Smile, you're on camera.
Does anyone remember The Trojan Room Coffee Machine? This was nicknamed 'the coffee cam'. It was simply a webcam pointed at a coffee pot in the University of Cambridge Computer Laboratory. You might not think that watching a glass pot of coffee is anyone's idea of fun, but the website received thousands and thousands of visitors until the camera was switched off in August 2001. It had a practical purpose: The students did not have to make a wasted journey all the way down the corridor to find nothing in the pot (they could wait until someone else did that!). It started a craze for all sorts of unusual webcams.
For example, how about the Bubble Cam? This is a camera in someone's back garden in Florida. When you click on the button, a thirty-second stream of bubbles appears in front of the camera. Don't forget that the USA is several hours behind Poland so if you try it in the morning, you'll just get a black screen. I understand they have to fill up the bubble mixture twice a day because it is so popular.
The Evansville Courier and Press Ghost cam lets you move the camera around in three rooms with an interactive control panel. The purpose of this arrangement is so people can look for ghosts. Don't expect to see anything supernatural. There are still pictures people have taken with boxes drawn to highlight what they have found. Not surprisingly, the boxes highlight nothing at all. This reminds me of all those photographs that 'prove' extra-terrestrial UFOs.
What about a model railroad (i.e. model railway) cam? I've just been having a go on this and it's great fun. There are two cameras on a model railway in Germany and four trains. You can control the trains by selecting one and then selecting its destination. The computer automatically changes the points (turnouts in American English) and sends it on its way. It stops it to let other trains past so you won't see any crashes. Being a big railway fan myself I could waste quite a lot of time on this one!
I'll tell you what I want though: A post office cam. My local one is just five minutes away but it seems pointless to go there just to find a half-hour queue when maybe there will be just two people waiting an hour later. Perhaps someone will hook something up if they're reading this.
Questions
- What can you see with the coffee cam now?
- Where is the Bubble Cam?
- What is the control panel for on the Ghost cam?
- Why don't any of the model trains crash?
- Where is the post office cam?
KEY
- Nothing. It has been switched off.
- In someone's back garden.
- To move the camera around.
- Because the computer switches them off to let others pass.
- There isn't one. It's just the author's idea.
Glossary
to nickname przezwać
a purpose cel
wasted zmarnowany
a craze moda
a bubble pęcherzyk
to highlight zakreślić
extra-terrestrial = from another planet
a destination stacja docelowa
a pair of points/a turnout zwrotnica
pointless bezcelowy
Parts of a camera and camera equipment:
Across
1. The curved piece of glass that focuses the light onto the film.
5. The small window in the camera which you look through to see what you are photographing.
6. The part of the camera that winds the film up.
Down
2. The part that opens and closes quickly to get light onto the film.
3. A three-legged stand to keep the camera stable.
4. A one-legged stand to keep the camera stable (although you need to hold onto it to stop it falling over).
KEY
Across
1. lens
5. viewfinder
6. spool
Down
2. shutter
3. tripod
4. monopod
Did you know?
For a railway signalman, a train is anything that runs on rails. For everyone else, there is a difference between 'locomotive' and 'train'. A train is a locomotive plus something else (e.g. some carriages).