Another triumph of improvisation!
New on my Possibly Interesting web site: Cloning a Vibroplex bug, where I describe the venerable Vibroplex semi-automatic telegraph key – and the improvised clone I made as a young radio amateur. Enjoy!
Odds and Ends
My Dad’s tin suitcase
My father, God rest his soul, was a young physics student when Israel’s war of independence broke out, and he was among the defenders of the Jewish Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City. When the quarter fell to the superior forces of the Jordanian Legion, he was taken prisoner and spent 9 months in a POW … Read more
Five Intel chips that changed the world
Check out the new article in the History of Computing section of my Possibly Interesting Web site: Five Intel chips that changed the world. These are the five “Firsts” that Intel introduced during its first four years as a small start-up: the first chip in each of four key memory types, and the first microprocessor. … Read more
Cherubs and Technology
I wrote recently about the batch of WW1 postcards left by my great-uncle Ettore… and while the cards described in that article focus on hate propaganda, there was also one postcard that is quite endearing, and here it is: This postcard was issued 100 years ago by the Third Regiment of Telegraph Operators – basically, … Read more
WW1 Propaganda: a sinister form of art
New on my Possibly Interesting site: Heroes and Barbarians, Propaganda postcards from the Great War. Showcasing a collection of postcards issued to Italian soldiers in the first world war, in order to urge them to fight in that tragically senseless conflict. An illuminating, if disturbing, lesson in how to craft hate propaganda.
A new biological theory: the Aerial Cat!
You may have heard of the Aquatic Ape theory, which deduces from our hairless skin that our ancestors had gone through an ocean-dwelling phase. Well — here is my new theory: that the common cat, Felis catus, evolved from a flying creature! Consider the cat’s ear. Whenever I scratch a cat behind the ears I … Read more
Closing a time loop
Many, many years ago when I was a teenage geek, I was green with envy at the Coil Winding Calculator that an older friend had access to in his university lab. It was an extremely useful device – a cardboard slide chart that allowed you to compute the parameters for winding a coil of a … Read more
Splash!
Beauty can sometimes appear in the most unusual places. I snapped this photo on a sidewalk near my home: As I was watching, a passerby kicked the bottle, and it started spinning, giving me a good idea of what we’re seeing: someone had discarded and squashed the bottle, and someone else set it spinning and … Read more
Two primordial hunters
One of the most famous sculptures made in Israel is “Nimrod”, created in 1939 by Itzhak Danziger. A powerful figure in red sandstone, it depicts a naked young man with a falcon on his shoulder and a sword held behind his back, looking intensely ahead. This is Nimrod, the biblical great-grandson of Noah, king of … Read more
A new contraceptive?
See this product which I found at a hardware superstore. Looks useful enough for organizing stray cables in the home. But it has another unexpected function. As you see in the close up, this device has an added benefit beyond storing extra cord length, and the packaging clearly states it: Helps prevent children. You don’t … Read more