Thursday, August 02, 2007

the joys of microfilm

one threads a film through a machine, thus, and the picture comes up much enlarged on a sort of computer screen above. then one manipulates the film and the image using the various knobs and levers. it's very useful technology, as one can store, say, two years worth of a weekly newspaper on one roll of film, and it's pretty hardy stuff, so it can be sent from library to library. the image quality varies, but it's usually legible, and the pictures come up okay.

here's new technology on offer in the manitoban farmer's advocate, 1910:

cutting edge fashion from the same period:

it's rough on the eyes, cos of scanning moving text, but when i take a rest and look out the library window, this is the view:


i am still busy and getting a bit twitchy about it. we had our last caribbean class last night, which was okay, and my friend defended his phd thesis today, which was cool. the process took three hours, but all my favourite profs were there, asking such good questions, and he answered them very well. it was very nerdy and academic and i loved it. i even have the urge to read theory now.

i have a sneaking suspicion virginia and aunty beryl may be keeping secrets from me. . .

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

in futurama last night (replaying the whole series yet again) the lobster life form, can't remember his name, fell in love with a lobster from the restaurant tank

life imitates art imitates life imitates art imitates life ...

xg

Gauri said...

aunty beryl is lurrrrve.

gumtreefid farmer said...

grot,

aw. . . sweet but doomed.

are you implying virgina is an alien?



gaurox,

totally! (she says you've lived too long)

Anonymous said...

I have been looking at exactly the same drawings of female attire on reels of the Kalgoorlie Miner of 1900. Fancy wearing them and their corsets around the goldfields in the heat!!! They mention that one day in January it was 115 degrees in the shade.

gumtreefid farmer said...

urg, yuck! these patterns were supplemented with ads for big thick coats and beaver hats. musta been bloody cold back in the day before they invented polyfleece. . .