Saying goodbye to 2018

©Mark Ollig


As we close out this year, I’d like to express appreciation to my readers for spending a few moments of your time here each week.

In today’s column, I want to review popular topics covered over this last year, which I hope you will enjoy.

The Jan. 5 column focused on a promising, rare mineral which could bring a revolutionary change to the internet.

Perovskite, also known as calcium titanium oxide, is a mineral discovered in the late 1830s in Russia. It is named in honor of Count Lev Alekseevich Perovski.

Because of its exceptional optical and electrical compatibility properties, perovskite-silicon solar cell layering substrate technology is being used for improving solar cell efficiency.

Recent tests show a 28 percent increase in efficiency when using perovskite in the construction of clean-energy solar panels by the Oxford PVTM – The Perovskite Company, based in the UK.

In addition to its improved solar panel efficiency, perovskite’s superconductivity properties allow for dramatic speed increases for transmitting data.

Ultra-fast data transmission speed occurs when passing high-frequency light-wave spectrum levels through perovskite wafers operating at 1 Terahertz (1THz).

In 10 to 20 years, we may see 6 or 7G (generation) wireless broadband technology data transmitters incorporating perovskite. Stay tuned.

The Feb. 16 column addressed concerns about the internet’s future by the creator of the World Wide Web, Sir Tim Berners-Lee, and others.

Berners-Lee called his web creation: “A tool which serves all of humanity.”

“I imagined the web as an open platform that would allow everyone, everywhere to share information, access opportunities, and collaborate across geographic and cultural boundaries,” Berners-Lee stated this year.

Along with the good things about the web and the internet, we are all too aware of its negatives.

We worry about data security in light of the growing cyber threats and theft of private data.

The volume of classified, encrypted data intelligence, vulnerable to being compromised by cyber attackers, is of great concern.

Creating improved internet firewall borders to safeguard our data continues.

March 9’s column focused on 5G wireless broadband technology showcased at the Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona.

Demonstrations showed how 5G technologies would improve the operation of robotics, building security systems, autonomously driven cars connected to the internet, and the energy management systems within smart homes and businesses.

MWC demonstrated real-world applications using 5G technology within rural agriculture applications, such as remotely controlling farm machinery, and using information-gathering aerial drones.

Internet of Things (IoT) devices, social media content usage, facial recognition devices, and internet online policy and regulations were other topics discussed during MWC 2018.

The June 1 column described the digitizing of the Vatican Library.

In 1995, the Vatican began planning the digitizing of its massive archive library of manuscripts, printed books, drawings, paintings, photos, coins, medals, and other materials, so they could be seen, studied, and researched by the public using the internet.

The complete digitizing of all the Vatican archived collections won’t be completed until 2036; however, many thousands of historical documents and items are viewable online right now.

The Vatican Library internet website can be reached at https://www.vaticanlibrary.va (“.va” is the Vatican’s internet country code). The site is in Italian, but you can choose the English language translator.

The DigiVatLib website is located at https://digi.vatlib.it (“.it” is the internet country code for Italy).

The June 29 column revealed the US Department of Energy’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) publicly announced its newest scientific supercomputer, called Summit.

Summit is now the world’s leader in supercomputer processing speed. It can process data at an incredible 200 quadrillion floating-point operations per second (200 petaflops).

Summit’s processing power allows it to quickly analyze massive amounts of data.

The Summit (AC922) supercomputer was built by IBM.

It supports cutting-edge artificial intelligence and data-intensive applications.

Sept. 28, the column focused on the 60th anniversary of NASA.

The National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 officially began the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Oct. 1, 1958.

NASA’s roots can be traced back to March 3, 1915, and a US government agency called the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) established by President Woodrow Wilson.

NACA’s job was to “supervise and direct the scientific study of the problems of flight, with a view to their practical solution.”

Orville Wright was a member of NACA from 1920 to 1948.

NACA’s aerospace personnel and technical assets were transferred to NASA Oct. 1, 1958.

The Nov. 23 column was a historical look back to the late 1960s, when approximately one-half mile of submarine (marine copper-paired) cable was placed along the bottom of the Winsted Lake by the local telephone company.

Now, we turn this column’s sail into the wind and journey forward into 2019.

Of course, there will be more stories about social media, and the internet, artificial intelligence, 5G, new ground-breaking technologies, quantum computing, high-tech companies, and the latest computing devices and gadgets.

Every once in awhile, we will look back at the history and memorable events shaping this increasingly technologically-networked world.

Have a great 2019. 

Have a Happy Near Year!
(Clip-art right-to-use fee paid) 

Christmas greetings from the moon

©Mark Ollig


Friday will be 50 years since three American astronauts, seated in the command module of a Saturn V (Saturn five) rocket, blasted off from Cape Kennedy, FL.

Apollo 8 was initially planned to conduct the first crewed tests of the Lunar Module (LM) to be used for landing on the moon.

However, NASA announced Aug. 19, 1968, that it was canceling the LM from the Apollo 8 flight, due to delays in getting it ready in time for its scheduled December liftoff.

Instead, it was decided Apollo 8 would be the first human-crewed mission to travel to the moon.

Dec. 21, 1968, I was a 10-year-old who was obsessed with all things NASA.

Sitting in front of the living room television, I stared at the tall Saturn V rocket on Launch Complex 39A.

I watched the countdown over channel 4 (CBS); Walter Cronkite was broadcasting from Cape Kennedy.

Cronkite appeared very interested in this launch; just minutes before liftoff, he turned his back on the television camera to get a better view of the Saturn V rocket outside his window.

“Coming up on the two-minute mark in the Apollo 8 mission,” said NASA’s launch commentator Jack King.

“T minus 10, nine, we have ignition sequence start. The engines are armed. Four, three, two, one, zero. We have commit. We have liftoff,” King reported from Mission Control.

Apollo 8 began its historic journey to the moon Saturday, Dec. 21, 1968, at 6:51 a.m.

I vividly remember hearing the roar of the five F-1 engines clustered on the bottom of the first stage.

Vast plumes of red flames and smoke shot out of the first stage of the Saturn V rocket as it slowly began its ascent into a blue Florida sky.

The 6.2-million-pound Saturn V was propelled upward utilizing 7.6 million pounds of thrust generated by those F-1 engines.

“It looks good! Oh, there’s the rumbling in our building!” exclaimed Walter Cronkite, describing the launch while looking through his binoculars.

“One minute, 15 seconds and we’re a little more than half a mile into the sky, and we’re nearly four miles downrange,” reported Paul Haney of Mission Control.

Apollo 8 soon attained Earth orbit, and for the next two hours, commander Frank Borman, command module pilot James Lovell, and lunar module pilot Bill Anders (his title even though no LM was attached) would be checking the systems of the command and service module to make sure everything was ready for their journey to the moon.

At two hours and 27 minutes into the flight, Mission Control radioed the crew, “Apollo 8. You are go for TLI. Over.”

Mission Control had just given the crew its official permission to go to the moon.

“Roger. We understand; we are go for TLI,” commander Borman responded.

TLI or Translunar Injection is an engine-firing maneuver which would put Apollo 8 on a proper heading to the moon.

Dec. 24, 1968, Apollo 8 reached the gravitational influence of the moon.

They then fired the large SPS (Service Propulsion System) main engine on the service module to slow them down and place them into lunar orbit.

According to the NASA logs, Apollo 8 obtained lunar orbit at 69 hours, 12 minutes, 30 seconds into the mission.

They orbited the moon at the height of 60 nautical (69 statute) miles and were 234,474 statute miles from Earth.

“Apollo 8, Houston. What does the ol’ Moon look like from 60 miles? Over,” radioed Mission Control.

“Okay, Houston. The Moon is essentially grey, no color; looks like plaster of Paris or sort of a grayish beach sand. We can see quite a bit of detail,” astronaut Jim Lovell reported.

Apollo 8 would orbit the moon 10 times.

The crew took photographs of specific locations for future Apollo mission landing sites.

For me, two memorable moments standout, which occurred during those 10 orbits.

The first was seeing the famous “Earthrise” from the moon, which became an iconic photograph.

The photo, taken by astronaut Bill Anders Dec. 24, shows Earth peering out from beyond the lunar surface.

“Earthrise” became a postage stamp, and Walter Cronkite used it as a backdrop on his “CBS Evening News” program.

The second occurred during the ninth orbit around the moon.

“Hey, why don’t we start reading that thing, and that would be a good place to end it,” said Frank Borman to Lovell and Anders.

Seconds later, Anders radioed Mission Control, “We are now approaching lunar sunrise, and for all the people back on Earth, the crew of Apollo 8 has a message that we would like to send to you.”

It was Christmas Eve. Anders began reading from the book of Genesis: “In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth.”

Astronauts Lovell and Borman also read Scripture passages.

“And from the crew of Apollo 8, we close with good night, good luck, a Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you – all of you on the good Earth,” said commander Frank Borman, ending the transmission.

To all my readers; I wish you a Merry Christmas.

"Earthrise"
Photograph by William Anders

Are you really Santa Claus?

©Mark Ollig


This marks the 60th year the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) will be tracking the flight path of Santa Claus and his famous reindeer sleigh team Christmas Eve.

“In addition to our day-to-day mission of defending North America, we are proud to carry on the tradition of tracking Santa as he travels along his yuletide flight,” said Gen. Terrence O’Shaughnessy, commander of NORAD, and US Northern Command. “The same radars, satellites, and interceptors employed on Dec. 24 are used year-round to protect Canada and the United States.”

It’s quite an interesting story on how NORAD, formerly called the North American Air Defense, began tracking Santa and his sleigh team.

NORAD’s 1958 predecessor was CONAD (Continental Air Defense Command).

CONAD became NORAD in 1958, the same year NASA began.

Dec. 24, 1955, the Sears, Roebuck and Company department store, located in Colorado Springs, CO, placed an advertisement in the local newspaper.

This ad showed a picture of a smiling, white-bearded Santa, and the direct telephone number children could dial to talk to him Christmas Eve.

“Hey, Kiddies! . . . Call me on my private phone and I will talk to you personally, anytime day or night, or come in and visit me at Sears Toyland,” the newspaper ad read.

Unbeknownst to the newspaper, they had mistakenly printed the wrong telephone number for Santa; one of the digits was incorrect.

The incorrect telephone number rang a very special telephone located at CONAD headquarters.

Dec. 24, 1955, US Air Force Col. Harry Shoup, director of CONAD operations, was on duty at CONAD headquarters in Colorado Springs.

CONAD had a confidential, air defense telephone hotline used only for national emergencies; such as alerting CONAD personnel of any imminent military attacks against the US.

This hotline rang a red desk telephone, near the director of operations.

Can you guess what the telephone number was for this phone?

Yes, you are correct. It was the same telephone number being advertised in the newspaper for the kids to call Santa on.

Years later, Col. Shoup retold the story of what happened on Christmas Eve in 1955.

“The red phone was ringing, and it’s either the Pentagon calling or the four-star General Partridge. I was all shook up,” Shoup recalled, thinking an attack may have begun.

“So, I picked it up and said, Sir, this is Col. Shoup.”

There was only silence.

“Sir, this is Col. Shoup,” he repeated.

“Sir, can you read me alright?” asked Col. Shoup, who said he believed a military general was on the other end of the line.

Suddenly, Col. Shoup hears a young girls’ voice asking, “Are you really Santa Claus?”

Col. Shoup looked around the room at the faces of his office personnel and sternly stated in a loud voice, “Somebody’s playing a joke on me, and this isn’t funny!”

“Would you repeat that?” demanded Col. Shoup into the phone, believing it was a prankster randomly dialing telephone numbers.

“Are you really Santa Claus?” the timid voice on the other end of the telephone line repeated.

At this time, Col. Shoup was informed by one of his office personnel of the local newspaper’s advertisement mistake.

Learning this, Col. Shoup’s demeanor quickly changed.

Instead of disappointing the little girl, he decided he would answer her as Santa would, saying, “Have you been a good little girl?”

The little girl said she knew Santa would be coming down the fireplace at her house, and she was leaving some food there for him and the reindeer.

“Oh, boy! They sure will appreciate that!” Col. Shoup recalls telling the now happy little girl on the telephone.

Col. Shoup then instructed his office team to “act as Santa’s helpers” whenever a child called the hotline number.

He also had his radar operator check for signs of Santa’s progress as his sleigh team traveled from the North Pole so it could be reported to the children.

Christmas Eve in 1955, CONAD’s red hotline telephone was “ringing off the hook” with children wanting to talk with Santa.

The children calling were provided updates on where Santa Claus and his globe-circling reindeer sleigh team were located, via CONAD’s radar tracking system.

From that time on, Col. Shoup became known as “The Santa Colonel.”

He reportedly cherished this nickname until his passing March 14, 2009.

A NORAD interview of Col. Shoup talking about the special Christmas Eve of 1955, can be seen here, http://tinyurl.com/bytes-Santa1.

The official NORAD Tracks Santa website features holiday music, games, official Santa Tracker Countdown Clock, and other fun activities at http://www.noradsanta.org.

The official NORAD website is http:www.norad.mil.

A photo of the Dec. 24, 1955 Colorado Springs newspaper ad can be seen here, http://tinyurl.com/bytes-sanata2.

On Dec. 24, kids (or anyone) may call or text 1-877-HiNORAD for Santa’s reindeer team’s current location.

Sears, Roebuck and Company department store advertisement

Santa's helpers at NORAD

US Air Force Col. Harry Shoup

Today’s gifts become tomorrow’s treasure

©Mark Ollig


We are entering the second week of December, which means the holiday shopping season is in full swing.

My children are now adults, so gift cards or a check is usually appreciated.

However; back when they were children, I stood with other parents in the aisle of a store staring at the games and toys sitting on the shelves, wondering which ones my kids would like.

One Christmas gift I gave my youngest in 1992 was the Talkboy Tape Recorder and Player. It was like the one Kevin McCallister used in the movie, “Home Alone II.”

My youngest was all smiles (I was, too) when opening this present and playing with it.

During the 1960s, many of us who were then kids looked through the toy section of the Christmas catalog and wrote our name next to what we wanted so our parents would see it.

When a television commercial of the toy we wanted appeared, we made sure our folks knew it by saying, “That is what I want for Christmas!”

At 9 years old, I was a faithful watcher of the TV show, “Lost in Space.”

This show took place in 1997, and featured the Jupiter 2 spaceship and its passengers – the Robinson family, pilot Major Don West, and the reluctant stowaway Dr. Smith, who frequently called the B-9 Robot, a “Bumbling Bucket of Bolts.”

Will Robinson, the youngest character, was about my age. I watched the show to see how he handled the various adventures aboard the Jupiter 2.

During the holiday season of 1967, I asked my parents if I could get the “Lost in Space” toy collection for Christmas. The commercial for it regularly appeared during every “Lost in Space” episode in November and December.

The evening of Dec. 24, 1967, after my family had finished dinner, everyone went upstairs to the living room and gathered around the Christmas tree.

I remember closely looking at the wrapped presents under the lighted, decorated tree located in the northeast corner, trying to determine which one might have the Jupiter 2 in it.

While opening the last Christmas gift from my parents, I could hardly contain my joy; the box cover read: Switch ‘N Go Lost in Space set by Mattel Inc.

After thanking my parents several times, I removed the contents from the box and placed them on the living room floor amidst the other presents, gift wrapping paper, and empty boxes.

The “Lost in Space” toy collection contained plastic figures of all the main characters from the TV show, including the robot, and the family pet named Bloop.

A toy model of the Space Chariot, which was a type of recreational vehicle they used to roam the planets they were stranded on, was also included.

The Space Chariot was nicely detailed and looked just like the one from the TV show. It used a battery-powered electric motor which propelled it around the living room floor that Christmas Eve.

The Jupiter 2 spaceship model was sturdy and well-constructed. Inside, it was arranged to hold all the character pieces, including the Space Chariot.

I remember while playing with this Christmas gift, I would look up and smile at my mom and dad, who would smile back, knowing they had made their 9-year-old very happy.

I also remember the holiday songs being sung by Bing Crosby off a vinyl record playing on the hi-fi (high fidelity) stereo console in the living room.

A gift I received the next year was the Remco toy model submarine “Seaview” from the TV show, “Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea,” which I liked to watch.

It was a well-made yellow plastic model approximately 1 foot in length.

Winding the rubber band inside the submarine propelled the Seaview’s plastic blades (elastic motor propulsion), allowing it to cruise the high seas, a lake, a filled bathtub, or across the floor (it had wheels).

Today, some 50 years later, I still remember the fun I had playing with those toys; sadly, I am unable to recall what became of them.

Feeling nostalgic, I visited a well-known “buy-bid-sell” online store and found the same “Lost in Space” Chariot toy model I had received for Christmas in 1967.

It was selling for $650. I almost fell out of my chair when I saw that.

The complete 1967 Mattel Lost in Space toy collection (in its original box and unopened) was being auctioned off with bids starting at $1,000.

The Remco 1968 Seaview submarine toy model (new in its original box with accessories) was selling between $1,200 and $2,000.

It seems the Baby Boomer generation is willing to pay serious money to get back their favorite childhood toys.

I also checked today’s value of the Talkboy I gave my youngest son in 1992.

I was shocked. The original 1992 Talkboy Tape Recorder and Player (in its original box) was selling for $650.

Granted, the toys you are giving your children this holiday season could someday be worth a lot of money, but their greater value will be the happy memories they brought and the moments you both were smiling at each other; that’s the real treasure.

The story of Winsted Lake’s submarine cable

©Mark Ollig


One day, while looking through a box of old photos and newspapers, I came across an event which happened on (and under) Winsted Lake during the late 1960s.

A little more than one-half mile of submarine (marine copper-paired) cable was placed along the bottom of the lake by the local telephone company to provide telephone service for new homes being built on the east side of the lake.

This event took place years before cellular telephones arrived on the scene; it was a time when a telephone line needed to be physically hard-wired/spliced to a pair of copper wires.

Why install a submarine cable?

It was decided this would be the fastest way to get phone service to the east end of the lake. It was also thought the marine cable would operate reliably under water until a future telephone cable could be trenched into the ground going around the lake.

The beginning of the submarine cable installation took place near the east end of McLeod Avenue and the corner of Kingsley Street.

Three telephone company employees, and a cable reel stand holding a large wooden reel of submarine cable, were positioned in a pontoon boat and ready to go.

“When we first loaded the cable reel onto the pontoon, we thought it was going to sink! The reel had to be perfectly centered on the pontoon, so it didn’t tip over,” recalled Tom Ollig, who was one of the three people on the pontoon that day.

The telephone crew guided the pontoon as they slowly made their way across Winsted’s most famous body of water, traveling west to east.

First, carefully pulled off the reel by hand, the submarine cable was prepared to be lowered into the water.

“Another concern was making sure the submarine cable was weighted down correctly, so it didn’t float to the top of the water,” Tom added.

Heavy steel bolts were securely strapped onto the submarine cable every 5 to 10 feet, before being gently released into the murky depths (about 12 feet) of the lake.

The telephone crew successfully lowered the submarine cable across the lake.

The west end of the submarine cable was trenched underground to a telephone enclosure fastened to a pole located about 40 feet from the lake. Its copper pairs were spliced to dedicated copper pairs of an aerial telephone cable, which went to the telephone office.

The east side of the submarine cable was located near the new homes being built. This side of the cable terminated in an above-ground pedestal enclosure about 50 feet from the shoreline.

New phone lines from the submarine cable were spliced to the copper pairs of the smaller “drop cables” trenched underground to the new homes.

“I remember cutting in the new phone lines using the submarine copper cable pairs for Jerry Sterner and Jack Littfin,” said Mike Ollig, who recently reminisced about it with me.

For many years, this submarine cable provided reliable telecommunications service from the telephone company’s downtown central office to the subscribers located on the east side of the lake.

I would venture to say, the successful installation and use of a submarine cable across the lake for providing telephone service was a historic first for Winsted.

However, as we know, nothing lasts forever.

At the start of the 1980s, some of the submarine cable’s copper wire pairs had begun to fail, and there was concern about the remaining good spares.

And so, during the mid-1980s, the local telephone company installed a new underground telephone cable around the lake to replace the aging submarine cable.

I suspect a few of you are wondering about the fate of the abandoned submarine cable on the bottom of Winsted Lake.

After disconnecting both ends of the submarine cable, we (I was working at the telephone company) attached the east end to our trusty Ditch Witch tractor/trencher and slowly removed (pulled) it from the lake.

The trencher drove in an easterly direction until the entire length of previously submerged submarine cable was out of the water and lying on the ground.

We rolled up the old submarine cable (with assistance from a John Deere tractor) onto a large cable reel and transferred it to a cable trailer, where it was driven to and stored inside the telephone company’s warehouse.

The submarine cable was later recycled for its copper.

Today, the improved construction of submarine cables (using fiber-optic pairs) has given them an average lifespan of 25 years.

Currently, more than 450 fiber-optic submarine cables, with a combined length of 746,000 miles, are on the world’s ocean floors, providing internet, voice, video, and data communication services to nearly every continent.

The Winsted Telephone Co. pontoon crew preparing to lay submarine cable across Winsted Lake.
 From left-to-to-right: Frank Roufs, James Ollig, and Tom Ollig. (1968)

‘Routine test’ crashes Facebook

©Mark Ollig

“Sorry, something went wrong,” this is the greeting many of us observed while attempting to access Facebook early the morning of Nov. 12.

Facebook, its WhatsApp for Android users, and its Instagram photo and video sharing service were all unavailable – Facebook’s main website had crashed.

So, what did many of us do? We went to our other social media platform to tell everyone our Facebook was down and see if it was down for others, as well.

When I logged into Twitter, I noted “#Facebookdown” was trending, and many were messaging their displeasure using memes, GIFs, videos, photos, and text.

The website, https://downdetector.com collects the status of internet sites in real-time and provides reports on outages and service interruptions.

Downdetector is operated by Ookla, which, according to its website banner, “is the global leader in internet testing, data, and analysis.”

Downdetector’s main webpage lists the status of more than 100 of the most popular websites, including Facebook, Google, YouTube, Gmail, AOL, Verizon, T-Mobile, Sprint, AT&T, PayPal, and Amazon.

Each website is shown with its trademark icon, and has a clickable link for viewing its current operating status.

A search feature on the upper right-hand corner of the website’s banner bar will display statistics of other sites and internet service providers by typing in the name and pressing enter.

The morning of Nov. 12, when I could not log into Facebook, I went to Downdetector’s webpage, clicked the Facebook icon, and saw a graph displaying its operating status for the last 24 hours. It confirmed problems being reported.

Facebook’s total outage was at 47 percent for users worldwide; 35 percent reported login problems, and 16 percent cited issues using their Facebook app.

Downdetector’s Facebook outage map showed most of the central and eastern US out of service, including parts of Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, and Peru.

Meanwhile, on Twitter, users were busy posting comments, such as “The only good thing about Facebook being down? Twitter gets with everybody tweeting about it,” posted @Jezahb.

Others, like @QueenLisaBaily, posted a screengrab with the “Sorry, something went wrong” Facebook message from their computer.

“Alright, everyone, #Facebookdown, so it’s time to actually work,” posted @idnarB_eeL_03.

“Why Twitter is better than Facebook. When Twitter is down, people don’t go running to Facebook to find out what happened,” messaged @ignatzz,

Humor was included with many of the #Facebookdown tweets: “And but for a brief moment, our brains began growing new cells and families could speak again,” said @bwithrow.

Another amusing Twitter post showed a GIF with a young man heavily breathing into a paper bag, with the message, “Facebook is down! Everyone stay calm!” by @SooziiQ2.

“Yes, I am one of those who immediately went to Twitter to figure out if I was the only one whose Facebook wasn’t working,” tweeted @sam_morrow14.

Twitter user, @LynwoodCarmich1, posted a GIF of a smiling Vladimir Putin.

I, too, posted a screengrab of the Facebook outage map of North America from my computer. I used Windows 10 MS Paint to point out my location with an arrow and the word, “Me!”, over Minnesota.

For me, Facebook was down for about an hour, and within a couple of hours, most of North America was able to access Facebook.

A spokesperson from Facebook released this statement about the outage, “Earlier today, a routine test caused users to have trouble accessing or posting to all Facebook services, including WhatsApp and Instagram. We quickly investigated and restored access for everyone. We’re sorry for the inconvenience.”

Facebook did not describe what the “routine test” was about.

The last time Facebook suffered a major crash was Sept. 28, 2015, which, oddly, was also a Monday.

Just a thought: I wonder if Facebook runs their routine tests Mondays.

The 2015 crash was triggered because Facebook’s Internet address would not load, thus causing it to be inaccessible for more than 1 billion computers and smart device-users worldwide.

As happened four years ago, this past Monday, thousands of Facebook users took to Twitter to commiserate and post their displeasure – yes, misery does love company.

The following paragraph is how I envision legendary news reporter Walter Cronkite broadcasting the Facebook outage.

“Good evening from the CBS News Control Center in New York. This is Walter Cronkite reporting. We are receiving printed teletype bulletins into our newsroom confirming the social media site, Facebook, is unreachable by its internet patrons. We will bring you the latest updates as we receive them.”

And that’s the way it is. Have a good week.

The screengrab from my computer indicating I, too, was suffering from the Facebook outage.

Hey, universe, we’ll leave the light on for you

©Mark Ollig


Earth scientists may someday turn on a high-powered megawatt-class laser beam pointed towards deep space.

James Clark, a graduate student of MIT’s Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics, wrote a feasibility study in the Astrophysical Journal, where he describes using a laser beam as a “planetary beacon,” which could be seen 20,000 light-years away.

Clark is also the author of a new MIT report.

The MIT report/study proposes how “laser technology on Earth, could, in principle, be fashioned into something of a planetary porch light.”

Transmitting a 1- to 2-megawatt laser beam strong enough not to be obscured by the sun’s radiation and seen light-years away would require a telescope nearly 148 feet in diameter.

Clark suggests “extraterrestrial astronomers” living on planets in the neighborhood of Proxima Centauri (the nearest star to Earth), would be able to detect a linear laser beam originating from Earth.

I assume an extraterrestrial astronomer; who just happened to be looking at the Milky Way Galaxy through a telescope, might wonder what the straight line of light was all about.

Just an FYI: as of 2017, the known universe contains at least 2 trillion galaxies.

Do we really want to send a high-powered laser beam into outer space to signal extraterrestrial intelligence, and let them know where we are located?

What if this guiding light/laser beam is seen by a technically-advanced civilization that decides to pay us an interplanetary visit?

I am reminded of a few science fiction movies where aliens come to visit us.

As I recall, the aliens (except for the Vulcans) were not very friendly to the folks living on Earth.

February 2017, NASA announced its Spitzer Space Telescope discovered a star 40 light-years (235 trillion miles) away in the constellation Aquarius.

This star has seven exoplanets orbiting it.

This exoplanetary system is called TRAPPIST-1, and is named for The Transiting Planets and Planetesimals Small Telescope, located in Chile.

Three of the exoplanets were determined to have the potential to support life.

March 30, 2021, NASA is scheduled to launch the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) to replace the aging Hubble Telescope, launched in 1990.

The JWST is a new and much more powerful telescope than the Hubble. It will be able to gather in-depth information about the exoplanets atmospheres, including carbon dioxide, methane, water, and oxygen.

It has been suggested, if astronomers on Earth ever did detect a light-signal originating from one of these three planets, we could use a high-powered mega-watt laser to send controlled pulses of light – a visual Morse code, or signal lamp – if you will, to the exoplanet.

Earth would send a message, hope it would be understood, and then wait for a message to be sent back.

What will be the message Earth sends to intelligent lifeforms living on another planet?

Shouldn’t we, at this stage of our social and technological development, consider the consequences of contacting what is likely a more advanced and possibly aggressive extraterrestrial civilization?

Then again, maybe the extraterrestrials will only want to learn how we brew our coffee.

“If we were to successfully close a handshake and start to communicate, we could flash a message, at a data rate of about a few hundred bits per second, which would get there in just a few years,” said James Clark.

“I’m sure the universe is full of intelligent life. It’s just been too intelligent to come here,” said science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke in 1996.

On the other hand, maybe they are intelligent enough to first send an information-gathering space probe through our solar system.

Last October, scientists, using the PANN-STARRS 1 space telescope on Mount Haleakala in Maui, HI, identified an unusual cigar-shaped object which was not a comet, meteor, or asteroid.

The one-quarter-mile-long space object traveled through our solar system and passed by the Earth at speeds of up to 196,000 miles per hour.

The object was named ‘Oumuamua, meaning messenger, or scout, in Hawaiian.

‘Oumuamua is the first object of interstellar origin to be observed in our solar system.

Nov. 1, researchers at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics released a five-page paper about ‘Oumuamua.

The paper surprisingly reveals “the possibility that it [the space object] might be a ‘light sail’ of artificial origin.”

A light sail/solar sail would be used to gather solar energy to power . . . what?

Harvard’s astronomy department’s chair, Avi Loeb, suggested the object is a light sail to propel an interstellar traveling alien spacecraft using solar energy.

“Considering an artificial origin, one possibility is that ‘Oumuamua is a light sail, floating in interstellar space as debris from advanced technological equipment,” according to the Harvard paper.

I have read the Harvard paper, and it shows many mathematical and scientific formulas to support its claims that the space object is of artificial origin.

The Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics paper can be read at https://arxiv.org/pdf/1810.11490.pdf.

Since ‘Oumuamua has traveled beyond our solar system, it is now too far away for telescopes to photograph it.

‘Oumuamua has also voyaged beyond the range of our space rockets’ ability to chase it down.

For now, we patiently observe space using our current telescopes, and wait until the JWST is available in 2021.

Someday, another ‘Oumuamua will be seen. Hopefully, scientists will have the technologies needed to understand the composition, purpose, and origin of that interstellar visitor.

We also continue to debate whether Earth should send a high-powered laser beam into outer space to signal any extraterrestrial intelligence of our existence.

Like the Motel 6 commercial, where they leave the light on for us, Earth may soon be leaving its light on for the universe.

Permission to use photo granted by MIT News

I used MS Paint and greatly added to a couple of  NASA photos

‘The Mark of Zettabyte’

©Mark Ollig


I love autumn. It’s my favorite time of year; the only problem is, it doesn’t last long enough.

Looking out the window next to my writing desk, I see trees along the street boulevard showing off their vibrant late-fall colors of red, gold, and yellow leaves.

So, relax and be comfortably seated; perhaps you’re already sipping on a satisfying light-roast or latté as we continue with today’s topic.

Being this is a “Bits and Bytes” column, I need to briefly address them.

One bit (binary digit) is the smallest unit of data used in a computer. One bit has a single binary value of either 0 or 1.

One unit of digital information consists of eight bits.

Eight bits is equal to one byte. See? This binary stuff is easy-peasy.

And for those of you who like to fish; four bits equals a nibble, but we needn’t concern ourselves with nibbles today.

Ok, let’s examine a zettabyte.

Zettabyte begins with a Z, and may remind people of the courageous vigilante from the movie, “The Mark of Zorro.”

For today’s column, I will play the carefree street writer in “The Mark of Zettabyte.”

To wrap our heads around a zettabyte, let’s review how it compares to today’s better-known data expressions.

Some of you may have a smartphone with 31 gigabytes (GB) of data storage like mine. 1 GB equals one billion bytes.

It would take 1,000,000,000,000 (trillion) GB’s to equal one zettabyte.

OK, since you asked, here’s another one: 1 zettabyte equals 1,000,000,000,000,000 (quadrillion) megabytes (MB).

Consider the internal hard drive on a computer with its storage capacity of 1 or 2 terabytes.

Now, consider this: 1 zettabyte (ZB) equals 1,000,000,000 (billion) terabytes (TB).

And now, for the Lollapalooza with 21 zeroes behind it: one zettabyte equals 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (sextillion) bytes (SB).

I hear one of my readers thinking, “Why is Mark throwing out all these numbers with lots of zeroes?"

From time to time, I’ll include some background information before delivering the goods; similar to setting out some appetizers before bringing the main course to the dinner table.

Hold on, folks, the main course is now being brought out.

The Feb. 6, 2012, Bits & Bytes column reviewed the Cisco Live 2012 conference in London. “Acceleration from Zero to Zetta,” was Cisco’s keynote address topic.

“We are fast entering the zettabyte era,” said Padmasree Warrior, Cisco senior vice president of engineering and chief technology officer.

Warrior said we are undergoing a “data deluge and technology transformation.”

I agreed then, and I still do today.

With the growing number of people using smartdevices, and the rising number of Internet of Things (IoT) smart-sensors collecting, sharing, and storing mountains of data in the clouds of the internet, we have indeed entered a data tidal wave.

As we know, the internet is a collection of public (and private) networks containing data centers and communication facilities and is commonly called the cloud.

Data centers within the cloud need to expand their capacity; they are evolving into hyperscale data centers.

Today, there are more than 400 hyperscale data centers collaborating with hundreds of thousands of computing and storage servers operating over high-speed networks.

Google, Facebook, Amazon, eBay, PayPal, and others use hyperscale data centers.

Buildings containing hyperscale data centers average over one-half million square feet.

The US has the highest number of hyperscale data centers, followed by China.

By 2020, it is estimated there will be 500 hyperscale data centers, worldwide.

Most data centers (clouds) are buildings with rooms filled with tall cabinet bays containing shelves equipped with printed wiring cards, electronic component modules, fiber-optic and power cabling, routers, software, switches, computers, and cooling systems.

Double and/or triple commercial power redundancy, along with power generator backup systems are available within the data centers.

Data from one cloud is sometimes distributed to other clouds over facilities, such as copper and fiber-optic cables, wireless communication towers, and Earth-orbiting satellites; ultimately communicating with computing devices and IoT.

Two years ago, a noteworthy event occurred.

September 2016, global internet data center traffic surpassed the zettabyte threshold.

Here is one way to visualize a zettabyte: “If each gigabyte in a zettabyte was a brick, 258 Great Walls of China could be built,” wrote Taru Khurna, a research analyst with Cisco.

This year in North America, the total amount of cloud data traffic is estimated to be 3.8 zettabytes, according to research studies conducted by Statista.

The rest of the world will create 3.9 zettabytes, which brings the total global cloud data traffic to 7.7 zettabytes.

In 2021, nearly 94 percent of all data and computer programming tasks will be processed by cloud data centers, according to Cisco.

“Driven by the Internet of Things, the total amount of data created (not necessarily stored) by every device will reach 847 ZB [Zettabytes] per year by 2021,” predicts Cisco’s Global Cloud Index 2016-21 White Paper report.

Soon, instead of talking about zettabytes, I’ll need to write a column about yottabytes.

Did you know one yottabyte is equal to the data contained in 250 trillion compact DVD discs?

You’re right; I won’t get started on yottabytes today.

Eventually, I’ll need to get with the times and rename my column “Zettabytes and Yottabytes.”

Bendix G-15: a ‘personal computer’ from 1956

©Mark Ollig


In the summer of 1981, yours truly was using a Sinclair ZX81 computer to add information to a program I had coded.

Typing on the small keyboard, I watched the words and numbers appearing on the monitor of the portable black-and-white television I borrowed from the living room and connected to the ZX81’s video output.

The ZX81 stored my program on a cassette tape; yes, a cassette tape recorder was connected to the computer, too.

As I recall, the program stored on the cassette tape kept track of ongoing maintenance and other information regarding my 1976 Plymouth Duster.

For the younger folks; Plymouth was a brand of cars manufactured by Chrysler, and my highly-treasured Plymouth Duster was equipped with a four-speed manual/Hurst shift.

I enjoyed driving my Duster, too. Shifting gears was effortless and a lot of fun; it was “like a hot knife going through butter,” as they used to say.

However, I digress.

The 1956 glossy brochure for the Bendix G-15 electronic computer advertised it as “a complete computational facility” and a “general purpose digital computer.”

The G-15, a minicomputer, could be operated by one person, instead of the several needed for the larger and more complex computing systems of the time.

Might the G-15 be considered a personal computer, since it only needs one person to operate it?

The G-15 digital computer was built by the Bendix Aviation Corporation, headquartered in Los Angeles, CA, using the drawings and designs they purchased from American computer designer, Harry Douglas Huskey.

Huskey worked at the National Physical Laboratories in Britain for a year with the famous mathematician, computer scientist, and cryptanalyst, Alan Turing.

It should be noted, the Bendix G-15 was mostly based on Turing’s design of an Automatic Computing Engine (ACE) electronic stored-program computer he described in 1936, as a “universal computing machine.”

The G-15 was used mostly for scientific and engineering purposes; however, in 1961, Bendix produced a G-20 mainframe computer for business use.

The metal cabinet of the Bendix G-15 was the size of a refrigerator, painted with a very deep shade of gray mixed with blue.

Its physical dimension was approximately 5 feet by 3 feet.

The Bendix G-15 weight was listed at 850 pounds in their 1956 brochure – other sources say 950 pounds.

OK, so the G-15 was not a portable computer one would bring into the coffee house and place on the table next to your cup of latte.

Remember folks, I said it was possibly the first personal – not carry-with-you – computer.

The G-15 computer console keyboard, called the “Master Writer,” was an electric IBM modified typewriter connected onto a base housing and cabled to the computer using a 61A37 connector.

The G-15 recognized typed data input at a maximum speed of eight characters per second.

Other ways to input programs into the Bendix G-15 included using perforated high-speed paper tape, standard IBM punched cards, and pre-programmed commands stored on external magnetic tape units.

A programming language called the Intercom 1000 System was primarily used with the G-15 because of its easy-to-use interactivity.

FORTRAN, ALGO, and ALTRAN programming languages were also used with the G-15.

Up to four model MTA-2 magnetic tape units (each about the size of a small refrigerator) could be connected into a Bendix G-15 computer.

One MTA-2 magnetic tape drive unit stored 300,000 words of information using one-half-inch magnetic tape.

A paper digital graph plotter using a retractable pen was used to view output data at up to 12-inches-by-18-inches.

The G-15’s central processing unit (CPU) used vacuum tube technology with a processor clocking speed of 105 KHz (kilohertz).

The G-15 contained approximately 350 vacuum tubes, along with relays and electronic components, including resistors, capacitors, rectifiers, and inductors wired onto small, printed circuit board plug-in modules.

Specially configured diode component board-assembly packages for computing logic functionality were soldered on small printed circuit boards and physically mated with modules inside the G-15.

The vacuum tubes and electronic components were cooled via internal forced-air fans.

The G-15 computer was powered by standard 110-120 volt AC 60 cycles, single-phase input.

The Bendix G-15 computer’s magnetic drum memory stored more than 1,000 pretested programs a user/operator could choose from, using a single command.

The G-15 allowed for decimal input and outputs; however, internal computer processing used binary coding.

More than 400 G-15 computers were manufactured.

In 1956, the basic Bendix G-15A computer could be purchased for around $50,000, which, adjusted for inflation, equals a little more than $464,000 today.

Some of the data processing applications a Bendix G-15 computer was used for include:

• real-time data processing for the aircraft industry;

• processing missile trajectories and performance;

• mathematical analysis and academic research;

• computing teaching tool for universities; and

• engineering tool for design and construction.

A Bendix G-15 was installed for the US Navy in 1961.

In 1963, Bendix Corp. sold its computer to a Minnesota company based in Bloomington called Control Data Corporation, for “nearly $10 million in Control Data stock, cash, and other considerations,” according to a March 4, 1963, Minneapolis Morning Tribune article.

I encourage you to check out the 1956 16-page advertising brochure (with photos) of the “Bendix G-15 All Purpose Computer” at https://bit.ly/2PkaL1M.

The original 138-page G-15 model D parts manual includes photos, diagrams, and detailed explanations about the computer’s operation. I created this shortened link to it: https://bit.ly/2OKuDvs.

All in all, the G-15 was a well-thought-out, compact computer designed to require only one person to operate it.

Harry Douglas Huskey, who passed away at age 101 in 2017, had a working G-15 computer in his home.

He made the G-15 his personal computer.

Social media and wireless phones: the statistics

©Mark Ollig

         

Periodically, I take the pulse of popular online social media networks.

I also like to stay informed on the number of wireless phones being used on the planet.

OK, I know what some of you are thinking.

Folks, there’s no need to be envious; all of us are on a learning cycle when it comes to phones without cords and virtual online associations.

But, I digress.

For the most up-to-date statistical data, I usually turn to the reliable researchers at Statista.

“Statista – The portal for statistics,” reads the banner statement on their website.

Employing more than 550 people, Statista performs in-depth social media and consumer data research for its clients throughout the world.

More than 12 million consumers have visited Statista’s website this month; yours truly, was one of them.

So, without further ado, let’s move on to this week’s impressive numbers.

Currently, the US has 209 million people regularly participating in social media networks, such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

This number represents 64 percent of our current estimated population of 326 million.

The country with the highest population-use of social media is China, which boasts nearly 596 million users, or 42.5 percent of its estimated population of 1.4 billion.

South Korea has 44 million people actively using various online social media sites. This represents 86 percent of the country’s population, which is estimated at 51 million.

Following celebrity Instagram accounts is something many online social media users participate in.

The popular Instagram (owned by Facebook) online social networking platform is frequently used for posting photos and videos to friends, family, and followers.

As of June, Instagram had 105 million users within the US.

Globally, 1 billion people regularly post their videos and photos onto Instagram each month.

I’ve listed the most popular celebrity Instagram accounts as of Oct. 16, and the number of followers for each:

Selena Gomez: 144 million;

Cristiano Ronaldo: 143.5 million;

Ariana Grande: 131.2 million;

Kim Kardashian: 119.2 million;

Beyoncé: 119 million;

Dwayne Johnson (The Rock): 118.1 million;

Kylie Jenner: 117 million;

Taylor Swift: 112.4 million; and

Justin Bieber: 102.5 million.

The top-ranked countries using Instagram, including individual user accounts are:

US: 120 million;

India: 67 million;

Brazil: 63 million;

Indonesia: 59 million;

Turkey: 36 million;

Russia: 33 million;

Japan: 24 million;

United Kingdom: 23 million;

Mexico: 21 million; and

Italy: 18 million.

Twitter, one of the most widely-used social media networks, currently has 335 million users.

Facebook, the world’s most popular social media networking platform, presently has 2.23 billion users.

Worldwide, more than 50 percent of all wireless mobile cellphones are feature-enhanced smartphones.

By the end of 2019, as 5G wireless technology is being widely deployed, it is predicted there will be 2.7 billion smartphone users.

Today, the leading smartphone makers are Apple and Samsung.

In 2017, Samsung sold more than 321 million Galaxy smartphones, while Apple sold nearly 215 million of their smartphones called iPhones.

When adding all other smartphone makers, the total number of smartphones sold worldwide in 2017 was 1.5 billion.

Statista reports during the second quarter of this year, 88 percent of every smartphone sold throughout the world contains the Android OS (operating system).

Apple iPhone’s OS is called an iOS, and its market share averages between 14 and 21 percent.

The Android OS was commercially launched by Google in 2008, while the Apple iOS was released in 2007, with their iPhone.

Currently, 3.8 million smartphone apps (application programs) are available for Android operating system users, while Apple iOS owners can choose among 2 million apps.

The total number of “non-smart” mobile phones (basic cellphone services) owned by folks throughout the world stands at 4.5 billion, which represents 63 percent of the world’s population.

China, alone, has an estimated 1.4 billion mobile phone users.

The smartphone I currently use is a 4-year-old Droid Turbo with the Android 6.0.1 OS.

I plan on purchasing a new smartphone soon, and will keep you informed on this grand adventure in a future column.

In memory of Therese M. Ollig 1930-2018