[Tom Wagner]

I don't have the time to do this...but my isolation at times from this fourm needs remedial action.....and some folks want my input for some reason and my response here is assuaging guilt on my part and maybe responding to questions will help me understand myself better...namely ....Parallel play is in play here with all due respect. Lots of puns, however.

Parallel play is a form of play where children play adjacent to each other, but in a seemingly solitary manner. An observer will notice that they occasionally notice what the other is doing and then modify their play accordingly.

I am not much out of the Solitary play mode. I am trying to figure out how to advance to Associative Play and perhaps even to Cooperative Play which implies some shared purpose. As an adult I lapse into earlier play scenarios. Such is the nature of a plant breeder whose own childhood is still with him. Slightly Aspie, hard of hearing, works best by himself, likes familiar surroundings and connects to memorization of trivia of such.

....As for your uploading problem, just use ACDSee (I prefer version 5 instead of newer versions) and run a batch resize--select all the files and resize to whatever dimension or percent of original. You can also change the compression ratio at the same time to save on the file size(s.)

I googled the ACDSEE and I noted that the newest version is around $60 + , therefore I googled the free versions and downloaded the 8.0 version as it was called older version. I have it somewhere, but not sure where it is...the icon on the screen saver does not link to what I thought it was, and when I read the munu earlier on what it does...I lost the concept of how to put pictures on it...Maybe later.

Tom, heaven forbid, but I was also just curious if you have a plan in place in case something ever happened to you. What happens to all your work?

Funny, I don't even have a plan even if nothing happens to me! My work in other breeding projects lies dormant in a storage facility in Bakersfield, CA and can be best said to be in default by attrition. This storage contains a library of documents, books, field journals, jars of old seed such as peas, beans, corn, tomatoes, potatoes, soybeans, wheat.....all part of a 50 some year adventure in plant breeding placed on hold with the exception of some continuance in potato and tomato breeding that extended through the years to my current situation in Washington (state). There is no germination survival of those old units of much accounting.

MOST of the genetic stocks that have been used in research in the US were developed and conserved by public sector universities and federal government
research organizations during the past, however some shift to seed saving groups and hobbyists has occurred in the last 25 years or so . So many of us in the private breeding and the research community have been subject of the 'gradual attrition, and occasional dramatic losses, of these specialized stocks' over the years. So very often.... important genetic resources were dumped before "relocation plans" could be constructed and/or because a "new stock curator" was not available . The push for GMO's have led to additional "abandonment of existing genetic stocks" and I could not be there for that continuance since I am a breeder---not a inventory house of existing stocks---although I do keep a lot of true seed of potatoes and additionally maintain many obscure clones of tomatoes from the late Victor Lambeth tomato collection, for example.

I dropped off many tomato varieties in my tour of Europe last year couple with the message that new varieties of tomatoes do not need to be registered with laws that forbid anyone but registered seed growers and sellers participating. I tried to leave them with the concept that new varieties can and should come from backyards rather than from the top down.

You're all but a legend among the cultivar pioneers, from what I've read. You've got a huge reputation to live up to

There seems to be a disconnect between being a pioneer plus holding a reputation of sorts in juxtaposition with futurist and optimist. I know that most folks in Europe "knew" my Green Zebra but did not know about me. When I told people of the new Green Zebras in various breeding lines I taunted them by giving them seed of the new lines. Fifty lines alone in Vienna!

I don't know how many times I tried to use that so-called pioneer/reputation illusion as a resume of sorts to to invite myself into a variety of non-profit or for-profit organizations to pursue further development of plant varieties. It almost appears that it is an Albatross's dilemma!

I'm trying to get my head around how these blue genes fit with bicolour tomatoes. Are we talking green zebra with blue shoulders, or green zebra with coloured stripes that are more photosensitive than other areas?

You're all but a legend among the cultivar pioneers

The blue genes fitting in with other colors, stripes......is part of my most wide spread venture...especially in Europe....the UK included....and I am hoping the photosensitive areas in juxtaposition with the stripes will find some interesting coordinates. My experience in developing potato berries with blue colors and blue dapples and stripes are part of my template of doing the same in tomatoes. I am hoping the dark green stripes of a Green Zebra mimic the dark green shoulders that fixate the photosensitive areas to turn blue and trace down the fruit with a distinct blue stripe. That in con★★★★★★★★ with various flesh colors and clear/yellow epidermis layers could.... and will open up new vibrant color vistas in tomatoes.

Tom Wagner