The Tuesday Zits cartoon in my morning paper got me thinking about how much things have changed.
In another life, I was assigned to a surveillance team that concentrated on the subjects who commuted by underground and train. Of course this required extensive training. One whole day was spent on how to use the newspaper as a prop. This was essentially teaching us how to fold it like a lifelong commuter so we wouldn’t look out of place. I guess PDA’s, iPod’s, and all manner of similar gadgets might make that unnecessary today, but if it isn’t, there’s a web site to teach anybody that arcane skill.
Weeks were spent memorizing all the lines, schedules, and stations. Then came memorizing where all the station payphones were located and learning to constantly look for and remember the location of the nearest public telephone. Today’s cell phone makes that unnecessary too. Many cell phone cameras are better than the small format cameras we were given as is, or as part of certain props. I do wish I had been able to keep one of the Rollei 35 B or later Rollei 35 S cameras though.
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