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January 31, 2007

HP-41C

I added the HP-41C to my collection this week.

I actually have all the upgrades to make this an HP-41CX thanks to the Quad Memory and Time Modules. I also have a Math I and Extended Functions Module, which boosts memory to over 600 registers. The unit is rounded out with a restored magnetic card reader, which works great. I used it to store a Quadratic Function solver, which I was able to use when helping Alanna with her math homework tonite.

This was another "original owner" unit that was lovingly maintained -- no corrosion and the facia is in great shape. It's just an amazing calculator.

Current HP Collection:

Posted by Steven at 12:30 AM | Comments (0)

January 30, 2007

Home Apple Collection from Heaven

You think I collect too many Apple Computer machines? Check out this guy's collection in his basement. Not only is it staggering in scale, the layout, funiture and decore are fabulous.

Some day ... some day.

Posted by Steven at 01:31 PM | Comments (1)

Not ... the Rensselaer I Know

Headline in NY Times: Rensselaer Playbook.

I had to look ... wondering if it was about RPI vs. Cornell.

Nope ... it's a small town in Indiana that is caught between the two Super Bowl rivals.

Fished in!

Posted by Steven at 11:38 AM | Comments (0)

January 17, 2007

HP-35

Today I received an HP-35 calculator I won in an eBay auction last week.


The last generation of the HP-35 "Electronic Slide Rule" calculator

This is a very collectable machine that has a long and famous history. It was the first scientific calculator ever sold. Originally conceived by Bill Hewlett, with the goal of producing a portable computing device that fit (literally) in Bill's shirt pocket (legend has it that the engineers at HP measured Bill's pocket before they started laying out the calculator), the machine was first intended only to be made for internal HP use. The marking department estimated a demand of a few thousand units.

Like Thomas Watson of IBM, they were off by a few orders of magnitude.

This calculator was in a class all to itself for many years, even as expensive "four-key" models sold by TI and Commodore came crashing down in price, thanks to the relentless price reductions of Sharp, Toshiba and Sanyo. Anyone doing real engineering work appreciated the design of the HP-35. The keys had a solid feel, and the machine was built to be repaired.

Need proof? I have in my hands a thirty-five year-old unit that works perfectly well. What other thirty-five year-old electronic devices do you have in your home? The only devices I have that are in the same ballpark are an Apple ][+, and my collection of Minolta SR-T camera bodies (which have the most trivial of electronic parts in them).

This is the calculator that Stephen Wozniak sold when he and Steven Jobs began building Apple I motherboards for sale in 1976. It probably was the most important advance in personal engineering technology in the 1970's. Yes, Hewlett-Packard shipped many more advanced calculators in that era (25, 45, 65, &c.) but the HP-35 was the first, and as such, changed the paradigm.

I'm still amazed by the leaps-and-bounds of that era. Read more about the HP-35 at the The Museum of HP Calculators.

Posted by Steven at 06:01 PM | Comments (0)

We'll Be a Monopoly Again ... Soon

Tom White made this prediction in 1984 ... and it's finally coming true:

Thanks to Scoop for finding the YouTüb stream.

Posted by Steven at 12:13 PM | Comments (1)

January 13, 2007

RAW is Dead

Robert Anton Wilson passed away on Jan. 11th. Fnord.

Posted by Steven at 01:27 AM | Comments (1)

January 08, 2007

2006 In Review

I was going to write a bunch of stuff about 2006, but really, there's not a lot to say that isn't already on this blog, or the Boyd High School Band web site. I spent the year working for the best employer I've ever had, earning my highest paycheck ever (thanks to a vacation payout), all from home.

My kids did great in school and band, and we got to open a new High School (which had it's ups and downs). We left Elementary school behind forever, a milestone that left both Anne and I a bit misty-eyed.

There were some downers, like my foundation shifting in the drought, the three days of hell spent at Bennett Elem. "summer camp" (in the freezing cold), and not winning the Collin County Commisioner's election (working for Bill Baumbach).

But the highs were pretty good: the Democrats regained Congress, I got got rid of all my IBM-PCs and got myself a MacBook Pro, Alanna and I are at a new band program (Boyd HS) that will get better each year, Leo has taken to the saxophone in middle school band, and despite many of our friends and family getting divorced, Anne and I stubbornly buck the trend.

Oh, and Snuffers', Wine Styles, Ghengis Grill and The Great Outdoors opened in McKinney (food always makes me feel good -- I even found Anne's favorite upstate NY beer locally: Genesee Cream Ale).

I've been able to spread the technology of Drupal to most of the MISD band booster club's websites (Boyd, North, Dowell and Faubion, with Evans asking about it now), and with the help of other shutterbugs, I've posted almost nineteen thousand photos on Boyd's website (and over twenty thousand between North, Boyd and McKinney).

I've been volunteering like mad, and loving it. McKinney is a mess from growth, but it's still a very comfortable place to live, and as we closed our seventeenth year here, we were still glad we moved here.

Posted by Steven at 11:39 PM | Comments (0)

MACRO Match

In my Senior year at LHHS, I devised a "computer matching" fundraising event for my newly formed computer club (MACRO). I created a questionaire, wrote some programs on the Apple ][, and setup tables at lunch to collect twenty-five cents for an entry in the MACRO Match.

Around three hundred students entered (so we made, what, $75? Good haul!).

Here is my results:

What blew my mind when I re-ran this program from 1980 was that someone I actually dated was on the list! I'll leave her name unspoken but if you know me, you'll recognized her. Synchronicity.

(PS. This is not the doctored results everyone figures I did. The doctored results list Andrea Walker!)

Posted by Steven at 11:31 PM | Comments (0)

January 05, 2007

In My Little Town ...

I'm sure everyone on Earth now knows that Alanna's former High School, McKinney North, is in the news. We are at Boyd High School now, and are very glad to be there, thanks for asking. Alanna sez she never saw the "Fab Five", and that doesn't surprise me (other than at games) because 'Heathers' and Band Geeks don't mix. I feel bad for the North students who are being tarnished by this -- I've heard of band students reluctantly acknowledging that they attend MNHS. The taunting is beginning, and now that this story has national legs, it's only going to get worse for MNHS, and for the MISD (which I have to editorialize: handled the whole problem very poorly -- why these girls weren't thrown off the squad years ago is a mystery).

Posted by Steven at 02:00 PM | Comments (0)

January 03, 2007

Live Action Space Invaders

Thanks to Tom White for finding this:

I don't care if this drives your browser crazy ... enjoy it.

Posted by Steven at 08:33 PM | Comments (0)

January 02, 2007

"Real Genius" Sequel in the Works

I found an article claiming that Val Kilmer is involved in a sequel to Real Genius!

According to Virgin.net, Val Kilmer is returning to one of his early comedic roles for a sequel to 1985's Real Genius.

In the original Kilmer starred as Chris Knight, one of several young prodigies who discover their class project in lasers is actually a weapon to be used by the government. If you grew up in the '80s and had HBO, odds are that you've seen it -- several times.

According to the story, no shooting schedule has been announced. Nor is there a mention of the sequel's storyline.

Joe Bob sez check it out.

Posted by Steven at 10:40 PM | Comments (0)

"Fab Five" MNHS Cheerleader's Fifteen Minutes Poorly Spent

Mike Jones tipped me off to this Newsweek article about the out-of-control cheerleaders at Alanna's former (yes, former) high school.

The pictures posted on MySpace.com looked like the latest installment of "Girls Gone Wild." In them, cheerleaders from McKinney North High School in Texas exhibited all variety of bawdy behavior. One shot showed a bikini-clad girl sharing a bottle of booze with a friend. Another featured a cheerleader and several other girls in risqué poses offering glimpses of their panties. But the most infamous photo of all was taken in a Condoms To Go store. Five smiling cheerleaders dressed in uniform posed with large candles shaped like penises. At least one of them appeared to be simulating fellatio.

When I got a copy of the Jones Report (no relation to the Staton Jones Report!), I told Anne that it was missing only two words at the very beginning: Dear Penthouse. I'm just shaking my head over how these five could have gotten so out of control, and at the same time, I'm very glad that we're not at MNHS anymore.

And by the way, blowing your "fifteen minutes of fame" this way is rather ... Paris Hilton of them. But that was probably their inspiration.

Posted by Steven at 10:02 PM | Comments (0)