Worth a Thousand Words (1967) @dezotoole

Graham Larkin This film was produced in 1967 by members of the Computing and Applied Mathematics Group at the UKAEA Culham Laboratory in Oxfordhire, England, known since 2009 as the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE). The film explains the uses of automated computers graphical output, and describes a system developed at Culham Lab for achieving it. A number of examples of computer-produced ciné output are included, drawn from the fields of astronomy, geometry and plasma physics.

The same year F.M. Larkin published the "User's guide to the Culham Computer Graphical Output System" (1967. H.M.S.O). You can read a brief bio of Larkin here:

grahamlarkin.com/dad

Alan Sykes (who can be seen running a tokamak experiment in this 2015 video youtube.com/watch?v=nFE7iHww6G4) recalls that "Mike [Larkin] was developing the graphics system when I started at Culham in July 1965. It was called 'GHOST' later, when the graphics programme became too large for the KDF9 computer - which I think had just 64k of memory - so the system had to be split into two parts. GHOST was in widespread use for many years - and may still be."

Why GHOST? As Larkin explains in a 1968 publication "the acronym Ghoul has been coined, by an obvious choice of letters from the phrase 'graphical output language,' to denote the hardware independent set of users' commands, while the term Ghost has been reserved for the ... implementation of Ghoul in the form of a 'graphical output system.' "

Alan Sykes appears at 1:40; Pat Hunt (described as a Senior Machine Operator in the caption to this 1964 photo alamy.com/stock-photo-jun-06-1964-press-visit-to-culham-laboratory-culham-laboratory-is-69411644.html) at 1:46; Mike Larkin at 6:25; Gill Leslie at 7:25; and Anita ('Noddy') Hall at 13:18. The film ends with a sequence of computer-generated animated graphs and shapes, commencing at 15:37.

Story and Commentary: F. Michael Larkin
Script and Camerawork: C.E. Brown.
Producer: K.W. (Bill) Morton.
Narrator: Peter Bond.
Cast: Gillian Leslie, Patricia Hunt, Anita Hall, Alan Sykes, Michael Larkin.

I wonder whether anyone can remember or identify the gents lunching on the lawn in this photo, or the people the photos lower down that link. alamy.com/imageresults.aspx/stock-photo-mar-02-2012-the-culham-laboratory-near-abingdon-berkshireone-of-the-69538784.html

If you have information about any of these people, please share your memories in the comments section below, or contact glarkin66[at]gmail.com.

For more on F. Michael Larkin (1936-1982), see this brief biography

grahamlarkin.com/dad

or go to the Queen's University Archives: http://db-archives.library.queensu.ca/index.php/frederick-michael-larkin-fonds

Help us caption & translate this video!

http://amara.org/v/BwJH

updated 14 years ago

Worth a Thousand Words (1967)

Graham Larkin 2012-08-25 | This film was produced in 1967 by members of the Computing and Applied Mathematics Group at the UKAEA Culham Laboratory in Oxfordhire, England, known since 2009 as the Culham Centre for Fusion Energy (CCFE). The film explains the uses of automated computers graphical output, and describes a system developed at Culham Lab for achieving it. A number of examples of computer-produced ciné output are included, drawn from the fields of astronomy, geometry and plasma physics.

The same year F.M. Larkin published the "User's guide to the Culham Computer Graphical Output System" (1967. H.M.S.O). You can read a brief bio of Larkin here:

grahamlarkin.com/dad

Alan Sykes (who can be seen running a tokamak experiment in this 2015 video youtube.com/watch?v=nFE7iHww6G4) recalls that "Mike [Larkin] was developing the graphics system when I started at Culham in July 1965. It was called 'GHOST' later, when the graphics programme became too large for the KDF9 computer - which I think had just 64k of memory - so the system had to be split into two parts. GHOST was in widespread use for many years - and may still be."

Why GHOST? As Larkin explains in a 1968 publication "the acronym Ghoul has been coined, by an obvious choice of letters from the phrase 'graphical output language,' to denote the hardware independent set of users' commands, while the term Ghost has been reserved for the ... implementation of Ghoul in the form of a 'graphical output system.' "

Alan Sykes appears at 1:40; Pat Hunt (described as a Senior Machine Operator in the caption to this 1964 photo alamy.com/stock-photo-jun-06-1964-press-visit-to-culham-laboratory-culham-laboratory-is-69411644.html) at 1:46; Mike Larkin at 6:25; Gill Leslie at 7:25; and Anita ('Noddy') Hall at 13:18. The film ends with a sequence of computer-generated animated graphs and shapes, commencing at 15:37.

Story and Commentary: F. Michael Larkin
Script and Camerawork: C.E. Brown.
Producer: K.W. (Bill) Morton.
Narrator: Peter Bond.
Cast: Gillian Leslie, Patricia Hunt, Anita Hall, Alan Sykes, Michael Larkin.

I wonder whether anyone can remember or identify the gents lunching on the lawn in this photo, or the people the photos lower down that link. alamy.com/imageresults.aspx/stock-photo-mar-02-2012-the-culham-laboratory-near-abingdon-berkshireone-of-the-69538784.html

If you have information about any of these people, please share your memories in the comments section below, or contact glarkin66[at]gmail.com.

For more on F. Michael Larkin (1936-1982), see this brief biography

grahamlarkin.com/dad

or go to the Queen's University Archives: http://db-archives.library.queensu.ca/index.php/frederick-michael-larkin-fonds

Help us caption & translate this video!

http://amara.org/v/BwJH

MVI 1842

Graham Larkin 2019-07-01 | Carnival in the Musée Mécanique penny arcade, San Francisco.

O Canada, NYC 2014

Graham Larkin 2014-07-13 | RCMP Staff Sgt. (ret.) Garth Hampson sings the Canadian national anthem with the men and boys of Christ Church Cathedral Ottawa on the evening of Canada Day (July 1) 2014 at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York City. Vocal arrangement composed that morning by music director Matthew Larkin (conducting).

Graham Larkin - Finally Getting the Message: McLuhans Media Practice

Graham Larkin 2013-08-10 | TO VIEW THIS IN AN ENHANCED PLAYER SHOWING ALL SLIDES GO HERE: mcluhan.consortium.io & SCROLL DOWN THIS BOX FOR FURTHER INFO.

That player is a group effort that still contains many errors. If you'd like to help fix them, please make a note here: docs.google.com/document/d/1E8UU5C79ygGertpW9fSMaNIb4CtynCY-ku6-v7oQEdo/edit

Lecture at the Marshall McLuhan Salon, Embassy of Canada, Berlin, 25 November 2011.

Help us caption & translate this video: http://amara.org/v/DOQk