Amazon exiles discussion
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The complete bo**ocks, talk tripe, no music allowed thread
message 951:
by
Craig White
(new)
Jun 14, 2018 06:36AM
who's he calling a hefty punt? :)
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Tech wrote: "who's he calling a hefty punt? :)"Well if you must keep posting selfies?
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Hefty-Fine-B...
c'mon, c'mon! you know that's not me - i would die before growing a moustache! (which in itself would be quite a feat!) note; in no way do i wish to be viewed as a moustachist, i just haven't the face for one! :)
Could you not grow one of these?https://i.pinimg.com/736x/42/03/fd/42...
or these?
http://weknowmemes.com/wp-content/upl...
or even this?
http://oi45.tinypic.com/29gokrt.jpg
Tech wrote: "i would die before growing a moustache! (which in itself would be quite a feat!) "You've obviously never read/seen Rosencrantz & Guildernstern are Dead.
Raising the tone, eh, Gordon?"Rosencrantz: Another curious scientific phenomenon is the fact that the fingernails grow after death, as does the beard.
Guildenstern: What?
Rosencrantz: Beard.
Guildenstern: But you're not dead.
Rosencrantz: I didn't say they only started to grow after death. The fingernails also grow before birth - though not the beard."
it's not the phone, it's the users! the upcoming generation already don't need to write anything, can't spell anything, and in a few years won't need to talk at all! or move!
We'll all probably be on Life Support Machines while permanently plugged into Cyberspace? - I hope I won't be around to see it! ;oO
WoW?!! - it would be so funny if it wasn't also quite disturbingly close to the reality of what is already starting to happen ;oOIt makes me feel so very sad for future generations - and yet I guess that what they have no idea of anymore or any interest in probably won't bother them much at all?
On the radio the other day somebody passed comment on how Brexit is becoming like the Eagles song 'Hotel California' ........I also saw a recent news article about a school that was giving a class of seven year oods a warning of the dangers of being on the Internet, one precocious girl announced to her group that she would kill herself without it. There's no hope!
..........and by the same token, will need the internet in order to kill herself! extreme? of course it is, but that's where we're going. every potential good thing that is invented with a view to improving humanity will be turned into a weapon of mass destruction by the humans who don't understand it!
I'm reminded somewhat of the old fable with the horse, the man and the wolf. The horse says to the man that if they join forces they could eliminate the threat of the wolf to them both. The man agrees and leaps onto the horse's back armed with a spear. After a long chase they finally corner the wolf and kill it. "Well done!" says the horse, "You can get off now". To which the man replies, "The hell you say Dobbin. Gee up!"
Which in turn reminds me of the old story about the Lone Ranger and Tonto out riding one day when they encounter a murderous party of Apache braves. A desperate chase on horseback ensues but the plucky pair make a fatal error and turn into a blind gully. Realising their likely fate, Lone Ranger turns to Tonto and says, 'Well old friend, it's been a pleasure to ride with you but it looks like the end for us ……..'Tonto looks into the Lone Ranger's teary eyes and says, 'What do you mean, 'us', you paleface twat!'
Gordon wrote: "The elder Little Miss D & I are in Sheffield for a university open day. Fabulous library, Lez."I never went to the Uni library. One year they were offering a six-month secondment there from public libraries. I applied but there were dozens of applications for just 2 placements and I didn’t get in.
I don’t know if it’s still the case but Sheffield used to have the highest number of students staying in the city where they graduated.
If Miss D. gets in she might never come home again!
When I was doing my library training at Leeds Polytech we went on an excursion to Sheffield Uni library. From memory, it was quite new then ('71/72). The crucial information I took away from the day was, if you were planning a library, be sure to install a sink in the workroom! I never forgot that and when we built a new library at the primary school I was working at in 2003, I made sure we had a sink!
Gordon wrote: "Given that she's going to study Japanese I don't think she has much intention of coming home."So she's Turning Japanese is she?
(sorry, I know, no music allowed)
I was at Leeds Poly in 1969-70, failed first year, but was a fixture in the Poly bar for the next 4-5 years while working in the Leeds University computer centre.Su would have been at Leeds Poly 1971-73 or thereabouts.
Derek wrote: "... working in the Leeds University computer centre."Who was there when you were? My stint was later than yours. I can't actually think of the names except Mike ? was the Centre head.
I remember that one of the computer operators was known for running his private business from the mainframe!! I've still got a perspex panel from the old computer when they changed over to IBM.
Another coincidence - my husband was working for Addressograph around that time, their head office was in Leeds and he sold office equipment to the university, the Poly and the council offices!
The School of Librarianship was located in rather dingy premises in Park Place and St Paul's St, down near the central station. There wasn't much going on in the area - it was mostly derelict old buildings. We spent a lot of time in working men's cafs eating huge plates of fried eggs and baked beans. I won a prize (for cataloguing I think?) - a cheque for one whole pound drawn on the Yorkshire Penny Bank. I still have the letter from the Head of the School of Librarianship apologising for the paltry amount and advising me not to spend it all at once.
Derek wrote: "I was at Leeds Poly in 1969-70, failed first year, but was a fixture in the Poly bar for the next 4-5 years while working in the Leeds University computer centre.Su would have been at Leeds Poly ..."
Twoddlebungler - I was in the computer centre used by the students in support of their coursework, and by lecturers for research work. When I joined it was led by a guy called Harry Eastwood and his deputy John Easton (I think). Apart from Harry and John who were both normal, we had some pretty strange guys working there when I joined. On night and evening shifts a couple of the shift teams were a serious source of illegal substances for the students.
By the time I left in 1980 everything was much more professional and we'd progressed from the EE KDF9 that I first worked on through an ICL 1906A and finally Amdahl mainframe. For a large part of that period they still had the original Elliot 803 computer down in the basement as a museum piece.
If you were in the Admin computer centre they only person we might have in common would be a guy called Peter Jowett who was my original shift supervisor and transferred over to the admin computer centre later. He was a keen NALGO union man.
It's the KDF9 I've got a bit of. I'm wondering now if there ever was an IBM360 at Leeds. I also worked at Bradford Uni (punched cards would you believe!) and other places. Maybe my memory is playing tricks. I don't remember Peter Jowett. I was a computer operator at Bradford and taught myself to program while working the night shifts. On the strength of that I became a systems programmer at Leeds. I had to wing it at first and got through by working late, sleeping at work and then being woken by the cleaners in the morning and starting again. In those days it wasn't an imposition because I found programming as addictive as people find computer games these days.
TwoddleBungler wrote: "It's the KDF9 I've got a bit of. I'm wondering now if there ever was an IBM360 at Leeds. I also worked at Bradford Uni (punched cards would you believe!) and other places. Maybe my memory is playin..."The Amdahl was an 'IBM clone' running IBM's VM/CMS operating system. That's the only IBM link that I know of. They also had some Prime minicomputers in some of the bigger departments.
The big cheese on the systems programming side while I was there was a guy called David Holdsworth.
Oh, I remember him. Didn't have Don't suppose you knew Lesia (?)
Derek wrote: "TwoddleBungler wrote: "It's the KDF9 I've got a bit of. I'm wondering now if there ever was an IBM360 at Leeds. I also worked at Bradford Uni (punched cards would you believe!) and other places. Ma..."You were lucky then, David was a very bright guy but he could be a prize pain in the backside. Lesia, nope, that's not a name I remember and I wouldn't have forgotten an unusual name like that.
Remarkably he still seems to be a KDF9 enthusiast - why, I can't imagine. Apparently there's a simulator. http://sw.ccs.bcs.org/KDF9/index.html
TwoddleBungler wrote: "Remarkably he still seems to be a KDF9 enthusiast - why, I can't imagine. Apparently there's a simulator. http://sw.ccs.bcs.org/KDF9/index.html"Crikey, that takes me back, we spent many a happy hour in The Eldon pub that the Eldon system was named after. Also saw the mention of Tony McCann on there. He was a nice guy, main claim to fame being his work on a SNOBOL implementation (SPITBOL), which also seems to be still alive:
https://daveshields.wordpress.com/201...
Ah yes, that was the Mike I mentioned in message 1003 above. He was a nice guy. When I was there the whole centre used to troop over to the maths department for coffee breaks with him presiding.
The talk of SNOBOL reminds me of all the different computer languages I tried and wrote at least one working program in, These were Basic (Microsoft, BBC, ZX Spectrum), Algol60, Algol68, Fortran, Lisp, Prolog, SNOBOL, Z80 machine code (implemented a Turing machine on a Nascom), there was even a functional language called A if I remember rightly. Also of course Visual Basic, Pascal, Delphi, C, C++.Never, ever however did I try to write even a line of COBOL. I don't know why - it was anathema to me. Looking back, I don't know when I found the time to all of that whilst also working. I even had a Spectrum educational game published.
I haven't done any coding for some time now, just a bit of VB for accessing web pages a year or two back.
P.S. and of course B with its dreaded co-routines.
Computer programming books were one of the top 3 categories to be nicked. The other 2 being football and dogs.
I know nothing of programming but my eyes latched on to the mention of the Sinclair ZX Spectrum - my very first computer bought in 1982 I think. I've still got it, in perfect condition, still in the polystyrene foam packaging it arrived in with the receipt and all paperwork. Not to mention half a dozen cassettes. It was quite a business connecting it to both the television and a cassette recorder. I did try my hand at writing some basic indexing programs but didn't persevere. Is there a museum out there looking for a donation??
Sheffield’s first attempt at computerisation consisted of area libraries (mine was one) having 2 big machines - one was a Data Capture Unit, can’t remember the other one, and 2 enormous tapes which had to be set up to wind through each morning. A terrifying procedure which fell to me on the days I was in charge. I then had to phone the other 5 libraries in the area and give them the codeword for the day. I remember that anyone with a digital watch had to either remove it or put their arm behind their back when anywhere near the equipment. No, I don’t know why.
Lez wrote: "I then had to phone the other 5 libraries in the area and give them the codeword for the day...."You were a spy, Lez. Why don't you just admit it?
Books mentioned in this topic
MEGALOPHILIA: MONOKUBO ARTWORKS (other topics)Invisible Women: Data Bias in a World Designed for Men (other topics)
Paul Hollywood's Pies and Puds (other topics)
The Plight of the Lady Gingerlily: (other topics)
The Plight of the Lady Gingerlily: (other topics)
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