I will note that there was at least a three-year overlap between the first time I used a computer in a class and the last time a used a slide rule in a class.
I will note that there was at least a three-year overlap between the first time I used a computer in a class and the last time a used a slide rule in a class.
For reference, I was writing programs in FORTRAN on punch cards in college.
In the early 80s, an older computer nerd friend bought some obsolete computer tape drives and got one working with a then-modern desktop computer. It stood almost 7 feet tall, weighed so much that he reinforced the subfloor under his room, and required a surprising amperage of 3 phase power to run. Since this was absurdly expensive to get installed to a residential address, he built a 3 phase converter. The regional occupational center was also auctioning off obsolete punch card readers, which were the size of old school library copiers and also needed a pallet jack or forklift to move around.
While we're on the subject my Granddad once told me about the last project he worked on at Hughes Electronics before retiring. They wanted to record gigahertz radar signals directly to magnetic tape. They could have used a rotary-head Mitsubishi tape drive (like a giant VCR) off the shelf, but the project demanded American supplied hardware. So, they tried to make a big Ampex 1 or 1-1/4 magnetic tape player do the job. They were running the tape at 128 inches per second, and laying the data down through 16 heads staggered across the width of the tape. They aaaaaalmost got it somewhat working, but were running into the problem of by the time they got all 16 heads aligned and calibrated, the high tape speed had worn them out and they needed replacement and starting the alignment and calibration from square one again.
Read MoreFWIW: the new interface is confusing to me, but then again, so was the old one. For reference, I was writing programs in FORTRAN on punch cards in college.
This reminds me of when I was a Lieutenant working with a highly classified weapon system. Every year or so we would get a major update: I guess they figured that if it was hard for us to keep up with all the references and constant training, it would be impossible for the commies to keep up. The result was that by the time you learned all the answers, they changed all the questions.
Top tier technical skills do not trump social skills. The proof emerges in hierarchy after hierarchy, across every enterprise and field. Technical superiority alone finds a low ceiling in the hierarchy, and the figures who reach the top echelons do so mostly on the merits and outcomes of their social acumen.
I can vouch for that, although I’ll add that physical attractiveness / presence weigh heavily in one’s “social acumen” score. There was a time in my life when I was arguably the best person in the world at what I did. I’m usually “the funny one” in whatever group I’m in, and I treat even the lowliest E-1 like a valuable member of the team. However, being built like a hobbit in a military organizations meant that I had to be twice as good to get half as much recognition as some guys whose sole qualifications were looking good in a uniform and their ability to kick in doors.
Read More@Typo-MAGAshiv just so you know I'm not taking any of your criticisms personally, and I'm 100% not crying myself to sleep at night. Definitely not.
I didn’t code any of this website, at all. Wouldn’t know how to do it if I wanted to.
Is that supposed to DEER your behavior? Because it means you really have no standing to mock and criticize the feedback of site users!
Your opinion is not as important as you think it is.
You know what else isn't important to me?
@MentORPHEUS I didn’t code any of this website, at all. Wouldn’t know how to do it if I wanted to.
Regarding hubris, you clearly have an overinflated sense of self importance and you jump to all the wrong conclusions about me personally. Your opinion is not as important as you think it is.
Hey, a semi-shitpost that kind of mentions shit. How meta, or whatever.
@MentORPHEUS not to mention, taking criticism of one's work personally is fairly immature.
CC: @RPU_mike
And I know about maturity; after all, I'm more mature than any of you.
Nanny-nanny boo-boo, stick your heads in doo-doo.
@MentORPHEUS Oh, then it’s just a simple bug. Why the diatribe about all of your feelings and your “low desire”?
@Typo-MAGAshiv [snip] That said, a lot of things are still in progress! Please be patient and touch some grass in the meantime.
Lack of practical experience in client/end user facing positions confirmed.
Mocking and insulting the feedback of an enterprise's whale customers is an excellent way to hurt, maybe even kill the enterprise. Business history is full of examples of this type of hubris. Bud Light and New Coke make two textbook examples.
You may be an excellent coder. You may be putting in a lot of hard work on the sight's back end. One thing you are not is someone with the standing or community cred to cop this kind of cavalier attitude toward the userbase, without whom all your coding work will sit idle.
One of life's Red Pills that I struggled against as a young man, to the detriment of my career and social life until I swallowed it a chunk at a time as I learned: Top tier technical skills do not trump social skills. The proof emerges in hierarchy after hierarchy, across every enterprise and field. Technical superiority alone finds a low ceiling in the hierarchy, and the figures who reach the top echelons do so mostly on the merits and outcomes of their social acumen.
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