My first computer job was as an operator at a middlin' sized company. In the computer room, we had two 6 foot tall speaker stacks (one of the other operators was in a band, and had these as extras), a 100 watt amplifier (that was a lot of power back in the day), and a reel to reel tape decked well stocked with rock & roll. We let 'em play, I'm tellin' ya. NO countr and western music allowed! To add to the atmosphere, the computer room was also a photographic darkroom (some of the computer output gear printed out on photographic RC paper), so much of the time the normal lighting was off, and the place was lit by eery looking red safelights...that and the loud music made for a hell of an atmosphere...people frm other departments were scared to come in and bother us.
Back when I had to take an APL course at Rice University, circa 1972, everonye there called APL "Iverson's Folly". Between it and PL/1 I concluded I hated computers and didn't get back into them for almost 10 years.
Yah, deep down in the code mine, hacking away with picks and shovels. One of Watson's miners pauses, as his shovel strikes something other than dirt. Down on his knees he goes and carefully brushes the dross away from an enormous nugget of raw code ore, as big as your two fists held together! Now it looks like a shiny, irregularly shaped nugget of source, but he knows as soon as its been cut and polished and compiled and link-edited, the beauty of its FORMAT statements and its computed GOTOs will come shining through...truly a great discovery...FORTRAN was a really valuable find.
Lots of folks are switching to digital. But...in 30 years, will any of these digital cameras still work? I'm still using my Canon F-1 that I bought in 1975, still takes as good a picture now as the day it was new (and it's only had one trip to the repair shop, for a general cleanup and an adjustment of the light meter)...can't see any of these electronic and plastic devices holding up to heavy use for anywhere near that long...In the next 30 years, I anticipate that it will still keep working, though I realize I'll probably be doing my own developing and printing, as silver photography becomes an artist/hobbyist niche activity.
Build? You didn't build anything, you just stuffed some preassembled parts in a box. You'll have built something when you design a circuit and construct it from discrete components. You assembled something, at best.
Two jobs ago, my boss told me to get my company business cards ordered. I asked him "What title should I put on 'em?" He said "I don't care, whatever you want."
I picked "Master of the Devices". He wasn't amused.
I've always thought Bruce Campbell would be perfect to play Kimball Kinnison in a movie based on any of the Lens books. That lantern jaw and righteous but bemused attitude would be a perfect fit.
Sigh...like I said, if you feel compelled to keep explaining that ReplayTV is superior to Tivo, yer still missing my point...
I remember a time on the Internet, when simple concepts didn't whoosh over the heads of people like the Space Station...but it was a long time ago...
Yeah, a space cat walking across a Martian's keyboard. My intro to computers course at Rice University, circa 1971, was based on APL. I concluded I hated computers and wasted 6 more years until I got a job at a DEC shop as an operator, and worked my way up to system programmer...APL almost threw me off the tracks for good.
Ummmm...the whole point is, that Betamax was technically superior to VHS, yet VHS won hands down, and Betamax withered away in the market...ya get the point now? ReplayTV, technically superior, market share approaching 0...now do ya dig where I was coming from? If you are tempted to further explain the superiority of ReplayTV to me, you are still missing the point...
Prolly depends on what part o' the country yer in...here in old Houston town, the humidity never gets low enough to allow static buildup, so we all have become pretty cavalier about the need for elaborate ground precautions.
I agree with Shalla. I got married 4 years ago (we'd been in an exclusive relationship for 25 years already, so we figured, what the hell). Got a Justice of the Peace to do the ceremony. He had a standard spiel he used to do marriage ceremonies, but said we could modify it any way we needed to. We went through it and took out all the superstitious cruft about god and supreme bengs and whatnot, and used it. We were married just fine, no supernatural beings needed, thank you very much...
Yup, cgadd's got it right, and ya won't get any sparks either...there's a difference between an old style car with the electronics doodads added as a bag on the the side, and a new one where the electronics are integrated in from the ground up.
I went to a new doctor a couple weeks ago. While taking down my history, he asked "Are you married?" "Yes", I replied. He said "that's good, married men live longer". He paused to reflect for a second, then said "or maybe it just seems longer".
Stealth could have been a great movie, if only the writers had done it more like a Keith Laumer "Bolo" story, rather than the disappointing mess they made out of it.
They also added a forward assist lever to the mechanism of the rifle, so you could force the action closed and continue firing, even if it was jammed full of gunk.
Slashdot Mirror
This is not the polar lander you were looking for.
My first computer job was as an operator at a middlin' sized company. In the computer room, we had two 6 foot tall speaker stacks (one of the other operators was in a band, and had these as extras), a 100 watt amplifier (that was a lot of power back in the day), and a reel to reel tape decked well stocked with rock & roll. We let 'em play, I'm tellin' ya. NO countr and western music allowed! To add to the atmosphere, the computer room was also a photographic darkroom (some of the computer output gear printed out on photographic RC paper), so much of the time the normal lighting was off, and the place was lit by eery looking red safelights...that and the loud music made for a hell of an atmosphere...people frm other departments were scared to come in and bother us.
Back when I had to take an APL course at Rice University, circa 1972, everonye there called APL "Iverson's Folly". Between it and PL/1 I concluded I hated computers and didn't get back into them for almost 10 years.
Yah, deep down in the code mine, hacking away with picks and shovels. One of Watson's miners pauses, as his shovel strikes something other than dirt. Down on his knees he goes and carefully brushes the dross away from an enormous nugget of raw code ore, as big as your two fists held together! Now it looks like a shiny, irregularly shaped nugget of source, but he knows as soon as its been cut and polished and compiled and link-edited, the beauty of its FORMAT statements and its computed GOTOs will come shining through...truly a great discovery...FORTRAN was a really valuable find.
Lots of folks are switching to digital. But...in 30 years, will any of these digital cameras still work? I'm still using my Canon F-1 that I bought in 1975, still takes as good a picture now as the day it was new (and it's only had one trip to the repair shop, for a general cleanup and an adjustment of the light meter)...can't see any of these electronic and plastic devices holding up to heavy use for anywhere near that long...In the next 30 years, I anticipate that it will still keep working, though I realize I'll probably be doing my own developing and printing, as silver photography becomes an artist/hobbyist niche activity.
Ya, exit wounds tend to be bigger...as Anita Blake put it, "In like a penny, out like a pizza"
Build? You didn't build anything, you just stuffed some preassembled parts in a box. You'll have built something when you design a circuit and construct it from discrete components. You assembled something, at best.
I agree as well. To paraphrase Machiavelli, Survival necessities can't always get you a gun...but a gun can always get you survival necessities...
Two jobs ago, my boss told me to get my company business cards ordered. I asked him "What title should I put on 'em?" He said "I don't care, whatever you want." I picked "Master of the Devices". He wasn't amused.
I've always thought Bruce Campbell would be perfect to play Kimball Kinnison in a movie based on any of the Lens books. That lantern jaw and righteous but bemused attitude would be a perfect fit.
Semper ubi sub ubi
My advice is never to watch a foot ball game ever, under any circumstances. And that goes for all the other stick and ball games as well...
Sigh...like I said, if you feel compelled to keep explaining that ReplayTV is superior to Tivo, yer still missing my point... I remember a time on the Internet, when simple concepts didn't whoosh over the heads of people like the Space Station...but it was a long time ago...
Yeah, a space cat walking across a Martian's keyboard. My intro to computers course at Rice University, circa 1971, was based on APL. I concluded I hated computers and wasted 6 more years until I got a job at a DEC shop as an operator, and worked my way up to system programmer...APL almost threw me off the tracks for good.
Ummmm...the whole point is, that Betamax was technically superior to VHS, yet VHS won hands down, and Betamax withered away in the market...ya get the point now? ReplayTV, technically superior, market share approaching 0...now do ya dig where I was coming from? If you are tempted to further explain the superiority of ReplayTV to me, you are still missing the point...
You haev a ReplayTV DVR? Is it right next to your Betamax VCR?
Prolly depends on what part o' the country yer in...here in old Houston town, the humidity never gets low enough to allow static buildup, so we all have become pretty cavalier about the need for elaborate ground precautions.
Photographic memory? You mean one that fades over time and undergoes color shifts?
Agreed...and the miscasting of munchkin Hallie Berry as Storm is a major crime.
I agree with Shalla. I got married 4 years ago (we'd been in an exclusive relationship for 25 years already, so we figured, what the hell). Got a Justice of the Peace to do the ceremony. He had a standard spiel he used to do marriage ceremonies, but said we could modify it any way we needed to. We went through it and took out all the superstitious cruft about god and supreme bengs and whatnot, and used it. We were married just fine, no supernatural beings needed, thank you very much...
Yup, cgadd's got it right, and ya won't get any sparks either...there's a difference between an old style car with the electronics doodads added as a bag on the the side, and a new one where the electronics are integrated in from the ground up.
It won't be free...most of the probing aliens are now HMO UFOs, so you'll have to make a copayment.
I went to a new doctor a couple weeks ago. While taking down my history, he asked "Are you married?" "Yes", I replied. He said "that's good, married men live longer". He paused to reflect for a second, then said "or maybe it just seems longer".
Stealth could have been a great movie, if only the writers had done it more like a Keith Laumer "Bolo" story, rather than the disappointing mess they made out of it.
They also added a forward assist lever to the mechanism of the rifle, so you could force the action closed and continue firing, even if it was jammed full of gunk.