I’ve stated before that computer science is science. So: from Dartmouth College, a semi-short documentary about the “Birth of BASIC”, featuring Tom Kurtz.
Bonus #1: Here’s a mildly interesting sidelight on science history. In 1945, Kodak had a problem: batches of X-ray film were ruined. Specifically, the film was peppered with dark spots. Turns out the problem was…the bomb.
“How Kodak Exposed The Atomic Bomb”.
Bonus #2: Hey, they even call this a “Leadership Through Science” film! “The Inside Story Of Modern Gasoline: Science Fashioned Molecules For Top Performance”, from 1946 and the Standard Oil Company of Indiana.
You may know this particular Standard Oil better as Amoco, which is what the company was renamed to in 1985 (though they were using the Amoco name before that). They merged with BP in 1998.
After last week’s storm ended and the ice melted sufficiently, both Lawrence and I had trouble getting our cars started.
In my case, the car was sitting from Friday the 12th to Saturday the 19th, so a little more than a week, and it seemed like the battery was basically dead. I have a jumper box: when I hooked it up, though, the car would respond (dash lights, etc.) but it didn’t seem like my jumper box was providing enough power to kick the starter over.
I ended up calling AAA, who arrived within 30 minutes of my call (!) and brought their giant jumper box. The car started right away: I let it idle and drove it around for about an hour total, and didn’t have any problems with it starting after that. (Knock wood.)
What brings this to mind?
“Can We Make This FROZEN Truck Run During A Polar Vortex!?” I have to say: this does not look entirely unlike my situation. I was in a suburban driveway instead of a field next to a barn, but other than that…
Bonus #1: “Costco Boost Pack: Electrician vs. Truck Starter”. Somehow this reminds me of standing outside in the cold with that jumper box…
Bonus #2: My dad used to go around to various places in the winter and cut wood for firewood. What we didn’t burn in our own fireplace, he sold to friends and neighbors. Dad had side hustles before there were side hustles.
I was never able to talk him into doing anything with explosives, though.
Bonus #3: 60 Minutes Australia visits “the coldest town in the world”, Oymiakon.
I thought it might be fun to dip back into the AT&T Tech Channel and their archives, and pick out some stuff related to telephones and telephony.
All of these videos have modern introductions, but I’ve set the embedded versions to skip over that intro. If you want to rewind, you’re certainly welcome to: I don’t control your browser. (Never mind that bitcoin miner I opened in a separate window.)
“Good-Bye, Central” is from 1978, and documents the last places that actually used central switchboards, instead of the dial system. This is just a little over 10 minutes, and even less if you skip over the intro.
“The Hello Machine” is also short, and is historically interesting: it was directed by Carroll Ballard in 1974. Mr. Ballard went on to direct “The Black Stallion”, “Never Cry Wolf”, and “Fly Away Home”, as well as doing second unit direction on “Star Wars”.
I know it might be a snoozer for some. (I think when you say “wordless film-poem”, you’ve lost Lawrence. Unless it has music by Philip Glass. Though now I’m wondering: could you do a “wordless film-poem” with tanks?) But: only 13 minutes, and less if you skip the intro.
One more: “To Communicate is the Beginning”, from 1976. This is a bit longer (32 minutes).
There are other interesting folks in this besides Brattain and Welles (though you know I had to use this because Welles): I won’t spoil all of them for you, but I will say I was surprised that Vladimir Zworykin shows up. (He actually died in 1982, at the age of 94.)
Another spoiler (possibly): the Bryant Pond Telephone Company lasted until 1981. The company was sold to Oxford Networks, and Bryant Pond’s cranked system was converted to direct dial and incorporated into the regular network in 1983.
I can’t find any evidence I’ve used this before. Google doesn’t return any results when I search my site, but I’m not sure how it escaped me for this long.
Bonus: this is something called “Flight Into Time” from the 1950s and TWA. The unifying theme is travel through the Mediterranean and the area around it: Portugal, Spain, Italy, Israel, Syria & Egypt.
I’d like to think there would be some issues fencing bulldogs stolen at gunpoint. For example, I think most people who would pay money for a French bulldog probably want one with papers, which I’m sure the dog walker was not carrying around with him…
I was reminded last night that the National Security Agency has a YouTube channel.
I’m not ready to post the video that reminded me yet: that will come up next time I want to do a radio post. However, I thought I’d do both some more history, and something I haven’t done in quite a while: cryptography.
Also, I’m posting three of these, but they are all fairly short. I’ve been running long for a while now, and figure youse guys could use some short history as a break.
“Cryptology in the American Revolution: Ciphers” part 1:
Part 2:
Part 3:
And a bonus for people who would like something a little more recent: “Civil War Signals”.
I don’t like falling back on the same people over and over again. In this case, I am pleading the timeliness exemption.
For those of you who may not have heard, there was an incident over the weekend involving a United 777 flying from Denver to Honolulu: one of the engines failed and the engine inlet separated from the aircraft. The aircraft was able to make an emergency return to Denver, and there were no injuries on board. Parts of the aircraft fell into a neighborhood in the flight path, and some of those parts went through the roof of a house, but there were no injuries on the ground.
So the question comes up: what do you do in these situations? What do you do if you’re flying a plane with 239 people on board, and the plane starts shedding chunks of itself on departure?
I’ve said this before, but one of the answers is: first, fly the plane. At least, for as long as you can: it doesn’t always end this way. (But we have learned a lot since 1979.)
“Captain Joe” put up a video explaining what happened (including what checklists the pilots would have used) from his perspective, based on what we know now.
Bonus #1: From the VASAviation channel, here’s the traffic between the United flight and Denver ATC.
This video states the plane made a full stop on the runway, where no problems were found, and then it was towed off to parking. However, the article I linked earlier says that the right engine was actually on fire when the plane landed: emergency services extinguished the fire and then it was towed off.
Which kind of made me wonder when I read it: why did they not evacuate the aircraft if the engine was on fire? My suspicion is that it was a trade-off. As I understand it, the expectation is that anytime they have to use those emergency slides, people are going to get hurt. They aren’t designed to be gentle, they’re designed to get you off the airplane fast, and there are usually bruises, sprains, or even broken bones associated with that. Emergency services may have felt the fire was small enough to be controlled, and decided the risk to passengers was manageable. It seems like that was the right choice in this case…
Bonus #2: sort of unrelated, but I wanted to put this here for reasons. “Reel Engineering” covers “No Highway In the Sky”.
We watched “No Highway” not too long ago (it is available in a reasonably priced bluray (affiliate link)) and I think it is a fine movie. The book, to my mind, is even better, and I would genuinely like to see more people seek out Nevil Shute’s work.
It seems like he’s mostly remembered for On the Beach, which, you know, is an okay novel and worth being remembered for. But he wrote a lot of other stuff as well: besides No Highway, I enthusiastically recommend Trustee from the Toolroom and Slide Rule, his autobiography of his experiences in the aviation industry.
Been a while since I’ve done any vintage police training videos, mostly because not that many have been popping up.
Here’s one for you, from the FBI apparently sometime in the 1970s: “Examination Of Stolen Cars”.
Bonus #1: Don’t you love stupid people getting what is coming to them? I know I do. Plus: CanCon!
“Bait Car Greatest Hits” from the Vancouver Sun.
Bonus #2: “Accident Investigation” from 1974. Not one of those traffic safety films, but more a guide for the patrol officer on how to handle these situations: use your car as a shield, don’t move injured people, watch for spilled gasoline, etc…
It seems to me that a lot of folks I know are interested in the computers of the space program. Especially the Apollo Guidance Computer.
Well, here you go: from the National Museum of Computing, “Light Years Ahead: The 1969 Apollo Guidance Computer”. Bonus points: the presenter, Robert Wills, is (or at least was as of October 2019) a Cisco employee.
Bonus video: “Common Misconceptions in Aerodynamics”, a presentation to University of Michigan engineering students by Doug McLean, a retired Boeing Technical Fellow.
Bonus #1: There was a five part BBC series called “Cathedral”, in which the film makers went around to various famous British cathedrals. This one I think is particularly noteworthy: “Murder at Canterbury”.
I missed posting a historical note on the 850th anniversary, mostly because I was confused about the date of Thomas Becket’s murder: I keep seeing December 29, 1170, but is that Julian or Gregorian? I feel like that’s kind of a stupid question, but I honestly don’t know if the various online sources I’ve seen have already done the date translation, or if they just assume everyone knows it is Julian and leave the date conversion up to the reader?
Bonus #2: Since Wednesday was Ash Wednesday, and we’re now in the Lenten season, how about something thematically appropriate? “Secrets of the Last Supper”, from “Ancient Mysteries” on the History Channel.
Just a random assortment today. Think of this as like a Whitman’s Sampler that you picked up at the grocery store after Valentine’s Day for 50% off. At least, you would have IF YOU HAD BEEN ABLE TO GET OUT TO THE GROCERY STORE THROUGH THE SNOW AND ICE IN AUSTIN.
Not that I’m bitter or anything.
Anyway: The Pogues perform “London Calling”. Without Shane MacGowan, but with Joe Strummer.
This next one requires a bit of background: I’ve posted videos from “Captain Joe” before. If you’re the kind of person who sees videos of air traffic control conversations pop up in your feed, you’ve probably heard of “Kennedy Steve”. Steve was a controller at JFK (he retired a few years back) who became somewhat of a legend for his sharp (and often amusing) exchanges with pilots, ground crews, and others. Especially those who were keeping traffic from flowing in and out of JFK. Here’s a random example, which may not be the best: search “Kennedy Steve” on the ‘Tube.
ANYWAY: Captain Joe interviews Kennedy Steve. This is basically RoadRich bait.
“How to Poop in the Woods and NOT Die”. Do I really need to put a content warning on this? Well, maybe. Content warning.
I would like to note, for the hysterical record, that How to Shit in the Woods: An Environmentally Sound Approach to a Lost Art is still in print (in a 4th edition, no less) and is readily available from Amazon (affiliate link).
Bonus: this is short, but I did get enough of a kick out of it that I wanted to share. Two of the stars of a minor 1960s TV science fiction series in a promo for Western Airlines.
I think just one more. I don’t really consider this military history, but more of a music video. Clips of German Luftwaffe F-104 Starfighters…set to Peter Schilling.
This is slightly less timely than I would have liked: I would have used this last week, but it wasn’t uploaded then.
There was a TV series called “Vagabond” back during the 1950s, hosted by a former child star named “Bill Burrud”. This episode is about Mardi Gras. And even better, it is in color!
Bonus video: in keeping with the theme, and offering something more recent, here’s something called “NOPD: Mardi Gras” which is exactly what it says on the tin: New Orleans Police Department officers patrolling during Mardi Gras in 2006.
I thought today I’d try some more random gun crankery.
There’s a company called Optics Warehouse. I find it surprising that they sell rifle scopes in the UK, but I digress.
Anyway, they have a series called “Master Sniper”. This is episode 4, “British Sniper Rifles Through The Ages”.
One reason I wanted to mention this: Swift and Bold Publishing, the folks behind The British Sniper, A Century of Evolution (which I have previously discussed) have a new book coming out at the end of the month, The Green Meanie L96A1. Swift and Bold has been a pleasure to deal with in the past, and I endorse this product and/or service. (Even though the price does give me the leaping fantods, but again, have you priced sniping books recently? With shipping from the UK?)
Short bonus video #1: I haven’t used anything from the US Army Marksmanship Unit recently, so here’s an interesting video on the concept of “maximum point blank”.
Bonus video #3: from Brownells (so keep in mind that they are trying to sell you product, though in my experience they are honorable and honest people): “Quick Tip: Tools Every Gun Owner Needs”.
Rush Limbaugh. Because I think the last thing in the world El Rushbo would want me to link to is the NYT, especially since the obit that’s up now is both incomplete and kind of insulting.
The website, which seems to be under heavy load right now.
I wish I could say more, but I was never a Rush listener, or really a talk radio listener after I left high school.
Bonus #2: Another tour, this one of WLW in Mason, Ohio. WLW at one point was transmitting at 500,000 watts (between 1934 and 1939). They were forced to drop down to 50,000 watts, and still use that power level.
What did LTC Vaucher do? He flew B-29s. More specifically, he delivered the first B-29 from the factory to the military. He also led the flyover of the USS Missouri during the surrender ceremony. Additionally:
I don’t want to seem like I’m whinging about the cold (even if it is 477.67 degrees Rankine out at the moment) so I thought I’d fall back to some more military history today.
From 1944, vintage OSS film: “Army Experiments In Train Derailment & Sabotage”. You know, it is a lot harder to derail a train than you’d think…
Bonus video #1: higher quality, and more recent: “An Eye In the Darkened Sky”, a promo video for the A6-E Intruder and the Target Recognition Attack Multi-Sensor system (TRAM).
Bonus video #2: “Royal Navy Learning Gutter Fighting”. Might be some useful tips here if you’re the kind of person who gets held at bayonet or gun point.
Bonus video #3, and I think this one is a real treat: “Cowboy 57” a 1959 short about the day to day activities of a B-52 crew. The treat is: this is narrated by Brigadier General James Maitland Stewart.
I’ve been thinking about volcanoes. Why? No reason, really.
This seems right up RoadRich’s alley, and possibly Lawrence’s as well. I’m trying to find this on blu-ray, but the only versions I’ve found so far are not US region discs.
(What I really want to do is a double-bill of this and “Krakatoa, East of Java”. The latter actually does seem to be available on a US region disc at a reasonable price.)
Anyway…
I like this video because it clearly solves two problems at once: heating up the ravioli and opening the can. And because the ravioli is in the can, you avoid the gas problems you get when you try to toast marshmallows over hot lava. Now if you could just figure out a way to contain the hot ravioli once the can explodes.
Anyway, that was just the appetizer. From Gresham College and visiting professor Sir Stephen Sparks CBE, “Enormous Volcanic Eruptions”.
Bonus #1: “Volcano!”, a NatGeo documentary.
Bonus #2: “Life on the Rim: Working as a Volcanologist”, also from NatGeo, but short.
Bonus #3: Professor Tamsin Mather on “Volcanoes: from fuming vents to extinction events”.
He also was responsible for getting Dustin Hoffman into “The Graduate”, Christoper Reeve into “Superman”, and John Travolta into “Welcome Back, Kotter” among almost 400 credits in both movies and TV. He was the first casting director in history to receive an Academy Award.
Brayden Smith. He was a recent five-time “Jeopardy” champion:
My phone currently claims that the low on Sunday will be 11 degrees Fahrenheit with snow, and the low on Monday will be 8 degrees Fahrenheit.
Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow…
“Clearing An Avalanche Using Explosives!”
“Railroad Crew Uses Howitzer CANNON to Trigger Huge Avalanche”.
“With this long range 105 howitzer, the team will fire shells into the danger zone…”
You know, those space blankets are so cheap, you probably ought to get a few. Keep one in your car(s), maybe tuck one away in a windbreaker or coat pocket (they’re small, too)…search Amazon for “mylar survival blanket”.
“German Military Special Forces Mylar Blanket Survival Shelter”
“Now you might be asking yourself, ‘Self, why is this guy taping chapstick and a lighter together with 550 cord?'” Answer: “Make the Best Fire Kit! Light a Fire Any Time Any Where!!”
Finally, “Lost WINTER Survival Challenge (NO Food, NO Water, NO Shelter!) | Knife, Saw, Axe, Wire, Rope”.
It could just be that, after 30 years, he wants to go off and do something else. At the 30 year mark, an APD officer gets 96% of their base salary in retirement. I think that’s based on your salary for the past two years, but I could be wrong about that. At “commander” rank, base salary ranges from $138,144 to $158,160 a year: I’m not clear on what chief pay is, but even 96% of the high end for a commander is still over $150K a year. Plus Chief Roll Fizzlebeef has a MBA from St. Edward’s University (one of the reasons I like the guy) so I doubt he’d have any trouble finding a job in private business.
Another person who shall remain nameless shared some speculation that Chief Punch Sideiron resigned as part of a deal with the City Council and city manager to get them to approve a new police academy class: we’ll bring in some new recruits who will (we hope) turn into officers, and in return you get to appoint the next guy to run the department. If so, that would be fairly noble on his part.
The big question in my mind right now is: who gets the job? Somebody local (which is another reason I liked Chief Rip Slagcheek: he was a local boy), or will they bring in someone from California (like they did with the previous chief, Art damn it! Art Acevedo). I suspect the latter, but would be pleasantly surprised with the former, depending on who they do appoint. (Ken Cassady, the head of the police union, is probably right off the list of candidates.)
I wish Chief Buck Plankchest the best of luck in whatever he does next, even if it does mean I don’t have as many chances to use selections from the Dave Ryder Wiki entry.
I kind of enjoy motor sports. I’m not an obsessive NASCAR fan, but I do kind of follow it from a distance. I’ve kind of lost track of IndyCar (though when I was younger, the Indy 500 was a big deal for me), and I never really got into F1 (but I do have a general passing familiarity with it).
As my regular readers know, I’m also a student of failure. So today’s videos…
“The Worst NASCAR Race Ever: The 1969 Talladega 500”.
“The Worst Formula 1 Race: The 2005 United States Grand Prix”.
There are a couple of others that I considered plugging into today’s slot, but either they were long and boring, or they involved people being killed in racing accidents. Nobody needs that (stuff).
I planned to post this last night, but we had multiple power outages through the day yesterday (as other people have noted, it is cold here: right now, my phone is calling for a low of 10 on Sunday and a low of 3 (yes, THREE) on Monday), the last one lasting until well into the evening.
The infamous Larry Flynt. As my mother said, “I thought he was dead already.”
S. Clay Wilson, underground cartoonist. I went back and forth on whether I wanted to include Mr. Flynt and Mr. Wilson, but I decided that Mr. Flynt’s celebrity was too great to ignore. As for Mr. Wilson, you have to like a guy who says:
Finally, also by way of Lawrence, British actor Harry Fielder, who was in pretty much every darn thing in Britain, passed away February 6th. Seriously, his IMDB entry has 279 credits as “actor” (though it looks like many of those were small roles).