Quoting Joe Mackey to Nancy Backus on 03-19-20 05:38 <=-

Nancy wrote --

my sister lent me time on their home computer to type up minutes for an organization

Word processing was the main reason I got my Commie c. 1985.
I didn't even have a modem for several years so it was just a
gloried typewriter. (Or as some other students in J school called my writing, a "tripe writer"). :)

It at least seemed to be a practical use for the machine... ;)

I got my first modem only after learning about local BBS' around
1989. The idea of a world wide web wasn't even on my radar. That
came about around 1994/95.

I think that we may have got the modem with the machine, if not, soon
after... but I'm pretty sure that it was our teenaged son that was the
first usre thereof... and certainly the primary one, at least until he
pointed out to me the genealogy echoes and files on a couple of the
bbs's he regularly went to to play games and hang out in the local
message areas.... Then he had to share.... <G>

Ah, the old days when everything was in text or low res graphics.

But..... I'm still there... using text and low res graphics.... ;)

ttyl neb

... Have you read "Songs from 'South Pacific'" by Sam and Janet Evening?

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Nancy wrote --

I think that we may have got the modem with the machine,

Mine was a hand me down I got free when the first owner got a blazingly
fast 1200.
I still have a 56k. Saw it one day when I was rooting around the closet
for something else.
That's how I usually find things, when I'm looking for something else.

pointed out to me the genealogy echoes and files on a couple of the
bbs's

We had one time about a dozen or so boards. Some better than others.
Some were games, some were echoes others a combination.
I usually hit about five of them since one would have something the
others didn't.
Joe
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Nancy wrote --

Knowing Colombo, half of that would have been to draw more info out of them... one always got the feeling that he knew a lot more than he was letting on.... :)

Very true.

current cutting age technology and how primitive it was.

Quite likely.... and we'll be the ones trying to figure out that new
tech that's replacing what we knew about.... <G>

I recall a scene is some forgotten sci-fi film set in around 2050 and
there were banks of PC's, all using CRT monitors.
I get a chuckle out of what the past thought the future would be like.
Not just flying cars but everyday things. I imagine people 100 years from
now will get a laugh out of what we think it will be like.
Joe


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Quoting Joe Mackey to Nancy Backus on 02-25-20 05:51 <=-

current cutting age technology and how primitive it was.

Quite likely.... and we'll be the ones trying to figure out that new
tech that's replacing what we knew about.... <G>

I recall a scene is some forgotten sci-fi film set in around 2050
and there were banks of PC's, all using CRT monitors.
I get a chuckle out of what the past thought the future would be
like. Not just flying cars but everyday things. I imagine people 100 years from now will get a laugh out of what we think it will be like.

No doubt.... It's hard to think up things that really aren't thought of
at all yet... Some sci-fi authors do do a pretty good job of thinking
outside the box, extrapolating and actually providing templates for
future thinkers to build on, though.... :)

ttyl neb

... Prediction is very difficult - especially about the future Niels Bohr

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Nancy wrote --

No doubt.... It's hard to think up things that really aren't thought of
at all yet

Some did get it right with flat screen tv's hanging on a wall.
I often think inventors get ideas from sci-fi.
"Hmm, a flat screen tv hanging on a wall. Wonder if that would work?
Let me work on that..."
Joe


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Quoting Joe Mackey to Nancy Backus on 02-28-20 08:31 <=-

No doubt.... It's hard to think up things that really aren't thought
of at all yet

Some did get it right with flat screen tv's hanging on a wall.
I often think inventors get ideas from sci-fi.
"Hmm, a flat screen tv hanging on a wall. Wonder if that would
work? Let me work on that..."

I'm sure that they do get ideas from sci-fi... remember Dick Tracy's communicator watch....? I've seen more than one article in Analog
Science Fiction/Science Fact that list various things that showed up in
various science fiction stories that eventually came to be reality...

ttyl neb

... Inane tagline found. Abort, Retry, Swipe a better one.

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Nancy wrote --

I'm sure that they do get ideas from sci-fi... remember Dick Tracy's communicator watch....?

I see Star Trek's communicator as an early idea for cell phones.
I don't watch much sci-fi but do get a chuckle out of space movies from
the '50s and their idea of the future.
Things like landing on some alien planet that has an atmosphere just like earth.
Or some barren planet where people live a primitive life underground, but
are far advanced in science.
I always wonder how they grow crops, make clothing, etc since everything around them are rocks. :)
Then there are the movies where people are sent to some planet instead of robots, landers, etc first.
Joe
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Quoting Joe Mackey to Nancy Backus on 03-05-20 06:35 <=-

I'm sure that they do get ideas from sci-fi... remember Dick Tracy's
communicator watch....?

I see Star Trek's communicator as an early idea for cell phones.

That, too... :) Or at least walkie-talkies.... ;)

I don't watch much sci-fi but do get a chuckle out of space movies
from the '50s and their idea of the future.
Things like landing on some alien planet that has an atmosphere just
like earth.

Just overly optimistic back then.... ;)

Or some barren planet where people live a primitive life
underground, but are far advanced in science.
I always wonder how they grow crops, make clothing, etc since
everything around them are rocks. :)

They just don't show the underground growing areas with artificial light
and super-advanced hydroponics... ;) And don't tell the back story as
to how they ended up everything underground.... ;)

Then there are the movies where people are sent to some planet
instead of robots, landers, etc first.

But, but.... robots and landers hadn't been thought of yet.... <G>

ttyl neb

... Breakfast in Paris, lunch in Greece, luggage in Japan...

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Nancy wrote --

I see Star Trek's communicator as an early idea for cell phones.

That, too... :) Or at least walkie-talkies.... ;)

Walkie-talkies go back to at least WWII.
But they were big heavy things, needed some power source, usually a wind
up method and connected to the source by a cord. They were a form of radio telephone.

Things like landing on some alien planet that has an atmosphere just

like earth.

Just overly optimistic back then.... ;)

Plus the space ships were oversized rockets with bare metal beams and
all.

I always wonder how they grow crops, make clothing, etc since
everything around them are rocks. :)

They just don't show the underground growing areas with artificial light and

super-advanced hydroponics... ;) And don't tell the back story as to how they ended up everything underground.... ;)

Oh, ok. I forgot about that. :)

instead of robots, landers, etc first.

But, but.... robots and landers hadn't been thought of yet.... <G>

Robots, or at least the idea, have been around since the 1920s, or
earlier.
But they were seen as huge, clunky human-like machines, like the one at
the 1939 World's Fair, along with Robby the Robot in the '50s or even the one in Lost in Space. :)
(Danger Will Robinson, Danger!)
I am sure future generations will get as big a kick out of laughing at
what we think will be available in the future as we we did years ago.
In 1984 I visited my friend in Syracuse, the one I visited again last
year.
He had a "computer room" and went on at great length how he could get the Washington Post over the computer and print out stories he wanted to read.
He showed me how it operated and I said that would never replace a paper from a newsstand.
I can do more than he could then now on my phone. (Except for having to print out the story rather than read online).
I read somewhere that PC's will be the size of a contact lens and
actually be worn in not too many years.
Joe

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Quoting Joe Mackey to Nancy Backus on 03-09-20 05:58 <=-

I see Star Trek's communicator as an early idea for cell phones.

That, too... :) Or at least walkie-talkies.... ;)

Walkie-talkies go back to at least WWII.
But they were big heavy things, needed some power source, usually a
wind up method and connected to the source by a cord. They were a form
of radio telephone.

The later ones were still rather clunky, but they were battery operated...

Things like landing on some alien planet that has an atmosphere
just like earth.

Just overly optimistic back then.... ;)

Plus the space ships were oversized rockets with bare metal beams
and all.

Imaginative, though... ;)

I always wonder how they grow crops, make clothing, etc since everything around them are rocks. :)

They just don't show the underground growing areas with artificial light
and super-advanced hydroponics... ;) And don't tell the back story as
to how they ended up everything underground.... ;)

Oh, ok. I forgot about that. :)

I still read a lot of science fiction.... <G>

instead of robots, landers, etc first.

But, but.... robots and landers hadn't been thought of yet.... <G>

Robots, or at least the idea, have been around since the 1920s, or earlier.
But they were seen as huge, clunky human-like machines, like the one
at the 1939 World's Fair, along with Robby the Robot in the '50s or
even the one in Lost in Space. :)
(Danger Will Robinson, Danger!)

OK, then, landers hadn't been thought of yet.... and robots were too
valuable to send down first... <G>

I am sure future generations will get as big a kick out of laughing
at what we think will be available in the future as we we did years
ago. In 1984 I visited my friend in Syracuse, the one I visited again
last year.
He had a "computer room" and went on at great length how he could
get the Washington Post over the computer and print out stories he
wanted to read. He showed me how it operated and I said that would
never replace a paper from a newsstand.

You were right, though.... it takes a lot of paper to print out the
whole paper... and newsprint paper doesn't go through the printer all
that well, so the feel is totally different... ;)

I can do more than he could then now on my phone. (Except for
having to print out the story rather than read online).

Things have just gotten smaller as time goes on....

I read somewhere that PC's will be the size of a contact lens and
actually be worn in not too many years.

Another idea probably first seen in a scifi story.... I know I've come
across it many times.... ;)

ttyl neb

... There's no substitute for incomprehensible good luck.

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Nancy wrote --

He had a "computer room" and went on at great length how he could
get the Washington Post over the computer and print out stories he wanted to read.

You were right, though.... it takes a lot of paper to print out the
whole paper... and newsprint paper doesn't go through the printer all
that well, so the feel is totally different... ;)

He could print out the whole paper (or what was offered) or just
selected stories.
I wondered why someone would something so clunky.
But I also began to think that computers in the home could be a
possibility. But it was all limited what was possible so why spend the money on
this?
Of course it was only about two years later I got my Commie. :)
If I hadn't seen that demo I might not have become interested in them
that early.
Joe
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Quoting Joe Mackey to Nancy Backus on 03-13-20 06:55 <=-

He had a "computer room" and went on at great length how he could
get the Washington Post over the computer and print out stories he wanted to read.

You were right, though.... it takes a lot of paper to print out the
whole paper... and newsprint paper doesn't go through the printer all
that well, so the feel is totally different... ;)

He could print out the whole paper (or what was offered) or just
selected stories.
I wondered why someone would something so clunky.
But I also began to think that computers in the home could be a possibility. But it was all limited what was possible so why spend
the money on this?

That was somewhat my take on them as well...

Of course it was only about two years later I got my Commie. :)
If I hadn't seen that demo I might not have become interested in
them that early.

Richard was interested in having a home computer before I was... he was collecting parts to build his own for a while... Then my sister lent me
time on their home computer to type up minutes for an organization I was
part of at the time... and I was a little more willing to consider the
idea... I'd been holding out for a computer that could transcribe music
from a recording.... ;)

ttyl neb

... I still have a full deck, I just shuffle slower now.

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Nancy wrote --

my sister lent me time on their home computer to type up minutes for an

organization

Word processing was the main reason I got my Commie c. 1985.
I didn't even have a modem for several years so it was just a gloried typewriter. (Or as some other students in J school called my writing, a
"tripe writer"). :)
I got my first modem only after learning about local BBS' around 1989.
The idea of a world wide web wasn't even on my radar. That came about
around 1994/95.
Ah, the old days when everything was in text or low res graphics.
Joe
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Quoting Joe Mackey to Nancy Backus on 03-26-20 05:50 <=-

I think that we may have got the modem with the machine,

Mine was a hand me down I got free when the first owner got a
blazingly fast 1200.

I think that was what our first one was... been a long time now.... ;)

I still have a 56k. Saw it one day when I was rooting around the
closet for something else.

That may be what we use when we use our backup dial-up ISP when the DSL
isn't working....

That's how I usually find things, when I'm looking for something
else.

Well, of course.... ;) If you were looking for it, it would dutifully
hide in the back.... <G>

pointed out to me the genealogy echoes and files on a couple of the
bbs's

We had one time about a dozen or so boards. Some better than
others. Some were games, some were echoes others a combination.
I usually hit about five of them since one would have something the
others didn't.

We had dozens of boards locally here, at one time.... there were over a
dozen that I was monitoring to see how their genealogy offerings
compared to each other... some had good files, some were set up to be
able to do a good job with the GENEALOGY echo and not lose messages (and
others were totally deficient there)... Back then, there were often 500
or messages a DAY in that echo.... I was a regular on maybe half a
dozen of the local bbses, doing echos and the occasional game, mostly
Scrabble and KOTB and some trivia types of games....

Not all that different now, except that none of the bbses I visit are
local anymore, they're all accessed by telnet so can be anywhere in the world... And GENEALOGY is long gone, and I'm following MEMORIES,
COOKING, and a few others now.... Still play Scrabble on a few
boards.... I call five regularly, now... :)

One benefit of following more than one board is that one can check propagation... make sure that messages actually do leave the bbs of
origin and make it to other bbses... :) And gives a backup for when a
regular board might be temporarily down....

ttyl neb

... '\o.,@o.+:"/~!v <-- Tagline debris.

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Nancy wrote --

That's how I usually find things, when I'm looking for something
else.

Well, of course.... ;) If you were looking for it, it would dutifully
hide in the back.... <G>

I don't know how many times I've run across something and think "So
that's where it is", put it back since I don't need it at the moment and then forget where it was it the next time I needed it. :)

Still play Scrabble on a few boards....

I used to play that a lot, but it on my hard drive.
I also enjoyed playing Monopoly against the computer but the computer
cheated all time and got all the good rolls and spaces.
Once in a while I would win, but I think the computer thought that would
be good to have me come back to play and get beat again. :)

One benefit of following more than one board is that one can check propagation... make sure that messages actually do leave the bbs of
origin and make it to other bbses... :)

As mod here all I have to do is keep an eye on things. Sort of a
glorified room monitor.
Joe

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Quoting Joe Mackey to Nancy Backus on 04-02-20 07:52 <=-

That's how I usually find things, when I'm looking for something
else.

Well, of course.... ;) If you were looking for it, it would dutifully
hide in the back.... <G>

I don't know how many times I've run across something and think "So
that's where it is", put it back since I don't need it at the moment
and then forget where it was it the next time I needed it. :)

That is indeed the risk... <G>

Still play Scrabble on a few boards....

I used to play that a lot, but it's on my hard drive.

At least on the bbs, it's with another (real) player.... Mark Lewis at
SEStar has Scrabble... come on over and try your hand at a game with
me... ;)

I also enjoyed playing Monopoly against the computer but the
computer cheated all time and got all the good rolls and spaces.
Once in a while I would win, but I think the computer thought that
would be good to have me come back to play and get beat again. :)

That's why I don't like playing against the computer.... it's pretty
obvious that the computer cheats like crazy... <G>

One benefit of following more than one board is that one can check propagation... make sure that messages actually do leave the bbs of
origin and make it to other bbses... :)

As mod here all I have to do is keep an eye on things. Sort of a glorified room monitor.

Or college security officer, eh.... ;)

ttyl neb

... Without geometry, life is pointless.

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Joe,

But they were seen as huge, clunky human-like machines, like the one at
the 1939 World's Fair, along with Robby the Robot in the '50s or even the on JM>in Lost in Space. :)
(Danger Will Robinson, Danger!)

I sure miss that show, and so many others. They don't make them like
that, anymore.

I read somewhere that PC's will be the size of a contact lens and
actually be worn in not too many years.

That could have both beneficial and sinister implications.

Daryl

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Nancy,

I still read a lot of science fiction.... <G>

My late wife, Janice, loved that...but I was never much of a bookworm.

Daryl

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Daryl wrote --

I read somewhere that PC's will be the size of a contact lens and
actually be worn in not too many years.

That could have both beneficial and sinister implications.

Its bad enough with people staring at their phones all the time (and
getting in other peoples way).
I can only imagine what it would be like with that and people checking
their social media every couple of minutes, staring into space.
Joe
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Quoting Daryl Stout to Nancy Backus on 04-14-20 13:38 <=-

I still read a lot of science fiction.... <G>

My late wife, Janice, loved that...but I was never much of a
bookworm.

Richard and I both are bookworms.... and I've kept up our subscription
to Analog Science Fiction/Science Fact.... He always grabs it first, and
when he's done reading it cover to cover, he passes it along to me...

ttyl neb

... Did you ever wonder what would have happened if Adam had eaten an IBM?

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