I had the opportunity to pick up a huge batch of slides a while back. These are pictures span from as early as the late 1940s to as late as the early 1990s. These came to me second hand but the original source was a combination of estate sales and Goodwill. There are several thousand...maybe as many as 10,000. I will be scanning some from time to time and posting them here for posterity.
Apparently, getting your pictures processed as slides used to be a fairly common thing but it was a phenomenon I missed out on. However, my Grandfather had a few dozen slides (circa late 1950s) that I acquired after he died. That along with having some negatives I wanted to scan is what prompted me to buy a somewhat decent flatbed scanner that could handle slides and negatives, an Epson V600. It can scan up to four slides at a time with various post-processing options and does a decent enough job.
This set continues a rather large batch of slides that originally came from an estate sale and appear to have belonged to a locally well known photographer (or perhaps a friend or family member) from the Spokane Washington area and later Northern Idaho named Leo Oestreicher. He was known for his portrait and landscape photography and especially for post cards. His career started in the 1930s and he died in 1990. These slides contain a lot of landscape and portrait photos but also a lot of photos from day to day life and various vacations around the world. Here's an article on him from 1997 which is the only info I have found on him: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/jan/04/photos-of-a-lifetime-museum-acquisition-of-leo/
Many of these slides had the date they were processed stamped or printed on them. I've found that in cases where I could verify the date, either because a more specific date was hand written or there was something to specifically date the photo in the photo itself, that this date has typically been the same month the photos were taken. In other words, I expect that in MOST cases these photos were taken relatively near the processing date.
Click on one of the images or the link below to also see versions processed with color restoration and Digital ICE which is a hardware based dust and scratch remover, a feature of the Epson V600 scanner I am using. There are also versions processed with the simpler dust removal option along with color restoration.
These photos seem to be some of the oldest I have come across. The first one might not be as old as the others. Obviously it is from Christmas, but it is probably from the late 1950s or early 1960s. However, the other three appear to be from the 1940s based on their somewhat cryptic labels and appear to have been taken at a horse track somewhere. The flags all have "W.P." which may be what one of the labels refers to. A quick google search revealed a White Pines County horse race that's been going on since 1934 in Nevada. Could be that's where these were taken but it isn't obvious to me. Honestly, I'm a bit skeptical these were taken in the 1940s. Kodachrome film had been around for a few years by then though so it is possible and I don't know what else the 1941 and 1942 these slides are labeled with would refer to. I'm not enough of a fashion expert to be able to tell if the clothes are 1940s vintage.
WP 1941 - flags on roof
AP 1941 - BFL
WP 1942 - Crowd - Derby Day 1942
The entire collection that has been scanned and uploaded so far can also be found here.
The most widely-used metrics of consumer price inflation are hitting their highest levels in decades, with the Consumer Price Index rising 6.8 percent just from November 2020 to November 2021. These severe price hikes sound abstract—but a new Ivy League analysis shows how the ongoing rise in prices will hurt average households.
The Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania ran the numbers to analyze what American households will have to spend in 2021 to maintain the same living standard from 2020 or 2019. Their analysis reports that “inflation in 2021 will require the average U.S. household to spend around $3,500 more in 2021 to achieve the same level of consumption of goods and services as in recent previous years.”
That’s right: Thanks to the ongoing price inflation, families basically just got $3,500 poorer. The Wharton analysis also notes that lower-income households will be hit even harder by these price increases than higher-earning families, because lower-income families tend to spend relatively more of their money on particular goods that have seen the heaviest price hikes.
As families across the country are realizing, inflation is not just some abstract economic phenomenon. It hurts the finances of struggling Americans and makes it harder for families to put food on the table. But there’s another element of this that the public needs to remember: Today’s inflation is ultimately rooted in government policy choices.
Chiefly to blame is the Federal Reserve’s decision to engage in unprecedented digital money-printing to “stimulate” the economy during the COVID-19 recession. As FEE economist Peter Jacobsen has explained, “If more dollars chase the exact same goods, prices will rise.”
This graph shows just how drastic the money-printing binge was:
The increase in prices that stems from increasing the supply of money, as discussed above, is how free-market economists define inflation. But the broader increase in consumer prices captured by the Consumer Price Index also includes price increases influenced by other causes.
For example, during the pandemic, different levels of government all enacted restrictions on economic activity. By reducing Americans’ ability to produce goods and provide services, the government decreased supply. This, rather predictably, leads to higher consumer prices when the things people want become harder to come by.
This isn’t technically “inflation,” but it influences consumer prices and hits Americans in the wallet nonetheless. Regardless, at the end of the day, most of the price increases hurting families right now ultimately trace back to government policy choices in one form or another.
So, the $3,500 cost being imposed on average American families is not just an unlucky occurrence. It is effectively a “stealth tax,” a way the government is taking from us to fund its various schemes while making it look like private companies are the cause of the problem. You don’t need to be an Ivy League economist to see why that’s such an outrage.
Last week New York Times video journalist Johnny Harris asked a simple question.
“What do Democrats actually do when they have all the power?”
It turns out that 18 states in the US are effectively run by Democrats, who control both the executive and legislative branches. As Harris notes, Democratic leaders tend to blame Republicans for foiling their progressive plans, but that’s hardly the case in these 18 states where Republicans stand well away from the levers of power.
To answer his question—what do Democrats do when they have power?—Harris teamed up with Binyamin Appelbaum, the lead writer on business and economics on the Times editorial board and author of The Economists' Hour.
What they found may surprise you.
'Housing Is a Human Right'
First, Harris and Applebaum drilled into the 2020 Democratic Party Platform to see which values were most important to Democrats. They then focused on a particular state: California, the “quintessential liberal state” where Democrats rule with ironclad majorities and control the government in most major cities. Finally, the journalists decided to look at one specific policy: housing.
As Harris notes, housing policy is not exactly sexy stuff. But Applebaum stresses just how important housing is in battling inequality.
“Looking at California, you have to look at housing,” Applebaum says. “You cannot say you are against income inequality in America unless you are willing to have affordable housing built in your neighborhood….The neighborhood where you are born has a huge influence on the rest of your life.”
Moreover, Harris points out that Democrats overwhelmingly agree on its vital importance, noting that the word housing is mentioned more than 100 times in the Democrats’ platform. Indeed, Democrats are shown repeating a common mantra in the Times video.
“Housing is a human right.”
“Housing is a human right.”
“Housing is a human right.”
So How Does California Score on Housing?
Democrats may say housing is a human right, but Applebaum notes their actions say something else, at least in California.
“You know those signs where you drive into a state and it says ‘Welcome to California'?” asks Applebaum. “You might as well replace them with signs that say KEEP OUT. Because in California the cost of housing is so high that for many people it’s simply unaffordable.”
As the Los Angeles Timesnoted in 2019, California has “an overregulation problem,” which is why nine of the 15 priciest metro areas in the US are in California and the median price of a house in San Diego is $830,000. In some cases, people have had to wait 20 years to build a pair of single family homes. (Applebaum, it’s worth noting, appears to misdiagnose the problem. He complains that “the state has simply for the most part stopped building housing.” Perhaps Applebaum simply misspoke, but it’s worth noting the state doesn’t need to build a single unit of housing; it simply needs to step back and allow the market to function.)
Regulations, however, aren't the full story. As Harris notes, Californians themselves have fought tooth and nail to keep higher-density affordable housing out of their neighborhoods. Palo Alto is cited as an example, where voters in 2013 overturned a unanimous city council vote to rezone a 2.46-acre site to enable a housing development with 60 units for low-income seniors and 12 single-family homes.
“I think people aren’t living their values,” Applebaum says. “There’s an aspect of sort of greed here.”
Housing isn’t the only area the Times journalists find where progressives fail to “live their values.” Washington state having the most regressive tax rate in the US is cited as another example, as are the “gerrymandered” school districts in states like Illinois and Connecticut that consign low-income families to the least-funded schools because of their zip code.
The journalists are left with a gloomy conclusion.
“For some of these foundational Democratic values of housing equality, progressive taxation, and education equality, Democrats don’t actually embody their values very well," Harris says.
Applebaum is even more blunt.
“Blue states are the problem,” the economics writer says. “Blue states are where the housing crisis is located. Blue states are where the disparities in education funding are the most dramatic. Blue states are the places where tens of thousands of homeless people are living on the streets. Blue states are the places where economic inequality is increasing most quickly in this country. This is not a problem of not doing well enough; it is a situation where blue states are the problem.”
Harris says affluent liberals “tend to be really good at showing up at the marches” and talking about their concerns over inequality. But when rubber meets the road, they tend to make decisions based on a different calculus: what benefits them personally.
The Butcher, the Brewer, and the Baker
For some, the findings and claims of the Times journalists could be jarring. But they are likely no surprise to FEE readers.
One of the pillars of public choice theory—a school of economics pioneered by Nobel Prize-winning economist James Buchanan—is that people make decisions based primarily on self-interest. (People act out of concern for others, too, but these interests tend to be secondary to self-interest.) Buchanan’s theory rests on the idea that all groups of people tend to reach decisions in this manner, including people acting in the political marketplace such as voters, politicians, and bureaucrats.
Many believe that self interest is part of the human condition, something as natural as hunger, love, and procreation. Harnessing the instinct of self-interest in a healthy way—through free exchange—has long been considered a cornerstone of capitalism and a key to a prosperous society.
“It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer, or the baker, that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interest,” Adam Smith famously observed in The Wealth of Nations. “We address ourselves, not to their humanity but to their self-love, and never talk to them of our necessities but of their advantages.”
For many progressives, however, self-interest has become a kind of heresy. The idea that individuals should be motivated by such things as profit and self-interest is anathema; these are values to be found in Ayn Rand novels, not practiced in 21st century America.
But as Applebaum notes, progressives are in fact making decisions based on self-interest—he uses the word “greed”—not altruism. This should come as little surprise, and it would be perfectly fine if progressives were acting on self-interest in a market economy; but they are not. They are using the law in perverse ways to their own benefit—all while maintaining the belief that they’re acting out of altruism.
The Times article makes it clear that voters and politicians in progressive states still arrive at decisions like everyone else: on self-interest. The results are just far worse when those decisions are made in the political space, not the marketplace.
Jonathan Miltimore is the Managing Editor of FEE.org. His writing/reporting has been the subject of articles in TIME magazine, The Wall Street Journal, CNN, Forbes, Fox News, and the Star Tribune.
Bylines: Newsweek, The Washington Times, MSN.com, The Washington Examiner, The Daily Caller, The Federalist, the Epoch Times.
This article was originally published on FEE.org. Read the original article.
RUN covered Commodore's 8-bit computer line, primarily the Commodore 64. I bought this magazine regularly starting a few years later, especially after Commodore stopped publishing Commodore Magazine. This was the 13th issue so it would have been published sometime between December 1984 and January 1985. I guess they were selling enough issues at that time to justify publishing an extra bonus issue around the holidays. This issue includes:
Articles
Sound and Music - A programming guide for creating sound on the Commodore 64 and VIC 20.
Introduction to Graphics - An introduction to creating graphics on the Commodore 64 and VIC-20. This article covers everything from the basic PETSCII character set to bit-mapped/high-resolution graphics to sprites.
Color You C-64 Canvas - Another graphics programming article. This one goes into more detail on creating high resolution graphics on the Commodore 64.
Sprite Delight - A type-in program for creating sprites on the Commodore 64.
Create Your Own Characters - A type-in program to aid in the creation of custom character sets on the VIC-20.
Picture This... - A type-in drawing program for the VIC-20.
Do's and Don'ts of Computer Use - Various advice on computers from why you should (or should not) get one, where you should put it, how to expand it and so on.
It's Only a Modem Away - A tutorial on telecommunications and the use of a modem, specifically covering the Commodore 1600 VIC-Modem and 1650 AutoModem. Also some how to's for specific online services such as CompuServe.
The First Step - A beginner's guide to BASIC programming on the VIC-20 or Commodore 64.
Table of Contents from the 1985 Special Edition of RUN Magazine
Features
RUNning Ruminations - The letter from the editor, this month introducing this special issue of RUN.
How To Type Listings From RUN - Some tips on typing in the programs included in the magazine.
Magic - RUN's monthly hardware and software tips and trick section, offering including small pieces of code. This special issue includes a compilation of tips from the previous year as well as new tips and tricks for this issue.
Club List - A list of Commodore computer clubs from around the world with their contact information.
A Commodore Glossary - A glossary of computer terms, emphasizing Commodore computers.
...and more!
Table of Contents from the 1985 Special Edition of RUN Magazine (continued)
I had the opportunity to pick up a huge batch of slides a while back. These are pictures span from as early as the late 1940s to as late as the early 1990s. These came to me second hand but the original source was a combination of estate sales and Goodwill. There are several thousand...maybe as many as 10,000. I will be scanning some from time to time and posting them here for posterity.
Apparently, getting your pictures processed as slides used to be a fairly common thing but it was a phenomenon I missed out on. However, my Grandfather had a few dozen slides (circa late 1950s) that I acquired after he died. That along with having some negatives I wanted to scan is what prompted me to buy a somewhat decent flatbed scanner that could handle slides and negatives, an Epson V600. It can scan up to four slides at a time with various post-processing options and does a decent enough job.
This set continues a rather large batch of slides that originally came from an estate sale and appear to have belonged to a locally well known photographer (or perhaps a friend or family member) from the Spokane Washington area and later Northern Idaho named Leo Oestreicher. He was known for his portrait and landscape photography and especially for post cards. His career started in the 1930s and he died in 1990. These slides contain a lot of landscape and portrait photos but also a lot of photos from day to day life and various vacations around the world. Here's an article on him from 1997 which is the only info I have found on him: http://www.spokesman.com/stories/1997/jan/04/photos-of-a-lifetime-museum-acquisition-of-leo/
Many of these slides had the date they were processed stamped or printed on them. I've found that in cases where I could verify the date, either because a more specific date was hand written or there was something to specifically date the photo in the photo itself, that this date has typically been the same month the photos were taken. In other words, I expect that in MOST cases these photos were taken relatively near the processing date.
Click on one of the images or the link below to also see versions processed with color restoration and Digital ICE which is a hardware based dust and scratch remover, a feature of the Epson V600 scanner I am using. There are also versions processed with the simpler dust removal option along with color restoration.
None of the photos in this set are labeled or dated but they were probably taken in the late 1950s or early 1960s. They appear to have been taken on a farm somewhere out west. Featured are some cows and a peacock as well as the surrounding mountainous landscape.
The entire collection that has been scanned and uploaded so far can also be found here.
A Swedish economist once remarked that rent control “appears to be the most efficient technique presently known to destroy a city—except for bombing.” Unfortunately, we may soon see the destructive consequences of laws limiting rent increases running rampant in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The city just approved a rent control measure that will limit landlords’ ability to increase rents on its 65,000+ rental properties. They will not be able to increase prices by more than 3 percent each year under the new law. Controversially, the initiative does not account for inflation and applies to new construction, not just existing properties. This makes the St. Paul rent control measureone of the strictest in the US—if not the world.
Opponents of the measure made all the usual critiques. They pointed out, for example, that a supermajority of economists, 81 percent per one survey, oppose rent control because of its long-run consequences. Yes, some renters save money in the short term by enjoying artificially low rents. But the restricted prices limit future construction and housing supply which ultimately leads to a housing shortage and less affordable housing in the long run.
In St. Paul, these consequences are already starting to materialize.
“Less than 24 hours after St. Paul voters approved one of the country's most stringent rent control policies, Nicolle Goodman's phone started to ring,” the Star-Tribunereports. “Developers were calling to tell the city's director of planning and economic development they were placing projects on hold, putting hundreds of new housing units at risk.”
“We, like everybody else, are re-evaluating what — if any — future business activity we'll be doing in St. Paul," major developer Jim Stolpestad told the newspaper.
Critics of the rent control initiative, understandably, feel vindicated. But this is just the beginning. If nothing changes, investment and construction of new housing will continue to collapse thanks to this short-sighted reform.
There is still hope, though. The new law doesn’t go into effect until May 1, 2022. That means St. Paul still has 5 months to correct its grave mistake.
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Computer Entertainment was not a magazine that I bought at the time it was on the shelves. I didn't even have a computer yet and my only video game system at the time was the Atari 2600. However, I would have definitely have loved it. Computer Entertainment was the (sadly short-lived) successor to the original Electronic Games magazine. Game systems were not doing so well at the time though that would soon change with the introduction of the NES. In the mean time, home computers and gaming on them was really taking off. Computer Entertainment covers gaming of course but also other potential entertainment uses such as music, graphics and even desktop publishing among other things. The June 1985 issue includes:
On-Line - The monthly editorial column, this month discussing the demise of the PCjr and its implications on home computing and computer gaming in general.
Bulletin Board - News of the month including a new 'pet' project by Nolan Bushnell (creator of Atari and Chuck E Cheese), an update on software piracy, the release of Bounty Bob Strikes Back, new adventure games from Infocom and DataSoft, free Atari 2600 games, new games for the Coleco Adam and more.
Line Feed - Letters from readers asking about new Commodore computers, MSX, laserdisc games and more.
Do-It-Yourself-Software - An overview of various game construction sets that let you build your own games without knowing how to program. Titles mentioned include The Arcade Machine, Pinball Construction Set, Music Construction Set, Adventure Creator, Adventure Construction Set, Adventure Master, Adventure Writer, and more. This article also covers games that let you create your own levels or design other aspects of the game such as Lode Runner, Racing Destruction Set and Mail Order Monsters among others.
Building A Better Zork - Infocom may have been the king of text adventure games but they weren't the only player. This article mostly covers Mindwheel and its creator who named the text parser he created 'BTZ' for 'Better Than Zork'.
Compose Yourself - An overview of how to compose music for home computers including coverage of books and software. There were many choices as far as software including Moondust, Musicalc, 3001 Sound Odyssey, Music Processor, Simply Music, Music Studio, and Music Shop for the Commodore 64 and MacMusic, ConcertWare and MusicWorks for the Macintosh.
Electronic Gutenberg - An overview of various desktop publishing software for creating newsletters, banners, cards and much more. Software covered includes Koala's Graphic Editor, Springboard's Mask Parade, DMP Utilities (Apple II), The Print Shop (Atari, Apple II, Commodore 64) plus various add-ons, Fontrix (DOS, Apple II), and more.
ASCII And You Shall Receive - An article about BBSes including coverage of several specific ones. I would loved to have known about the existence of such things earlier but as it was I didn't call my first BBS until the early 1990s, a few years before the Internet took over.
"I Though You Brought The Torches" - General hints and strategy for fantasy role-playing games. Several specific games are mentioned including Beneath Apple Manor, Wizardry, Ultimat III, Xyphus, Galactic Adventures and more.
Boot & Shoot - Early video editing on computers. Well, not really video editing but capture still images from video cameras (and scanners) and editing those. This article includes an overview of software and hardware that you need to accomplish this. Products covered include Computereyes for the Commodore 64 and Apple II, MacVision for the Macintosh and Thunderscan also for the Mac.
Table of Contents from the June 1985 issue of Computer Entertainment
Load & Run - Reviews of new software. Covered this month:
Incunabula - A strategy game by Avalon Hill for the IBM PC and PCjr.
Chipwits - An educational puzzle game of sorts by Brainpower Inc. for the Macintosh.
Adventure Master - A design tool for creating text and graphic adventures by CBS Software for the Commodore 64.
Adventure Writer - A construction set for creating text adventures by Codewriter for the Commodore 64.
Beserker Raids - An action/strategy game based on Fred Saberhagen's Berserkers by Baen Software for the IBM PC, Commodore 64, Apple II and Atari 8-bit.
Wizard Expansion Set - A sequel to Wizard using levels submitted by players using the construction set for the Commodore 64.
Rock 'N Bolt - an arcade/puzzle game by Activision for the Commodore 64
Psychedelia - A Jeff Minter game for the Commodore 64.
Stunt Flyer - A flight simulator involving aerial stunts for the Commodore 64.
Spitfire Ace - A World War II flight simulator by MicroProse for the Commodore 64, IBM PC and Apple II.
Trolls and Tribulations - An arcade game featuring you as the troll by Creative Software for the Commodore 64, Apple II and Atari 8-bit.
Mind Control - What sounds like a not very good arcade type game with a couple of different screens by Mastertronic for the Commodore 64.
Heroism in the Modern Age: Project Contact - A role-playing game for the PC with a "modern" day mission impossible type scenario.
Kik Start - A motorcycle racing game that can be played split screen with two players by Mastertronic for the Commodore 64. I had a blast with this game and Kik Start II.
The Quest for the Holy Grail - An adventure game based on the Monty Python classic by Mastertronic for the Commodore 64.
Mind Castle I - A confusing puzzle game for the Apple II.
Station Five - Actually four different arcade games for the Apple II.
The Ancient Art of War - Strategy/war game set in fifth-century China for the IBM PC/PCjr/PC XT.
Bank Street Story Book - Educational program for the Apple II, Commodore 64 and IBM PC that allows kids to complete stories by adding text, pictures and even animation.
GATO - World War II submarine simulation for the IBM PC/PCjr.
The Alpine Encounter - A graphical/text adventure with a secret agent theme for the Apple II, Commodore 64 and IBM PC.
Swiss Family Robinson - A graphical adventure that follows the plot of the book for the Commodore 64 and Apple II.
Arcadia - Covering the latest games in the arcade including Karate Champ II, Kung-Fu Master, Chinese Hero, Yie Ar Kung-Fu (one of my favorites), All-American Football, Demolition Derby, Paperboy (another favorite) and more.
Hard Copy - Computer related book reviews, this month featuring "Zappers for the Commodore 64". It's a book full of type-in programs (games) for the Commodore 64. The games themselves are at best mediocre but it does teach you a bit about programming. Plus reviews of "The Plain English Guide for Home Computers", "MacGuide: The Complete Handbook to the Macintosh", and "The Adventure Companion".
Q&A - Questions answered about games that use the Mockingboard sound card on the Apple II, Infocom's Infidel, new Commodore computers, programming on the Atari 800, King's Quest II, the VIC-20, Star Fleet I, cleaning your computer and more.
New Products - An overview of new and upcoming products including the TMS-1A 300-baud modem, G.E. computer peripherals, and an LCD for the Apple IIc.
