Orinoco Tea

Peat Moss

Almond Leaves

Sphagnum Moss

Simmered in pot 10 mins and left to cool

Orinoco Tea

Lowers pH

...happy lil angles!

Tastes like shit but fish love it!

Tree Huggers

The trouble with environmentalists is that they see everything the in the same light.

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

Earthling

A crappy month, Dennis Ritchie powers down.

Dennis M. Ritchie 1941 - 2011

"...the number of UNIX installations has grown to 10, with more expected..."  
 - Dennis M. Ritchie 1972

Devices, from phones, to Televisions, Microwave Ovens to personal computers that use Unix type systems, today number in the billions.

Dennis M. Ritchie, one of the fathers of the C programming language and the UNICS operating system has died at the age of seventy.
This man worked at Bell Labs for nearly forty years and his contributions are manifold. I believe the world would be a very different place but for his achievements. The iPhone, Macintosh, iPad and other apple products operate using a descendent of his Unix system. Copyright problems with Bell Labs, UC Berkley forced the birth of the unencumbered Linux operating system which closely followed the fundamental design of Unix.  

It was not until Apple switched to Intel processors and Unix that I moved from Microsoft Windows machines to Apple. That change was the driving force for me to leave an area where I held (and still hold) a strong technical competency.

The Apple engineers ported to Unix and Intel in an incredibly short time and I believe a lot of the credit for this was the design philosophy of Unix.

Whilst many people have heard of Steve Jobs, alas, few will know of Dennis Ritchie or his compatriots Ken Thompson, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna, but you can bet Steve Jobs knew them.

Dennis Ritchie deserves his place amongst the stars with Bill Hewlett, Dave Packard, Alan Turing, Claude Shannon and so many other great men.

Geeks or nerds or what ever the masses call these computer scientists and engineers, their achievements are threaded into the very fabric of our modern world.

Vale Dennis Ritchie

1941 - 2011

A drink! A drink I say! Salute! Another unsung hero.

Caught in the N.E.T.

The one that didn't get away. See you soon Steve.

  When you are caught in The Net you look around to see who else is there. Only a few of us. It's quite a rare cancer. Steve was here, for a while anyway. We all get the five year 'use by date'. We all end up under the microscope. Researchers and doctors gather around, filling the places that former friends and colleagues vacated with distasteful alacrity. We must learn a new language. Abdo CT, MRI, EUS, Chromogranin A (CgA).
Oxycontin, Metformin et al.

Old words take on new and sinister meanings. A prognosis can be 'guarded' or 'poor'. I hope someone is guarding the poor. With time off work and medical bills that is where I'll end up. Still, better in Australia than the U.S.

Fish finder? Death Ray?

It's just heartburn and stomach ache (yeah right...) In goes the cannula and sedation, down goes the camera, a bus and two trucks. Out comes the FNA biopsy. The boys have a look. Not happy.

Dr Crispin Corte (EUS wiz) says to me 'It's a bit more serious than that, but don't book a holiday just yet!'.
Dr. Gavin Barr (The Gastroenterologist)
thinks this is funny. It was funny, typical Aussie irreverence. I was just a bit pre-occupied is all.
It was a bit more serious. When fifty milligrams of morphine and 5 micrograms of fentanyl in the ambulance wont touch the pain, it's a bit more than a stomach ache.

Acute pancreatitis secondary to chronic pancreatitis.

NueroEndocrineTumour.

"Is it fatal?" I ask. "Well they're all fatal - eventually" quips Gavin with a slight smile as he tilts his head forward and peers over the top of his specs. "... but if you've got to get one, this is the one to get".
"Well, That's a relief!" I think sarcastically, I feel so lucky I could just vomit. Tell that to Steve Jobs.

Plan 'A'  -  E.B.M

Note blue dye in center field.

So we hatch a plan. Crispin and Gavin meet with their cronies and decide Cris will mark the tumour with blue dye using an endoscope at Concord  and Dr. David Martin will burn the mother out laparoscopically at RPA.

Dr. David Martin

So one of my concerns is waking up on the table. When Cris was doing the endoscopy work, I woke up, tapping the canula in my wrist and yelling (as much as you can with a throat full of rubber pipes!). "Mate, your drugs are no good" I said "I can get better drugs up the pub!" So I relate this to the Anesthesiologist. "I don't want to wake up!" I say. "What! Not even after the operation?" he quips. "Eh, yeah, afterwards, that would be alright I suppose." I concede stupidly.

Burn baby burn.

David Martin skips in happily, "We all ready to go? Good, don't worry Pete, haven't lost one yet". Liar! I think to myself but I'm too worried about the stuff the anesthetist is playing with. "Is that a cannula" I ask goggling at what looks like an air-con duct. "Don't worry, we'll give you a local first' she grins back. "Well at least it's not an arterial line." I moan. "That's next" she says. I mumble something like "..aw crrrap". Art-lines really, really hurt. Another local so it's not to bad. "I have heart trouble and undergo heaps of surgery" she says showing me her wrist which has more spots and bruises than a road-side pear. I feel like a wimp.

PCA Machine.

It all goes to plan, for them. Personally, I wake up feeling like shit. I have the ICU nurse telling me to sleep on my side or risk pneumonia, an intern adjusting my gown so that my package is not displayed to the whole ICU, and the anesthetist telling me to press the PCA button more often! Press Press, Press. The annoyances fade. Zzzzzz



Bill. K. The laughing Chinaman in the bed next to me, had the nasty version - Distal pancreatectomy and splenectomy. Full laparotomy, bloody big cut. Bill has chemo every Saturday, I'll join him with some good coffee and 'hold his hand' so to speak. We'll put aside the fear and insecurity, drink our coffee, talk shit and play with our iPhones.

Anyway, Eventually, Here I sit, updating the blog, but the Damoclean sword is still dangling over my head. Steve lasted six years. Magnificent effort! I can hardly not try. People say he was an inspiration, they don't know the half of it. He put up with way, way more than I did!

Pancreatic Tumour guys have to stick together to the bitter end.

Vale Steve Jobs (Legend!) 1955 - 2011
We'll Catch up shortly Steve.
Thanks for all the cool stuff!

Kasreyn of the Gyre

Whilst Apple products may be known for solid definition, purpose and style, it appears this also applies to their iTunes Terms of Service.

Should you be unfortunate enough to lose a content file, you're on your own. You must purchase it again. There is no regard for the circumstances of the loss, even when caused by a failure of Apple software.

Thaumaturgy


If you attempt to create perfection with magic, you will fail. You must introduce the slightest flaw, an imperfection, into your creation. Apple is fond of describing their products as 'magical' and they have indeed learned Kasreyn's lesson. The flaw introduced into the popular iTunes is a punitive and petty clause in the terms of Service as described above.

If you regard the Apple logo it is apparent that someone else gets first bite, the Apple handed you is not perfect, and neither is the Terms of Service.

No doubt Snow-White could impart a lesson or two about talking the first bite - unless you make the magic apple.

Still, nothing's perfect, as they say...

Fanbois Fanboy

Hi. I'm an Apple fanboi, no wait, a Windows Fanboy, maybe a Ubuntu, penguinista, ... or was it BSD?

 (...sigh...), I guess I'm just an Operating System slut. 



_

Hang on to your hat.

So I'm reading Chuck House's eBook - HP Phenomenom, on an iPad using the Kindle app, in bed, in Sydney. The story of HP, business, technology and humanity. I think, boy, there is some really good stuff in here about running a technology business. So I shoot off an email to Chuck in California. It's night here, early morning over there. I continue reading. Bing! Email arrives from chuck. He has included another attached essay. Great stuff about General Radio, HP and Tektronics when they were just 'hitting their straps'. Chuck was an engineer at HP Labs. His stuff allowed us to see Neil Armstrong's foot hit the moon.

Reading in bed, So what? Well, if you were born when I was born, or moreover when Chuck was born, and you were reading his book, on an iPad and sending email at the same time, in bed nice and warm with electric blankets you might stop and think, wow, when I was a kid I didn't dream of this.

When I was a kid, I'd read in bed, but the electronics magazines were paper. I'd dream of getting my hands on enough components to build stuff. Software or 'programs' was an abstract notion. What was the point of flowcharting and writing a Fortran routine when getting on a 'computer' was like getting to the moon. I read the press releases and articles on LED and LCD display inventions, TTL logic designs and microprocessors on a single chip. I was stuck with crappy old valves and stuff from dead TVs. Later I could salvage transistors from dead radios, but integrated circuits were a distant dream. Years went by and with the help of Tandy and Dick Smith stores, overtime, I built a frequency counter. It cost me a fortune, but I was engrossed. It was the same effect that drove Steve Wozniak to design and build his first computer. How he found the money I'll never know.

So here I am in bed, in the erie glow of the iPad, and I recall being in bed with the glow of the fluorescent display of an opened up sharp calculator. Wondering at the display, the chips, the logic. I think back on all my dreams and projects. The thrill of unboxing each new device or computer (micro-computer). Hunting down the serious documentation on the chips and architecture. The wonder of being 'immersed' in the complex inner world that was the operating system and ROM code. Burning the midnight oil writing programs in assembler for 6502, 6510, x86 etc.

Now I have customers using accounting Software and specialized systems I have developed.

The iPad I'm using now, reading Chuck's book, sending emails and writing this blog, makes a mockery of my dreams, and yet in many ways is the fulfillment of them.

What an astonishing and magnificent ride.




T

What can you say?

Weird 'wooden' Kindle and iPad support. 

It wont be long before Fahrenheit 451 becomes a (more) cryptic title.

Buying and assembling a 'bookshelf' is akin to getting a mantelpiece in order to support a 'Mantel clock'. Luckily I have a collection of 'paper' books.

Some of you may recall paper books. They were generally made from the mashed bodies of dead trees and occasionally covered with a thin layer of the epidermal skin of butchered ungulates.

In fact I almost have 'paper books' enough to justify the space this quaint antique requires, however, you can re-purpose these odd boxes to store other collectibles known as 'knick-knacks'.

The more esoteric amongst you could store 'Exercise Books'. These were really marvelous paper books that you sort of printed yourself. The printing instrument was known as a 'Fountain Pen'. These were sharp pointed devices that left a trail of 'ink' on the paper. The dye was made using the melanin-mucus secretions of marine cephalopods, mainly Octopus or Squid and drawn up into the device using a small built-in lever operated pump. Even older 'pens' were made from bird feathers.

Some of these 'bookshelves' have glass doors, a must have if your collection contains any of the gems mentioned above. Unfortunately, these paper books can be infested with tiny Arthropods (book mites / lice), not surprising given their composition. So you might think twice before bringing these items into your house - especially if you have young children.

.

Privacy is dead.

Whoooo, naughty Apple and Google are stealing your location data.
What rot.
Look, with a warrant here or there, or not, we can know everything there is to know about you without Apple or Google. (although we will use them as well). We only need to dip the stream on you once or twice, and we keep the stuff.

Any phone company knows who you call, what cell towers you transit through, as well as the person you're calling and the people they're calling ... Smart Psychologists, Mathematicians and Computer science guys have worked out algorithms to map all the connections between all phone users as well as details from EFTPOS transactions, rewards points cards, banking, medical, travel, electricity used, fuel used, etc etc.

We can know who you are, how many kids, life expectancy, sexual preferences, if you're cheating on your spouse, political leanings, racial opinions, religion and philosophical belief system. We can know what you like to eat, drink, smell and see. eg:The rewards cards and debit / credit cards can tie you to all your products scanned at your supermarket.

Over the years you have filled in so many forms, offered so much information to banks, hospitals, schools, passport, visa and customs, phone companies, energy supply companies, gun registries, council / county government etc etc.

Ever wonder how all this computing, internet, medical, appliance and communication technology works?
Wonder about Google Earth, GPS, the Internet, MRI and other advanced medical equipment. Massively complex and almost magical machinery?
Who has dibs on the GPS, Internet, Satellite imaging, WiFi etc. The military, their research agencies and the 'state'.
How many things in your house are not FCC or agency compliant. You think these guys don't get detailed reports on all this stuff prior to putting their stamp and numbers on everything.

Do you really think that the level of commercial technology, science etc, for all these everyday wonders is at the same level as the state.
You're kidding if you do. If you think Google Earth is amazing, that's nothing on what the 'state' has (Keyhole). That goes for nearly all of it.

Now we can't force RFID chips under your skin, (Well maybe we can, how carefully were you watched as a baby when you were in hospital being born? and where do all those Guthrie cards go?), but we don't need RFID.
We have your 'smart' phone - complete with detectors (towers). You carry it everywhere, with it you tell us where you are / were, who you you plot with and their relationship, and soon banks will send you an sms to confirm on line sales and card use. Two Factor Authentication.

We can bring it all together sooo sweetly it's a shame it's secret.

Now you be a good boy or girl, put on your tin foil hats, and you have nothing to worry about.


Skynet Operations and Management.
We know you better than you know you.
.

Simplicity

So we need to give a list of payments to the accounts girl. The guy has a sheet that he fills in and at the end of the day hands to the accounts girl.

Now there is a better way of doing this. Set up an XL spread sheet, fill it in and at the end of the day, email it to the accounts girl. It's easy to do corrections. They are all nicely filed away on the computer  etc.

Sounds simple. However, now you need two computers, two email clients, network infrastructure, a POP 3 server, an SMTP server, on and on. How many points of failure are introduced?

Now what if the accounts girl is not close? Well maybe the computer approach is the right one. But what if the guy just faxes the sheet over?

After a few years, you ask the guy, "What is the computer used for?" "To email the excel sheets."
If something goes wrong, often the problem is "how do we email the xl sheets" not "how do we deliver the figures"
Therein lays the problem we IT engineers see all the time.
People calling in experts to solve the wrong problem.

The Flying Bolt.

So the airframe mechanic rings through to fastening parts to get a set of window bolts.
"We don't have any AR17767 bolts" says the fastener specialist.
"What about AQ77567s" Says the mechanic.
"We got 'em, but you can't use 'em"
"Why not?"
"They're the wrong bolt, different part number."
"Don't give me shit about part numbers. They are the same length, same pitch, same socket"
"Mate, you can't use them. They are the wrong bolt. I know fasteners and you shouldn't use these on that aircraft."
"How many effing planes have you worked on eh?. I have been an airframe mechanic for 27 years. Don't tell me about bolting a window into a plane, just give the the effing bolts."

So the bolts fail at 35,000 feet and the pilot is half out of the window.
What went wrong?
The airframe mechanic only thought about putting the window in the hole. The bolt guy only thought about the bolt. The properties of a tensile fastening bolt are agnostic about what is being held together. It comes down to tensile strength, temperature characteristics, hardness etc.
It does not matter what the bolt is being used to hold together, that is totally irrelevant.
The window can only go into that aircraft. Not into a caravan or glass house. The bolt on the other hand can be used for any application that does net exceed the specs for the bolt.

The airframe mechanic came to the fastener specialist with a solution, not a problem.
The problem was finding a bolt to secure the window. Not securing the window per se.

He should have said "I have a problem and need to do xyz", can you give me a solution. Not, "I have a problem and need to do xyz and I want you to do abc"

He got what he asked for, but not what he wanted.

Don't go to specialists with a solution, give them the problem.

No Soup For You

Microsoft announced that the new IE9 wont run on XP.
XP wont be able to handle all the new features a browser needs for today's web. Like JavaScript or HTML 5?

So now you must all buy New PCs and upgrade to Vista or 7 or you wont be able to surf the web, there being no XP browser good enough.

Oh Wait, Chrome! Blast!
This may not work the way we want.

iPad II

I can't believe all the verbal diarrhoea from pundits about the iPad 2. It doesn't have this or not as fast as that... Giardia infection of the mind. In fact most of the so called reviews were written sans an actual iPad.

Steve Jobs has the right approach. He doesn't build the consumer devices for the tech heads, but for the masses who just want to get stuff done or entertain themselves. And he tries to bring a little design sophistication and aesthetic to the products. These pundits who spew out public vitriol over a bloody consumer device are placeing themselves at the end of the bell curve. The trailer trash end.

If you hate Apple then don't buy any of their stuff and stop being so f&%^ing neurotic.

The curator Steve Jobs and the App store

Just watched the D8 thing (Walt Mossberg and Jobs)

Apple is being accused of being a 'curator' by vetting the application in the app store.

Unfortunately Steve did not do a real good job of explaining the alternative. He mentioned CSS, HTML 5, Java script. He should have wrapped up the point by explaining what a 'web app' can look and feel like on the iPhone / iPad.

My company, Powerbits, is currently developing commercial line of business apps for the iPad / iPhone.

Using CSS, HTML 5, Javascript, Ajax et al and the special Safari - webkit extensions, we can build apps that look and feel completely like native apps. We use fairly simple web authoring tools, like the old Dreamweaver 4.0, and others to do this. We use Safari's 'developer' menu to test and fine tune. We aren't required to use a platform SDK. We use the open jquery, jqtouch libraries to get moving. Webkit and mobile safari provide special meta tags that integrate the web 'page' into a virtual native app.

The people who cry about Apple being a curator are clueless.

You don't need the app store to get really good apps to the platform.

By Jove I have it!

At last. I have my iPad. It's everything I hoped it would be. All the nay Sayers can go and dip their heads in a bucket of Cow poo!
Whilst the iBooks store is only available in the US, Apple have at least made available free books for the Australian market. Everything else, however, is very good.

So, I finally have an e-book reader. So far my libraries are...
IBooks
Stanza
Kindle
Surely that should cover just about everything I want, and as I mentioned in a previous post, I have email, web browsing to boot.

Apps.
One app that impresses me so far is Wikipanion. It may be better than safari for viewing wikipedia.

The iPad is a winner.

The HP Way - The Science

"Decisions should be made at the lowest possible level"

Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard at some point decided to try a social experiment when they started their business. The key line of business was building tools. Oscillators, Voltmeters, assorted measuring equipment. They wanted to build better equipment that would allow others to build better things and they wanted to see if you could do this and still make money. They did.
They tried to make the world a better place by doing what they knew best. Making electronic equipment. But there is more to making a better world than just making the best equipment. Bill and Dave believed that a company had an obligation to it's share holders, it's customers, it's employees and the community within which you operate.


The employees.
Bill and Dave encouraged their employees to be creative, innovative and to take responsibility for their actions. They wanted people to be involved in the decisions, to give people a higher level of control than would be normal in business. They trusted their people. This is the secret sauce. Most humans respond well when they are entrusted. They feel worthy, needed, valued. If the company is 'shaped' well, there is almost a 'sacred duty' to do the right thing at work. The company becomes a team, a tribe.
Another thing Bill and Dave tried to do was flatten the hierarchy of command, or at least remove the intimidation and social strata aspects of management and employee control.

The payoff.
There are studies that show if people have control and support in their lives they are less stressed. They function better, their health is better and they are happier. By giving employees control as well as challenges, reward and support they were tapping into the strengths of humanity.

People working in an intimidating work place, rigidly following poor or misunderstood decisions or processes and having no control or worth have much higher levels of stress hormones, norepinephrine, cortisol and others. These affect attention, memory, blood pressure, vascular operation, alimentary function, immune system and endocrine systems. Whilst it may feel good to those at the top, it actually impedes creativity, innovation and efficiency. You are making your workforce dumber, sicker and unenthusiastic. Everyday, science is finding hard evidence of the drastic health effects of stress hormones on human physiology and the link between their work environment and stress hormone levels. The telomeres at the end of DNA seem to be damaged by stress hormones. This increases ageing and contributes to DNA damage. Cortisol has adverse effects on the distribution and metabolism of fat increasing atherosclerosis and other vascular problems. Stress hormones affect the operation of neurotransmitters and cells in the brain. The effects are far more serious than previously thought.

By giving their employees some measure of control, trust, realistic challenges and support, Bill and Dave hit on a natural winner. Everyone benefited. Really benefited. And the company went from a small company to a multinational giant. They started a revolution in science and technology and seeded silicon valley. They produced products, technologies and ideas that made the world richer and safer and in the process made their employees lives richer, safer, healthier and happier.

With so much anecdotal and hard evidence to support the HP way one wonders at the galley slave masters of business today and why business management schools consider the HP way as inefficient sentimental rubbish.

Let down again.

From Steve Jobs during the iPad keynote...
"We've got five of the largest publishers in the world that are supporting us in this and are going to have all of their books on the store, and we're going to open up the floodgates for the rest of the publishers in the world starting this afternoon."

By 'World' he means the US.
Notices on International Apple websites indicate that iBooks is a US only feature and not available outside the US. 

iPAD

I want one.
The only dissapointment to me was listening to the pundits. Merlin Mann, Dr. Kirsten Stanford, Leo Laporte etc. Oh, it's too big, it's too expensive, its just another tablet, it has no multi-tasking, it's just a big iPod ... blah blah blah.
Dr. Kiki says she would not buy one because it has no multi tasking - not enough power. Like Dr. Kiki is the average user .. a PhD scientist for goodness sake. Leo collects programming languages for a hobby.
All these experts proffering opinions why it's mediocre or a flop. Every one of them coming at it from a high-tech perspective.  If I said something was written in C they all would understand what I meant. That is not your average user and it is not the sole market for this device.
Merlin Mann hit the nail on the head with his comment on the enumerated shortcommings as ...
'the Protestant Church needs more Roseries'.

I even suffered through the clueless interview with an editor at PCWorld saying it would not make a gaming platform. How many games (units) have been sold into the iPhone market. What a goose.

Because Apple refuse to join the 'race to the bottom' on price and quality, the thing is too expensive for Mrs. Walmart. Phhhht!
When you guys develop a business the size and scope of Apple then maybe we'll pay more attention to your expert proffersies.
Man, I remember listening to the same crap about why the iPhone was going to be a dud.
Dude, the AppleTV is such a dud because it wont build my latest kernal while I watch boxee.

Who were the guys I thought had it nailed? Alex Lindsay from the Pixelcorps and Andy Ihnatko (Chicago Sun Times). They approached it from a normal persons perspective.

...and no I'm not an Apple bigot - fanboy. I'm a Microsoft MVP.
Wintel programming and support is how I make my money.


Now, why do I want one?
First, I want a device for an ebook reader. I have been waiting and holding off for years. I want to have a library at my finger tips. I have an iPhone with Stanza and Kindle but the screen is too small. Despite the experts, I want an iPod with a bigger screen. Do I use the web on the iPhone / iPod - not really... because the screen is too small. Do I use eMail on the iPhone ... yes, but the screen is too small. I also use the 'native' weather app as well as the purchased 'BOM Radar' (Austral rainfall radar). But again, the screen is just a bit small.

For me, an eBook reader that has eMail and Wikipedia is already there. Everything else is cream. I looked at the Kindle and it was almost there. No email or web but the epaper was great. Why did I not buy one? They were not available to the rest of the world. To those who live in the US, the US is the whole world. (that will be their downfall) By the time they were available, it was too late. I decided to wait and check out the apple offering. (Bad luck Bezos)

I know of four other people, not tech heads, who want this device on the Coffee table and to read in bed or out sipping Black Russians in the evening cool.

I love my iPhone for the functionality. I bought it not because it was Apple but because it did everything I wanted. (I had an O2 XDAII for five years.)

The perfect offering would be a dock for the iPhone that had sound, screen, keyboard and mouse.

I am hoping that the iPad will team up with my iPhone to give me all the bells and whistles. It looks on track.

(Your Joking)

I pull in at the local Shell service station to get some mints, they are eighty six cents, I put a dollar on the counter. The Indian guy is casting around for something.

"What's up?" I say
"I am looking for the calculator, the machine is broken."
"Mate, it's fourteen cents" I say, incredulous.
"Sorry?"
"The change, it's fourteen cents"
"Ah, I found it!" He is relieved. click click click
"You are right, it's fourteen cents"
We don't have one cent coins anymore, So what's going to happen next I wonder?
He hands me fifteen cents. (Why were they priced at eighty six cents anyway?)
"Aren't you doing computers at uni?" I ask.
"Yes, information technology."
I'm almost speechless. I have chatted with this guy before, he going to a uni or college for computers.
"How are you going to get on with 2s complement, signed and unsigned stuff?" I ask
"Sorry, what compartment?"
"Never mind, see you later." I say, and exit the shop.
I hope he doesn't end up building missile software.

That night I think about this, can I still remember this complement stuff? Do IT guys even need to know this anymore.

    *= $0000
    LDA #$56       ;86
    EOR #$7f       ;xor 1111111
    ADC #$81       ;2s complement
    ADC #$64       ;add to 100
    STA io_puth    ;should be 14

    

    ;Another easier way, no complementing at all
    ;Must remember the borrow though

    SEC
    LDA #$64       ;100
    SBC #$56       ;subtract 86
    STA io_puth    ;should be 14
    BRK

Hmmm, took me a bit longer than it used to. Peter Norton reckoned that assembler was a waste of time anyway. So perhaps you don't need to know this stuff. Maybe why the HP-16C is dead and burried. But surely there is a line. OK. I can't do long division - I use a calculator. But eighty-six from a hundred? Julius Sumner Miller hated calculators. Kids will become "Mathematical Slobs". He may have been right.

Look what the car and other appliances have done to our waistlines and fitness. What will these 'thinking' machines do to our brains. It's a way off yet, but we could all come to a sticky end.

 

Deus Est Machina


_

CPU UP

The ET-3400 micro circa 1977

Finally, that last word in CS/EE middle aged crisis must haves! Or one of 'em at least. How does it rate against an HP XW4400 Quad Core2 Extreme - heaps more fun!

• 512 bytes of RAM. Fully populated! You need to lash out now and again. I look around the house wondering if anything has less, maybe the microwave?

• 1MHz clock. No need for logic analysers, just hook the LEDs (middle left) to the bus and you can check by eye.

• The formidable 6800 mpu. Worried about processor verification and errata? not with this baby. Even the HCF instruction was by design.

Yes, those were the days. Back when men were men. Back in my day, even seven segment displays were luxury lad, we had to debug by putting tongue on bus and taste the binary stream. Mass storage? huh! I spit on mass storage, we trained like piano masters to store code in the muscle memory of our hands. A second or so and our deft but flashing fingers would have the boot loader in and running. Yes within seconds we could calculate the ..er, .. well we could calculate, and you had to debounce the keyboard with your fingertips!
Yers young'uns are spoilt today.

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