Tuesday, January 01, 2013

A visit to my newspaper...

Once a year I go back to my newspaper.

When I worked there for eight years, I loved being part of the major news service.

 I had been hired to build and promote InfoLine, an information device that used the telephone.

I retired from The Post and Courier more than 8 years ago but always return on New Year's Eve.

That's the day they invite retirees to come by for a buffet and working staffers come downstairs to say "hi."

This time I also wandered across the hall to where the giant presses were running.

Because I go to a lot of very loud concerts,  I carry professional  ear plugs all the time.

Only one press was running so it was not too noisy.

The Moultrie News was coming off the press at a steady clip.

A conveyor takes the folded papers up, up, up to a flat transporter that moves them several hundred yards through a slot into another large room.

This is a much quieter place where pre-printed color advertising inserts are tucked by hand into the paper. Hmm, probably machines do that now.

Then they are assembled into bales, bound with wire and loaded in the back of trucks for delivery.

When the daily morning paper is being printed, there is a lot more activity and noise.

My old office was on the same floor and when the presses were all turned on for testing and fine-tuning in the afternoon, the rumble and roar could be heard and felt.

Vending machines, tables and chairs were arranged for the pressmen who kept these heavy beasts up and running.

This was in a "quiet" area but they could keep an eye on the presses through a thick glass wall as they munched lunch.

If you have never seen presses running, check and see when tours are scheduled.

School groups used to pass by my office on tour and I always wanted to rush out my door and run past them screaming "STOP THE PRESSES!"
\
That would have been funny.

(Click on the pictures for more details.)

If you want to see the high speed process of putting ink-on-paper, better do it soon.

Tablets, laptops, Smart phones and social networking are making it a race against time.

Maybe.

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posted by chuckography @ 10:12 PM 1 Comments

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Things Used To Be simpler..and larger


I have three Canon AE-1 film cameras that are dusty. They have not been used for about 5 years.

Back in 2004 was when I bought my first digital camera. I would no longer need film.

The "memory card" that was included showed a capacity of 8MB.

According to a chart that came with my new 2 megapixel camera, the card could store about 12 pictures.

Hmmmm. Back in the 1950s, I had a camera - a film one - that could take 12 black & white pictures on a roll. Then you dropped it at the drug store for processing and printing.

In about a week, you came back and picked up the prints. As I remember, they were in a yellow Kodak envelope.

Usually a few were blurred and some were pitch black because the bulb didn't flash.

Telephone poles and other weird objects often sprouted from heads because you forget to check the background.

I bought my third digital camera a few months ago and it takes pictures in 8.1 megapixels.

The memory card I bought is a 4 Gig and the camera shows me I can take about 1,100 pictures.

On a 2-week vacation to Ireland and Germany I filled three 2 Gig memory cards. That's 1700 pictures.

Now, of course, people are taking pictures with their telephones, laptops and netbooks. Hope they check the background.

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posted by chucker @ 11:57 AM 1 Comments