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We've come a long way. I was thinking, wow, it would have been amazing to work on a project like that. Then I realized the drudgery of hand soldering and wiring all those tubes. I guess no matter how technology advances, the drudgery never goes away, it only changes form. 
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As if you drudged the few billion transistors of your I7 onto that die yourself.
I have lived with several Zen masters - all of them were cats.
His last invention was an evil Lasagna. It didn't kill anyone, and it actually tasted pretty good.
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Marc Clifton wrote: the drudgery of hand soldering and wiring
Back in the late 80's I worked in the simulation lab at the local Air Force base. They had lots of fancy graphics equipment. While I was there, they purchased a prototype graphics engine. When fully populated, it was to have 1024x1024x32 bit resolution, sprites, the works. The prototype occupied a couple refrigerator-sized cabinets. Each cabinet contained a large number of 24"x24" ... wire-wrap boards  .
Yes, the whole machine was wire-wrap. The two guys who delivered it spent months trying to get it working. When I finished my project, they only had one 1024x1024 plane functional.
Software Zen: delete this;
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My Dad worked on a tube computer. He said maintenance consisted of walking through the racks of tubes and looking for ones that are burnt out, then just unplug it and put in another, easier than changing a light bulb, no soldering required.
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We should. 
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I will.
Sounds like a good reason to celebrate 
Bastard Programmer from Hell 
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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You should have celebrated five years ago. What about Tommy Flowers, Alan Turing et al, and Colossus?
Ah - no - forget that - you just like very very, stale cake don't you? 
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And they are still trying to fix that one last bug.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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The 'Meltdown' vulnerability had a whole new meaning back then.
Software Zen: delete this;
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And the march to Skynet begins.
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Winter kicks off today. I've been thinking of getting out the warm T-Shirt. Funny as faarrrkkkk to watch people for the past few weeks done up in jackets I wouldn't need in the snow and big thick scarfs.
Doesn't really get cold around here till middle of July and through August. And by cold I mean absolutely nothing like people get way up north like in Canadia and such. Might get -5 at night but will still be double digits during the day.
Bloody Millenials need to harden the faarrrkkkk up.
Michael Martin
Australia
"I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible."
- Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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Has Anyone Seen Mike Hunt wrote: Bloody Millenials need to harden the faarrrkkkk up.
"That's not a winter, THIS is a winter!"
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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You think that's winter, you should see... oh, no, wait... I live in a desert.
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Vegas?
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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Actually Vegas can get pretty wet (annual avg. 4.17 inch), and there are plants. It is actually colder (and hotter) in Phoenix than in Las Vegas. (the Atacama Desert gets an average of .04" per year).
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Clifford Nelson wrote: Actually Vegas can get pretty wet (annual avg. 4.17 inch)
It's too hard for me to imagine that little water in a whole year; the Netherlands are like London in that respect. When the calendar says "summer", then it is raining.
Clifford Nelson wrote: (the Atacama Desert gets an average of .04" per year).
So I looked that place up on wikipedia, and it has its own entries on flora, fauna and ..humans? There's humans who settled in a place where it doesn't rain? 170 towns worth of them?
We are a crazy species 
Bastard Programmer from Hell
If you can't read my code, try converting it here[^]
"If you just follow the bacon Eddy, wherever it leads you, then you won't have to think about politics." -- Some Bell.
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That is the reason I like to live on the coast of California. The year I lived in Newport Beach, CA did not use the air conditioner or heater once. However I did use the fan. Now when I moved to Studio City, CA I real happy to have both, but still it is pretty mild there.
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If only, first day of summer over here, but I prefer the winter.
Air conditioners are pretty rare in the Netherlands so when it's hot outside it's hot inside (which isn't very often, but still a few weeks a year).
Everyone has heaters though, so when it's cold outside I get to pick the temperature inside
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You can always spot the travellers in Rome in autumn/spring, they are the ones in tshirt and shorts while the locals have their winter finest on. Fashion trumps comfort every time. You see it in SG as well, 30' and some of the locals have jumpers on, weird.
Never underestimate the power of human stupidity
RAH
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... and we still haven't had a frost up here. When it's been cold enough it's been too damn windy.
Cheers,
Peter
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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I am in Shirt + Knit + Jacket and still shivering ... !
Zen and the art of software maintenance : rm -rf *
Maths is like love : a simple idea but it can get complicated.
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Has Anyone Seen Mike Hunt wrote: Might get -5 at night but will still be double digits during the day.
So -10 then? That's pretty cold dude  .
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I'm always forgetting you live in wrong side of the planet. 
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CPallini wrote: I'm always forgetting you live in wrong side of the planet.
Best part of the planet away from all the riff raff.
Michael Martin
Australia
"I controlled my laughter and simple said "No,I am very busy,so I can't write any code for you". The moment they heard this all the smiling face turned into a sad looking face and one of them farted. So I had to leave the place as soon as possible."
- Mr.Prakash One Fine Saturday. 24/04/2004
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