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Progressive Era Hacker Griefed Marconi Demonstration
nbauman writes "In June 1903, Gugliemo Marconi and his partner Ambrose Flemming were about to give the first demonstration of long-range wireless communication at the Royal Institution in London, which, Marconi said, could be sent in complete confidentiality with no fear of the messages being hijacked. Suddenly, the silence was broken by a huge mysterious wireless pulse strong enough to take over the carbon-arc projector and make it sputter messages in Morse Code. First, it repeated the word 'Rats' over and over again (abusive at that time). Then it tapped out, 'There was a young fellow of Italy, who diddled the public quite prettily.' Further rude epithets followed. It was Nevil Maskelyne, a stage musician and inventor who was annoyed because Marconi's patents prevented him from using wireless. It was the first hacking, to demonstrate an insecure system."
That's not a joke, BTW. So every time you really have to defecate and some greedy business or city has installed a pay toilet, you can thank John Nevil Maskelyne--the noble inventor who pioneered the idea of charging people a penny to take a shit.
And, as an American, god bless you Committee to End Pay Toilets in America--for keeping this scourge mostly out of the land of the free crapper.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
I live in SF. There are NO free toilets. The only public toilets AT ALL are the pay ones, which are very, very few.
Before they put those in, there were simply no public toilets at all...
That's probably why the homeless crap on the streets there.
I live in San Fransisco.
I said in America.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
There is (was?) a pay-restroom right by the western end of the Charles Bridge in Prague, presumably to fleece the high volume of crossing foreign tourists. You pay the big beefy man sitting at the window, he hands you a few squares of toilet paper, and gives you a big thumbs up and a "Good luck!" What service. Ah, free enterprise.
Yeah, definitely not cool from the standpoint of visitors, but still highly amusing.
A preposition is a terrible thing to end a sentence with.
That wasn't the guy who hacked Marconi, it was his father.
You must be thinking of police boxes.
in NYC the public toilets are called Starbucks
It flows downhill.
May the Maths Be with you!
ORLY?
Pecunia non olet (supposedly 70CE).
You can't handle the truth.
A-freakin'-MEN!
Not saying that resorting to mischief is ALWAYS the right solution. But in these days of rampant complacency, you sometimes need to resort to something spectacular to draw attention to very real problems. Otherwise, people are just too busy keeping their heads down and their asses covered to give a damn.
And before some shit-for-brains tries to draw a parallel with Anonymous or "Occupy". This was a person pointing out a flaw in a technology and doing it in such a way that it didn't break anything, do any damage (other than to someone's overblown arrogance) or violate any laws.
Chas - The one, the only.
THANK GOD!!!
Try visiting China. Went through 20 different cities and rural areas.
Toilets are free, or at least everyone I saw was, but there were no toilet paper rolls, paper towels, etc. You brought your own paper napkins and toilet paper with you everywhere.
Visited a factory and the public bathroom was a nightmare. You had running water, but were expected to have your own soap and paper. The executives handed me them.
It was just normal there. We took around handiwipes with us everywhere.
The only exception were the 4-5 star hotels that catered to westerners. Only time I had a "regular" toilet that I could sit on with a toilet paper roll right next to me. Rest were the squat type.
I hear India and other places are not much different.
Why we never hear "patent allowed," but instead always we hear this:
[...] a stage musician and inventor who was annoyed because Marconi's patents prevented him from using wireless.
All hope abandon ye who enter here.
When you got to go, you got to go.
Expecting a homeless person to hold for an hour or so till they find somebody willing to let them use the toilet is expecting too much. Are they going to walk around with signs, "Will work for a place to shit?".
Reminds of the story with Gerard Depardieu peeing on the plane. He is an older guy, and when you got to go, you really have to go. Waiting 20-30 minutes is not optional. He whipped it out and just started peeing in the aisle. Better than peeing in his own pants sitting down for certain.
Bottom line is that if you don't give a human being an option on where to to put "it", "it" is just going to be put anywhere.
I suspect you'd have seen much of the same cult leader tactics employed by Edison and Tesla in their fights with each other, ending in the pointless and stupid destruction of one protagonist and the adoption of a highly inefficient technology for the sole purpose of denouncing a rival's. When feuds are settled amicably, you tend to get best-of-breed hybrids and an incentive to move forwards. When feuds are settled at gunpoint (real or metaphorical), politics and Not Invented Here take over, leading to regression and an irrational desire to not move forwards lest the "other side" win.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
There is no way that Marconi invented anything. He was just an early Steve Jobs, so no wonder someone rained on his parade.
There are too many references, but check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventor_of_radio.
My favourite quote about this was Tesla when he said: "Marconi [... was] using seventeen of my patents"
The first transmissions were around 1872, with most of the work done by Mahlon Loomis with his 'wireless telegraph'.
Don't be apathetic. Procrastinate!
You'll see the same at restaurants, where you have to bring your own napkin.
Free napkins and toilet paper are mostly subsidized by the cost of the food. This is made possible because the commodity is so inexpensive, and the primary product is priced sufficiently high enough to cover the cost of the commodity.
In places like India and China (and numerous other places), natural resources (per capita) are relatively expensive, i.e. the cost of a roll of toilet paper or a stack of napkins or other such is significantly higher relative to the general cost of living.
IMHO, this is actually a good thing. It keeps people from wasting the resource, because they're paying out of their own pocket for it. The price of the freebie is not hidden behind something else, like the price of the food or the entrance price. They know exactly how much each napkin is costing them, because they bought it. Which means they're not going to use it on things that are not worthwhile.
"If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
Maskelyne (of the famed duo Maskelyne and Devant) was a stage magician, not musician.
From TFS:
From TFA:
Having said that, he may also have been a musician, but the magician part was how he used his interest in wireless technology:
Also, I've highlighted the most-relevant part to today's world: he was frustrated by overly-broad patents.
Plus ca change...
He whipped it out and just started peeing in the aisle.
Actually he discreetly attempted to pee into a bottle while still seated. Nobody could see his wang except his seat-neighbor who was a good friend of his (... and who incidentally lent him the bottle...). However, being an "elephant" as he is, the bottle overflowed, and the rest is history.
No standing up in the middle of the aisle, and demonstratively peeing at the stewardess' feet. That was just pure journalistic fantasy.
Bottom line is that if you don't give a human being an option on where to to put "it", "it" is just going to be put anywhere.
Indeed. I happened to be at a "Quick Hamburger Restaurant" to have a small snack after a drinking spree, and suddenly I had to go. Unfortunately all loos at that place were paying (... even for customers!). But fortunately there was a trashcan suspended at exactly the correct height...
Not as high-tech as one of these Automatic rising toilets
A time-switch activates a motor at night to raise the unit to street-level for use. Then as dawn breaks, the unit is lowered back underground.
There are supposed to be safety systems that prevent anyone from being trapped and "buried alive".
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
No standing up in the middle of the aisle, and demonstratively peeing at the stewardess' feet. That was just pure journalistic fantasy.
Well that was the story going about over here in the US. I got to admit, I like that story better. Gerard defiant in the aisle, manhood in hand, screaming, "I piss for France!".
It's just funnier that way. In any case, I support him. When you have to go that bad just let the person go to the bathroom in a dignified manner. From the story I heard he did explain how badly he needed to go and that he would not be able to hold it.
When I flew into Brussels (yes, not USA), we then drove to Hasselt, and stopped for coffee and breakfast at a nice clean roadside "buffet" (European style, not American style). Can't remember the name, but it's a chain, nice clean place. Anyway, if you don't eat there, they charge you to use the bathroom, like half a Euro. They have an attendant there who checks your receipt or charges you if you don't have one. My American friend and I were dumbfounded. We live in the Carolinas, where pay toilets are almost unheard of, even in the city.
Tequila: It's not just for breakfast anymore!
Actually, it's more of a grinding noise.
My friends tell me that Chinese toilets are like Mexican toilets, in that you can pee in them but you have to throw your poopy toilet paper into an adjacent wastebasket or you'll back the whole system up. Is that true?
I've seen a similar thing in a French mountain hostel. The wastebasket for the TP was mounted to the door. The whole stall was so small that you kept bumping your knees into the wastebasket. And, when done, bringing your hand holding the stained TP from the back to the front without staining your clothes proved to be an interesting puzzle... And no, just passing your hand from the front to your ass was not an option, because spreading your legs enough for the hand to pass was just not possible in that minuscule stall.
So many people in the group didn't bother, and dropped the TP in the bowl anyways. We stayed only one night, and never knew whether this did indeed back the whole system up.
...the Analogue Millennium Copyright Act.
Their they're doing there hair.
Not as high-tech as one of these Automatic rising toilets
But the one-way mirror loo passes them all for zaniness!
Once again, the inability of Americans to let go of the imperial system has lead to a disaster, if only the bottle had been marked metric then Gerard Depardieu would have known how much it held!
You have 5 Moderator Points!
Which Helpless Linux zealot/MS basher do you want to mod down today?
Standard medical tests require an individual to provide 24-hours worth of urine ... Clinic provides the "specimen bottles", which are basically a pair of medically approved two litre water containers. Usually, one is enough, the second is there as a spare. But it's impressive to take back to the clinic, what looks like a two litre bottle of apple juice or cider.
Best not to leave them in an unlocked car - wouldn't want them to get stolen :)
Vintage computer adverts: http://www.vintageadbrowser.com/computers-and-software-ads
Gotta love /. these days.
Yes, because there was a time when conversations on /. didn't immediately turn to shit.
It was back in 1923, and everyone on /. was serious, I tells ya. There were no lame memes or potty-mouthed jokes in those days, kiddo. Back in them days, we was all behind Cool Cal for President and everyone just sat around smoking fine cigars and having serious discussions about the markets. We had our hot grits plain in them days. Natalie Portman wasn't even a gleam in her daddy's eye. And we liked it, dagnabbit!
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.