Someone mentioned the other day that there seems to be a high correlation
between woodworkers and computer-oriented folks. After giving the matter
serious consideration for about two minutes, it occurred to me that the
computer-oriented folks were the most likely to get to this newsgroup. How
big is the percentage of non-computer-oriented folks who are familiar with
Usenet? The number of woodworkers on computers in not small though--about
17000 over at LumberJocks.com, for instance.
Bill
"Larry Jaques" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:28:35 -0400, the infamous "John Grossbohlin"
> <[email protected]> scrawled the following:
>
>>
>>"Ed Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>news:[email protected]...
>>>
>>> "Bill" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>> news:[email protected]...
>>>>
>>>> Someone mentioned the other day that there seems to be a high
>>>> correlation
>>>> between woodworkers and computer-oriented folks. After giving the
>>>> matter
>>>> serious consideration for about two minutes, it occurred to me that the
>>>> computer-oriented folks were the most likely to get to this newsgroup.
>>>> How big is the percentage of non-computer-oriented folks who are
>>>> familiar
>>>> with Usenet?
>>>
>>>
>>> It would be extremely rare for a non-computer oriented person to know
>>> about USENET. A better question is, "How many computer users know about
>>> USENET? Very few from my experience. Off the top of my head, I know of
>>> one other out of dozens of people connected to the internet.
>>>
>>
>>...and how many of them were using the Internet before the World Wide Web?
>
> THAT will quickly pare the number down.
>
> I was using RIME BBSes before the WWW, but that drew me to the
> Internet.
Internet, RIME and Relay Net... and then Mosaic. Of course there wasn't much
to browse at that point. ;~)
John
On Sat, 17 Apr 2010 02:12:57 GMT, the infamous basilisk
<[email protected]> scrawled the following:
>On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:04:29 -0700, Larry Jaques wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:50:51 GMT, the infamous [email protected] scrawled
>> the following:
>>
>>>yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year
>>>old making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>>>
>>>Anybody here under 60?
>>
>> ME! <waving hand furiously> What do I win?
>>
>>
>You old fart, I was born in '60.
>:)
Smart-mouthed young punk. I oughta turn you over my knee...
;) Nah, we're both 2nd Halfers.
---
A book burrows into your life in a very profound way
because the experience of reading is not passive.
--Erica Jong
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year old
> making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>
> Anybody here under 60?
>
Yes. Haven't hit 50 yet.
[email protected] wrote:
> yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year old
> making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>
> Anybody here under 60?
>
>
> (born in the first half of the last century)
Slightly...
--
Jack Novak
Buffalo, NY - USA
[email protected]
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year
>> old
>> making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>>
>> Anybody here under 60?
>>
I am under 60....., for two more months.
I remember hitting the big four oh.
Now I don't even care.
Aging brings cynicism, oops, I mean wisdom.
On 2010-04-15 17:17:45 -0400, "[email protected]" <[email protected]> said:
> I started playing with ForTran in high school
I started -- and stopped real quickly -- the same way and about the same date.
Here's some more obsolete computer porn:
http://tsutpen.blogspot.com/2010/04/future-is-now-24.html
[email protected] wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year
> old making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>
> Anybody here under 60?
>
>
> (born in the first half of the last century)
>
Wow, I had no idea I was dealing with such old people. I'm just a baby
compared to most of you. I'm less than half of 60.
Puckdropper
--
Never teach your apprentice everything you know.
"Lew Hodgett" <[email protected]> wrote in news:4bc963a5$0$15656
[email protected]:
> You and my grandkids..................
>
> BTW, age is a state of mind and hopefully an indication of accumulated
> knowledge.
>
> Lew
>
>
Hey, do humans have a maximum memory limit? What happens when we get full?
Puckdropper
--
Never teach your apprentice everything you know.
Larry Blanchard <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:
> On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:02:12 -0700, Larry Jaques wrote:
>
>> I was using RIME BBSes before the WWW, but that drew me to the
>> Internet.
>
> Don't recall those, but I did use Fido BBSs quite a bit. On my S100
> buss CP/M boat anchor.
>
> And yes, we used to spell it "buss" :-).
>
Any relationship to the Bussman company, that makes fuses and other
electrical distribution materials?
Puckdropper
--
Never teach your apprentice everything you know.
On Apr 17, 3:30=A0am, "Lew Hodgett" <[email protected]> wrote:
> "Puckdropper" wrote:
> > Wow, I had no idea I was dealing with such old people. =A0I'm just a
> > baby
> > compared to most of you. =A0I'm less than half of 60.
>
> -----------------------------
> You and my grandkids..................
>
> BTW, age is a state of mind and hopefully an indication of accumulated
> knowledge.
>
> Lew
Oh so rare
On 17 Apr 2010 15:31:30 GMT, the infamous Puckdropper
<puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com> scrawled the following:
>"Lew Hodgett" <[email protected]> wrote in news:4bc963a5$0$15656
>[email protected]:
>
>> You and my grandkids..................
>>
>> BTW, age is a state of mind and hopefully an indication of accumulated
>> knowledge.
>
>Hey, do humans have a maximum memory limit? What happens when we get full?
Considering that the brightest among us uses only 5-10% of his brain,
methinks humanity has a ways to go yet before we start resetting ROM,
except in Lew's case. (xox)
---
A book burrows into your life in a very profound way
because the experience of reading is not passive.
--Erica Jong
On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 22:07:53 -0700, the infamous Mark & Juanita
<[email protected]> scrawled the following:
>Larry Jaques wrote:
>
>> On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:50:51 GMT, the infamous [email protected]
>> scrawled the following:
>>
>>>yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year old
>>>making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>>>
>>>Anybody here under 60?
>>
>> ME! <waving hand furiously> What do I win?
>>
>>
>>>(born in the first half of the last century)
>>
>> Born dain bramaged 1953, and still having fun.
>>
>
> Ah, yer an old codger; I wasn't born til 59.
>
>/after moving 10 tons of rock today, I don't feel young. Even using the
>tractors, there's still a lot of hand work in it.
I lifted about 100 lbs of weeds out of a lady's yard yesterday, one by
one through the stones in her yard. My finners are toast. She's 1 of
only 2 landscaping clients I have right now. I don't mind weeding or
mowing occasionally for $30/hr. I have a welded wire fence to put in
today, and I'm not looking forward to that at all. T-post setting and
wire lifting aren't fun. Maybe I'll finish the cedar & PT fence today
instead...
---
A book burrows into your life in a very profound way
because the experience of reading is not passive.
--Erica Jong
On Apr 15, 12:50=A0pm, [email protected] wrote:
> yeah. =A0It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year =
old
> making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>
> Anybody here under 60?
Yes. Still a couple of years to go.
> (born in the first half of the last century)
*Last* half of the *previous* century. I doubt it'll be the last,
though the Demonicrats are trying hard.
On Sat, 17 Apr 2010 17:01:19 +0000 (UTC), the infamous Larry Blanchard
<[email protected]> scrawled the following:
>On Sat, 17 Apr 2010 05:10:14 +0000, Puckdropper wrote:
>
>> Wow, I had no idea I was dealing with such old people. I'm just a baby
>> compared to most of you.
>
>Yes, you are :-).
>
>Just remember, growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.
>
>Or as us old bikers prefer:
>
>You don't quit riding when you get old, you get old when you quit riding.
Old trucker never die. They just get a new Peterbilt.
>(I've been riding since the early '50s.)
They had scoots way back then? ;)
---
A book burrows into your life in a very profound way
because the experience of reading is not passive.
--Erica Jong
[email protected] (Robert Bonomi) writes:
> Who remembers 'bangpath' email addressing?
Bangpaths? Phssst. Those were trivial.
I ran a mail hub that handled UUCP, BITNET, AND DECNET simultaneously.
Nothing like getting some email addressed like this and trying to
decide where it needed to go.
BIGVAX::kremvax!user%[email protected]
Robert Haar <[email protected]> writes:
> Who remembers when Usenet was transported primarily by having one news
> server place a phone call to another?
Raises hand. I first posted in 1984. ARPAnet connection required a Department
of Defense contract. Al Gore made it possible for people without
government contracts to get connected.
On Apr 15, 3:09=A0pm, "John Grossbohlin"
<[email protected]> wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
>
> news:[email protected]...
>
> > yeah. =A0It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 yea=
r old
> > making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>
> > Anybody here under 60?
>
> > (born in the first half of the last century)
>
> How about the last half of the last century?
>
> Guess I was an early adopter as I started playing with IBM 360 main frame=
s
> in the early 70s as a kid. This via an Boy Scout Explorer Post that was
> sponsored by IBM... Playing is probably the correct term as Fortran and A=
PL
> things we did were pretty basic. I recall playing a tank vs aircraft game=
on
> an APL terminal... piles of paper spewed out of what was pretty much an I=
BM
> Selectric typewriter! =A0As I recall it was via a 300 baud acoustic coupl=
er
> modem.
I started playing with ForTran in high school. The local university
wanted to see if high school students could learn to program
(really). At the time ('67), CS was in the Graduate College and for
the most part only graduate math students took CS coursework. They
offered PLATO terminals to the local high schools but the school
boards (some things never change), in their infinite wisdom, refused
them. "If computers do the math, student's won't learn math." The
university then gave any student who would show up, free books,
classroom space, unlimited computer time (360/75, no less), and
instructors. I did it for two years, until I started college. After
than, other than one required course in college (the same course, same
books, as I'd already done in HS), I didn't use a computer again until
I graduated, and stared designing them for IBM. ;-)
On Apr 15, 6:16=A0pm, "John" <[email protected]> wrote:
> I still have my Sinclair Z-80 (8k RAM, 8K "operating system") in a box
> around here somewhere. =A0
<snip>
Z-80? Wow. I started on a ZX-81 (1k ram...), when I was twelve. You
could store programs on a tape recorder, but I didn't get a compatible
one of those until years later... So essentially, when I wanted to
play a game, I had to type the source code from a book. Learned
programming real fast (I added features like the hidden 'add 100 to
the score' key so I could beat my brother at said games.
And I can almost tie this back to woodworking... A few years ago I
designed a TV cabinet with a built in microprocessor (it had moving
parts and an IR receiver...) Unfortunately I haven't got the
opportunity to build it yet :-P
> john
<snip>
Another John
On 4/16/10 7:31 AM, "John Grossbohlin"
<[email protected]> wrote:
>
> "Ed Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> "John Grossbohlin" <[email protected]> wrote
>>
>>>> It would be extremely rare for a non-computer oriented person to know
>>>> about USENET. A better question is, "How many computer users know about
>>>> USENET? Very few from my experience. Off the top of my head, I know of
>>>> one other out of dozens of people connected to the internet.
>>>>
>>>
>>> ...and how many of them were using the Internet before the World Wide
>>> Web?
>>>
>>>
>>
>> How many (aside from Al Gore) know there is a difference?
>
> Gotta admit that I don't miss Archie, Veronica , Kermit, and the gang... or
> having to "dial in." ;~)
How many of you were on ARPAnet or MILnet?
Who remembers when Usenet was transported primarily by having one news
server place a phone call to another?
On 4/17/10 12:57 PM, "Larry Blanchard" <[email protected]> wrote:
> On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:02:12 -0700, Larry Jaques wrote:
>
>> I was using RIME BBSes before the WWW, but that drew me to the Internet.
>
> Don't recall those, but I did use Fido BBSs quite a bit. On my S100 buss
> CP/M boat anchor.
I ran ZP/M on mine (Z-80 CPU) with memory boards that I designed and wire
wrapped myself/ But that was my third micro computer.
And I had been using commercial computers for tne years by the time I got to
micros.
<[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year old
> making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>
> Anybody here under 60?
>
>
> (born in the first half of the last century)
How about the last half of the last century?
Guess I was an early adopter as I started playing with IBM 360 main frames
in the early 70s as a kid. This via an Boy Scout Explorer Post that was
sponsored by IBM... Playing is probably the correct term as Fortran and APL
things we did were pretty basic. I recall playing a tank vs aircraft game on
an APL terminal... piles of paper spewed out of what was pretty much an IBM
Selectric typewriter! As I recall it was via a 300 baud acoustic coupler
modem.
John
"Bill" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Someone mentioned the other day that there seems to be a high correlation
> between woodworkers and computer-oriented folks. After giving the matter
> serious consideration for about two minutes, it occurred to me that the
> computer-oriented folks were the most likely to get to this newsgroup.
> How big is the percentage of non-computer-oriented folks who are familiar
> with Usenet?
It would be extremely rare for a non-computer oriented person to know about
USENET. A better question is, "How many computer users know about USENET?
Very few from my experience. Off the top of my head, I know of one other
out of dozens of people connected to the internet.
"Ed Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Bill" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> Someone mentioned the other day that there seems to be a high correlation
>> between woodworkers and computer-oriented folks. After giving the matter
>> serious consideration for about two minutes, it occurred to me that the
>> computer-oriented folks were the most likely to get to this newsgroup.
>> How big is the percentage of non-computer-oriented folks who are familiar
>> with Usenet?
>
>
> It would be extremely rare for a non-computer oriented person to know
> about USENET. A better question is, "How many computer users know about
> USENET? Very few from my experience. Off the top of my head, I know of
> one other out of dozens of people connected to the internet.
>
...and how many of them were using the Internet before the World Wide Web?
On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:04:29 -0700, Larry Jaques wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:50:51 GMT, the infamous [email protected] scrawled
> the following:
>
>>yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year
>>old making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>>
>>Anybody here under 60?
>
> ME! <waving hand furiously> What do I win?
>
>
You old fart, I was born in '60.
:)
basilisk
--
A wink is as good as a nod to a blind horse
Larry Jaques wrote:
> On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:50:51 GMT, the infamous [email protected]
> scrawled the following:
>
>>yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year old
>>making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>>
>>Anybody here under 60?
>
> ME! <waving hand furiously> What do I win?
>
>
>>(born in the first half of the last century)
>
> Born dain bramaged 1953, and still having fun.
>
Ah, yer an old codger; I wasn't born til 59.
/after moving 10 tons of rock today, I don't feel young. Even using the
tractors, there's still a lot of hand work in it.
--
There is never a situation where having more rounds is a disadvantage
Rob Leatham
"John Grossbohlin" <[email protected]> wrote
>> It would be extremely rare for a non-computer oriented person to know
>> about USENET. A better question is, "How many computer users know about
>> USENET? Very few from my experience. Off the top of my head, I know of
>> one other out of dozens of people connected to the internet.
>>
>
> ...and how many of them were using the Internet before the World Wide Web?
>
>
How many (aside from Al Gore) know there is a difference?
On Apr 16, 7:36=A0am, Robert Haar <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 4/16/10 7:31 AM, "John Grossbohlin"
>
>
>
>
>
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > "Ed Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> >news:[email protected]...
>
> >> "John Grossbohlin" <[email protected]> wrote
>
> >>>> It would be extremely rare for a non-computer oriented person to kno=
w
> >>>> about USENET. =A0A better question is, "How many computer users know=
about
> >>>> USENET? Very few from my experience. =A0 Off the top of my head, I k=
now of
> >>>> one other out of dozens of people connected to the internet.
>
> >>> ...and how many of them were using the Internet before the World Wide
> >>> Web?
>
> >> How many (aside from Al Gore) know there is a difference?
>
> > Gotta admit that I don't miss Archie, Veronica , Kermit, and the gang..=
. or
> > having to "dial in." ;~)
>
> How many of you were on ARPAnet or MILnet?
>
> Who remembers when Usenet was transported primarily by having one news
> server place a phone call to another?
I was a First Class hub for OneNet.
I still have my Sinclair Z-80 (8k RAM, 8K "operating system") in a box
around here somewhere. Learned a whole lot from that machine. Even did the
machine code programming. Took a "flight sim" program and added LowFuel
warning, and countdown to zero. All this on the B&W TV when wife wasn't
watching and the kids were still in their high chairs in the little house in
the city. Ended up teaching myself about four flavors of BASIC, graduating
up through C=128 and then realized the world was moving too fast as I got
into the DOS machines in the suburb.
Stil manage to surprise my two 'puter sons (one's a programmer, one's about
to get his CS degree ..after 6 years; 'bout time, eh?!) with an occasional
DOS batch file that actually does a useful trick. I tried to get into
VisBasic, but I never did learn the C-type structure that requires. Does
anybody miss Compuserv?
Then I discovered gaming...upgrading the Flight Sim from the wireframes to
"X" ...then Gordon, Alyx,...earlier, the Strogg.... later years, Lt
Mitchell... writing maps for Starcraft and UT before him.. and now the
Borderland crew. I'll have to do an adult-ed somewhere down the road to
get back into programming........but first I've been upgrading my little
shop-under-the-stairs instead and working on all those little things the
wife wanted. Two garden benches are among the current sawdust and ...there
are those coasters I've promised for 15 years. ....
And then there are the Michigan deer demanding thinning ... and trails that
want to see my boots. Life's wayyyy too short.
john
On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 17:50:51 GMT, the infamous [email protected]
scrawled the following:
>yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year old
>making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>
>Anybody here under 60?
ME! <waving hand furiously> What do I win?
>(born in the first half of the last century)
Born dain bramaged 1953, and still having fun.
--
STOP THE SLAUGHTER! Boycott Baby Oil!
"Bill" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> Someone mentioned the other day that there seems to be a high correlation
> between woodworkers and computer-oriented folks. After giving the matter
> serious consideration for about two minutes, it occurred to me that the
> computer-oriented folks were the most likely to get to this newsgroup.
> How big is the percentage of non-computer-oriented folks who are familiar
> with Usenet? The number of woodworkers on computers in not small
> though--about 17000 over at LumberJocks.com, for instance.
Yup... like there being a high correlation between the number of fire trucks
and the size of the fire.... some folks might get the casual direction
backwards. Though, around here there seem to have been a lot of volunteers
lighting fires over the years so maybe that's a bad example...
John
[email protected] wrote:
> On Apr 15, 3:09 pm, "John Grossbohlin"
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>> <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>
>> news:[email protected]...
>>
>>> yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year old
>>> making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>>> Anybody here under 60?
>>> (born in the first half of the last century)
>> How about the last half of the last century?
>>
>> Guess I was an early adopter as I started playing with IBM 360 main frames
>> in the early 70s as a kid. This via an Boy Scout Explorer Post that was
>> sponsored by IBM... Playing is probably the correct term as Fortran and APL
>> things we did were pretty basic. I recall playing a tank vs aircraft game on
>> an APL terminal... piles of paper spewed out of what was pretty much an IBM
>> Selectric typewriter! As I recall it was via a 300 baud acoustic coupler
>> modem.
>
> I started playing with ForTran in high school. The local university
> wanted to see if high school students could learn to program
> (really). At the time ('67), CS was in the Graduate College and for
> the most part only graduate math students took CS coursework. They
> offered PLATO terminals to the local high schools but the school
> boards (some things never change), in their infinite wisdom, refused
> them. "If computers do the math, student's won't learn math." The
> university then gave any student who would show up, free books,
> classroom space, unlimited computer time (360/75, no less), and
> instructors. I did it for two years, until I started college. After
> than, other than one required course in college (the same course, same
> books, as I'd already done in HS), I didn't use a computer again until
> I graduated, and stared designing them for IBM. ;-)
NE Department taught FORTRAN via paper coding only in 2nd-semester
"Intro to NE" department prerequisite before start core class work/labs
sophomore year. Was taught entirely on paper w/ coding forms and
walkthrough to judge correctness until semester-end assignment was
submitted to the uni 370 compiler. Eng'g had 1620 for undergraduates
for lab work w/ the ubiquitous Selectric as "console" but no line
printer -- everything went in on cards and came out on cards that were
fed to printer. More than once did that pos eat a card deck at end...
:( That was starting in '63; they had taught the same sequence for
several years at that point altho had moved up a notch or two from the
original FORTRAN to McCracken by the time I got there (and had dropped
the machine code segment except for the obligatory of "this is how
_real_ programmers _used_ to have to do it" :) ).
After uni, graduated to Philco 2000's at B&W until they were replaced by
CDC 6600s and eventually Cyber 7600s. Never had another IBM mainframe
(thankfully) in subsequent 40 years except for an occasional requirement
to use the ORNL machines on contract work for them altho most of it was
on the DEC 10/20... :)
Then came VAXen and VMS and the world was never the same...
--
On 4/15/2010 5:22 PM, CW wrote:
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year old
>> making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>>
>> Anybody here under 60?
>>
> Yes. Haven't hit 50 yet.
Me either; two more years to go...
--
See Nad. See Nad go. Go Nad!
To reply, eat the taco.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/bbqboyee/
On 4/15/2010 4:09 PM, John Grossbohlin wrote:
>
> <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>> yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year old
>> making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>>
>> Anybody here under 60?
>>
>>
>> (born in the first half of the last century)
>
> How about the last half of the last century?
>
> Guess I was an early adopter as I started playing with IBM 360 main
> frames in the early 70s as a kid. This via an Boy Scout Explorer Post
> that was sponsored by IBM... Playing is probably the correct term as
> Fortran and APL things we did were pretty basic. I recall playing a tank
> vs aircraft game on an APL terminal... piles of paper spewed out of what
> was pretty much an IBM Selectric typewriter! As I recall it was via a
> 300 baud acoustic coupler modem.
Ahh, the old 2741 Interactive Terminal. Saw one of those eat a Big Mac
once--fragments of all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese,
pickles, and onions flying all over the place (the sesame seed bun was
still in the guy's hands). Ran for two weeks after that, before it
needed a service call. Poor IBM tech almost lost his lunch. Still got
my APL element for it.
A guy I knew wrote a Star Trek game in APL. Of course that was when
Star Trek was a dead TV series and nobody was trying to enforce the
trademark.
On 4/15/2010 6:12 PM, dpb wrote:
> [email protected] wrote:
>> On Apr 15, 3:09 pm, "John Grossbohlin"
>> <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>>
>>> news:[email protected]...
>>>
>>>> yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28
>>>> year old
>>>> making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>>>> Anybody here under 60?
>>>> (born in the first half of the last century)
>>> How about the last half of the last century?
>>>
>>> Guess I was an early adopter as I started playing with IBM 360 main
>>> frames
>>> in the early 70s as a kid. This via an Boy Scout Explorer Post that was
>>> sponsored by IBM... Playing is probably the correct term as Fortran
>>> and APL
>>> things we did were pretty basic. I recall playing a tank vs aircraft
>>> game on
>>> an APL terminal... piles of paper spewed out of what was pretty much
>>> an IBM
>>> Selectric typewriter! As I recall it was via a 300 baud acoustic coupler
>>> modem.
>>
>> I started playing with ForTran in high school. The local university
>> wanted to see if high school students could learn to program
>> (really). At the time ('67), CS was in the Graduate College and for
>> the most part only graduate math students took CS coursework. They
>> offered PLATO terminals to the local high schools but the school
>> boards (some things never change), in their infinite wisdom, refused
>> them. "If computers do the math, student's won't learn math." The
>> university then gave any student who would show up, free books,
>> classroom space, unlimited computer time (360/75, no less), and
>> instructors. I did it for two years, until I started college. After
>> than, other than one required course in college (the same course, same
>> books, as I'd already done in HS), I didn't use a computer again until
>> I graduated, and stared designing them for IBM. ;-)
>
> NE Department taught FORTRAN via paper coding only in 2nd-semester
> "Intro to NE" department prerequisite before start core class work/labs
> sophomore year. Was taught entirely on paper w/ coding forms and
> walkthrough to judge correctness until semester-end assignment was
> submitted to the uni 370 compiler. Eng'g had 1620 for undergraduates for
> lab work w/ the ubiquitous Selectric as "console" but no line printer --
> everything went in on cards and came out on cards that were fed to
> printer. More than once did that pos eat a card deck at end... :( That
> was starting in '63; they had taught the same sequence for several years
> at that point altho had moved up a notch or two from the original
> FORTRAN to McCracken by the time I got there (and had dropped the
> machine code segment except for the obligatory of "this is how _real_
> programmers _used_ to have to do it" :) ).
>
> After uni, graduated to Philco 2000's at B&W until they were replaced by
> CDC 6600s and eventually Cyber 7600s. Never had another IBM mainframe
> (thankfully) in subsequent 40 years except for an occasional requirement
> to use the ORNL machines on contract work for them altho most of it was
> on the DEC 10/20... :)
>
> Then came VAXen and VMS and the world was never the same...
Be happy--the 360 at NERDC would go down a couple of times a day. The
370 that replaced it wasn't much better. Was cleaning up the other day
and found a CDC 6600 dump behind a drawer--looked at it and was amazed
that I used to be able to read the things. Thinking about it I should
have framed it. Not gonna see another one of those in this lifetime.
>
> --
"Puckdropper" <puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> [email protected] wrote in
> news:[email protected]:
>
>> yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year
>> old making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>>
>> Anybody here under 60?
>>
>>
>> (born in the first half of the last century)
>>
>
> Wow, I had no idea I was dealing with such old people. I'm just a baby
> compared to most of you. I'm less than half of 60.
Think of yourself as a prodigy.
(No, not Prodigy. That experiment sucked real bad!)
"Larry Jaques" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 21:06:27 -0500, the infamous
> [email protected] (Robert Bonomi) scrawled the following:
>
>>In article <C7EDC3EE.49156A%[email protected]>,
>>Robert Haar <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>On 4/16/10 7:31 AM, "John Grossbohlin"
>>><[email protected]> wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>>> "Ed Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>>> news:[email protected]...
>>>>>
>>>>> "John Grossbohlin" <[email protected]> wrote
>>>>>
>>>>>>> It would be extremely rare for a non-computer oriented person to
>>>>>>> know
>>>>>>> about USENET. A better question is, "How many computer users know
>>>>>>> about
>>>>>>> USENET? Very few from my experience. Off the top of my head, I
>>>>>>> know of
>>>>>>> one other out of dozens of people connected to the internet.
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ...and how many of them were using the Internet before the World Wide
>>>>>> Web?
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> How many (aside from Al Gore) know there is a difference?
>>>>
>>>> Gotta admit that I don't miss Archie, Veronica , Kermit, and the
>>>> gang... or
>>>> having to "dial in." ;~)
>>>
>>>How many of you were on ARPAnet or MILnet?
>>>
>>>Who remembers when Usenet was transported primarily by having one news
>>>server place a phone call to another?
>>>
>>
>>Raises hand. I got and sent e-mail that way for nearly 4 years.
>>
>>
>>Who remembers the significance of 'ihnp4', or 'cbosgd'?
>>
>>
>>Who remembers 'bangpath' email addressing?
It is anything like "return comma splat" (return, *).
(old CDC Cyber 172 lingo, I think).
Bill
"Puckdropper" <puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> "Lew Hodgett" <[email protected]> wrote in news:4bc963a5$0$15656
> [email protected]:
>
>> You and my grandkids..................
>>
>> BTW, age is a state of mind and hopefully an indication of accumulated
>> knowledge.
>>
>> Lew
>>
>>
>
> Hey, do humans have a maximum memory limit? What happens when we get
> full?
>
I forget ...
On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 19:02:12 -0700, Larry Jaques wrote:
> I was using RIME BBSes before the WWW, but that drew me to the Internet.
Don't recall those, but I did use Fido BBSs quite a bit. On my S100 buss
CP/M boat anchor.
And yes, we used to spell it "buss" :-).
--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw
On Sat, 17 Apr 2010 05:10:14 +0000, Puckdropper wrote:
> Wow, I had no idea I was dealing with such old people. I'm just a baby
> compared to most of you.
Yes, you are :-).
Just remember, growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional.
Or as us old bikers prefer:
You don't quit riding when you get old, you get old when you quit riding.
(I've been riding since the early '50s.)
--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw
On Sun, 18 Apr 2010 02:52:59 +0000, Puckdropper wrote:
>> And yes, we used to spell it "buss" :-).
>>
>>
> Any relationship to the Bussman company, that makes fuses and other
> electrical distribution materials?
I don't think so. IIRC, it was a takeoff on "buss bar" which also seems
to have dropped an "s" in the ensuing years.
--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw
On Sun, 18 Apr 2010 07:50:24 -0700, Larry Jaques wrote:
>>Hey, do humans have a maximum memory limit? What happens when we get
>>full?
>
> Considering that the brightest among us uses only 5-10% of his brain,
> methinks humanity has a ways to go yet before we start resetting ROM,
> except in Lew's case. (xox)
I saw an article the other day that claimed that figure was untrue. Said
we use most of it, but only 10% or so at a time.
--
Intelligence is an experiment that failed - G. B. Shaw
In article <[email protected]>,
<[email protected]> wrote:
>yeah. It's not often anymore I get to explain something to my 28 year old
>making-a-ton-of-$-programming son.
>
>Anybody here under 60?
Yup. only by 10% though
Thank you everone!
This whole chain takes me WAY back. I started working with computers back
in 1968, we had an IBM 1401 and a 7070. Neither had real stored program
capability. It was a huge step forward when my company finally got a
360/50....lol. I still remember "programing" unit record devices using plug
boards!!
Spent some of my time in the telecommunications field and used Usenet
(started as Bitnet actually). Didn't really find NetNews all that usefull
until Mosaic came along and gave us a decent user interface.
Joined IBM a few years later and just retired last year. Been a woodworker
for a lot of years, but my job involved a lot of travel (Computer Security)
so really didn't have the time to devote to my hobby. Well,...now that I'm
retired I have been able to devote much more time to it and I love it!
Working it the IT industry most of my output was intellectual but
wordworking is very tangeable. You can step back and get intstant
gratification from what you created. I find it VERY satisfyiing...and I'll
bet many woodworkers are computer vets.
Thanks again for the memories.
"Ed Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "John Grossbohlin" <[email protected]> wrote
>
>>> It would be extremely rare for a non-computer oriented person to know
>>> about USENET. A better question is, "How many computer users know about
>>> USENET? Very few from my experience. Off the top of my head, I know of
>>> one other out of dozens of people connected to the internet.
>>>
>>
>> ...and how many of them were using the Internet before the World Wide
>> Web?
>>
>>
>
> How many (aside from Al Gore) know there is a difference?
On Thu, 15 Apr 2010 07:28:35 -0400, the infamous "John Grossbohlin"
<[email protected]> scrawled the following:
>
>"Ed Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>>
>> "Bill" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>>
>>> Someone mentioned the other day that there seems to be a high correlation
>>> between woodworkers and computer-oriented folks. After giving the matter
>>> serious consideration for about two minutes, it occurred to me that the
>>> computer-oriented folks were the most likely to get to this newsgroup.
>>> How big is the percentage of non-computer-oriented folks who are familiar
>>> with Usenet?
>>
>>
>> It would be extremely rare for a non-computer oriented person to know
>> about USENET. A better question is, "How many computer users know about
>> USENET? Very few from my experience. Off the top of my head, I know of
>> one other out of dozens of people connected to the internet.
>>
>
>...and how many of them were using the Internet before the World Wide Web?
THAT will quickly pare the number down.
I was using RIME BBSes before the WWW, but that drew me to the
Internet.
--
STOP THE SLAUGHTER! Boycott Baby Oil!
In news:[email protected],
Ed Pawlowski <[email protected]>spewed forth:
> "Bill" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
>>
>> Someone mentioned the other day that there seems to be a high
>> correlation between woodworkers and computer-oriented folks. After
>> giving the matter serious consideration for about two minutes, it
>> occurred to me that the computer-oriented folks were the most likely
>> to get to this newsgroup. How big is the percentage of
>> non-computer-oriented folks who are familiar with Usenet?
>
>
> It would be extremely rare for a non-computer oriented person to know
> about USENET. A better question is, "How many computer users know
> about USENET? Very few from my experience. Off the top of my head,
> I know of one other out of dozens of people connected to the internet.
the FIOS tech that installed my service looked like a deer in the
headlights when I asked what the news server addy was.
sadly, they don't need to know now, because they don't offer usenet sevice
anymore
On Fri, 16 Apr 2010 21:06:27 -0500, the infamous
[email protected] (Robert Bonomi) scrawled the following:
>In article <C7EDC3EE.49156A%[email protected]>,
>Robert Haar <[email protected]> wrote:
>>On 4/16/10 7:31 AM, "John Grossbohlin"
>><[email protected]> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> "Ed Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>>> news:[email protected]...
>>>>
>>>> "John Grossbohlin" <[email protected]> wrote
>>>>
>>>>>> It would be extremely rare for a non-computer oriented person to know
>>>>>> about USENET. A better question is, "How many computer users know about
>>>>>> USENET? Very few from my experience. Off the top of my head, I know of
>>>>>> one other out of dozens of people connected to the internet.
>>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> ...and how many of them were using the Internet before the World Wide
>>>>> Web?
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> How many (aside from Al Gore) know there is a difference?
>>>
>>> Gotta admit that I don't miss Archie, Veronica , Kermit, and the gang... or
>>> having to "dial in." ;~)
>>
>>How many of you were on ARPAnet or MILnet?
>>
>>Who remembers when Usenet was transported primarily by having one news
>>server place a phone call to another?
>>
>
>Raises hand. I got and sent e-mail that way for nearly 4 years.
>
>
>Who remembers the significance of 'ihnp4', or 'cbosgd'?
>
>
>Who remembers 'bangpath' email addressing?
VAGUELY. I remember having to ask what the exclamation point was for
way, way back.
---
A book burrows into your life in a very profound way
because the experience of reading is not passive.
--Erica Jong
On Sun, 18 Apr 2010 18:11:27 +0000 (UTC), Larry Blanchard
<[email protected]> wrote:
>On Sun, 18 Apr 2010 02:52:59 +0000, Puckdropper wrote:
>
>>> And yes, we used to spell it "buss" :-).
I've seen micro enthusiasts speel it wrong, too.
>> Any relationship to the Bussman company, that makes fuses and other
>> electrical distribution materials?
>
>I don't think so. IIRC, it was a takeoff on "buss bar" which also seems
>to have dropped an "s" in the ensuing years.
You certainly wouldn't want to kiss a bus bar.
>"John" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>news:[email protected]...
>On Apr 15, 6:16 pm, "John" <[email protected]> wrote:
>> I still have my Sinclair Z-80 (8k RAM, 8K "operating system") in a box
>> around here somewhere.
<snip>
>Z-80? Wow. I started on a ZX-81 (1k ram...), when I was twelve. You
>could store programs on a tape recorder, but I didn't get a compatible
>one of those until years later... So essentially, when I wanted to
>play a game, I had to type the source code from a book. Learned
>programming real fast (I added features like the hidden 'add 100 to
>the score' key so I could beat my brother at said games.
>And I can almost tie this back to woodworking... A few years ago I
>designed a TV cabinet with a built in microprocessor (it had moving
>parts and an IR receiver...) Unfortunately I haven't got the
>opportunity to build it yet :-P
>> john
<snip>
>Another John
Hmmm.... seems to be a high correlation between guys named John and
woodworking too if we use this thread as the data set.
John
On Sun, 18 Apr 2010 22:09:54 -0500, "Bob" <[email protected]> wrote:
>Thank you everone!
>This whole chain takes me WAY back. I started working with computers back
>in 1968, we had an IBM 1401 and a 7070. Neither had real stored program
>capability. It was a huge step forward when my company finally got a
>360/50....lol. I still remember "programing" unit record devices using plug
>boards!!
>
>Spent some of my time in the telecommunications field and used Usenet
>(started as Bitnet actually). Didn't really find NetNews all that usefull
>until Mosaic came along and gave us a decent user interface.
>
>Joined IBM a few years later and just retired last year. Been a woodworker
>for a lot of years, but my job involved a lot of travel (Computer Security)
>so really didn't have the time to devote to my hobby. Well,...now that I'm
>retired I have been able to devote much more time to it and I love it!
I joined IBM right out of college in '74 and retired (from IBM) at the end of
'06. I ran on my "buy-out" for a while, got the house in shape to sell, then
got bored (SWMBO wouldn't let me make any more messes) and went back to work.
I figure I have another seven years before I really retire. By then I should
have all the toys. ;-)
>Working it the IT industry most of my output was intellectual but
>wordworking is very tangeable. You can step back and get intstant
>gratification from what you created. I find it VERY satisfyiing...and I'll
>bet many woodworkers are computer vets.
I've been doing electronics design pretty much since college. Design is
intellectual and definitely has a tangible result. I find it quite similar,
in fact, to woodworking but woodworking has the advantages of no boss, no
deadlines, and no crap work. Well, there is sanding... ;-)
"Ed Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "John Grossbohlin" <[email protected]> wrote
>
>>> It would be extremely rare for a non-computer oriented person to know
>>> about USENET. A better question is, "How many computer users know about
>>> USENET? Very few from my experience. Off the top of my head, I know of
>>> one other out of dozens of people connected to the internet.
>>>
>>
>> ...and how many of them were using the Internet before the World Wide
>> Web?
>>
>>
>
> How many (aside from Al Gore) know there is a difference?
Gotta admit that I don't miss Archie, Veronica , Kermit, and the gang... or
having to "dial in." ;~)
John
In article <C7EDC3EE.49156A%[email protected]>,
Robert Haar <[email protected]> wrote:
>On 4/16/10 7:31 AM, "John Grossbohlin"
><[email protected]> wrote:
>
>>
>> "Ed Pawlowski" <[email protected]> wrote in message
>> news:[email protected]...
>>>
>>> "John Grossbohlin" <[email protected]> wrote
>>>
>>>>> It would be extremely rare for a non-computer oriented person to know
>>>>> about USENET. A better question is, "How many computer users know about
>>>>> USENET? Very few from my experience. Off the top of my head, I know of
>>>>> one other out of dozens of people connected to the internet.
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>> ...and how many of them were using the Internet before the World Wide
>>>> Web?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>> How many (aside from Al Gore) know there is a difference?
>>
>> Gotta admit that I don't miss Archie, Veronica , Kermit, and the gang... or
>> having to "dial in." ;~)
>
>How many of you were on ARPAnet or MILnet?
>
>Who remembers when Usenet was transported primarily by having one news
>server place a phone call to another?
>
Raises hand. I got and sent e-mail that way for nearly 4 years.
Who remembers the significance of 'ihnp4', or 'cbosgd'?
Who remembers 'bangpath' email addressing?