Don’t scroll to the bottom until you’ve tried to guess

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It’s an IBM 350 disk storage unit from 1956!

The IBM 350 Disk Storage was a major component of the IBM 305 RAMAC (Random Access Memory Accounting) system, introduced in September 1956.

You can view other images and read more about the 350 storage unit on IBM’s archive page.

As noted on the IBM archive page above:

The 305 was a flexible, electronic, general purpose data processing machine that enabled businesses to record transactions as they occurred and concurrently reflect each entry in affected accounts. It maintained records on a real-time basis, provided random access to any record, eliminated peak loads, and could simultaneously produce output by either print or punched cards.

The 305 system consisted of the IBM 305 Processing Unit (containing the magnetic process drum, magnetic core register and electronic logical and arithmetic circuits), the IBM 370 Printer (an 80-position serial-output printer with tape control carriage), the IBM 323 Card Punch (similar to the IBM 523 Gang Summary Punch, providing for 80 columns of output punching), the IBM 380 Console (containing the card feed, typewriter, keyboard and indicator lights and control keys), the IBM 340 Power Supply (supplying power for all components except the motors in the 350 disk storage unit), a utility table adjacent to the console, and the IBM 350 Disk Storage Unit.

The 350 Disk Storage Unit consisted of the magnetic disk memory unit with its access mechanism, the electronic and pneumatic controls for the access mechanism, and a small air compressor. Assembled with covers, the 350 was 60 inches long, 68 inches high and 29 inches deep. It was configured with 50 magnetic disks containing 50,000 sectors, each of which held 100 alphanumeric characters, for a capacity of 5 million characters.

Disks rotated at 1,200 rpm, tracks (20 to the inch) were recorded at up to 100 bits per inch, and typical head-to-disk spacing was 800 microinches. The execution of a “seek” instruction positioned a read-write head to the track that contained the desired sector and selected the sector for a later read or write operation. Seek time averaged about 600 milliseconds.

The pink taxi service was also recently started a few months back in Mexico’s colonial city of Puebla with a new fleet of 35 pink cabs. The idea is to offer women a comfortable, relaxed and safe environment to get around in. In the past women have complained saying male taxi drivers often cross the line and make inappropriate propositions, said Aida Santos, a driver of a pink taxi. The taxi’s in Puebla will also be for women-only, driven by women-only, with each taxi having a tracking device and an alarm button to notify emergency services.

Some women’s rights activist say the pink taxi’s are just giving a sugary presentation and are not really addressing the harassment problem. In a small way I agree with this, but in my view the pink taxi service isn’t going to hurt anyone either. If the taxi service provides a relaxing atmosphere for women who may be in a strange, unknown city then what’s the harm. None in my opinion. It’s also providing jobs to women in a traditionally male dominated field. Sure the overall problem of harassment needs to continually be addressed, but I see nothing wrong with taking this one step towards trying to resolve the problem.

With all these different countries joining in on the idea, I think they all agree with me… you can’t go wrong with the color pink

What do you think?

…Which brings us to Dell announcing its $399 Inspiron 11z. It certainly looks like a Netbook and has a Netbook-like price, yet to Dell, it’s not a Netbook. Instead, the company describes it as a notebook with a slightly faster processor, and 1GB of more memory.

Acer says Netbooks “typically” have Atom processors, weigh less than 3 pounds, have screens between 10 and 11.6 inches, and are in the $299 range. HP says Netbooks are smaller than 12 inches and intended as companion devices designed for “content consumption, while the traditional notebook PC is also designed for content creation as well as consumption.”…

It will be interesting to see what the manufacturers actual settle on using.  I tend think the term netbook will be around, but will slowly fade out and only be used to describe models with screens smaller than 10″.

And Eric seems to agree the former flood of netbooks will slow:

“Because the definition of Netbook is so arbitrary, and because you get so much more for your money with thin and light CULV-based Netbooks, it’s really not hard to imagine the former flood of Netbooks to the market slowing down to a trickle.”

What are your thoughts?

The video was made by ThreadBanger and you can check out more plastic bag ideas here.

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The Ecoblue cube is a biodegradable, non-toxic cube made from natural living organisms. Place it in a urinal and it goes to work.  The natural bacteria in the cube are activated and migrate throughout the urinal forming a film that lines the bowl, trap and pipes.  This film dissolves uric scale and digests waste material from the pipes, which eliminates the odor and drastically reduces the amount of water required to flush by 99%.

Since natural bacteria are doing the cleaning, there’s no longer a need for janitors to use harsh chemicals that contaminate the worlds waterways. Once the cube has been activated, the urinal usually only needs one or two flushes per day.  Think of some busy bathrooms…sporting events, movie theaters, etc.  This is a huge amount of water that can be conserved each and every day.  No more smell in the bathrooms and no harsh cleaning chemicals being flushed down the toilet.  The benefits of using this product are amazing!

I hope this company is extremely successful with their products. Check them out here: http://www.ecobluecorp.com

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• You have FEMA’s number on your speed dialer
• You have more than 300 ‘C’ and ‘D’ batteries in your kitchen drawer.
• Your pantry contains more than 20 cans of Spaghetti Os.
• You are thinking of repainting your house to match the plywood covering your windows
• When describing your house to a prospective buyer, you say it has three bedrooms, two baths and one safe hallway.
• Your SSN isn’t a secret, it’s written with a Sharpie pen on your arms.
• You are on a first-name basis with the cashier at Home Depot.
• You are delighted to pay $4 for a gallon of regular unleaded.
• The road leading to your house has been declared a No-Wake Zone.
• You decide that your patio furniture looks better on the bottom of the pool.
• You own more than three large coolers.
• You can wish that other people get hit by a hurricane and not feel the least bit guilty about it.
• You rationalize helping a friend board up by thinking “It’ll only take a gallon of gas to get there and back”.
• You have 2-liter coke bottles and milk jugs filled with water in your freezer.
• Three months ago you couldn’t hang a shower curtain; today you can assemble a portable  generator by candlelight.
• You catch a 13-pound redfish – in your driveway.
• You can recite from memory whole portions of your homeowner’s insurance policy.
• You consider a “vacation” to stunning Tupelo, Mississippi.
• At cocktail parties, women are attracted to the guy with the biggest Chainsaw.
• You have had tuna fish more than 5 days in a row.
• There is a roll of tar paper in your garage.
• You can rattle off the names of three or more meteorologists who work at the Weather Channel.
• Someone comes to your door to tell you they found your roof.
• Ice is a valid topic of conversation.
• Your “drive-thru” meal consists of MRE’s and bottled water.
• Relocating to South Dakota does not seem like such a crazy idea.
• You spend more time on your roof than in your living room.
• You’ve been laughed at over the phone by a roofer, fence builder or a tree worker.
• A battery powered TV is considered a home entertainment center.
• You don’t worry about relatives wanting to visit during the summer.
• Your child’s first words are “hunker down” and you didn’t go to Ole Miss!
• Having a tree in your living room does not necessarily mean it’s Christmas.
• Toilet Paper is elevated to coin of the realm at the shelters.
• You know the difference between the “good side” of a storm and the “bad side.”
• Your kids start school in August and finish in July.
• You go to work early and stay late just to enjoy the air conditioning.

Thanks to a program called GreenPrint this problem is a thing of the past.  With GreenPrint, when you go to print a document you get a quick preview of what each page will look like when printed. There are several settings within the program that will make a page not print if it falls within a set of parameters such as less than five lines of text, or only a header/footer. You can also click on a page to tell it not to print. The pages that will not be printing turns red on the preview screen. Once the document is set as you want it and all the wasted space pages have been set to not print, you can click the print button and only the full pages will print. In the system tray there is an icon for GreenPrint that when clicked on will give you stats on the amount of paper and money you’ve saved.

I personally think this type of paper saving software should be automatically installed in every software program or operating system. Until that time though I would highly recommend that everyone check out GreenPrint and start saving paper today.

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Clean new look …same great colorful and stylish laptop bags.
Tell us what you think about our new look, we’d love to hear from you.

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For my company Rainebrooke, I’ve also taken it down the “green” road with our new “Rainebrooke ~ Green” initiative. We’re recycling, being more energy efficient, shipping with recycled boxes, printing on recycling paper, reducing our waste and offsetting the remainder of our footprint with offsets that we purchase through Carbonfund.org.

So if you’re asking yourself “How can I help?”, the best thing is to first simply become aware. Once you’re aware of the fact that there is a problem, start taking some simple steps to help out. Recycle around your home …buy some containers to separate plastics, paper, aluminum, etc. Instead of throwing out all your junk mail, save it and recycle it. Purchase safer cleaning products and other household products. When a standard light bulb burns out, replace it with an energy efficient compact fluorescent bulb. Purchase organic foods. Support companies that protect the environment and buy products made by companies that are environmentally friendly. Purchase carbon offsets that support carbon reducing projects. Contact your local senator and representative and tell them you want tough climate change legislation.

With everyone doing their part, our world can be a safer and cleaner place for many generations to come.

Helpful sites:
Carbonfund – http://www.carbonfund.org
Earth Day Network – http://ww2.earthday.net/
LiveNeutral – http://www.liveneutral.org/
Earth 911 – http://earth911.org/
History of Earth Day – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Day
EPA- http://www.epa.gov/earthday/
Eco Earth – http://ecoearth.info/
TerraPass – http://www.terrapass.com/