Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Oh dear god and now you work in a real lab with big boy chemicals...
Pro-Mone,
Had a 30 gallon drum of Boron Nitrate laying around the lab for perhaps two years. Its original purpose was to be mixed with water to moderate the huge neutron field I create when I run my Cyclotron, but was never used. I am the person responsible for its removal, and I made the safety officer have the hazard removed.
Back at Grumman I also complained that I saw green nitric acid stored in an acid locker and also Pictric Acid which is explosive was also stored there. When I complained about the unsafe conditions they actually evacuated the area and called in a bomb squad.
About two and a half weeks ago a funny thing happened. The NYPD has radiation detectors on the helicopters that patrol the city, and they noticed a hot spot at the hospital where I work on the Upper East Side. Basically the NYPD sent in their tough guy squad. A herd of black suburbans invaded the nuclear medicine section of a Cancer hospital and the guys with the body armour and machine guns went in searching for a dirty bomb. LOL.
As far as guns go when Ronald Ray-Gun was President, I worked on a Star Wars project that was a space based weapon. The idea was to shoot down intercontinential ballistic missiles in their "boost phase" before they vaporize us. No lie. We were building a prototype at Los Alamos National Labs.
Also worked with rail gun technology where up to 60 Kilojuoles of energy were stored in massive banks of capacitors the harness the electromagnetic fields to accelerate solid object instantainiously.
Kinda counterintuitive but an artist working in a fortune 500 aerospace company that was the fourth largest military contractor in the U.S. was a good idea. I was good at solving problems and was very clever. BTW my U.S. patent is for a 3-d binocular optical corelator that was basically an optical targeting system for a smart bomb. I was awarded "Inventor of the Year" for my patent. Also know that back in the early 80's I was doing holography in the research labs.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Bob,
I will bring my compact F3. It looks like it got a Prada makeover and looks very Italian. I believe an Italian designer was responsible for the design of the F3.
Also know that I have a chrome M4 that I'll be recovering. If you need a swatch for a recovering project let me know.
Cal
Cal, I still want that camera bag with the pink fur. I'm sad it was lost in the shuffle.
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Cal,
He sounds adorable. Maybe I'll find one of those expensive designer winter coats when I'm in New York that I can bring back to Oregon. It would be a great Xmas gift for Rufus
If you can post an image of him, I'd love to see it.
Ellen
Ellen,
Chase really knows that he is good looking and really works it. I can see him modeling on Project Runway. When he gets dressed up in his coat he prances around and he also strikes a pose.
Women seem to go nuts over him. I suspect part of the reason is that women pick up that he is a bad boy. He has his moments when he thinks he is a Pit Bull and then he goes into aggressive mode, but since he is about 4 years old he has gotten better.
There seems to be many shops concentrated on the Upper East Side. One store is called "Bark Place." The fancy one that is more of a boutique I think is on Madison Avenue in the 70's or 80's. The coat we got Chase last Christmas has a Burberry plaid. I scout out some of the locations.
I saw the Pit Bull again today in the dog stroller. Also know that I see people walking around with these baby slings/harness made for dogs that resemble back packs except they are worn on the chest.
Shooting with Jerome (Lafrey) in Williamsburg I took some shots of this small woman who was carrying a Pit Bull around on Bedford like it was a small lap dog. There was no leash and in the shots it seems that the dog was socialized into being carried around like it was a small dog.
On Third Avenue there is a restaurant called the Barking Dog that is pet friendly. On a sidewalk table I took a shot of a married couple seated at a table with their Golden Retriever sitting on a chair at the same table enjoying brunch.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
John,
I think I found that prototype bag, and I think it is in Public Storage on 110th Street. No pink fur yet, but as a designer I think a Leopard print is better. I'll be digging into my storage this weekend.
BTW "Maggie" is getting crazy with fashion and has become quite the stylist/diva. Not sure if I want to start doing the menswear obsession and taking up sewing classes again. Lately I've been meeting people who say they have seen me around. I guess I really already stand out.
Also it seems like my trade is going to happen. Tung is cool with trading back because he is on the fence also. I checked out a black chrome M4 yesterday at B&H that was only $799.00. As a user it seemed good to go, but it had one fatal defect: part of the die-cast was chipped away where eventually the rear door will become detached. The rest of the wear was kinda honest. Oh-well.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Cal,
He sounds adorable. Maybe I'll find one of those expensive designer winter coats when I'm in New York that I can bring back to Oregon. It would be a great Xmas gift for Rufus
If you can post an image of him, I'd love to see it.
Ellen
Ellen,
I did a search and found the dog boutique on the Upper East Side that had the Burberry style coat we got for Chase. Check out "Caninestyles.com". Canine Styles (A lifestyle for dogs) is located on 1195 Lexington Ave. 212-472-9440.
BTW if you do a search on Dog Boutiques NYC there are a lot of hits. Also know on Halloween there is a dog parade in Tompkins Square Park. In New York we take our dogs very seriously. LOL.
On one web site I found a $150.00 "Bling Collar" and a $62.99 "Bowtie Collar."
Cal
Range-rover
Veteran
I wonder if you can epoxy it in some way to repair the worn out part.
Got to think about that one.
Bob
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Bob,
Repairing Zinc that had been die cast is never a permanent fix. To me that black chrome M4 is a goner that will have a sudden death when the hinge for the back door eventually pops one day. It really needs a new body shell to be repaired IMHO.
This black M4 would of been a very cool user that cost no money.
Less than 7K black chrome M4's were ever made. The ratio of chrome M4's to black chrome M4's is seven to one. I particularly like M4's. I think they have the best VF'ers, better than a M3, even though the M4 has less magnification because the framelines are not cluttered like on my M6, the framelines are bigger than my M6, and the RF patch is supersized making for faster focus (bigger than a M3, MP or M6 RF patch).
Yesterday I bought another chrome M4. This one is in need of an overhaul from Sherry ($320.00), but I bought it for $511.00 including tax. Eventually I'll have a second M4 to beat on and wear out.
Cal
zauhar
Veteran
Cal, those are great science stories, too much to respond to!
You have had more fun with it than I have...
Randy
You have had more fun with it than I have...
Randy
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Randy,
Today I have a boring job that is routine. It was a lot of fun working in a Fortune 500 Company with great technological resources. Part of the culture was "G-jobs" (Government Jobs) which were always personal projects.
Basically before they invented the HumVee I made one out of a 1984 Jeep Scrambler that had a half cab that was a micro sized pick up truck. It featured 6061 aluminum wrap-around bumpers that were manufactured in an aerospace company. I basically put a Chevy Corvette engine with 350 horsepower and 400 foot pounds of torque into a 3000 pound vehicle to create an "Urban Assault Vehiclel" before the SUV craze. A lot of airplane parts went into creating this military vehical for my own personal use.
Also learned a lot from veterans, many from the "Greatest Generation" who saw a troubled smart kid who taught me a lot. Although my dad loved me, he wasn't much of a role model, back then the corporate structure was of an extended family, and this is what I needed. I learned in research labs working one-on-one with Ph.D's in research labs playing around with millions of dollars worth of equipment, and I received an education in science one cannot get in grad school. This was a great job for someone smart that has the attention span of a rather small dog. LOL.
Another science project I worked on was called RHIC (pronounced Rick) which was short for Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Labs after the Cold War. The idea was to propel gold ions to the speed of light and force them into head on collisions to discover subatomic matter by creating and simulating the "Big Bang" by creating a Quark Gluon plazma.
This mackine was several miles long yet circular in nature. A Van Der Graph Accelerator electrostatically propelled gold ions into a booster ring where several orbits would bring up the speed before feeding into a Synclotron that was about a mile in circumferance for more orbits, and then the two intersecting concentric rings that were 2.7 miles in circumferance would alternatingly be filled clockwise and counter clockwise. Of course we used cryogenic magnets that were cooled with liquid helium, and the machine could only run in the winter because if on during the summer the amount of energy consumed would simply drain the grid. Four buildins held gigantic mass spectometers at the intersecting collision areas. The amount of X-rays we generated in the collider was enough to immediately drop someone and kill them twice as they say from the Crompton Radiation alone. I have a long history of playing and working around dangerous stuff. Could of been kill a few times, but that is another story...
Anyways it was a lot of fun wasting taxpayers money. LOL.
Cal
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
GEAR ALERT: I discovered a black DE-1 eye level prism for a F2 for no money. It's condition is "E+" and it came with the bottom cover. I figure that I should be able to secure a black paint F2 with a dead meter in "E" condition for a little more than a hundred dollars, and for less than $400.00 I'll have a black paint F2 with DE-1.
GEAR ALERT NUMBER TWO: I shipped off my unusual Wetzlar M6 to Sherry for a 35/50/90 mod. This camera was overhauled in 2008 and back then it received a MP finder upgrade. Over the past few years I beat the hell out of this camera which only made it smoother and quieter. A new rangefinder frame is being ordered from Leica, and I'm hoping that the VF'er resembles my M4 with enlarged framelines and the supersized RF patch.
Cal
GEAR ALERT NUMBER TWO: I shipped off my unusual Wetzlar M6 to Sherry for a 35/50/90 mod. This camera was overhauled in 2008 and back then it received a MP finder upgrade. Over the past few years I beat the hell out of this camera which only made it smoother and quieter. A new rangefinder frame is being ordered from Leica, and I'm hoping that the VF'er resembles my M4 with enlarged framelines and the supersized RF patch.
Cal
Phil_F_NM
Camera hacker
Wish I could make the November meet up!
I might be able to do December if there is going to be one!
Phil Forrest
I might be able to do December if there is going to be one!
Phil Forrest
Phil, let us know what works for you and we will set it up.
Phil_F_NM
Camera hacker
Looks like I'm going to be renting an apartment in Philly starting at the beginning of the new year. But I'll be in Philly/NYC during the holidays bunny and house sitting so we'll see.
Phil Forrest
Phil Forrest
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Phil_F_NM
Camera hacker
December is still up in the air for me. I need to hear about which bunny owners are going away for the holidays.
Thanks!
By the way, that's an awesome score on the F2 prism! One of my cream cameras there you're setting to put together.
Phil Forrest
Thanks!
By the way, that's an awesome score on the F2 prism! One of my cream cameras there you're setting to put together.
Phil Forrest
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Phil,
I keep on running into deals. I'm a very lucky guy. Black paint F2, De-1, black 45/2.8P AIS. I love this little pancake lens that's Nikon's most contrasty lens because its a simple Tessar.
Been day trading gear though. I traded my Noct-Nikkor for Tung's 35 Lux ASPH Pre-FLE. For me this is the best lens for my Monochrom.
You have to see this M4 that had an intact "L" seal that I sent to Sherry to get overhauled. It is brutal. LOL.
Cal
Phil_F_NM
Camera hacker
I need to finish my hyperpanoramic Kodak Stereo Realist "X-Pan." 24x90mm of image area.
I can't believe you traded your Noct!
i want to make an adapter to stick my 85mm f/1.4 AIS onto my Leica. It can be done and done relatively easily. I just need to get set up with a workspace and my cache of parts & tools which are in storage in Philly.
Phil Forrest
I can't believe you traded your Noct!
i want to make an adapter to stick my 85mm f/1.4 AIS onto my Leica. It can be done and done relatively easily. I just need to get set up with a workspace and my cache of parts & tools which are in storage in Philly.
Phil Forrest
Calzone
Gear Whore #1
Phil,
The Noct is a great lens for Tung: a friend. The Noct-Nikkor is a very cool and special lens that has a lot of magic. Also know that lately I've become more Leica centric. I still own two F3's and perhaps a F2 shorly.
I still own all these medium format rigs, but the Monochrom cut into their usage. Although I have all this MF gear, I still love shooting film and small format means I can shoot a lot of images which is what I do.
It seems though that these great deals happen that I can't refuse. Who wouldn't love a M3 with a fresh "L" seal that got factory serviced by Leica?; Who wouldn't love a M4 for no money that was a shelf queen with an original "L" seal?; who wouldn't love a black MD-2 that is one of a thousand made in Canada to make an 21 SEM superwide rig?
Cal