As I mentioned in a previous post, a lot of my Franklin Institute… obsession?…is related to what used to be called the “Futures Center”; a massive addition to the Franklin Institute in the early 1990s that not only added on a large portion of the building, but filled it with all things modern, like computers, virtual reality, automation, space, and so on.
Continue reading “Franklin Institute W3TKQ Station – 1990s to 2002”Franklin Institute W3TKQ Amateur Radio Station Updated in 1962 (With Sound!!)
You may recall a previous post HERE where I show an original QST card from the original W3TKQ ham radio station, located in the Franklin Institute in 1958.
Well as all things go with technology, the station needed an update after a few years, and in May 1962, Dr. Wynn Laurence LePage, W3QCV, then president of the Franklin Institute, introduced a new, updated W3TKQ station…
Continue reading “Franklin Institute W3TKQ Amateur Radio Station Updated in 1962 (With Sound!!)”Ever see the inside of an Apple Watch?
I was cleaning up my office recently and came across something I totally forgot about: my trashed Apple Watch.
Continue reading “Ever see the inside of an Apple Watch?”Franklin Institute – Flyer from 1930s?
Here’s another piece of Franklin Institute ephemera, likely from the late 1930s. One interesting aspect of this, is that its printed on waxed paper (like a magazine), which surprises me considering the age. A lot of this stuff likely got printed in FI’s own functional print shop, which I believe used to be housed behind glass walls (for public display) in the basement level (now office space). It was only natural for them to have a print shop, as Ben Franklin himself worked in a print shop for quite a while in his lifetime.
Continue reading “Franklin Institute – Flyer from 1930s?”Franklin Institute – Fire Island Lighthouse Light Postcard (1936)
After reviewing my FI stuff on here, not only did I find I goofed a bit on the tags and categories, but I found I didn’t even scan/post all of my FI stuff yet! That said, with my new-found time, let’s get to correcting that!
Show below is a postcard, postmarked in 1936 (when the current Franklin Institute building opened), showing a lighthouse light (originally from Fire Island Lighthouse in NY), that was taken out of service in 1933, and placed on display in the Franklin Institute likely from when the building opened, to around 2000, when the actual light was taken down and placed in storage.
Continue reading “Franklin Institute – Fire Island Lighthouse Light Postcard (1936)”Still here…hunkered down!
Just figured I’d post up a quick update – I am OK and hunkered down. This is beginning week #3 (I think) of being cooped up in the house. Definitely feeling a little cabin fever now, and last week I lost track of what days were what lol!
I have been getting out; in fact I think I’ve seen more of my neighbors and neighborhood (from a safe distance) more in the past 2 weeks than I have in the past 9 years I’ve lived here. I went from driving 60+ miles a day, to using my car maybe twice a week, if that. I have gotten out on the motorcycle, which has been nice to ride around, but the weather has not cooperated much lately. Its been great to walk around the neighborhood during my lunch hour.
In addition, I’ve been on more video calls in the past 2 weeks than I ever have, probably over my entire lifetime. Its interesting how people who were covering up their cameras 3 weeks ago are now defaulting to them being on.
As someone who almost purposely lives under a rock to a degree, I’ve more or less stayed off the news. It’s all sensationalized; and what little I learn via Twitter or via work has been enough to keep me informed.
I’ve mostly been keeping busy with projects, and hope to get some new posts up soon with recent updates. I even got a new piece of Franklin Institute ephemera to post up.
Last but not least – one thing I do know; once this blows over, I plan to hit up as many of those little niche museums as I can. I’ll make a seperate post to call out a few that are within a reasonable distance from the Philly area, but I hope to support them as much as I can!
Rare and Sobering Thrift Shop Find
As you can likely tell from various posts here, I find that rooting around in the paperwork and photograph piles at thrift shops can reveal some interesting stuff, whether it be cool postcards of the past, photographs of notable things, and so on. Often a lot of the stuff comes from cleanouts of homes of the deceased, likely resold at auctions and flea markets, which honestly surprises me sometimes, as you’d think next-of-kin would want or cherish family photographs and ephemera, especially stuff that dates back to first-generation US immigrants and beyond, or of historical value.
Continue reading “Rare and Sobering Thrift Shop Find”TIL: Windows 10 Task Scheduler – Custom Triggers
In working on my Windows 10 Update notification issue the past few days, I’ve been digging into Task Scheduler, and noticed that quite a few of the Windows Update tasks have “custom triggers” on them, that can’t be edited in the Task Scheduler. Ok, what does that mean?
Continue reading “TIL: Windows 10 Task Scheduler – Custom Triggers”Windows 10 Update Notifications – Sorta Broken?
Ok, so funny update to my post yesterday regarding Windows 10 update notifications. End of the day today and me and a buddy were talking while closing down for the day, and as he’s talking, I see his Windows 10 computer suddenly prompt for updates OUT OF THE BLUE. I think he was taken by surprised when I pushed him aside and rushed over to see if that was really the case,and sure enough, his computer was prompting. Why it waited until 5:15 I’m not sure, but I’m thinking it could be due to the “Active Hours” setting.
UPDATE 3-4-2020: Confirmed, that setting seems to have brought update notifications back to life for the entire organization!
Continue reading “Windows 10 Update Notifications – Sorta Broken?”Windows 10 Update Notifications: Broken
On the business side of things, it seems that when Windows 10 checks in with a WSUS server (internal Windows update server), Windows 10 does not notify users when updates are available. I spent a solid day working on this, thinking that perhaps I did something in a group policy somewhere that caused it, but lo and behold, even taking a freshly imaged Windows 10 1903 computer, with only a (new) WSUS group policy still didn’t work properly.
Continue reading “Windows 10 Update Notifications: Broken”