I wrote my first 'real' program on a Kaypro, in basic of course. To control the on/off time of a commercial hot water heater for a client in Washington D.C. Voila, a glorified time clock! :D

:)

Ernie,

Good ole BASIC. Wonder how many of the kids on here even know what that stands for. And doing graphics by spending hours figuring out the coordinates for the computer to draw a line between. I used to use the old graphic paper like they used in school and mark it to match the coordinates on the old blank and white TV that I had to use as a monitor on my first real powerful computer. It also had no OS and I had to write everything and store it on tape which was a Cassette tape player that I had to buy. Actually the computer was just a keyboard. :D

Ron :rolleyes:

I remember writing the whole of an operating system in Assembler code for one of my postgraduate degree theses. Ah these computer softies today with their C++ and Java Scripts :). I also remember walking to school barefoot in the snow, uphill...there AND back!!!

I see this thread has now become a reminisce for all us old f@rt computer guys!!

Glyn

I rode the bus to school and back. But it looked like it was uphill both ways: ( YouTube - drag bus )

Just Kidding. Walked or rode bicycle. :)

======\

Another acronym for FRED: Federal Rear End Device. Takes the place of the caboose on the end of trains and sends radio info forward regarding rear brakeline pressure. Also allows remote tripping an emergency brake application by wire from the head end Locomotive cab (when they work). The corresponding head end device is called a MARY, not an acronym that I know of.

=======\

The CRT monitor in front of me is a Triniton leftover from a 166Mhz Gateway. The package cost my wife about $4000 when it was new and state-of-the-art. :rolleyes:


...

I know the word POSH comes from the old 'steamer' days when ships would sail from England to India, and the richer passengers would have this stamped on their luggage to indicate that they were to be placed in different cabins based upon whether they were going out to India, or home to England...Port Out Starboard Home. This way, they would avoid the sun streaming into their cabins.

Also, that wonderfully affectionate term that Australians have for us Brits (affectionate my a$$...lol ) POMMIE is supposedly what we used to stamp on the backs of their outfits when we shipped them off for stealing a bagel or speeding in a horse and cart or something...POHM (Prisoner Of His Majesty)...unless any of you Aussies have a different explanation?

Glyn

How about

"Colder than the balls on a brass monkey"

This came about by cannon balls sitting on a brass "monkey" or frame on a ship while at sea. The monkey was so the balls would not roll all over the deck of the ship as it swayed back and forth. When it was cold outside the sailers would to say it was colder than the balls (caoonon balls) on a brass monkey.

Cannonballs
One theory, of sufficient popularity as to be an example of so-called folk etymology, is that a brass monkey is a brass tray used in naval ships during the Napoleonic Wars, for the storage of cannonballs, piled up in a pyramid. The theory goes that the tray, would contract in cold weather, causing the balls to fall off. This theory is discredited by the US. Department of the Navy[7] and the etymologist Michael Quinion and the OED's AskOxford web site[3] for five main reasons:

The Oxford English Dictionary does not record the term "monkey" or "brass monkey" being used in this way.
The purported method of storage of cannonballs ("round shot") is simply false. Shot was not stored on deck continuously on the off-chance that the ship might go into battle. Indeed, decks were kept as clear as possible.
Furthermore, such a method of storage would result in shot rolling around on deck and causing a hazard in high seas. Shot was stored on the gun or spar decks, in shot racks—longitudinal wooden planks with holes bored into them, known as shot garlands in the Royal Navy, into which round shot were inserted for ready use by the gun crew.
Shot was not left exposed to the elements where it could rust. Such rust could lead to the ball not flying true. Indeed, gunners would attempt to remove as many imperfections as possible from the surfaces of balls.
The physics do not stand up to scrutiny. All of the balls would contract equally, and the contraction of both balls and plate over the range of temperatures involved would not be particularly large. The effect claimed possibly could be reproduced under laboratory conditions with objects engineered to a high precision for this purpose, but it is unlikely it would ever have occurred in real life aboard a warship.

So who knows if it is correct or not. I have heard that for phrase for years and don't know if it is correct or not.

But we al know (wink, wink) that everything you read on the internet is true :LOL:

I thought it was POME Prisoner Of Mother England.

We like the Brits down here. Especially when we beat them at the Cricket or Rugby.

Cheers

yea and I though

Manual Labor, was the president of Mexico. :LOL:

Mike...that would be ALL the time, nowadays...UNFORTUNATELY...LOL

Glyn

:)

Wes,

We used Fred for this.

FRED = Fricking Ridiculous Electronic Device after five days of trying to make a computer from the labs work right. It was so messed up we went down to the store and bought those big silver stick on letters and put them right above the main control panel. Everyone thought we had just named the machine and we never told then different. Those letters were there until they replaced that computer with a newer one.

Ron :LOL:

We have used that same term for some of our Cell Phones.

:LOL:

Joe,

Did you use it in an endearing way or in the way we did, meaning I wish I could blow this POS up? :D

Ron :JEKYLHYDE

Orientated! No such dam word!

But then, I have always been fond of the term "dictator" (being from the South and all of that).

Mike

Edit: If you don't get the dictator thing, perhaps you are acluistic? Look it up in the dictionary under "A"

More than once.

This thread is a 'red herring' I tell you, we've missed the point. Is it REAL? THAT is the question!

(Red Herring)the formal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but doesn't address the issue in question.the formal fallacy of presenting an argument that may in itself be valid, but doesn't address the issue in question.

Wow! Steve finally did it! Started his OWN thread that has gone on for days without pi$$ing anybody off. I'm feeling a bit disorientated.

Mike