SUNDAY FUNDAY - APRIL 23, 2023

 SUNDAY FUNDAY

APRIL 23, 2023

COMPUTER MEMORIES

My first personal computer was a TRS-80.  The TRS stood for Tandy Radio Shack.  It had 4K of memory, but you could save programs on a cassette tape recorder (remember those?).  

Our second was a Commodore 64 - with 64K of memory!!!  I didn’t use that much - but both of our children gave it a workout!! Amazingly, certain boxes of breakfast cereal had a coupon to win a Commodore 64 - and on the third day to the end of their promotion, my daughter plucked the coupon out of the box!!  

I had started teaching programming - first FORTRAN, then BASIC, then COBOL.  Computer languages were frequently acronyms then.  FORTRAN was FORmula TRANslation and was a math and science language.  BASIC was Beginners All-Purpose, Symbolic Instruction Code.  COBOL was COmmon Business Oriented Language.  I also used PL/I (Programing Language #1), and RPG (Report Program Generator).  It was a wild time in the computer field (the early 1980s).  

There was some computer humor (supposedly true) from consumers.  One user complained that his coffee holder broke.  As it turned out, he was using the CD Drive as his coffee holder - push the button and the CD drive opened.  He could put his coffee cup on it.  (Probably not a good choice for a heavy ceramic coffee cup!!)

Another user called in for service.  His computer wasn’t working.  The technician walked him through several steps and finally asked the user to go under the table and check if the computer was plugged in.  The man said he would do that, but it was dark under the table.  Seemingly there was a power outage and the power and lights were off. (And this was before battery power)

The technician said, “Hmmm - you better box up the computer and send it back.  You’re not smart enough to have a computer”.

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Early operating systems would sometimes overwrite memory and the computer would lock up.  The (PC) solution was to press Ctrl-Alt-Delete and reboot the machine.  A person described it like this: You are driving your car to work with a carpool when all of sudden it would stop.  The solution was to all jump out of the car (we called that a “Chinese Fire Drill”), run around the car, jump back in again and proceed down the road.

It seems like the Social Security Administration had bought some PCs for office use.   Like government agencies, they had put their RFP (request for proposals) out for bidding.  After a year or two, there started to be some failures and the SSA needed some replacements.  So, the contract had an extended warranty and so they contacted the vendor for new units.  The vendor said we’ll ship you, new models, with faster processors and more memory (some of you have heard of Moore’s Law), but the procurement agent said, “None of that, our contract said computers with ‘286 chips, so don’t give us any of those new ‘386 chips”!! 

But as compared to typewriters and other office equipment, someone described computing as going from horse-and-buggy days to modern cars.  They said if the airline industry would have changed as much as those early computers, you’d be able to fly from New York to Las Angeles in about an hour.  

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I was in the right place at the right time - almost by accident.  I had taught high school math for seven years and my undergraduate college needed a replacement math teacher for two years as some faculty were taking sabbaticals, so I became a college math teacher in the department of math and computer science.  My department chair told me if I could take a programming course, I could have a summer teaching contract.  So, I took a COBOL language course in the spring semester of 1979 and in the summer of 1979 I taught COBOL!!  Because it was the Department of Math and Computer Science my colleagues thought COBOL (as a business language) was not appropriate for their skills.  So, I taught COBOL that summer and never taught math again!!!  

In South Dakota, I served as Dean of the College of Business and Information Systems.  After six years, there was a change in administration and I was out as dean and back to a nine-month contract.  I contacted friends at Citibank’s credit card operations in Sioux Falls, SD, and for 13 years, I had a summer job doing some programming, training, a lot of analysis, and even some forecasting!!!  My friends would remark, “It officially is summer now, Dr.White has returned.”  Aside.  I think it was very valuable for me to get real-world experience that I could carry back to the classroom. I think all professors should be required (or expected) to get some ‘in-the-field’ experience every so often!!!

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You may also know that the first generation of computers after World War II were huge machines with vacuum tubes.  Moths would somehow find their way into the machines (attracted to the light and heat) and burn up.  So, technicians really did have to “de-bug” the computers to get the moth carcasses out of the machines!!!  The term stuck!!!

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STORY

"Today was a Difficult Day," said Pooh.

There was a pause.

"Do you want to talk about it?" asked Piglet.

"No," said Pooh after a bit. "No, I don't think I do."

"That's okay," said Piglet, and he came and sat beside his friend.

"What are you doing?" asked Pooh.

"Nothing, really," said Piglet. "Only, I know what Difficult Days are like. I quite often don't feel like talking about it on my Difficult Days either.

"But goodness," continued Piglet, "Difficult Days are so much easier when you know you've got someone there for you. And I'll always be here for you, Pooh."

And as Pooh sat there, working through in his head his Difficult Day, while the solid, reliable Piglet sat next to him quietly, swinging his little legs...he thought that his best friend had never been more right."

A.A. Milne

We all have difficult days and having somebody there to just sit with you is comforting!!!

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From a friend:

Don’t use your energy to worry.  Life is too short to worry about stupid things

Have fun, Fall in love. Regret nothing and don’t let others bring you down

Study, think, create, and grow.  Teach yourself and others

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NATIONAL ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION WEEK - April 19-23, 2023

Last week was Earth Week 2023.  We are all sojourners on this planet.  Let’s take better care of Mother Earth!!! Watch your water usage, recycle, reuse, or repurpose.  

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WRAP-UP

Our days are now thirteen hours of daylight (and 11 hours without).  I see challenges and debates on going to permanent daylight savings time, or not having any daylight saving time.  

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LOVE WINS

Karen White