Model Trains Notes

The first wrinkle is to learn how to switch between Mac OS X (which is where I create this web page) and Windows (which is where I use 3rd PlanIt).

Here is a screen capture of my OS X screen:

Basically I have two windows open: the OS X (which contains my Dreamweaver creation of this page) and a winxp window (which contains the display for 3rd PlanIt). When in OS X, I simply click anywhere on the winxp window to switch to that environment. When in winxp, I need to press the ctl-alt to switch to OS X.

To obtain a screen capture of a 3rd PlanIt display I must first be in OS X. Then I press cmd-shift-4 to activate the screen capture. I left-mouse-drag to select the area, which immediately creates a jpg file on the OS X desktop. I can then place this image on the Dreamweaver page by following the normal procedure for inserting an image.

The following section numbers refer to the numbers in the 3rd PlanIt User's Manual.

2.1.2 Floating the ToolKit

The ToolKit is initially located on the left side of the winxp window (you can see it in the above screen capture). By moving the cursor over the two lines at the top of the toolkit, one may drag it to any position on the screen. When one does this, it changes its shape:

As soon as one selects one of the tools, the ToolKit disappears (which is a good thing as it clutters up the work area). When one is finished using the tool, a right mouse click will bring back the ToolKit. This is really neat!

2.2 A Sectional Track Plan

The goal for this section is to create a simple track layout using sectional track pieces.

Select ToolKit -> Sectional Builder:

One can then select the particular the particular library one wants (in this case Track -> HO -> Atlas 100).

One then sees a display of all the items in this Library (i.e. all of the different track pieces made by Atlas for HO gauge 100).

Laying track is a snap. Simply click on the pieces of track and each click will result in that piece being attached to the previous piece. Here is a simple example of an oval layout.

Success! My first layout.

2.2.2 Viewing in 3D

One can also view this layout in 3D. First, select all of the track objects. Then use the menu commands View -> 3D Origin and Camera -> Move 3D Origin To Center of Selection.

Slick! This will be more impressive when there is more to see.

2.2.3 Terrain

Switch back to 2D by pressing the Tab key. Click Done on the Sectional Builder to close it. Here is the result of applying a rectangular mesh terrain:

Once this is created it is relatively easy to alter the elevation of the terrain by pulling up or pushing down. Here is the result:

2.2.4 Modifying the Design

SUMMARY of the session: I am pleased with this session. The combination of using 3rd PlanIt as well as switching back and forth between OS X and windows xp while obtaining screen captures has been a challenge, but I seem to be getting the hang of it. 10:30 am

9:50 PM

Literature Notes

link to back cover

• Three Guineas (1938)
  • I began by reading this normally but after about 10 pages I realized that this was more like an essay on gender than a novel and shifted to skim reading. I actually prefer such a topic to be handled totally in a scholarly fashion than to have a blend of fiction and non-fiction.

This rang true to me as soon as I read it [Briggs]. But I hadn't explicitly recognized it until seeing Briggs comment. This made my reading of the last half of the novel much more lyrical. The sentences had a definite rhythm and the novel began to flow from that moment on.

• Here are some quotes from Briggs.

• "She [Woolf] talked about the creative process, described it as one of apparent inertia, of 'mooning', in which the artist as fisherwoman lets herself 'down into the depths of her consciousness', surrendering herself to the 'mysterious nosings about, feelings round, darts and dashes and sudden discoveries of that very shy and illusive fish the imagination'. But the process is interrupted from time to time as the line slackens, and the diving imagination floats 'limply and dully and lifelessly' to the surface, frustrated because it lacks sufficient experience, or because it is not allowed to say what it wants about women, their bodies and their passions, lest '[m]en ... be shocked." [p. 271]
  
  
• "The themes of her speech to the Society - the enormous differences in attitude and experience betwee herself , her audience and the Victorians, the complex interaction of class and gender, and women's need for freedom to speak more openly of their bodies and their sexuality - became central elements in her thinking over the next decade, and contributed substantially to her final works of fiction." [p. 272]
  
  
• "In Woolf's first novel, these threakening, marginalized figures, who could hardly be thought about, much less talked of, are mysteriously connected with the strict rules as to where young women may walk in London, rules which Rachel finds frustrating and unjust. For Woolf, the constraints on her freedom to walk where she wanted would be linked with the constraints on writing as she wanted ... both sets of limitations were imposed by 'what men thought''. " [p. 277]
  
  
• "Woolf, like so many writers, carries out much of her creative thinking, planning and 'scene-making' as she walked." [p. 278]

This is very much the way I felt as I would walk to the uni in the morning.

• "Woolf's generation had despised the teaching and preaching so characteristic of Victorian literature, suspecting any writing that had manifest designs upon its readers ... Woolf herself had always encouraged her readers to come to their own conclusions." [p. 283]
  
  
• "Vita casually told her that her thoughtlessness made Virginia feel that their friendship was over that she would not be coming to London before she travelled abroad, and her thoughtlessness made Virginia feel that their friendship was over - 'Not with a quarrel, not with a bang, but as ripe fruit falls.' " [p. 290]
  
  
• "The result was Three Guineas, a wide-ranging critique of patriarchy and its outcomes in domestic oppression, separate spheres, militarism and imperialism - a book that would take another thirty years or more before it wass fully understood or appreciated." [p. 310]
  
  
• "Today Three Guineas is generally recognized as a founding document in the history of gender studies." [p. 310]
  
  
• "The first chapter of Three Guineas focuses ... on the oppression of women in the home, by family life, and their consequent need to escape." [p. 320]
  
  
• "The second chapter focuses upon women's entry into the professions, and the linked question, still relevant today, of why they are so often underpaid and under-promoted." [p. 321]
  
  
• "But outling the main arguments of Three Guineas gives little idea of the vitality, resonance and play of the text itself." [p. 322]

 

SUMMARY of the session: I am approaching the end of these two books. I have 1 novel, "Between The Acts" to read, and 2 chapters of background and analysis by Briggs. 8:10 PM