Wormholes — what are they good for? This study suggests one possible answer: “Wormholes record species history in space and time,” S. Blair Hedges, Biology Letters, vol. 9, no. 1. February 2013. The author, at Penn State University, reports: “I show that printed wormholes in rare books and artwork are trace fossils of wood-boring species […]
Tag: history
Switchboard operators and their pranks
This old video documentary by AT&T tells the early history of the telephone switchboard, and includes bits of colorful tale-telling, including some about the naughty behavior of some switchboard operators. Much of the documentary, though, is reassuringly, seriously dull:
BONE WARS: The Game of Ruthless Paleontology
Love dinosaurs, or love the men who loved dinosaurs too well, or love games, or love a good fight, or love history? If you love any of those things, you may be predisposed to enjoy the game called Bone Wars. Here is the description given by the game’s inventors: BONE WARS: The Game of Ruthless Paleontology […]
Computer Usefulness, 1969 and Now
In 1969 a publishing executive wryly tallied up whether and how computers had helped his industry: “Pitfalls to Computer Use in Publishing and Communication,” Daniel Melcher, Journal of Business Communication, vol. 6, no. 2, Winter 1969, pp. 47-51. The author, chairman of the R.R. Bowker Company, says: Most large publishers now have computers; many small […]