California Views

From the Desk of Mr. Pat: Baseball, Binary, and the Beach

It’s been a quiet week here at the archive. I’ve been taking it a bit easy, leaning back in the chair with a few good books and letting the mind wander. Between the history of the Central Coast and the future of the silicon valley, there’s plenty to keep a guy occupied.

Books, Bats, and the “Halos”

I’ve been spending some quality time over at booksonbaseball.com. There is something about the smell of a good ole cup of Hudson Café coffee, a new book and the history of the diamond that just fits together. That said, as an Angels fan, my optimism is… let’s call it “cautiously nonexistent.”

It’s hard to have much hope when you’re looking at the standings, but that’s the beauty of the game, isn’t it? There’s always next season, or at least a good book to remind you of the glory days.

The $400,000 Brain

I’ve also been reading up on these new super servers they’re building to power the next wave of AI. Can you even believe the price tag? $400,000 for a single server. It’s a far cry from the glass plate negatives I handle every day. Back in 1900, a camera was a marvel of engineering, but it didn’t cost as much as a house in the suburbs. It makes you wonder what kind of “history” these machines will be writing for us fifty years from now.

New Additions to California Views

Speaking of 1900, I just finished uploading a fresh batch of photos to caviews. These new scans take us right back to the turn of the century.

Early coastal views that look nothing like the California we see today.

Candid shots of life in Monterey when the pace was just a little bit slower.

I’m aiming to get even more of the collection digitized and live by next week, so keep an eye on the Recent Accessions page.

A Word on the Gridiron

Lastly, how about those Seahawks? It’s a bitter pill to swallow for anyone rooting for LA, but if the Rams had to go down, I suppose losing to the Hawks isn’t the worst way to go. They played a hard-nosed game, and you have to respect the hustle.

That’s all for now from the road. I’ll be back under the lamp soon enough with more curiosities from the archive.

— Pat