P3D Re: Democracy & Club Competition Projection

[aifxtony@xxxxxxxxxxxxx (Tony Alderson)]

>Dr. George A. Themelis wrote:
Usually, those with the skills and experience are guiding the rest.
[deleted] There is no issue of voting here. <

Let me clarify this. The voting and debate on this issue has not really
been among the general membership, except perhaps to informally ratify. The
discussion and voting is at the level of the board of directors. This club
has been around in one form or another for something like a half century,
and the leadership is generally experienced. You might find in Ohio after
fifty years, like the former Soviet Union, that you devolve from a
(benevolent!) dictatorship of one to a dictatorship by committee.
Incredible as it seems, even shared experience does not lead to a
congruence of opinion.

>and Dr. T continues:
So, when the crowds are calling to "minimize the ghosts" did anyone ask the
maker of the slide? If it is my slide projected, I don't want anyone
screwing around with the horizontal adjustment. If the maker agrees that
the projector should be adjusted to minimize ghosting, then they should be
asked why didn't they mount the slide properly in the first place. <

I agree. More than once my own slides have been affected.

Man, you're making me feel guilty! (And maybe you should!) I'm reminded of
times I've been called on the carpet by citizens of other nations to defend
to foreign policy of the United States. I've not voted for a winning
candidate for federal or state office in my entire life! Starting with good
old George McGovern in 1972! (Friends, I only mention this as an
illustrative analogy. If you feel the need, please respond off-line.) But I
should add that I have voted for, and support, the leadership of SCSC, in
spite of occasional disagreements. But I can say I've had similar
discussions with "experienced" stereographers and their response is "OK,
what's your point?" or, "I disagree." It's not that they don't "get it."
They don't see it as a serious issue; they feel the effort detracts from
the fun of 3D; they have other preferences in projection. Maybe, like many
SoCal fitness buffs, they enjoy the workout.

I sympathize with your difficulty in grasping the reasoning here. As I read
in Mark Twain: "It's like the logic of God; in that it passeth
understanding." Reasonable people will disagree partly because they have
different values and perceptions. I can only observe that the human mind,
cultures and institutions are products of evolution; from the perspective
of looking backwards, sometimes this has strange consequences.

It does seem to me we have become abysmally slack about stereo mounting. I
think it is quite reasonable to allow beginners to use slip-in cardboard
mounts, or even the indifferent commercial mounting, but we have even
members of some years submitting poor mounting. When I judge, I knock off
points for that, but it seems few other judges do. I can't give 'em too
much grief about it however, unless I start participating actively again. I
must confess, I have been so wrapped up in work that I have hardly attended
club meetings in the last two years. It's only because things have been so
slow in the office recently that I can indulge in fun stuff like P3D. I
will concede my own negligence may have contributed to the state of affairs
in California. (I plead economic hardship for jury duty, too, so maybe you
can even blame me for the OJ fiasco.) Doggone it, if you keep pricking my
conscience, I'll have to do something rash like volunteer for a mounting
workshop, or write a cranky letter to the editor. I know other members of
SCSC are on this list, so maybe your lectures are doing some good anyway.

Tony Alderson
aifxtony@xxxxxxxxxxxxx



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