[photo-3d] Never End a Sentence With a Proposition

[Bruce Springsteen <bsspringsteen@xxxxxxxxx>]

Allan Griffin, ISU Secretary, wrote:

>While I've got you on the line, I remember, what seems like ages ago,
that
>you were going to write something "stereo" worth reading for the ISU
>journal "Stereoscopy".  You will remember that there was a lot of
negative
>stuff said about the content of that journal at the time.
>
>If you haven't put pen to paper, as they say, why not do it now.  If you
>have, thats great news.  I believe you were elected by popular consensus
at the
>time to write on behalf of the Photo-3D e-Group or just on your own
behalf!
>
>Its been good talking to y', Bruce.

This is sort of what happened, but is also quite misleading.  I joined Bob
Aldridge in some criticiscm of the drift that "Stereoscopy" seemed to have
taken, and expressed my surprise that so many experienced and well-reputed
ISU members appear to produce so little material for publication (with
some notable exceptions, Allan being one) leaving a succession of editors
to scrounge for content.  This quite typically morphed into a discussion
of MY writing abilities and whether I should not put words on paper in the
cause.  (This is a standard lob against anyone who offers critique: "Why
don't YOU do it yourself if you're so displeased?"  It's a cheap argument,
but plays well to the groundlings.)  To defuse that line of artful
dodgery, I quickly took a pledge to edit some posting I'd done on P3D into
an article, for consideration for publication, within six months  That
pledge is still valid, though the deadline is upon me.  My real, and
explicitly stated, purpose was to flush out some people who are much
better candidates for this work, which of course had no apparent effect.

Coincidentally I suppose, the subsequent issue of "Stereoscopy" showed
some new life - which greatly heartened me, including a renewed appeal for
material, some excellent history of ISU I had never heard before, and
other things.

Another result of that discussion is that Olivier Cahen contacted me and
another fellow about an idea he had.  After initial skepticism as to its
workability, I agreed to submit a list of "beginner" questions that might
be answered in a series of columns, written by various knowledgeable
people.  A sort of "quiz the gurus" feature.  I failed to fulfill that
promise, but it is not forgotten.  The problem I ran into is, try as I
might, I could only think of two shop-worn questions:  How far apart do I
put my cameras?  (ie: How to determine stereobase) and What is the stereo
window and how is it controlled?  I am obviously out of touch with the
concerns of typical beginners on technical matters, being somewhat
atypical myself.

Then it occured to me that such questions should come from actual people,
not some guy posing as "A. Tyro" or "B. Ginner".  So why not come to P3D -
the font of all great questions stereoscopic?  Please list-members, send
me your ideas for questions, or send them to the editors of "Stereoscopy".
 It's getting lonely in this infernal hot seat!

Bruce (Thanks for the plug, Allan) Springsteen

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