In 1954 my Uncle Jack Powell -- a radio repairman in Alpine, Texas -- predicted that the recording industry would go with light which, in a way, could include the laser used in CDs and DVDs.
He believed that the soundtrack on movie films -- a squiggly clear line on the black photo edge -- was going to be the forerunner of revolutionary changes in recording quality.
At that time the most popular "new" idea was wire recording, a spool about three inches in diameter with very fine stainless steel good for about one hour if my ancient memory is working today. When the wire broke you tied it together with a square knot and trimmed the ends of surplus wire dangling out. It wasn't perfect but was very much better than the bakelite or vinyl records that came a little later.
Those of us from West Texas also knew that one of the best "needles" for playing the old flat disks were from cactus. The sound was transmitted very faithfully to the crystal in the recording arm head and the nature of the cactus spine did not damage the record surface as much as steel did. Had to be replaced fairly often.
One of Uncle Jack's chores in Alpine was retrieval of some the first dial short-waves in aviation from the B-29s stored near Alpine in the dry air of West Texas. The radio's did away with crystals that formerly had to be inserted for each band. The continuous dial was a wonderful advance and it was in a radio of small size, about 24" wide and maybe 12" square. The Enola Gay was parked down there at the huge field of stored bombers, near the highway so folks passing by could see the plane that dropped the atomic bomb.
That might give our valuable nerds another path to examine. Aloha from Hawai`i.
At 68, it's difficult to remember all the wonders of the very common chemistry sets of childhood. These days you would need a clearance from the CIA and a few other agencies to qualify for one of these great relics which did have some dangerous stuff among those little glass bottles and vials. I learned too much from them and started making runs to the pharmacy for more exotic stuff, elemental iodine being one of the more dramatic goodies. Back then you could buy whatever you wanted in this category, including mercury!
As to what now, the first step might be to find one of the instruction books in some museum of toys. That would give you a good list of the kinds of chemicals distributed in the kits and the basic reactions that you learned about by 'playing chemist' with the set. I got caught just in time in a guncotton experiment... Would have worked, too.
. . . that's right, CDs make great and colorful coasters so take them to your favorite bar but be sure to a double handful at home for your next wedding reception.
Since childhood it's been known by all medical folks trying to tend to my ills that it takes an enormous amount of anaesthetics to numb me up -- or down. Dentists using nitrous oxide pump me up at very close to ten on their mixture scale, the max. No one has ever guessed why but I've been told many times that the problem is evident in about five percent of any group of patients, red-headed or bald like me! For those in this group, the relatively new Versid given intravenously before the usual anaesthetics reduces the amount needed and also blocks all memory. Great!
Michael says, "Now I know that wire stories are often run with minimal verification - each paper or website assumes that Reuters, or UPI, or AP has checked the story for veracity before it went out. And I know that reporters and editors can't be experts on every field of endeavor that they report on." Now wait just a darned minute!
Though UPI was an exception, in its day, most 'wire service' is merely a way to share each other's copy. AP is an association of newspapers -- and other media -- on a network of each other's work. AP doesn't check that much because it is 'from a member'it's not their job. Reuters and AP have their own news staffs but it is in urban areas handling only major, international stories. The rest is picked up from some local publication. I only put this in, Michael, because you were trumpeting accuracy and urging each of us to make corrections wherever we see an error occur.
You're dead right, quick regarding Supreme Court decisions is worthless. The woman who brought the action wasn't asking for money. All she sought was a job she could do -- which was readily available on the terms she requested, one that did not continur or aggravate her carpal tunnel problem. She won an earlier action but the employer later wanted to put her off the job the negotiation won for her and, in effect, put her back on a damaging job. All she sought was to be given work she could do. The court said the damage wasn't sufficient because they made a literal reading of the text of the law. The Congress apparently made an error and many think their language will be cleaned up. Meanwhile hold off on the 'get rich quick' language because it is neither fair nor accurate.
There must be some way to get these recently hired junior clerks at Microsoft to go light in their apologeia for tiny "errors" when they are addressing overpriced products that should at least work.
At least we see some consistency, XBox and XP seem to have everything in common, they don't work and nobody in support seems to care.
It's a frightening time when cyber soldiers figure a way around a civil impingement rather than build an insurmountable way to foil its implementation. But I understand and am beginning to feel something similar. No government entity is seeing long range.
More and more intrusion in life is extending from our government's pseudopods. The bad name that bad government gives to "politics" may be to blame because, without politics, you certainly will never change -- or corral -- bad government.
Please keep in mind there is power in analog technology that has been ignored or lost totally
in our total digital absorption. Consider if each
of the million little transistors in that chip you mention had infinite states -- rather than just on-off.
Slashdot Mirror
He believed that the soundtrack on movie films -- a squiggly clear line on the black photo edge -- was going to be the forerunner of revolutionary changes in recording quality.
At that time the most popular "new" idea was wire recording, a spool about three inches in diameter with very fine stainless steel good for about one hour if my ancient memory is working today. When the wire broke you tied it together with a square knot and trimmed the ends of surplus wire dangling out. It wasn't perfect but was very much better than the bakelite or vinyl records that came a little later.
Those of us from West Texas also knew that one of the best "needles" for playing the old flat disks were from cactus. The sound was transmitted very faithfully to the crystal in the recording arm head and the nature of the cactus spine did not damage the record surface as much as steel did. Had to be replaced fairly often.
One of Uncle Jack's chores in Alpine was retrieval of some the first dial short-waves in aviation from the B-29s stored near Alpine in the dry air of West Texas. The radio's did away with crystals that formerly had to be inserted for each band. The continuous dial was a wonderful advance and it was in a radio of small size, about 24" wide and maybe 12" square. The Enola Gay was parked down there at the huge field of stored bombers, near the highway so folks passing by could see the plane that dropped the atomic bomb.
That might give our valuable nerds another path to examine. Aloha from Hawai`i.
...after all, what's good for Microsoft is good for the nation! Right, Bill?
GM's Charlie Wilson displayed the value of that philosophy -- zero! -- so why should we repeat this type of tycoon pol?
At 68, it's difficult to remember all the wonders of the very common chemistry sets of childhood. These days you would need a clearance from the CIA and a few other agencies to qualify for one of these great relics which did have some dangerous stuff among those little glass bottles and vials. I learned too much from them and started making runs to the pharmacy for more exotic stuff, elemental iodine being one of the more dramatic goodies. Back then you could buy whatever you wanted in this category, including mercury! As to what now, the first step might be to find one of the instruction books in some museum of toys. That would give you a good list of the kinds of chemicals distributed in the kits and the basic reactions that you learned about by 'playing chemist' with the set. I got caught just in time in a guncotton experiment... Would have worked, too.
. . . that's right, CDs make great and colorful coasters so take them to your favorite bar but be sure to a double handful at home for your next wedding reception.
Since childhood it's been known by all medical folks trying to tend to my ills that it takes an enormous amount of anaesthetics to numb me up -- or down. Dentists using nitrous oxide pump me up at very close to ten on their mixture scale, the max. No one has ever guessed why but I've been told many times that the problem is evident in about five percent of any group of patients, red-headed or bald like me! For those in this group, the relatively new Versid given intravenously before the usual anaesthetics reduces the amount needed and also blocks all memory. Great!
Michael says, "Now I know that wire stories are often run with minimal verification - each paper or website assumes that Reuters, or UPI, or AP has checked the story for veracity before it went out. And I know that reporters and editors can't be experts on every field of endeavor that they report on." Now wait just a darned minute! Though UPI was an exception, in its day, most 'wire service' is merely a way to share each other's copy. AP is an association of newspapers -- and other media -- on a network of each other's work. AP doesn't check that much because it is 'from a member'it's not their job. Reuters and AP have their own news staffs but it is in urban areas handling only major, international stories. The rest is picked up from some local publication. I only put this in, Michael, because you were trumpeting accuracy and urging each of us to make corrections wherever we see an error occur.
You're dead right, quick regarding Supreme Court decisions is worthless. The woman who brought the action wasn't asking for money. All she sought was a job she could do -- which was readily available on the terms she requested, one that did not continur or aggravate her carpal tunnel problem. She won an earlier action but the employer later wanted to put her off the job the negotiation won for her and, in effect, put her back on a damaging job. All she sought was to be given work she could do. The court said the damage wasn't sufficient because they made a literal reading of the text of the law. The Congress apparently made an error and many think their language will be cleaned up. Meanwhile hold off on the 'get rich quick' language because it is neither fair nor accurate.
There must be some way to get these recently hired junior clerks at Microsoft to go light in their apologeia for tiny "errors" when they are addressing overpriced products that should at least work. At least we see some consistency, XBox and XP seem to have everything in common, they don't work and nobody in support seems to care.
It's a frightening time when cyber soldiers figure a way around a civil impingement rather than build an insurmountable way to foil its implementation. But I understand and am beginning to feel something similar. No government entity is seeing long range. More and more intrusion in life is extending from our government's pseudopods. The bad name that bad government gives to "politics" may be to blame because, without politics, you certainly will never change -- or corral -- bad government.
Please keep in mind there is power in analog technology that has been ignored or lost totally in our total digital absorption. Consider if each of the million little transistors in that chip you mention had infinite states -- rather than just on-off.