General Store

[David Baxter PhD]

David's sitting there thinking, "Thank God, the lithium is finally kicking in." lol

No... more like, "Thank God, the server transfer is finally finished."

 

[Clancey]

That was a big deal for you. I know I don't think about what goes on behind the curtain. What it takes to maintain a forum type website. Did computers and the Net come naturally for you, or was there a huge learning curve? I notice you advertise a website development service. You also teach, so how do you balance the whole thing? In another post you shared about depression. How do you have time to get depressed? Yeah, I know, it's the mechanics of depression. It affects a person regardless.

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Yeah you don't have to have time to be depressed. It finds the time for you.

I was always interested in computers. I was originally going to make it a career but I got sidetracked into psychology for a few decades. Back in the old days, before PCs, I wrote my first programs using punch cards and a mainframe. Now that was an adventure.

It remained an interest over the years... even when I was doing other things. And gradually, computers became more and more omnipresent in pretty much every field, so my previous experience and interest came in handy.

 

[Retired]

Back in the old days, before PCs, I wrote my first programs using punch cards and a mainframe

David's original computer:



Needed to keep the pilot light from blowing out under the steam kettle!

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Not quite that old...

The two I remember best are

the IBM360:



and the Burroughs 6700 which replaced the IBM at Queen's University:



Apparently they all came with pretty young women...

This is a punch card... you might need to create a few thousand of these or more, each with a single line of code for the compiler:



And one of the machines used to create those and sort those cards:

 

[Banned]

That would require the patience of a saint. And if you drop your deck of punch cards....

 

[David Baxter PhD]

That would require the patience of a saint. And if you drop your deck of punch cards....

I did that once, debugging a program. I was trying to do one last compile before the computing center closed late at night and rushing to the card feeder I dropped them all over the floor.

Now the card punch machine could sort your cards for you automatically in just a few minutes... IF you numbered them sequentially.

I hadn't bothered to number them. What could go wrong?

After sorting about 2000 cards manually, that was the last time I didn't number them.

 

[Clancey]

So technology has greatly improved, or has it? If you drop your Smart Phone in the lake aren't you screwed?mg:

 

[MHealthJo]

It's simply stunning to think of how many obsolete pieces of equipment must exist in the world and how quickly they become so. I really hope that governments etc will make more and more responsible decisions about recycling and disposing of it all. (As well as about planned obsolescence, which I started reading about..... Ugh.)

 

[David Baxter PhD]

I see that happening more and more in Canada. You can drop off electronics to be recycled or provided to 3rd world countries in many stores and locations now.

 

[MHealthJo]

Awesome!! :thumbsup:

 

[Clancey]

In the world, don't forget the ocean and even on Mt Everest. Seems I read that there was numerous obsoletes orbiting in space. Fortunately in regards to electronics, everything seems to be getting smaller. Requires less space for dumping.

 

[Pop Alexandra]

I'm a bit late but I'm really happy to see everything's still working properly.
___________________________________________
Alexandra from Studio Azura

 

[David Baxter PhD]

Some of us are a little slower and rustier than we used to be but yes, we're still here plugging along.

Happy to see you back again, Pop Alexandra.