Posts Tagged ‘fiber optics’
“My grandmother is over eighty and still doesn’t need glasses. Drinks right out of the bottle”*…
It’s bad enough for the first kid when a new baby shows up to steal your thunder. But the injustice is compounded when you have to start wearing glasses while your little sibling stays as cute and non-four-eyed as ever. If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone: firstborn kids are more likely to be nearsighted…
Focus on the facts of the case, and learn the possible reasons, at “Why More Firstborn Kids Need Glasses.”
* Henny Youngman
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As we reconcile ourselves to the reality that four eyes are better than none, we might spare a thought for John Tyndall; he died on this date in 1893. A prominent 19th-century physicist, he was known for his work on a range of subjects, from crystals to diamagnetism and infrared radiation. But he is probably best remembered as the man who explained (in his book Light) why the sky is blue. And he was perhaps most impactful in his development of the “light fountain“– which demonstrated the scientific foundation for modern fiber optic technology.
Phreaking out…
Cover of the Spring 2012 issue of 2600
In preparation for “treat-ing” tonight’s parade of freaks, one might pause to pay respects to 2600: The Hacker Quarterly, an American publication that specializes in publishing technical information on a variety of subjects including telephone switching systems, Internet protocols and services, as well as general news concerning the computer underground. The magazine’s moniker comes from the “phreaker” discovery (by John “Cap’n Crunch” Draper and friends in the 1960s) that the transmission of a 2600 hertz tone (which could be produced perfectly with a plastic toy whistle given away free with Cap’n Crunch cereal) over a long-distance trunk connection gained access to “operator mode” and allowed the user to explore aspects of the telephone system that were not otherwise accessible… like free long distance calls. (The seed money for Apple was in part raised by the two Steves’ sale of “phreaking boxes” designed to do just this.)
2600 has become a journal-of-record for “Grey Hat” hackers– tech explorers concerned to push past the limits inherent to the design of a given technological device or application (as opposed to White Hats, who are ideologically motivated to do good, or Black Hats, who pursue selfish– often illegal– gain). So its current editorial focus is largely on the web and its devices, increasingly on mobile implementations and application.
But 2600 honors its roots, among other ways, by maintaining a gallery of photos of payphones around the world; for example…
Peshlawar, Pakistan
Moscow, Russia (The payphones only accept one ruble coins, an obsolete denomination)
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As we wax nostalgic, we might send illuminating birthday greetings to Narinder Singh Kapany; he was born on this date in 1926. While growing up in Dehradun in northern India, a teacher informed him that light only traveled in a straight line. He took this as a challenge and made the study of light his life work, initially at Imperial College, London. In January 1954, Nature published his report of successfully transmitting images through fiber bundles– and Dr. Kapany became the father of fiber optics (a name he coined). Dr. Kapany ultimately migrated to the U.S., where he continued to invent (he holds over 100 patents), taught, started successful companies, and became a philanthropist. Fortune named him one of seven ‘Unsung Heroes’ in their “Businessmen of the Century” issue (November 22, 1999). It was, of course, the implementation of Dr. Kapany’s work that rendered “phreaking” moot.
Happy Halloween!
from the NY Public Library’s Flickr set of Halloween cards…
And in conclusion…
The final image in Russ Meyer’s epic Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!
Monte Patterson has done us the terrific service of creating The Final Image, a Tumblr that collects– yes!– the final images of films. And by way of context, he’s included an illustrative introduction…
… Let’s examine the mise-en-scène of Big (1988, dir. Penny Marshall). After experiencing the age of 30 for a week, Josh, back a boy again, walks up a road with his best friend, Billy, much like the beginning, except this time new meaning is attached. The road seems wide and endless as it inclines out of the top-right quadrant of the frame, symbolizing the big road ahead for the boy. After a Josh reverts to his child form and is reunited with his best friend Billy. From these details, we can compile a list of the formal elements that comprise the mise-en-scène of this final image.
Formal elements of the Big final image:
- composition: wide shot
- subject framing: lower center
- sets: residential street
- props: bicycle, baseball bat, skateboard
- actors: adolescent boys, one who has lived as a 30 y.o.
- performance: the boys sing and leisurely walk up the street
- costumes: kids clothing, shirts untucked
- lighting: daytime, sunny
- camera movement: fixed
- sound: diegetic ambient, non-expository dialogue, film score
This list is the formula for a satisfactory emotional outcome of this film. As Josh ascends the road, we are happy he has returned home, and are aware of the wisdom he’s gained from what he experienced as an adult.
More of the essay, and many more final images at The Final Image.
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As we compose ourselves,we might recall that it was on this date in 1880 that Alexander Graham Bell transmitted the first wireless telephone message on his newly invented photophone from the top of the Franklin School in Washington, D.C. Bell believed that the photophone, a device allowed the transmission of sound on a beam of light, was his most important invention.
Bell’s photophone worked by projecting the voice through an instrument toward a mirror. Vibrations in the voice caused similar vibrations in the mirror. Bell directed sunlight into the mirror, which captured and projected the mirror’s vibrations. The vibrations were transformed back into sound at the receiving end of the projection… which is to say that the photophone functioned similarly to the telephone, except that the photophone used light as a means of projecting the information and the telephone relied on electricity.
It was many years before the significance of Bell’s work was fully recognized, as the original photophone failed to protect transmissions from outside interferences (such as clouds) that disrupted transport. Its practical application awaited the development of technology for the secure transport of light… which is to say that Bell’s photophone was the progenitor of modern fiber optics, the technology that is, with wireless, displacing Bell’s much more famous creation.
One of Bell’s drawing for the photophone (source)
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