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+--- Thread: Antarctica - Not Far Enough Away (/showthread.php?tid=1162)
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RE: Antarctica - Not Far Enough Away - Ninurta - 08-19-2023
(08-19-2023, 07:38 PM)Snarl Wrote: Remember how much a long distance call cost back then? Or what a 56K baud rate was? And how nice it was if the phone line could keep that baud rate from dropping to 8K or 4K baud? Cheez ... the memories this thread brings to light.
I recall when all the ISPs started advertising 56K and no one had a phone line, or the equipment, to reach that kinda blinding-fast speed!
I've got a 500mW (for those that don't know, that is a measly 1/2 of ONE watt) pen laser that runs on a 3.8v rechargeable battery. It will shine a green beam at least 6 miles. Now imagine what pumping in excess of 60 kW (which is 120,000 times the power my dinky little 500mW uses) into a big one could do!
With that said, I don't think that beam was a laser - it would have vitrified the brick, and probably left some slag on the ground under the hole if it had been.
ETA: You also mentioned long distance rates back in the day - I recall a collect call my ma got from Afghanistan in about 1983 that costed, as I recall, 5 bucks a minute back then, which was a fortune in those long ago days!
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