
Felicia, the Pipe-Cleaning Ferret of Fermilab (1971) - samclemens
http://history.fnal.gov/felicia.html
======
programmer_dude
>The ferret is an animal filled with curiosity and seeks out holes and
burrows. Its instinct is to find out what's at the other end of a burrow, or,
for that matter, a tube or a pipe.

A true scientist at heart :) The ferret was among its peers.

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wiradikusuma
Just curious, isn't more "sterile" to use robot? I mean, a ferret can poo in
the middle, it can leave fur and feet traces inside the tube.

~~~
sjtrny
> When she came out the other end, technicians tied a swab dipped in a
> chemical cleanser to the string. They pulled the tight-fitting swab through
> and when it came out it was covered with dust and steelspecks.

Poo would be unfortunate but look at the title. It's from 1971. People barely
had colour TV back then, let alone pipe cleaning robots.

~~~
DanBC
[http://history.fnal.gov/felicia.html#TheTrib](http://history.fnal.gov/felicia.html#TheTrib)

> This good life may soon end for Felicia. The laboratory scientists have
> designed and built a mechanical ferret, a device activated by compressed air
> and controlled by wires. They don't need Felicia anymore. This was always
> the plan, with Felicia to be used only temporarily, while they built her
> robot.

> Source: The Tribune, December 22, 1971

~~~
trhway
i wonder what has happened to her. I remember how in childhood it was
frequently mentioned about the first dog in space, yet nobody mentioned (and i
never even asked about) the ending of the story, nor planned, nor what really
happened - the "Layka" dog succumbed pretty torturously to heat due to failed
equipment instead of the planned "happy end" \- poisoned pill that should have
been fed automatically to her.
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laika)

~~~
DanBC
I had a quick web search.

[http://imgur.com/POrxEqv](http://imgur.com/POrxEqv)

Google, Duck Duck Go, Bing, Blekko, etc etc: you really need to start
delisting the fuckers who pollute search results with made up shit. How is
this possibly useful to your users? Companies who want to cram their URL in
front of me at every opportunity should pay to place it in ads.

(I don't use an ad blocker. I even click relevant ads, although I've never
bought anything from one yet.)

~~~
pja
This is Google themselves IIRC. If you don't turn it off they will show your
ads next to terms which they deem "related" to the ones you've chosen
supposedly via some deep Googly machine-learning analysis.

Said analysis seems to have worked because I don't see any ads at all for that
search on either desktop or mobile - presumably everyone carrying out that
search knew exactly what they were looking for & it wasn't any of the
displayed ads so Google stopped displaying them.

~~~
DanBC
Thanks for the information - I'm about to trawl through the google settings to
find it and turn that off.

I can understand ebay turning up. I use ebay. I have no idea how a geneology
site turns up - I have no interest in it and have no relevant searches and
haven't, as far as I can tell, visited any pages or watched any videos that
are relevant.

Also, just to be really clear: you're saying that Google is inserting paid ads
into organic search results with no indication that they are paid ads?

Edit: if this is true, and if there is a setting to turn it off, where is that
setting?

~~~
pja
Assuming your image was of Google ads, not organic search results: eBay might
be keying off Ferret (ie pet supplies) I'd guess, whilst the genealogy site
would probably be keying off Felicia, on the principle that Felicia Ferret
might be someone's name.

 _You 're saying that Google is inserting paid ads into organic search results
with no indication that they are paid ads?_

No, definitely not - the ads I'm talking about are shown in the sections
marked as such. It's just that Google can expand the keywords that the ads
respond too in ways that can surprise ad buyers that aren't aware of it.

It wouldn't surprise me if large websites play SEO games as well, but Google
will respond to the behaviour of searchers when shown these results and push
unhelpful results down the search order - if no one ever clicks on the eBay
Felicia Ferret link, even though it starts off being the first result, then it
will receive a penalty that ought to push it off the first page of results
quite quickly.

(I have no internal knowledge of Google's processes; this is all inferred from
watching Google over the years.)

~~~
DanBC
I am not sure how you could think I was talking about ads.

Look at the image - it is _clearly_ not ads. Look at the words I wrote - I
talk about pollution of search results and offer the solution of putting these
things into ads.

~~~
pja
Mea culpa. You're right - Google marks ads with a yellow Ad icon on mobile.

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aabajian
Ferrets are awesome. I wish they were legal in California.

~~~
tempodox
What, are ferrets not legal in CA? How can an animal be illegal?

~~~
wil421
Not sure if you are serious or not but there are many illegal animals in the
US. Rhinos, Elephants, and Hyenas come to mind for family pets.

Here is a link for CA.

[http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2012/02/29/pets-you-cant-
legally...](http://blog.sfgate.com/stew/2012/02/29/pets-you-cant-legally-own-
in-california/#3188101=0)

~~~
tempodox
The question may have looked stupid, but it was an honest question. Thanks for
answering.

------
tempodox
There is quite some build-up of residue in my warp drive's plasma conduits. Is
there a ferret lending service somewhere? My EMH Mark 1 is offline.

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zbyszek
I am suprised that there was only one. I knew someone who kept ferrets (to
catch rabbits for her hawk) and was told that, as social animals, being kept
in isolation would send them crazy, while all-female groups didn't get along
well. Was spaying Felicia not an option in 1971?

~~~
aaronem
It's not exactly true that ferrets need other ferrets around to keep from
going crazy; frequent, interesting interaction with humans easily suffices to
satisfy their need for stimulation. Between the tunnel runs, and the fact that
happy ferrets are endearing, friendly little creatures in general, I doubt she
lacked for enough to keep her mind active.

