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#1
12-09-2019
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Sorry to disappoint everyone but I’m still here…
 CompuServe? Through a 300 bps modem? The kind you put the phone into. Anyone remember those?  This ad is even older. From 1979… But she’s kind of hot.    From the keyboard and “mall shots” I’m guessing this is from around the mid-80’s to early-90’s. Within my lifetime. But I could be wrong. The world as imagined in “the year 2000.” Yes, they were right. We call it “Amazon.”  “Internet in a Box.” I remember seeing these in places like BestBuy. From 1995. Mom and Dad didn’t have to worry, they had me. I would have been embarrassed to be seen using this to get online even as a kid.  And of course “Windows 95.” But pre-release it wasn’t called “Windows 95.” It was codenamed “Chicago.” I can’t remember the exact version but one of my teachers was in a Microsoft “beta tester” program and let me take his copy home to install on my PC. It was on a stack of 3½” floppies—like a zillion of them. Took forever to install.  Finally, really old CompuServe. “Pre Internet Browser” era, no GUI, probably 300 bps at best (see old modem in first pic). Newspaper is dated July 9, 1980.  (Just been very busy with work. That and spent some time in the hospital getting IV antibiotics after a leg infection flared up. Yes it goes back a long time to an old football injury. Otherwise known as a “compound fracture.”  )
Last edited by a9127; 12-09-2019 at 01:18 PM. 
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#2
12-10-2019
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Actually I do remember 300 bps modems. I also remember having to put a telephone handset in the cradle of the modem so that it could transfer data. One time I upgraded my computer so that I had a fax/modem card inside it. I was so ultramodern with that. I purposely bought a fax/modem card because some companies still did business with a fax machine and I could send documents directly to a fax to be printed out.One thing I learned from the above attached pictures is that CompuServe was owned by H & R Block. I had previously only ever thought of them as a strictly financial company that did personal income taxes as a sideline.
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#3
12-15-2019
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ila,
75 baud? I believed you but had to look it up. It looks like those speeds were used with "teletypewriting" or TTY (mainframe terminals?). I have seen that term "TTY" used with Modems. Don't remember if I ever set anything for that. Maybe for CompuServe? The slowest I've ever used was a "VIC Modem" which was 300 baud. Blazing fast for the time. At least you could get "on line." What makes me feel old today is this (well that and Billie Eilish turns 18 in three days... ). This is "Windows 2000." It was based on "NT"--the more powerful and "stable" version of Windows. Ran this for a couple of years until "XP" came out. Ran them "side by side." Had an iMac as well. Never had it crash.  I noticed Windows 2000 was released 20 years ago today. Can't be. Can't f'ing be... (You may have to click the "NT info graphic" several times to see it. I just "screen capped" it from Wikipedia. All the info is correct as far as I remember.) Last edited by a9127; 12-15-2019 at 09:12 AM. Reason: Added pictures of "VIC Modem" and "iMac."
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#4
12-15-2019
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Phones, phones, phones… Thinking about phones... How they have changed over the years. At my university, we still have desk phones, but hardly anyone ever uses them. Like most people now, I take my Samsung Galaxy everywhere. When I started teaching we still had an old (mid 90’s) “Octel” voicemail system. I and the rest of the “younger” faculty hardly ever used it. Hell, I am considered “old” today for using an “Android.”
My students a couple of years ago had a campaign to get me to switch to an “iPhone.” “FaceTime” was a big reason for it. But back to Octel. Everyone made fun of the “nasty lady” who’s voice was heard saying things like “you have three new messages.” She came across as “cold,” “impersonal,” and “authoritarian” and most people hated her. She’s actually a nice person. I read an interview with her several years ago. I hate voicemail anyway. Don’t have time to listen to a rambling message. Would rather get an email or text. I can read it quickly and decide if it’s important right away. Or trash it… I don’t know what kind of phone we have at school now but I only seem to get “spam” and calls from “book reps” or "telemarketers.” However it looks much cooler than the old system with a touchscreen interface. For my consulting business, I use my cell phone exclusively. I will most likely be getting the “5G” folding model in 2020. We also haven’t used a “landline” in years at home. Not long after we were married in 2011 we got a “AT&T U-Verse” package that came with a landline phone and number. Never hooked it up. Think it’s still in a box in the garage. And there used to be telephone “exchanges.” I know a little about it. You dialed something like “MUrray Hill 5-9975” (the phone number on “I Love Lucy”). Or “BUtterfield 8.” The name of the movie starring Elizabeth Taylor for which she won the 1961 Academy Award. I am from Detroit which is area code “313.” They replaced “exchanges” with “area codes” sometime during the 60’s and 70’s. I was born after that so I don’t know what the “exchange” for our location was. We lived on the West side. Not far from Dearborn. South of “8 Mile” road. You can buy merchandise with 313 on it. Eminem has a song called “313.” Troy, where we eventually moved is area code “248.” Last edited by a9127; 12-15-2019 at 11:11 AM. Reason: Added "Detroit" pictures.
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#5
12-17-2019
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#6
04-01-2020
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Up early today to work with my students online. Taking a break. Don’t exactly know where to post this. Since it features old technology of the day, I will place it here. Today is April 1st.
April 3, 1974 was a very bad day for weather in the United States. Almost 150 tornadoes in 24 hours. Many lives lost. A record that would not be broken until 2011. Anyone remember it? Probably most of us weren’t around yet. But if you live in the Central US you most likely know someone who survived it. I am from Detroit. On the map, you can see there is one tornado (#30) that went between Michigan and Canada. I think it crossed over into Windsor in Ontario and caused damage there. Not sure, I wouldn't be born until the 80's. Members of my family remember this day however. Both my parents remember it although they hadn’t met yet. We are all “West Siders” so I don’t know how bad it actually was where they lived but there were tornado watches and warnings issued for lower Michigan and Canada. Ironically, the location in Indiana where I live today, appears to have been “spared.” Monticello Indiana did not fare so well. The city took a direct hit from an F4 or F5 tornado that caused great devastation and loss of life. That's the long track in Northern Indiana (#12 and #13). I knew 2 people at Purdue who survived this tornado. Very young then, they both lost their homes and told me they thought they were “going to die.” One remembers his mom covering him under a table as their house was torn apart. In Southern Indiana, Hanover College was destroyed. The tornado, an F5, then headed straight for Madison, an historic city along the Ohio river and popular vacation destination. At the last second, it changed course. My current wife and also my “ex” have spent lots of time visiting Madison. It’s a popular vacation destination in Indiana. And they have powerboat races on the Ohio. Check out the movie “Madison.” Belterra Resort and Casino, today, is not far from there. This picture of the tornado is posted in many places around town. I have also visited Hanover College. Some signs of the devastation remain today. But perhaps the story most people have heard was about the Xenia, Ohio tornado. Striking late in the afternoon. It killed over 30 people when it hit a subdivision around dinner time. It is known in popular culture as the tornado that threw a school bus onto the stage. Not an urban legend, this really happened. Students had been rehearsing for a play when one looked out a stage door and saw the approaching tornado. They all took cover. You can see what happened to the school below. The technology of the time included radar (based on WWII technology—no Doppler then), early satellites, and “teletype” machines. Most warnings went out over radio or TV. Some too late… (This “outbreak” is legendary in the United States. And there are many people still alive who will never forget that day. I wonder if "Dr. Amy" was born yet? I think she looks too young. Right now it’s in the 30’s F here. So today we are most likely to get snow… We have our own problems right now with the coronavirus… Stay well!)
Last edited by a9127; 10-25-2020 at 10:12 PM.
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#7
04-01-2020
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The difference between early radar and modern versions is the quality of the receiver/computer that can process the returned signal. Modern radar is able to get more and better detail than the old analogue vacuum tube radar.
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#8
04-01-2020
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I know what the "Doppler Effect" is. And how radar works. I was under the impression that the radar standard used for years (in the US at least) was WSR-57 and produced images like the one I included in my post above. The Xenia Ohio tornado was indicated by the "hook" echo which must have come from the Doppler effect. Weather radar today uses a different, upgraded standard introduced in 1988 known as "WSR-88." From what I've read, these can measure motion or "rotation" inside a thunderstorm and identify cells that might produce a tornado. Some of the old "WSR-57's" lasted into the 90's. I read somewhere that Hurricane Andrew in 1992 blew one of the last operational ones off the roof of a weather station in Florida. The site is all yours my friend... I have contemplated leaving many times. Guess it's time. Last edited by a9127; 04-01-2020 at 05:47 PM.
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