Flash in the Pants

Thirty years ago — OK, let’s make it 40 — Flash for me referred to a comic book character I liked. Now Flash is all about memory sticks. I started with a modest SanDisk 128-MB model:

But then I need a bigger fix, so I graduated to 1-GB:

That 1-gigger saw a lot of use and abuse, mostly at work. Eventually, all three of its caps broke, but not before it survived a ride in the washing machine and the dryer, while forgotten in the little “fifth pocket” of my Eddie Bauer chinos. Previously, I’d worn it around my neck, along with my employee badge, but the little piece of plastic for the lanyard broke, so into the pocket it went.

Now I have a 2-GB Flash drive, which even at USB-2 speeds takes some time to back up:

But now it seems that in the rush to meet demand, some USB flash drives are failing:

http://cwflyris.computerworld.com/t/859798/651604/33969/2/

Fortunately, these things are ridiculously cheap. The research firm IDG is quoted in that article. They’re literally next door to the building where I work, but other than some of their people parking in our garage and eating in our cafeteria, we have no contact with them.

Robot Attack

It’s the Red States vs. the Blue States! Red appears to have gotten in the first punch, but Blue will be fighting back — I hope!

Here’s a toy every boy wanted, but I never had. After all that pounding and punching, Rock ‘Em and Sock ‘Em haven’t aged a day in 40 years!

They were introduced in 1966 by Marx, a NYC company that had nothing to do with the Marx brothers, but with a knack for making inexpensive and interesting toys. Read more about Louis Marx and Co. on Wikipedia.

Mattel is bringing back the Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots for the reasonable price of $15, and Amazon.com has ’em for pre-order. Don’t see a release date, but let’s hope it’s out before Christmas.

No electronics, no batteries, only mechanically manipulated mayhem! Mattel should introduce a Marital Dispute Edition. They’d sell out in no time!