It was fun on the C64 but I didn't really get into it until I got my C128 and a second floppy drive. Program in one drive, data in the other. 80-column screen! Whoo boy that was fun.
"...better file management programs at the time..."
including from Microsoft itself. DOSSHELL, included with DOS 4?, 5? (been too long) was a file management and task switching environment that actually was more stable than Windows at the time. YMMHV (...May Have Varied)
Heh, heh. Soon after I got out of the Army, a writer for Rolling Stone was reminiscing about his days in the Navy. They had had approximately the same mission we had, just offset a little bit geographically. I'm not sure if he got in trouble for it, but he "declassified" a LOT of information.
Let me just repeat the motto of the Army Security Agency: In God we trust, everyone else we monitor.
A good question. An analog from simpler times:
More years ago than I care to count on my fingers I was a cryptanalyst in...let's say, near, the Mideast. The traffic we were intercepting and working on was in Russian, Italian or one of several dialects of Arabic, none of which I speak, or more to the point, read. But when you are applying decryption techniques you don't necessarily have to know what exactly what the message says to make progress, just what the plaintext should LOOK like.
Touch typing can be unlearnable, too. My first job-related computer experience was on an IBM AT using an in-house COBOL program that made extensive use of the F keys, which in those days were on a pad to the left (where God intended them, per Jerry Pournelle). After some time I found that I had shifted my hands to the left and was using my right hand for the right two thirds of the keyboard and left for the rest and the F keys. Now, years after last using that program and years after the F keys migrated to the top of the keyboard, I still type with that offset.
Effectiveness also depends on the lay of the land. A building I work in (in Wisconsin) has heated sidewalks for the front entrance, which is on a hillside slope. Under certain conditions of snow amount and temperature the heated area produces runoff which freezes into layers of ice which make the nice, clear sidewalk almost impossible to get to. Several times a winter they have to turn off the sidewalk and clear it the old-fashioned way.
You laugh but it could be true. In the early 70s I lived in Asmara, Ethiopia (now Eritria). Our place was on the edge of town and we often saw camel trains plodding in from the hills headed for the marketplace. The lead camel usually had a blaring transistor radio around its neck. I always wondered if the lead camel driver had a radio because he was the leader or if he was the leader because he had a radio.
The generational factor is a good point, but I think there may be more to it. For the record I'm fifty-something and grew up in a newspaper-reading household. "The paper" was always around, even if we were on vacation and the paper had been bought from a rack.
When I left home I always subscribed, whever I was, or at least bought one regularily.
A few years ago though, I let my subscription lapse after a delivery dispute and have never gotten back in the habit. I buy a Sunday paper maybe once or twice a month. And I read it for days. I honestly can't figure out how I used to get through a newspaper every day.
When I was a senior in high school, having observed how graduation and other end-of-year celebrations worked, I started jockeying for fourth or fifth (I forget) in class rank. This was the highest place that didn't involve having to make a speech.
Like most generalizations (including yours) it contains a kernel of truth. My intention in citing it in this queue was to point out that most people are wilder in their youth and tend to mellow out as they get older, leaving a dossier that might prove embarrassing in certain contexts. Or were just making a "generalization" joke?
Besides...
"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains." Attrib. various, including Churchill.
It's not new. Dave Barry did it years ago. And it can't be random -- there has to be some insight applied.
As to the Self Aware Magpies, I think they're great. I have all their album.
Slashdot Mirror
That's what I was thinking. Didn't we all just get our sun signs reassigned?
Or something.
My ISP at home is literally a Mom and Pop operation.
I'm going to miss them.
Surely you're thinking of Peter Graves. Wait. He's dead too.
Slashdot archive notwithstanding
Me too. It's good to get the ransom letter phase out of the way early ;)
It was fun on the C64 but I didn't really get into it until I got my C128 and a second floppy drive. Program in one drive, data in the other. 80-column screen! Whoo boy that was fun.
I thought it was LibreFreeon, but maybe I'm thinking of something else.
"...better file management programs at the time..."
including from Microsoft itself. DOSSHELL, included with DOS 4?, 5? (been too long) was a file management and task switching environment that actually was more stable than Windows at the time. YMMHV (...May Have Varied)
Heh, heh. Soon after I got out of the Army, a writer for Rolling Stone was reminiscing about his days in the Navy. They had had approximately the same mission we had, just offset a little bit geographically. I'm not sure if he got in trouble for it, but he "declassified" a LOT of information.
Let me just repeat the motto of the Army Security Agency: In God we trust, everyone else we monitor.
A good question. An analog from simpler times:
More years ago than I care to count on my fingers I was a cryptanalyst in...let's say, near, the Mideast. The traffic we were intercepting and working on was in Russian, Italian or one of several dialects of Arabic, none of which I speak, or more to the point, read. But when you are applying decryption techniques you don't necessarily have to know what exactly what the message says to make progress, just what the plaintext should LOOK like.
"...everyone (especially readers)."
There. Fixed that for you.
Yes, but unfortunately it's demonstrating Zeno's Paradox, and Captain America never connects.
Touch typing can be unlearnable, too. My first job-related computer experience was on an IBM AT using an in-house COBOL program that made extensive use of the F keys, which in those days were on a pad to the left (where God intended them, per Jerry Pournelle). After some time I found that I had shifted my hands to the left and was using my right hand for the right two thirds of the keyboard and left for the rest and the F keys. Now, years after last using that program and years after the F keys migrated to the top of the keyboard, I still type with that offset.
Sorry, Dude. That was the Griffith Observatory, further down the mountains.
"Mmmmm. This dog smells good."
Effectiveness also depends on the lay of the land. A building I work in (in Wisconsin) has heated sidewalks for the front entrance, which is on a hillside slope. Under certain conditions of snow amount and temperature the heated area produces runoff which freezes into layers of ice which make the nice, clear sidewalk almost impossible to get to. Several times a winter they have to turn off the sidewalk and clear it the old-fashioned way.
You laugh but it could be true. In the early 70s I lived in Asmara, Ethiopia (now Eritria). Our place was on the edge of town and we often saw camel trains plodding in from the hills headed for the marketplace. The lead camel usually had a blaring transistor radio around its neck. I always wondered if the lead camel driver had a radio because he was the leader or if he was the leader because he had a radio.
Somehow my idiot brother was able to figure it out. Bummer.
The generational factor is a good point, but I think there may be more to it. For the record I'm fifty-something and grew up in a newspaper-reading household. "The paper" was always around, even if we were on vacation and the paper had been bought from a rack. When I left home I always subscribed, whever I was, or at least bought one regularily.
A few years ago though, I let my subscription lapse after a delivery dispute and have never gotten back in the habit. I buy a Sunday paper maybe once or twice a month. And I read it for days. I honestly can't figure out how I used to get through a newspaper every day.
Well, yeah, except for that 98.6 thing.
It doesn't get much more tangible than Feelies . I mean really -- how can you download a functioning ball of pocket fluff?
When I was a senior in high school, having observed how graduation and other end-of-year celebrations worked, I started jockeying for fourth or fifth (I forget) in class rank. This was the highest place that didn't involve having to make a speech.
Like most generalizations (including yours) it contains a kernel of truth. My intention in citing it in this queue was to point out that most people are wilder in their youth and tend to mellow out as they get older, leaving a dossier that might prove embarrassing in certain contexts.
Or were just making a "generalization" joke?
Besides...
"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has no heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains." Attrib. various, including Churchill.
It's not new. Dave Barry did it years ago. And it can't be random -- there has to be some insight applied.
As to the Self Aware Magpies, I think they're great. I have all their album.