Jackie Robinson In 3-D

With perhaps days/hours to go before the baby, I’m doing a big push on Jackie Robinson to see how far I can get before my life changes so much.  I had a big day in the shop yesterday and took these stereo photos.

Together, they can be viewed in 3-D.  If you were one of those who could left your eyes relax and see those old 3-D, computer-generated drawings, then you SHOULD be able to do this the same way.  I can do it.  But it takes a few moments to get it.

The trick, for me, is to get far enough away from the two photos, so that they are a little smaller than a postcard, held at arms length.  Then you stare, allowing your eyes to relax and not truly focus.  When your eyes are relaxed correctly, you should see double–that’s 4 images.  Keep trying different pressures on your focus until the two center photos become 1 photo and it will be 3-D.  It’s eerie.  When you get it, you will KNOW, so if you are wondering, then you don’t have it.  Remember: Try and make the middle two images merge into one, so that overall, there are 3 photos, and only concentrate on that middle photo–that’s the one that will become 3-dimensional.

How did I take this photo?  With a 3-D camera?  Nahh, with my own camera.  Since I’m working with a tripod, and nothing is in motion, the time lapse between photo1 and photo2 can be ignored.  You couldn’t do this trick with live action, because p1 and p2 would not match.  But in the studio, you just take one photo and then move the tripod 80mm to the right and take another one.  80mm is about the distance between people’s eyes.  The “interpupillary distance”.  Actually, in the population, it’s much smaller for most and is smaller for women and bigger for some ethnic groups.  It runs between 65 and 83 mm.  At 25.4 mm per inch, you do the inch-math.

With the two photos of EXATLY the same thing and yet from two slight different (80mm apart) vantage points, they are about what your brain takes in and processes into one, 3-D image.  The slightly different perspective means that the right eye sees a little further around Jackie’s left side, than the left eye can see.  That info is used by your wonderful brain to give you all sorts of depth and distance information.  Imagine trying to golf without it!  “How far to the pin?”  “Where’s the 150 yd marker?”

And for you Liberals out there, remember, the beauty of the eye and the brain and the depth is pure chance–we’re talking NO INTELLIGENT DESIGN, right?  Don’t even think those words in a public school.

Before you go thinking I’m some kind of techy person, realize that 3-D cameras and looking at “stereo-images” like we are here, originated at about the time of the Civil War.  Stereo view photos were all the rage from about 1870 to 1910.  They looked like this:

They were viewed in a viewer that looked like this:

The slides were available as canned, commercially produced photos of current events and famous places and landmarks.  Think GAF-viewmaster from the 1970’s:

I’m not sure why they fell out of favor.  Perhaps WWI, which destroyed so much of what good was happening in the world around 1914.

Anyway, they did commercially produce stereo cameras for the home-gamer and here is one:

All you need is the ability to take TWO images simultaneously, one interpupillary distance apart.  Now if you search for these things, you will only find, I believe, film cameras from yesteryear.  There doesn’t seem to be any digital stereo cameras available.  There are a couple of guys who have hacked together two digital cameras, but the hack is never simple and the mounting and alignment is never easy.  Both lenses have to point at the same focal point out in space, or the pictures will look hokey–like mine!

What I want to know is why doesn’t SOMEone produce a decent digital stereo camera?  WHY?  With PC’s bringing down photography prices and giving us all sorts of exotic ways to display them, it’s a perfect marriage!  I have searched, but not recently, so it’s possible that there is something out there now.  If anyone knows of a product, comment in please.

For Jackie fans, Jackie may be getting his first paint today on the lower legs and shoes and pants.  It’s always the single biggest, quickest change in the statue and for a medium that goes crawling by in the hundreds of hours, this is a welcome thing.

Babe Ruth In The Papers

Click here to open the story in the Washington Post in a new window. You may have to register a username and password but it is not a big deal.

This is the photo that is currently on the front page of the Washington Post’s Sunday Metro section:

Before I go any further, let me make sure that I take time to thank the staff at the Gaylord National Hotel inWashington, DC for their tremendous professionalism and attention to every detail. These people are the standard for their industry. I have, in all honesty, never seen such elan in my life. It was a real treat. With the hotel slated to open in a few days, you could ride on the energy of these folks as they readied their jewel of a hotel.

I would also like to thank Michael Hudson of Gaylord Hotels. He is a throwback to a more civil time in America and in business. He is a true gentleman and a visionary in his field. You don’t run into too many people like him and it was my good fortune to have done so. Thanks Michael, for everything.

This is a shot someone took for me with my camera during the installation.

The Babe Ruth statue is now permanently on display at the Gaylord National Hotel & Resort in Washington, DC at the new National Harbor area.

I went down there on Tuesday and stayed until Thursday and The Babe was installed and well received. The Washington Post came by and did a story on the hotel opening and included a fair amount of interest on the statue. I was not sure how much would run on the statue but I was pleased to have folks in Washington DC call and tell me the good news.

The full story of the statue and everything surrounding it is on the Birrerart.com website:

Click here to open the Birrerart.com website up in a new window

Other things that were noteworthy while I was down there was the fact that the Nationals has declared the sportsbar in the Gaylord as the official sportsbar of the team. Because of this, they had sent over the last home plate used at RFK stadium so it could be permanently installed at the entrance to the sportsbar. Here are a few shots of that and the Washington Post getting their story at the time:

That’s Michael Hudson, Director of Brands at Gaylord Hotels, with homeplate from RFK Stadium.

And here is the laying ceremony while the PR folks take photos.

***
The Gaylord National Hotel is so immense that it is difficult to photograph it all in one frame. The atrium that overlooks the Potomac River and Old Alexandria, Virginia, on the opposite bank, is 18 stories high. There is a village of little shops and fountains and trees and restaurants all inside the enclosure. It is so big that you mostly aren’t aware that you are inside.

Here is a view of the upper part of the atrium. These gaslights are 20 feet high. The scale is just hard to fathom.

On the 24th floor, there is a state of the art nightclub and one of the unique features is, believe it or not, the men’s room. Here are the fixtures and the view is outrageous. The Washington Monument can be seen while you are, well…ahem, you know. It’s just one of a myriad of details that make this hotel one of the most amazing in the world.

Twinbrook-1, 0112, please…

As many may know, Mrs. Pinetar and I have moved into my grandparent’s home. My grandpa was a lifetime employee of “The Phone Company”, as it was known. He did allright, especially in the depression when they only cut him back a few days a week.

Babe Ruth Statue Discovery

Because you asked for it: The Checklist

Bob, you had inquired about the checklist.  Here is the series 1 checklist.  One look at it and I’m in the second grade again.  Nixon is President and all those unopened Wacky’s are sitting in the box on the candy counter at the Spa in Franklin Lakes.  All is well… –fog

A modern day DaVinci : Norm Saunders

Apparently, Wacky’s were painted mostly by

Norm Saunders (1907 -1989)

FROM WakckyPackages.org Bum Chex, along with Choke Wagon, was pulled early and replaced by Windhex, making it one of the toughest titles in a complete series 1 to 16. Bum Chex also has the distinction that it is the only one that artist Norm Saunders actually signed. He slipped his signature in by signing one of the checks, the green one. He was not allowed to sign the works because Topps wanted to keep their artists top secret, so as not to have them stolen by other companies. Norm slipped his intials in various other places, but this is the only one known where he got the full name in.

This is my favorite from series 2: Run Tony. The story goes that Italian Americans looked up from watching The Godfather and complained that this made light of their ethnicity so it was pulled early in the run, thus making it scarce.

I DO recall it being hard to get but I’m not sure if that is the answer. Unless a company’s legal department was sending in a “Cease & Desist” order, they probably wouldn’t have just pulled it.

If you come across this book in a garage sale, buy it! On Amazon, there is one used copy listed at $250.00

Reprint anyone? –fog

Where have you gone, Paul Maul…

Here’s the secret to why you couldn’t get certain Series 1 Wacky’s.  A photo of an original, uncut sheet right from the printer.  Look at the middle row: There’s only one Lavirus, one Paul Maul, one Mutts and one glorious Band-Ache.  It’s funny how your mind plays tricks on you.  I only vaguely remember Mutts as being particularly hard to get or desirable but the other three were very tough, for sure.  Contrast those with the 6 Maddie Boy’s and 4 each of the Crust, Jail-O, Weakies and Duz.  Now that I think about it, Grave Train was also pretty hard to come by.

One other thing that didn’t catch my eye in 1974 is Paul Maul.  The slogan was “Where peculiar people congregate” and the insinuation is very vaugue but really is referring to “Paul” “Mauling” you.  I was buying these things I think the first grade, possibly second.  That’s awfully young to really even understand what that was getting at.  And, of course, today, if you google the phrase “Paul Mall” (without the “U”), you’ll turn up references to Pee Wee Herman.  With what all has transpired in the last 35 years, I doubt seriously, if they would be printing the Paul Maul card today. –fog

Bush Collected Wacky Packages

Saint Drogo (1105-1185), a Flemish nobleman who was reportedly able to bilocate, maintaining his presence in two locations at once. Witnesses claimed seeing Drogo working in fields simultaneously, and going to mass every Sunday. He is the patron saint of coffee and coffeehouses, we suspect because his peculiar talent for multitasking. This is from Neatorama and they pulled it from Mental Floss

Bilocation is central to a lot of magic tricks and there is a good movie out about just such a thing but I won’t spoil it…just pay attention if you see it.

And Drogo reminded me of one of my top ten all time favorite Wacky Packages from the 1970’s: Dr. Ono: Crackpot Brain opener; Causes Clots, Tough on Nerves

You know there was something about the artists who drew the old ones. They make new ones but they are not the same and it’s mostly the drawings. Well, that and nostalgia in general I suppose because it is the same with a new album by an old band that you liked: It never matches up! And that’s because the new one, while basically of the same ilk, doesn’t have the load of memories attached to it.

These Wacky’s were outrageously popular in the 2nd grade and maybe 3rd for me. I can still remember trading Kevin ***** a bunch of crap for the coveted “Band-Ache” (Windchester and Lavirus were also tough, tough gets). He took a few commons like 6-Up and DuzentDoNothin’s and maybe a Wind Hex or Minute Lice. Hey, he was happy. [I'm glad he was because I saw him in a poolroom a few years ago and he is as big as a refrigerator now--just immense--and I recall seeing him fight in school (he was picked on) and he could jab like Joe Frazier! He was such a nice guy--the nicest-- but if people hassled him enough....whap, whap...whap]

I had thrown all my Wacky’s away apparently somewhere along the line and that is a loss. But I came across an old Band-Ache in some drawer somewhere and threw it out on ebay and it was bid up to $125 bucks! Not in real good shape either.

My favorite of all-time? Hmm, it’s close but I’ll go with this one:

I’m sorry, that’s hilarious. –fog

PS – Now I’m on Wacky sites reading about the rarity of these things.  This Spit and Spill is the first version and the artist left the original product name on the top of the box.  It was pulled from production and a second one was substituted.  Collectors pay more for this one.  I just enjoy seeing the JPEGs and remembering how much fun I had with these things.

Man Chainsaws Rare Babe Ruth Statue

Here’s the progress.  It’s very dusty work.  The sawdust that the chainsaw makes is just like little hooks–you can’t get it off you–especially the socks.  The carpet should be red–it’s covered.  The pose is proving to be a little harder to nail than I originally thought.  And, the simple fact that he’s 7 inches off the floor is messing with my head.  He’ll just fit under the bottom of the rafters when done.  At least I haven’t cut myself yet–OJ cut himself chipping golf balls you know.

I remember being afraid of the chainsaw and actually resisting using it.  I can’t live without it now.  And I can get to within between a quarter and a half inch of where I want to be.  I never would have imagined that before I started monkeying with it.

Dried Hetero Flower Arrangements

Ok, here it is. THIS is the dried flower arrangement that I cut myself by the side of the road last Fall (while the 200+ million dollar Yankees were losing to the Detroit Tigers). I cut some punks (to dry out and burn on the porch) and then thought, “…hey, they could go in a vase”, and then the next day, I cut some more and grabbed some cat tails to see if I could pull the whole look together. See how I did. Now, is this so bad?

You know, not only are they free, but we get to enjoy them as decor and then set them on fire for entertainment in the summer. Where’s the downside?

–fog

See, here’s McGonnigle’s tail. Maybe this is why I think the Phragmites are called “Cat tails”?