Δαφνη Ευτυχια Αρθουρος

From the Quotation of the day mailing list, 2004-09-15:

"Let him therefore consider with himself: when taking a journey, he arms himself and seeks to go well accompanied; when going to sleep, he locks his doors; when even in his house he locks his chests; and this when he knows there be Laws and public Officers, armed, to revenge all injuries shall be done him; what opinion he has of his fellow subjects, when he rides armed; of his fellow Citizens, when he locks his doors; and of his children, and servants, when he locks his chests." -- Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan, Chapter XIII (1651).

(submitted to the mailing list by Terry Labach)

Still feeling run down (sleep helped, but I probably need more) and am now battling a headache. Looking around to see what I can get done without pushing myself too hard.

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I was recently given an old photoflash. One that takes flashbulbs. (I've wanted one for a while -- some of my older cameras have an "FP" connector, so once I rig an adaptor and find slow-burning flashbulbs, I'll be able to shoot with flash at any shutter speed as long as I'm using an old enough camera.) I popped it open to see whether the "Kodak 'C' Photoflash" batteries described on the sticker on the back of the reflector were just ordinary C cells. I was surprised to see that there were batteries still inside. They're the size of modern C cells, labelled "Bright Star Photo-Flash Battery", but have no voltage marked ... I'm guessing they're just C flashlight batteries labelled for sale in camera stores. But that's not what amused me enough to write about them. What got my attention was that they have an expiration date on them like the name brands have started doing recently. They're marked, "FOR BEST SERVICE USE BEFORE 3-57".

There's surprisingly little corrosion, for something that's had batteries in it for nearly half a century.

(The electrical connection is a pair of posts sticking out the side of the unit. They're spaced the same as the holes on the side of my Argus rangefinder (which, because it uses a leaf shutter, should be able to shoot flash at any shutter speed anyhow), but one post is threaded and extends all the way through the device to a knob on the other side, and the threaded part is too wide to fit into the hole on the Argus. Anyhow, my plan is to use the cable from a broken PC-hotshoe adaptor and connect the wires to the studs with alligator clips to start with and do something more permanent later. That's the easy part. Slightly harder (but not by much) will be the mechanical mod to attach it to an SLR (I'd prefer not to simply stretch rubber bands around camera and flash). I've got a few ideas for that.)