Between Threads

Posted on Posted in A Symbol Life, minimum daily requirement, Theory

Reading to read again builds a muscle. Memory among others, even distant, is an extension of time.

Essays by Lydia Davis is a ready source of ways toward an open table awaiting stacks from around the house. Today she directed me toward a book I rarely read. I promise to read.

Lydia writing about lists and order: “You may have the elements you want in a list, within a sentence, but in an order that is arbitrary or a bit jumbled. The reader receives the content that you have offered, but doesn’t receive it in the best possible order …” She proceeds to suggest Tufte’s “Artful Sentences” and a Jefferson sentence.

Immediately pulled out Tufte… added it to a table by a chair with readings about AI. Bam. What you have is a reference set instead of a compelling sentence. I am easily distracted by interesting people. May be the bird-eye mind reaction.

… Lydia Davis calls to Virginia Tufte…

Okay. Today, I will flip through it. I begin, but stop, since on the floor I find a text on cognition. It is stuffed with stickies, unfinished notepapers. Better writing will have to wait. Instead, a collection of references from the book on the floor …

References of a time: Brain. Cognition.

  • Bechtel, W., and Graham, G. (1998). A Companion to Cognitive Science. Oxford, England:
  • Blackwell. (Encyclopedia-style entries on all the important topics, with a useful historical introduction by Bechtel, Abrahamsen, and Graham.)
  • Boden, M. (1990). The Philosophy of Artificial Intelligence. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. (Seminal papers by Turing, Searle, Newell and Simon, and Marr, with some newer contributions by Dennett, Dreyfus and Dreyfus, P.M. Churchland, and others.)
  • Boden, M. (1996). The Philosophy of Artificial Life. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press. (Nice introductory essay by Langton, and a useful window on some early debates in this area.)
  • Haugeland, J. (1997). Mind Design II. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. (Fantastic collection, including a fine introduction by Haugeland; seminal papers by Turing, Dennett, Newell and Simon, Minsky, Dreyfus, and Searle; a comprehensive introduction to connectionism in papers by Rumelhart, Smolensky, Churchland, Rosenberg, and Clark, seminal critiques by Fodor and Pylyshyn, Ramsey, Stich, and Garon; and a hint of new frontiers from Brooks and Van Gelder. Quite indispensable.)
  • Lycan, W. (1990). Mind and Cognition: A Reader. Cambridge, MA: Blackwell. (Great value-a large and well-chosen collection concentrating on the earlier debates over functionalism, instrumentalism, eliminativism, and the language of thought, with a useful section on consciousness and qualia.)
  • MacDonald, C., and MacDonald, G. (1995). Connectionism: Debates on Psychological Explanation. Oxford, England: Blackwell. (A comprehensive sampling of the debates between connectionism and classicism, with contributions by Smolensky, Fodor and Pylyshyn (and replies by each), Ramsey et al., Stich and Warfield, and many others.)
  • Braddon-Mitchel, D., and Jackson, F. (1996). Philosophy of Mind and Cognition. Oxford, England: Blackwell. (Excellent introductory text covering the more traditionally philosophical territory of identity theory, functionalism, and debates about content.
  • Kim, J. (1996). Philosophy of Mind. Boulder, CO: Westview. ( text, covering behaviorism, identity theory, machine functionalism, and debates about consciousness and content.)

Don’t be distracted by AI things. Read until nine-eyes dies.

Stayin Alive. Aware

Posted on Posted in A Symbol Life, overnight notes

…avoiding distractions. Keeping away from the keep away crowds — those zeros counting the zeros of their worth.


“I did all kinds of commercial work that you could imagine—weddings, bar mitzvahs, and some high price stuff. I’ve always made half of my living doing commercial assignments and the other half teaching. I have made time each day though to do my own work. That’s the center—I photograph every day!” — Phillip Perkis.

keeping away from noise sources is central to having a table. Maintain readiness, the
pre-theoretic [~methodological. Look softly, like riding a young horse.

one notices — the shadow cast by words upon truth – auden

Distractions are reductions of awareness work,  of yourself has to come from awareness of yourself and without

[… I am quite used to quick reviews. No problem keeping it focused. As to what, show what you think matters. What you think is important to see.. 2014-08-16 22:24..St. Regis.]

CCA Notes

Posted on Posted in A Symbol Life, overnight notes

a gathering of references over time about the big dinosaur. Abbreviations are re-used. Google has a tough time working on the past, even the recent past is pushed aside in favor of being current. Engineers think you are asking easy, surface questions. Color Corporation of America, in 2025, is a paint story. The CCA meant by dye transfer printers is what I mean on webionaire.

Some synchronicity in my life. CCA was Color Corporation of America, now, it is California College of Art — former work-home to Larry Sultan [1946-2009]. I knew both CCAs. A pamphlet of mine from SFAI days brought a student of Larry’s to my door to learn, revive dye imbibition printing.

Display Transparency made by Color Corporation of America.

a piece about the largest photograph… and CCAs Tampa operation. Able to make Color Prints or Transparencies of any size.

[Cincinnati Music Hall]


Mr. Snyder, in 1959 , founded the Color Corporation of America in Tampa, Fla. He was active across several fields; was prepared to undertake almost any project.

Mr. Snyder attends a Color Conference in 1956. His interests are what he does as a lab.

… from small things… grew a big company.

Monolabs— it’s the way that every lab starts; just the one person. That one person may have been a photographer saving money on lab work by doing it themselves. The four shift labs are, like CCA, running multiple shifts throughout the week. They operate weekdays, while the monolabs run single, or as need short shifts. This mode makes them closer to functional knowledge as the “weekend” solo labs built and tended by affluent amateurs — the “dentist-artist.” They buy small amounts. Need different directions. Learn by magazine and workshops at an “art” location.

The large lab employees were trained in military schools, or trade schools; the main one being where Frank Tartaro taught, Germain School Of Photography .

RIT although not a “trade school” also spread dye transfer skills. RIT taught emulsion making in addition. The rubric on their grads was: They could make Tri-X, but couldn’t use it.

CCA’s clients ranged from individual artists — Laura Gilpin in 1964-1968. Mostly Type Cs, not dyes; Eliot Porter’s Dye Transfer portfolio in 1977 was made by CCA.

…. and
 every mono lab thinks they know everything, Easy to understand why, since they have to do everything, and they, usually, think they know how; they think they know the best way, although they only know that one way, their way .

The Mom n Pop had to be better. You could aspire to become a Mom-n-Pop taking only great, interesting client work. Bet you didn’t achieve even this level of independence. Few do.

CCA: Color Corporation of America.

Tampa 610 S. Armenia Ave 33609 
813 877 5353
306 East 45th New York 10017
212 582-4355 [Creative Color Inc]
in London John Piercy Ltd, Bryanston Street, London

Prinparencie, Day’n Nite Translucencies, Quality Color Prints and Color Transparencies for the Trade
US Pat Issued [https://patents.google.com/patent/US3205600A/en]

— CVI (Guy Stricherz) was the opposite in scale. Many would say, have said, the opposite in ability, meaning that CCA, being large and profitable, wasn’t as good a lab as CVI and their like. CVI lives, surviving the Kodak stumbles. CCA didn’t.

— FROG PRINCE Haunt Rama and Tom Rankin. Bob Pace helped set up Frog Prince, Dye Transfer lab.

Haunt Rama -- Owner/ President · 1981 to 1996 · San Francisco, California
Fine Art Photographic Printmaking, Gallery
Richard Misrach, William Eggleston, Galen Rowell, Jim Marshall

Tom Rankin Dye Transfer Division of Frog Prince & Company, L.P 500 Sansome St, San Francisco, CA 94111