Beginnings...A new article on my website.

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twebster
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Beginnings...A new article on my website.

Post by twebster »

Hi y'all :D

We've all had an experience in our lives at some time or another when an object or a situation triggers a strong emotional response in us. I've had just such an experience recently. I would like to share that experience with you all. I have written an article and posted it on my website, Beginnings.

Enjoy, my friends :!: :D
Last edited by twebster on Sat Jun 11, 2005 6:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
Tom Webster
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Think about this...maybe Murphy is an optimist!!!

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Sven Bernert
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Post by Sven Bernert »

Hehe, nice reading Tom! You are a great writer. Isn't it interesting how things starting to make more and more sense the older we get?

All the best my friend,
Sven

P.S.: Love the pictures that illustrate your article, they nicely help to communicate the time scale of the story.

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Ken Ramos
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Post by Ken Ramos »

As said in days of old, "Ya spin a good yarn lad." My sentiments exactly for the most part. I would like to have a copy of that publicaton for my libary as well Tom. Yes, I too have fond memories of my first scope and all the things that captured my young attention back then and like you I still sit and enjoy observing those same things as I did back then. Thanks for dusting off the shelves of ones mind and bringing back such pleasant memories. :D
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piotr
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Post by piotr »

Thanks for sharing this story, Tom! Very interesing reading.
Piotr

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twebster
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Post by twebster »

Thank you, gentlemen :D

I appreciate the kind comments. :D

Sven--I don't know if things make more sense as we grow older or if maybe we just slow down more and notice the things we should have seen in our youth but were too un-focused to realize their importance. :shock: :D

KenR--By all means add this to your library. I would be honored. :D

Piotr--You're welcome. When I found that book it kind of sent a little shockwave through me of the sites, sounds, and smells of my youth. I hadn't felt such emotions in quite some time. It also made me stop and consider what a big, circular journey my life has been and just how satisfied I am with my life. :D

Thank you all for sharing a part of my life with me. :D
Tom Webster
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MikeBinOKlahoma
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Post by MikeBinOKlahoma »

I had similar experiences with both microscope and telescope, the telescope first. I spent many hours peering through both.

I have many memories of sitting on the patio in our backyard in the late 1960s (I was about nine or ten years old) staring through the Sears 2.4 inch refractor that my parents had bought to indulge my interest. One night I had found a number of exciting things, and each time I saw one I had to run in and tell my father about it (he was watching television). My father did a crummy job of hiding his skepticism as I announced that I'd seen the rings of Saturn, the Pleiades, etc., and even I could see he didn't believe me. Eventually I dragged him outside and showed these things to him. I suspect it was the first time I ever really impressed him! :)

I was a bit older before I got into microscopy. I have an aunt who was a medical technologist (she later got a PhD in microbiology) who encouraged this and sent me slides of blood smears of patients with various diseases, and I sure wish I'd kept those.

I'm still a "space buff" to this day, but I feel no desire to get back into using a telescope, and only slight interest in using a microscope (One reason is I don't want to pursue something that would lead me towards purchasing another mess of expensive equipment!).

I read voraciously on these and other topics, but don't recall a book impressing me the way your microscope book did. I had a number of amateur astronomy books that impacted me, and still have several of them to this day.

The other books I particularly treasure are a whole series of books in the "Time-Life Nature Library" and "Time-Life Science Library" that were sent out on a one-a-month basis. I got a lot out of those books, and they played a big role in getting me into science as a profession and nature as a consuming interest. I still have the whole set, and I can reach out and touch them, even as I type this!
Mike Broderick
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wilash
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Post by wilash »

I guess we are all influenced by echos of the past. I share a similar fate as Mike as I had both a microscope and telescope when I was young. I even "invented" macrophotography buy pointing a Kodak instamatic down the eyepiece. Actually, I had two instamatics, One was gutted and I fixed a "ground glass" plastic focusing screen at the film gate of the second camera and forced the shutter open to focus. I actually got some pictures inspite of the limited shutter speed.

While I never saw more than the moon in my telescope, a neighbor invited me over to look though his handmade scope - I was living in Cambridge, England at the time and my hood was full of scientists (our next door neighbor invited the test tube baby). Well, I saw Saturn. It blew me away. I can still remember the view vividly.

Now decades later, I have a microscope and telescope again. (Not quite the same caliber as my childhood equipment, but I manage. :wink: ) But it is not the same world I was looking at so long ago. The advances in science have transformed what we are seeing and being able to explore these frontiers in my modest way is really a blessing.
Will

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Post by nzmacro »

By the way folks, I'm only 16.....ok :wink: :roll:

Yes, well, hmmm, about the same age I was when my brother introduced me to a microscope M8t. I was 8 and fell in love with what our eyes couldn't see. Amazing huh. Just that now days, I really need my glasses to see those images up close :D. I remember the day he came home when I was around 10 and he had a projecting microscope. We watched for hours on an old sheet hung on the wall and just played with different items. Amazing times !!!

Very interesting Tom and Mike as well. Well written Tom and its great to know where and what started it all.

Now about that BANNER.......where is it ya big lug :D

Danny.

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re Beginnings

Post by BrianS »

Thanks Tom for sharing your memories of your introduction to microscopy. It is a great article.

I have a copy of the same book you used (jpeg sent); it came from Savona Books a UK specialisr bookseller with a fine catalogue of microscopy titles. I have no connection but am just a satisfied customer. What they don't have in stock they will try to find for you.

Take a look at
http://www.savonabooks.free-online.co.uk/cat47pt5.htm

Thanks again Tom,

Brian

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