A mediocre painters blog

The AN/FSQ-7 Combat Direction Central, usually just shorted to "Q-7," was a massive step forward in computing. It was built for the Strategic Air Command, the nuclear warfighting wing of the United States Air Force, in the mid 1950s. It was the first modern, networked computer. It communicated with radar stations, ground-based anti-air missiles, and fighter-interceptor wings to coordinate a response to invading Soviet bombers in real time. This system was, collectively, refered to as the Semi-Automatic Ground Environment, or SAGE.

Each machine was enormous, weighing some 250 tons. Each had 60,000 vacuum tubes, and used 3 megawatts of power. Every SAGE "direction center" had two Q-7s, and there were 12 direction centers, for a total of 24 computers. As a fun bit of trivia, this means that the air defense network of the United States weighed about as much as a Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarine.

So, the question is: did it work? And the answer is, not in the slightest. In early tests of SAGE it took something like 8 hours to transmit notice of a simulated attack to the airmen operating it. Q-7s frequently overheated, broke down, and had strange bugs, on account of, again, having 60,000 vacuum tubes per computer. This, by the way, is why Q-7s were installed in pairs. The chances of both Q-7s experiencing the same failure at the same time were infinitesimal.

Anyway, SAGE came online in 1955, at a time when the computer industry was booming in was that would boggle the modern mind. It was technologically obsolete within 3 years, when UNIVAC released the "Solid State" which largely eliminated vacuum tube logic. By the early 1960s, though, the advent of the Intercontinental Ballistic Missile meant that the window for responding to a nuclear attack wouldn't even be enough to evacuate a city, as bombers became, largely, obsolete.

A few Q-7s remained in service until the 1980s, but most were dismantled and sold either for scrap or as movie props. The Q-7 has actually had a very long cinematic career stretching all the way from the 1960s to today. You can read more about that, and see examples, here. Q-7 components have been in everything from the original Lost In Space, to Airplane!, to Independence Day and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. [Note: I do not endorse the MCU, but i know what site i'm on.] They were even in a Kellogg's cereal commercial. (I browsed youtube briefly for a link, but i could not find one. It is documented on the above linked page)

Andor: undocumented immigrants are facing sexual violence every day. left wing infighting will get everyone killed. rich people buying back things stolen by colonists is still an act of colonialism.

Santa requiring payment for presents seems to have been a pretty common explanation parents used to explain why Santa might not be able to bring everything children wanted.

Fortunately Babe had a solution.

The first time we ever meet Deputy Undersecretary of the United Nations, Chrisjen Avasarala, she's chilling out in her fancy, cozy house, checking out her outfit and hair in the mirror, and playing with her grandson. She's rocking a lovely gold sari, huge earrings, and big ol' bangles.

Minutes later, she's still wearing that gorgeous shimmering outfit...as she's at a UN Black Site, interrogating a Belter terrorist who is being tortured using gravity.

(The whole scene is a masterclass in character introduction of a feminine, refined, powerful, badass. 10/10 writing).

But I want to talk Avasarala's outfit right here.

Saris are up to 9 feet in length and are often elegantly draped. You NEED gravity and resources to make the fabric work. Especially shimmering silky fabrics like that.

Doubly so for jewelry. Earrings cannot be worn like that under space helmets (I say from experience being an earring lover and motorcycle enthusiast) lest they damage the wearer or break. Bracelets would be impractical in space too, especially the bigger ones that clank and announce someone's presence, like Avasarala.