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For the Computer crowd.
- Thread starter DavidApp
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David - thanks for posting the video. Really interesting story there, altho' I don't understand the "chi delta by chi sub alpha" type language!
Colossus was 80 years ago. Wow. Such progress we've made since then - and such progress made between the Babbage Difference Engine concept of the 19th century and the Colossus itself.
Punch cards for programming the Difference Engine:
Colossus was 80 years ago. Wow. Such progress we've made since then - and such progress made between the Babbage Difference Engine concept of the 19th century and the Colossus itself.
Punch cards for programming the Difference Engine:
Some people seem to be wired differently. To be able to all that work out on paper with so little information is almost beyond belief. Then when you look at others in history who did incredible work using only a quill pen and paper it puts us to shame with all our help. I think google is making us dumber.
This is an entry from the wage book where my grandfather and father both worked. The wage book had been out of use for years when my dad worked there. We got hold of it by chance when the place closed and did not realize what it was for some time. I think Dad got it for scrap paper.
It was The Commercial cable company.
David
This is an entry from the wage book where my grandfather and father both worked. The wage book had been out of use for years when my dad worked there. We got hold of it by chance when the place closed and did not realize what it was for some time. I think Dad got it for scrap paper.
It was The Commercial cable company.
David
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The handwriting back then was beautiful.
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"mechanician" - new word for me.
The cursive handwriting we see on the right, I think that's called "Spencerian", which was taught in Britain and the USA back in the good ol' days.
I think typing with your thumbs on a tablet or smartphone has brought handwriting to a sad and lonely end.
The cursive handwriting we see on the right, I think that's called "Spencerian", which was taught in Britain and the USA back in the good ol' days.
I think typing with your thumbs on a tablet or smartphone has brought handwriting to a sad and lonely end.
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mikephillips
Yoda
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"mechanician" - new word for me.
The cursive handwriting we see on the right, I think that's called "Spencerian", which was taught in Britain and the USA back in the good ol' days.
I think typing with your thumbs on a tablet or smartphone has brought handwriting to a sad and lonely end.
Had a great grandfather who back at the beginning of the 20th century taught calligraphy for office staff and such. Passed on before I was born but i think he'd be disappointed in handwriting, particularly with they young in those school where cursive itself has been discontinued. My middle niece when they moved to central NY had started learning it in her old school and was told be a teacher to stop using it since they didn't teach kids that anymore and she shouldn't use something that the rest of the class couldn't.
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I sometimes feel bad about my handwriting - until I see my sister's and brother-in-laws handwriting. She's a nurse and he's an MD. I think horrible handwriting is some kind of requirement.
mikephillips
Yoda
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Yea I hear in med school they have to take a blindfolded writing course and don't pass until it looks the same with or without....
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When I worked at Bechtel in the late 70's, we had a secretary to type our papers. Ever since I took drafting in high school, I wrote in block letters. The secretary said my handwriting was the only one she could read.
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Though my cursive is vertical and legible, from an early age and at my father's behest (and his example), my lettering is the way the majority of my writing is done. Been asked if i'm an architect, an engineer, etc. Now the only cursive I use is when I write a check, then only on the two lines.
So often we see hand written documents with such ambiguous numbers and letters it's a wonder anything gets done correctly.
The hand writing in the wage book would have been done with a pen dipped in an ink well then blotted with blotting paper. Fountain pens came later.
My school reports all say the same thing "Hand writing MUST improve"
It never did.
My grandfather who is mentioned in the exert from the wages book died suddenly and as buried in Waterville Ireland. He did not have a headstone as his widow had 4 children to care for and no income. My sister and I have tried to find his grave without success. Seems the pastor of the church was not a very careful record keeper so there is no record of his resting place.
David
My school reports all say the same thing "Hand writing MUST improve"
It never did.
My grandfather who is mentioned in the exert from the wages book died suddenly and as buried in Waterville Ireland. He did not have a headstone as his widow had 4 children to care for and no income. My sister and I have tried to find his grave without success. Seems the pastor of the church was not a very careful record keeper so there is no record of his resting place.
David
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I tried & tried,but for some reason the link won't work.
It was about Grace Hopper on the Letterman show.She was
quite a character!