Production Artifacts #4 (from Weathers)

I think Bill is right - that we took the work seriously and did not allow much off-the-wall stuff into our Cardinal Productions. But some humor did seep through. Bank checks (like this one) by "B. Moore Successful" are an example, although I doubt that this particular check showed up in one of our units ($3.06 for a massage - times really have changed).

Most of the whimsy was so subtle or specialized (maybe like this blog itself) that you had to be there to get it.

There were Eddie H.'s trademark mirror shots. Whenever possible, his photographs included a reflecting surface (like a car's outside mirror) in which something interesting might appear. There were also various "gump" shots (see Pig Genitalia for definition of gump) . Steve K appears as a fierce looking robber in some units. I managed to slip in pictures of a motorcycle and a Jaguar in the "Disassembly and Assembly of A Wankel Rotary Engine". And although not intended to be funny, my homemade animation of an ignition firing trace is humorous in a cringe inducing way.

Aside 1 - Actually, as I think back, I expect that were was quite a bit of inadvertent cringe inducing humor in the earnest, sincere way that we approached some of our writing. Bill alludes to this when he notes in Production Artifacts #2 how wordy the writing seems. We believed (or I believed) that anything could be explained to anyone if you broke up the operation into small enough steps. Also, the notion of explanatory overkill was not acknowledged. Explain what you are going to teach, teach it, then review what you have taught. Keep the "learner" on a very short leash. That was our motto.

Aside 2 - It has only been in recent years, in the twilight of my career, that I have learned to trust readers. K taught me that when he said, maybe quoting somebody, to get rid of what you love most. Which is what Bill was getting at.