I've previously mentioned my appreciation for the work that NASA has done over it's 50-year history. NASA grew up right along with me - or me with it - and NASA was always doing the exciting stuff boys of that era were smitten by: Astronauts. Fast planes. Rockets. The Moon.

(It wasn't just spectacle, though; NASA was the catalyst for technological progress that continues to be felt today. A surprising number of the things we now take for granted can be traced directly back to some NASA project.)

We learned about the exploits of the engineers, technicians and astronauts through NASA-supplied pictures in the magazines of the day. My early interest in science was kindled by those pictures, and some of them I still remember.

NASA documented everything, but not all of their photos were of general interest. A large percentage of their images were never seen by the general public because the media was understandably reluctant to publish anything of interest only to nerds. Through the magic of the internet, however, we now have ready access to some of those great pictures.

The agency has launched a new site just for NASA images. You can search or browse and download your selected pictures, drawings, and illustrations - some of them of quite high resolution. You'll find lots of astronomical images, of course, but you'll find all kinds of other things too.

Two of my favorites from the 1969 launch of Apollo 11, taking the first men to the moon:


Saturn V rocket FTW!

If you're a science buff like me, you can spend large amounts of time on their site. I recommend that you not try this a) at work, or b) when your significant other expects you to be paying attention to him/her/the kids/household chores/your dinner guests. You have been warned!

-=[ Grant ]=-

If you're under 40, the name Douglas Engelbart probably means nothing to you. It should, though, because a huge amount of the machine on which you're reading this sprang from his fertile mind.

Engelbart (yet another product of Oregon, having been born in Portland) worked at Stanford Research Institute (SRI) before the dawn of the personal computer revolution. Many of the things we now use without a second thought were developed by him, or made possible by his work: bitmapped screens, the graphical user interface (GUI), hypertext, and networking. The very birth of the internet occurred when his lab at SRI and it's counterpart at UCLA networked their computers to become the first two nodes of ARPANET.

His greatest moment would have to be his "Mother of All Demos" in 1968. In that presentation, he introduced to a stunned world the early working implementations of video conferencing, teleconferencing, interactive text, email and the aforementioned hypertext. It is, perhaps, the single most important event in the history of modern computing.

One of his inventions revealed for the first time at the Demo was a new invention: the computer mouse. It would take over a decade before his now-common pointing device finally reached the market (attached to the ill-fated Xerox 8010 Star Information System), and several years after that before it came to the notice of the general public (as an integral part of the original Macintosh.)



(John C. Dvorak, computer pundit, wrote in 1984 of the new Mac and Engelbart's invention : "The Macintosh uses an experimental pointing device called a 'mouse'. There is no evidence that people want to use these things." Dvorak is not known for his prescience, which surprisingly fails to deter his continued employment.)

YouTube has the entire Demo available.


-=[ Grant ]=-

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently turned 50. What's DARPA, you ask? Well, it is the agency that invented the network upon which you are reading this missive.

DARPA was founded to do fundamental, high-risk research into science and technology that could be used for military purposes. Today that sounds ominous and vaguely sinister, but in the 1950s it was exciting and patriotic.

One of their projects was called ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network), intended as a way for DARPA staffers and researchers to disseminate information and share computing resources. It introduced email, file transfers, and even voice protocols into common use, all made possible through the magic of packet switching - another DARPA innovation. This groundbreaking computer network would, with their guidance, evolve into what we now call the internet.

(Funny, isn't it - the internet upon which you can read anti-military and anti-American rants until your eyes launch themselves from their sockets is the product of an American military project. Euro-weenies will no doubt point out that the World Wide Web was the invention of an Englishman working at a Swiss lab, but his contribution - important as it is - was simply a way of easing access to information on the already vast internet. His work would not even have been necessary had it not been for DARPA.)

The computer network wasn't DARPA's only development, of course - the magnificent Saturn V rocket and the computer mouse both came from the think tanks at the agency. How's that for a wide ranging legacy?

Happy Birthday, DARPA - keep up the good work!

-=[ Grant ]=-

When I was a wee lad, America was at the forefront of space exploration. By the time I was old enough to know what was going on, we'd recovered from the shock of the Soviets beating us into space, and had responded in a big way with Gemini and Apollo programs.

In those days, our grade school classes would literally come to a halt as we gathered around a television set to watch a liftoff or a splashdown. The mighty Saturn V rockets - spewing a fireball that remains unequalled for sheer excitement - would take our astronauts into space for yet another thrilling mission. Landing men on the moon was our crowning achievement, watched by just about everyone in the country.

Space flights were national events on a scale that I haven't seen since - and probably never will again. The SuperBowl and American Idol Finals may draw larger audiences, but in terms of captivating our collective conscious, of instilling pride in our country and what we were capable of doing, they will ever equal the NASA of the mid 20th century.

NASA has put together a little retrospective of their first 50 years, using photos that have rarely been seen publicly. If you are a child of the '50s or '60s, this will bring back stirring memories of what we briefly referred to as Cape Kennedy.

-=[ Grant ]=-

One of my favorite abandoned/unknonwn/old technology subjects is the fabled Beach Pneumatic Transit System in Manhattan. Nothing exists of it today - neither facilities nor artifacts - but this article at Damn Interesting gives the best overview I've seen of the ill-fated project.

-=[ Grant ]=-

For those that actually remember the dawn of the computer age (my first computer experience was on a time-shared GE 600-series mainframe), looking over old computer advertisements brings a flood of reactions: amusement, embarrassment, and the occasional "I wish I'd bought their stock when it was first offered." (Of course, there is also the "I'm glad I didn't buy any of their stock!")

Take a look at these vintage ads. I particularly like the one explaining what email is - not just for the content, but for the company promoting the concept. (Honeywell, once a player in mainframe computers, is perhaps best known these days for making thermostats - which is what they made before they bought their way into the computer business.)

-=[ Grant ]=-

When we think of a battery, we invariably think of the lead, acid, or alkaline components that have become synonymous with the concept. But chemical repositories are not the only ways to store energy; it can also be stored in its kinetic form.

That's the idea behind the mechanical battery. Read all about it, courtesy of Damn Interesting.

-=[ Grant ]=-

It's confession time: I'm a geek. A card carrying, spent-all-my-high-school-time-in-the-library, know-how-to-use-a-sliderule geek. I love computers, think physics should be taught in kindergarden, and generally find technology of all kinds (modern to ancient) fascinating.

Seems I'm not the only gun blogger to claim that moniker: the infamous Tam purports to be a geek, too - but is she? Is she really? Oh, yeah, she makes a big deal about her old computers - but did she ever have a DEC PDP-11/70 (running RSTS, no less) in her garage like I once did? I think not!

I, on the other hand, can prove my exalted status beyond a shadow of doubt, as I possess the ultimate geek credential: an amateur radio license. No, not your simple no-code-Tech paper, but a real I-passed-the-Morse-code-test-and-have-HF-privileges-to-show-for-it General class ticket. In the world of the terminally socially inept, the ham radio license is Da Bomb. Let's see you beat THAT, Tam! Hah! Hah-hah-hah!

(I think I've been reading far too much Mogambo Guru. But I digress...)

This nerd calling-out is just a pathetically unimaginative way of introducing today's topic: an abandoned Ionospheric Research Station hidden deep in the Ukrainian wilderness. You see, such installations are all about antennas, and any ham radio operator worthy of the title is really into antennas. I sure am; I have books about antennas, have pictures of antenna installations, and generally love looking at anything to do with antennas - the more esoteric, the better!

They don't come much grander than this one, courtesy - once again - of that web site for all geeks, Dark Roasted Blend. (If after viewing the site you have an irresistible urge to buy a pocket protector, I cannot be held responsible!)

-=[ Grant ]=-

That's right - an undersea cable. I'll bet you thought that undersea cables were a thing of the past, right? You probably had it in your mind that satellite technology had rendered the undersea cable a relic of a bygone age, didn't you? As Gomer would say, "surprise, surprise, surprise!"

The vast majority of telephone and internet traffic flows on undersea cables, to this day. Compared to satellites, cables are cheaper and have much greater bandwidth. As a result, there are hundreds of cables in use today, and well over 1,000 cable landing sites (where the cables come ashore) around the world. Here's a good graphic of the undersea cables - and their load - in use today. Wikipedia has a good article on cables, with lots of links to other sites that can tell you everything you ever wanted to know about the subject!

Of course, all those cables sitting on the ocean floor are subject to lots of forces, and sooner or later they break. So, how do you repair a cable that might be thousands of feet deep, well below the ability to use human divers?

Find out here.

-=[ Grant ]=-

So, let's say that you were going to buy me a new cel phone. What do you think I'd want?

How about a Blackberry Pearl? Too "Geek bondage." A Motorola Razr? They are SOOOOOO 2006. Nokia N80? If I wanted a slide-out I'd buy an RV. The Apple iPhone? Tempting, and it would go great with my Macs, but no - there's something even better.

The cel phone I really want is the Portable Rotary Phone from Spark Fun Electronics. Inside this antique is a fully functional cel phone module that utilizes all of the phone's original parts for their intended purposes: the handset, the dial, and even the two-bell ringer!



My Father, who was an inveterate prankster and a telephone company employee, would've loved this thing. It would be just the ticket to out-annoy the clods who use their phones in restaurants, and imagine the looks you'd get in meetings ("sorry, but I have to take this call.")

Besides, the whole retro-dial thing goes perfectly with my revolver persona, don't you think??

-=[ Grant ]=-

Perhaps it's normal when one reaches a certain age, but occasionally I have small episodes of nostalgia, and one of the things I miss is the thrill of our space program. Oh, for the days when people would gather around the television (black-and-white, of course) just to watch one of our beautiful Saturn IV rockets blast into space - secure in the belief that with each one we were leaping ahead of our Cold War nemesis. ("Take that, Comrades!")

It was exciting on many levels, and we never missed a liftoff - they were big events. I remember getting up very early one morning to watch Apollo 11 blast off for the moon; heck, we even waited for the splashdowns! (For those of you born after 1980, that's how astronauts landed before the wheeled Shuttle was developed.)

Not surprisingly, I was thrilled when I came across the International Space Artifact Collection at www.hightechscience.org They have artifacts from both the U.S. and Soviet space projects, and have lots of great pictures on their website. Cool stuff!


Authentic Soyuz spacecraft clock

(Trivia time: can anyone tell me the connection between the U.S. space program and one of my favorite revolvers??)

-=[ Grant ]=-

Things you didn't know could be done with water!

First, what happens when water hits a horizontal impeller being driven at high speeds? Patterns that look almost like solid glass!



More pictures of water polyhedra here.

What can you do with a waterfall controlled by a computer? Jeep Corporation figured it out!




-=[ Grant ]=-

A regular reader informs me that the Nessmuk classic, "Woodcraft and Camping", is available online as a .pdf file - completely FREE!

"Woodcraft and Camping" at Outdoors-Magazine.com

If you haven't yet gotten a copy, you now have no excuse!

-=[ Grant ]=-

NASA has made a decision to repair the aging Hubble Space Telescope.

I remember when the Hubble was launched in 1990. Once in orbit, NASA discovered a flaw in the main mirror. It was thought that the flaw would doom the Hubble to uselessness, but in '93 NASA sent a repair crew to restore the telescope to its planned quality. It worked, and the Hubble began to transmit the kind of startling images that everyone had hoped for.

Now the gyroscopes on the telescope have reached the end of their service life, and the only way to replace them is to send another manned mission. The only trouble is that NASA has a much better understanding of just how dangerous those missions are in the wake of the Columbia disaster, and they have been a bit reluctant to risk the lives of a crew - not to mention spending a healthy chunk of their operating budget - on such an expedition.

Last Tuesday, they finally reached a decision to repair the Hubble. This is great news for all science buffs, and serves as a chance for me to post one of the terrific images made by this marvel of American engineering. I give you the Crab Nebula, as only the Hubble Space Telescope can present it!



-=[ Grant ]=-

In the late 1700s, Professor Georg Christoph Lichtenberg noticed some interesting patterns forming on the dusty surface of a charged plate. He showed the unusual works of natural art to his students and peers, and through time they have become known as Lichtenberg Patterns. The same patterns can sometimes be seen on the skin of people who have been struck by lightning.

Formed as the result of high voltage discharges on, or within, insulating materials, Lichtenberg Patterns can today be captured permanently by discharging the output of a linear accelerator into a Lucite block. The resulting three dimensional fern-like patterns are strangely fascinating!

This website shows and explains the process. Very cool!



And you thought science was boring!

-=[ Grant ]=-

NASA maintains a great website called "Astronomy Picture of the Day". As the name implies, they put up a new picture each day, along with a plain-language explanation by an astronomer.

Be sure to check out their archives - there are some terrific pictures in their collection. Sure to pique anyone's curiosity about what is beyond our little world!

Here's one of my favorites: The Eskimo Nebula.



Sometimes my wildest imaginings pale in comparison to reality. This is one of those times.

-=[ Grant ]=-

Apparently the experts at the National Nuclear Security Administration aren't as careful with their computer data as their name would indicate. Approximately 1,500 people who work for agency contractors were stolen in September 2005 - but not reported until June 9, 2006!

Yep - these are the guys I trust to keep me safe, you betcha. (In case you missed it, that's what we refer to as 'sarcasm'.)

-=[ Grant ]=-

Are you as tired of weather.com as I am? It started out as a great site with lots of content, but it's s-l-o-w and clogged with ads. If you need time lapse satellite or radar images, it's OK - but if what you want is just a forecast for the next few days it's a cumbersome mess.

Luckily, someone has come up with a better idea: WeatherMole. Combine the latest Weather Service forecasts with Google maps, and you've got a winning combination!

Just click on the area for which you want a forecast - WeatherMole shows you the upcoming week's forecasts for that pinpoint location. Zoom in on the map to refine your forecast point, and you'll see the forecasts change to reflect even small location differences.

If you travel, this is the greatest thing since sliced bread!

-=[ Grant ]=-

I'm not usually one for vulgarity, but this may prove to be useful.

It seems that if you speak certain of the infamous "seven dirty words", automated call-taking systems will often route you directly to a human being! No more trying to figure out the arcane access numbers - just cuss like a logger (or longshoreman or sailor, as your geographical area dictates) and you might just get to talk to a real person.

The Revolver Liberation Alliance blog isn't just entertaining, it's educational!

-=[ Grant ]=-

Just when I think I've seen it all, someone comes up with yet another unique use for Google Maps.

Go to this site, input a UPS/FedEx tracking number, and iSnoop will generate a Google map showing where the package is, and an RSS feed that sends the up-to-date tracking info to your RSS reader!

What else can be done with Google Maps? Check in next week...

-=[ Grant ]=-

Great idea - turn them into a lamp! From the TechEBlog comes this:



Says the builder: “The pile of CDs that had been massing in my room was growing to epic proportions. So I decided to make myself a CD lamp. The circular base was actually cut using a template on a table saw, then sanded after clamping it in a drill press. The cold cathode lamp is from NewEgg. “

And to think I've been throwing them away all these years...once again, proof that I have no creativity whatsoever!

-=[ Grant ]=-

I make no secret of the fact that I love the Apple Macintosh computer line. I've been using Macs for about 8 years now, and those times when I'm forced to use a Windows PC are excruciatingly painful. I've gotten used to having a computer that "just works" without spending hours reloading operating systems, updating anti-virus software, worrying about spyware, searching for device drivers, and waiting for the machine to reboot after yet another crash.

Whew - sorry for the sales pitch, but I couldn't help myself! Anyway, this isn't about my Macs - it's about the new Apple Store on the ever-chic 5th Avenue in New York:



Get this: it's a glass cube that simply serves as a ground-level entrance to the subterranean store! The cube covers the curved glass staircase (and glass elevator) that leads you downward to the store below:



Very neat. I'd like to have a house built using this concept, but I shudder to think what it would cost...

-=[ Grant ]=-

I like reading the gun discussion forums - lots of, well, interesting stuff turns up - but I've lately become enamored of Michael Bane's Shooting Gallery site.

Based on his TV show (which I can't get because Comcast holds The Outdoor Channel hostage, demanding I pay them even more money than I already am), it has a great mix of articles from Michael and such luminaries as Walt Rauch. Wonderful site, and worth a visit.

-=[ Grant ]=-