They're common in the US too in doctors offices and hospitals because of the security requirements of transmitting patient records and such.

And it's WAY older than people think. The first patent for a fax like machine was granted in 1843.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fax

If some of the stories are to be believed, some of the code dates back to 3.1/dos too

Fucking NAT. Never should have been allowed to escape from the lab.

I ❤️ IPv4

To be fair I have infinity more confidence in the system you just described than whatever tech bro disruptor was going to pitch

Not all of them, most of ATC in EASA airspace is Linux based and use electronic strips instead of the plastic paper strips.

But the foundation of the ground/ground communication is still AFTN based on x400 network (Europe used to have an X.25 network for its CIDIN communications).

The latest and newest tech for international data exchange is AMHS based on X400, often it is x400 over IP ok, but still a 50 years or so tech.

The main idea behind ATC and aviation tech is reliability and compatibility with countries with less money to upgrade tech.

Back to the Future lied to me again!

A decade ago, I thought phone numbers would soon die out. Instead, the most popular messaging apps use them as identifiers and adoption of those in North America is poor.

For the uninitiated, Ikarus was a Hungarian bus factory that produced buses to the Eastern block, some of those are probably still running somewhere in Mongolia. The Ikarus 256 was produced between 1974-2002, so in the best case that thing was at least 23 years old.

But even better, someone got to travel on an Ikarus 55 on the same day (1954-1974), which used to be great in their time, but definitely weren't made for 36C summers, the lack of air conditioning combined with the sunshine roof that used to increase the feel of comfort in 1958 created a living hell for the passengers packed into that rolling museum with barely openable windows.

Hospitals use pagers because the frequency band they run on is better at penetrating walls. Shorter waves carry more data, but are easily blocked by walls. Pagers don’t need a lot of data, so they use really long waves.

And hospitals are built like bunkers, to avoid the potential need to evacuate patients during an emergency. Things like fire breaks between individual rooms, earthquake protections, being strong enough to stand up during a hurricane, etc… The goal is to be able to shelter in place instead of evacuating, because a mass evacuation of bedridden patients who all need monitoring equipment would be a logistical nightmare.

But this also means hospitals are really good at blocking wireless signals, because the walls are all super thick and sturdy. So they use pagers, which use long waves and can reliably penetrate the bunker-like walls. You don’t want a doctor to miss an emergency call because they were sitting in the basement; Hospitals need a wireless connection that reliably works every time. And pagers just happen to fit that specific niche.

I spend a fair bit of time on construction sites, and cameras have one huge issue compared to mirrors: They're one-way.

With a mirror, I can see the driver in the mirror. I can make eyecontact and confirm that they've seen me. With a camera, I have no idea if they've seen me. Maybe they can see more, but if they happen not to be looking, I have no way to tell.

And our stupid road regulations don't allow for both.

You better take a long look in the mirror before you make a controversial statement like that.

They should get rid of the windows too.

Kinda surprised this doesn't have more upvotes considering it seems that it continues to be a massive security vulnerability.

Bidet gang ~~rise up~~ sit down!