Monday Links from the Gap Between Teams Meetings vol. DCCCXI

[DoctorStrangelove]

I wonder if that HP plotter has electrostatic paper hold like the one I bodged in 3M back in the day.

It wasn't very heavy as I recall, compared with the 50lbs of the HP3586C selective level meter that's mouldering in the front room office junk room.

HP built some fine stuff back in the day.

The BBC Longwave thing reminded me of the USSR tuning signal you could hear behind R4 in the evenings back then. Always wondered about that. .

[NickFitz]

Running a little late today as I had to do some actual work this morning. Outrageous imposition

• Conversations With a Hit Man - ”A former FBI agent traveled to Louisiana to ask a hired killer about a murder that haunted him. Then they started talking about a different case altogether.” David Howard tagged along.
• Under the Skin: Unlocking secrets deep inside the world's most precious specimens - ”After lengthy negotiations, the custodians of the 13 youngest preserved Tasmanian tigers in existence had all agreed for their specimens to be studied by a team of scientists in Melbourne… Instead of the age-old method of slicing the creatures open to reveal their internal structure and ultimately destroying the specimen, they would be examined using a process known as computed tomography scanning.” Lots of cool interactive 3D models in this one
• This fungus is so humongous that it can be mapped - ”Somewhere in Oregon lives a mushroom that may be the largest, oldest, and heaviest living thing on Earth. Disappointingly, this giant lives mainly underground — but you can see its handiwork: dead trees, lots of them. The stats are impressive. The shroom weighs as much as 60 Boeing 747s and is five times the size of Monaco.” I assume you cannot kill it in a way that matters
• Uncovering Rungholt: Secrets of a Lost Medieval Town in the North Sea - ”Beneath the tidal flats of the North Sea lie the remnants of Rungholt, a medieval town lost to a storm in 1362. Recent discoveries are shedding light on its wealthy past and the fragile balance between human ambition and nature’s power.” The storm of 1362 was the same one that finally did for Dunwich
• Historic Tale Construction Kit: Bayeux - If you can't wait for the (not actually a) tapestry to come over next year, or just think it should tell a different story, this tool lets you build your own: ”Two German students originally wrote the Historic Tale Construction Kit, with Flash. Sadly, their work isn't available anymore, only remembered. This new application is a tribute, but also an attempt to revive the old medieval meme, with code and availability that won't get lost.”
• The BBC on longwave 1924-2025 - A detailed history of the BBC's longwave broadcasts: ”This is an edited compilation of a very long thread I posted on Twitter/X in instalments in 2023 and 2024. At the time of writing in June 2025, the BBC is still broadcasting on longwave, so this story remains to be concluded!”
• IS or WAS - ”The Wikipedia-based celebrity mortality game.” A game inspired by that thing when a celebrity dies and you thought they'd been dead for years. It checks Wikipedia every morning to make sure it's never more than a few hours out of date
• Frame of preference - ”A history of Mac settings, 1984–2004.” You might not think the history of a settings dialog box was that interesting. But in this one, every Mac you see to the side is running a full emulator with the real Mac OS from that time! Many of them even contain other software you can run
• Reviving a 1970s Analog HP X-Y Recorder - Not Ken Shirriff for a change, but Steven Cass: ”Once upon a time, Hewlett-Packard made test-and-measurement equipment that was beloved by working engineers. Sure, drop one of those babies on your foot and you were looking at a broken toe. But that’s a small price to pay for reliability and some character building. So when I recently came across an early 1970s HP 7041A X-Y recorder while clearing out my parents’ attic, I knew that I just had to see if I could get it up and running again.”
• For Your Reference: Threading Letters - ”From embroidery to weaving, there is a long history incorporating letterforms into fabric. In this visit to the Archive’s stacks, we’re pulling multiple threads on items that tie text to textiles.” Loads of alphabets and the like for fans of embroidery, cross-sticth, and similar pursuits. This is from Alphabets Et Motifs Au Point De Croix Petit, Album No. 5 published by the company Thiriez & Cartier-Bresson of Lille, ca. 1940
  
  

Happy invoicing!