An Unexpected Fortunate Event

          I suppose, given recent geopolitical events, any Fortunate Event no matter how trivial is Unexpected. This one certainly brightened my day.
          Upon returning from a walk I decided to format a few 3½ inch floppy disks for my Sony camera.
          Too my surprise one of the disks contained one readable image and one very corrupted image.

          At 5:15 PM on 2 November 2016 I captured this image. A few hours later after returning from Weed, I discovered all the images on the 3½ inch floppy disk were unreadable. Today as I inserted this disk into the Sony I was surprised to find this:


Mount Shasta
Mount Shasta

          A second image (captured a few minutes prior) became readable after I generated a copy of the corrupted file. Surprise ! I was also able to recover this:


Vista Point
Vista Point

          Vista Point is a few miles North of Yreka and well worth the effort if you should decide to stop and enjoy. By non-urban standards the appropriate turn-around spots (I-5 interchanges) are not far away. As usual your mileage may vary.

Never give up ... and never surrender.
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mhagle's picture

Thanks for sharing the pictures and that great story. Smile

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Marilyn

"Make dirt, not war." eyo

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"We'll know our disinformation program is complete when everything the American public believes is false." ---- William Casey, CIA Director, 1981

Bollox Ref's picture

I was 'wandering around' Weed, CA, via googlemaps, just the other day, and took in the vistas of the mountain.

3½ inch floppy disks. Quite the camera you have!! SmartMedia cards for my old 2001 Olympus aren't exactly on the shelves of Target these days.

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Gëzuar!!
from a reasonably stable genius.

The sky!

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PriceRip's picture

@Linda Wood

          The shadows tell I was shooting perpendicular to the light source. I never use anything more than a polarizing filter. With is I adjusted the sky's contrast with respect to the view of Shasta.

          Given it is a short distance (Yreka is about 50 miles from my home), I plan to try for many variations over the seasons.

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ZimInSeattle's picture

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"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable." - JFK | "The more I see of the moneyed peoples, the more I understand the guillotine." - G. B. Shaw Bernie/Tulsi 2020

Alligator Ed's picture

@ZimInSeattle @ZimInSeattle I too have had a great number of experiences with floppy disks and have excised many.

Oops. This reply was to Price Rip. sorry.

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snoopydawg's picture

I am unfamiliar with a camera that uses a floppy disk. I thought they used the smaller cards.
Nice picture BTW. Does this mountain have snow year round?

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Which AIPAC/MIC/pharma/bank bought politician are you going to vote for? Don’t be surprised when nothing changes.

@snoopydawg
there is some snow up high, even in summer, on Mount Shasta, but in the extremes of the recent California drought I have seen it with virtually no snow.

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snoopydawg's picture

@Linda Wood
and most of the campground was closed due to snow. I would give anything to be able to go back there with my digital camera. The times I went there was before digital cameras were created and I was shooting film. Unfortunately, I ran out of film while I was there, so I missed out on photographing the lakes after I hiked to a spot where I could photograph all the lakes together. Mammoth Lakes are in the backside of Yosemite and there are 5 lakes next to each other.
Absolutely amazing scenery. Have you had a chance to go there?
I had this small trailer and I went all over Northern California.
I lived in Modesto and I was gone almost every weekend, either to the Sierra or to the ocean.
Bodega bay has a campground right on the beach.
I didn't have a chance to go to the Shasta area. Hopefully some day I'll be able to go back.

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PriceRip's picture

@snoopydawg

          I have been along US-395 three or four times. Usually camping in the vicinity of Bishop/Big Pine. There are a lot of hole-in-the-wall primitive sites along the Eastern side of the mountain chain. I did CA-120 East to West once and have made the obligatory visit to Yosemite village a few times. But have not yet seen that particular sight. I see, by the map, Mammoth Lakes is very accessible and needs to be added to my list now that I am back in that world.

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PriceRip's picture

@snoopydawg

          It's a 1.17 Megapixel digital camera with a 1280 by 960 pixel detector. The engineering allows for some digital magic to bump the resolution to a 1472 by 1104 (hence 1.6 Megapixel) image. At the time 3½ inch floppies were cutting edge technology and at full resolution holds 5 images. You can buy them on-line for less than twenty dollars.

Search: sony digital mavica 1.6 megapixel mvc-fd90

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snoopydawg's picture

@PriceRip
I have been involved in photography for over 40 years and when digital cameras first came out I thought it was a fad and it would never be as good as film cameras. Boy was I mistaken.
The first camera only held 6 photos, but I was hooked. I waited until they had 4 mps and after I bought it I went to Patrick's Point state park in Eureka for two weeks. My digital card held over 500 pictures and I went nuts.
It was a long way from taking 36 pictures and be lucky if 3-5 pictures turned out.
I now have a canon slr camera that takes 10 mp photos.
I have a desk drawer full of the floppy disks, but no computer that I can use them on unless I get my old Mac fixed. I don't think it's worth the money to get it fixed just so I can see what's on them.
Do you know of a way to make them unreadable?

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PriceRip's picture

@snoopydawg

          I have a desk drawer full of the floppy disks, but no computer ...

          I have a shop full of functioning Macs. Once I unjam the gridlock I will have several options for reading those disks and converting/transferring them into a more accessible format.

Your, "Do you know of a way to make them unreadable?" seems to be a non sequitur.

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riverlover's picture

I cannot recall now, is Shasta volcanic? You have moved into the ring of fire. My son has nice pix of Ranier,taken from the cockpit of a commercial flight. One of his benefits is to occassionally fly jumpseat. Or First.

Big sky country.

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Hey! my dear friends or soon-to-be's, JtC could use the donations to keep this site functioning for those of us who can still see the life preserver or flotsam in the water.

PriceRip's picture

@riverlover

          One of the reasons I am so tuned into geological evolution is because this is a very geologically active region. Geology is not an academic discipline to me, it is a visceral reality. If one trifles with geology, in this region, one does so at one's peril.

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NICE Capture! Glad you made it to your new home safely with minimal hassle(flat tire notwithstanding).
Medford you say? Perhaps there could be a meetup in the future? NoHum here.

Stop These Fucking Wars!

peace

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Ya got to be a Spirit, cain't be no Ghost. . .

Explain Bldg #7. . . still waiting. . .

If you’ve ever wondered whether you would have complied in 1930’s Germany,
Now you know. . .
sign at protest march

PriceRip's picture

@Tall Bald and Ugly

          In Nebraska getting to a professional meeting via automobile/motorcycle involved traveling about 300 miles. Consider these distances:

Medford
Portland - 273 miles ∼ 4.5 hours
Burns - 285 miles ∼ 5 hours
Sacramento - 308 miles ∼ 5 hours

          I have no issue with traveling to a meetup. If others are of similar mindset it would be quite possible to have a meetup in the not too distant future.

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orlbucfan's picture

PNW trip was just.........drop dead incredible! Thanks again for your help. Biker hubby is already planning a ride from LA up into your neck of the woods: OR, and then on to the Canadian Rockies. Your pictures are beautiful. Floppy disks, eh? Capt. Hi-Tech (hubby's other hobby) could yak about that subject forever. Me, nope. I know only enuff tech to run a computer at the basic level. Rec'd!! Smile

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Inner and Outer Space: the Final Frontiers.

PriceRip's picture

@orlbucfan

          I have driven (automobile) various segments of the Sacramento to Seattle adventure. I love the fact that there are so many options for "side" trips and loops along the way. Going around Crater Lake on a motorcycle would be awesome, for example. I hope to do that with my recumbent bicycle in the not too distant future.

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@PriceRip If you like to go uphill, and then down, US 242 just opened to bicycles. A little north of you but...it's amazing. That was the Father's day ride today.
I've planned to do Crater Lake on skis, but it hasn't happened yet. Work. At the wrong time of year. I hadn't thought of biking it though..Seasonal blinders on I guess. D'oh.
Another thing to look forward to. Thanks.

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PriceRip's picture

@peachcreek

          Okay, one more for my to do list.

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Brings back memories, thanks.

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