The Summer of Reblogs
This one possible recipe for the roasted crickets that are a favorite food of the Martian Colonists in my sci-fi short story Rocket Man.
See the rest of the recipe at Mad Dog TV Dinners
The Summer of Reblogs Series
Rocket Man – a short story
Copyright © 2014 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.
All people, places, and events are fictional … except when they aren’t.
Mars ain’t the kind of place to raise your kids. In fact, it’s cold as hell. – Elton John, Bernie Taupin (1972)
“Rocket Man, burning out his fuse, out here alone.” I recall the lyrics of the ancient Elton John song that has become the anthem of our profession, as I prepare for our deorbit burn. “Pressurizing the primary fuel loop … now,” I call out to my copilot.
“Roger that. Pressures coming up nicely,” Sam replies. “Prepping the igniters. I have New Masdar on the com. They have us in the flyway.”
“Roger that. Double-check the voltage on main B bus. I don’t like what I’m seeing.”
“It’s on the low-end of nominal, but within tolerance. It should get us home.”
“Okay, bringing reserve batteries online. Request NAV fix.”
“Patching in NAV from New Masdar”
“Got it. Ten minutes to ignition,” I confirm. “Better notify our passengers.”
Today on the Summer of Reblogs … a double-reblog treat. A reblog of a reblog. I originally reblogged this back in January of this year. It is a short tale of the American Dream … work hard, grow rich, retire to a life of leisure … but with a twist.
It is a parable we should all keep in mind as we chase the dream.
The American investment banker was at the pier of a small coastal Mexican village when a small boat with just one fisherman docked. Inside the small boat were several large fin tuna. The American complimented the Mexican on the quality of his fish and asked how long it took to catch them.
See the rest of the story at
https://contrafactual.com/2015/01/05/how-much-is-enough-a-story-from-jimmy-johns/
PS one of the commenters observed that the story is a variation of http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anekdote_zur_Senkung_der_Arbeitsmoral another that it was the basis of a Kenney Chesney song, The Life.
Numerous sites are reporting that Apple may release a giant iPad dubbed the iPad Pro.
Contrafactual.com has just received these images of the new giant iPad being tested by NASA, despite Apple’s attempts at secrecy.
Contrafactual.com can neither confirm or deny the validity of these photos.
Excerpt from The Nudist War | TNW – Day 46
Eddy opened the door to the drug store and looked right and left to make sure he was alone. Satisfied, he walked slowly in, closing and locking the door behind him. He felt as if he were looking through a fog and moving through molasses. The place looked like it had been raided once or twice already. It was a shambles. “Why did I agree to go on this fool’s errand?” he swore under his breath. “I told her that all of the easy sites had already been raided.” He stopped and listened for any sign of movement. Nothing stirred. “So far, so good,” he thought.
Unzipping the large duffle-bag, he went from aisle to aisle shoving anything of value into it. Eddy stopped and listened again. Nothing. Slowly he made his way back to the pharmacy counter and assessed the situation. The security bars had been cut through with bolt cutters by a previous raiding party, so getting in would be much easier than he expected. Too easy. He jumped over the counter into the back.
Once again; stop, listen, wait. Eddy made a mental inventory of the shelves. Most of the pain killers and antibiotics had been taken. What was left were sundry salves and ointments, pseudoephedrine-containing antihistamines, birth control pills, erectile dysfunction meds, and prescription hemorrhoid treatments. “Oh great,” he swore to himself. “I’m sure that we’ll run into someone with a bad rash, who has allergies, who doesn’t want to get pregnant, or can’t get a boner, or can’t take a dump because of the pain. I’m sure we can trade this crap for something useful,” Eddy thought sarcastically as he shoveled what he could into the duffle-bag.
CRASH … Eddy froze, listening carefully. CRASH … TINKLE … TINKLE … “Uh oh,” He silently mouthed. He was not alone. Eddy looked for a back door, but there was none. The closest thing to an escape route was the drive-thru pharmacy window. He crept slowly toward it dragging the duffle-bag with him. Several Zs had come into the drugstore through the open front door. “Damn it,” Eddy searched his memory, “I’m sure I closed and locked it behind me.” The Zs were now moving his way, sniffing the air as they came. “What to do? What to do?” Eddy asked over and over in his brain. “Got to get out of here. Only one way out.” Slowly he aimed the 12 gauge at the drive-thru window and fired. BOOM. This got the Zs’ attention.
Eddy pushed the broken glass out of the way, climbed through the window and fell out onto the pavement. “Unh,” he muttered as he hit the pavement, landing harder than he had expected. The duffle-bag was nowhere to be found. “Get back to the car. Get back to the car,” was the mantra he chanted in his mind as he crept along the pavement to the edge of the wall. He looked around the corner of the drugstore wall toward his car. Half a dozen Zs were trying to get into it. They had already smashed out the driver side window and were trying to open the door. Eddy looked behind him to see the remaining Zs climbing out of the drive-thru window. “That’s not good,” he thought.
Across the parking lot was an abandoned hotel. “If I can just get to that, maybe I can wait them out,” he thought. Taking the shotgun, Eddy took off across the parking lot toward the hotel. No matter how fast he tried to run, it never seemed to get any closer. Finally, finally he reached the courtyard. Eddy looked over his shoulder, the Zs were gaining on him. He turned and fired; once, twice. Click. Out of ammo. “Oh shit,” he yelled. He started running again, but another group of Zs had outflanked him. He was surrounded; the only way out was up. He jumped up as high as he could and grabbed on to the ledge of a second floor balcony. As he tried to pull himself up, the nearest Z grabbed his ankle with both its hands and sank its teeth into Eddy’s foot. Eddy kicked at it with his other foot, but lost his grip and fell in slow-motion down, down, down onto the Zs. Now they were on top of him; biting and clawing. Eddy punched and clawed and bit them back – anything to escape.
Suddenly he was alone on the ground, lying on his back. A beautiful naked woman with firm perky breasts and hard erect nipples began to climb on top of him. He stared in awe at her exotic animal beauty. Her skin was smooth and slightly freckled, bronzed with a healthy tan. She had long red hair that hung down, encircling his face. Her deep green eyes studied him intently. They were like pools in an oasis in the middle of a parched, arid desert. Eddy felt as if he could swim forever in those eyes. She ripped his shirt open, buttons scattering on the pavement, and she begin to nuzzle his chest. “So beautiful,” he thought, “so beautiful.” She moved her face directly in front of his. Her lips brushed sensuously across his. He found himself wishing she would linger there a bit longer. She moved her lips further up his face and gently kissed his nose … then bit it off. A bit of blood dripped out of her mouth as she chewed, crunching the nasal cartilage.
Eddy screamed.
• • •
Eddy sat bolt upright on his cot, trying to figure out where he was. He was drenched in sweat and shaking noticeably. “Damn! Damn these dreams!” Eddy swore out loud as he turned to look at the time. “5:00 AM on the dot.” It took a minute or two for him to gain some semblance of composure. “Better take a shower before anyone else gets up. It’s going to be a long day.”
Copyright © 2014 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.
The Summer of Reblogs 🙂
Minnetonka Men’s Double Deerskin Softsole Moccasin
No not Mini Tonka,
Minnetonka
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000XAZUQQ
Why did I wait so long to buy a pair of these. Well, I admit that the Internet in general and Amazon in particular has made it really easy to find and buy stuff not generally in stock at local stores. In the last few months, since I sprung for the Amazon Prime membership, I have been been checking Amazon first for EVERYTHING I want or need. No longer do I have to go from store to store looking for that particular thing that no one has in stock or in the right size. Now I check on Amazon first and if they have it … I don’t leave the house. The other day a delivery man looked at all of the boxes and asked the Mrs if we were moving in. “Yes, yes we are,” she lied. 🙂
My god, are the Minnetonka Men’s Double Deerskin Softsole Moccasins comfortable. But don’t take my word for it, read the other people’s reviews.
Go ahead. Splurge. Treat yourself or a loved one. Think early Christmas shopping.
Originally posted August 19, 2013
I’d have given anything to have my own PacMan game at home.
I used to have to get a ride down to the arcade. Now I’ve got it on my phone.
Brad Paisley, “Welcome to the Future”To paraphrase Brad Paisley:
I’d have given anything to have 2001 A Space Odyssey at home.
I used to have to get a ride down to the theater. Now I’ve got it on my phone. 🙂“The Summer of Reblogs”
I started this essay a while ago, but I never finished it.
If you haven’t read Welcome to the Future, I suggest that you start >> HERE <<
Excerpted from Welcome to the Future
In 1968, a year before Neil and Buzz first frolicked on the Moon, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released Stanley Kubrick’s epic 2001 A Space Odyssey. I begged and pleaded with my dad to take me to the Miami showing which debuted in 70mm ultra-widescreen Cinerama – the IMAX of its day. The 142 minute long movie was unique in its realistic depiction of space flight, with ground breaking special effects and a powerful musical score. It was equally unique in its use of long periods of silence to portray the vast distances and length of time required to travel to Jupiter. The original showing even had an intermission. 2001 opened to mixed reviews. My dad and I…
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How Kubrick made 2001: A Space Odyssey – Part 2: The Floyd Section
Tyler Knudsen 2015
How Kubrick made 2001: A Space Odyssey – Part 1: The Dawn of Man
Tyler Knudsen 2015
6 Reasons Why 2001: A Space Odyssey is the Most Important Sci-Fi Movie of All-Time
Published on Nov 28, 2014.
In the week of its UK re-release, 2001: A Space Odyssey stars Keir Dullea and Gary Lockwood explain the sci-fi classic’s enduring appeal.
Last week they poured the slab.
This week they actually installed the generator and associated electrical connections.
Last Week
This Week
Next week the gas company will run a second natural gas line with second meter to the generator, after which the final installation, testing, and handover will be completed. Barring anything that knocks out the gas mains, I will have electric power regardless of hurricane, ice storm, grid failure, or Zombie Apocalypse.
The purchase of this standby generator is somewhere between an extravagance and necessity. It is comforting to know that I won’t loose power in all but the most extreme system failures. The Mrs has Multiple Sclerosis and no tolerance for the summer heat of South Texas. A day or two without air conditioning would precipitate a medical emergency. It is an insurance policy that I don’t mind having to use. My neighbors are already trying to figure out how to run extension cords to my house. 🙂
One of my favorite posts. I especially like the embedded video.
The Nudist War serialized novel has got me thinking about supplies one might want to stock up on in the event of SHTF or TEOTWAWKI scenarios. There are plenty of survival and doomsday prepper sites on the web, I won’t attempt to address everything. One thing is almost certain, in a truly catastrophic situation money will become worthless. Even gold may loose its luster – you can’t eat gold. Enter Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms.
Alcohol
If you drink, stocking up on a good supply of your favorite spirits only makes sense. For one, it won’t go bad. For another, you can always drink it even if the world doesn’t go to hell in a hand basket. If you stock a variety, you will always have a selection at home without the need to go to the store if unexpected guests stop by. If you stock a good…
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It is now 402 days since I posted the last installment of The Nudist War on May 31st of last year.
No more excuses. I will get back to work on TNW – Day 57 soon, very soon.
Meanwhile, enjoy the summer of reblogs.
3:09 AM on November 29th and I just calculated (using one of those web calculators) that it has been 182 Days since I last published anything onThe Nudist War (TNW).
What can I say? What excuse can I give? Writer’s block? Too busy at work? Too busy at home? Lack of interest?
The truth is most likely all of the above. Writing The Nudist Warwas an escape from reality, an escape from life. Now I am in the thick of both. Too tired or busy to write after work at night. Otherwise occupied on the weekends.
Sure I blog (or re-blog) the odd bit of news that interests me. The cats continue to be somehow more photogenic everyday. I even continue to get new followers. But I am not writing. Not writing.
I closely follow the stock market, nursing my 401k along. Buying low, selling high, developing…
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To me …
Mars rover Opportunity completes first extraterrestrial marathon (26 miles and 385 yards or 42.195 km).
You go little rover!
Originally posted December 27th, 2013
Curiosity – a short story
Copyright © 2013 by Christian Bergman, All rights reserved.
All people, places, and events are fictional … except when they aren’t.
The traffic on the Foothill Freeway is particularly light today, due to the fact that almost everyone is taking the week of Christmas off. I am approaching an old pickup truck poking along what must be 45 to 50 mph in the far left-hand lane. At 80 mph, I am closing the gap quickly. Deftly sliding over one lane to the right, I punch the accelerator of my 12 year old ‘pre-owned’ Tesla Roadster, passing the pickup with ease. Inside the pickup truck an old Latino couple are arguing away, oblivious to the traffic hazard they present. I check my rearview mirrors left and right and realize that we are the only two vehicles on the road. My exit is coming up fast, so…
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My wife and I listened to the entire unabridged Jack Reacher series (in order) via Audible.com. The reader, Dick Hill, is excellent. The nice thing about Audible is that you can listen to your purchases on any and all of your devices. I don’t know what genre to classify the Jack Reacher series as … it is part detective story, part mystery, part action. Highly readable and/or easy to listen to. We lost many a night’s sleep due to the inability to wait for the next day to find out what happened next.
Jack Reacher Books Full-Length Novels in Order
From http://leechildbooklist.com/jack-reacher-books-in-order
Or should I say “reblogs” …
The previous two posts are reblogs of earlier posts. Since I have many new followers, I have decided to reblog some of my earlier posts as the spirit moves me. I decided to do this when I saw a toddler leaving the restaurant in which I was eating dinner. The little girl was holding an iPhone.
Kids growing up today have never known life without Google.
I grew up in the 60’s. For those of you younger than 40, try to imagine the following:
NONE OF THIS EXISTED WHEN I WAS GROWING UP. Yet all of this is here now and we all take it for granted. I am still amazed that I was alive and able to watch as it all happened.
Anyway … this is the summer of … reblogs. 🙂
Did I mention that my mother was a compulsive worrier? (see previous reblog https://contrafactual.com/2015/07/06/welcome-to-the-future)
So Ye Olde Kid Sister (YOKS) calls me up this morning to wish me Happy Birthday and informs me that they renamed the street in front of the Cocoanut Grove Nightclub from Shawmut Street Extension to Cocoanut Grove Lane.
In my mind I thought yeah that’s right, I am going to post a blog entry on … November 28 … oh ‘sh1+’. Well with the Mrs in hospital the week before Thanksgiving and the Thanksgiving holiday (where I did all the cooking), I suppose you can forgive me for not getting this out on time.
– – –
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocoanut_Grove_fire
The Cocoanut Grove was Boston’s premier nightclub during the post-Prohibition 1930s and 1940s. On November 28, 1942, this club was the scene of the deadliest nightclub fire in history, killing 492 people (which was 32 more than the building’s authorized capacity) and injuring hundreds more. The enormity of…
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Kids growing up today have never known life without Google.
[Author’s note: This is the first post of a multi-part essay.]
Growing up in the Space Age
I was born at the dawn of the Space Age. In the span of time from kindergarten to high school, I had a front row seat to mankind’s first steps to the stars. In elementary school we listened to live coverage of Project Mercury – America’s fledgling steps of putting a one-man capsule into space. In junior high we listened as two-man Gemini capsules practiced the rendezvous and docking maneuvers critical to the upcoming Moon missions. In high school, after class, I sat glued to our television as the Apollo astronauts walked on the Moon. Despite the fact that all of these events were televised, we mostly listened to the events as they unfolded, because it wasn’t until the Apollo flights that TV cameras became small enough to carry into space. We didn’t…
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The ever vigilant WP Happiness Engineers listened patiently to my rant and have released 5.3.1.
At first blush this seems to address my unhappiness. 🙂
Thanx
2012 CBS News
This was recorded before the first ISS re-supply mission.
When I bought my gas station coffee this morning, I also made an impulse buy of the EAGLE TORCH lighter.
I don’t smoke, but I have always wanted one of these things … and there it was just begging to take it home with me. It was like – seven bucks. When I lived in Colorado and had a much more active outdoor life, I always carried a lighter … sometimes the ability to start a fire is the difference between life and death. This little guy looks like the perfect thing to carry in my daily bag and would be an excellent edition to a bugout bag. Review below (not mine, but to the point).
I may need to pick up a few more of these …
Went out of my way to get gas station coffee this morning. OK, that was a lie. I needed gas … running on fumes. But I went out of my way to go inside the min-mart and choose dark roast from the half dozen or so options. “ROASTED BEAN coffee company” damn fine coffee!
The stage is set: It’s 7:00 AM, you’re running five minutes late and you need the elixir of American life, coffee. You careen to a halt as the green light has unexpectedly turned red. Your annoyance slowly rises. Contemplating life you notice a ray of sunlight shattering through the gray clouds. A gas station sits to your left and a Starbucks to your right. It’s as if there’s an Angel and Devil standing on either shoulder. Judgment sinks it’s fangs into your neck. Your next decision about where to go for coffee will either gain my wrath or my sincere appreciation. In full disclosure when given the choice between the two I always choose gas station coffee over Starbucks. At this point I see it as an inkling of pride. Pour yourself a cup of mud, sit back and enjoy my plea for Gas Station Coffee.
Gas Station…
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To give or not to give a fuck? That is the question the modern day Shakespeare tweets. We live in a world where the population actively participates in the half pissing contest, half rocket ship-to-riches dance that is social media. In this world coolness, confidence and relevancy is established not by the quality of life lived but rather by the exchange of fucks: given and not given.
The Social Media bank stocks fucks and the bank teller is a cat meme. We simultaneously love, loathe, judge, defend, and roll our eyeballs based on fucks and let me tell you, there’s a whole mess of fucks out there that get people going. Social media is the gateway to the world of “Fucks” and I am your tour guide. I will now proceed to examine the almighty fuck, given and not given respectively.
To Give A Fuck
Take 60 seconds, open any…
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Via Zero-G News
Mathew Travis has done an excellent job of covering this. Check out his complete coverage at
http://www.zerognews.com/2015/05/07/spacex-successfully-completes-crew-dragon-pad-abort-test/
If you watched the previous post, ABORT ABORT ABORT, you should have noticed one of the reasons that SpaceX will be most cost effective (cheaper) commercial space carrier. The Crew Dragon capsule contains the SuperDraco thrusters used both for abort and terrestrial landing. Every other manned system to date with the exception of the Space Shuttle used or uses a disposable abort escape tower. Look at the tower used for Orion. What a monster … and it is thrown away with very launch!
Mercury
Apollo
Orion
Crew Dragon
Hawthorne, we’ve had a problem …
Houston, we’ve had a problem ~ Jack Swigert, Apollo 13
~ James Lovell
So I repeat my question … What is it with Oxygen tanks?
An open letter to WordPress regarding WordPress for iOS 5.3.0.2
In a word – not to put it too delicately – the new version of WP for iOS … SUCKS makes me unhappy
So much wrong, so little space to rant.
The above is my experience using WP for iOS 5.3.0.2 on an iPad Air 2 with iOS 8.3.
Since I am a beta tester for WordPress, one might think I would have seen these problems ahead of time and reported them, but alas every single beta release I have attempted to install over the past few months has CRASHED ON OPEN. I have reported this to WordPress many times, but with no fix suggested. But that is a tale for another time.
I maintain my blog exclusively via iPad/iPhone. The new release version is a major set back for me. Maybe this performance is specific to my environment, if so, I am a single unhappy user. But if others are experiencing a similar user experience … how many other unhappy users are out there?
How I long for the days when I was happy. It seems so long ago, but it was only yesterday.
So Happiness Engineers … I challenge you to once again make me happy.
UPDATE 1
After several attempts to preview this post I got the following:
So rather than pasting in the loooooong password I got from WordPress many moons ago, I tried typing it in directly. Ah Ha this new password does not appear to allow spaces (no space bar). My old password supplied by WP had spaces after ever four character quartet (ie. ab1c de2f gh3i jk4l).
Now I am even more unhappy that I have to change my password. 😦
UPDATE 2
I uninstalled / reinstalled WP from the App Store. Used my old login ID and password; it was accepted. Preview still does not work. I am still unhappy.
UPDATE 3
OK, this is weird. If I select a “published” post (like this one) it immediately provide the update option. Preview fails with or without updating … BUT if you try to back out and choose Discard the “eye | gear | update” changes to “eye | edit”. Clicking the “eye” yields a correct preview.
HOWEVER, if you choose a “draft” post and try the same logic you get the “Error: The password field is empty.” dialog shown above, requesting login.
So … the functionality is there … sort of … but jumbled and defective.
Still not happy, but I do enjoy troubleshooting. All of this has a strange déjà vu to it.
Although most Westerners mistakenly think it is ¡Bonzai!, the actual cry of the Kamikaze pilot was ¡Hissatsu! (“Certain Kill“).
Via iMessage from Mrs:
Good morning, I was walking into the kitchen and almost broke my neck ( the preceding drama brought to you by that fabled star of “trip me why don’t ya” … Patches) as I was turning into the kitchen.
Unlike our other cats who usually have the good sense to avoid being directly under foot, Patches seems to magically teleport directly in front of – or behind – you at the time most conducive to trip you up. She is worse than the proverbial puppy dog.
HISSATSU … she hisses as you stumble across the room while trying to avoid crushing her.
Launch Anomaly (Flight CR-7)
Video
Post event news conference
THE WHY AND HOW OF LANDING ROCKETS (SpaceX)
http://www.spacex.com/news/2015/06/24/why-and-how-landing-rockets
Even given everything we’ve learned, the odds of succeeding on our third attempt to land on a drone ship (a new one named “Of Course I Still Love You”) are uncertain, but tune in here this Sunday as we try to get one step closer toward a fully and rapidly reusable rocket.
Stay tuned …
I admit right up front, I am not man enough to own a motorbike*. But that does not stop me from appreciating them.
Saw this while out to breakfast on Saturday.
* My wife won’t let me get one. When we were newlyweds she was an ICU nurse. As such she saw the results of one too many grisly single-vehicle motorcycle accidents. Belt sanders have nothing on rough payment at speed.
I am neither a software engineer, hardware engineer, nor electrical engineer, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night (obscure, questionably humorous ad reference). Technically I am a Data Wrangler, an Oracle DBA (Database Administrator), a SysAdmin (Systems Adminstrator), a troubleshooter, yada, yada, yada. I have a keen interest in all things technological. I am a geek (if that is a positive accolade) and was a nerd (a negative accolade) as a kid. I have some cred.
I present for your consideration that monolithic memory is the holy grail of computing and within our grasp in the next few years. This is good news for consumers, not so much for old guard industries.
Consider the modern computer. By computer, I include desktops, laptops, servers, tablets, phablets, smart phones, whatever … running any operating system including but not limited to Windows, Linux, Unix, MacOS, iOS, WatchOS, Android, DOS … you get the idea. Regardless of manufacturer, these systems are all remarkably similar. They each have one or more CPUs (Central Processing Units), each CPU having one or more levels of dedicated ultra-high-speed memory called cache.
Next, they each have a shared block of high-speed RAM (Random Access Memory) which is dynamic (hence DRAM). DRAM is fast. But that speed comes at a price. All data is lost when power is turned off. Recall the time you forgot to save that epic document or spreadsheet and the power went out? Yeah, that drawback.
Finally there is storage, usually in the form of a hard disk drive (HDD), although more and more computers use some form of solid state or flash storage (SSD for Solid State Drive). Mobile devices make heavy use of flash storage. Storage is persistent, but slow. Historical forms of storage include floppy disks, magnetic tape, and even paper punch tape and punch cards. Slow, but persistent.
The term memory is used contextually to describe each of these “data buckets”. The statement “I have 16 gig of memory”, is ambiguous without context. Do you have 16 GB (gigabytes) of RAM in your laptop? Or 16 GB of storage on your iPad? The former is a lot unless you are a gamer or scientist. The later is woefully small especially if you want to store a video or audio collection. RAM is currently supplied in tens of GB and usually in powers of 2: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128 GB. Storage on the other hand is now commonly hundreds and thousands of GB.
Modern computer systems have evolved the subsystems necessary to route data between the CPU, cache, dynamic RAM, and persistent storage. These subsystems are comprised of both hardware (controllers, data busses, I/O channels, etc.) and software (drivers, modules, packages, etc). Data flow is a well choreographed dance between low, medium, and high-speed subsystems and pipelines. A true monolithic memory system would eliminate the need for all of this. No more need for swap or page files. No more paging of memory out to disk. No more “saving” work out to disk. No more disk.
In the previous post, I addressed claims by Nantero that their carbon-nanotube-based NRAM offers the tantalizing possibility of lower power, higher data density, faster response, and lower cost than all other types of conventional memory. NRAM has the potential to provide the basis for true monolithic memory. But it won’t happen overnight. Even assuming that NRAM (or a competing technology) is up to the task, no existing operating system or hardware platform is up to the task. A complete redesign of memory management of both the hardware and operating system would be required.
As a consumer, this is great news. All consumer computer devices will become like smart phones and tablets from the user’s point of view. Always on, instant “save”, super fast. Except that now the amount of storage will be many times greater. Power consumption will be primarily a factor of display efficiency. Speed and power will be better in every way. Prices will fall as capability increases. The consumer wins all the way around.
Not everyone will be a winner. Old school RAM, flash, and hard drive manufactures will have an uphill fight to remain relevant. Their investors will suffer as the share value of these companies fall. Mergers and acquisitions will contract the industry like a collapsing blackhole. History repeats. How many steam locomotive or buggy whip manufactures can you name?
The future will be tubular …
This will change the world of consumer, commercial, and military electronics forever. Low power, ultrafast, high-density persistent storage – capable of operation at high temperatures. Mark my words … this is the future … and it does not appear to be very far off.
I will be back in a future post with my thoughts on Nantero, NRAM, and carbon nano-tube memory. Until then take a look at what others have to say (be sure to read the “comments” sections to get the best depth of understanding).
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/06/12/carbon_nanotube_memory_tech_gets_great_big_cash_dollop/
http://techreport.com/news/28377/nanotube-infused-nram-promises-dram-speeds-with-unlimited-endurance
PS: I sure hope this doesn’t turn out like GTAT
OK
I had my joke
Time to be serious.
This is one fine book. I am listening to it on audio book from Audible.com
Eleven hours
Unabridged
I like audio books. Easy on the eyes. Accessible while driving to and from work. Multi-tasking friendly.
Whether in hardcover, paperback, eBook, iBook, or audio book … READ THIS BOOK. Unless of course you hate science fiction. (Why would anyone hate science fiction?)
The Martian is in the same class as Apollo 13, Castaway, and Gravity. It is a satisfying survival/rescue story replete with lots of techie goodness, human compassion, bureaucratic assholery, and will-to-survive. Prior to seeing the movie trailer, I was unaware of this book. The movie, directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon is looking better and better.
http://andyweirauthor.com/books/the-martian-hc
L-R … Patches, Pickles, Hillary (Sir Edmund)
Synopsis: An astronaut is stranded on Mars and must beat incredible odds to survive until rescue.
Synopsis: An astronaut is stranded on Mars and must beat incredible odds to survive until rescue.
Despite the name of the BBC Travel article below, it is actually mostly a review of my favorite peated single malts from Islay.
Islay (Ī – la)
Bruichladdich (Broo – ik – laddie)
Laphroaig (La – frō – āg)
Lagavulin (La – ga – vū – in)
(True Scotsmen, please correct my pronunciation as needed. I hope I am close.)
http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20150511-why-you-should-never-drink-whisky-on-the-rocks
iTunes
https://itunes.apple.com/us/movie/kung-fury/id997778113
Interestingly, the iTunes version does NOT include the subtitles for the “mustache” dialog. Pity.
Contrafactual 