Stop doing this
Every time Simon seems to be transcribing a meeting/shitstorming session that I have sat through I get a crick in my neck from nodding along. The older I get, the more it hurts.
1040 publicly visible posts • joined 7 Oct 2008
On a job very early in my career I was driving a van, delivering meat products and picking up stuff for the factory. Having driving from the factory in the West Midlands to a warehouse in Bolton, I checked in with the boss on the warehouse's landline (mobile phones only being found in the boss' Jag in those days, rather than a Transit van).
"I've made the drop, I'm on my way back now".
"Can you do a pick up on the way back?".
"Sure, where is it?"
"Poole".
"The one in Dorset?"
"Yes".
"I'll need a stopover. Do you want me to wave as I drive past?"
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"Get the map out, Dave".
"Oh".
I assume you mean that it will underpin more of the world of finance, banking, transport and government than you image for many decades to come and provide employment for many grey-haired code-slingers in the West and fresh-faced young programmers in India for as long as it does so.
Many years ago, when SQL Server 6 was US and Canada only and we were definitely not supposed to be developing on that version in the UK, we found an issue with the database that we were creating. We called Microsoft and after going through several layers of tech support they decided that it was beyond their ability to fix over the phone (this was many years ago, after all) so they would despatch a human being to investigate.
The next day a giant of a bearded man with poor personal hygiene arrived from Seattle to stare at our database and our code. After three days of staring, occasionally typing and even less occasionally grunting or asking for coffee, he said, "Got it, I'll send a fix". He flew back to Seattle and a fix was emailed to us a day later. Our stinking, silent, staring guru had fixed things and all was well. We went live before the UK & Europe embargo expired.
While working for a Large Government Department in the 1980s when the IRA used explosive methods of making their political point, there was much excitement when a large, unexpected parcel arrived. Procedures were followed - alarms, evacuation, bomb disposal squad, the full works. After being safely destroyed the parcel was found to contain a consignment of leaflets on how to deal with suspicious packages.
I remember the feeling of surprise I felt while dissecting a washing machine when I found a 6502 processor sitting there. I spent many happy hours of my youth writing assembler for that chip, but only after (back on topic) cutting my teeth learning the base instructions for the Z80 chip on a ZX81.
When introducing people to new input devices or screen artefacts it's always good to remember that we aren't born knowing this stuff if someone doesn't grok it immediately then more often than not it's the explanation that is lacking. That being said, given that an architect works in a world of spatial relationships I might have been biting my lip to point of drawing blood in this instance.
If you want to kill something properly you need orange juice.
On the death of a washing machine, the quickest way to get a replacement was to buy one from a someone selling one locally on eBay and go and pick it up. The seller, who reminded me of a chatty Silent Bob, helped me load it in my car. When I got the first load of washing out it seemed to smell strongly of Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester. Checking the machine over, I found a very soggy packet of shredded, strongly perfumed leaves in the washing powder hopper. I didn't bother telling non-Silent Bob that I'd found his stash as it seemed to be long past capable of combustion.
The ICL mainframes were very nice to work on indeed, designed and developed by people who knew what they were doing.
The ICL Wikipedia entry is quite good on the corporate history without delving into the in-fighting that went along with the various shenanigans, but there are colourful accounts from combatants in that internecine war to found on the internet.
A highlight of being the room with the 2900 while it was running reminded me of how you could tell what was going on by the noise that it made as it ran the loaded programme. Of course modern processors generate sound too, but at frequencies that are beyond my ears and probably those of bats too.
It sounds like the ideal platform for performing fuzzy logic.