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Whence do we come, where do we go, and why are we in this handbasket
October 9th 2000, 19:34 CEST by Darkseid-D Yes folks, its user participation time once more! This time, its time to get inside peoples heads, to find out how they tick. The voices in my head have successfully silenced the voices in Unkle J33ts head. By curious side effect, Mars has aligned with the rings of Saturn, causing Andy to go on a posting rampage, and that, frankly, Mondays suck. In keeping with my rather irrelevent and inane manner, I thought Id throw caution (and spell checking) to the wind. It struck me, no not physically, that we have several unique personae present. On one hand you have your better known George Broussards and Brandon Reinharts, your Warren Marshalls and Katherine Anna Kang/Carmack. On another you have the semi legendary Sgt Hulka, the erudite Tom Cleghorn, the incendiary Flamethrower and the BOFH Darkseid. An eclectic mix to be sure. So, in the interests of history, for the benefits of new posters and downright noseyness, I thought Id pose our readers and posters these questions. How would you describe your job? How did you get started ? What drove you down that career path? Is what you do just a job? or more, like a lifestyle or your hobby Ever get sick of doing what you do? As always readers/posters/lurkers the floor is now yours. Feel free to participate, or just snipe at Andy for just posting this to get hits. Oh, wait, he didnt post this did he. Anyway, standard pop journalistic type devices aside, have at it folks, Im sure there are quite a few curious people out there. Ds |
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Topic: Whence do we come, where do we go, and why are we in this handbasket
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#79 You told me about it when I was at Ritual testing SiN before release (while showing off a newspaper clipping texture which said "UT beats A&M for 30th year in a row" or something to that effect), as I was attending A&M at the time. I was also the guy at the post-Qcon BBQ who pointed out that your shirt was emblazoned with the Fantastic Four logo. |
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PlanetCrap really demostrates how small this online world of ours REALLY is. - [g.man]<I><B></B></I><I></I><I></I> |
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Doh, post #82 was me. /me is dum |
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[77] mrbloo "I look after two electronic money transfer systems for a bank... using VB..." OMG I'm closing my account and putting the money in the mattress! "databases are not a good hobby." Amen to that! [78] mrbloo "arse" Ok I deserved that, sorry. ;) |
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<b>#87</b> "mcgrew" wrote... <QUOTE> [77] mrbloo "I look after two electronic money transfer systems for a bank... using VB..." OMG I'm closing my account and putting the money in the mattress! "databases are not a good hobby." Amen to that! [78] mrbloo "arse" Ok I deserved that, sorry. ;) </QUOTE> yeah, be afraid - although most of the work in our bank is still done with mainframes - we just give them the data to process. Our server goes down - ten minutes to fix it, or we go to the backup. If the mainframe goes down, people start eating their young and stocking up on baked beans and shotguns. For the record, the internet back-end I wrote used VB, which I hate using, but if you need something done quickly, it's not too bad - and I knew I could control its environment. I've rewritten other apps in javascript rather than try to get them working on other computers with the crappy VB installer. A 35k executable on top of three megs of dlls which interfere with other applications sucks.<I><B></B></I><I></I><I></I> |
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[88] mrbloo Don't worry, I trust you guys... i think ;) |
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<b>mcgrew</b> (#75): <QUOTE>Everybody I knew wondered how something that big could fly. I always wondered how something that complicated could fly! I rode one back from Thailand, the pilot tried to break it by bouncing it a few times on landing (overnight per diem rates) and couldn't. The next stop, I couldn't tell when we touched the ground... and the navigation broke. </QUOTE> The big problem we're having now is with the planes breaking while overseas and stranding Guard or Reservist pilots who are only called up for a few days at a time. At the end of their callup, the pilots take a commercial flight home, leaving the plane to be stored (usually at great expense) until it can be made flightworthy. Very few places have hangars large enough to store a C5.<I><B></B></I><I></I><I></I> |
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In order: Boring + Stressful + Fun + Interesting = variable. (Real answer: Multimedia Producer) By Chance (I started off doing other stuff and kinda ended up here) Money ('nuff said) It's a job ( I have a lifestyle which my job is a part of. I have hobbies which do not involve 0's and 1's, and even some activities that involve parts of my body other than (but sometimes including) my digital extremities) Yes (And this is usually a transient boredom which is alleviated when the next project comes along, for which sound and vision is required. When it gets exciting for a while. Then boring. Then exciting again as it all gets chucked together and you see some new sh1t for the first time.) |
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"Very few places have hangars large enough to store a C5. " Heh, you can put a few piper cubs in one, that ought to save a fw bucks ;) |
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Gee, it's been a week with no new postings, and there are less than a hundred here. That's a pity, because I know for a fact some of you have some very interesting stories. One fellow I know who lurks here (and occasionally posts), for instance, emmigrated from a very interesting part of Europe when he was very young to a very uninteresting part of North America. He has a nickname he doesn't use on line with a very interesting and humorous origin. This fellow can be hilarious. I wish he'd tell the rest of you his story, but it's his story and not my place to tell. In the interest of maybe kickstarting this thing and getting a few more people to post, I'm going to give my personal history of computing and computer games. As I mentioned, I'm an old fart. One or two of you are as young as my kids (and shouldn't be reading this smut ;) The first interest I had in computers was in grade school, with a boring 16mm movie in class that had one part that made me sit up and pay attention- the "electronic brain" that, when it made a mistake, was erased. "How would you like the death penalty for getting an answer wrong in class?", the announcer droned. Of course, he was referring to hitting the "reset" button (or pulling the plug). At the time, the world's biggest computer was no more than a humongous, giant pocket calculator (and your wristwatch is probably a more powerful computer than was available anywhere). I was 12 years old when I saw my first computer "in the flesh", as it were. The year was 1964, and it was at the World's Fair in Texas. There were two dozen terminals connected to it, running the first computer game I ever played- "Name the Presidents". Hints were given as to what president the computer was "thinking" of, with multiple choice answers. I distinctly remember thinking that if they would replace my teacher with one of these things, school wouldn't be nearly as brain numbingly boring. I also got to play with a light pen, a VERY low resolution one, to make "art" that was woven into a cloth bookmark with a computerized loom. At the time, this was the stuff of science fiction. So, I played my first computer game before Warren, CliffyB, or maybe even anybody else at Epic was even born! (punks!) The next computer "game" I ever played was in the Air Force. I was stationed at Dover, where the C5s were located and bodies were being shipped to from VietNam. It was winter, 1971 or 1972, nearly midnight. I was a vehicle operator for Aerospace Ground Equipment ("ground power") and I was scheduled to be off duty in half an hour. I got a call to deliver two air conditioners (each the size of an SUV) nearly to the other side of the base. Top speed on my tractor was about 15 mph, and I could see I was going to get home late. "WTF do these morons want with air conditioners" is what I angrily wondered; there was snow in the ground! Even wearing my parka I was freezing my ass off in the unheated tractor, and the closer I got to where I was going the colder and more pissed I got. When I got there, two guys were waiting outside in the snow. These guys HAD to be crazy. Of course, I asked them wtgdfh they wanted air conditioners for. "Oh, man, this is the coolest thing you've ever seen in your life!" they said. They were like five year olds on Christmas morning and I was Santa Clause. They took me inside to see their new toy. The entire building was full of what appeared to be bookshelves full of circuit boards, lined up like books. The air conditioners, they explained, were to keep the circuits cool. On room had this big, sci-fi looking thing on hydraulic jacks, with a ramp and stairs leading to its door. Inside was an exact mockup of a C5 cockpit, with ground glass where the windshield should have been. Yes, it was one of the world's first flight simulators, and they were right; it was the coolest thing I'd ever seen. They would never, ever have let me fly a real C5, but they let me "fly" the simulator. The sun was coming up as I drove the tractor back. Yes, I later played Pong, and no, I wasn't impressed; I had played the C5 simulator. Pac Man and Space Invaders were a lot better than Pong, I still like those games. The first FPS I ever played was in Disney's arcade in that big A-frame hotel; Battlezone, a first person wire frame tank simulation. Way cool! Of course, when Timex came out with its T-1000, I bought one. It and its 1 mz Z80 was more powerful than the World's Fair computer, and probably as powerful as the C5 simulator. I wrote Artificial Insanity on that PC, as well as some games (Battle Tanks, Pac Man, and Space Invader clones). Because, that was the only way to play games on it; there weren't any games otherwise. I got a Radio Shack computer, not being able to afford a Commodore. I hacked a graphics program for it in a resolution its designers never intended it to be used in, and actually sold a few copies. I played with the Apple IIe in the public library, and wrote some stuff for it. Around 1986 or 1987 I got a used IBM XT, which I continually upgraded until it was a 386 and the only original parts were the case and power supply. I still have all the original parts, I understand that one of these may be worth money now as an antique. The next one I built was an AMD P120, with a brand new case and power supply. The latest is a piece of shit kludge Celeron 400 on a PII motherboard. Suckiest computer I ever used, let alone built. I'm stuck with it for a couple more years at least. So, what's your computing history? |
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olol |
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mcgrew hmm lets see first computer attempt ahh the ole apple..dont know what kind of apple didnt care at the time i was the only girl in my class that a: gave a crap b: learned to at least change colors on it c: hung around the guys typing goto 10 .... next.. mission impossible on a commedor 64 would accually fidagle my friend to invite me over for the night to play my parents bought me an atari played that to death... nintendo?! played at the guys houses... I remeber Top Gun!!!!!! met my future husband to divorce and a Tandy with Falcon Gold on it learned how to fly that on a keyboard without a manual also learned teh joys of "paint" programs i also had a friend ...call him Brain! he demanded i risk the wrath of his insane mother to come see his amiga OOOOOOOOH Populous!!!!!!!!! ooooh Compuserve!!!! at least a couple of years past that i moved to atlanta ..at the behest of Brain..and lo and behold..a puter...with lesiure suit larry..and Rex and the gender bender..[think thats what its called] and i also found out that Brain would never ever learn hardware...as i who new only that this was a box full of wires...installed his harddrive for him ..since he was about to break the whole box... then we found SCORCH!!!!!! ooooooooh ...blow that nuke!!! graphics sucked...game play was wonderful! having moved back to florida for awile...then going thru job corps...computers where not around much..but i did learn electric wireing..and plumbing! when i got home from that aventure .i found consoles and arcades..and played one of the meanist chunlis you'll meet and no i didnt use her super kick..i liked catching people in the air and throwing them to the ground..much more effective..and they could attack you less ahh the super nintendo..zelda...mortal kombat...breath of fire.... simcity.... did i say simcity! then lo and behold ...i find Brain..and what does he have.. a NEW pentium 90 math problem in tact..and Simcity2000 i went to work..went to brains house ..played simcity...went to work! finally ..i eased off a bit..and brain got prodigy for free...[he worked for compusa] and lo an behold CHAT!! and WAVS oh the wonders ooh the joy... famous last words.. computer crashes..he gets a c: with no error report..but he does get from the speakers "wheres the kaboom..theres suposed to be an earth shattering kaboom" he didnt breathe for 30mins not to mention the halliluia chorus when he recieved ims and windows starts...he got "you are an idiot" sung to him for days...that also caused him to stop breathing....he turned purple with mirth..i thought he might die! oh the joy..of watching him approch his computer with a mixture of dread and joy! ah ..then the wonderful windows 95...beta..that he "got" ahold of.. and teh multiple installs of 95..then 3.11 then 95 then 3.11 then the cascade crash...and i learned to loathe computers! but i was eternally hooked! after that ..tis just the same ole same ole i gain profficency and i loose time{grin} next! |
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mgrew... personall note mate wants to know if you new a bbs handle named Indigo88 |
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indigo you might be an overclocker if ...you put fuel additives in your push mover...heavy amounts ...you have ever dented the floorboard to see if the gas petal goes down further ...you have ever harmonicly balanced a room fan,or put a double inverting power supply in front of it so it doesnt vary with line voltage ...if you drink two diffrent forms of coffee...normal everyday..and the one that gets you awake ...you had ever wondered if you could just simply wire jumper an extra processer on..like they did ram in the late eightys ...you push the lid down on the pan to cook the noodles faster ...if you've ever gone for the t1 line assuming that dsl and cable arent fast enough ...if you despise wait states ...if you remeber 45nanosecond ram ...if you have ever bought a 1000watt linear amp for your moblie cd radio ...if you ever had a 4800 baud modem in your house ...if you carry type 14 in your pocket everywhere you go ...if your idea of a good heat sink ways more than the motherboard ...if you are unhappy that the enviroment laws passed and you now cannot direct vent the freon over the heatsink ...if you burned out more than 5 processors before the web came into existance ...if have ever tried to find an apartment with vents in the floor so you could set your computer on it ...if you have to shut down your computer to talk on the phone[syncro 1400 motor fan] ...if you have ever looked up a voltage amperage table..or called a manufacturer for burn out specs ...if you never owened a computer that ran at multiples of 33.50.or 100 ...if you've looked at a thunderbird heatsink and thought what a piece of blahguh... ...if you destain paper towels because your powersupply exaust drys your hands better |
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