IMPish Tales

Bob Metcalfe rhapsodizes about working on ARPANET interfaces, the pre-Internet project that Bob Taylor headed.

Metcalfe later worked for Taylor at Xerox PARC, where he was a primary developer of what became Ethernet. Bob provides historical context for “America’s Technology Highway,” Route 128.

25 47

What, you think that’s a reference to the 25th Amendment being invoked to remove the 47th president? No, I’m referring to the only passage in the Bible that is chapter 25, verse 47.

Leviticus 25:47

47 “‘If a foreigner residing among you becomes rich and any of your fellow Israelites become poor and sell themselves to the foreigner or to a member of the foreigner’s clan, 48 they retain the right of redemption after they have sold themselves. One of their relatives may redeem them:

As relevant today as it was in Old Testament times! Leviticus is also, of course, the book of the Bible that’s quoted by opponents of gay rights.

Leviticus 20:13

“‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.

The “put to death” part seems to be contrary to the Sixth Commandment, but what ev’.

A Distorted View

How good am I at detecting audible distortion? I’ll go to Germany to find out.

https://www.klippel.de/listeningtest/

To ensure a valid test, I wore a pair of IEMs with vanishing low measured distortion. (The 7Hz x Crinacle Zero:2) This was the result from my first pass.

You reached an audibility threshold of -39 dB. This value is near the mean value of the audibility threshold of all listeners participated in the test. However, there were some other participants that were more sensitive in detecting those distortions. It is very likely that those participants had more experience in careful listening. Listeners who have repeated the test see that a little bit of training will improve their sensitivity for those distortions and reduce their audibility threshold.

Some listeners went all the way down to -69 dB! Now that I’m familiar with the test, and there are other parameters that can be selected, including music, I’ll give it another try later.

Hardware for Software

Back in January, I asked this question and expressed my doubt, regarding Amazon’s use of fiber optic cable.

Light Speed

I was correct in assuming that Amazon is hooking up with Corning for its expansion plans.

https://www.cnbc.com/2026/06/08/amazon-taps-corning-for-op.html

With all of the talk and concern about where processors are made, what about the circuit boards designed to hold those chips?