Talk:Disco ball

message: Someone added text that i cop-ed-ed:
: With the appearance of infrared networks, disco balls have found a new application, as a method of dispersing the infrared signals.
But IMO having it rotate would serve no purpose except where the coverage is spotty, and the application is such as to make transforming spottiness in time more acceptable that in space.  E.g., don't rotate it if you plan to use it for telephony. Experts, please? --Jerzy (t) 18:55, 2005 Apr 18 (UTC)
: Don't know about the rotating, but I think the mirrors aren't flat in disco balls used for infra red communications. // Liftarn
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The names i added other than "Disco ball" reflect current marketing, but i note that Frank McCourt, in 'Tis, writing about his thoughts in the early or mid 1950s says, without further elaboration, "crystal ball" (where the context seems clear).  Do we have any other evidence of pre-disco terminology? --Jerzy·t 00:48, 2005 August 11 (UTC)
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"producing a complicated and hard-to-anticipate display" - I wouldn't say so. If a single light is pointed at the ball, the usual pattern is of an array of spots that move steadily with the ball's rotation, and of course change apparent size with distance from the ball. Naturally multiple light sources will make things a little more complex, but the overall pattern remains fairly simple really. 128.232.250.254 22:59, 23 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  ... 

message: I got a disco ball, but I have no idea what I need to get it to rotate? --212.200.210.133 12:29, 9 July 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  How to set up a disco ball? 

message: When was the FIRST disco ball made and for what purpose?
I found an uncited source that suggested mirror balls had been used to repel witches in Europe.   However, a "mirror ball" could have either a smooth surface (e.g., ceremonial south pole), or small square planes of mirrors (like a disco ball).
Snowgecko 19:27, 9 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Who invented the disco ball? 

message: Back in the 70's I used to frequent a club called The Bonspiel Room. I was told that the name of the club reflected the proper name for the disco ball. I can't find any information to substantiate that information. I told a friend that it was the proper name for the disco ball, and now I'm wondering if that could be true.
BooCar159 04:19, 11 October 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Could the disco ball also be called a bonspiel? 

message: Although  it  might  be  true  that  the  mirrored  ball  existed  in  Germany in  the  1020s  as  one  poster  states  I  remember my father  Michael Bachrach  and  his  partner  Irving  Finklestein  inventing  sheets  of  mosaic  mirrors with  adhesive  backing  called  Mirror-stik.   The product  was  used  in  set  designs  of  many  TV  shows  (  i.e. Perry  Como  Show)  in the  late  50s  and  early  60s  and  later  re-appeared  as  the  disco  ball. They  were  forced  to  sell  the  patent  for  very  little  money  due  to  financial need  after  only a  few years  but  I  have  fond  memories  of  going to  the  TV  sets  and  meeting  some  stars  as a  little  girl. I  do  not  know  who owns  the  patent  now.   I  have  seen the  product  on  buildings  in Epcot Center  and  other places,   and  hope  my dad  and  his  partner  are  looking  down  from heaven  to  see  that  thier  work  lives  on.
 69.121.198.165 (talk) 22:20, 14 June 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:    Mirror-  stik... invented  by  Bachrach  and  Finklestein 

message: I was surprised that the Glitter ball has been listed on here as the "disco ball" in the title section. I do not ever recall it being referred to as such in the youth culture of the 1960s (when discotechques emerged), 1970s, 1980s or 1990s. The fact that they are called "disco balls" today in some quarters surely in no way indicates that the "glitter ball" name has been eclipsed? I'd never heard of the term "disco ball" until I read this article, and I'm fifty two years old! The use of the glitter ball in dance halls for decades (since at least the 1930s) has been largely ignored in this article. In our UK TV programme "Strictly Come Dancing", a "Glitter Ball trophy" is awarded each series.
I think this is a strange and misleading article - and an attempt to rewrite pop culture history.
Might I suggest that the article title is changed to "Glitter ball/Disco ball" and that somebody does rather more research into the history of dance halls across the decades and the glitter/disco ball's place in them?
(Solidsandie (talk) 18:03, 16 January 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rewriting History - Glitter Ball or Disco Ball 

message: Can someone confirm if the following section is valid? It seems to me that from "resulting in a Q-switched ..." onwards it is a spoof entry that would not be out of place in THHGTTG.
"Disco balls with first-surface mirrors can be used in combination with excimer lasers and Nd:YVO4 crystals to produce hemispherical DPSS orbital optical cavities, resulting in a Q-switched fully resonant discotheque experience oft used in Stockholm, Helsinki and less often, Madrid. This system is called "The Helsinki Venus Pump"."
I think it is bogus. "The Helsinki Venus Pump" can only be found at wikipedia and nowhere else. I think this part should be deleted!  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.63.173.202 (talk) 09:59, 5 May 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Bogus Section: Resonant Discotheque? 

message: the circus is called merano and have used it at least since 2010  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 84.208.59.120 (talk) 21:48, 10 September 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  used on a norwegian circus 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Would it be relevant to talk about discoballs as solar projectors and pinhead mirrors?
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6552/ad1fa0
https://www.space.com/watch-ring-of-fire-eclipse-with-disco-ball
https://www.iflscience.com/you-could-use-a-disco-ball-to-watch-the-ring-of-fire-eclipse-70945
https://petapixel.com/2023/10/02/astronomers-put-more-disco-balls-in-observatories/ Synethos (talk) 16:02, 9 February 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  as solar projectors