☛ LIFE hosted by Google: “Who’s Tops in Telephones? It’s U.S.” advertisement for Bell Telephone System, July 19, 1948, p. 3. Large format retrieved from Graphic Mania.
From the text, we learn that in 1948 (according to Bell Telephone System) there were more telephones in New York City than in all of France:
There are more telephones in this country than in all the rest of the world put together. The United States has one telephone for about every four people, compared to one telephone for every ninety people for the rest of the world.
Sweden comes closest with one telephone for every eleven people. In Russia the estimate is about one in a hundred.
New York leads the world’s cities with the most telephones. It has 2,600,000―more than in all of France. In relation to population, San Francisco is on top with about one telephone for every two people. Washington ranks a close second.
And we’re still building and expanding at the fastest rate in history. The value of telephone service is increasing constantly.
Currently, what is increasing constantly is the price costumers have to pay to keep their landline telephone subscription. Some phone companies are contemplating the idea of terminating this service all together. The reason is the ever increasing number of cell phone and smartphone subscriptions. As of December 2012, 87% of American adults own a cell phone or a smart phone. More than a third of American homes only had wireless service during the first half of 2012 (no landline telephone). See the following resources for more detailed references:
In this link roundup, the ongoing financial and political crisis in Greece, Margaret Thatcher on the non-existence of society, Shane Carruth’s new film Upstream Color, warmongering in North Korea and the threat of nuclear power, David Graeber wants to cancel debt, the bombing of al-Bara, the price of gold plunges, the domestication of microbes, the launch of the Digital Public Library of America, the concept of “perception attack” explained by Brian Massumi, the principle of habeas corpus illustrated by the case of Guantánomo prisoner Mohamedou Ould Slahi, suicide rates among adults between 35-64 in the Unites States, the upcomming DSM-V stirring controvery (again), Khan Academy explains what is a Bitcoin, a gun entirely printed out of a 3D printer, and finally, on a much lighter note, a five minutes video of Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield as he performs his own personal version of David Bowie’s song Space Oddity while floating aboard the International Space Station.
Images link to the content they illustrate. All those links were first collected on @aphelis (Twitter).
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The financial situation is dire in Greece and the far right party Golden Dawn is still gaining ground. However, Greeks are not remaining idle and have taken direct actions to correct the situation. One of the most striking example of such a direct action came when residents in Crete threw a Golden Dawn candidate MP into the sea. Throughout history, Cretans have proven many times of being capable of fierce resistance again invaders (see for example how they fought against Turkish domination as told by novelist Pandelis Prevelakis in his trilogy The Cretan and also how they fought against an attempted airborne invasion by Nazi Germany during World War II).
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher died on April 8, 2013. Among many other things, she is known for having argued “There is no such thing as society”. The statement was made in September 23, 1987 during an interview with journalist Douglas Keay. An edited version of the interview was published in the British magazine Woman’s Own on October 31, 1987 under the title “Aids, education and the year 2000!”. The transcript can be found at the Margaret Thatcher Foundation website. Here’s a relevant excerpt:
What is wrong with the deterioration? [mistranscription?] I think we have gone through a period when too many children and people have been given to understand “I have a problem, it is the Government’s job to cope with it!” or “I have a problem, I will go and get a grant to cope with it!” “I am homeless, the Government must house me!” and so they are casting their problems on society and who is society? There is no such thing! There are individual men and women and there are families and no government can do anything except through people and people look to themselves first.
Primer’s director Shane Carruth released his second movie titled Upstream Color. He’s also distributing it himself via his film company erpb. It means currently one can watch the film in theatre and/or buy a digital copy of it directly from the film director (“directly” being relative: Carruth relies on VHX form digital distribution). The film is also available through other means (DVD, Blu-ray, iTunes, etc.).
In April, North Korea gained international attention by issuing (again) various threats. Those threats were partially supported by different military operations, including the relocation of two Musudan missiles to North Korea east coast. However, most serious analysts agreed that the actualization of those threats were highly unlikely. A few days ago, the missiles were withdrawn. Other recent incidents related to nuclear power came as a reminder that the danger doesn’t only lies in the hands of warmongers: natural disasters and human error must also be taken into consideration. In Iran, the epicenter of a 6.3-magnitude earthquake was located only 100 miles from the nation sole official nuclear reactor. In the United-States, 17 Air Force officers responsible for nuclear missile launch were recently suspended after having failed launch skills test.
David Graeber teaches anthropology at Goldsmiths College, University of London. He’s the author of Debt. The First 5,000 Years. He was also involved in the early stage of the Occupy Wall Street movement. The Baffler (No. 22) recently published an excerpt of his latest book The Democracy Project: see “A Practical Utopian’s Guide to the Coming Collapse”. Among other things, Graeber argues for the idea of “debt cancellation”:
What is debt, after all, but the promise of future productivity? Saying that global debt levels keep rising is simply another way of saying that, as a collectivity, human beings are promising each other to produce an even greater volume of goods and services in the future than they are creating now. But even current levels are clearly unsustainable. They are precisely what’s destroying the planet, at an ever-increasing pace. Even those running the system are reluctantly beginning to conclude that some kind of mass debt cancellation—some kind of jubilee—is inevitable.
For David Graeber, it seems that debt is mostly financial (it has to do with money first and foremost) and that it is charged with a negative value (it is mostly bad). In Debt. The First 5,000 Years, nexum is only mentioned once in passing although there is a discussion about the Roman debt bondage contract (my point being that historically, there are forms of debt that allow for the creation of bonds without servitude). There is no mention of the other important form of Roman contract based on debt, mutuum. However, chances are that Graeber’s idea about debt cancellation will find sympathizers. Just two days ago, The New York Times wrote that the student debt in the United-States had reached $1 trillion in total: “Student Debt Slows Growth as Young Spend Less” by Annie Lowrey, May 10, 2013. For what I found to be a balanced view on David Graeber, see recently in The New Yorker: “David Graeber’s “The Democracy Project” and the anarchist revival” by Kelefa Sanneh, May 13, 2013.
When FRONTLINE filmmaker Olly Lambert sat to interview Jamal Maarouf, a Syrian rebel commander, he did not anticipate that bombs from government jets would begin to fall just 300 meters away.
Though the first blast knocked him to the ground, Lambert kept his camera rolling. He spent the next hour documenting the impacts of the Oct. 28, 2012 bombing of al-Bara, a village in Idlib province an hour south of Aleppo. The result is a rare, immersive portrait of the immediate aftermath of Syrian government air strikes on a civilian population.
Gold posted its biggest one-day percentage drop in 30 years Monday as new signs of a global economic slowdown emerged and fears diminished that central banks’ easy-money policies would stoke inflation.
Gold futures for April delivery fell $140.40, or 9.4%, Monday to a two-year low at $1,360.60 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. That extended their bear-market descent of more than 20% from their 2011 all-time high. Since Thursday, gold prices have declined by more than $203 an ounce, a record skid since the futures began trading in the U.S. in 1974.
AN APPRECIATION of the wonderful world of microbes used to begin and end with a jar of live yogurt, the odd bit of French cheese and probiotic supplements. This is changing fast, for three reasons. First, as some common unfriendly bacteria rapidly evolve resistance to antibiotics, an overreliance on such traditional cures is being questioned. Second, research is challenging the cherished idea that having fewer bugs in the environment is healthy. Indeed, there is growing speculation that an obsession with cleanliness is leading to a steep rise in allergies, asthma and other inflammatory and autoimmune disease. Finally, the notion that “infecting” people with bacteria might be a good thing is entering the popular consciousness.
It’s not very often you get to build a new library. Together, that’s what we will begin to do today. Starting with over two million items, each with its own special story and significance, the Digital Public Library of America will now begin to assemble the riches of our country’s libraries, archives, and museums, and connect them with the public.
Dictionary of War: “Perception Attack” by Brian Massumi, February 24, 2007. This is a 35 minutes video where Brian Massumi explains his concept of “perception attack” which is meant to further develop the understanding of preemptive war. It can be watched online or it can be downloaded as an Ogg video file. Sound quality is very good. The video is also available on YouTube and is embedded below.
Slate: “The Guantánamo Memoirs of Mohamedou Ould Slahi” presented by Larry Siems, April 10, 2013. Aside from being disturbing, the case of Mohamedou Ould Slahi illustrates the crucial role of “habeas corpus” in regard both to constitutional law and to sovereign power. It also underlines the dangerous consequences that come with its suspension in (always) exceptional circumstances.
Had Slahi been released following his habeas corpus victory in 2010, we may well have heard him tell many of these stories. But the Obama administration appealed Judge Robertson’s decision, and later this year Slahi’s attorneys will once again be arguing his habeas petition in a Washington, D.C., federal court. Slahi will again testify by video link from Guantánamo, and his testimony will likely once again be classified. Here, at least, is some of what he might say.
Suicide is an increasing public health concern. In 2009, the number of deaths from suicide surpassed the number of deaths from motor vehicle crashes in the United States (1). Traditionally, suicide prevention efforts have been focused mostly on youths and older adults, but recent evidence suggests that there have been substantial increases in suicide rates among middle-aged adults in the United States (2). To investigate trends in suicide rates among adults aged 35–64 years over the last decade, CDC analyzed National Vital Statistics System (NVSS) mortality data from 1999–2010. Trends in suicide rates were examined by sex, age group, race/ethnicity, state and region of residence, and mechanism of suicide. The results of this analysis indicated that the annual, age-adjusted suicide rate among persons aged 35–64 years increased 28.4%, from 13.7 per 100,000 population in 1999 to 17.6 in 2010.
As the publication date for the fifth edition of Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-V) approaches, various organizations are taking the opportunity to voice their concerns over the controversial classification system. In the United States, the National Institute of Mental Health has announced its intention to abandon the use of the manual all together. In the U.K. the British Psychological Society has issued a statement casting doubt on the reliability of the (in)famous manual as a diagnostic tool.
Khan Academy: “What is Bitcoin?” May 3, 2013. This series of 9 videos teaches the basics about the Bitcoin digital currency. All the videos are released under the Creative Common license. Explanations are provided by Zulfikar Ramzan:
Zulfikar Ramzan is a world-leading expert in computer security and cryptography and is currently the Chief Scientist at Sourcefire. He received his Ph.D. in computer science from MIT.
Astronaut Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station, just handed over command after a 146 days mission in space. To mark the occasion, he performed and recorded his very own, personal version of David Bowie’s classic song Space Oddity. The video was uploaded on YouTube on May 12, 2013. It’s just 5 minutes, it’s quite something and it’s embedded below, just after the links.
☛ The University of Auckland – Department of Computer Science: Removable 1GB Hard Drive Assembly (HDA) from the IBM 3380 storage device series, announced in June 1980. Another image is available at Wikimedia Common. See also the video embedded below.
The photo shows a single hard drive assembly (HDA) used on the IBM 3380 Direct Access Storage Device (DASD), a series which IBM announced on June 19801. The 3380 series was a storage solution to be use alongside a computer (it was not a computer in itself). Each unit of the early models of the 3380 series (A4, A4F, AA4, AAF, B4 and BF4) was composed of two of those hard drives (or two HDAs). Each of them had a capacity of about 1.26GB, providing one storage device of the 3380 series with a total capacity 2.52GB.
Those were the very first hard drives to break the 1 gigabyte barrier, as explained on the website of the Department of Computer Science at The University of Auckland:
From the early 1960s most disks had platters 14 inches in diameter. This became a standard size for the high-end disks for over twenty years. The high point for the 14 in. disk came with the IBM 3380 (1981) with 9 platters and the breaking of the 1GByte barrier with a capacity of 1260 Mbytes. This device was also housed in the tallest largest cabinet ever used for a disk – truly the pinnacle of large disk development. The IBM 3380 continued in different versions until 1987 with the 3389K drive of 3781 MB capacity. (“Computing History Displays: Fifth Floor – Magnetic Data Storage – Magnetic Disk Storage”)
In an oral history of the IBM 3380 series recorded in 2006, engineers who have worked on it in the 80s reminded the “refrigerator size” of this first gigabyte storage device:
Mike Warner: About $120,000. And for these, and they stood in a meter wide, a meter deep, and two meter high assembly.
Jack Grogan: Called the refrigerator size.
Warner: Yeah, about a big refrigerator, a big, deep refrigerator. So it was extremely difficult to make this large a device, with all its mechanical complications reach the aerial densities and the technical objectives that we had. And we’ll go through that in the next hour or so. (Computer History Museum: “Oral History Panel on IBM 3380 Disk Drive”, interviewed by Jim Porter, recorded on January 3, 2006, Mountain View, California, ref. number X3413.2006, p. 4, PDF)
The weight of a single HDA such as the one depicted in the photo above was about 29 kilograms (roughly 64 pounds)2. The price for one of those 1.26GB HDA was about $50,000. The “Oral History Panel on IBM 3380 Disk Drive” hosted by the Computer History Museum website really is the most detailed documentation available online about the IBM’s 3380 series. IBM Archives also offers some detailed documentation about its 3380 series: “IBM 3380 direct access storage device” (PDF for archive purpose).
However, one of the best way to have a good look at this first gigabyte hard drive is to watch a 10 mins episode of Tested titled “Inside Adam Savage’s Cave: Geeking Out about Bits and Bytes” (Oct. 11, 2012). In this episode Adam Savage explains the difference between bits and bytes and shows what they looked like when they were made out of vacuum tubes. At about 4’14″ he presents a HDA unit from the 3380 series ―which he managed to buy on eBay― and talks about it.
For more related documents, consider the following links:
Computerworld: “PCMs Braving Ups and Downs In Disk Market” by Marcia Blumenthal, August 18, 1980, Vol. 14, No. 33, p. 1. Google Books.
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1. Although the 3380 was announced in June 1980, due to technical problems the first units of the 3380 series finally shipped on October 1981. See Computer History Museum: “Oral History Panel on IBM 3380 Disk Drive”, interviews by Jim Porter, recorded on January 3, 2006, Mountain View, California, ref. number X3413.2006, p. 2 (PDF). IBM also gives 1980 as the date for the introduction of the 3380 series: “20th century disk storage chronology” and “IBM 3380 DASD with IBM 3880”. ↩
2.I have got the weight of the 3380 series HDA unit from Newcastle University’s Virtual Museum of Computing Artefacts: see “IBM 3380 Disk Drive”. In the video episode of Tested Adam Savage weights the unit he bought at 75 pounds.↩
This photo shot in 1997 is part of the self-publish book Cuba Bazan which won the Best Photography Book of the Year Award at the New York Photo Festival in 2009. It shows a cigar factory worker while she begins her shift by rolling a cigar. Behind her, on the wall, one can read the inscription “Viva el 1ro de Mayo” (a celebration of the International Workers’s Day or May Day). The photo is also included in a story on tobacco growing and cigars in Cuba (also by Ernesto Bazan).
From The New York Times’s LENS blog:
Mr. Bazan’s book documents that parallel and heartbreaking reality, devoid of color but rich in gritty black-and-white textures. He captures the stoic pride of the guajiros, farmers with rough hands and strong faces. Inside a store filled with empty shelves, a bored caretaker — how could he be a salesman if there is nothing to sell? — sits at a counter. Penitents in Havana seek divine intercession crawling on their hands to the shrine of St. Lazarus. Or they haul crosses, oblivious to the revolutionary slogans that no longer put food on the table or hope in their hearts. (“Showcase: Sisyphean Days in Cuba” by David Gonzalez, September 30, 2009)
To learn more about Ernesto Bazan, consider the following links:
Everyday I Show has 41 large format photos (both black & white and color).
Enersto Bazan official website bazanphotos.com and as well as the main website for his book Cuba Bazanbazancuba.com The website has a preview of the book as well an introduction by Ernesto Bazan, photos of the making of the book, link to reviews, etc.
See also the video interview “Talking with Ernesto Bazan” produced in 2011 by Peruvian photographer Luigi Abanto Varese (it comes with English subtitles). Watch it below:
