Modern technology just boggles my mind

[John the Monkey]

What's this microwave of which you speak?

You know, a science oven.

 

[marinyork]

You know, a science oven.

Absolutely

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBfCUi494Sc

 

[jefmcg]

I love the story of how microwave cooking was first discovered. A scientist working with a microwave transmitter noticed chocolate in his pocket was melting.

IE THEY WERE WORKING IN AN ENORMOUS MICROWAVE OVEN!!

 

[marknotgeorge]

When I were a lad, it took an engineer on a relatively good wage a month to earn enough to buy a calculator. These days, it's minutes at minimum wage.

 

[ColinJ]

When I were a lad, it took an engineer on a relatively good wage a month to earn enough to buy a calculator. These days, it's minutes at minimum wage.

When I were a lad, calculators were mechanical and we all used books of log tables or slide rules instead!

I remember a school project to build a digital clock to be fitted above the door to the school office. It took 2 people over a month to do it and the parts cost about £70 when a typical weekly wage was about £40.

 

[marknotgeorge]

When I were a lad, calculators were mechanical and we all used books of log tables or slide rules instead!

I remember a school project to build a digital clock to be fitted above the door to the school office. It took 2 people over a month to do it and the parts cost about £70 when a typical weekly wage was about £40.

Did it use nixie tubes?

 

[ColinJ]

Did it use nixie tubes?

I had to remind myself what NIXIE TUBES were! I think the clock actually did use them ...

I remember that it used very early 7400 series logic. IIRC, the clock was programmed to ring the school bells at the correct times for all the breaks but not at weekends. I don't think it could handle holidays though so they just switched it off for them.

 

[jefmcg]

I don't think it could handle holidays though so they just switched it off for them.

My brother had some duties in building management for a new building in Australia. One day they couldn't get the air conditioning to come on. Turns out the building's environment system had Martin Luther King Jr's day hard coded into it, and nothing could be done that day. Which is bad, because it's hot in Australia in January.

Sometimes simpler is better.

 

[Fnaar]

I get that same wow moment when I top up my phone credit at the supermarket till. I hand over a top-up card which they swipe and then key in the top-up amount, then a few seconds latter a text arrives to tell me I have topped up. The fact that the payment is processed, sent to my phone company who then reconcile the amount with an account and send a notification to the phone cell where my phone is active (I believe they don't send the message network wide, only to where your phone is?). It is quite amazing.

It's all powered by a mouse on a treadmill, somewhere in the basement of a hotel in Scarborough.

 

[mybike]

I had to remind myself what NIXIE TUBES were! I think the clock actually did use them ...

I remember that it used very early 7400 series logic. IIRC, the clock was programmed to ring the school bells at the correct times for all the breaks but not at weekends. I don't think it could handle holidays though so they just switched it off for them.

I remember trying to build a clock like that. The current consumption was too high for battery use.

 

[Dayvo]

I can just about get my head around the idea of two yoghurt cans and a piece of string which can send and receive a message via vibrations along the string.

But HTF do you keep the line taut to somewhere like Australia for example? And how many mischievous schoolboys en route would be tempted to cut the line?

Telepathy is the way forward. And you all knew that I would say that.

 

[jefmcg]

But HTF do you keep the line taut to somewhere like Australia for example?

I'm sure there's redundancy built in now, but once upon a time Perth was completely cut off from the rest of Australia, but someone who didn't

 

[Dayvo]

I'm sure there's redundancy built in now, but once upon a time Perth was completely cut off from the rest of Australia, but someone who didn't

I read recently of a very good cricketer who came from, and played for, Western Australia in the Sheffield Shield many years ago, but he wasn't selected to play for the national side because he came from Western Australia and, hence, too far away.

From cricinfo:

The WACA (Western Australian Cricket Association Ground), which is built on old swamp land, has been the home to many sports, including AFL, rugby (both codes) and soccer, but its real fame is as a cricket ground. Although it was first used in 1890, transport problems meant it was not part of Australia's main cricket community. The arduous trip from the east was eased a little with the building of a railway, but the journey still took several days. It was only with the introduction of scheduled flights that Perth become truly accessible.

Even Tim Winton's books deal with the solitude and isolation of living/growing-up in WA.

 

[Nibor]

My fitbit watch just emailed me to tell me it wanted charging.

 

[jefmcg]

My fitbit watch just emailed me to tell me it wanted charging.

I hope you wrote back sarcastically and said "Still using email, Grandpa?"