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| Thread ID: 52055 | 2004-12-08 07:10:00 | [OT] - Prediction from 1954... | Mike (15) | Press F1 |
| Post ID | Timestamp | Content | User | ||
| 300966 | 2004-12-09 02:44:00 | > I haven't seen EW on sale in Upper Hutt , not for > years and years. Maybe it is hidden among all those adult "sealed-in-plastic" mags ... |
TonyF (246) | ||
| 300967 | 2004-12-09 08:18:00 | Just thought I would add this from Langalist wich I received today. Sorry I could not give a link as this was posted to a newsletter site. Don't read further if you don't want to. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Last issue, we ran a piece about a visual hoax involving a doctored photo of a submarine control panel that was being passed off as a 1950's vision of the home PC of the future. ( langa.com ) We also ran a link to the anti-hoax site, Snopes.Com, which thoroughly refuted the hoax. Here's one step better: A LangaList read who worked at just that kind of control panel: Fred, Just had to comment on the Just for Grins section of the December 06, 2004 edition of your newsletter. The "huge bank of switches and levers and a large-diameter metal steering wheel of some kind" is actually the set of control panels from the maneuvering room of a nuclear submarine that was built in the 1960's. The specific panel in the photo is from USS James K Polk, SSBN 645, and is on display in the Smithsonian Institute Museum in Washington, DC. The Polk was a missile submarine virtually identical to one in which I operated the nuclear reactor in the early 1970's. My boat was USS Kamehameha, SSBN-642. If you look carefully at the photo you will see that there are three separate panels: On the left is the steam plant control panel. The wheels operated large throttle valves which admitted steam to the propulsion turbines in the engine room. Opening the valves attached to the large wheel made the ship go forward. The small wheel is for reverse. The watchstander at this panel was called the throttleman. In the center is the reactor plant control panel from which systems directly related to the nuclear reactor (pumps, valves, control rods, pressurization system, nuclear instrumentation, etc.) were operated. This is where I spent most of my time. Finally, the panel on the right is the electric plant control panel from which the turbine generators, motor-generators, ship's battery, and diesel generator were controlled. I find it amusing that someone would describe these panels as part of a computer because there is utterly nothing digital about them. Everything was 100% analog. A long time Plus subscriber, Phil Steen Thanks, Phil! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cut and pasted without editing. |
Elephant (599) | ||
| 300968 | 2004-12-09 08:24:00 | > A guy at work showed me this today... > > sal.neoburn.net > ar Mechanics 1954[/url] :D > > Mike. Popular Mechanics was in fact very popular. I still have a crossbow that my Dad and I made using a car spring some wood ( Oak ) and a few other bits. The diagram and instructions came from that magazine. |
Elephant (599) | ||
| 300969 | 2004-12-09 09:43:00 | You got me thinking there 00 and the following always interested me. It seems that computers use transistors in their operation, the information can be represented and manipulated via switches. An early illustration of this idea is the Morse code - letters and numbers are represented by a particular series of dots and dashes. In computers dots and dashes aren't used, but rather electrical signals, but the idea is the same - certain sequences represent particular letters and numbers. For example, to represent the numbers we might use the following sequence of signals: and so on. |
Thomas (1820) | ||
| 300970 | 2004-12-09 22:39:00 | That's certainly quite a leap Tom. From 1950s Popular Mechanics (and a rather amusing hoax), through quantum theory, to Morse Code in our computers. You've set my whole day up. ;) How can I concentrate on my work now? :D | Winston001 (3612) | ||
| 300971 | 2004-12-10 00:17:00 | it's just like that nike one, how you send in your old nike shoes and they send you a new pair | Prescott (11) | ||
| 300972 | 2004-12-10 01:07:00 | Really? Do you think they'd take some Redbands? | Winston001 (3612) | ||
| 300973 | 2004-12-10 04:27:00 | >>>Do you think they'd take some Redbands? Only if you do the coast to coast in them?;) |
Thomas (1820) | ||
| 300974 | 2004-12-10 04:33:00 | Talking about old predictions - I recall one famous one from one of the very original founders of IBM that the world would only ever need five computers ! :O Somebody on the forum will recall the detail better I am sure. I cannot think how you would do a search to find out who it was ? ?:| Misty :D |
Misty (368) | ||
| 300975 | 2004-12-10 04:41:00 | > Talking about old predictions - I recall one famous > one from one of the very original founders of IBM > that the world would only ever need five computers ! > :O You mean Thomas Watson - according to Wikipedia the quote has been attributed to him, but no proof that he actually said it has been found. Mike. |
Mike (15) | ||
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