In fewer than thirty years we have moved from the floppy disc to the Blu Ray disc and there has been little if any overlap. Nonetheless I thought about comparing the two media in the realm of films. I realise that graphics cards from twenty-five years ago could not support what we now consider to be “high definition” nor did even regular 1990’s processors have the power to deliver anything more than grainy, jerky video. Undaunted by anachronisms...
The storage capacity of a 3.5” floppy disc from the late 1980’s was a heady 1.4MB. It occurred to me that backing up a Hi-Definition feature film that way would require a barely credible 35,714 floppy discs (50GB). So an avid film buff would need approximately nineteen standard sized suitcases to store the discs for one film. He’d also need some manual dexterity because he’d have to feed the discs into a disc drive at the rate of five per second for the duration of a two hour film.
Or he could just use one dual-layer Blu Ray disc.
***
I hear a detachment of twenty-eight British Policemen are to be offered counselling before returning to regular duty after a gruelling seventy day special assignment next year. Gosh, these guys must be about to see some sickening, brutal things, witness some terrible, gruesome events... no, they are to accompany and guard the 2012 Olympic torch on its eight thousand mile celebratory parade around the British Isles.
***
Acknowledging Maisie on her trike, a walker in Victoria Park remarked in all seriousness, “That child needs a helmet!” Bear in mind Maisie was propelling the afore-mentioned vehicle at crawling speed on a wooden boardwalk. Frankly that grizzled old crone of about fifty might have benefited more from a helmet herself, bearing in mind her pace of perambulation must have been approaching 2.5mph.
I’m all for safety where appropriate but I believe the nanny state has gone too far in the molly-coddling stakes. And they have people believing their propaganda, people like the opinionated pedestrian above, a woman of the baby-boomer generation who lived through:
. babies sleeping on their tummies
. cars with no seatbelts or infant seats
. pregnant mothers smoking and drinking
. lead in paint
. no childproof caps on medicines
. and the list goes on and on and on ...
Perhaps we’ll get our toddlers helmets when they are actually threatening their heads.
08 June 2011
this is the modern world
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2 comments:
The Nanny state is now commonplace.
Even at work I am not meant to walk upstairs while on the mobile phone nor should I carry coffee, or any hot drink, unless supervised by a member of the mystic committee who have been duly authorised by the Supreme Grandee to administer on the spot fines.
We are allowed out in to the grounds if sunny but on rainy days have to wear rubber souled boots whilst in deepest winter, with frost on the ground, our jacket pockets are latticed to allow sand to fall beneath our feet as we walk. For snow we have now employed Woolly Mammoths which we board under strict supervision by guides on snow shoes who then lead the enormous beasts to our destination.
If only ‘they’ would allow for a modicum of intellect in the average citizen then wouldn’t life be nicer?
:)
Hilarious observations Russell and you were hardly exagerating at all!
Canada, or at least PEI, is not quite so advanced in nannying as the UK but they are cottoning on fast.
One surprisingly lax area is using mobile phones while driving. The island only passed a law last year and it's still not enforced.
In the UK you can lose licence points for eating an apple while driving. Here all cars come with drinks holders built into the centre console! Plus of course drive-through coffee stops are manadatory.
Inconsistencies abound!
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