Memory

Katie, who is 11, was helping me in the workshop today. She told me how
some of her class been in trouble for filming the teachers covertly. Of
course I told her how, in 1965, I'd made a sound recording of our maths
teacher, with the class deliberately winding him up just to make it more
fun. I then found myself trying to explain about reel-to-reel tape
recorders. I could see that Katie just couldn't grasp the concept.
Finally she asked, "But how much memory did it have?"

Bill

On Sun, 27 Apr 2014 20:31:27 +0100, Bill Wright wrote:

Katie, who is 11, was helping me in the workshop today. She told me how
some of her class been in trouble for filming the teachers covertly. Of
course I told her how, in 1965, I'd made a sound recording of our maths
teacher, with the class deliberately winding him up just to make it more
fun. I then found myself trying to explain about reel-to-reel tape
recorders. I could see that Katie just couldn't grasp the concept.
Finally she asked, "But how much memory did it have?"

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

It's slightly scary that there's people wandering around who regard the
CD as pre-historic. I feel old.

On Sun, 27 Apr 2014 21:37:57 +0000 (UTC), Adrian
wrote:

Katie, who is 11, was helping me in the workshop today. She told me how
some of her class been in trouble for filming the teachers covertly. Of
course I told her how, in 1965, I'd made a sound recording of our maths
teacher, with the class deliberately winding him up just to make it more
fun. I then found myself trying to explain about reel-to-reel tape
recorders. I could see that Katie just couldn't grasp the concept.
Finally she asked, "But how much memory did it have?"

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

It's slightly scary that there's people wandering around who regard the
CD as pre-historic. I feel old.

A few years ago we found a film in a cupboard at my daughter's house
and sent it off to be processed. One of my granddaughters, probably
aged about 11 then, found the envelope with the strips of negatives
and asked me what they were. She'd never seen a photographic negative,
and looked completely baffled at my explanation of what they were for.

Rod.

On Sun, 27 Apr 2014 21:37:57 +0000 (UTC), Adrian
wrote:

On Sun, 27 Apr 2014 20:31:27 +0100, Bill Wright wrote:

Katie, who is 11, was helping me in the workshop today. She told me how
some of her class been in trouble for filming the teachers covertly. Of
course I told her how, in 1965, I'd made a sound recording of our maths
teacher, with the class deliberately winding him up just to make it more
fun. I then found myself trying to explain about reel-to-reel tape
recorders. I could see that Katie just couldn't grasp the concept.
Finally she asked, "But how much memory did it have?"

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

It's slightly scary that there's people wandering around who regard the
CD as pre-historic. I feel old.

I regard not only CD as pre-historic but DVD and Blu-Ray[1] too. It's
not that that makes me feel old, just the effects of old age creeping
up on me.

[1] or BD if you prefer.
--
Regards, J B Good

In message , Bill Wright
writes

Finally she asked, "But how much memory did it have?"

grin You sound like an older father, although perhaps Katie is your
Granddaughter. My son has just turned 13, and I'll be 62 shortly. I do
try to complete his education, explaining what life was like pre
mobiles, computers, game machines, tablets etc. All sorts of stuff -
our first black and white TV, with two channels and very little TV for
children, our first phone tied to the wall with a cable, our 'wireless',
first fridge all of which arrived in my lifetime. His Grandma (and
mine) operating the mangle every Monday, deliveries of milk, bread,
paraffin, no central heating, clockwork toys, my first wind up
gramophone, 45s, 78s, LPs, reel to reel, my first CD, cassette tapes,
Walkman, Commodore 64, Atari etc. Things that arrived during my
lifetime, yet were gone by his. Pirate radio. Trying to explain that
there was no Radio 1, no local stations, no TOTP, no YouTube. Just
David Jacobs :-) Highlights of the week including Ready Steady Go,
Thank Your Lucky Stars (Oi'll give it foive!), Juke Box Jury.

The impact of Elvis and The Beatles. Luckily, he hears me playing
golden oldies, is used to us having an open fire, drives my Minor in the
garden, eats with us at the table in the dining room and plays with my
tinplate trains. He even enjoys traditional board games at Christmas.
He doesn't like Meccano, though.

The other side of the coin, of course, is that he keeps me up to date
with what his generation loves. Funny thing is, although he and his
friends will spend hours in front of a screen, they also do so much that
I did, 50 years ago. Out on their bikes, messing about by the river,
building dens and dams. What really delighted me, when he first
started school, and understood humour, was the jokes. He and his
friends were laughing at *exactly* the same jokes as amused me at that
age. He also adored the same cartoons, like Huck Hound and Yogi Bear.
The difference was we saw them once a week on B&W TV - he watched them
constantly, in colour, via DVD. Oh well ...
--
Graeme

Adrian wrote in news:ljjtbl$6au$2
@speranza.aioe.org:

On Sun, 27 Apr 2014 20:31:27 +0100, Bill Wright wrote:

Katie, who is 11, was helping me in the workshop today. She told me how
some of her class been in trouble for filming the teachers covertly. Of
course I told her how, in 1965, I'd made a sound recording of our maths
teacher, with the class deliberately winding him up just to make it more
fun. I then found myself trying to explain about reel-to-reel tape
recorders. I could see that Katie just couldn't grasp the concept.
Finally she asked, "But how much memory did it have?"

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

It's slightly scary that there's people wandering around who regard the
CD as pre-historic. I feel old.

With the old devices we all had some inkling of how they worked and if we
were to survive some sort of massive global disaster we would have known
enough about the principles to get these devices back in use. Nowadays the
ability to make or even understand common devices is in the hands of very
few people. Who remembers using a pin and some rolled up card to listen to
a 78rpm record?

Well, terms for storage have changed over the years I suppose. I once worked
out that on a ZX Spectrum, about 5 minutes of cassette tape equalled
32Kbits at 1200 baud, but of course the special loaders games used pushed
the baude rate up so the loading was much faster, and of course less
reliable.

Then of course reel to reel could have several speeds, and the difference
was in frequency responce and noise performance as it was analogue.
If you can explain the difference between analogue storage and digital
storage it might make the penny drop.

Did you know that the Gallileo probe to Jupiter had a tape storage system
on board for use to send the stored data to earth. It started to stick with
age so they had to spool it back and forwards a bit each time theywanted to
use it.
More modern space vehicles use Flash ram of course, but these have issues
that tweak their bits when they get hit by a cosmic ray.

More useless information from the web.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Bill Wright" wrote in message
...
Katie, who is 11, was helping me in the workshop today. She told me how
some of her class been in trouble for filming the teachers covertly. Of
course I told her how, in 1965, I'd made a sound recording of our maths
teacher, with the class deliberately winding him up just to make it more
fun. I then found myself trying to explain about reel-to-reel tape
recorders. I could see that Katie just couldn't grasp the concept. Finally
she asked, "But how much memory did it have?"

Bill

Yes indeed, and I still play them and Vinyl as well. I'm in the market for a
good quality reel to reel deck as well.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"Adrian" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 27 Apr 2014 20:31:27 +0100, Bill Wright wrote:

Katie, who is 11, was helping me in the workshop today. She told me how
some of her class been in trouble for filming the teachers covertly. Of
course I told her how, in 1965, I'd made a sound recording of our maths
teacher, with the class deliberately winding him up just to make it more
fun. I then found myself trying to explain about reel-to-reel tape
recorders. I could see that Katie just couldn't grasp the concept.
Finally she asked, "But how much memory did it have?"

I don't know whether to laugh or cry...

It's slightly scary that there's people wandering around who regard the
CD as pre-historic. I feel old.

I loved meccano. I used some the other month to make a door closer for my
porch.
Incidentally, Meccano made me a phonograph together with some bits of tin
and a cardboard horn. The cylinder was made from baco foil and of course had
a clunk every rotation, but did actually work surprisingly well to
demonstrate the principals, though speed variability was a bit of an issue,
as was recording time.. grin.
Brian

--
From the Sofa of Brian Gaff Reply address is active
"News" wrote in message
...
In message , Bill Wright
writes

Finally she asked, "But how much memory did it have?"

grin You sound like an older father, although perhaps Katie is your
Granddaughter. My son has just turned 13, and I'll be 62 shortly. I do
try to complete his education, explaining what life was like pre mobiles,
computers, game machines, tablets etc. All sorts of stuff - our first
black and white TV, with two channels and very little TV for children, our
first phone tied to the wall with a cable, our 'wireless', first fridge
all of which arrived in my lifetime. His Grandma (and mine) operating the
mangle every Monday, deliveries of milk, bread, paraffin, no central
heating, clockwork toys, my first wind up gramophone, 45s, 78s, LPs, reel
to reel, my first CD, cassette tapes, Walkman, Commodore 64, Atari etc.
Things that arrived during my lifetime, yet were gone by his. Pirate
radio. Trying to explain that there was no Radio 1, no local stations, no
TOTP, no YouTube. Just David Jacobs :-) Highlights of the week including
Ready Steady Go, Thank Your Lucky Stars (Oi'll give it foive!), Juke Box
Jury.

The impact of Elvis and The Beatles. Luckily, he hears me playing golden
oldies, is used to us having an open fire, drives my Minor in the garden,
eats with us at the table in the dining room and plays with my tinplate
trains. He even enjoys traditional board games at Christmas. He doesn't
like Meccano, though.

The other side of the coin, of course, is that he keeps me up to date with
what his generation loves. Funny thing is, although he and his friends
will spend hours in front of a screen, they also do so much that I did, 50
years ago. Out on their bikes, messing about by the river, building dens
and dams. What really delighted me, when he first started school, and
understood humour, was the jokes. He and his friends were laughing at
*exactly* the same jokes as amused me at that age. He also adored the
same cartoons, like Huck Hound and Yogi Bear. The difference was we saw
them once a week on B&W TV - he watched them constantly, in colour, via
DVD. Oh well ...
--
Graeme

On Mon, 28 Apr 2014 01:40:04 +0100, Johny B Good wrote:

I regard not only CD as pre-historic but DVD and Blu-Ray[1] too. It's
not that that makes me feel old, just the effects of old age creeping
up on me.

Presumably old age is having its normal affect on hearing and sight
so you don't notice how crap downloads and/or streaming are compared
to CD or Blu-Ray (or even DVD come to that). B-)

--
Cheers
Dave.