Tag: Patient things
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Miniature orrery
Here’s a rare and wondrous example of science as Carver defined it. Look closely at the THINGS THAT ARE HERE. Notice something new. Let it talk to you. Don’t look at abstractions in your own mind, or abstractions in the religious beliefs of your funding agency. Abstractions are not THINGS and they are not HERE.…
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Reprinting Ferguson’s orrery
Reprint from 2021, triggered by previous item about ancient mitochondria. Are mitochondria the sensors for universal magnetic influence? Is Solarion the original orrery? = = = = = Picking up from previous post on James Ferguson. Previously I showed a couple of science entertainments using static fields to drive gadgets. Ferguson’s main focus was orreries…
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Digital mother-in-law / Analog Cadillac
This item in NewScientist slams my Good News vs Bad News nerves. Analogue computers could train AI 1000 times faster and cut energy use. The bad news: New technology lets burglars steal your intellectual property 1000 times faster! The good news: Modern technologists are FINALLY recognizing the value of analog computers after totally ignoring and…
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150 year sync
The mint finally stopped making pennies but didn’t remove pennies from legal tender. It makes sense to stop making cents. Inflation gradually wears down the smaller divisions. It’s safe to assume that stores will make all prices end in 0 or 5 to avoid rounding. Or maybe not? I looked up the previous ‘weardown’ when…
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Another 400 year sync
History Today’s short features are good this month. The London Gazette is the longest-running continuous newspaper in Britain, and possibly in the world. I think one Dutch paper might be older. The Gazette’s starting point gives us another neat 400 year resonance. = = = = = START QUOTE: The Restoration government needed to manage…
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Good work by Ireland!
Via Solari Report: Ireland has passed a law requiring all businesses to take cash along with other forms of payment. = = = = = START QUOTE: Until now, Ireland’s contract law merely has required that cash be accepted if it is to settle a debt. A legal loophole allows businesses to refuse cash as…
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Compete by tradition, not by innovation
People who should know better are pushing Innovative Disruption. Each city and country “must” compete to enrich Sam Altman and destroy civilization. NO. Competing to make Sam Altman richer will make you poorer and lose everything that makes you special. If you want to improve your OWN city or country, boost and expand your OWN…
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Useful vs useless infrastructure
NewScientist has an unusually well-balanced take on the Altman Bubble. They are more balanced than usual because some of the Bubble Lords have gone over to the Official Dark Side, but nevertheless the article is fair. It points out that most of the data center investment is happening in unregulated “shadow banking” circles, so the…
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Coal is back!
Via Shepstone, Trump’s Dept of Energy is taking a huge number of general and specialized actions to stop the abandonment of coal and restore some recently closed coal power plants. The actions also reinforce a secondary use of coal in the processing of steel. If the coking plants are gone, we can’t reshore steel. Trump…
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First video game?
Visual displays were common in early telegraphs and railroad signaling systems. There’s nothing new about a visual GUI. Wheatstone’s first system in 1832 was meant for home use, though it didn’t succeed commercially. Here the bee is typing out a message: In the 1850s the magnificent Foy system for the French railroads used a visual…
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Things endure
Looking through old Billboard mags while chasing elusive info about Western Union’s public fax machines, ran across a permanent memorial to the last moment of sanity before political lunacy resumed. In Dec 1945 the treasury issued the FDR dime. Billboard, serving coin-op vendors, was concerned that the dime wouldn’t fit current machines, but the treasury…
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The Swami
First of three old coin-op machines. Starting with an overview of the cafe and a rehash of the Swami fortune teller. = = = = = Here’s a downtown scene. The cafe is on a corner, the Kellogg printing plant is across the street, and an apartment hotel is on the other corner. Duplex tenant…
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The Recordio
Second of three old coin-op machines. Again approaching the cafe… Entering the cafe with two larger coin-op machines on the back wall. = = = = = I’ve always wanted to depict the Wilcox-Gay Recordio. When possible I try to model things I’ve used or seen. I first encountered Recordio disks in the ’50s. My…
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The Metal-typer
Third of three old coin-op machines. Setting the scene again: The metal-typer is another old coin-op I used a few times. Back around 1960 I used one of these to make a medallion while waiting in the Topeka train station. I kept the medallion for a long time but don’t remember what I engraved on…
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Why didn’t this succeed?
Useful gadget seen in a 1923 issue of a Gernsback tech mag. A flashlight powered directly by a miniature generator. No rechargeable battery needed. Supposedly made in France. The light was in the end of the generator itself. The optional wire is a speculum used by doctors. The description isn’t complete; I’d guess the little…
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