I'm Shrinking, But That's Okay

- jim Young

“My Mother always used to say ‘The older you get, the better you get. Unless you’re a banana.’” - Betty White

I ain't no banana, but some days it seems as though I’m shrinking. I just can’t seem to reach shelves that I used to be able to reach. I find this a little confusing because the floor also seems to be a lot further away when I bend to pick things up, which would suggest quite the opposite.

Which is it? Am I growing taller or am I shrinking?

Sadly, according to my good friend Google, it’s the former. Like most people my age, I am shrinking. But ever the optimist, I have decided that’s a good thing. 

Just take a look at technology. The better the technology, the smaller it gets.

For example, in 1956 an IBM 5 MB Hard Drive required a full skid space as shown in this photo of one being loaded onto a Panam Plane. It weighed approximately 2,000 lbs (907 kg).



This relic cost about $35,000 per year to operate (in 1956 dollars) and could hold the equivalent of 1 or maybe 2 photos that you might take on your Smartphone today.

The 4 TB Hard Drive shown below however, measures approximately 3" x 4" and weighs in at about 259 grams (9 oz).



It can store well over a million photos.

You would need 800,000 of the 1956 IBM Hard Drives to hold the equivalent amount of information that this baby can store.

Hard Drives similar to this sell on Amazon for about $125 CDN.

Depending on where you live, the use of a plane may or may not be required and will likely be delivered to your door by Purolator or UPS WITHOUT the use of a forklift.

While the Hard Drives of today are much smaller in size, their “insides” are much larger. I like to compare that to how much the knowledge in my brain and the love in my heart has increased since 1956.

(And let’s just gloss over the fact that my weight loss has not kept pace with my size loss as hard drives have.)

- 30 -


Comments

Post a Comment

Stuff others read

Obituary: 173 Big Bay Point Road

Image
- jim Young “You can’t go home again.” - Thomas Wolfe. There isn’t much that is more exciting to a 7 year old boy than hanging around a construction site. Once the vivid imagination of a young boy begins to stir, the excavation for the basement will take him on a journey to China, the cement blocks of the foundation transform the hole in the ground into a formidable castle, scrap pieces of wood cut at a 45° angle become the bulky sails of a sailboat, the studded walls, as they are erected become prison bars that the young lad can escape through and rafters, when hung, will serve as monkey bars. At least that’s how it was for me. Most children are denied this experience today for the sake of safety. But in 1960 these opportunities were more readily available. And when your grandfather was building the house, even more so. That your grandfather might be building that house for you, well, that was the icing on the cake. I remember my grandfather letting me help him “build” our house. Und
More... »

Your Silence Will Not Protect You

Image
- jim Young “Currently, the North Warning System cannot identify and track Russian long-range bombers prior to their missile-launch points or their overflights of the Arctic region.” - Commodore Jamie Clarke 2020  Just over a week ago, Russia flew 4 bombers close to Alaska. They never entered U.S. or Canadian air space but they weren’t exactly in Russian air space either. Russian Tu-95 Strategic Bomber “‘The flight was carried out in strict accordance with international rules for the use of airspace,’ said Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash, Commander of Russian long–range aviation." ¹ Were they just out for a friendly little fly-by to say “Hi” and make sure everything’s okay here in North America? Wouldn’t you think their presence might be a little more pressing in the Ukraine these days? Not that I am trying to encourage them, mind you, but it does make me a little curious as to what they might be up to. “President Vladimir Putin in 2007 revived the Soviet-era practice of sendin
More... »