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WayneBenedet β Technology
Published: 2007-02-28 16:23:23 +0000 UTC; Views: 16350; Favourites: 170; Downloads: 0
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Description
This shot represents over 100 years of technology. For its day, the watch made by Waltham in the late 1800,s was highly accurate. Today it still runs with an accuracy that rivals some digital watches.The background is a computer card, which also requires timing to function. However, while the watch meaures time in seconds, the card measures it in nano-SECONDS.
Technology has brought us many things. There have been many changes and improvements, but sometimes, old technology is as functional and far more beautiful than the new.
published by NSB Games on Hull Breach "Electronic Countermeasures" Card [link]
Published on front Cover of "The Full Bench" [link]
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Comments: 206
thanks a lot. I like it when people tell me how the piece has signiicance to them, it helps me understand how it connects to others.
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a very interesting shot, especially when seen side by side with ~irrational1 's foil [link]
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yes i agree, and I comment back and forth on a variety of subjects.
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now thats a concept I got...
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the picture makes me think... as do many of your postings (the whole point of course) .... a couple of thoughts...
today's computer chips operate in the Giga-HZ range which translates to timing in the nano-second range... that's 6 orders of magnitude more than the millisecond range
so what?
having made that leap we now have something that tells us time only if we connect it to a power source that is polluting and depends on an endless stream of maintenence releases.... that hundred year old watch still works... my 15 year old notebook computer doesn't
I have books on the shelf next to me here that are nearly 150 years old.... I can still read them... I have files on 5.25 disks that I cannot
what is better?
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Thanks...I was pretty sure that someone would correct the millisecond part of the comment. Initially I had used nano-seconds, but figured I might get a comment on that, so i down graded. HMMMM.... Anyway, thanks for the confirmation on that, I am not a computer person and I really have no idea what the clock speed is. I updated the comment to be more accurate.
I agree with your perspectives. Some old technology was built to last. In fact, some of it lasts longer than the people who made it. The problem is that sometimes while the item itself works, the peripheral parts are no longer manufactured. So in a way, the main part also becomes obsolete, even though it could work given the supporting parts. (I am thinking here of objects like wick lamps, the parts all work but some significant necessity, like the right kind of fuel or a flame spreader or a mantle is no longer manufactured, so the lamp can't work, or old camera equipment for instance, the camera works perfectly, but you canβt buy film or a digital back is unavailable or canβt attach). In a way we see the same kind of thing with computers and especially with programs as computers change. Old things fail to work, not because they are broken, but because the supporting technology is no longer available. I think the only difference, is that it seems to happen much faster with items manufactured today that it did 100 years ago.
One thing I can say, is that I have never expected technology to help me out. So for instance, I bought my first computer in 1986. I wrote hundred of letters and reports. The system was CPM based, yet I was able to migrate all of the data to DOS. It is all still available to me, right here on my current hard drive.
I am not really sure what is better. I can remember a time when computers did not exist. Yet I have learned to embrace the technology. For me, one of the frustrating things is that old technology βWORKEDβ. New technology always seems to need to be tweeked. I suppose in time I will just get tired of the tweeking, and stop. But until then, I think one has to stand in both worlds, and that is the point of the image. Old Technology supports new. Without the development of the old, we wold not have developed the new. Yet the old needs a place. To often it is just discarded as worthless and its contribution is lost.
The image tries to combine these elements. To appreciate the contribution of the old, but to also embrace the present and the future. For me, it is not the fact that the watch is βquaintβ. It is more an issue of honour. The watch has a dignity that the computer will not have. The watch has a longevity that computer chips do not contain, the watch has a visible and audible βLifeβ that new technology does not contain. But that does not make the new wrong or bad, just different. Both are useful, both have a place, both must be appreciated and honoured in their own right.
So these are my thoughts on the subject, and a bit of what went into making the image in the first place.
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Goodness you make me think! See and let there be light . The good news is that, as is the case for the TRS80, after market parts are often available to keep our old "technology" alive.
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yes that is true.
I have a collection of Aladdin lamps. They were used in canada on the CPR railway. My dad rescued one when the cabooses were going out of service.
parts are still made not by the original company, but by a group that keeps them alive.
The TRS 80....an old computer...if memory is right??? I used to run a CPM kapro. Good machines, but it could not be fixed.
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Well said. I just posted can you read this? as a POV.
Recently I read of the expense and effort the United States Library of Congress is going through to transfer the content of deteriorating media and files in unsupported formats to new media. I consider libraries and similar archives to be vital to a healthy society. The more libraries spends on maintenance of existing artifacts, the less there is available to obtain new materials to expand our horizons.
To keep perspective, I have read some of the rubbish that the US Congress seems insistent on archiving. I'm not sure its' loss should be mourned.
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I hear what you are saying. I amnot sure about the decisions that our government makes sometimes either, but then i remind myself that it isnot me in that place making the decision..and then I thank God for that gift. I have been in the place where decisions have to be made and I know what it is like to see all the different angles that have to be taken into account and to know that no matter what you do, someone will object.
So i don't have an answer, I just know that sometimes no matter what you do or decide, someone will object.
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Amazing Concept! the comparison between the "analog" and the "digital" "clocks" was superb! the composition and the macro focus I also really really good... I really liked how the nuts, blots and sprockets of the watch came out so well.. gr8 macro!
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thanks for taking time to comment. I too am pleased with the technical aspects. I also like the concept and the art. That you very much for your
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Nice close up! like the concept btw
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thank you for your kind comment and the
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Wow this has great meaning hey, me like very much!!!
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thank you very much. I appreciate the comment and the
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BTW--found this just last night, on a site with some fantastic little tutorials--but this one, in particular, I think might be JUST what you're looking for right now! [link] Enjoy!
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BTW--found this just last night, on a site with some fantastic little tutorials--but this one, in particular, I think might be JUST what you're looking for right now! [link] Enjoy!
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thank you very much. I don't have time right now, but I book marked it.
After I wrote you the last note it struck me what you had said that was so helpful. So I would ike to share it...(I may not say it exactly as you did, but this is what I hear and what it meant to me). You said that the computer program was just like working in a dark room. Somehow that made so much sense and I had never seen it that way. (And that is interesting because Ihave been working with computers since they came out on the consumer market back in the 80's) And the beauty of layers, is that you can move them in and out, change them and never loose where you started from. You can't do that in the darkroom. I had to relearn some language, for instance I could not find a flashing tool. but there was another one (I forget what it is called) that does about the same thing. Also buring and dodging are EXACTLY the same as in the darkroom. Except better, because you get to see what you have done and if you don't like it.....you get to back up....now try that in a dark room. ( I think all you will achieve it to bump into something)
Ok I ramble....but that was it...it all made sense and I have taken this machine as my darkroom with all its tricks and tools. They are all there, and even a few more that are exciting.
final quip....Iguess you can teach an old dog new tricks
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BRAVO--excellent work!!!! It's got symbolism, interesting design and good composition--and it's perfectly sharpened, making it very very striking! Well done!!!
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well I am very happy you like it. I have continued to work on the ideas that you have given me. Just in my head rightnow, but I was up from 1:30 to 3:30 last night playing with textures. I could not sleep and so i decidd to make use of the time. I am paying for it today...but it was worth it.
I know that I have already said thank you...but I need to say it again. I think you must have been the right person at the right time and all that, because your gentle, kind and helpful nudge has made a huge difference in how I approach my art. (I even got one of my other friends to texture an image...but then she is younger and far more advanced in the computer thing....I doubt that she can even remember a time when computers did not exist...lol) Ok...I am old...
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thank you. I appreciate your opinion.
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u're very welcome.....
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Awesome. I love the juxtaposition and comparison of the two technologies. Great job!
RWT
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thank you for your comment and
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You're very welcome!
RWT
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old tech is usually shinny and make cool noises
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that is an interesting observation, and mostly true.
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Superlative....I collect watches abnd clocks....mechanical watches have magic...Cheers, Otto.
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I used to collect pocket watches. Unfortunately my home was broken into and all of them, except for this one, which I was using, were stolen.
I find that they are getting more difficult to fix. We still have a few watch makers, but I don't think they are as common as in the past.
thanks again the the comment, and the 
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Hola: I am so sad to hear this...every day is more difficult to find skilled persons to fix clocks and watches...unles the big cities ....but...there will be always people interseted in this craftmanship and in the good business of watches....thank you. Cheers, Otto.
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Very cool idea and photograph
Time is the biggest thief.
Time is a river without banks.
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thanks for your thoughts, they are profound anf for your
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Really nice work. Needs to be seen large to really get all of the detail.
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Very cool concept! I love the way the two work together in this piece! Great work 
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thank you very much for your comment and
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ooo I really like this image... THe angle is great too.
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thanks for your comment and the
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Nice shot, nice idea and nice comment!
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wow, this is a great shot! very crisp and clear. great meaning behind it too
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thank you very much. Your comments are helpful.
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I love the description, especially about how the old technology is more beautiful than the new. Great job, as always.
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thank you very much.
I am amazed at how these things come to me. I really don't "work" at them, they are gifts, I don't really understand, but I do appreciate them none the less.
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