Tag: Patient things
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Makes me wonder
May 13 is Root Canal Appreciation Day. Without mentioning the date, New Scientist published an article about amazing ancient dentistry. Neanderthals were drilling teeth to get rid of decay 59000 years ago. = = = = = START QUOTE: In the Altai mountains of southwestern Siberia – where Neanderthals migrated from Europe about 70,000 years…
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Third Shift Workers Day
Today is Third Shift Workers Day. I often worked the graveyard shift, and worked it reliably and solidly. I was completely useless on 8-5. This oil clock was developed in the 1600s as a timer and light for scribes and illuminators working through the night. It provided light for scribal work, and simultaneously measured the…
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Altman’s little suckers
People are asking whether AI systems will be able to design themselves by next year. Will that be The Singularity? Should we head for the bunkers? No. Programs have been writing other programs since 1960. Creating a function to do a job, running the function, then deleting it from memory. Object-oriented programming like C++ is…
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Tab-ulation
This item was spawned by thinking about Tabs, Tabulations and Tables. I’m leading toward a specific point, but first need to spit out some Graphic Juice that I’ve been holding during this long unimaginative ADA work. = = = = = For several months I’ve been making and testing courseware blind-style, using only the keyboard.…
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Repurposing Ludlow
American Radio Library has added a collection of old RCA magazines aimed at employees. One of them shows how the magazine itself is printed. Most of the steps are familiar; one is an unusual transitional technology. These panels show (1) Photographs (2) Varityping (3) Fototype, the unusual gimmick (4) Offset layout. The Fototype uses a…
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It wasn’t just a fucking idea.
Gizmodo features a rebirth of the nickel-iron battery. About goddamn time. Unfortunately the authors totally miss the real history. Their headline says Edison tried to build an EV battery in 1901. Scientists just made it work.: = = = = = START QUOTE: Great minds often think ahead of their time. This was certainly true…
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Kedit is still alive… updated
Reposted for latest update. Every now and then I check the webpage of Mansfield Software, the maker of Kedit. For 20 years they’ve been trying to give up the ship, and each time they decide to keep supporting and selling just a little bit longer. I’ve never needed support because Kedit has never shown a…
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Anniversary
Jan 20 is an anniversary for me. This year isn’t a round number, but for some reason the day wants to be marked this time. Jan 20, 1970 was the day I started housekeeping on my own. I got out of prison on Dec 19, then STUPIDLY followed expectations and returned to college at OSU.…
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More on cursive
Mentioned in previous item, also worth a reprint. = = = = = START 2016 REPRINT: Wandering through KSHS again, found this collection of documents left over from the founding of Bluemont College, which became K-State after Isaac Goodnow finagled a state purchase. Goodnow was an IPO man in modern terms, picking up capital by…
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Double significance
Today is Braille Day and also Dimpled Chad Day. Braille is interesting since I’m in the middle of adapting courseware for blind students. After I finish the required but dubious verbal descriptions, I’ll run up a far more useful braille version, making the images directly tactile. There is a (somewhat) standard coding method to feed…
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Year-end recharge
Trying to recharge my purpose batteries after a deep discharge this year. Reprinting the basic Foy Rebellion piece written in 2022 when the Bush-Trump torture chamber was still running full speed in the demon-owned states, including here. = = = = = START 2022 REPRINT: Yesterday I was discussing the cultural IMPERATIVE to re-employ ordinary…
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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…
Polistra's Mill 