The BBS community: ancestor of online social media

	© Mark Ollig A common question asked during the early 1990s was, “Are you online yet?” Back then, I had read Howard Rheingold’s book “The Virtual Community.” With each page, Rheingold’s words reinforced my belief in the potential of what a dial-up computer Bulletin Board System (BBS) could bring. Rheingold’s words described the benefits of a BBS online community. This new online social media was being used for sharing information, expressing ideas, and exchanging opinions. Accessing a dial-up BBS required a computer using a communication software program, such as ProComm, along with a modem plugged into the computer and a telephone line. Most BBSes required you to register to get a username and password. Registered users of a BBS were then free to participate and communicate their viewpoints on a variety of discussion topics found in the BBS’s text forums. From home, folks dialed in and were online actively participating in school, local government, and other organizational discussions they were unable to attend in person. Having already started my own dial-up BBS called “WBBS OnLine!” I understood Rheingold’s enthusiasm for this growing online community. The BBS community became a virtual venue for real-time interaction with other people. The authentic “BBS culture” recognized and respected a participant’s opinions, both pro and con, on the topics being discussed. We also didn’t tolerate any personal attacks, trolling, or hate speech; in those early years, we rarely saw it. The social theme of a BBS varies from computer software and hardware to local and national politics to hobbies like astronomy, chess, genealogy, fishing, writing, cooking, gardening, music, and much more. I monitored the text-based real-time conference forums on my own BBS and saw registered users expressing well-thought-out opinions concerning the popular topics of the day. Before websites began in earnest, many companies had their own inhouse dial-up BBS to allow the growing online public to purchase products. Many of you may recall local TV and radio stations advertising the telephone number of their computer BBS for the public to dial into. Newspapers were also going online with their own BBSes. Schools, universities, and local city governments across the country began BBSes to provide information and communicate with students, parents, and the public. I started my BBS around 1990, with the desire to become an active participant in the growing local online community scene. At the time, I subscribed to and learned a lot from a magazine called Boardwatch, which was a popular BBS publication started by Jack Rickard. While operating my BBS, I frequently chatted with others who were running their own BBS. This person was known as the system operator or SysOp. Many BBSes used a popular computer software program called “The Major BBS” made by Galacticomm. This is the BBS software I installed on my computer used solely for the BBS. I also connected six dedicated local telephone lines to my BBS computer, which used 19.2 kbps Hayes modems. My BBS was called “WBBS OnLine!” (Winsted Bulletin Board Service). Many hours went into maintaining, promoting, and operating the BBS. At that time, most BBS operators did not charge any fees to its users, and I didn’t either. Duties of a SysOp included moderating the real-time conference room chats, adding new menu choices, utilities, and games, and caring for the software and hardware needs of the BBS. I published ads in the local paper and posted paper flyers all over town. I even obtained a car vanity license plate “WBBS,” in a shameless self-promotional effort. WBBS users logged in to play graphical games, text-chat in conference forums, check e-messages from other users, and share and download free-ware software, which was mostly DOS utilities and game files. WBBS also had a UUCP (Unix-to-Unix Copy) interface for sending and receiving files and internet email. BBS users found mutual camaraderie with others with whom they interacted within the BBS community. Popular nationwide dial-up BBS services, such as Prodigy, America Online, and CompuServe, charged a monthly subscription fee for access. In 1990, I subscribed to the Prodigy dial-up service to gather ideas for my own BBS. The Prodigy BBS required us to install client software using floppy disks. Prodigy offered email, user forums, updated news, weather, sports, and online shopping services. It may not surprise you to learn I still have my 1990 Prodigy coffee mug, which is in the shape of a computer monitor and keyboard. For me, the BBS virtual community was like a local coffee shop, where folks gathered and talked about various topics while sipping their favorite brew. Some of you may be surprised to learn there are still some dial-up BBSes operating independently of the internet. There are also several BBSes reachable over the internet via telnet. A few years ago, I exchanged text messages with Rheingold, who acknowledged my appreciation for his 1993 book. Sure, I miss the days of the BBS community, the ancestor of online social media. Sometimes, I envision starting another BBS. People would say those nostalgic days of yesteryear are long gone and will never come back again; however, I recall what my mother used to tell me, “Mark, never say never.” You can read the online version of “The Virtual Community” at www.rheingold.com/vc/book/intro.html. A snapshot of how Prodigy’s login screen looked around 1990 can be seen at https://bit.ly/2ZAlD0h. An ad for “WBBS OnLine!” (which is no longer online) can be seen here https://bit.ly/2Xp7aSa. Stay safe out there.

The day a squirrel interrupted the internet

© Mark Ollig



Journalist Andrew Blum took for granted his always-available internet connection and wasn’t concerned about how it worked – until the day it stopped.

Like Blum, many folks sit down at their computer, get comfortable, open a web browser, check their social media, and browse websites, without worry.

Some folks might assume there is a “magic genie in a box” someplace watching over the internet and keeping it working. I’ll admit, from an automatic network routine diagnostics perspective, there is some truth to that.

Of course, for many of us, having access to the internet is as essential as having a telephone, electricity, water, and food in the fridge.

But, I digress.

During a Technology, Entertainment, and Design (TED) video conference, Blum talked about his eye-opening internet experience.

Blum begins by telling of sitting down at his computer, opening his internet web browser, and seeing this message: “You are not connected to the internet.”

Blum then did what many of us would do.

No, he didn’t scream “What?” and panic; instead, he calmly called his local Internet Service Provider (ISP) and reported the problem.

A short time later, the ISP’s truck drove up to the apartment building where Blum lived.

He said, “the cable guy” (technician) knocked on his door.

After checking his computer and its ethernet connection to the cable modem, he and the technician proceeded to trace out the physical path of the coax cable from the modem to the outside world.

The cable traveled through an exterior wall, veered straight down, and reentered the apartment building through the basement.

From the basement, the cable changed course. It re-routed back outside, where it joined up with several other internet cables attached to the building’s outside wall.

While looking through the cables, a loud scurrying noise was heard; Blum and the technician looked up.

Their faces showed expressions of surprise while observing a grey squirrel running along the internet cable hanging in the air from the building to a telephone pole.

The technician walked closer to the wall. He abruptly stopped and closely stared at one area on Blum’s internet cable.

“There’s your problem. A squirrel is chewing on your internet,” said the technician to Blum.

The thought of a grey squirrel having the means to bring down the powerful and mighty internet by chewing on it seemed to completely surprise Blum.

Blum told the TED audience, “The internet is a transcendent idea. It is a set of protocols that has changed everything, from shopping to dating, to revolutions . . . it was unequivocally not something a squirrel could chew on.” The audience found this sentence amusing and laughed.

Blum displayed a photo of a small black plastic box (about the size of a lunchbox) with an attached red light on the large screen in front of the audience.

This box was Blum’s internet cable modem – the magic internet genie itself, or so he had thought.

To him, this, and the cable that plugged into it, had been the sole physical representation of the internet.

Having a squirrel disconnecting Blum’s internet led him to contemplate where his internet cable actually went.

He wanted to know how this cable connected with the internet and all its parts.

Blum even wondered if the internet was an actual place he could go to and visit.

“Could I go there? Who would I meet?” he pondered.

Blum’s curiosity about what the internet is made of led him on a two-year adventure investigating the physical realm of the internet.

He visited many data center facilities, including one large data network colocation center at 60 Hudson Street in New York.

The 60 Hudson Street building encompassed a full city block. It was the former Western Union building.

It is one of many buildings in the world where telecommunication companies interconnect and route telecom and internet traffic.

More internet networks connect to each other in the 60 Hudson Street building than in any other building.

In Minnesota, the most significant data network colocation center is the 300,000-square-foot 511 Building located east of US Bank Stadium (former location of the Metrodome) in downtown Minneapolis.

The 511 Building is also known as Minnesota’s Premier Telecom Hotel because most of its multi-tenants are telecommunication companies.

Years ago, this columnist spent a few months inside the 511 Building, completing work for a telecommunications provider.

The 511 Building is the central internet data hub used by Minnesota ISPs and telecom companies to connect with the core routers and primary data-backbone paths connecting throughout the country. These ultra-high bandwidth paths use fiber-optic cables.

Blum’s internet cable was repaired. So far, the squirrels have not caused any further outages.

His TED talk, “Discovering the Physical Side of the Internet,” can be watched at https://bit.ly/3g01Z3r.

More information about the 511 Building can be seen at http://www.511building.com.

Stay safe out there.

The 60 Hudson Street building

The 511 Building

Blum’s internet cable modem 

Smelling aromas from images in a movie

© Mark Ollig


Folks attending the 1981 movie premiere of “Polyester” received numbered scratch-and-sniff cards along with their ticket.

While watching the movie, the screen would display a number prompting the movie watcher to scratch and sniff the numbered card so they could smell what was being shown on the screen.

The history of dispensing theater movie and stage-play related aromas to an audience goes back to the beginnings of the 20th century.

In 1906, Samuel Lionel Rothafel, who worked at The Family Theater in Forest City, PA, came up with an idea.

While a motion picture newsreel film of the 1906 Rose Bowl parade played inside the theater, Rothafel took a wad of cotton wool, soaked it with rose oil, and placed it in front of an electric fan directed toward the seated audience.

The fruity fragrance of roses wafted throughout the theater amid the now delighted seated patrons.

It seems as if Rothafel used good-old Minnesota ingenuity – in fact, he did. Samuel Lionel Rothafel was born in Stillwater in 1882.

By 1933, Paramount’s Rialto Theater on Broadway had installed an in-theater “smell system,” using fan blowers, which released various aromas during a movie.

After the movie was over, it took hours (sometimes days) for the odors to disappear from inside the theater building. This smell-system eventually proved unpopular.

During the late 1950s, Hans Laube invented the scent-dispensing machine.

Laube’s machine discharged a variety of smells coinciding with the events occurring during a theater movie or theatrical play.

Various mixtures and dilutions of liquid scented perfumes, including a scent neutralizer, were also dispensed.

Nov. 19, 1957, US Patent number 2,813,452, titled Motion Pictures With Synchronized Odor Emission, was awarded to Hans Laube’s odor-dispensing device named Smell-O-Vision.

He begins his patent description with, “My present invention relates to a method for causing [the] emission of appropriate odors in synchronized relation with motion pictures.”

Laube’s patent can be seen at https://bit.ly/3czZmUd.

“Scent of Mystery” is a 1960 movie using Laube’s new Scentorama machine with an updated version of Smell-O-Vision.

The Scentorama machine could circulate up to 30 different smells toward theater seats, using scent emitters activated by signal code markers on the movie’s film.

Unfortunately, the results audiences experienced were not well-received, and no future movies were shown using Smell-O-Vision.

The successful mixing of smells with your favorite movies, gaming, and television programs became a reality through a French company called Olf-Action.

The company name is no doubt a play on the word “olfactory,” referencing the sensory system used for smelling.

Olf-Action uses Odoravision for the delivery of odors or scents to an audience throughout their viewing of a motion picture film.

This method of scent-delivery is called smell-synchronization.

An in-home version of Olf-Action’s Odoravision System can administer 128 unique scents, and up to three simultaneous scents throughout one motion picture film.

A movie player’s video output connects to an Olfahome model 4045 scent-dispensing rectangular box unit weighing 44 pounds.

The box unit is attached to the ceiling approximately 10 feet in front of, and above the movie viewers, and has 40 individual, open-air nozzles, with individual scents stored inside cartridges.

Some of the scents listed included cakes, flowers, roses, wood, seawater, smoke, candies, fabrics, trees, and one I like; the smell of freshly-cut grass.

Olf-Action listed several movie titles available in Odoravision, including “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

The human nose can differentiate many unique scents.

Ernest Crocker, a chemical engineer, used a mathematical rating system to determine the number of recognizable smells a human can detect is 10,000.

It might be surprising to learn scent marketing is an industry unto itself and is used by stores, restaurants, and hotels to promote customer satisfaction and increase revenues.

Statistics show carefully selected scents will attract and influence consumer spending, and cause people to more easily remember a product.

Who knows? Smell-O-Vision might make a comeback.

In the future, after telling friends about a movie that stinks, they won’t know whether we mean the acting or the smells in it.

Nostalgically speaking, one unforgettable scent I do fondly recall while seated in my hometown’s movie theater, was the alluring popcorn aroma floating in from the front lobby’s popcorn machine.

It would not surprise me if a fan was purposely used to send those mouth-watering popcorn smells drifting into the theater seating area to tempt folks into buying more popcorn. If so, it sure worked for me.

You can see a photo of Hans Laube’s Scentorama machine at https://bit.ly/2Wm4ZPP.

I recently learned Olf-Action was acquired by the French company, Aryballe, whose motto is: We Are Digitizing Smell.

Stay safe out there.

(Right-to-Use image fee paid)

Pioneering power solutions, past and present

© Mark Ollig


Before electric utility lines canvassed the country, East Coast factories utilized falling water for the power needed to operate their machinery.

In his book, “The Big Switch,” Nicholas Carr addressed the mid-1800s water wheel Henry Burden designed and constructed to power the machines inside his ironworks factory.

I became fascinated by the story of Burden’s energy-producing water wheel.

Henry Burden, an engineer, was born in Dunblane, Scotland, April 22, 1791.

He moved to Troy, NY in 1822, to become superintendent of an ironworks factory, called Troy Iron and Nail Factory.

In 1848, Burden took ownership of the ironworks factory and changed its name to Henry Burden & Sons.

Burden had previously begun constructing a large water wheel to harness the power of the rapidly rushing water flowing through a stream from the waterfall located near his factory.

Engineering a path for the water by building a dam to form a holding pond, Burden constructed a series of gates to control its flow into a canal feeding the giant water wheel he erected near the ironworks factory.

The Burden Water Wheel was a 70-foot-tall-by-12-foot-wide, iron and wood water wheel with a central cast iron hub attached via 264 1.5-inch-thick iron rods. The rods were fastened to 10-inch-by-10-inch pine timber, which formed the base the wooden floats or “buckets” were built upon.

He completed the final construction of his water wheel in 1851.

The operation of the water wheel included a person who rotated a hand-lever on its base to increase or decrease the volume of water turning the water wheel. This would adjust its speed, providing the power output as required by the horseshoe, railroad track spike, and nail-making machines operating inside Burden’s factory buildings.

The water wheel’s reported maximum capacity was 482 horsepower, with an average output of 282 horsepower.

The Burden Water Wheel was once the most powerful vertical water wheel in the world, and was described as “The Niagara of Water-Wheels,” by the poet, Louis Gaylor Clark.

Upon seeing The Burden Water Wheel, George Ferris Jr. was said to have been inspired to build a similar style structure with seats for people to ride on during the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.

Henry Burden passed away in Troy, NY, Jan. 19, 1871.

His water wheel continued to generate the power needs for the machines inside his sons’ factory until its closing in 1896.

By the early 20th century, it became more cost-effective to operate factory machines using electricity from the commercial power grid versus constructing and maintaining water wheels or other independent power generation systems.

Speed up to 2020.

During the last two months, outdoor field hospital tents resembling mobile army surgical hospital (MASH) units have been erected in cities across the country.

These field hospitals will relieve congestion in the number of available hospital beds currently being used by COVID-19 patients.

Powering the equipment used in these field hospitals is usually accomplished with diesel-fueled portable generators.

Concerns about this type of fuel are that breathing in the fumes can inflame and damage the lining of the lungs, weakening the body’s ability to fend off respiratory infections.

Combusting diesel fuel into the air directly next to the COVID-19 patients inside tents being treated for respiratory disease was something hospitals needed to take into consideration.

One Sacramento, CA field hospital is using an Energy Server platform provided by a company called Bloom Energy.

An Energy Server is a fixed, enclosed powering system.


One Bloom Energy Server looks like a large industrial stainless-steel refrigerator.

Its dimensions are 14-feet-by-9-inches tall, by 8-feet-by-8-inches wide by 7-feet deep.

An Energy Server is essentially a power plant in-a-box, and can be interconnected to provide the necessary electrical requirements for the equipment it supplies power to.

Bloom’s Energy Servers are powered by fuel cells; electricity is produced through an electrochemical reaction – not combustion.

This powering method virtually eliminates the smog-forming pollution and hazardous particulate matter that comes from combustion-based power generation sources, like diesel generators.

The Energy Servers can provide always-on power 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

As to the fate of The Burden Water Wheel, one photograph taken around 1914 shows it lying on its side in ruins.

Apparently, the aging load-bearing brick pier on its south side collapsed, causing the gigantic water wheel to tip over.

Sadly, Henry Burden’s famous water wheel ended up a mangled pile of wreckage lying upon the ground.

The iron from his water wheel was used for scrap metal just before the start of World War II.

Additional details regarding The Burden Water Wheel can be found from the Society for Industrial Archeology at https://bit.ly/35tD2bX.

Information about Bloom Energy’s onsite power generation solutions can be found at https://www.bloomenergy.com.

Stay safe out there.

Henry Burden

The Burden Water Wheel, part of the Burden Iron Works in Troy, New York.
I placed a red rectangle around the man in the foreground for size comparison.

The Burden Water Wheel as it looked in 1899.

Bloom Energy Servers

Bloom Energy Servers

Bloom Energy Servers

Bloom Energy Servers

COVID-19 transmission and tracing methods

© Mark Ollig

As we enter the month of May, the Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019, known as COVID-19, continues to be a part of our daily lives.

As of this writing, our statewide stay-at-home order from Gov. Tim Walz is set to expire Monday, May 4.

We continue to practice the following proper hygiene guidelines to prevent ourselves and others from becoming infected with COVID-19:

• social (physical) distancing of 6 feet;

• washing hands for 20 seconds;

• wearing a face mask or cloth face covering;

• avoiding touching eyes, nose, or mouth with unwashed hands;

• staying home if sick;

• covering coughs and sneezes; and

• observing workplace COVID-19 safety guidelines, cleaning and disinfecting solid surfaces.

As for myself, while out-and-about, after using the gas pump, bank ATM, or shopping at brick-and-mortar stores, the first thing I do when returning home is immediately walk over to the sink and wash my hands. It’s become a habit now.

In addition to the human-to-human spreading of COVID-19, The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is studying COVID-19 transmission from people to animal pets.

“Several dogs and cats have tested positive to COVID-19 virus, following close contact with infected humans,” according to a link on the CDC to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE).

“Currently, there is no evidence to suggest that animals infected by humans are playing a role in the spread of COVID-19. Human outbreaks are driven by person-to-person contact,” according to OIE.

The CDC said, “At this time, there is no evidence that animals play a significant role in spreading the virus that causes COVID-19. Based on the limited information available to date, the risk of animals spreading COVID-19 to people is considered low.”

According to the CDC, if you are seeing a new illness developing in a pet that has had close contact with a person having COVID-19, you should contact the public health veterinarian within your state.

Joni Scheftel (joni.scheftel@state.mn.us) is the Minnesota State Public Health Veterinarian and can be contacted at the Minnesota Department of Health Infectious Disease Epidemiology and Prevention at 651-201-5107.

COVID-19 information regarding how, and from whom the virus is spreading has been something technology is actively involved with.

Countries, including Germany, Australia, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, and France, are using COVID-19 smartphone mobile apps and other technologies being created by public and private health organizations.

Apple and Google plan to adapt smartphones into “opt-in Covid-19 tracking devices.”

This smartphone conversion would make it easier for health officials to identify and alert people who have been in near-contact with others who tested positive for COVID-19 using a smartphone app identifying its owner has having COVID-19.

In Hong Kong, mandatory electronic wristbands alert authorities when people under COVID-19 quarantine leave their homes.

Australia has a smartphone app called COVIDSafe. This app uses Bluetooth wireless signals to determine when you are near another COVIDSafe user.

Every instance of close contact between COVIDSafe users is noted and added to an encrypted COVID-19 contact database.

The Australian government promises the data will only be shared with health officials after the app user consents to it.

France is nearing completion of its StopCovid contact tracing mobile app to detect transmission of COVID-19.

The StopCovid app will sound an alert anytime one gets close to someone who has a similar app indicating they have tested positive for COVID-19.

France says the StopCovid app uses privacy protections with the cooperation of the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing (PEPP-PT) project intended to respect users’ data.

The app is open-sourced, which encourages code inspections.

Personal privacy is an important issue here in the US.

Google and Apple say their COVID-19 tracking apps are being designed to protect the identities of the people using them.

Of course, people have a justifiable concern about others illegally data mining the encrypted personal information being collected.

Currently, when a person tests positive for COVID-19, public health officials obtain a list of everyone who they have encountered during a specific time frame. These people are located, and those who have been near them are notified.

Using smartphone digital app contact tracing will employ a person’s smartphone to map out their physical interaction locations.

The Apple and Google COVID-19 app systems also use a smartphone’s Bluetooth wireless signals.

Their apps will create a digital log of the people and their locations the phone’s user has come into proximity with.

Another technology being evaluated is The Symptom Sense Medical Evaluation Gateway. This system will be used on large groups of people to scan for COVID-19, and is currently under trial by a company in Long Island, NY.

The 50-state list of Designated and Acting State Public Health Veterinarians can be seen at https://bit.ly/3aGwRlY.

Detailed information about human-to-animal COVID-19 transmission from OIE can be found at https://bit.ly/2VIgNLW.

The CDC Coronavirus (COVID-19) website is https://bit.ly/2VFlKFm.

Stay safe out there.