U.S. agency scraps unused telegraph regulations in Trump rules purge

Reuters ^ | 10/19/17 | David Shepardson

[markomalley]

The U.S. government is scrapping rules on telegraphs even though carriers no longer exist, part of the Trump administration’s effort to slash regulations, the Federal Communications Commission said on Thursday.

The last Western Union telegram in the United States was sent in 2006 and the commission had stopped enforcing the rules in 2013. The last major telegram service worldwide ended in India in 2013.

The FCC said in a notice it was removing “outmoded regulations” on telegraphs effective in November to “further our goals of reducing regulatory burdens, eliminating unnecessary rule provisions, and making the agency as efficient and effective as possible.”

[PIF]

I remember when there was a computer up the road that filled two buildings and could do complex sums faster than a person could in a lifetime; it was hand programmed with ones and zeros for each calculation; it even had kilobytes of memory!

Things really took off when FORTRAN and COBOL were introduced ...

[Oldeconomybuyer]

There are probably a couple hundred or so federal employees still regulating telegraphs.

[zzeeman]

Yes, many moons ago!

[NonValueAdded]

Yeah, that sounds more like it. 2 args, register containing the return address and reg containing the destination. Memories!

[null and void]

2% Aniline?

That teases around the back of my head.

IIRC it was tried as a fuel additive because the color was the same as flowers that poked through the snow.

The theory being that the color enhanced heat absorption, and therefore would improve the warming of the fuel vapor in the chamber and better vaporize it pre-ignition or some such.

Squirrelly theory, but it did reduce the knock, and proved that additives could improve fuel performance.

From there it was off to the races!

[null and void]

I was taught FORTRAN IV, and actually used it for a bit in my misspent youth...

[PIF]

Sounds like you are still youngish relatively

[SkyDancer]

Never heard it was. Thanks. Or I did but forgot.

[null and void]

Relative to Methuselah...

[Pilsner]

It prevented engine 'knock' and enabled higher compression ratios in World War II aircraft engines (both Allied and German)

I think the Germans typically used lower octane gasoline, especially the synthetic gasoline made from coal. I've read that in post war tests, the US found that it could get a top speed that was 20-30 mph higher, out of German fighters, just by fueling them with our high octane aviation gasoline.

[OldMissileer]

If you carried the tray of cards to a card reader, and you happened to sneeze, and that clamp mechanism in the back of the tray was loose...cards everywhere!

I had a batch of cards for a sub-routine in a box and tipped the box. Spent close to an hour sorting them out.

[Songcraft]

No, I had never heard of the Mojave phone booth before.   That was interesting -- a phone booth in the middle of nowhere!   (Can you imagine if you got there, and wanted to make a call, but discovered you didn't have a dime on you?   There would be no one around to bum a dime from!   I guess you could have always made a collect call.)

In the video you linked to, it looked to me like that phone booth was windowless, and had been shot up a little.   I also found a photo of it online where it was all graffitied up.

       

It somehow seems kind of sad, however, when those kinds of things go away forever.

[Songcraft]

:-)

[Songcraft]

"Sed fugit interea, fugit inreparabile tempus, (But time is lost , which never will renew), Loosely translated as Time Flies like an arrow, Fruit Flies like a banana."

:-)

Our fondest memories seem to recede into the past with rapidly accelerating speed.

It is sometimes hard to remember why one went from room A to room B, but I do sort of remember this old poem I read somewhere, for some reason.

And now I am old
My youth is all spent
My get up and go
Has got up and went.

[PIF]

more like the new middle age ...

[null and void]

I’d draw a diagonal line across the tops of the decks with a felt-tip pen (Sharpies hadn’t been invented yet) against just such an eventuality...

[OldMissileer]

I’d draw a diagonal line across the tops of the decks with a felt-tip pen (Sharpies hadn’t been invented yet) against just such an eventuality...

You could make rows as comments that would not be read by the computer. My first rows always were comment rows and I would type the card's number. The only problem was that sub-routine I tipped onto the floor had a few hundred cards.

[null and void]

Yes, but this was much faster than having to read every one of the cards. Put ‘em back in the box and any card that was out of order wouldn’t have its stripe on the diagonal. Sticks out like a sore thumb...

[OldMissileer]

Yes, but this was much faster than having to read every one of the cards.

True, but I think I wasn't smart enough to do something like that. :-)

[Oatka]

With tongue slightly in cheek, I proposed on various sites that all laws over 100 years old should be sunsetted in 10 years, all others, 5 years. If they prove their worth they can be re-sunsetted for another term.

The politicians would be so busy trying to save some pets, they wouldn’t be able to inflict any new ones on us.