Vegas & The Aftermath - Diary

[tikay]

You thought I was going to fall into the trap of mentioning the hotel, didn't you?

http://oag.optima-web.co.uk/images/projects/st-pancras/st-pancras-station-1.jpg

Now dont try to tell me when they designed this, the aesthetics weren't top priority? And I'm sure those fancy wrought iron circles aren't crucial to the structural integrity.

You have lost me there. What have aesthetics got to do with art?

PS - Give us a clue on that question from your Dad, it's driving me nuts.

From Wiki:

Aesthetics (also spelled æsthetics) is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste. More broadly, scholars in the field define aesthetics as "critical reflection on art, culture and nature."

P.S. Sorry but I dont have a clue what my dad is on about!

I think that's just stuff & nonsense.

[Redsgirl]

You thought I was going to fall into the trap of mentioning the hotel, didn't you?

http://oag.optima-web.co.uk/images/projects/st-pancras/st-pancras-station-1.jpg

Now dont try to tell me when they designed this, the aesthetics weren't top priority? And I'm sure those fancy wrought iron circles aren't crucial to the structural integrity.

You have lost me there. What have aesthetics got to do with art?

PS - Give us a clue on that question from your Dad, it's driving me nuts.

From Wiki:

Aesthetics (also spelled æsthetics) is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of art, beauty, and taste, with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste. More broadly, scholars in the field define aesthetics as "critical reflection on art, culture and nature."

P.S. Sorry but I dont have a clue what my dad is on about!

I think that's just stuff & nonsense.

Hahaha! I bet you dont like fishes, either 

[Tal]

http://www.datasecurityinc.com/degausser.html

New favourite word: degausser.

Assume and hope it has something to do with Carl Gauss:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss

[Karabiner]

Tell us about your velvet jacket then.

So good, even Ian Gascoigne would be jealous.

Pure velvet, it glistens.

Not just functional then.

You may as well go the whole hog and get some red trousers.

[Tal]

He hasn't turned his dressing gown inside out; it's a smoking jacket!

[Machka]

http://www.datasecurityinc.com/degausser.html

New favourite word: degausser.

Assume and hope it has something to do with Carl Gauss:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss

It does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauss%27s_law

If you have an old CRT TV (i.e. one of the old fat ones) if you ever held a magnet near the screen it would cause the screen to have a funny green colour 'stain' where the magnetic was applied.  This was because the magnet would partially magnetise the shielding the electrons would pass through to make the picture on the TV.  This could also happen just by moving a large CRT TV around a room and the differences in the background magnetic field in the room.

Why is this relevent?

To remove the coloured 'stain' you'd have to take it to a TV repairman to degauss the screen and return it to normal.

A lot of later, larger CRT TVs would have a degaussing circuit so on startup they would automatically degauss the screen.

That Gauss guy was pretty smart.

[Tal]

Electromagnetism ITT

Knew him as a number theorist. Excellent.

[tikay]

http://www.datasecurityinc.com/degausser.html

New favourite word: degausser.

Assume and hope it has something to do with Carl Gauss:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss

It does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauss%27s_law

If you have an old CRT TV (i.e. one of the old fat ones) if you ever held a magnet near the screen it would cause the screen to have a funny green colour 'stain' where the magnetic was applied.  This was because the magnet would partially magnetise the shielding the electrons would pass through to make the picture on the TV.  This could also happen just by moving a large CRT TV around a room and the differences in the background magnetic field in the room.

Why is this relevent?

To remove the coloured 'stain' you'd have to take it to a TV repairman to degauss the screen and return it to normal.

A lot of later, larger CRT TVs would have a degaussing circuit so on startup they would automatically degauss the screen.

That Gauss guy was pretty smart.

Wow, love that.

Must try it tonight.

[RED-DOG]

http://www.datasecurityinc.com/degausser.html

New favourite word: degausser.

Assume and hope it has something to do with Carl Gauss:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss

It does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauss%27s_law

If you have an old CRT TV (i.e. one of the old fat ones) if you ever held a magnet near the screen it would cause the screen to have a funny green colour 'stain' where the magnetic was applied.  This was because the magnet would partially magnetise the shielding the electrons would pass through to make the picture on the TV.  This could also happen just by moving a large CRT TV around a room and the differences in the background magnetic field in the room.

Why is this relevent?

To remove the coloured 'stain' you'd have to take it to a TV repairman to degauss the screen and return it to normal.

A lot of later, larger CRT TVs would have a degaussing circuit so on startup they would automatically degauss the screen.

That Gauss guy was pretty smart.

When I was a not so little boy,  I put a big magnet near the telly screen and was shocked  to see a huge green and purple blob appear in the middle.

After panicking for 10 minutes, it dawned on me that the magnet had somehow 'pulled' something out of place, so I turned it around to reverse the polarity and slowly moved it towards the screen until I 'pushed' it back.

I could see the colours returning to normal as it got closer. I bet if I had continued, I could have pushed them too far the other way.

[RED-DOG]

You thought I was going to fall into the trap of mentioning the hotel, didn't you?

http://oag.optima-web.co.uk/images/projects/st-pancras/st-pancras-station-1.jpg

Now dont try to tell me when they designed this, the aesthetics weren't top priority? And I'm sure those fancy wrought iron circles aren't crucial to the structural integrity.

Sorry about this Tony. I don't know who she takes after....

[Machka]

http://www.datasecurityinc.com/degausser.html

New favourite word: degausser.

Assume and hope it has something to do with Carl Gauss:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss

It does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauss%27s_law

If you have an old CRT TV (i.e. one of the old fat ones) if you ever held a magnet near the screen it would cause the screen to have a funny green colour 'stain' where the magnetic was applied.  This was because the magnet would partially magnetise the shielding the electrons would pass through to make the picture on the TV.  This could also happen just by moving a large CRT TV around a room and the differences in the background magnetic field in the room.

Why is this relevent?

To remove the coloured 'stain' you'd have to take it to a TV repairman to degauss the screen and return it to normal.

A lot of later, larger CRT TVs would have a degaussing circuit so on startup they would automatically degauss the screen.

That Gauss guy was pretty smart.

Wow, love that.

Must try it tonight.

On a related note it's pretty incredible how an old CRT TV worked.

An electron gun



firing a stream of electrons passes through 2 perpendicular magnetic fields.  These magnetic fields are varied to direct the electrons across the screen until line 1 is drawn and then it resets the magnetic fields to move the electron beam to the start of row 2 (during what's known as the Horizontal Blank).  This repeats until the whole screen image is drawn (1 frame) and then it skips back to the top left of the screen (know as the Vertical Blank).

An electron (not to scale)

Click to see full-size image.

How the screen is drawn with electrons


A shadow mask, the thing that gets magnetised if you hold a magnet close to the screen, sits just behind the glass screen (tube) and contains holes the electrons go through to hit the correct Red, Green or Blue pixel to make the picture.

The Shadow Mask

Click to see full-size image.

Close up

Click to see full-size image.

Now a standard non widescreen UK TV screen has a resolution of 768 dots (pixels) across by 576 down, I think.

567 x 768 = 442,368 dots on a single frame.

There are 50 frames a second so

50 x 442,368 = 22,118,400 dots to be lit up by the electron beam PER SECOND!

Now if you're not asleep yet and were paying attention before you may have seen me mention the Vertical Blank?  This is where the electron beam reaches the bottom right of the screen and has to be repositioned to the top left.

This doesn't happen instantly so all the TV signal that is being sent while the electron beam is being resposition would be completely wasted.

So what did they do with it?  Use it to carry data...

Ceefax and Oracle - both of those services were made possible by the Vertical Blank.

But that's another story.  And a story anyone born in the last 10 years will probably never get to learn about.

Technology eh?

[Machka]

http://www.datasecurityinc.com/degausser.html

New favourite word: degausser.

Assume and hope it has something to do with Carl Gauss:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carl_Friedrich_Gauss

It does.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gauss%27s_law

If you have an old CRT TV (i.e. one of the old fat ones) if you ever held a magnet near the screen it would cause the screen to have a funny green colour 'stain' where the magnetic was applied.  This was because the magnet would partially magnetise the shielding the electrons would pass through to make the picture on the TV.  This could also happen just by moving a large CRT TV around a room and the differences in the background magnetic field in the room.

Why is this relevent?

To remove the coloured 'stain' you'd have to take it to a TV repairman to degauss the screen and return it to normal.

A lot of later, larger CRT TVs would have a degaussing circuit so on startup they would automatically degauss the screen.

That Gauss guy was pretty smart.

When I was a not so little boy,  I put a big magnet near the telly screen and was shocked  to see a huge green and purple blob appear in the middle.

After panicking for 10 minutes, it dawned on me that the magnet had somehow 'pulled' something out of place, so I turned it around to reverse the polarity and slowly moved it towards the screen until I 'pushed' it back.

I could see the colours returning to normal as it got closer. I bet if I had continued, I could have pushed them too far the other way.

There is a good example here, of what I would call with my technical background, "Dicking about with magnets". 

Especially from 2 minutes in.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ipm7GikvdQ

[RED-DOG]

PS - Give us a clue on that question from your Dad, it's driving me nuts.

OK. People are sending me PM's about this,  so I'm going to try to make it getable for those that didn't hear the original question.

The clues.

Think outside the box.
Pi
Process of elimination.

Basically, someone thought outside the box and decided to use pi after the process of elimination.

I asked Tony what he would use for the same purpose.


Far from easy, but definitely open to everyone now.

If it do go today, I'll give you another clue tomorrow.

[Tal]

Cryptic clue back:



Have I got it?

[david3103]

hi Tom
I've just been looking at the latest version of the line up for Glastonbury and the New Gypsy, Roma and Travellers Alliance have a spot in the Speakers Forum.
Are they a good representative body?