September 2007 Archives

At last ..... an excuse to put some glamour on this blog.

High-def TV/video/film/etc shows lots more detail and some celebs don't come out too well when on-screen nowadays.

Philip Swann - a high-def "guru" in the States has a couple of lists :

• Top 10 Nasties
  
  
• Top 10 Honeys
  
  

 Nuff sed ..... read more here - it looks brilliant.

Then along came Windows v1.0 ..... the man in this film is Steve Balmer who co-founded Microsoft with Bill Gates and is now VERY wealthy. You have got to admire his performance even if his clothes are rather garish.

Look at the screenshots during this video and see what an early graphical interface looked like.

When Windows 95 arrived Microsoft were VERY rich and could afford BIG stars.

Watch Jennifer Aniston and Matthew Perry gush over the new wonder of the age.

The links this week came via the Retro Thing weblog.

There was a time before Windows when we got excited about MS-DOS ..... this was version 5.

Here's a very 80's advert promoting the upgrade.

Before Windows v1.0 came Windows 386 - for the 386 cpu's of the time. Microsoft were working with IBM on the OS/2 graphical interface but started their own version at the same time. It wasn't long before they dumped IBM and went their own way .... and the rest is history.

Take note of the screenshots of the system AND the amazing specs worn by this computer-savvy woman.

1956 - IBM unveil their first computer to use a magnetic hard disk - the IBM 305 RAMAC. (The hard disk had been shown first on 4th September).

Despite the size and cost this machine was, in its time, cutting-edge though compared to a modern calculator it appears weak.

Nevertheless, one of these machines provided the computing power to aid the organisers of the Squaw Valley (USA) Winter Olympics in 1960.

Today is remembered for many things - almost certainly most people associate it with the "9/11" events in New York.

But it is also the day in 1978 that Georgi Markov died 4 days after apparently being injected with a poison delivered via an umbrella.

Markov was a Bulgarian 'dissident' and it is now accepted that he was killed by agents working for the Bugarian state.

A "Bulgarian umbrella" refers to any such deadly device. Technology in action indeed.

On this day in 1977 the 'Voyager 1' spacecraft was launched. Its mission was to send back information and photgraphs of Jupiter (in closeup below) and Saturn.

The spacecraft has far exceeded its original mission and is now over 15 billion kilometres (almost 10 billion miles) away from Earth. It has provided photographs such as 'The Pale Blue Dot' which, like the 'Earthrise' picture (below) from the Apollo 8 mission, have enabled us to recognise our position in the Universe.

Surprisingly, the 'sister' craft - 'Voyager 2' - was launched 2 weeks earlier on August 20th 1977.

The after-school sessions are intended to extend and help with GCSE practical coursework for Year 10 students. If there are spare workstations then other students are welcome too.

Location : C24 - Time : 3 pm to 4:30 pm

1. Friday, 7^th September 2007 - NO SESSION NOW
2. Friday, 14^th September 2007
3. Thursday, 20^th September 2007
4. Wednesday, 26^th September 2007
5. Friday, 5^th October 2007
6. Thursday, 11^th October 2007
7. Wednesday, 17^th October 2007
   
   Wednesday, 31^st October 2007
   Year 10 only : half-term extra 'drop-in' session - 10am to 3pm
    - NOT TAKING PLACE - school building will be unavailable -
    
8. Friday, 2^nd November 2007
9. Thursday, 8^th November 2007
10. Wednesday, 14^th November 2007
11. Friday, 23^rd November 2007
12. Thursday, 29^th November 2007
13. Friday, 7^th December 2007
14. Thursday, 13^th December 2007
15. Wednesday, 19^th December 2007

The day of the week changes to avoid 'clashing' with regular events like homework clubs or sport practice.