Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2006/11/27

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Subject: [Leica] OT How many here are retired? How many are happier after retirement than when you were working?
From: marcsmall at comcast.net (Marc James Small)
Date: Mon Nov 27 21:37:22 2006
References: <200611272304.kARN41nU086801@server1.waverley.reid.org> <001401c7127c$bf37fa70$6501a8c0@asus930>

At 06:35 PM 11/27/2006, G Hopkinson wrote:
 >Marc, I'm a kept man as well! Bless those hard working medical folk.
 >You keep sharing your encyclopaedic historical lens knowledge and
 >we'll explain the computer acronyms and terminology. Just ask a
 >specific question ;-) More seriously, the thread was about specifics
 >for that particular user. It turns out he had a generous budget
 >well beyond what most home users might apply. I am guilty of jargon,
 >sorry. By the way I know absolutely nothing about law, nor
 >football of any flavour!

Hoppy

Thank you for your very kind words.  As others 
have noted, the LUG used to be a lot more of a 
gear-freak exercise than is now the case:  Brian 
created this as the Leica USERS' Group, but a 
bunch of us co-opted the List for the first 
decade of its existence.  Back in, say, 1995, we 
would be all a-blather over which adapters were 
necessary to fit which lens to which camera body 
and the like, and no one put up pictures.  (For a 
long time, Tina and I and Eric and another, whose 
name now escapes me, were accused of dominating 
the LUG as "the Gang of Four".)  This all changed 
around 2001, when digital photography erupted, 
and now the LUG concentrates on discussions of 
pictures and of computers.  Hell, it has been 
years since our last discussion of Tilley Hats 
and Yellow Rat pens.  I even miss those off-topic threads!

As to computers, I am using a Pentium IV with 512 
megs of high memory and a 2 gig hard drive, with 
a 5 gig external hard drive as a back-up.  I have 
Photoshop 5 which is far beyond my abilities, and 
I realize that is is now six or seven generations 
old, so the thought of investing in anything 
newer leaves me stone cold in shock, horror, and 
grand dismay, especially as Adobe seems to 
comletely change the terms used in ensuing 
generations of Photoshop.  I can make a print, 
either at home or through a commercial lab, and 
scan it, and fine-tune the scan through Irfanview 
(again, I show my age).  But every effort I have 
made to either scan negatives or to work from a 
direct digitally produced image has led to 
results best described as laughable.

Give me some time in the darkroom, and Bob's your 
uncle:  I will have you a fine print either from 
a negative or slide.  But digital escapes me 
utterly.  And then you guys start talking of the 
need for four or five disk drives and hiving off 
separate drives on the same disk and the like and 
my blood runs cold.  The next thing, you'll be 
suggesting that I muck about with my registry.

Perhaps you really cannot teach an old dog new tricks!

Marc


msmall@aya.yale.edu
Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir!



Replies: Reply from buzz.hausner at verizon.net (Buzz Hausner) ([Leica] Gang of Four Less One)
Reply from mark at rabinergroup.com (Mark Rabiner) ([Leica] OT How many here are retired? How many are happier after retirement than when you were working?)
In reply to: Message from marcsmall at comcast.net (Marc James Small) ([Leica] OT How many here are retired? How many are happier after retirement than when you were working?)
Message from hoppyman at bigpond.net.au (G Hopkinson) ([Leica] OT How many here are retired? How many are happierafter retirement than when you were working?)