Summer vacation

I think we will close down the playhouse for the summer. Will write but not post. Have a couple of working posts .. but will put them on RJ-11 and link from here to there if relevant.

The image above is burned in my mind. It provided an image for dead air. When I was a kid it would be there when I got up on Saturday. And I'd watch it until programming began [with Farm Report or The Big Picture or Eddy Arnold Show].

Have a story: When I worked on ESD [Digital Design - which included Electronic Imaging] we did a special imaging issue, and, for the cover, sought to depict the "Test pattern Hall of Fame]. There was Betty, the girl from the fascimilie and The Girl with the Hat [Leena. a Playboy centerfold that the gang at USC found handy when an acme of an image was required]. And there was the Test Pattern Native American Indian...

My fellow editors were not familiar with this pattern but agreed we could use it. But finding it was very difficult in 1988. You can find it today by inputting the search terms Indian and test pattern. Here's the story of how we got it for the cover: My friend Mike DeMark was working in broadcasting in Madison - and I called him, described the test pattern. Nothing resonated. But he said he would try Herb. The guy at the TV station. "Herb, do you know if we have an old test pattern around here? This one guy says it had an Indian on it." Herb's desk is a mess. A pile of papers. Which he thumbs through. And comes up with the American Indian Test Pattern! Which they send to me, and I duplicate and return.

Summer links.
Oppenheimer in Cambridge - circa July 4
Freeman Dyson Biology on NYRB.com: Woese for the wear -Aug 27