Is it time for Random Thoughts - Part 4?

[Evo]

OMG. Got a TAship. I actually didn't see it coming.

Awesome!

 

[OmCheeto]

...Windows 8...

My first computer came with an 8 kilobyte, ROM burned operating system

and a chiclet keyboard, just like my new mac laptop.

Everyone laughed at the chiclets back then. Not sure why. I loved it.

I think people are funny.

 

[dlgoff]

"My leg hairs were singed. I could smell the burnt hair," he explained. "I looked across the driveway and I could see my boots over there. They were no longer on my feet, and one of them was smoking'. At that point I realized I had just been hit by lightning."

http://www.cbs46.com/story/25841471/man-survives-after-lightning-strike-blows-him-out-of-his-shoes

 

[dkotschessaa]

My first computer came with an 8 kilobyte, ROM burned operating system

and a chiclet keyboard, just like my new mac laptop.

Everyone laughed at the chiclets back then. Not sure why. I loved it.

I think people are funny.

My first computer. Cosby not included:

Actually I'm not even sure what that big thing is that the monitor is sitting on. Mine was just the keyboard/cpu hooked up an old television. I had no drives or storage. I programmed the game I wanted in and then played it. When I turned it off the program was lost.

-DaveK

 

[OmCheeto]

My first computer. Cosby not included:

Actually I'm not even sure what that big thing is that the monitor is sitting on. Mine was just the keyboard/cpu hooked up an old television. I had no drives or storage. I programmed the game I wanted in and then played it. When I turned it off the program was lost.

-DaveK

Good grief! You are old!

ps. Mine had a cassete deck memory storage unit, sold separately. The joke was, that it had a higher data transfer rate than the Commodore 64's disk drive.

No joke.

 

[thankz]

mine was a 286 with 1 meg of ram and a 40 meg hard drive, 5-1/4 floppy, a copy of dos 3.0 and gw basic. a Hercules monochrome vga card. I had to build it myself as a summer afterschool job and not only did I get to keep it but they paid me $600 dollars to do so.

 

[jim hardy]

My first computer. Cosby not included:

Actually I'm not even sure what that big thing is that the monitor is sitting on. Mine was just the keyboard/cpu hooked up an old television. I had no drives or storage. I programmed the game I wanted in and then played it. When I turned it off the program was lost.

-DaveK

Great machine, TI99/4 and 4a.
It was based on TI's industrial TMS9900 cpu chipset which had interesting architecture. You could define any memory location as program counter and the next (twenty? I forget exactly) memory locations became your stack , really handy for real time applications that context switch a lot.
My Canadian friends had a Candu nuclear plant simulator that ran on the 99/4a , using every last byte of memory.


The expansion box contained more memory, disk drive and I/O cards. There's a 99/4 following today - hobbyists are still souping them up.

To find out if computers are really radiation tolerant i took mine down to the Radiation Protection lab and gave it a thousand rads. Didn't phase it. I used it for an office computer thereafter until the company bought us PC's a few years later.

Ahhh nostalgia - thanks guys !

 

[edward]

MY fist computer was an IBM PC Jr. IBM had a closeout sale and I got it for $149 provided I pay $400 for an IBM dot matrix Pro printer. The printer sounded like a machine gun and when my neighbor, a Vietnam Vet, used it he started having flashbacks.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_PCjr#mediaviewer/File:Ibm_pcjr_with_display.jpg

 

[dkotschessaa]

Good grief! You are old!

ps. Mine had a cassete deck memory storage unit, sold separately. The joke was, that it had a higher data transfer rate than the Commodore 64's disk drive.

No joke.

YES. We eventually did get the tape. The five minute loop tapes. They were fun to listen to. "eeeechhhffchfffchffffchfffchfffchffff..."

 

[dlgoff]

Anyone every see one of these? An engineering coworker bought one of them when they first came out in '81.

image from http://oldcomputers.net/osborne.html

 

[dkotschessaa]

Awesome!

Man, I had to ask a friend of mine (who I feel is perhaps a bit more deserving) if he got one, and he didn't. I have never been in this type of situation.

 

[dkotschessaa]

How I confused my wife in the swimming pool the other day

Wife: "Are you going out the ladder or the stairs"
Me: "I choose the latter."
[I take the stairs]

 

[DennisN]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shakespeare_(programming_language)

I'm having fun reading these codes.

Ok, dkotschessaa and Mandelbroth, which song am I thinking of when I write this:

$$sgn(t_1, t_2, t_3, ...t_n)$$
(I know I ought to be be slapped for this )

 

[dkotschessaa]

Ok, dkotschessaa and Mandelbroth, which song am I thinking of when I write this:

$$sgn(t_1, t_2, t_3, ...t_n)$$
(I know I ought to be be slapped for this )

Well, you're safe from me, because I'm not getting it. Mandelbroth?

 

[TumblingDice]

Ok, dkotschessaa and Mandelbroth, which song am I thinking of when I write this:

$$sgn(t_1, t_2, t_3, ...t_n)$$
(I know I ought to be be slapped for this )

"Sign of the Times"...? Petula Clark

 

[phion]

Emptyset?

 

[phion]

Identifying a "psychological metric" to determine approximately how much homework results in a desirable test performance has become central to my study habits. About 5-10 pages per chapter seems alright currently.

It's interesting to project the concept into other contexts, like a work or business situation. I feel like I'm gaining psychological efficiency.

 

[phion]

I wonder if there are any professors who are guilty of purposely causing leptokurtosis because of their grading practices.

 

[phion]

This thread in and of itself is better than Twitter since there is no 140 word limit.

 

[dkotschessaa]

This thread in and of itself is better than Twitter since there is no 140 word limit.

I must say, I enjoy this thread, and like the people who post here.

 

[phion]

I must say, I enjoy this thread, and like the people who post here.

Me too!

 

[phion]

No matter how many time I sign my name, I get it perfect maybe 1/3 of the time.

 

[DennisN]

Ok, dkotschessaa and Mandelbroth, which song am I thinking of when I write this:

$$sgn(t_1, t_2, t_3, ...t_n)$$
(I know I ought to be be slapped for this )

"Sign of the Times"...? Petula Clark

Correct! (actually I was thinking about the song by Prince, but you decoded it correctly)

 

[TumblingDice]

Correct! (actually I was thinking about the song by Prince, but you decoded it correctly)

It was a cool conundrum! I tried to wait 'cause you posed it to dkotschessaa and Mandelbroth. My bad for jumping in before giving Mandelbroth a chance. I enjoy puzzles SO much, and was looking to join y'all in this thread.

@Mandelbroth: Hope you caan forgive me!

 

[JorisL]

This is pretty cool stuff

http://www.iflscience.com/plants-and-animals/what-do-tree-rings-sound-when-played-record

No immediate use except the fact that it's awesome.

 

[OmCheeto]

There is only one word that describes what has happened in my back yard over the last few of years:

Entropy...

 

[edward]

There is only one word that describes what has happened in my back yard over the last few of years:

Entropy...

Tell us more I love stories that begin like this.Btw I think I am going through my second childhood and it really isn't all that bad.

 

[OmCheeto]

Tell us more I love stories that begin like this.


Btw I think I am going through my second childhood and it really isn't all that bad.

Story? Good grief. Where does one begin...

I was born a poor black child. It all went downhill from there...​

 

[edward]

Story? Good grief. Where does one begin...

I was born a poor black child. It all went downhill from there...​

Hmm maybe that is why my second childhood seems to be better than my first. I was born a poor white kid and got stuck in the rut of what poor white kids could afford to buy. Now I can easily afford what middle class white kids can afford to buy.

 

[OmCheeto]

Hmm maybe that is why my second childhood seems to be better than my first. I was born a poor white kid and got stuck in the rut of what poor white kids could afford to buy. Now I can easily afford what middle class white kids can afford to buy.

I haven't received my first retirement check yet, so I'm not sure what I can afford.

Other than cheap beer... (hic!)

 

[dkotschessaa]

It's been _5_ days since our last random thought incident.

 

[dkotschessaa]

"It wasn't until I spanked a statue that I realized I'd hit rock bottom." -David King

(a random guy on facebook that i subscribe to)

 

[dkotschessaa]

 

[DataGG]

What's wrong with Yoko Ono? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NAZTzaQ-sSc&feature=share

 

[ChiralWaltz]

We may eat at different tables but we live under the same moon.

Intellectual stimulation is served at this table.