Ring Out the Old, Ring In the New

A Monthly Column By Mike Johnston
Good morning! First of all, I'd like to thank everybody who made the introduction ofLenses and the Light-Tight Boxlast week such a resounding success. I need to reiterate that I'm sending out the pre-orders of my other book,The Empirical Photographer, in the order in which the they were received. I'm sorry if you haven't gotten yours yet, but I'm working on it, and I've learned my hard lesson yet again: never make promises you can't keep! Meanwhile, I'm going to extend the introductory price ofLenses and the Light-Tight Boxfor another week.

Jack Kilby, as he looked when he won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2000.
It's worth noting here the passing of one of the world's great pioneers, a man who has had more influence on our lives than all but a handful of others in history. Jack Kilby died on June 20th. He was the inventor of the microchip. The Chairman of Texas Instruments said, "There are only a handful of people whose works have truly transfo...