My father just turned 85 and was placed in a home last year due to his waning mental facilities . . . he was an artist and creative thinker in his youth. . . . as fate dictated his moment of birth . . . he missed the wonder of the computer era by a decade or two. . . . he would have enjoyed the creative enhancements that computers can provide . . . . I have a grand daughter 4 years of age . . . .as fate dictated her moment of birth . . . . . she will never know a creative world without computer technology and will eventually take it for granted. . . . . in the entire history of mankind, fate has given only one select generation of humankind the opportunity to live in these two creative worlds. . . . . knowing what the creative process was. . . and enjoying and appreciating what it has become. . . . . I may be 50, but it looks like I won the prize of all time. . . . Enjoy the thought!!

Your father probably was in awe when we walked on the moon. Something that your daughter will only know from history books. Each generation has its amazement. My father passed back in 96. He was a retired Air Force interceptor pilot. Helicopters were just a crackball dream when he was a kid. Before he passed, he wheeled his chair around a Hughes 500 turbine helo one afternoon then watched his son fly off. One of the joys of generation changes is sharing the amazement we witnessed with the amazement the young are beginning to experience. I suppose some day, your daughter will accomplish with ease what you now think is barely obtainable. Enjoy the moments, they come only once in a lifetime.

and then, there are the roses for whom we occasionally stop and remember why we're here . . .

Thank you nuski! How true, thanks for reminding us. Arleen

It's not entirely a matter of generations. If you were a Sudanese villager you might not think yourself so fortunate.

If you were a Sudanese villager you might not know there was a better life elsewhere. Happiness is to be found in very many differing sets of circumstances. Nuski: My Dad is currently 84, and though he still has most of his mental accuity, it is noticibly waning with each passing year. It is a part of life that is infinite in its sadness. My wish is for happiness for you and yours.

You might know you could hardly be worse off, thanks to the ongoing civil war.

Everyone's situation is different, there are certainly people in the US whose life circumstances are pretty terrible. As for the ongoing changes, they are good to think of from time to time. My mom's aunt didn't have running water when my mom was a child. My dad's mother grew up with a 'mammie'. I just recently underwent a surgical procedure which involved an electrode catheter, an x-ray machine and no incisions of any kind. As the proverb says, "May you live in interesting times." Lin

You may want to check up on that Proverb Lin! It's a backhanded way of wishing someone a hard time. I have moved back home to care for my Mother who is merrily sliding down the slippery path of old age. My sister and myself have introduced her to all sorts of new technology that helps her maintain independence and interest in life, what I find staggering is the way she takes it all for granted, in fact! she has had to be gently weaned off certain bits of technological advance like Pot Noodles and Pop Tarts which is very disheartening as she is a superb cook, the only change being more and more pots and pans get the arse burnt off them these days. The only thing in doubt is whose mind will go on walkabouts first? So! in matters Technological, Mental, Physical and Spiritual, I say use it or lose it! Cheers!

We're all on similar boats. Some are better equipped than others, but all heading for the same port. Life is beautiful and full of wonders, enjoy, share and respect others.

Amazing, isn't it? I'm 32 and I've used computers to some capacity for most of my life. My father, thank goodness, saw early on that computers were the way to go. First one was an Osbourne portable - about the size of a small suitcase, 5 inch screen, two 5.25" floppy drives. Didn't do much of anything except play Zork. Then went to Timex Sinclair - anyone remember those? Plugged into your TV, had a keyboard like your microwave with BASIC commands built in. Saved programs on an audio cassette. Radio Shack TRS 80s. First "real" computer was an Epson 8088 - monochrome monitor, no mouse, no sound card, paid $150.00 for a modem, with a whopping 20 meg hard drive. All the space you'll ever need ... I just replaced my 20 GIG hard drive with a 63 gig one. I believe that Disney's "Beauty and the Beast" was the first mainstream major animated movie done with computers. At the time, it was groundbreaking. I see work on this site everyday that blows that away. Sure, it was a decade ago, but the work done here is done by people sitting at home, using software that they bought on their own, running computers that anyone can buy, and the artists don't necessarily have formal training in art, computers, CG, or even the software that they are using. Anyone here go to the Bryce School? I don't know if one even exists. Watch Saturday morning cartoons and you'll see all sorts of stuff done with CG. Rolie Polie Ollie (not sure if that's correct - and I have a daughter, that's why I watch it ... really) looks as though it's entirely done with Bryce Primitives. Jimmy Neutron. Butt Ugly Aliens (Geez, I gotta get out more). These aren't companies with Disney's money. Look at Pixar and the first Toy Story. Have you watched Monster's Inc? Watch Sulley's hair and THINK about what it would take to animate all those little objects. How far away are we from movies done completely by computers? Don't even get me started on games. My daughter is nine months old. I wonder what she will find in her lifetime. Things we struggle to do now, she might do as a matter of course. Will she take it for granted? Probably. But she will be struggling with the next great thing, whatever that may be. My thoughts. My ramblings. Sorry for going on.

The Earth revolves and every day the world changes, sometimes for the good and other times for the bad, all we can do is try to keep apace with those changes. Last October I lost my dad and my world stopped, but now whenever I feel like giving up I think, "my dad would like me to go on". He was proud of me and the art I create and although he didn't understand computers he was amazed at what could be done with them. Life is what you make of it and humans are very adaptable creatures so whether your life is good or bad you adapt to the circumstances and make the best of what is given to you. I'm not wealthy, I can't predict what'll happen tomorrow but I have a wonderful man in my life and a roof over my head, not forgeting my computer and all its useful software. So with what I have I consider myself lucky and try to make each day worthwhile, for myself and those around me. (Just my thoughts on the matter) Catlin

I think of computers as another medium to work in... Actually it's not really the computer, but the programs. Since I like 2D and 3D and the nature of each is different, yet complimentary. It's kinda like having a picture of a sculpture you made and then being able to repaint it... Heh... Regardless of playing with the virtual mediums, sometimes it's also nice to get a pen and a piece of paper and do things the ol' fashioned way. Besides, if all else fails... As for my computer history... It dates back to the TI-89A computer with cartridge when I was a little kid, then to the days of a real 8-bit with the Atari 130XE (which I fondly remember), 16-bit with the Commodore Amiga 500, and finally to the current class of computers with my Presario 1690 (or whatever computer that other people will let me play with.) Also I'd like to mention that computers were used in animated films earlier than some may think. If my memory serves right, "The Black Cauldron" was actually done using computers for reference in the animation work. It's a couple years older than "Beauty and the Beast", and it even had a game based on it. Speaking of changes... I'm waiting for that next big one... It might be funny to hear people say, "remember when we had to drive somewhere, before teleportation." Heh...

Actually I think Tron and The Last Starfighter are the breakthru movies to use computer animation. Tron they had to input coordinates manually with number data sheets and couldn't see the results until AFTER they rendered the scene. If something was wrong they'd have to go back to the begining and input all the data again. Think about that when you think Bryce animation tools are lacking. :)

In the 1840's, Hill & Adamson took a series of photographs (or calotypes, I think they called them) in Scotland in preparation for a painting project. One of them is of a senior piper of the Black Watch regiment, in full regalia, wearing the medal he earned at Waterloo. Meaning, to paraphrase Roland Barthes, that we are "seeing the eyes that saw" Ney's cavalry charge the battered british squares at Waterloo - the piper was standing in one of those squares! We may think he was privileged to have experienced that momentous day. He may have thought so, too. Afterwards, anyway. Is there a point to this story? Well, no, just a story to ponder. My best wishes to you and yours, Nuski.

I had one of those...Texas Instruments, ZX, Atari 800XL, Commodore, Amiga....and the days when "WOW! I just got a system with 2MB RAM!!! The sky's the limit, actually when you think of it - there is no limit. Soon we'll be welcoming the quantum computers and their mind bobbling speeds. And the story goes on...

I live in a town that was founded a few years before the Civil War, and last Saturday went to the cemetary to look for interesting textures for my site. As I walked down the rows of head stones, reading them, I couldn't help but think, wow, George here fought in the Civil War with his brother Sam, and Claire saw the advent of the telephone, Bess saw that new fangled thing, the steam engine, Robert probably had one of the first cars, (a Ford Model A was on the headstone) each one of these people lived when the west was young, in the roaing twenties, WW1 and WW2. Some lived for only a day, one lived to be 102, his wife still alive. There was so much history. All these people saw and did things, that we take for granted today, so every generation has something new and exciting happen to it, you just have to look for it...