#technology history

[thoughtportal]

He didn’t invent anything

[x-heesy]

Couple riding battery-powered scooters, 1918

#history #historyofart #historycal #historyfacts #historylovers #historyinpictures #historymade #historygeek #historyera #historyphoto #historyclass #historychannel #historylesson #historygram #historynerd #historytour #historyofphotography #historyplace #historylover #historyphotographed #historymatters #historyoffashion #historyiscool #arthistory #historical #historicalplaces #historicalpix #historicalclothing #historicalphotos #historicalromance #historicalmonument #historicalfacts #historicalart #historicalsnapshots #historicalphotography #historicalphoto #historicalpictures #historicalhome #historicalcenter #historicaldesign #historicalfantasy #historicalusociety

Memories by Waldeck 🎧

[indelibleevidence]

Brace yourself - I'm going to make an 'old person' post. 😁

When I was a toddler, back in the mists of time (a.k.a. the mid-to-late '80s), my dad was a TV technichian. Part of his job was to deliver people's new TVs, sit in their living room, hook them up to the power, then tune in the channels for them.

What this involved was getting your TV guide magazine, then sitting in front of the TV and doing a weird kind of manual search through the static, like tuning in a radio with a dial, but you needed a clear sound AND picture. None of the channels were visually labelled, so you had to get a good reception, then try to figure out what channel it was based on what your TV guide said was airing at the time. And then you'd allocate the signal you were receiving to correspond to one of the numbered buttons on your remote, so you could just skip straight there with one button press next time.

Luckily, the UK only had 4 channels at the time (it went up to 5 in the early 90s, and that was a Big Deal because we got a whole new soap opera), so it would only take about 15 minutes to figure out. This was pre-satellite/cable channels, so your choice of what to watch was very limited. And you could do it yourself - you didn't need a technician - but it could be a bit of a chore, and it was a service the store offered, so people paid for it.

I have no idea where I was going with this post (something, something, 'wow, technology really has evolved!') but there you go. That's the work that put food in my mouth as a kid.

[millionmovieproject]

X

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

Railway bridge and Zemgales bridge across Daugava seen from above, Riga, Latvia, 1938. Source:  Latvian Railway History Museum

During World War II, the Zemgales bridge was blown up in battle on June 29, 1941, and again in October 1944. It was never rebuilt..

[taraross-1787]

This Day in History: “Amazing Grace” Hopper

On this day in 1906, future Rear Admiral Grace Hopper is born. The feisty Navy officer has been called “Amazing Grace” because of her many accomplishments during decades of service.

You might be surprised to learn that you can credit Amazing Grace for much of the functionality in your computer. It was once thought that computers could only operate in mathematics and numbers, but Grace was convinced that computers could be programmed to respond to words, too.

This early pioneer of computer programming foresaw a world where people could use computers, even if they were not professional programmers—then she helped make it happen.

But, then again, Hopper was one who was always expecting change, innovation, and improvement. She hated to hear someone say “but that��s how we’ve always done it.”

The story continues here: https://www.taraross.com/post/tdih-grace-hopper

[cmdrjanus-2]

Konrad Zuse: German inventor and computer pioneer

[restonse]

Some history of video games

[thoughtportal]

During the Second World War, six talented mathematicians were brought together to make history. These women had one mission: to program the world’s first and only supercomputer. Speaking with Rachel Dinning, Kathy Kleiman explores the vital but overlooked role the “Eniac 6” played in the history of computing during and after the Second World War.

[trendynewsnow]

Ward Christensen: The Innovator Behind the First Online Bulletin Board System

Ward Christensen: Pioneer of Online Bulletin Boards Ward Christensen, a renowned computer scientist credited with the creation of the first online bulletin board system, passed away on October 11 at his residence in Rolling Meadows, Illinois. He was 78 years old. His brother, Donald, reported that the cause of death was a heart attack. In the summer of 1975, while serving as an engineer at an IBM…

[awesome-casuallyfamouscollector]

Yet, price data from Europe’s five biggest carmakers (BMW, Mercedes, Stellantis, Renault, and Volkswagen) shows that they have raised the prices of their cheapest models by up to 41% since 2019, almost double the average EU cumulative inflation (21%). Notably, the price of small, affordable models, the Peugeot 208, Seat Ibiza and Renault Twingo, which previously retailed at (€10,300-€15,500) have increased by almost €6,000. The more premium but still small Mercedes A and B class models increased in price by over €10,000. The price increase of 7% of the BMW Series 1 and 2 was more limited only due to a sharp reduction in pricing since May 2023(..)

P.S. Today, the concept of "affordable" car or "people's car" is disappearing faster than last year's snow! In essence, the light passenger car is completely deliberately turned into a privilege of the ruling class... but the people have an answer - an old, used and heavily smoky diesel. More and more often I meet people who say: "The government will only take my old diesel from the late 1990s and early 2000s off my dead hands...Mostly new ICE vehicles are expensive junk...: expensive to buy, expensive to own, expensive to drive, expensive to maintain and repair...poorly designed and manufactured. After the warranty expires, many of these new car models will be a nightmare of expensive repairs

[makereadgrow]

We wouldn't have tech without textiles

So the other night during D&D, I had the sudden thoughts that:

1) Binary files are 1s and 0s

2) Knitting has knit stitches and purl stitches

You could represent binary data in knitting, as a pattern of knits and purls…

You can knit Doom.

However, after crunching some more numbers:

The compressed Doom installer binary is 2.93 MB. Assuming you are using sock weight yarn, with 7 stitches per inch, results in knitted doom being…

3322 square feet

Factoring it out…302 people, each knitting a relatively reasonable 11 square feet, could knit Doom.

[ronk]

The Antikythera Mechanism

The Antikythera Mechanism has captured the imagination of archaeologists, mathematicians, and scientists

A hundred and twenty years ago, divers discovered a shipwreck off the island of Antikythera in Greece. What they found changed our understanding of human history. The mysterious Antikythera Mechanism has captured the imagination of archaeologists, mathematicians, and scientists ever since. It even inspired the plot for Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny! Using the latest 3D x-ray and…

[fcfvafeed]

Unleashing the Power of Streaming: From Concept to Global Phenomenon

In the ever-evolving landscape of technology, few innovations have had as profound an impact as internet streaming. What began as a mere concept, a seemingly far-fetched idea of delivering media content over the World Wide Web, has blossomed into a global phenomenon that has reshaped the way we consume entertainment, information, and education. The Origins of a Digital Revolution The roots of…

[ancientbreadandbones]

This is why history and archaeology are complementary sciences. It turns out that the famous complaint tablets sent to Ea-Nasir have a lot to do with the geopolitics of his time, the economy, and the technology available. History is written in this holistic way, from the more broad to the more specific and (or) vice versa.

What's the first question that really pops into peoples' minds about Ea-Nasir? I'm trying to write this history down, but I'm struggling.

[realityfragments]

Writing Software Nostalgia.

It wasn’t long ago I mentioned that I had picked up Scrivener, and I’m enjoying it. It’s very much becoming a valuable tool for me as I plod away. I make my writing mistakes much more quickly now, and I can correct them much more quickly mainly because of the research capacity of the software. I’m not easily impressed. It’s pretty cool, though not as cool as Stephen King balancing a typewriter…