| 2007 Big Five Anniversaries |
[Jan. 1st, 2008|11:20 am] |
Back in 2006 I did a Big 5 anniversary post. Basically it was a post about events in my life that I remembered from 5 years ago, 10 years ago and so on. For each 5 year mark I'd also post what happened that year in computing. Here's a link to that post.
I was planning to do the same for 2007 back in December but I got distracted by Mr. Flibble's twin (or replicant, I can't tell yet). Better late than never, I guess.
45 Years Ago (1962)
I was two years old. I'm not aware of any significant events in my life then but I will share one of my earliest memories. I might have been 2 years old then, hard to say.
During my toddler years I was fitted with a halter that was attached to a rope tethered to the ground. I shit you not. It was common practice in those days. It allowed the toddlers (me, in this case) to exercise in the front yard without constant supervision by the parents. When I learned about this later in life, I chastised my parents who responded with an innocent "What? Everyone did that!". Sigh.
Anyway one of my earliest memories was being fitted with this halter-tether thingy and walking or crawling around. I remember running as fast as I could toward the street and then I was jerked to a halt when the rope went taut. The first time I recalled that memory I realized I knew how a dog felt. That memory probably also fueled my outrage when my parents mentioned my tethering.
Another early memory I have is escaping from my crib and crawling on the floor late at night. I may have been younger than 2, I don't know. Nevertheless I thought I'd mention it here since I didn't mention in my previous big 5 anniversary post.
What happened in 1962 in the world of computing? "Space War!" that's what. Steve Russell wrote the program on a pdp-1 and completed it in February of 1962. This was one of the very first computer video games.
40 Years Ago (1967)
I was seven years old. Finished first grade and started second grade that year. In Minnesota.
Did you know that the Great Lakes were created by glaciers during the last Ice Age? Yep. Those glaciers curved out huge depressions in the ground that later became lakes when the glaciers melted and retreated. Those glaciers also left behind huge boulders that they dragged in from Canada.
There were several of those huge rocks in my neighborhood of Proctor when I was a kid. One rock was at a dirt road intersection about three blocks from my house. It was at least 7 or 8 feet tall and covered in graffiti. I had a dreadful fear of heights when I was a kid and the thought of climbing that rock scared me half to death. However, I did discover a set of huge boulders that weren't frightening to me. They were only 3 or 4 feet tall but they were at least 10 or 12 feet long. As big as cars. They were also at least a couple hundred yards from the nearest road and out of sight. They sat in a clearing in the woods and I got a good view of someones house and yard hundreds of feet away. I remember visiting those rocks frequently when I was a kid. It was my secret place to go to get away from the strife in my life. Very serene and a great place to lay back and watch the clouds.
Of course those rocks are nothing compared to the rocks I see routinely when I go hiking here in Albuquerque. Nevertheless, I look fondly upon those rocks at my secret place in Minnesota. So fondly, in fact, I'd like to see those rocks again the next time I visit Proctor. Not likely, unfortunately, since those rocks are probably on private property and I doubt I'll be able to get to them. Also I'm not sure where they are anymore (I tried finding them with the Google map satellite pictures but no luck: the resolution is too poor or the field is now filled with trees and are covering the rocks from the satellites).
1967 was a busy year in computing: LOGO was developed, IBM invented the Floppy disk, Nokia was formed, GPS became available for the first time for commercial use (that long ago? Go figure) and Ralph Baer creates the game "Chase" which is the very first video game that was capable of being played on a home television.
35 Years Ago (1972)
Ended sixth grade, started seventh grade in junior high. Starting seventh grade was a big event for me since junior high school was a major change from elementary school.
The summer of 1972 was also memorable. My parents decided to travel to Germany and since they didn't want to take us kids they left us with the Rozales family, old friends of my parents. According to my parents, Mrs. Rozales didn't trust my brother (then 17) with her eldest daughter (also 17) and so my brother left with my parents for Germany. Being left behind while my parents and brother flew off to Germany was a major sore point between my sister and I and my parents (still is). We felt abandoned and I remember being major league pissed off when they finally came back about a month later to pick us up. To make matters worse, I had to share the room with Michael and Benny Harry Rozales. Michael, who was 16, was somewhat of a sadist and he would routinely play domination games on both Benny Harry and myself. Not a fun time for me and my sister. My parents still don't understand why we are still angry about their trip to Germany. We felt our brother was given special treatment while we were left behind, neglected (that "Mrs. Rozales didn't trust your brother with her daughter" story didn't work on a 12 year old boy and a 10 year old girl). Whenever my sister and I bring up the topic and express how hurt we were by it all, they are dismissive which, of course, makes us even angrier about the whole thing. The summer of 1972 was not a fun time for me and my sister.
1972 was a busy year in the world of computers and video games. Magnavox releases the Odyssey, the first home video game console. Fortran 66 is released (why wasn't it called Fortran 72?), the C programming language - my favorite computer language - is invented, the compact disk was invented in the United States, Cray Research was founded and Atari releases Pong, the first commercial video game.
1972 was also a big year for the Internet. ARPA is renamed to DARPA, E-mail is introduced for the first time and ARPANET is publicly demonstrated for the first time.
30 years Ago (1977)
Ended 11th grade and started 12the grade that year. Watched Star Wars for the very first time.
My most memorable memory of that year was the visit to the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (NM Tech) in Socorro. The college had an open house for high school students and a bunch of my friends and myself signed up and spent part of the weekend there. The planners of the NM Tech Open House had each high school student paired up with a Tech student. However one of the Tech students decided to visit his parents out of town that weekend and one of my friends had the room to himself. So he invited the rest of us - about ten boys and girls - to spend the night at his room. We all grabbed our sleeping bags and had a memorable evening. We played poker, told stories, ordered take out pizza and had all sorts of fun. That night a local radio station played ELO's new album Out of the Blue in its entirety without commercials. That was the very first time I heard that album.
During the day we toured the various labs at the school. The National Center of Atmospheric Research had a center there and we got to see some nice color radar maps live on a computer screen (color computer graphics - especially in that high resolution - was rare in 1977). The center studied lightning (I guess it happened a lot there in Socorro) by draping a miles long cable across a canyon. IIRC the cable was used to measure the electrical potential of the clouds above. They would also shoot model rockets into the air. The rockets would be connected to thin wires and they would initiate lightning bolts once they were launched into the clouds. Cool stuff but we didn't tour the cable canyon or see any rockets launched (not the right season for it).
We did see a demonstration at the TERA (Terminal Effects Research and Analysis) sight where they blew up armored tanks and jet aircraft for research. On the way to the site I saw all sorts of surplus tanks, trucks and aircraft. Cool stuff. The demonstration was a simple explosion designed to just knock down a big piece of plywood. However, we all had to cram into this small concrete blockhouse to protect us from shrapnel. Even though the explosion was hundreds of feet away, it was LOUD. Cool too.
The highlight of the trip, however, was the tour of the VLA. At the time they only had 11 radio telescopes in operation but we were able to see radar images of distant galaxies on huge color displays. I also got to climb into one of the telescopes (something they don't allow anymore). Data from the telescopes were channeled to the computing center of the VLA via large waveguides (think large metal tubes). The computers they used in those days included a DEC-10 and a CDC supercomputer. That was the very first time I actually saw a supercomputer in person (only time, now that I think about it). Very cool trip.
In the computing world a lot happened. Apple, Radio shack and Commodore introduced mass market computers, XMODEM - a popular way to transfer files via modem - was invented, BSD Unix (my favorite version of Unix) was introduced and ARCNET, the first commercial network, was developed.
25 years Ago (1982)
I was in college that year. I was going part time at that time and so graduation was still a long way off. The previous year (1981) I bought my first computer: a single board COSMAC Elf based on the 1802 microprocessor. I remember in the spring of 1982 writing a bunch of programs on that computer. The computer was connected to a speaker via a single register bit I could program. By turning the bit on and off repeatedly by a program, I could make all sorts of sounds and special effects. Pretty cool stuff. I only had one class that semester (got an A - woot!) and so I had plenty of time to program my new computer.
In the computing world, Norton Utilities was created, Compaq computer Corp. was founded, Epson introduces the first notebook computer: the HX-20, the Intel 80286 was introduced, Adobe was founded and the very first computer virus, "The Elk Cloner", was created.
20 years ago (1987)
Bought my house 20 years ago. Still live in it but it is a bit worse for wear. Needs some repairs. I also took a road trip in early January with my brand new Plymouth Sundance, which I just bought in December of 2006. I drove to Austin, Texas to visit friends. The drive back was adventurous: I visited Carlsbad caverns and when the tour was over, my car and the parking lot was covered in snow. I had to drive the 300 plus miles back home in driving snow. Six inches deep at one point. White out conditions even. For about twenty miles I was stuck behind a snow plow (passing a snowplow with all that snow was impossible). There were a lot of abandoned cars in Tijeras canyon just before I reached home. I felt lucky I made it home in one piece.
My new car was smashed up in a car accident on January 28th, the one year anniversary of the Challenger disaster (I should have taken that day off work - I was thinking about it). Rear ended by a semi on the freeway. Totally their fault and I wasn't injured - not even a scratch. Only had the car about 6 weeks and it took them three months to repair it (mostly waiting on parts). The cost of the repairs was about $8000. Since the car was brand new and cost $11 grand to replace, they didn't total it. The weird thing is the insurance company (a small firm in Iowa) didn't pay the dealership for the repairs. Instead they gave me a check for the full amount months before the repairs were completed! I did the smart thing, however, and put the money in the bank (earned a couple hundred dollars of interest that way) until the repairs were finished. Except for some very minor issues, the car worked fine - until it was totaled in another car crash in 1991. I missed that car. It had a Turbo. It was fun to drive. :)
In January I bought my first Atari 1040 ST. It didn't work (the mouse was acting funky) so I had to bring it back for replacement. The replacement computer was fun and I played a lot of cool games on it including Empire, my all time favorite strategy game. That computer eventually died from over abuse. Whenever I got frustrated with Empire game (lost too many battles) I would pound the desk with my fist. Sometimes my fist would hit the computer. One time I hit the computer so hard I shorted the power supply and I had to bring it to a store to get the power supply replaced. That was embarrassing and I vowed to control my temper in the future. Too late for the ST, however (which I named the USS Enterprise). The stress on the main board caused the on board memory to fail about a year or two later. The good news was by the time the Enterprise died Atari 1040 STs became much cheaper and the replacement for the Enterprise (which I called Enterprise 1701A) cost less than half of the original.
I was part of a hot air balloon crew for the first time in 1987. I liked it so much that I kept up for many years afterward. I'm not currently with a crew presently but I hope to join up soon.
In the computing world the GIF file format was introduced by Compuserve, Windows 2.0 was introduced, the Mac SE was introduced, VIA technologies was founded, OS/2 was released, the Perl programming language was released (another favorite language of mine), MS-DOS 3.3 was released, SPARC processor introduced and IBM introduced the VGA display standard.
15 years ago (1992)
I got my Saturn SL2 the previous November and my first road trip with it was in March of 1992. I went to the Grand Canyon for my birthday and hiked down and back up the Canyon that same day. It took something like 14 hours (five hours down and nine hours back up) for that hike. I started hiking at 5 AM and finished up at 7 PM. It was pitch black out when I was done and boy! did my legs hurt. My hotel room was in Flagstaff and I had to drive about 100 miles before I could get any rest on a soft bed. That 100 mile drive was painful. My legs hurt for weeks and I swore never to hike the Grand Canyon again. So, naturally I made the same exact trip the next year. Silly me. At least I had the foresight to book a room at the hotel at the Grand Canyon and saved myself a painful drive.
1992 was a sad year in computing. Grace Hopper, women computer pioneer, died on January 1. She developed the very first computer compiler. A moth was found jamming up the works of a Mark II computer and Grace pasted it in her log book and labeled it "first case of a bug found". From this story she was erroneously credited with inventing the term "bug". However, the term was already in use at that time.
In 1992 the VESA bus was introduced, TWAIN (standard for scanning devices) was developed, the MIME standard was defined and the Internet society was first formed.
10 years ago (1997)
A lot of computing firsts for me that year. I acquired my very first VAX: an old VAXStation 3100 that Philips no longer needed. I took it home, installed SAMBA on it and got my first network operational at home. I used the VAXStation (named the Olympia) as a file server for my Win 95 box. Some months later I bought my very first Alpha computer. It was an AlphaStation 200, it ran VMS 7.0 and I bought it brand new from a vendor for $1500. I named it the Valiant and it replaced the Olympia as a file server. For a long time I would run both computers and have fun with VMS networking between the two. Later on I would install Apache on the Valiant and built my very first web page on the computer. The Valiant lasted as my primary file server until 2003 when my new Win2K boxes had larger disk drives than the Valiant (the Valiant only had a couple 8 GB drives by the time I demoted it from file server status). I still have the Valiant and power it up from time to time when I want to mess around with VMS (more often than you think). Someday I'll get a VMS emulator working on my PC and I'll no longer need the Valiant. That'll be a sad - but necessary - day.
In computing the PNG standard was developed, IBMs Deep Blue computer defeated world champion Garry Kasporav in a tie-breaking game, and the Babel Fish translator is introduced. The NASA Pathfinder website - showing off pictures from the Mars Rover - gets more than 100 million hits a day (including hits from me) which was a new world record. Also, Riven, the sequel to Myst, was introduced, the AGP standard for fast video cards, was introduced and the Celeron processor was introduced.
Five Years Ago (2002)
I went on a couple road trips that year. First I helped a friend move to Houston. Kathy got a job in Michigan and her family was getting ready to move there when she found a better position in Houston, her home town. I offered to help her husband pack up their things (he was still in Albuquerque) and help drive him to Houston in the truck. Instead she asked me to fly to Detroit and I'd help her drive to Houston (she paid for the flight with frequent flyer points). So I did just that. It was a three day trip. We booked separate rooms in Louisville, Kentucky for the first night and Baton Rouge for the second night. It was a nice drive and I got to see parts of the country I hadn't seen before. We stopped in Beaumont Texas, where Kathy's daughter was staying with Kathy's mother and waited for Kathy's husband to show up with the truck. He arrived the next day and I spent most of the time helping him unload the truck into a storage garage (they hadn't closed on their new house yet). The day after that I flew home (and boy were my arms tired). In November of 2002 I drove to Houston to visit Kathy and her family in their new house. I also took the time to tour NASA and the Titanic exhibit that was on display in downtown Houston. I drove from Houston to Albuquerque in one day (16 hours which was the furthest I ever drove in one day).
I also went to Las Vegas that year for CGE2K2. Lots of fun at CGE. Always is.
2002 was also the year they announced the closure of the Philips semiconductor plant. The plant would be closed for good in October of 2003. They announced it one day before I took my November road trip to Houston.
2002 was a banner year for me computing wise. That was the year I had broadband internet connection installed at my house. I loved it and never went back to slow 50K modem access. Initially my employer, EDS, payed for it but when I left EDS I kept the broadband connection, despite the expense.
In the computing world Ebay bought PayPal, Napster filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, WorldCom filed for Bankruptcy, Apple introduced OS 10.2 (Jaguar), PCI Express was approved as a standard and Edsger Dijkstra - computer pioneer and lauded computer scientist - died in August.
Well, that's it. This 5 year anniversary post is a lot longer than the previous but it was fun fro me to write it up.
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