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Wednesday, September 30, 2020

Vintage Photos - Oestreicher (785-788)

See the previous post in this series here.

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 (maybe earlier and/or later but these are what I have sampled so far). These came to me second (third?) 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 close 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 (presumably) 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. No doubt there are some exceptions.

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.

Not much in the way of labels or dates on this set. They were probably taken in the late 1950s or early 1960s. The first features Leo setting up a camera, they next features a building and rainbow, the third shows a girl in a dress and the final photo is a close-up of some flowers.


Leo




The entire collection that has been scanned and uploaded so far can be found here.

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

Computer & Video Games (January 1982)



Computer & Video Games (January 1982)

Computer & Video Games (CVG for short) was one of the U.K.'s longest running video and computer games magazines. The print magazine was published from 1981 to 2004 with a website carrying on until 2015. The January 1982 issue includes:

  • Mailbag - Problems, praise, comments and criticism
  • Four Octagons Puzzle - We present our program to solve the free puzzle - how does your match up against it?
  • Games News - What could you be playing in 1982? We catalog the latest computer games packages
  • Chess - Some classic computerized blunders, Max Bramer proves that computers are only human after all
  • Bridge - Alan Hiron deals out some history on computerized bridge
  • Arcade Action - Reports on the arcade game tipped as a winner for '82
  • Speed Race - Grand Prix thrills on TI-99/4A
  • Changing Hearts - A marvelous pattern puzzle on the Atari to test your logic
  • Tank Battle - The Sharp screen becomes a battle field as tank commanders stalk one-another
  • Treasure Hunt - Danger lurks in the deepest recesses of your Apple
  • Dragon Druggin' - It's wizardry against dragon's breath as fantasy finds its way onto your PET
  • Life - A classic computer game. Put Life in your Atom
  • Entrapment - Can you think on the move and box in your opponent before he traps you. For the quick-witted on the Tandy
  • Three 1K Wonders - Mole, Swag and Android Attack, three reasons to unwrap that Christmas Sinclair.
  • The Bugs - A mangled micro... a recurring threat to Santa... who can be to blame?
  • Adventure - Will you dare the Deathmare? Keith Campbell did and he may never be the same again.
  • Brainware - Ian Pedder's first Mind routines puzzle had the beating of most of you - now try his January brainteaser
  • Kit Korner - Keith Mott peels the skin off a Tangerine
  • What's in Store - Counting off the shopping days left to Christmas 1982 yet? Well the toy industry is. We reveal some of its plans
  • Practical Programming - Ted Ball is on the trail of the Bugs
  • Softporn - We uncover the seamier side of computers. Elspeth Joiner tries one of the new generation of pornographic games
  • Video Screen - Best sellers - we look at the cartridges which lead the market. This issue, Intellivision's Soccer
  • Sounds - David Annal investigates a "microchip orchestra"
  • Graphics - Garry Marshall's invader is up and running. Now shoot it
  • Down to BASIC - Moira Norrie looks at loops and graphics
  • Reviews - Follow in Daley Thompson's Decathlon footsteps
  • Software Glossary
  • Hardcore

...and more!

Wednesday, September 23, 2020

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Monday, September 21, 2020

Computing Today (May 1983)



Computing Today (May 1983)
Computing Today is a multi-format computer magazine that was published in the U.K. in the 1980s. It features computers readers from North America would probably recognize such as the Atari and Commodore 64 but also a number of computers that were never sold here. The May 1983 issue includes:
  • Consumer News - A plethora of products for the home computer user.
  • Business News - Up-market offerings for the small business environment.
  • Soft Wares - More programming power for your micro.
  • Into Atari's BASIC - We take a further look at the way Atari have arranged the BASIC language on their 400 and 800 systems.
  • Spectrum Book Survey - Every time Sinclair launch a new machine the market is flooded with books, the ZX Spectrum's no exception!
  • Getting Adventurous - This month our bold adventurer takes a look at the world of text-only adventures as created by the daddy of them all, Scott Adams.
  • Oric Oratory - Launched to challenge the ZX Spectrum the Oric appears to offer excellent value for the money. Our reviewer gets under its skin for a close look.
  • Special Software Offer - Software going cheap if you take advantage of our money saving coupon.
  • Going FORTH Again - Following our series on the language last year we take another look at some of the more advanced features.
  • FORTH Comes Home - The Jupiter Ace offers FORTH as its standard language so it could be an ideal machine for those of you wishing to go your own way.
  • Micro Data Base - In the second part of our data base feature we add the finishing touches to the package with the necessary machine code program.
  • Printout - An open space to air your views.
  • Market Survey - Eight pages of acts and figures to help you unravel the information you need to make the best choice of micro.
  • Club Call - All the latest from your local
  • CT Standards - Our symbolic code for graphics characters explained.
  • Next Months's Computing Today
  • Computing Today Book Service
  • The Valley
  • Froglet
  • Mini Calc on Apple
  • Special Subs Offer
  • The ASP Adventures
  • Apple Adventures
  • Home Computing Weekly
...and more!