Monday Links from the Gap Between Teams Meetings vol. DCCXLV

[DoctorStrangelove]

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3M: first encountered 3M floppy diskettes (8") in the returned goods warehouse in Gorseinon in 1975.

We used them as frisbies on afternoon shift.

3M supplied Ampex with the first video tapes back in the early/mid 1950s when Ampex were developing the VR1000 vtr.

When I worked there I could have bought two VC60 Philips N1500 format video cassettes with my weekly wage. The recorder itself was about £450, not far off a brand new mini.

Always hated the half inch computer tape side of things: 700GP, 777 etc. and those huge CDC tape testers.

There was an ancient LEO computer tape machine in that room, though I never saw it run, LEO being long gone by then.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/326073662521

https://www.ebay.com/itm/354742966873

Scotch 400 2" video tape:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/256293880806

IIRC there were two grades: Red and Blue, one went to BBC, the other to ITV.

Strewth that stuff was heavy on 14" spools.

All gone now: the factory closed last year after a mere 70 years.

They've even taken the landmark water tank down.

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.6686...6656?entry=ttu

So the sun has set on the sunrise industries introduced to replace the steelworks (long gone) and the mines (long gone).

The other mystery wrapped in an enigma is quite why I still dream about working there & going back to work there. Very odd.

And why was "Scotch tape" so called: let the Smithsonian inform you thereof:

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innov...eak%2C%20stuck.

Do you want an extra glow with your tape dispenser? If so, then get a 3M C-15 sticky tape dispenser: weighted down with thorium monazite sand.

https://orau.org/health-physics-muse...dispenser.html

And the tape itself gives off x rays (when peeled in a vacuum):

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart...%20news%20blog.

[NickFitz]

Oh great, forum's broken again, so I need to change this bit to get past the "duplicate post" thing Another selection of excuses not to go out in whichever storm it is at the moment

• Battle Scenes depicted in moving pictures before C.G.I. - ”History has been shaped by military events and therefore it was natural that film makers the world over would eventually attempt to show images of passed glories involving not only military exploits from their own countries past, but go out on a limb and attempt to portray events taken from biblical and historical situations, at times with very scant attention being paid to what actually occurred, but with more emphasise on spectacle and pure entertainment.” Making films must be a lot easier now you don't have to provide uniforms for a few thousand extras
• Dark Energy May Be Weakening, Major Astrophysics Study Finds - A bug in the simulation? ”A generation of physicists has referred to the dark energy that permeates the universe as ‘the cosmological constant.’ Now the largest map of the cosmos to date hints that this mysterious energy has been changing over billions of years.”
• Trash from the International Space Station may have hit a house in Florida - ”A few weeks ago, something from the heavens came crashing through the roof of Alejandro Otero's home, and NASA is on the case. In all likelihood, this nearly 2-pound object came from the International Space Station.” Look out!
• How Robots Have Become Trusted Surgical Assistants - ”Intelligent machines cannot perform surgeries alone, but they can help surgeons do their jobs with higher precision.” Excerpt from a new book on how robots are improving things, presumably in between taking everybody’s jobs.
• Dark Matter - ”For twenty years, PostSecret has broadcast suburban America’s hidden truths—and revealed the limits of limitless disclosure.” Over a million secrets have now been disclosed anonymously
• The Wi-Fi only works when it's raining - ”That's what my dad said when I asked what was wrong with our home internet connection… My dad is an engineer who had already been tinkering with networking gear longer than I'd been alive. Through the company he started, he had designed and deployed all sorts of complex network systems at institutions across the country… He is the last person on Earth who would say a "magical thinking" phrase like that.” HT to ladymuck for this interesting connectivity debugging saga
• MonumentalTrees.com · an inventory of big and old trees worldwide - Does exactly what it says: ”Trees around us can be remarkable because of a number of reasons: some can be very large or tall, others are old or simply very beautiful. On this site thousands of photos, measurements, and location details of often unknown monumental trees can be found of many species, like giant sequoia, oak trees, sweet chestnut trees, and many others.” There’s a whole bunch of giant redwoods lining a road a couple of miles from me, which I keep meaning to go and see.
• The Letter of Last Resort - Interesting article about the letters our leaders give to Trident submarine captains: ”One of the first tasks of the Cabinet Secretary on the appointment by the Queen of a new prime minister, is to have the new leader write that very letter… The civil servant informs the politician that this letter will lay out the action the prime minister wishes to take, should the government and chain of command be totally destroyed by nuclear attack. Tony Blair, according to his cabinet secretary, was said to have gone ‘quite white’ on being told of his options.”
• The Rise and Fall of 3M’s Floppy Disk - The story of everybody’s favourite storage medium: ”If you ask the average person what the company 3M does, odds are if they have a few gray hairs hanging out on their scalp, they might say that the company makes floppy disks… Floppies have had a surprisingly long life—in January 2024, Japan announced it will no longer require floppy-disk copies of government submissions. But 3M got out of the data-storage business about 28 years ago.”
• 50 Birds - ”A series of 50 Dutch birds, printed using LEGO parts.” Dutch artist Roy Scholten and his collaborator Martijn van der Blom have also published a book, Print & Play, the art of LEGO Letterpress if you fancy experimenting with the technique yourself. This is a kingfisher
  
  

Happy invoicing!