proactivepaul, 3 months ago

@root42

A friend of mine taught me this, circa 1988:

UK - Everything is permitted unless it's forbidden

Germany - Everything is forbidden unless it's permitted

Italy - Everything is permitted even if it's forbidden

Russia - Everything is forbidden even if it's permitted

juergen, 3 months ago

@root42 Der Abgeordnete Dr. Kunz hat da 1986 mal nachgefragt (Nr. 71): https://dserver.bundestag.de/btd/10/057/1005713.pdf

root42, 3 months ago

@juergen sehr interessant. Der Knackpunkt ist tatsächlich die Interferenz mit Satelliten TV.

root42, 3 months ago

The microwave itself is still in use, by the way! 36 years and counting...

mostly, 3 months ago

@root42 There are sometimes good reasons for this like this story shows:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/may/05/microwave-oven-caused-mystery-signal-plaguing-radio-telescope-for-17-years

German: https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/astronomie-mikrowellen-aus-der-tiefe-der-kueche-100.html

root42, 3 months ago

@mostly oh, I am fully aware that the RF spectrum needs to be protected and regulated.

7666, 3 months ago

@root42 you guys and your goddamn paperwork

root42, 3 months ago

@7666 if you want to complain, please use the form. Triple Stamped.

filid, 3 months ago

@root42 you also need a license to run a Homecomputer.

root42, 3 months ago

@filid nice. Was that because it didn’t have a general license to be operated, like an FTZ number? Or was that the norm in the very early days of home computing? I doubt every C64 owner had this…

filid, 3 months ago

@root42 The TI-99 4A did not have a FTZ number. My parents gifted me that one on xmas 83 and I had to wait to turn it on until this letter arrived....

ajuvo, 3 months ago

@root42 @damalstm ☝️

cynblogger, 3 months ago

@root42
My high school gym was used as a venue to exhibit very early microwave ovens in the 1950’s. Watching them demo baking a potato in less than 10 minutes made the future very tangible.

claus, 3 months ago

@root42 Also, modems and acoustic couplers (or anything you attached to your telephone in some way really) had to be certified by the Deutsche Post in the 80s, leading to the CCC releasing the schematics of the "Datenklo" ("Data Toilet"), a guerilla acoustic coupler for everyone (including me) to build and operate illegally. It did a whopping 300 bps. Good times.

dascandy42, 3 months ago

@root42 East or west?

West. Just confirmed; that logo was used by the Deutsche Post of west-Germany from the early 80's up to the mid 90s.

root42, 3 months ago

@dascandy42 Bundespost is a dead giveaway...

dascandy42, 3 months ago

@root42 Might be; I haven't been in West-Germany for decades.

root42, 3 months ago

@dascandy42 I see. Everything west is Bundes* (Bundes==Federal) as it was the Bundesrepublik (Federal Republic) and the east was the German Democratic Republic ("Democratic"). The GDR Post was called Deutsche Post whereas the FRG Post was called Deutsche Bundespost, or Bundespost for short.

PiiiepsBrummm, 3 months ago

@root42 OK, I have to ask my parents. I'm positive, we had a microwave oven since the beginning of the 1980ies. I don't know of any license, but back then I was in primary school.

WhyNotZoidberg, 3 months ago

@root42 Never had that, but still until the early 1990s you were only allowed to buy phone models that had been tested by the Royal Phone Company.

Inheidener, 3 months ago

@root42 Das waren noch Zeiten...Toll,das du das Dokument noch aufgehoben hast. Gibt es die benannte Mikrowelle noch?

root42, 3 months ago

@Inheidener das ist aus dem Nachlass der Schwiegermutter eines Freundes.

sdarlington, 3 months ago

@root42 @uliwitness My kids don't believe me when I say that in the UK you used to need a licence to own a dog!

root42, 3 months ago

@sdarlington @uliwitness I mean, you still have to get a dog tag and pay taxes for your dog, at least in Germany...

drazraeltod, 3 months ago

@root42 it serves to prove how bureaucracy want's to controll "everything"

as long as it doesn't become a hassle for the bureaucrats

having to register any sending device is kinda a not-that-stupid idea. And it was done until there were just too many devices around.

did it help? no
would it prevent broken microwaves from spamming the spectrum? no.

(similarily fun: back in those days you weren't allowed to connect any phone to your landline - only those exact ones allowed by Bundespost)

root42, 3 months ago

@drazraeltod our phone didn't have a jack. The phone line went straight into a box in the wall. You weren't even allowed to install the phone yourself...
I guess with microwave ovens it was also a legacy issue. Back in 1949 no one thought of those...

sqrt2, 3 months ago

@root42 @drazraeltod The fact that they couldn't be bothered to type out the name tells you how highly they valued this particular task of theirs.

jeff, 3 months ago

@root42 communism does crazy shit like that

root42, 3 months ago

@jeff well, this was in the FRG. So… no communism

yrrsinn, 3 months ago

@root42 correct, but Berlin was also something special,
'whereby West Berlin was still not part in the sense of a constitutive part of the Federal Republic and could not be governed by the federal government' see https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Power_Agreement_on_Berlin @jeff

saxnot, 3 months ago

@root42 pretty sure that @ jeff@mk.magicka.org is just a troll / shitposter. Just look at their profile. Nothing but low effort memes and trolling

Cyb3rrunn3r, 3 months ago

@root42 😱

MagicLike, 3 months ago

@root42 as it should be

lobingera, 3 months ago

deleted_by_author

hikhvar, 3 months ago

@lobingera @root42 why? Shouldn't it be the responsibility of the manufacturer to make the system not leaking any waves?

wonka, 3 months ago

@hikhvar https://www.hea.de/fachwissen/mikrowellen/sicherheit says they may leak up to 10mW / cm², measured in a distance of 5cm - that could be enough to jam Wifi, which is only allowed up to 100mW EIRP.

@lobingera @root42

Fripi, 3 months ago

@root42 I am shocked that it isn't needed any more! 😅