Stereocards: Free-viewing 3D Parallel-view

  Yesterday I finished the coursework for a class at FutureLearn titled Stereoscopy: An Introduction to Victorian Stereo Photography. It was a short course (2 weeks), offered by the National Museums Scotland, and it was filled was fun and interesting information. That course led to this blog post.

  I have fond memories of my first View-Master. I thoroughly enjoyed the visual depth and the sense of exploration that each reel provided. I had better than normal vision in my youth, 20/15, so I was easily sucked into each scene. I miss those eyes of yore! My need for wearing glasses makes using a View-Master very difficult, but I have discovered that I can wear my regular computer glasses and free-view online. (Yes!) I've free-viewed hundreds of stereocards over the past two weeks. Bliss.

  I have never been able to see 3D by using the anaglyph method, (red/cyan glasses). I simply get annoyed with the colored lines around everything. Some brains just cannot process 3D in that way, and some brains cannot form a 3D image from a parallel-view. Fortunately for me, parallel-viewing comes naturally. It is very much like doing hidden-3D or magic eye 3D images. If you can see those hidden images, you can parallel-view. Online, stereocards that have the individual photos 2"-4" are the best. If the images get much larger than 4", it starts becoming difficult for our eyes to pull in all the data we need to create the 3D image. Relax your eyes in the center of the stereocard (or pair of images) to the point of spacing out. A third image will show up in this center, and it will increase in clarity as your eyes adjust. Once you have a clear image in the center, you can look around the scenery and enjoy the new world you have just entered.

  In the Victorian stereoscopy course we had access to over 400 images. Most were from the Howarth-Loomes Collection at National Museums Scotland. I have chosen a handful of my favorite stereocards to share here.

Westminster Abbey- The Choir, looking East

Briary Cave- at Smallmouth 

The Sphynx and the Great Pyramid 

Durham Cathedral 

Summit of Jebel Musa from Jebel ed Deir 

Micmac Indians 

 Brenva Glacier, Courmayeur, Italy 

Detail of the Sea of Ice Glacier, Grindelwald

Temple of Vespasian and Saturn, Rome 

Bridge of Sighs, Venice 

Bonus Link: The London Stereoscopic Company Ltd. 

'Til next time!

Up For Trade

  I started collecting baseball cards 7 months ago. So although I don't yet have anything fancy to offer, I have been able to enter all of my baseball cards into The Trading Card Database as they come in. Here's a list of what I have for trade, listed by team.

(Updated 3.28.17)

1. Toronto Blue Jays- 136 145
2. New York Yankees- 129 134
3. Texas Rangers-127 161
4. Atlanta Braves- 124 141
5. Milwaukee Brewers- 122 126
6. Minnesota Twins- 119 128
7. Cleveland Indians- 118 133
8. San Francisco Giants- 115 122
9. St. Louis Cardinals- 112 121
10. Detroit Tigers- 112 122
11. Kansas City Royals- 112 131
12. Philadelphia Phillies- 110 122 13. Boston Red Sox- 109 116 14. Pittsburgh Pirates- 108 126 15. Seattle Mariners- 107 123 16. New York Mets- 107 115 17. Los Angeles Dodgers- 105 115 18. Montreal Expos- 105 118 19. Cincinnati Reds- 102 109 20. Oakland Athletics- 98 114 21. San Diego Padres- 97 106 22. Houston Astros- 93 106 23. Baltimore Orioles- 91 102 24. California Angels- 88 102 25. Arizona Diamondbacks- 26 26. Florida Marlins- 26 27. Colorado Rockies- 19 28. Tampa Bay Devil Rays- 18 29. Anaheim Angels- 19                             Here is the link to my trade lists at The Trading Card Database.  And an obligatory picture for this post.   I 💖 Ozzie!

Wrigley Wax

  If you are a Cubs collector or a set collector, you are going to love today's blog entry over at Wrigley Wax. He has side by side images of the 2017 Heritage Cubs cards and the 1968 Topps Cubs cards at every position. It is a thing of beauty!

Wrigley Wax's shortstops image:

Visit the Wrigley Wax blog to view all the comparisons.

Now.

Go check it now! lol

New Blog Design

  I had a pop-up the other day on my Blogger dashboard, asking me if I wanted to try one of the new layouts. I was curious about the new offerings, so this morning I created a mock blog to try out some of the new abilities. The 'Soho' layout was kind of cool, but getting a background image and a header image to align and look decent was not working for me. Then I tried a different new layout and got a decent header out of my efforts, but alas, I did not like the way the posts were positioned on the page.

  The worst thing about the new layouts is that all of the sidebars are hidden. Did not care for that, and I don't think the non-blogging visitors would know to look for a missing sidebar. So I'm keeping my current layout, and the header art I made for a new layout looks pretty good here.

  To be fair, the new layouts are cool. They just don't do what I am comfortable blogging with. The one thing I really liked were the images Blogger offers, especially the textured backs.

  I captured a couple screenshots of the last new layout I played with. In the first image, one of the textured backgrounds can be seen, and the header art looks good. The little 3-bar icon on the top left is the button to slide out the sidebar. When the sidebar is open, the rest of the blog darkens.

  The second screenshot shows the bottom of the most recent post, then a gap. Notice that the textured background does not even go down to the bottom of the first post. That little image and text on the bottom left is what shows of the second most recent post. Too ugly.

Time to publish. Peace Y'all!

Brick and Ivy

  I have recently looked through three boxes of complete baseball card base sets, series I & II. They were Topps 1990, Topps 1991, Upper Deck 1991, and last month I went through a Topps 1998 box. (Actually the 1991 UD box was missing a few cards when it arrived. Boo.)

  I've got a thing about finding Cubs players on another team's player card. So when I'm pulling out the cards I am going to keep, I pull the Cubs found in the wilds of MLB. I also attempt to identify the Cub and then add his found card to the  'Cubs in the Wild'  list at The Trading Card Database. I also pull out cards with brick and ivy on non-Cubs cards. These were going to be a list at TTCD, but apparently photographers like taking shots at Wrigley Field. Too many of these pop up, and so I far I have kept them all.

So here is a tally of the brick and ivy cards I found in the four boxes.

Topps 1990: There were only five brick and ivy cards in this set, three bricks and two ivy.  I'm sure I am about to break some unwritten Cubs fan rule, but one of the brick cards belongs to one of my all time favorite players.

 #590

  That's right, it's Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith.  I 💖 Ozzie!


Topps 1991: I found twenty-six brick and ivy cards. 7 Astros, 1 Braves, 4 Dodgers, 2 Expos, 3 Giants, 5 Mets, 3 Padres, and 1 Reds. Some of the All-Star cards seem to have Wrigley backgrounds, but the whole pixelated, black and white background graphic thing made keeping those cards seem pointless.


Upper Deck 1991: Wow. This set had 47 brick and ivy cards, and this UD set is close to 300 cards shorter than the previous two Topps sets I went through! One of the good things about this set is that the back of the cards also have in-game photographs. This doubled the chances of finding brick and ivy cards. Here's the card tally. - 6 Astros, 1 Braves, 6 Cardinals, 2 Dodgers, 5 Expos, 5 Giants, 2 Mets, 3 Padres, 6 Phillies, 5 Pirates, 1 Rangers, and 5 Reds.  -Some of these have Wrigley on the card front. Some show Wrigley on the card back, and some have Wrigley on both sides. I found another Hall of Famer in this batch as well.

#158 

Topps 1998: Only two cards with brick or ivy were found on non-Cubs cards. Joe Oliver, Reds, and David Segui, Expos.

That's all for this post. Until next time...
Later!

🌠  TYZ
 

Pizza!

Because it is a beautiful, sunny Sunday afternoon, and this is Chicago! 

Say Good Bye to the Blimp

  Say hello to the Goodyear semi-rigid airship! This is awesome news folks. Airships are making a comeback. When I was collecting stamps and postcards, airships were my #1 thematic collection.  Yes.

Goodyear Blimp Deflates


Here's a tribute image to the Goodyear Blimp. - 1933 Chicago Worlds Fair

1991 Upper Deck Baseball

  Brace yourselves. I am about to upload images of cards, and they are not my beloved Cubs. I know, I can't believe it either. I'm about half way through the final phase of sorting a box of 1991 Upper Deck series I and II baseball cards.

  I have found a few  Cubs in the Wild  cards in this set, and I will be adding them to my list at The Trading Card Database later today. I get such a kick out of hunting them down and capturing those wandering cubs.

  On a side note, I am finding that collecting cards of Wrigley Field on non-Cubs cards to be somewhat overwhelming. Photographers must really enjoy taking player photos at Wrigley. There are so many of them, maybe too many. For now, I am just going to pull them aside and store them in boxes.

  Okay, so in this set I found three cards that struck me as retro-cool. It's not a complicated photography technique, but still, these cards were printed 8-9 years before I was online. These cards have no special card numbers and are part of the base set. Doe like.

#175  

 #444  

#777  

🌠  TYZ

2012 Topps Cubs

   Seagulls get in on the action at Wrigley Field. It's all fun and games until a bird gets beaned with a ball!

Reed Johnson #172

  Darwin Barney gets in on the wing flexing, and manages to stay below radar.

#494

🌠  TYZ

The Beatles Honor Roll

   My girlfriend wife loves The Beatles, and I love my girlfriend wife. She is a life long White Sox fan (I forgive her.), and a walking encyclopedia of baseball knowledge. She has no interest in collecting baseball cards, but The Beatles and John Lennon in particular, are card subjects she can get into.

  I've created this post to give thanks to the card collectors who have assisted me in procuring The Beatles cards for my Love's collection. I will update this post whenever a new card has been received for her collection. I can offer baseball cards in exchange, and I keep my For Trade list updated at The Trading Card Database.

AnalogKid is the current Valedictorian with a whopping gpa of 51 cards! 

 Chris B. aka ntlwhlr  was the first to send a card. A John Lennon card no less! 1991 Pro Set SuperStars MusiCards #15a. Thank you Chris! 10 Mar 17

Billy Kingsley sent two cards. A 2011 Topps American Pie #52, and a 2013 Topps 75th Anniversary #29 (uber cool card!). Thank you for digging these up Billy! 15 Mar 17

Check out Billy's Blog: Cardboard History 

Eric C, aka AnalogKid, sent twenty-two (22!) cards from The River Groups' 1993 The Beatles Collection. They are fabulous cards. I gave one to Zipper already, but I am saving the others for her birthday (next month). Thank you Eric! 5 July 17 

Phil C. of Trading Bases sent 4/10 Meet The Beatles insert cards from the 1996 Sports Time Beatles set. AND they arrived yesterday! What perfect timing! Thank you Phil! 11 Aug 2017

icpfan4life98 at the Trading Card Database did a solid, with a 1-card trade that brought this Sgt Pepper's beauty home to Zipper. Thanks icpfan! This brings The Beatles collection up to 30 cards.

Jan '18

Eric C., aka AnalogKid, surprised us with a packet of Beatles cards. I didn't post the full 22 scans of Eric's first batch of Beatles cards, but today I am going to post all 29 images from our latest exchange. Thank you Eric! 5 June 2018 

1982 Brooke Bond tea card 

Two of the original 1964 trading cards 

2018 Topps Heritage 

And a boatload of 1993 River Group Beatles Collection cards!