered that I had some of the marvellous Plasticine in my pockets when I got home from Kindergarten and began collecting it at home until I actually had enough to play with at home. It wasn't anything done on purpose, mind you. Just one of those things that happens when five-year-olds play.

Eventually I discovered that Plasticine came in different colours and that the grey stuff of the Kindergarten play time was grey because it was a mixture of all the colours at once. I still did not mind because I really could not understand how a person might create something with modelling clay and still keep the colours separate. I am not sure if it was Mom or me who eventually bought the green Plasticine I got at home? I think maybe in time - and perhaps bathwater - the grey stuff got too yucky to keep. So from then on everything I made was with slightly higher quality green modelling clay. The monochromatic pallet did not bother me at all and I was always fond of green even when blue was my favourite colour.

I did get "Silly-Putty" (image on right) which I thought was rather fun, but silly because it wouldn't hold a form. It did have the ability to bounce and it could transfer "funny pages" or news print images to itself. It also could either stretch or crack like glass depending on how you handled it. You did have to be careful where you kept it because it sort of flowed like a liquid - albeit slowly. It became like a protoplasmic friend to my GI-Joe. I also got something called "Goop" - I think - which was a powder you mixed with water which became something like Silly-Putty but because you could have a larger amount you could blow a large bubble with it. Rather than the flesh coloured Silly-Putty, the Goop was a really dark reddish purple. I am not sure what became of it, but it was even runnier than the Silly-Putty. (It wasn't the "Plasti-Goop" used in Mattel's Thing-Maker and it isn't the Slime Kids have today.. though might be related to the later. Probably some sort of starch or algenate product.

The Silly-Putty and Goop could never hold a candle to the Plasticine though.

Later I used the Plasticine-modelling clay to make a mould for a paper maché mask. I discovered a new, more adult use for the Plasticine and thought about what I might make with it that I might make moulds of. I couldn't quite figure out the whole thing yet, but I went from fooling around to trying to make specific objects with it.

I loved making dinosaurs out of it and I also made submarines and space ships with it. It was much more flexible than the LEGO ever was for that, but the flexibility and pliability of the modelling clay was also a problem. Later I discovered that I could use a combination of body heat or a short while in the freezer to change the modelling consistancy of the clay. I also started to gather a few different tools for carving and forming the clay.

In the meantime, what led me to gathering up tools was my experience with using actual potter's clay. We had pottery in school and they taught us how to model and mold and sculpt that. I even learned a bit about throwing pots on a wheel and slabbing the clay in preperation for use. What I knew from my years with Plasticine did transfer a bit to the potter's clay though you don't stretch potter's clay like you do Plasticine.

For a while I made "Star Wars" and "Battlestar Galactica" type space ships for fun and tried my hand at making them consistantly enough so that I could make a handful of the same ship even if not actually copying any of the ships from the shows. I learned that to save clay I could mould the clay around other objects like marbles or pieces of wood. I could thus save on clay, but I also learned that these would act as "armatures" for more fragile areas.

With my experiences with Plasticine I learned a lot about working with three dimensional form. I actually realize that I can work in 3 dimensions better with two in artwork. My sculpting and carving is good for the amount of actual practical time I can put into it. I can also take a lump of clay and model it into whatever form I want and can imagine or see. If I see a cartoon character on TV or in a book, I can fairly quickly make it up with Plasticine and probably could as easily do it in other mouldable materials. It would only take some more work to do so with something needing carving and sculpting.

I still have yet to trasfer those skills to actual 3D work on the computer even though I can visualize what I need for my 2D working.

I do plan on doing more, making models with the Plasticine, or perhaps in wax or soap and then with rubber, alginate, plaster of paris, or perhaps paper mache make a mould of it so I can cast more permanent models or figures from plaster, ceramic, pewter, wax, or whatever.

I really still do love to have some Plasticine on hand to work with. I would like to collect some good and simple and easy to make in the kitchen recipes for things like Plasticine so I can make my own at home in colours and with the qualities I desire. For instance ones that will air harden and ones that won't, some that might harden in the oven. And ways to make it whatever colour I wish or be paintable or decorateable however I wish.

Still the neat thing is simply creating! Fun even if it is only in green...

Later!
~ Darrell

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WiseGEEK - What is Plasticine? -o- Plasticine - Wikipedia -o- Home Plasticine Video - metacafe (Not really Plasticine, but that salt and flour modelling dough) -o- The EffectsLab.com - View Topic - can clay be oiled again??? my oil based clay = drying out (Some Plasticine Recipes are on this page.)

68.