Mixed Signals
Any sufficiently advanced information is indistinguishable from noise
Monday 4 June 2007, 7:27 PM
Dialogue Box - That Tricky Second Episode
Oops, we did it again. Dialogue Box Two - Dialogue Harder is now up and available for your viewing delight.
It's particularly interesting if you've ever asked yourself "Self, what would happen if I had an extremely high density flash memory device and irradiated it with high energy beta radiation while running benchmarking software on it?".
Armed only with a German Army geiger counter, some uranium ore, Samsung's brand-new 32GB flash memory hard disk drive, and evil in my heart, I answer that question on camera.
Yes, that's real uranium ore - autunite, as it happens, otherwise known as hydrated calcium uranyl phosphate - from my personal collection of such things. It's quite amusing how people recoil in horror from the stuff as if it were kryptonite: it's not, and it won't hurt you. I mean, this particular lump was picked up off the ground in Devon, not far from where I grew up, and it's not as if we all glow in the dark (unless we've been drinking scrumpy from the Rising Sun in Botus Fleming, in which case you can see us from the Moon. The other side of the Moon.)
But don't just stand there - go and see what it did to the hard disk!
It's particularly interesting if you've ever asked yourself "Self, what would happen if I had an extremely high density flash memory device and irradiated it with high energy beta radiation while running benchmarking software on it?".
Armed only with a German Army geiger counter, some uranium ore, Samsung's brand-new 32GB flash memory hard disk drive, and evil in my heart, I answer that question on camera.
Yes, that's real uranium ore - autunite, as it happens, otherwise known as hydrated calcium uranyl phosphate - from my personal collection of such things. It's quite amusing how people recoil in horror from the stuff as if it were kryptonite: it's not, and it won't hurt you. I mean, this particular lump was picked up off the ground in Devon, not far from where I grew up, and it's not as if we all glow in the dark (unless we've been drinking scrumpy from the Rising Sun in Botus Fleming, in which case you can see us from the Moon. The other side of the Moon.)
But don't just stand there - go and see what it did to the hard disk!
PreviousComments on this post
Very good - I shall henceforth start using the phrase "scared revenue-less" in everyday conversation!
A startling achievement, a mix between Tomorrow's World and Blue Peter.. So much better than all those 'independent' webseminars regurgitating vendor sales pitches and presenting them as educational....
I love the Axis - like a technology version of Top Gear's Cool Wall - does that make Rupert the 'Jeremy Clarkson' and Charles the 'Richard Hammond' of technology ?
