Informatorium 56 - i56 pod

In this episode, we ask: what did timekeeping devices do to culture? We contemplate an underlying theme of the show: whether man's obsession with time (and its subdivision) resulting in its commoditization is a good thing. But the main focus of the show is to look at the cultural paths that became available after the invention of timekeeping devices. First, we review the "clock-time," time-obsesse...

In this episode, we discuss the water clock (its path from the ancient Egyptian version through Greece and Rome). We discuss the water clock as the answer to providing indoor, sunless time that can be synced with a sundial. We look at improvements made by the Greeks, including making water clocks effective at keeping seasonal hours. We take a detour to learn about early alarm clocks and look at mo...

Excerpt from the main show on sundials where we tell the story of sundials that made their way to space.

In this episode, we kick off our series on timekeepingdevices. The journey starts with the first known sundials discovered in Egypt. Then we visit ancient Greece and Rome, and the Renaissance, to learn about later developments. We stop in India, where the largest sundial ever built resides. Finally, we discover modern uses for sundials, including why they are being used in space. TIMESTAMPS (00:01...

Introduction to the Sundial Episode, the first in our series on timekeeping devices.

(00:00:00) Intro on the state of extended reality (00:09:04) Intro on Facebook (00:10:33) A man named Luckey and his Oculus — the origin story of the Meta Quest (00:20:50) Mark Z buys the Oculus, gets super excited about the Metaverse, and explains how great it will be (00:26:35) What you can do in the Metaverse (00:33:30) The scope of Meta's investment in the Metaverse (00:41:00) Opinion on why t...

The 10th episode celebration is finally here....in episode 13! In this Informatorium special, we head to Informatorium 22, where Julia and Ike participate in the exciting game show “Real or Not Real,” hosted by Philip A. Huxley. As contestants, they have to guess whether a bunch of cool-sounding items, like hoverboards and AR contact lenses, are actually real. And then there is a fun final round a...

What does it take to make XR a cultural phenomenon? Today we review Google Glass, the Microsoft HoloLens, and the Meta Quest. What do they do? How do you use them? Are they successful devices? What were the pros and cons? Plus, the story of a man named Luckey and the device he sold to Facebook for billions of dollars. Then, Facebook becomes Meta and tries to dominate the world with its Metaverse....

In this episode, Greg and Julia dig into the histories to piece together a timeline of the XR origin story. This includes stories about the Sensorama, the Telesphere Mask, the Link Trainer, Pygmalion’s Spectacles , Ivan Sutherland’s “Ultimate Display” and his actual display (which is not called the Sword of Damocles), as well as VPL Research and their VR glove and display. We also take a fun detou...

In this episode, we kick off our series on extended reality (virtual reality, mixed reality, and augmented reality) with a discussion of the terminology (XR, VR, MR, AR) and the basics of the hardware (stereoscopy, head-mounted displays, etc.). Greg and Julia also cover reading newspapers, going to McDonald’s, and the decline of Starbucks.

In this episode we pick up with dry plates in the modern era of photography and then discuss George Eastman's developmental years through his entrance into the world of photography. We explore Eastman's company that will become Kodak, the development of photographic film, the Kodak camera and how the "you press the button, we do the rest" process made photography easier for everyone. Then we dive...

In this episode we explore the foundations of photography that lead to the creation of George Eastman's Kodak Brownie. By exploring the progression through the camera obscura, Heliography, Calotypes and wet plates we see how the original desire to capture light eventually leads to dry plate negatives and the world of modern photography - a world that becomes the foundation for a culture obsessed w...

Brownie Series Preview

Doctors and cartoon characters smoking cigarettes on TV? Welcome to 20th century America. We look at how the U.S. government providing cigarettes as part of wartime rations coupled with advertising kick off what will become a smoking epidemic in the U.S., culminating with 42% of adults being smokers by 1965. We also review early 1900's anti-smoking sentiment and Greg gets all preachy about how adv...

Explorers, Colonies and Pirates!  Oh, and a viral pamphlet on the wonders of tobacco. We look at why people use tobacco.  Greg relays his personal relationship with tobacco then leads us through an overview of man’s history with the plant (from the Americas through Europe and ending with its beginning as a crop in an English colony).  Then we learn about the beginning of U.S. Big Tobacco in the ea...

This is a short preview of episode 6.

In this episode Julia explains how 20th century car manufacturing plants become the unwitting production centers for the man-made stone Fordite, while Greg goes on some detours about Japan black, Gilsonite andhis miniature clone army.  Also, old-timey radio guy makes his debut.

Lift a city?  Dig a 2-mile tunnel under Lake Michigan?  Reverse a river?  In this episode we discuss the amazing attempts to clean up the waste caused by the rapid growth of Chicago at the end of the 19th century.

This is a short clip taken from our series on the Chicago River.

In this episode we look at Chicago and the Chicago River, starting with European exploration of the area through the founding and explosive growth of Chicago as it becomes the transportation hub of the U.S. Finally, we discuss the completion of the I&M canal which creates an all water route from the Atlantic to the Gulf of Mexico.

In this fun short form I-56 pod, Julia tells the tale of how coasters started out as extravagant devices and how beer mats saved drinks from unwanted invaders. Meanwhile, Greg pretends to be a rich guy with a fancy antique coaster and a butler named Chauncey.

In this first episode of the Informatorium 56 podcast, Gregand Julia discuss how the evolution of the American home led to the rise of thebackyard deck. Along the way we take a detour on how the first backyard grille came about and even learn about some deck materials in use today.