Japan's digital minister declares victory against floppy disks Japan's digital minister, Taro Kono, confirmed that the Japanese government has finally rid itself of floppy disks. "We have won the war on floppy disks on June 28!" digital minister Taro Kono told Reuters on Wednesday. Kono pledged in 2022 to eliminate law requiring floppy disks and CD-ROMs when sending data to the Japanese …
Years ago I was subjected to watching a home video belonging to my wife. It's a bit tiresome really. It always is.
But the highlight was what happened afterwards. It was recorded over an episode of Stars In Their Eyes! My sister-in-law at the time was about 15 and had no idea what was going on. People going on the TV and pretending to sing as someone else. Then the method of voting, having people in the crowd press a button on a box! What sorcery is this?! "Why didn't they use phones?" - well they did for the Grand Final and that was the only time you would ever call in to vote. It's mad saying that now, I suppose it's mad hearing it too, but to do such a thing back then was difficult and expensive.
Then what happens? It finishes. What's on next? "Beaches". But what's that 888 at the top of the screen? Then having to explain to the 15 year old what Teletext was and what deaf people had to do to get subtitles. If they worked.
I felt old then, I feel older now. I miss Stars In Their Eyes.
As a hearing person who frequently used 888 for subs to understand what was being said in amongst the mumbling and background noise (something that is so much worse these days), the few times I actually make subs for my YouTube videos, I denote their presence with a little "888" on the upper corner of the screen for a few seconds.
On a BBC TV channel press the text button, assuming TV has one, and the digital version of teletext will appear - it usually has weather and headlines (much slimmer than past though) - they were going to get rid of it as a cost saving but people complained (people not on internet who relied on it) and the actual Teletext style bits didn't really cost them much, the extra Red Button broadcast streams did disappear
> Try tuning in to a BBC channel on Freeview and pressing the red button. I think that brings up Teletext.
It does indeed, I did so during the tennis the other day.
I was curious as to whether it would go to Freeview 601 for other match(es)/camera angles or do something else (and found an explicit channel change was necessary).
Hand decoding hamming-coded Teletext waveform is not something I’ll (probably) ever have to do again. Last time I did it I printed out the waveform on several sheets of paper cut into strips and taped together. I remember the ‘artwork’ - and the achievement of getting an antique printer working with a Techtronic VM700A.
I can’t help thinking that the pace of work even 17years ago was MUCH slower and more measured. For example, keeping your ringbinders up to date with the latest spec revisions seems so quaint.
How about the UK parliament not writing all laws on vellum. OK: they need an open specification file format, simple PDF or simple HTML would be OK. Files in these formats can be simply copied to what ever is the data storage medium du jour.
"Files in these formats can be simply copied to what ever is the data storage medium du jour."
That seems like an awful faff. Vellum doesn't need to be copied and has proven itself to be a very long lasting medium. OTOH the mylar drafting film we used to draw pollen diagrams on is probably equally long lasting and maybe more durable still. Cut into A4 and whatever's needed could be printed on it. The only worrying thing would the how long the ink would stick.
Seriously, long term digital storage is an unproven matter. Not only does the medium have to survive and remain current,* so does the file format. It's possible to visualise someone copying hundreds of files every 10 years or so for 300 years and then it being discovered that the format has been out of use for so long that there's no software to make sense of it. "Yes, we still have the PDF documentation available but it's a PDF document..."
* Domesday book from 1086 is still extant** - the Beeb's Domesday videodisc project of 1986 not so much.
** It still has a format problem in that C11th script isn't that easy to read.
Rather a long time ago, I was working on a project to collect data to enable the company to do longitudinal studies of health safety of their workforce. The intent was to hold the data for life-of-emplyment plus 50 years. At the time, I pointed out that they were talking about holding data, at a minimum, twice as long as commercial computers had been available. So I asked what data media they were planning to store this data on?
Likewise, acording to Mary Beard, early Latin is practically impossible to understand to even the best Latin scholars.
I was thinking this was from a author of slightly erotic bodice rippers, but searching for Mary Beard I found that she is rather the full bottle on the Late Republic (when they were presumably still speaking early Latin.) I had unfortunately confused this eminent scholar with the late Barbara Cartland who presumably wasn't a great classicist but one never can tell as Dorothy Sayers was a very successful crime writer as well as a scholar.
alain williams,
The UK Parliament no longer does print onto vellum. We stopped a few years ago.
I remember seeing a bit of a BBC documentary on the HoC - and the Serjeant at Arms at the time didn't like killing animals in order to write laws. I think he also sold it on the grounds that it would save money. Sarjeant at Arms is in charge of security, but also other things - as well as wandering round with the mace during state openings.
I think somebody developed a super long-lasting paper for nuclear waste storage sites - which is supposed to last for thousands of years, and so Parliament were able to switch over to that.
> super long-lasting paper for nuclear waste storage sites - which is supposed to last for thousands of years, and so Parliament were able to switch over to that.
Ah, yes - "supposed" to last, as opposed to having been *demonstrated* to last.
Still, clever move: if it all goes titsup the name of the SaA will have been lost (as the move to Miracle Paper will be about the first thing recorded on it) whilst if it works, his name will live on.
Cue dozens of politicians suggesting the move to Everlasto, NevaFade et al in hopes of achieving at least a minor place in history (or, ahem, not having the faintest idea why the formal record of their failed laws has seemingly vanished; stroke of luck that LemonJusInko faded like that)
If I recall correctly, there's an excellent book concerning the permanence of various inks written by a C19th US secretary of [something]. He was concerned even then that the inks used for official documents were fading in a matter of decades or even years. I think I came across it on Gutenberg, but a quick search reveals only 'The History of Ink' which covers similar material but is by an ink manufacturer in the same time frame.
There are very very few recording technologies proven to last for long times. And the longer it lasts, the bulkier and more inconvenient to store... baked ceramic tablets seem to work well, if you happen to be able to read the various cuneiform scripts...
the inks used for official documents were fading in a matter of decades or even years.
Oak gall inks would probably last a bit longer but you might have to use a goose quill as this ink apparently clogs fountain pens.
Goose quills can be still purchased on the internet (appears anglers also use the feathers to make flies) but you will likely also require a pen knife to sharpen your quill.
Vellum or generally parchment, goose quills and oak gore ink - the proper way to record matters of importance. :)
Not sure that this commons' official wasn't a few sheep short in the top paddock.
By the time the skin was to be made into vellum the animal definitely hadn't any further use for it. The skin's owner has long become veal or lamb chops before the vellum maker gets hold of it.
Make more sense for the MPs to refrain from consuming dairy producfs or lamb meats.
"Oak gall inks would probably last a bit longer"
They can fade quite badly. Indian ink (carbon black) lasts far better.. I know of a C18th document with both on it and the blue-blakc (oak gall) has faded to a light brown while the black ink is fine. The paper is also discolouring to a light brown but as the two have not yet converged the faded ink can still be read.
"He was concerned even then that the inks used for official documents were fading in a matter of decades or even years. "
And was right to be
I have personal experience of ink fade - back in the 1980s Bic "Wild Blue" was all the rage and most of my high school/polytechnic notes were written using that ink
Less than a decade later, opening old notes revealed pages and pages with impressions of the pen, but no visible ink. Those done with standard Bic blue/black/red were still fine
This was without even having light exposure
Laser printed pages don't usually fade, thankfully and contemporary papers seem to be vasty less susceptible to acid embrittlement than late 20th century ones
… The author might mean next president of the Liberal Democratic Party - so leader of the party, not leader of the country.
I’m no expert in Japanese politics but wikipedia tells me that the party president becomes prime minister if the party is in power, so I guess being president is the necessary first step.
They are going to run those "crafting experience" courses, where they go into community centres to let everyone have a taste of old, forgotten practices.[1]
These sorts of things are apparently also popular with hen parties and company days out (got to be better than paintball, at least nobody is likely to all gang up on That Prat by viciously saving files at him, slowly).
[1] In a couple of years time they will be offering the chance to "make your own hard drive" by putting PrittStick onto a plate and shaking iron filings on top...
The *real surprise* here is that one third did know what a floppy disk was.
I suspect fewer of this age group would recognise this item in AU as floppies were becoming uncommon in 2006 let alone in 2010 when the 18 year olds were 4 year old tots.
Show fifty year olds, and younger, a radio (thermionic) valve you would likely have 0% recognition. You will always find some daft audiophile with a vacuum tube amplifier saying "it's a dual pentode etc etc."
Hey, I'm fifty and my first radio was a big valve bugger in a solid wooden case. Took ages to warm up, and the circuit was... interesting... basically wire-wrapped on a piece of thick cardboard. But it worked, and it managed to pick up further away stations better than a transistor radio.
The big dial, however, was a complete anachronism saying things like "Home" and "Light". I'm guessing this was various BBC channels way back when?
I also had a black and white valve TV that was super scary. It's preferred method of dropping the mains down to something the valves could use was a resistor that was a wire wrapped around a piece of ceramic that glowed a dull red. In other words, a built in bar heater. In a wooden box with a cardboard rear and loads and loads of dust. I gave it a good clean out, but still didn't like the "I'm about to catch fire anyway" smells that it made.
I also inherited a Tektronix storage scope that used valves, but it was too badly broken and too many obscure valves were toast. I had to scrap it, but I took the tube out and kept it as I thought it was an absolute work of art.
[but, then, when I was a child I used to read ancient copies of the RSGB handbook when alone at school on the weekends, so stuff with valves in them was not a big surprise to me]
Ref BBC station names,
Names were "modernised in 1968 (ish)
" Home" corresponds to current Radio 4, "Third" to Radio 3 & "Light to Radio 2. Radio 1 didn't start 'till after the names changed, mid 1969 I think?
We do not, and should not, need a new icon for save. For thirty years that icon has sufficed - why change it? The fact that its function is represented by a slice of history is immaterial...
(Though given the latest 'who needs save? It's all in the cloud automatically' mentality perhaps we don't need a save icon at all... I spent some time looking for the save icon in a file opened in office365 yesterday and I'm still not convinced it's a good idea.)
The word-processing software for GCSE/A level kids in some schools who use a PC for their exams* autosaves to the school's server. Probably a good idea. But it still makes me twitchy.
*Text is then printed out and submitted by fastening it inside the exam paper. When are we going to move into the 20th C and have it all written on a computer?**
**21st C- to be submitted digitally- is probably asking a bit much.
"We have a Victorian bellows-style camera as an icon for speed cameras"
Which "we" is that? I've never seen that in the UK.
There are still a few professional photographers using bellows cameras for large formats (the sort of people who consider Hasselblads to be a miniature format). A non-collapsible full plate camera would be a bit of a pain to carry about.
"Which "we" is that? I've never seen that in the UK."
Never seen this oddity?
https://www.derbytelegraph.co.uk/news/motoring/what-speed-camera-sign-shows-8335634
The post described in the article claims it's a CCTV camera pointing at you rather than a Victorian era camera, but honestly it... doesn't much look like that either.
Here in France the symbol is a car/bike/etc with radiating lines a bit like WiFi signal icons, to indicate that there's a speed radar up ahead. It'll often take photos (assuming it hasn't been painted blind, that's a common protest) but the important thing for the driver to worry about is the radar to determine speed.
Has he removed just as a requirement or gone all out and removed it as an option? If not it might hang on a good while longer.
Many years ago we ran a service which required data with floppy as one of the options - I can't remember exactly but it might have been the only option. It kept everyone on the team who needed them well supplied with floppies. Somehow, back then we weren't unduly worried about the personal information on them although, in practice, as it was a matter of public appointment s it wasn't really confidential anyway
"Japan still has a penchant for old tech, and not just floppy disks. Items like cash payments and fax machines ..."
Cash is not "old tech" (with its pejorative implication) -- it's still an essential basis for transactions for many people, not least because it doesn't require gadgets to be used and it protects privacy.
Yeah, we've already seen, multiple times, when payments systems go down and some people find they can't even pay for food because they can tap their phone or card on the dead payment machine. What if the failure is at a higher level and ApplePay or AndroidPay goes TITSUP at the same time as a payment processor doing card handling?
They are still around in industry. Some of our older tools which customers still run in daily production have floppy drives, but being able to source actual discs for them is becoming quite a challenge.
Hence I've got quite a large plastic crate full of them in the bottom of my cupboard at work that I've scavenged over the years during office moves and from less foresighted people who've "had a clear-out". These I share with colleagues supporting those tools when needed and if their own stocks are exhausted.
It's amazing how many pints of beer you can earn in exchange for a simple box of discs, or in some cases even from single discs.
"They are still around in industry."
This is why the GOTEK floppy disk emulator was invented, now one of the favourite devices beloved by retro computer enthusiasts.
IIRC it was originally for industrial sewing and knitting machines and has found uses pretty much anywhere where a floppy disk is required but the disks or drives are no longer economically viable. Just plug a USB stick or SD card in with multiple floppy images on, read and write, and it connects directly into the floppy cable/interface so from the machines point of view it has a real floppy disk in it.
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