From the March, 2004 Cyberspace News
The March Of Technology
To illustrate how information storage technology is advancing, the
picture shows two storage media. The larger one, 3½ inches wide,
is the familiar "floppy diskette", used in almost all PCs produced
within the past ten years. It holds slightly more than one and a half
million letters, numbers and symbols.
The smaller item to its right, which measures just 1½
inches on a side, is an example of a Compact Flash card, now available
with capacities up to 1 billion bytes ("1 GigaByte"). A 1-GigaByte card
can hold as much information as seven hundred floppy diskettes.
[Note added after publication of the newsletter] An even larger version
is about to be released as of this writing (April, 2004). It will hold
4 GigaBytes. It will be quite expensive (the predicted price is $4500,
as compared to $220-$250 for the 1-GigaByte cards) and so it will be
bought only by professionals with specialized needs. However, the price
will come down as the technology continues to develop, and
ever-increasing capacities become available.
W. A. Shapiro
Napping – It's Not Just For Kids Anymore
You may know that scientists have shown that the performance of mental tasks improves after a one-hour nap.
Evolutionists have determined that napping is, in fact,
actually older than sleeping. Early vertebrates tended to sleep quite
lightly. Deep sleep came rather late in animal development.
How "should" we nap? Sleep scientists warn against taking too
long a nap because it can disturb evening sleep. Napping longer than 30
minutes leads to a condition called "sleep inertia," which can leave
you groggy rather than refreshed. And you should take your nap about
eight hours after waking up in the morning rather than waiting until
late afternoon, also so you don't disrupt your biological clock and
make it harder to fall asleep at night.
So make time for sleep!
Source: The Old Farmer's Almanac – 2004 Edition
4.25.04-1330
