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LoC #54 with She
On the latest episode of Land Of Confusion, the member show for members, by members where we interview members, we finally sit down and interview She.
We start as we now do with our members questions and learn a lot of information on the state of the wool industry in the USA and the culture of southern PA. We then learn about She’s growing up in Nigeria, under the adventures of her colonial administrator father, and the life of a free roaming child in that West African Nation.
We then travel to the USA and learn about her time in school and living in the wilds of the heart of major PA city.
Then She talks about her life at the frontier of micro computing and how she helped bring about the introduction of word processers to that corner of the world and her love of the Atari 800.
Be sure to watch it all, and we will see you in the comments.
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Published in General
Something else of interest:
Also, Wikipedia has become less useful recently because they – at least claim to have – started requiring “published sources” for contributions. Which means you can’t just write what you knew/remember about some old system, you have to have the original manuals or something. Since a lot of older systems were very limited and specific and rare, there’s a good chance much of that documentation no longer exists. Which means you can’t create a Wikipedia article about them.
To say nothing of other systems, including more recent stuff, that never had hardcopy manuals to start with. I think Wikipedia is hoisting itself on its own petard with a lot of this, but maybe they’re finding it’s the only way to stop people from claiming that Islam created everything, etc.
I knew a guy who was a customer of HP early on. They were developing a calculator that was going to be priced at on the order of $5,000 at the time (many, many moons ago), but then HP did a marketing study and found at $500, they would sell so many more of them that they would make a lot more money. Same sort of deal.
Wow! From wool to word processing, with the Riot Act thrown in for good measure. That was fun.
I have a mini-collection of Philips DVX-8000 surround-sound receivers/processors. They look like a regular home theater component from the front, even with the built-in CD/DVD player that isn’t surprising considering how many all-in-one systems you can see on the shelf at Walmart etc even now.
But what’s under that little front cover?
A floppy disk drive? USB PORTS???
And in back… CARD SLOTS? MONITOR CONNECTOR? A PC POWER SUPPLY???
Yes it’s a computer inside, a Pentium 233 that originally ran Windows 95.
They also sold for $5,000 when they first came out, and at least some people paid it. One of them in my collection came in the original box, with the $5,000 price marked on it.
(These photos are not from any of my units, but they were the easiest to find online.)
The new ones aren’t as good as the old ones were.
Indeed, I see a lot of plastic in that photo.
Well, that’s totally depressing. Perhaps someone should fill in the gap. If only there was someone around here with an incurable case of verbal diarrhea who might do that….
Indeed. It wasn’t just between “industrial” and “home computers” though. There was a new market emerging, that for the non-technical computer user in the corporate and business market. The dedicated desktop word processors were the start of that, I think.
As pre and post-sale support, as application and business experts, and as trainers, we were trained ourselves to avoid any and all terminology that might intimidate or frighten the women (and they were all women) who were going to have these computers on their desks. We were instructed not to tell people to “hit” keys. We told them to “press” keys. We didn’t have an “enter” key. We had a “return” key, just like a typewriter. Our machines weren’t computers, they were “systems.” And they didn’t have bugs. They had “oopses.”
And yes, they were expensive. I think the first standalone NBI System 3000, with a Qume daisy wheel printer, purchased by the law firm I worked for in 1977 or 1978, cost about $17,000. It had no hard drive, and two SS/SD 8″ 160K floppy drives.
A different world. And not, in real terms, all that long ago.
If you’re referring to Wikipedia, I wouldn’t bother unless you have all the system manuals etc to back up your story. I could write a book on Qantel systems, but I couldn’t put anything about it on Wikipedia unless the book was already published. (And then, since it would be MY book, they still might not accept it.)
I’m not referring to Wikipedia. Always a good starting point, to see if there’s anything there. Never (IMHO) a worthwhile or dependable end point.
Not sure where else you’d put it then. Anyone else’s site – including your own, if you started one – wouldn’t endure beyond the point when you or whoever stops paying for the hosting etc, or even if you/they are paying, if the hosting service itself goes under for other reasons. That’s something people seem to not understand about the internet. Even Wikipedia wouldn’t hang around once nobody is paying to host Wikipedia.
I’ve already started one: rightwingknitjob.com, and I actually understand that it won’t endure after I’m dead, unless I make provisions (and some do) for others to carry it on afterwards. And I also understand that if they don’t make provision to carry it on after they’re dead, etc…. Please don’t assume that I’m too stupid, or that those others are too stupid, to “understand” how the Internet works. That sort of ruins the whole point of this thread which, as far as I can see, has exactly nobody that stupid on it.
We should be so lucky.
Glory be. Please just go with the flow. This isn’t literal life or death here. If I want to write a post on Ricochet, or even on my own blog (did I mention that it’s rightwingknitjob.com?) about NBI, then I’ll do so. I don’t really care or mind if it’s still here 20, or 50, or 100 years from now. I write for me. If what I write does anyone else any good, if anyone can find some purpose, some comedy, some insight, some human affection, or some useful information in it, then I’m overjoyed. If, on occasion, people think I’m a total moron for writing what I do, then that’s on them. Won’t stop me.
When it comes to what “endures,” I care most about those closest to me. I write about them, and for them, too. And I hope that they’ll write about me, after I’m gone. Whether or not my presence endures for 20, or 50, or 100 years or longer will, in the end, be up to them. That’s the purpose of procreation or, when such a thing is not possible for a person (as it wasn’t for me) that’s the purpose of creating the families and communities that we can to make a difference, for as long as we can.
Human memory is different from animal memory in that we can (alone among living species, as far as I can see), refer it to others. I wrote about that in a post here, too.
Do I think people, a thousand years from now, will care about NBI? Or about me? Not bloody likely.
But if, somewhere near the end of this 21st century, my by then elderly granddaughter is writing about me, as I write today about my own grandmother, born in 1898, then I’ll count my life worthwhile, and my presence in the family successful. Even though she’s not, biologically, mine. And if her granddaughter writes about me, 150 years or so from now, as I write about my own “Grandma Wells” and “Grandma Hudson” (both of whom have appeared on Ricochet at one point or another), then I’ll look down from above and count it a miracle.
If that’s not good enough, then what is?
Maybe so. But so much of what we have now, is still left over from what was written and published perhaps even centuries ago. Those books and other things – paintings, statues, so much more… – still exist, even if the people who wrote them, the companies that first published/printed them, and maybe even the countries as named at those times, are long gone.
Assuming we have any wisdom at all to contribute to both present and future, don’t we have any responsibility to see to it that our work survives our own mortality? Maybe it won’t be deemed valuable or important or even a curiosity, 100-500 years from now, but if it doesn’t even EXIST then, there’s no way anyone could even decide one way or another.
“Don’t try to be a great man. Just be a man, and let history make its own judgements.” – Zefram Cochrane
Except if history can’t see what you did, how can a judgement be made?
But I guess if this thread/whatever was never intended to be anything very serious, this is the wrong place for such thoughts.
The one I grew up pushing was rusty and it had probably been a decade since the blades were sharpened. I’d take a new one over that.
Even a new one made largely of plastic?
If it has sharp new metal blades, yes. Over dull and rusty any day.
Yeah, then the plastic wheels break or fall off, and those nice sharp metal blades might as well be your teeth.
I have a suspicion (it’s just a suspicion, mind you) that over the course of human history, many more books, paintings, statues, art, etc. than those that we know about or celebrate or revile today, have been destroyed, forgotten, or otherwise obliterated from memory. Some of them were probably worth far more, in aesthetic terms, than those we do remember. And that far more men who were just as significant in their own right as those we know about or celebrate or revile today, have also been forgotten. Some of them far better men than those we do remember. Thomas Grey knew it:
History (which itself is far from a “just judge” or an unbiased record) doesn’t “see” most of us. But my family, and those I care about, and those I love, see me. And that’s where I focus any “wisdom” I think I might have to “contribute to present and future,” and they’re how I make sure that “my work survives my own mortality.” To reiterate: That’s enough for me. And, over the course of history, it’s been enough for the people, most of them unsung heroes, who’ve formed families, founded nations, fought wars, and changed the world. They were the ones who were willing to “be [men] and let history make its own judgements.” In most cases, history has judged them kindly, even if it hasn’t remembered all their names.
Hooray for those few who, for good or ill, get themselves written about in the history books. We need them too. I don’t expect I’ll be one of them, and I’m not in the least concerned by that. I still might write a book or two of my own along the way, but if I do, it’ll be for me, and not because I view it as the legacy I leave behind me. That’s already done and dusted. One of my legacies starts eighth grade in September. Another is almost ready to be born.
If you view my point of view as fundamentally “unserious,” then I suppose we’ll just have to agree to disagree.
Well, I just gritted my teeth and forced myself to listen. Few things:
Several posts about Dad and Nigeria, some told in his own voice:
https://ricochet.com/232359/archives/these-were-my-fathers-muslims/
https://ricochet.com/372283/archives/tall-tales-gagara-yasin/
https://ricochet.com/557327/archives/the-kings-shilling/
https://ricochet.com/546258/archives/group-writing-i-wont/
https://ricochet.com/652493/archives/300-a-man-a-horse-and-a-missionary-woman/
https://ricochet.com/807316/quote-of-the-day-but-always-as-friends/
https://ricochet.com/805085/jangali-1947/
https://ricochet.com/907043/happy-birthday-dad-the-gremlin-in-the-petrol-tank-edition/
And a few more about Dad, by his daughter. Most of which prove, as I’m fond of saying, that “Things didn’t happen to Dad. Dad happened to things.” He died 14 years ago this September, and I miss him every day. Thus has he outlived his own mortality.
https://ricochet.com/432215/archives/qotd-his-holiness-will-receive-you-in-a-few-moments-i-could-have-dropped-dead/
https://ricochet.com/456896/archives/dear-dad/
https://ricochet.com/562807/archives/group-writing-zeal-carpe-diem/
https://ricochet.com/601123/archives/quote-of-the-day-fear-god-honor-the-king/
https://ricochet.com/696313/archives/qotd-american-football-churchill-and-gagara-yasin/
If all this is too much for you, don’t blame me. Blame Busy System Admin. It’s his fault I’m here:
Also, shoutout to beloved granddaughter, who’s entering eighth grade in September. (Here she is a few years ago, from a post I wrote about her then):
As I said on another post, a couple of days ago, WRT my well known camera-phobia (I mean, really. Look at that YouTube thumbnail–She’s attempt to resemble a blind and braying donkey. I rest my case. The collection of simply awful photographs of me over the years is immense, and disheartening):
With the singular exception of that appalling thumbnail, for which I am totally responsible (LOL), she did an outstanding job. I drove to her house because video is impossible at my own (satellite Internet connection), and even audio is barely doable. When I got there, I learned that her mother had asked her to set things up for Granny, and this is what I found waiting for me:
I discovered that she had spent the morning walking round the house assessing the suitability of lighting, sound and sundry other matters in various rooms (her mother, who’s a competent stage manager, used to take my granddaughter along with her when she contracted with local groups to stage manage their productions to earn a little extra money), and she’d managed what was, in her eyes, the optimal setup.
How much I love that little girl. Thank you Miss P. Hope I didn’t embarrass you too much**
**Mr. She used to say that all adults should live long enough to become a source of serious embarrassment to those in their family who come after them. I’m not quite there yet, but, after my own family experiences, I do relish his point.
Main Feed, y’all!
Blades can be sharpened easily. The ones I remember were sturdy, didn’t warp when you were pushing them, and cut evenly and well, even dull blades. The new one I have barely cuts at all and is rickety.
Reminds me why I’ve stocked up on some original made-in-USA Ekco can openers.
My son wants to go this direction for their 6 acres, but he has not yet convinced his wife. He thinks sheep will work better as goats are apparently more likely to rip up the roots.
Hey, I just reverted from an electric corded mower to a push reel mower so I don’t have to drag a cord around. Granted I have only about 2000 sq ft of grass. And I chose a new Fiskars model that has features that make it very easy to push around.
Looks like a lot of plastic there, too.
I gather a cordless electric didn’t appeal to you?
But at least that Fiskars one looks like you’d be applying pressure from the handle, downward on the main wheels that turn the reels. So that’s good. The previous one it looks like pressure on the handle would tend to lift the reel-turning wheels off the ground. Bad design.
When I first started practicing law in 1981 the law firm that employed me had recently begun using Wang word processors (secretaries only). Shortly after I started, the partners did a study to see if the partners’ expectations that word processors would reduce the use of secretarial time and thus save money. The study found that the word processors did not reduce secretarial time. Instead the lawyers made more revisions to documents, since the word processors made revisions easier. So the firm did not save money, but did produce higher quality documents. That calculus later changed when lawyers began using personal computers a few years later, which really did change the amount of secretarial time needed to produce documents.
I do remember times waiting for (and watching) the daisy wheel printer to print documents at one page per minute, documents that needed to be handed to a courier to be rushed to the courthouse or to a government agency.
Generally goats only do that if there isn’t enough to eat, or if the land is overgrazed because there are too many goats for the area they’re pastured on.
Depending on the type of vegetation, you might start with one, and move to the other, or go with a mix. Goats are browsers; sheep are grazers. If the pasture is rough and full of shrubby weeds like multiflora rose bushes, or has very mixed greenery and weeds, you’ll need goats to get it into shape. They like to eat high, with their heads up, if they can. They’ll eat the from the lower boughs of small trees (and the tree as well, if it’s small enough). Sheep eat low down, and prefer grass. The problem with sheep, if you have too many for the area, is that they’ll eat the grass down to the soil, and eventually kill it that way.
It’s quite common out here for people to use goats to clear the pasture, and then put sheep or other livestock on it. Best thing to do, if your son and his wife are just starting out with this is to get themselves adopted (metaphorically, of course) by a local farmer or two, and then follow their advice as to what works in that particular area.
Ah, memories! Yes, that’s exactly it: There wasn’t much, if any, time saved because the cycle of endless revisions to “improve” things that would otherwise have been “let slide,” or corrected by hand, was just beginning. (I’m not sure, in the end that it made all that much difference. But it kept everyone busy.)
And at first, we thought the daisy-wheel printers were miracles of speed (from somewhere in my memory banks, the figure of 45 characters-a-second for the Qume, and 55 characters-a-second for the Diablo are bubbling up). But after a while, it seemed like an endless wait until the page was finished. (I do remember the joy that the ladies experienced in their first experiences with sheet-feeders, though.)
When the laser printers came out, they didn’t sell very well at first, because people didn’t like the fact that they didn’t strike the page and leave an impression that you could feel on the back of the page. Their output was considered substandard for that reason–because it didn’t look like an original–and so we had to put up with the clackety-clack of the daisy wheels much longer than we otherwise might have. Over time, as the functionality and the output quality of the lasers improved, that objection went away. I can’t remember who made the first Laser printer I supported, likely Xerox. It was huge, a floor model, and black.
Another thing the NBI could do was 3270 emulation, and so it could act as a mainframe terminal. It also connected to PROFS. (This was sophisticated stuff in the early 1980s, and pretty interesting to boot.)
PROFS, anyone? (More ancient history that’s almost as good as mentioning Hunt the Wumpus when it comes to sussing out kindred spirits.)
I’ve got a box of military can openers — someplace.