SUNDIALS: ILLUSTRATING SHADOWS is a book covering the design and construction of sundials, from the earliest altitude dials, the evolution of azimuth dials, to the dials based on
the apparent rotation of the sun around the earth's polar axis. Empirical, geometrical, and trigonometrical approaches are demonstrated for all the different dials, formulas are
developed as well as used, and techniques for the design of spreadsheets are discussed. Spreadsheets not only provide the tables in the appendices, but they can also provide dial
plate templates. Additionally, the use of CAD (computer aided design) is covered, and the book is illustrated with CAD throughout. The second book is ILLUSTRATING MORE
SHADOWS. Whereas Illustrating Shadows focuses on theory and small dials and detailed dial construction, this follow on book focuses on larger outdoor garden sundials using
commonly available building materials from any building supply store. The book reviews all the normal dials for completeness and shows many case studies in clay or glass. The
inclined decliner and the declining dials are treated in depth as are calendar curves. There are chapters dedicated to both cube decliners for the garden (16 by 16 inches) and to
inclined decliners, with all the design methods, and construction notes from start to finish. Inclined decliners will be a piece of cake with this book, and fun to do, and the spreadsheet
for the book was completely rewritten to facilitate the process. More innovative work in DeltaCAD and TurboCAD is covered, and the programming of DeltaCAD and TurboCAD is
discussed in depth. FEEDBACK, corrections, suggestions, and so on are WELCOME. It doesn't matter if you think it is trivial, major, pedantic, YOUR input is welcomed. I respond to all
such emails. All such emails are considered, most cause the next print run to be improved, some cause an improvement but elsewhere in the book than suggested, and very few result
in no action. Extremely few. And all result in a better product. In June 2009 he produced Illustrating Time's Shadow, about 400 pages with an additional 150 page appendix, and this
book is an alternative to books 1 and 2, Illustrating Shadows and Illustrating More Shadows. Please email me at:- sam_in_silver at yahoo dot com or illustratingshadows at
yahoo dot com The author is a member of the North American Sundial Society as well as the British Sundial Society. He lives in Silver City, New Mexico. If you are in the vicinity, email
and perhaps we can meet.
FLYING: He started flying lessons in 1963, was a freight hauler in Merlins and Falcons, a B727 flight engineer, an airline pilot flying the Boeing 737 and retired from the FAA (Federal
Aviation Administration) and became a DPE (Designated Pilot Examiner). The author also used to fly competition aerobatics regionally. A distant cousin Lt Thomas Selfridge was the
first man killed in powered flight in the USA, the pilot was Orville. The author's grandfather Sergei de Bolotoff Wiasemsky was involved in the cross channel race in the early 1900s but
failed to get off the ground, and his great aunt Violette (de Sibour) Selfridge flew a gypsy moth around the world in 1928 writing a book about it called The Flying Gypsies. His great
grandfather was Harry Gordon Selfridge who founded Selfridges department store in London, England. His father was a geneticist, arrested for bull smuggling in 1961. A family of
interesting people. The author points out that he is the first sane one in the entire family.
COMPUTING: In the mid 1960s the author learned Algol on the Elliott 803, then learned and wrote IBM 1401 code, and in the late 1960's on the IBM 360, and later the 370, and later
systems, the author designed the SHADOW teleprocessing control program, as well as FIDO, TOTO, and PATCHES, in the 1970's Computer Associate's Manage-IMS, and in the 1984
thru 1997 the ITT Courier (later Alcatel, later IDEA) 3270 compatible quality testing system (DOOMSDAY). Many years of IBM assembler experience in multiple operating systems, C,
C++, PL/I and so on. Likes the heritage languages. A lot. In fact, this page here has programs I wrote for sundials along with free or very low cost compilers for them.
Yes, he had two parallel careers, sometimes one was full time the other part time, and vice versa.
MATH: SOLAR: RADIO: His major math work in the 1960s was helping with the algorithm for how long the British Olympic team should acclimatize in Mexico City for those Olympic
games, and later on algorithms for polygon fill and general graphics systems. His sculpture education was from Donald Potter of Bryanston, his math tutor was Dr Garood (major work
on magnetic theory). If you exclude his celestial navigation in the 1960s as a member of the Royal Institute of Navigation, his first major solar actitities were in 1970's for hot water, his
electrical system is powered by 3kw of solar panels, see Home Power magazine, edition 87. The author has held an English amateur radio license (G3ROW) since 1962, and a USA
advanced class license (WB7ULT) since the mid 1970s.
VOLUNTEERING: The author for many years was a volunteer CASA (court appointed special advocate) and helped research a major work on child sexual abuse. He is active on several
cases and has done this volunteer work not only in 6th District Court in NM, but also in Arizona since 1987. The author is a volunteer mediator in magistrate court, and volunteered in the
trial courts of Maricopa County, AZ as well as probate court. He was also a senior mediator performing federal cases in California, Arizona, and New Mexico in the EEO and labor
relations dispute arena.
GLASS: The author has been working in stained glass (13th century pigments,14th century silver stain, etc) since 1975 and has sold many works, some examples are here.
RETIREMENT: the author builds garden sundials in Silver City, NM. After retiring from the FAA in May of 2006, he did some volunteer work then was appointed the Town Clerk for Silver
City, NM. In January of 2007 he resigned so he could run for Town Council in District 3 which he won, and was re-elected in 2009, and is now the district three town councilor (town
website). He is also a reserve law enforcement officer.
the apparent rotation of the sun around the earth's polar axis. Empirical, geometrical, and trigonometrical approaches are demonstrated for all the different dials, formulas are
developed as well as used, and techniques for the design of spreadsheets are discussed. Spreadsheets not only provide the tables in the appendices, but they can also provide dial
plate templates. Additionally, the use of CAD (computer aided design) is covered, and the book is illustrated with CAD throughout. The second book is ILLUSTRATING MORE
SHADOWS. Whereas Illustrating Shadows focuses on theory and small dials and detailed dial construction, this follow on book focuses on larger outdoor garden sundials using
commonly available building materials from any building supply store. The book reviews all the normal dials for completeness and shows many case studies in clay or glass. The
inclined decliner and the declining dials are treated in depth as are calendar curves. There are chapters dedicated to both cube decliners for the garden (16 by 16 inches) and to
inclined decliners, with all the design methods, and construction notes from start to finish. Inclined decliners will be a piece of cake with this book, and fun to do, and the spreadsheet
for the book was completely rewritten to facilitate the process. More innovative work in DeltaCAD and TurboCAD is covered, and the programming of DeltaCAD and TurboCAD is
discussed in depth. FEEDBACK, corrections, suggestions, and so on are WELCOME. It doesn't matter if you think it is trivial, major, pedantic, YOUR input is welcomed. I respond to all
such emails. All such emails are considered, most cause the next print run to be improved, some cause an improvement but elsewhere in the book than suggested, and very few result
in no action. Extremely few. And all result in a better product. In June 2009 he produced Illustrating Time's Shadow, about 400 pages with an additional 150 page appendix, and this
book is an alternative to books 1 and 2, Illustrating Shadows and Illustrating More Shadows. Please email me at:- sam_in_silver at yahoo dot com or illustratingshadows at
yahoo dot com The author is a member of the North American Sundial Society as well as the British Sundial Society. He lives in Silver City, New Mexico. If you are in the vicinity, email
and perhaps we can meet.
FLYING: He started flying lessons in 1963, was a freight hauler in Merlins and Falcons, a B727 flight engineer, an airline pilot flying the Boeing 737 and retired from the FAA (Federal
Aviation Administration) and became a DPE (Designated Pilot Examiner). The author also used to fly competition aerobatics regionally. A distant cousin Lt Thomas Selfridge was the
first man killed in powered flight in the USA, the pilot was Orville. The author's grandfather Sergei de Bolotoff Wiasemsky was involved in the cross channel race in the early 1900s but
failed to get off the ground, and his great aunt Violette (de Sibour) Selfridge flew a gypsy moth around the world in 1928 writing a book about it called The Flying Gypsies. His great
grandfather was Harry Gordon Selfridge who founded Selfridges department store in London, England. His father was a geneticist, arrested for bull smuggling in 1961. A family of
interesting people. The author points out that he is the first sane one in the entire family.
COMPUTING: In the mid 1960s the author learned Algol on the Elliott 803, then learned and wrote IBM 1401 code, and in the late 1960's on the IBM 360, and later the 370, and later
systems, the author designed the SHADOW teleprocessing control program, as well as FIDO, TOTO, and PATCHES, in the 1970's Computer Associate's Manage-IMS, and in the 1984
thru 1997 the ITT Courier (later Alcatel, later IDEA) 3270 compatible quality testing system (DOOMSDAY). Many years of IBM assembler experience in multiple operating systems, C,
C++, PL/I and so on. Likes the heritage languages. A lot. In fact, this page here has programs I wrote for sundials along with free or very low cost compilers for them.
Yes, he had two parallel careers, sometimes one was full time the other part time, and vice versa.
MATH: SOLAR: RADIO: His major math work in the 1960s was helping with the algorithm for how long the British Olympic team should acclimatize in Mexico City for those Olympic
games, and later on algorithms for polygon fill and general graphics systems. His sculpture education was from Donald Potter of Bryanston, his math tutor was Dr Garood (major work
on magnetic theory). If you exclude his celestial navigation in the 1960s as a member of the Royal Institute of Navigation, his first major solar actitities were in 1970's for hot water, his
electrical system is powered by 3kw of solar panels, see Home Power magazine, edition 87. The author has held an English amateur radio license (G3ROW) since 1962, and a USA
advanced class license (WB7ULT) since the mid 1970s.
VOLUNTEERING: The author for many years was a volunteer CASA (court appointed special advocate) and helped research a major work on child sexual abuse. He is active on several
cases and has done this volunteer work not only in 6th District Court in NM, but also in Arizona since 1987. The author is a volunteer mediator in magistrate court, and volunteered in the
trial courts of Maricopa County, AZ as well as probate court. He was also a senior mediator performing federal cases in California, Arizona, and New Mexico in the EEO and labor
relations dispute arena.
GLASS: The author has been working in stained glass (13th century pigments,14th century silver stain, etc) since 1975 and has sold many works, some examples are here.
RETIREMENT: the author builds garden sundials in Silver City, NM. After retiring from the FAA in May of 2006, he did some volunteer work then was appointed the Town Clerk for Silver
City, NM. In January of 2007 he resigned so he could run for Town Council in District 3 which he won, and was re-elected in 2009, and is now the district three town councilor (town
website). He is also a reserve law enforcement officer.
| Are there any rests-of-the-story things in the book? If you look at one of the photos in the book very closely you will see a white blob to the rear of the old sundial at Hey Farm. This was the head and shoulders in sandstone of the first stone carving model used for the Baden Powell statue of granite at Baden Powell house in London, the sculptor being Donald Potter of Bryanston. Donald Potter, who lived into his 100s, was the author's sculptor master at Bryanston School. The old sundial whose picture was taken around 1956 still exists. I spoke with it's owner in September 2005 and it is still loved and cherished, and being professionally restored. |
| The author on the front cover of Home Power edition 87 |
| The author as a young teen beside one of his family's dials in England. |
| The author's article in the 1990s on pitch and power considerations in an airplane. The phone number in the article is out of date since I have retired. |
| My great grandfather's mine in Mogollon, New Mexico, 1890s |
| My grandfather in New Mexico 1915 |
| the author |
| The author's council district web site is here, and the Town's web site is here |
| COMPUTING: Original author of BDOS and DFOS (1968, 1969), SHADOW, PATCHES, FIDO, and TOTO IBM 360 and 370 systems (1973). Original author of MSTM (load module level compatability system for programs under SHADOW, CICS, CMS, ROSCOE, TSO. Co-designer of MANAGE-IMS (late 1970s). Author of the CAPEX, later CA, IBM GDDM compatible graphics system using symbol sets then later APA mid 1980s). Author of the ITT Courier Doomsday host based terminal quality control system, later IDEA (1997). While the author approves of object oriented methods, he strongly disapproves of excessive movement of inherent language features (=,>, <, etc) into objects as methods. H ealso strongly disapproves of rigid data typing, even back in the days of PL/I, type conversion was at run time if not feasible at compile time. He strongly disapproves of language releases which simply show the designers didn't think things through in the first place. A language should make the programmers life easy and simple, a language should not be a monument to the nerds and geeks who designed it. |
| DFOS |
| BDOS |