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When I was the remote control...
When I was a young boy I was the remote control for the television in our household: “John, change the channel;” “John, fix the rolling;” “John, turn the volume up.” Anything to do with the TV and I was the remote control; voice-activated, no less.
(Many people today will have no idea what “fix the rolling” means. TV’s would have both a horizontal and vertical control, because periodically the picture on the TV would begin to slowly “roll” up or down the screen over and over and you would have to adjust the controls until the “rolling” stopped.)
And no QVC on television.
We had 2 or 3 channels for awhile, and when we got cable we received 13 channels and we thought we had lived all there was to live!
I was in my early thirties before I had a TV for which I was not the remote control.
When I was a young boy there were no cordless phones, much less cell phones. We had one phone, with a cord. We dialed numbers with a rotary dial...push buttons were not yet the norm. At times lines would “get crossed” for lack of a better explanation and we were cursed with a “party line,” where we would hear two other people having a conversation when we picked up our phone to use it. And there were actual party lines, and if someone else was having a conversation you had to wait to use your phone until they were through, or, if it was an emergency, you’d politely break into their conversation and ask them to hang up so you could use the phone. (Today’s cell phone users: think of a conference call using speakerphone.)
There was no 911 system. You kept the individual numbers of the ambulance service, the police department, and the fire department by your phone and called the appropriate number for the emergency at hand.
There was no caller ID and no call tracing, which made telephone pranks easy and relatively anonymous: Me to grocery store: “Do you have Prince Albert in a can?” Grocery store: “Yes, we do.” Me: “Well, you better let him out! He’s gonna suffocate!” (Prince Albert: a popular brand of pipe tobacco.)
Oh yes...no answering machines, either...much less voice mail. If you weren't home...you missed the call. Just like TV: no VCR's or DVD recorders...you weren't home...you missed the show, and you would have to ask your friends what happened on your favorite show.
Just think: no computers and no Internet. If I wanted greater knowledge of something other than what was in the dictionary or the encyclopedias I drove to the public library or the university library, looked through their card catalogs, and read...real books; actual paper and ink.
Just think: no e-mails, no social media of any kind such as Facebook, and again, no cell phones; if you couldn't locate an old friend you made phone calls to mutual friends and hoped that someone had heard from the old friend and perhaps had a phone number or address for them. Failing that you could go to the library and request the phone books of cities on microfilm in hopes of discovering your friend’s phone number. That’s how I found my biological family.
(Oh, yeah: the no e-mail thing...you wrote a letter by hand, mailed it, waited for 3-5 days for it to arrive at its destination and then waited for a reply. Communication between friends or family could take weeks.)
Even when I was a young man cell phones were not in everyday use: I used to bicycle great distances on my bicycle, 300-400 miles a week including rides up to 100 miles long at a time. I remember flatting out with no spare tube and no patch kit (which I rectified soon thereafter) and walking a mile in my biking shoes (no easy feat because they had cleats on them to grip the pedals of my racing bicycle) while pushing my bike until I found a business with a phone that would let me use it to call for help.
Film cameras were state of the art.
Newspapers, TV, and radio were the breaking news.
Music CDs came into being after I'd been married for five years and had a kid.
I had a state of the art writing instrument: a portable manual typewriter that eventually got upgraded to an electric, and then wonder of all wonders, an electronic!
There were no iPods; a Sony Walkman with AM/FM radio was state of the art and if you really got fancy you bought one which also played cassette tapes.
I had an 8-track tape player in my car and a portable 8-track player in my house. The 8-track tapes would stop working properly and we had all kinds of tricks to get a little more life out of them, including whacking them forcefully with our hands and blowing forcefully into the opening of the housing. Heads for both 8-track and cassette players needed to be cleaned frequently using a long handled cotton swab and rubbing alcohol to get rid all of the accumulated grit and debris the tapes would leave behind as they played.
Wow...I look at how far we’ve come and it’s truly amazing. I remember each little improvement we enjoyed and were overawed with, but now the improvements come daily, sometimes hourly, and today’s kids grow up with a plethora of goodies that we could never have even imagined. I wonder if it makes it hard for them to become aware of some new device or gadget or function and for them to go “Wow!” in response. I hope not.
(Oh...the Funk and Wagnalls dictionary the remote is resting on? It’s from 1977...held together with tape and with many of its pages falling out. On the popular TV sitcom “Laugh-In” they used to say: “Look that up in your Funk and Wagnalls.” I still do.)
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See the video here: zerodriftmedia.com/dji-phantom-3-professional-a-beautiful...
Catching the golden hour light of this afternoon’s setting sun.
Shot with the DJI Phantom 3 Professional in 4k @ 24 fps using the Polar Pro ND 8 filter
zerodriftmedia.com/dji-phantom-3-professional-a-beautiful...
October 2015 JConcepts Indoor Nats
Flickr Page/Portfolio - flic.kr/s/aHsjYGRWvC
YouTube Channel - framebuyframe
E-mail - framebuyframe@gmail.com
© 2015 Russell Pead. All rights reserved.
(Credit Image: Russell Pead)
Date: 2015-10-11
January 2016 RC Racing
Flickr Page/Portfolio - flic.kr/s/aHsjYGRWvC
YouTube Channel - framebuyframe
E-mail - framebuyframe@gmail.com
© 2016 Russell Pead. All rights reserved.
(Credit Image: Russell Pead)
Date: 2016-01-01
As We're Here! looking around for our Remote Controls, I'm reminded of how there is so much electromagnetic radiation surrounding us. Four of these remotes use infrared beams, so don't aim them into your eyes. The other three use radio frequencies, so don't aim them into your brain or heart or nervous system or reproductive organs or implanted medical devices.
Hello week-end, other calm day this saturday. No really idea for the shot of the day but I'm keeping motivation to continute this 365... I want to. Don't forget : this is mine, my project for me and my relationship with photography. I love that and I need to know if is really what I want.
Have a nice day and week-end.
//
Hello week-end, une autre journée calme ce samedi. Pas vraiment d'idée pour cette photo mais je garde la motivation pour continuer ce 365... je le veux. Ne pas oublier : ceci est à moi, mon projet pour moi et ma relation avec la photographie. J'aime ça et j'ai besoin de savoir si c'est vraiment ce que je veux.
Bonne journée, bon week-end.
October 2015 JConcepts Indoor Nats
Flickr Page/Portfolio - flic.kr/s/aHsjYGRWvC
YouTube Channel - framebuyframe
E-mail - framebuyframe@gmail.com
© 2015 Russell Pead. All rights reserved.
(Credit Image: Russell Pead)
Date: 2015-10-11
January 2016 RC Racing
Flickr Page/Portfolio - flic.kr/s/aHsjYGRWvC
YouTube Channel - framebuyframe
E-mail - framebuyframe@gmail.com
© 2016 Russell Pead. All rights reserved.
(Credit Image: Russell Pead)
Date: 2016-01-01
I always thought life would be easier if I cloned my self, but, as it turns out, my clones are just annoying ;)
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This was my first serious attempt at cloning. I must say, lighting is a pain in the ass, but it was fun. ..hope you like.
Free view TV from C More for a while so I binge-watched all three seasons of Mr. Mercedes in no time at all.
These were some of the photos that I took after I bought my first Digital Camera a Canon EOS REBEL I took these photos in an Industrial Park in Green Cove Springs Florida. At the time the CSX Railroad had just purchased several Shoving Platforms (aka Remote Control Caboose Replacement).
The units were used to control switching Locomotives on Local Trains (especially during back-up moves) where a crew member could at the control panel on the (Flat Car) and control the Locomotive remotely by Radio; you can see the Antenna along with Horns and Flashing Lights at the Top of the Control Console in Photo #2 of 4. Of course today most railroads use a Fanny Pack Control Console that a Switchman wears at his beltline to control the Remote Control Locomotives especially within Rail Yards. I believe these Shoving Platforms were assembled by a Railcar Repair Facility within this Industrial Park because there were several units that were not yet full assembled at the time I Photographed them.
My building's laundry room has been closed for nearly a month, as they got new machines, waited for the card reader to be installed, repainted the floor, etc. Tonight they reopened it, complete with company rep to show us how to use the machines and give us a card loaded with $5.
But the best part? If you wanted to bring your laundry RIGHT THEN, the rep'd pay for it. So I did two ginormous loads--all my sheets, all my towels, a backlog of clothing that I'd not prioritized for *months*. There were socks in there. I don't know the last time I wore a pair of socks!
In a large white canvas tent before the runway, a man sat, focused on his model jet. With a long screw, he prodded one part and poked another.
I was intrigued.
His name was Jim, a model jet pilot from Durham, North Carolina, who was participating in the annual Jets over Kentucky. The week-long event near my home bills itself as "the World's largest remote control jet show." The world's largest anything is pretty rare in this rural part of Kentucky where I live. So naturally, I was out with my camera.
Jim said that he had come to previous Jets over Kentucky every at our county airport. It is a small rural airport that every year devotes itself for a week to these lilliputian planes, their pilots, their large recreation vehicles and visitors.
As I took photos, I asked Jim questions about his remote controlled jet. He said he could fly his Thunderbird model from his controller "as far as the eye could see it."
These were big model planes so the eye, at least my eyes, can see it pretty far.
It was very bright outside but dark in the shaded part of the tent where we were.
Jim was sitting down, working and prodding on an electronic box. I had seen him standing next to his plane when I originally walked over so I asked him if he could again stand up by his plane to work on it.
He did.
We talked about his Thunderbird model jet . It's an amazing machine. I asked him to look over.
Click.
Jim, thank you for your help.
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This is my twelfth public portrait that I have posted as part of the 100 Strangers photo project challenge. Find out more about the challenge to take photos of unfamiliars by going to the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.