The unimportant news thread

[DavidW]

The Ipod Touch was what got my Mother into the internet.  When I bought it I realized that it was far simpler to use than a computer and I could teach her how.  Now she owns and uses multiple Ipads.

I don't see the retirement of the Ipod Touch as the end of an era because it never represented the classic Ipod.  It was always an Iphone without the phone or a mini-Ipad.  When they retired the Classic, Nano and Shuffle that truly marked the end of the Ipod IMO.

Anyway thread duty: the blood moon is tonight!  Since I live on the east coast it should be marvelous (if it is not cloudy).

[steve ridgway]

My 16 Gb Nano still works fine on my docking tower but the Classic developed glitches. It's still fun to have a lot of music on that small device, I might fill it with Tangerine Dream again for some nostalgia.

It'll probably be clouded over here for the blood moon but I got a nice view at 1 AM this morning when one of the dogs got me up.

[fbjim]

It's a bit of a shame that music players have gone the way that CD players are now - pretty much two markets - mass-market disposable crap, or extremely expensive stuff aimed at the audiophile-enthusiast market. The iPod classic seemed like the last of the middle-market music players that were around.

[DavidW]

It's a bit of a shame that music players have gone the way that CD players are now - pretty much two markets - mass-market disposable crap, or extremely expensive stuff aimed at the audiophile-enthusiast market. The iPod classic seemed like the last of the middle-market music players that were around.

Do you remember the cd carousel and magazine players?  I would load up several cds and have it going for hours!

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

It maybe big news, I don't know. Farewell to the iPod, the device that ushered in too much choice.


https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/may/14/ipod-nostalgists-farewell-to-ipod-device-ushered-in-too-much-choice?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other

I guess vinyl record players lasted a little longer than cassette tape players, CD players, or iPod. Personally I am a big fan of cassette tapes. 

[DavidW]

I guess vinyl record players lasted a little longer than cassette tape players, CD players, or iPod. Personally I am a big fan of cassette tapes. 

Funny enough you can still buy cassette decks new (Marantz still makes them) which means that the only on the list to not make it is the Ipod (but digital audio players as a whole are still made).

[T. D.]

https://apnews.com/article/mountains-czech-republic-64543e8a48d65e0a368486c4b68fc09f

Longest pedestrian suspension bridge opens in Czech resort


DOLNI MORAVA, Czech Republic (AP) — A pedestrian suspension bridge that is the longest such construction in the world has opened at a mountain resort in the Czech Republic.

The 721-meter (2,365-foot) -long bridge is built at an altitude of more than 1,100 meters (3,610 feet) above sea level. It connects two ridges of the mountains and hangs up to 95 meters (312 feet) above the valley below.

Sky Bridge 721, as it is known, is located in the northeastern part of the country in the Kralicky Sneznik mountain range near the border with Poland, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) east of Prague.

The bridge offers unusual views for visitors who have a head for heights.

I don't have a head for heights and wouldn't venture on the bridge. But I can see the attraction.

[Jo498]

I never used or owned an ipod or similar device, so I am not missin anything and don't know what I missed...
I owned/used cassette, vinyl record and CD, DVD players, no minidisc either

[Todd]

Yellen warns of global 'stagflationary' risk from gas, food prices

[Spotted Horses]

It's a bit of a shame that music players have gone the way that CD players are now - pretty much two markets - mass-market disposable crap, or extremely expensive stuff aimed at the audiophile-enthusiast market. The iPod classic seemed like the last of the middle-market music players that were around.

I don't think we are missing anything, the iPhone was originally described as an iPod that makes calls, and the iPod because an iPhone without a cell transceiver. Virtually everyone has the equivalent of an iPod in his pocket these days.

I never used or owned an ipod or similar device, so I am not missin anything and don't know what I missed...
I owned/used cassette, vinyl record and CD, DVD players, no minidisc either

I never owned an iPod. I used vinyl, cassette, CD (and SACD), DVD, Bluray, and a DAT recorder. Nowadays I convert all my media to computer files and consume on some sort of computer+DAC, tablet or phone.

[Karl Henning]

What I learnt through looking up Häagen-Dazs on Wikipedia:

In 1980, Häagen-Dazs unsuccessfully sued Frusen Glädjé, an American ice cream maker founded that year, for using foreign branding strategies. The phrase frusen glädje—without the acute accent—is Swedish for "frozen delight".[17] In 1985, Frusen Glädjé was sold to Kraft General Foods. A Kraft spokeswoman stated that Kraft sold its Frusen Glädjé license to the Unilever corporation in 1993, but a spokesman for Unilever claimed that Frusen Glädjé was not part of the deal.[18] The brand has since been discontinued.

[Spotted Horses]

What I learnt through looking up Häagen-Dazs on Wikipedia:

In 1980, Häagen-Dazs unsuccessfully sued Frusen Glädjé, an American ice cream maker founded that year, for using foreign branding strategies. The phrase frusen glädje—without the acute accent—is Swedish for "frozen delight".[17] In 1985, Frusen Glädjé was sold to Kraft General Foods. A Kraft spokeswoman stated that Kraft sold its Frusen Glädjé license to the Unilever corporation in 1993, but a spokesman for Unilever claimed that Frusen Glädjé was not part of the deal.[18] The brand has since been discontinued

So Haagen-Dazs thoughts they had a copyright on using a funny-sounding foreign name?  And, to think I never even noticed that Frusen Gladje disappeared from the marketplace.

[JBS]

So Haagen-Dazs thoughts they had a copyright on using a funny-sounding foreign name?  And, to think I never even noticed that Frusen Gladje disappeared from the marketplace.

I know I never noticed the disappearance of Frusen Gladje, because these posts are the first time I've ever heard of it.

[Spotted Horses]

This is not really unimportant. I was wondering how real the baby formula crisis is, so I walked down the baby food aisle of my local supermarket and this is what I saw. Decimated. There is a sign saying customers are limited to two, but there is hardly anything you can buy two of.

[Todd]

This is not really unimportant.

If you have an infant that needs formula, it is at least moderately important.  At least two infant children in Tennessee are hospitalized due to lack of formula, though those children have special dietary needs.  Depending on which estimates you prefer, between 50-66% of baby formula is sold to WIC recipients, so low-income households are hit disproportionately hard.  As such, the federal government, for at least the tenth time since 2011, is invoking the Defense Production Act, a command economy tool, to try to increase production, and it is actively purchasing large quantities from primarily English-speaking countries in a program called Operation Fly Formula.  This essentially qualifies as a national disaster, and possibly a national disgrace.

[Todd]

NASA Engineers Puzzled By "Impossible" Voyager 1 Data

[LKB]

NASA Engineers Puzzled By "Impossible" Voyager 1 Data

More than anything else, it's " old age ".

[Spotted Horses]

More than anything else, it's " old age ".

The headline is somewhat deceptive. They make it sound as though there is some puzzling science. The issue is that they are getting berserk readings from their orientation sensors even though the craft continues to maintain steady orientation.

[LKB]

Yes. It's old hardware in an environment it wasn't really designed to operate in, and instead of the expected telemetry the craft is " babbling ".

But they're still getting useful data from the science instruments that still function, and there's at least a chance the team can rectify the issue. They have an advantage in that a nearly identical spacecraft is not exhibiting the problem, so it can serve as a control in their investigations.

[Karl Henning]

Yes. It's old hardware in an environment it wasn't really designed to operate in, and instead of the expected telemetry the craft is " babbling ".

But they're still getting useful data from the science instruments that still function, and there's at least a chance the team can rectify the issue. They have an advantage in that a nearly identical spacecraft is not exhibiting the problem, so it can serve as a control in their investigations.

Très intéressant!