[Jewelry making - Article 00539] - Re: [Orchid] Portable Digital Microscope

[Rick]

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    Mattel Toys and Intel came out with a similar device in the late 90's
    called the intelplay microscope. You can change the light source from
    over or under the object you are viewing. They came out with it just
    before Christmas. Then poof it disappeared. They still have a support
    website and had a windows XP release of software but I dunno about
    vista which is my current system. My son used to have fun taking
    pictures up his nose then coloring in the details with the small
    graphics capability of the software. The kids have grown and I still
    have the microscope. I use it for viewing micro mounts of minerals.
    Micro Mount is a hobby all in itself. We have a separate group in the
    local mineralogical society. The fun part of being a micro mounter is
    you can carry your whole mineral collection in a shoe box and put on
    a pretty good display with what you can hold in your shirt pocket. 

    The interested people in micro mounting are getting on in years but
    so is the hobby of rock collecting. With today's society wanting
    instant gratification no one's much interested in rocks. The Cash
    and Treasures show on the Travel Channel has sparked some interest in
    rocks. But as soon as the newbie rock collectors see how much work
    is involved and how few and far between the big finds are they will
    probably drop out. The Colorado Springs Mineralogical Society is the
    biggest club in Colorado. We've managed to grow with an educational
    outreach to local schools, having a pebble pups group that is lead
    by a noted paleo-geologist, and recruiting at ours shows. It took a
    basic mind set transformation of the older members to share their
    knowledge with younger members. Most clubs are dying from the old
    timers not willing to share in their knowledge and running their
    clubs as they did in the 1960's. 

    BTW I can't help but mentioning I am the 2008 president of CSMS. I
    guess I'll have to add that to my signature line once I am sworn
    in... 

Rick Copeland
Silversmith and Lapidary Artisan
Rocky Mountain Wonders
Colorado Springs, Colorado
rockymountainwonders.com
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