The Nerd Herd: General Board Edition

I might crawl back into my hole because this is making me miss Byron too much. He would love this thread. He was a firmware designer and a maverick like me. Neither one of us would touch COBOL ;)

We could talk about the good old days of no computer law to speak of :D

I've missed out a LOT of GBers lives lately, with me focusing so much on getting my husband and kids back into school. Did you recently lose your husband sweetheart? :(
 
I've missed out a LOT of GBers lives lately, with me focusing so much on getting my husband and kids back into school. Did you recently lose your husband sweetheart? :(

He was not my husband, but he died suddenly in early July. His wake thread is linked in my signature.
 
He was not my husband, but he died suddenly in early July. His wake thread is linked in my signature.

Oh God, I am so sorry. There are no words, I can't even begin to imagie what you're going through. If you need anything, please let me know. :heart::(
 
I'm not a nerd, I'm a wonk. We all have our place. And I've been playing Pokemon since it first came out in the states - so about 16 years? And I wasn't young.

I used a slide rule because the calculator wasn't available to the masses until much later. I was an early adopter of the home answering system and got the first iPhone. I am a generational anomaly. Not a developer, but a user and I'm dangerous.

Don't discount a wonk. Nerds and geeks wouldn't be anything without us.
 
I'm not a nerd, I'm a wonk. We all have our place. And I've been playing Pokemon since it first came out in the states - so about 16 years? And I wasn't young.

I used a slide rule because the calculator wasn't available to the masses until much later. I was an early adopter of the home answering system and got the first iPhone. I am a generational anomaly. Not a developer, but a user and I'm dangerous.

Don't discount a wonk. Nerds and geeks wouldn't be anything without us.

For some things slide rule are faster!

One of the original 10,000 MAC owners. ;)
 
Polish notation?
:D

One programmed the HP calculator in reverse polish notation.

As for computers, we had IBM clones at work in the late '80s (8086 and 286's)
I finaly bought what I thought was my dream machine in 1991 when they first hit the market, it was the 486 33Mhz with 4 megs of ram, expandable to 8, it came with quick basic.
 
Hi Garby!

I fell in love with the Mac, I played with one before they were released and was at the first developers conference and first MacWorld trade show. Also worked on some stuff for HP. Wild times, nothing has been quite as exciting as the mid to late 80's, we were changing the world...
 
Hi Garby!

I fell in love with the Mac, I played with one before they were released and was at the first developers conference and first MacWorld trade show. Also worked on some stuff for HP. Wild times, nothing has been quite as exciting as the mid to late 80's, we were changing the world...

Developing sounds like a really really interesting venture on a lot of new products coming out. Are you still into it? Up to date on the newer codes and platforms? The Oculus Rift is in development currently. That has a lot of hype and potential to be a game changer.
 
Developing sounds like a really really interesting venture on a lot of new products coming out. Are you still into it? Up to date on the newer codes and platforms? The Oculus Rift is in development currently. That has a lot of hype and potential to be a game changer.

Cool. Not currently into it but we were looking into wearable electronics, now I am not sure I will continue on my own.

How about you?
 
Cool. Not currently into it but we were looking into wearable electronics, now I am not sure I will continue on my own.

How about you?

I'd love to get into wearables. Google Glass looks incredible. However, it's price tag ($1500) is rather dissuading. The Oculus Rift is much cheaper ($300 for the dev kit), but I never got as far into programming as I wanted to. Maybe when it gets to the actual market I can enjoy it.

As far as programming goes, I never got too far. I have an Arduino Uno, I just haven't had the chance to get going on it.
 
I might crawl back into my hole because this is making me miss Byron too much. He would love this thread. He was a firmware designer and a maverick like me. Neither one of us would touch COBOL ;)

We could talk about the good old days of no computer law to speak of :D

I bet I could double-dawg dare him into it...


:D
 
I'd love to get into wearables. Google Glass looks incredible. However, it's price tag ($1500) is rather dissuading. The Oculus Rift is much cheaper ($300 for the dev kit), but I never got as far into programming as I wanted to. Maybe when it gets to the actual market I can enjoy it.

As far as programming goes, I never got too far. I have an Arduino Uno, I just haven't had the chance to get going on it.

Speaking of wearables, I've got my brand-new Kreyos Meteor. It's still a work in progress, evidently. The bluetooth keeps cutting in and out, so the watch can't do much other than tell the time (it is supposed to connect to my phone to pull up all sorts of info)
 
Speaking of wearables, I've got my brand-new Kreyos Meteor. It's still a work in progress, evidently. The bluetooth keeps cutting in and out, so the watch can't do much other than tell the time (it is supposed to connect to my phone to pull up all sorts of info)

I had a wearable. It was the InPulse smartwatch. From what I understand, basically the first smart watch out there. It was pretty cool. I enjoyed it. But the battery died, so it turns on and connects for all of about 25 minutes. So, basically useless. It was $150 when I got it. Much more reasonable than the Smart Gear. But there's a whole market for that stuff now. I should look into more options.
 
Bvbz35_IYAEFfmc.jpg
 
Star Wars was cool right up until Alien came out and then you realized what a fucking cartoon it was.


;) ;)


:)
 
4-6 were great
1-3 not so much

The books were/are hit or miss.

I actually grew up on the ABC's and Arcot, Wade, and Morey, but I never read Star Wars.

:eek:

Maybe by that time I was already into non-fiction.

(Or stoned and doing Heavy Metal. :D )
 
Star Wars was cool right up until Alien came out and then you realized what a fucking cartoon it was.


;) ;)


:)

The pie plate "saucers" in Flash Gordon were cool until that opening sequence filled the screen.

I saw it at the Cine Capri, the biggest screen in town then, none are anywhere as big now.

One programmed the HP calculator in reverse polish notation.

As for computers, we had IBM clones at work in the late '80s (8086 and 286's)
I finaly bought what I thought was my dream machine in 1991 when they first hit the market, it was the 486 33Mhz with 4 megs of ram, expandable to 8, it came with quick basic.

LOVED my 12C.

Whenever anyone wanted to borrow my calculator at work, I would start to explain..."Nevermind." was always the end result.

RPL is actually a really smart way to process numbers. It is great for running algorithms when you want to try repeat an operand and watch the numbers add (or multiply up.) I'd have to brush up on it these days to have any idea how to do it.

I bet if you brought a 12c to class, they would look at you like we did with sliderules.

I actually own a really good, full-sized sliderule. I have no idea how to use it.
 
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I did the computer thing back in the late 70s and early 80s. I had a TRS80 MODEL 3 with a rf modem for radio teletype. Then I moved on to radio astronomy and satellites.

These days I do original research of human and animal behavior, medical philosophy, and plant/soil/water research. I grow organic fruits and veggies, and use insect venoms for their antibacterial properties. My other passion is practical problem solving.

I'd like to teach a course for how to think and solve problems.
 
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