This popped up in my feed, and you know I had to post it here: “TRS-80 Color Computer: Radio Shack’s $399 Micro from 1980!”
It me. Mine had 4K of memory: not 4 GB, or 4 MB, but 4,096 8-bit bytes of memory, and used cassette tape for storage.
Bonus #1: I’m marginal about using this one, but it calls back to an earlier blog entry: “The Norco Shootout, 40 Years Later”.
Not officially part of the content here, but: the “Behind the Badge” channel posted the Norco documentary in one (54 minute) chunk. I linked to that in my previous Norco post, but that version divides the video up into three chunks.
Bonus #2: Here’s something we hope you really like (especially you, RoadRich): a video on “Use of Force” from the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC).
Bonus #3: This is short, but I thought it was worth putting up here. Simon Sinek on “The Most Toxic Person In The Workplace”.
Have you ever asked yourself, “Self, I wonder how light bulbs are made?” Specifically, incandescent lights, not LED bulbs: the latter are probably also interesting, but that’s not today’s subject.
Really, how often do you think about light? I’ve been thinking about it a fair amount recently: throughout the whole history of man, we have really only had the ability to control lighting for about 150 to 170 years now. If you want to get an idea of what things were like in the days before, pull a Samuel Pepys. Go into the smallest windowless room in your house (a bathroom is fine) with a book and a candle. Light the candle: just one candle, because candles cost money in Pepys day. Now try to read the book. Now imagine doing that every night for the rest of your life.
This is a vintage GE documentary about the making of their “Mazda” brand light bulbs.
Bonus #1: Perhaps I am fudging the definition of “science” a bit here, but you’ve heard the expression “build a better mousetrap and the world will beat a path to your door”, right?
“West Germany vs. East Germany Mouse Traps. Mousetrap Monday”.
Also, this gives me a chance to retell the classic Soviet joke (which I think was used in “Chernobyl”): “What’s as big as a house, burns 20 liters of fuel every hour, puts out a shitload of smoke and noise, and cuts an apple into three pieces? A Soviet machine made to cut apples into four pieces.”
Bonus #2: Let’s get back to something that is at least a close approximation to science. Plus bonus fun!
“Shaking Buildings Over a Mile Away!” from “Tech Ingredients”. Basically, this involves igniting decently large amounts of hydrogen mixtures.
“Let’s bring everything in soon so if the cops come there’s nothing here.” That’s my kind of science.
Bonus #3: I wanted to do some biology last week, but compromised. Here’s something that comes closer to what I wanted to do: a 1954 film about the virtues of antibiotics.
He went on to become active in Republican politics and became rich. Then in 1972, he found Jesus, but with a twist: he built his own religious community and specialized in taking down scam evangelists.
I cannot tell a lie: “permanently banned from the ‘700 Club'” is what hooked me. (And “often obscenity-laced, sometimes violent Bible study sessions”. And “a Trinity member who, like Mr. Anthony, had taken a vow of poverty before acquiring a private investigator’s license”.)
Among those “margins of Dallas society” he attracted: Joe Bob Briggs.
I have not found a mainstream source for this yet, but it seems to have been confirmed in various places: Dan Kaminsky, noted security researcher.
His politics were not mine, and he was not a personal friend or even acquaintance of mine. But I was lucky enough to see him speak at DEFCON and Black Hat a few times, and the guy was wicked smart. Especially when it came to TCP/IP and DNS: man probably forgot more about DNS than I’ll ever know. (One of my favorite talks involved him demonstrating how he could run streaming audio, in real-time, over the Internet…by embedding data in DNS queries. I believe this was that talk.)
There’s a good Hacker News thread here, and an obit from The Registerhere.
I wanted to do some biology today. Specifically, I wanted to do some stuff about malaria, as that would give me an opportunity to work in a couple of (appropriate!) videos about the gin and tonic.
But I couldn’t find any real science videos about malaria that I liked. I might do the G&T videos another day, if I decide to do a day of mixology.
Anthropology is kind of close to biology, though, and is science: “The Natural History of our World: The Time of Man”. I apologize for the naked man a-s early on, but you can safely fast forward past that. Also: narration by Richard Basehart!
Bonus: “How Does Forensic Anthropology Help Solve Crimes?”, with Dame Susan Margaret Black.
Bonus #2: I find something kind of soothing in Dame Black’s voice, so how about another lecture from her?
“Forensic anthropology in the real world – this is not CSI!”
“So if I do nothing else this evening but remind you to switch off the television when ‘CSI: Fleetwood’ or whatever it is comes on next, can we please not?”
(And I quote Dame Black as a person who actually has a certain amount of affection for “CSI: Original Recipe”, at least the first eight or so seasons. I also say this as a person who can distinguish TV from reality, which I guess means I need to “check my privilege” or something.)
(I also say this as someone who is interested in forensic anthropology, but has never studied it formally.)
Another one of my half-baked book ideas is a book on this subject.
What do I mean by this? What I’m thinking about is: businesses that are built on, and depend on, another business to exist, and would not exist without that business.
The first time I started thinking about this was in the early days of widespread Internet adoption, and specifically in the context of eBay. There were several businesses that sprung up in the early days: escrow services, payment processors, and even places where you could take your stuff. In the days before digital cameras and fast Internet access being common, it was often easier to take your items to somebody’s storefront: they’d list the items for you on eBay, handle shipping and receive payment, and take a cut of your proceeds, as well as an upfront fee for the listing. (At least, I assume that was how it worked: I never actually used any of those services.)
Zynga is perhaps another good example of this, but with a twist. They were, at one point, massively tied to Facebook:
But Facebook ended that “special relationship”, and Zynga’s pivoted towards mobile gaming. Though I’ve never used Facebook, I almost want to argue (based on what I’ve heard from others) that Zynga’s games were more “parasitic” than “symbiotic”, in the sense that they possibly did some damage to Facebook and drove people away.
Which raises the question: are app developers in a symbiotic economy? Arguably, they wouldn’t exist without the Google and Apple app stores, and it’s easy for a change in policy, or a change in operating system, to wipe out a specific app. At least with Android, you (theoretically) have the option to “sideload” your app. On the other hand, eliminating third-party apps would hurt the stores as much, or more, as it would hurt the developers.
I’m not sure what the conclusion, or overarching theme, of this book would be. Other than: if you’re going to put all your eggs in one basket (like Facebook) watch that basket. And have a Plan B. And a Plan C.
What brings this to mind? Two fairly recent articles:
1. There’s this device called “Kytch”. It is targeted at a highly specific market: McDonald’s franchises. The Kytch device sits inside the notoriously finicky and often broken McD’s soft-serve and milkshake machines, connects to WiFi, and provides enhanced diagnostic information on what exactly has gone wrong with the machine.
Putting it into my own terms, it is kind of like having a history letter from Smith and Wesson: at the very least, having a letter will probably pay for itself if you ever go to sell your gun. If you hit the lottery – if you find out your gun was shipped to someone like Annie Oakley – your $300 gun might become a $50,000 gun.
(On a side note: $300 for a .22/32 Heavy Frame Target? This guy got a screaming deal, and it would have been one even if it wasn’t Annie Oakley’s gun.)
But I digress. As the big dog in grading and authentication, PSA was doing a land office business. Business, as a matter of fact, was too good:
Uh, didn’t the Post Office kind of do that this past Christmas? (Okay, not really, but it did seem like they were coming close.)
PSA is still going to process their backlog, and hopes to resume service by July 1st. And there are other authentication and grading services, but none with the level of acceptance and prestige that PSA has. And the people with cards sitting in backlog have issues, too:
It seems like it has been a while since I’ve done anything computer or computer history related. How about something from General Electric? Specifically the “Heavy Military Electronics Department”?
“Systems That Look Ahead”, a 1960s promo video on the virtues of computer information processing.
Honestly, I’m just fascinated by the idea of the “Heavy Military Electronics Department”. Was there a “Light Military Electronics Department”?
Bonus #1: They call economics the “dismal science”, right? Actually, this sits kind of at the interesection.
“Economics of Nuclear Reactor”, with our old friend Illinois EnergyProf.
Bonus #2: Periscope Films has put up some more educational videos from Shell Oil. This is actually one that they posted a while back from the 1970s that’s in color: “How an Airplane Flies: Part 1, Weight and Lift” and “Part 2: Thrust and Drag”.
I’ve got another NASA film lined up today, but this isn’t space science.
“Flight to Tomorrow” is a 1967 film about NASA’s supersonic aircraft research, including the SST, hypersonic transports, and noise abatement.
Bonus #1: I thought it might be interesting to post this: “The M2-F2 Crash” from the Dark Footage folks.
Why? Well, some of you may recognize the M2-F2. Some more of you may recognize some of the footage in this documentary. Otherwise, stay to the end, when all will be revealed.
Bonus #2 and #3: The history of the M2-F2 and the NASA lifting bodies led me to this.
“Today, Tomorrow and Titan III”, part one of “Man In Space”. I know I’m sort of fudging here, but I really do view lifting bodies and supersonic/hypersonic transport as being a different category of science than the manned space missions.
Part 2: This also covers Bill Dana and the X-15.
Bonus #4: Just one more, because it is short. The Martin Marietta X-24B lifting body.
First up, a nice little historical video direct from NASA about the Mercury Control Center.
That covers Mercury. How about Gemini?
“The 12 Gemini”.
Apollo? Well, would you settle for a vintage Rocketdyne promo video on “Large Liquid Propellant Rocket Engines”, like the F1 engine used in the Saturn V?
Last one, and it is a long one. But today is Sunday. “Engineering Space: The Mighty Saturn V”.
One of the reasons this past weekend was so busy is that I got up brutally early Saturday morning and drove out to the KR Training facility (KR Training, official firearms trainer for WCD) to attend a “Stop the Bleed” class taught by Levi Nathan.
I know there are many gun bloggers who feel like: if you carry a gun, you should carry a tourniquet, too. I haven’t been doing that because:
I didn’t have the training.
I have heard a lot of horror stories about low quality knockoff tourniquets made of Chinesium. I wanted to make sure I knew what suppliers were reliable, and how to tell a counterfeit tourniquet from a real one, before I started spending money on putting together an emergency kit (or what people in the biz call an IFAK).
I also wanted to know what I should – and should not – put in my emergency kit.
Summarizing: I got exactly what I wanted out of Mr. Nathan and the course, and I heartily endorse this event and/or product.
And even though this was at KR Training, this isn’t just a gun thing, for all my foreign readers. People hurt themselves badly and suffer life threatening bleeding in all kinds of ways: car accidents, construction accidents, kitchen accidents…
I also heartily endorse the idea of taking an official “Stop the Bleed” course from someone, anyone. You’ll get hands-on practice with stuff, and hands-on practice is good.
That being said, today’s videos are all StB related. Some of this is for my own personal bookmarks, and some of this is for the benefit of my loyal readers who want the knowledge, but may not yet be able to step out and take a StB course.
Remember: Have gloves. Wear gloves. Nitrile is recommended.
This is a compressed (slightly over 15 minutes) version of the “Stop the Bleed” presentation.
Here’s a longer version (a little over an hour) with demos.
Again, these are not substitutes for taking a for real actual course from someone who knows what they are doing. But I know a lot of people still don’t feel like it is safe to go out and mingle in public, so this is better than a poke in the neck with a sharp stick.
And from North American Rescue, makers of the Combat Application Tourniquet (C-A-T), here’s how to apply one:
And from ITS Tactical, here’s a video on using the Israeli bandage:
Finally, by way of SkinnyMedic, “How to use your IFAK”.
Note that some of these channels talk about stuff other than trauma dressing, gauze (for packing) and the C-A-T: for example, chest seals.
The advice we got in class for using chest seals (and even more emphatically, chest decompression needles) was: don’t. Chest seals seem to show up in a lot of pre-packaged IFAKs, but as Mr. Nathan put it, this is not within your scope having taken just a “Stop the Bleed” course. This is the kind of thing that EMTs with higher level certifications do, not random hobos such as myself.
Also, if you get someone else’s blood on you: tell the responding medical people. We all know about HIPAA, right? Well, there’s a limited exception in the law: if you get someone’s blood on you, and it is documented, and it turns out that person has a blood-borne pathogen, you have a right to be informed of that as long as it is documented. You don’t have a right to know how and where they got it, just that they had it.
Now all I need to do is get my (stuff) together. I’m actually kind of surprised at how many of the companies selling IFAK pouches don’t make them in red. Condor is the only one I’ve found: 5.11 doesn’t, for sure.
The pouch should be the cheapest part of your kit, as long as it holds everything in place. But in a high stress emergency situation, I’m personally thinking “red = first aid”, and I want to be able to tell people “grab the red pouch”, not “grab the black pouch, no, the small black pouch, no, the other small black pouch, no, that’s the dark purple one, grab the black one…” Know what I mean, Vern?