“... a telegraph machine that broadcasted calls from the ship as it sank.”
I’m sure it’s just me, but Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson; he basically wrote this book for me. WWII crypto, Alan Turning, early internet, Nazi gold, treasure hunting and romance. It’s a thousand-pager; I’ve read it cover to cover 12 times by actual count, and I’m ramping up to reading it again. I met Neal on tour…
I’m sure it’s just me, but Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson; he basically wrote this book for me. WWII crypto, Alan…
Best war movie line ever. Probably the best possible.
“... still alarming realization just how much of the volume of a rocket getting to orbit from Earth is filled with fuel and oxidizer.”
Just to compare, the somewhat similar looking 1912 Baker Electric cruised at 23 mph, had a 100 mile range, and cost $2,700, or some $70,000 today.
I’m sorry, but Frank simply owns the weird name thing; his daughter Moon Unit Zappa is living proof.
No 1970 kitchen would be complete without the Honeywell Kitchen Computer. It held recipes, computed portion ratios, and balanced your checkbook. Costing $10,000 ($66K today), it included a two week resident course in how to use it. There was no keyboard or monitor; input was via binary switches, and output via binary…
Like most people my age (71, if you can believe that) I grew up in the home of a WWII vet. My dad was in the Army, serving in the Pacific. He was in Tokyo at the time of the formal surrender, and could see the USS Missouri from his post; he watched the ceremony from shore.
As noted in the video, he played starship captain J.J. Adams in the 1956 classic Forbidden Planet. That film was one of Gene Roddenberry’s principal sources for Star Trek, and Nielsen’s character was an archetype for Captain Kirk, right down to the gruff delivery, paling around with his second in command and his…
Reader’s guide for young people: the paper computer on the right is the Apple Lisa. Released in 1983 it was the first personal computer to successfully implement a graphical user interface. Invented by Xerox, the GUI was featured in their Alto computer released a decade earlier, but it was not a success due to its…
Weapons in space are not new. One of the Russian Almaz manned space stations of the early ‘70s was armed with a 23mm revolver cannon, capable of firing over 2,000 rounds per mintues. It was successfully test fired at least once.
Growing up in the ‘50s we had this, Air-wick. I can still smell it.
Growing up in the ‘50s we had this, Air-wick. I can still smell it.
Reader’s guide for young people: The original FOTB was released in 1950, directed by Vincent Minnelli and starring Spencer Tracy as the put-upon father, and Elizabeth Taylor as the bride. It was a boxoffice hit, and was nominated for Oscars across the board.