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Friday, April 30, 2010

The Good Old Days

In the mid-1980's I taught 5th and 6th graders how to use early home computers - we had a lab of about 25 Radio Shack Color Computers - CoCo's for short. We built the labs before there were even floppy drives for the computers - you loaded and saved software on standard Radio Shack cassette tape players.

At one time we networked the lab- twenty-five wires all running into a "network box" with a single tape recorder providing the feed. All of the kids would type "load" into their computers and press enter, then I'd turn on the tape player and broadcast the program I wanted them to use.

I can still remember my first drive - a 5 1/4" floppy drive with removable floppy discs that would hold about 250K on them. I paid about $495 (1985 dollars?) for it and thought I'd died and gone to heaven. The discs failed often and easily, but it was so much faster and held so much more software than the silly tape drives.

Below is a generic picture I ran across of some kids with the CoCo's, and below that is some info I grabbed off of Wikipedia about the computers.



The Radio Shack TRS-80 Color Computer (also called Tandy Color Computer, or CoCo) was a home computer launched in 1980. Despite the name, the "Color Computer" was a radical departure from earlier TRS-80 Models - in particular it had a Motorola 6809E processor, rather than the TRS-80's Zilog Z80.

The Motorola 6809E was a very advanced processor, but was correspondingly more expensive than other more popular microprocessors. Competing machines such as the Commodore VIC-20, the Commodore 64, the Atari 400, and the Atari 800 were designed around a combination of the much cheaper MOS 6502, itself essentially a clone of the Motorola 6800, paired with dedicated sound and graphics chips and were much more commercially successful in the 1980s home computer market. Steve Wozniak once commented that the 6502 was 1/4 the price of the Motorola 6800 when the original Apple was being developed in the late 70s. By 1986 prices for 8 bit processors had dropped dramatically from the late 70s, but the MC6809 was still just over twice the price of a MOS6502 (6809/6809E - $5.95; MOS6502 - $2.79). [1]

The Tandy Color Computer line started in 1980 with what is now called the CoCo1 and ended in 1991 with the more powerful yet similar CoCo 3. It was one of the more powerful 8 bit computers of its day and used more standard peripherals than other maker's, who seemed to rely on peripheral sales to make up for low computer costs. All three CoCo models maintained a very high level of software and hardware compatibility, with few programs written for the older model not running on the newer. The same can't be said in the reverse due to the greater capabilities of newer models, obviously. The death knell of the CoCo was the advent of lower cost IBM PC clones, the same executioner of other members of the home computer genre.

The CoCo lacked some of the graphics and sound capabilities of other home computers, but made up for it in computing power and ease of programming in BASIC. Combined with the versatile BASIC, the robust, easy to interface to design, has long made it an experimenters favorite.

Fun in the Demotivator style

You can view any of the images in a larger format by clicking on it.





Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Three dumb doctor jokes

The doctor calls up the patient and says, "I have some bad news and some worse news. The bad news is that you have only twenty-four hours left to live."

And the patient says, "That is very bad news-. What could be worse than that?"

And the doctor says, "I've been trying to reach you since yesterday."

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"What's wrong, Doctor? You look puzzled."

"I can't figure out exactly what's wrong with you. I think it's the result of heavy drinking."

"Well then, I'll just come back when you're sober."

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"Doctor, I don't know what's wrong with me, but I hurt all over. If I touch my shoulder here, it hurts, and if I touch my leg here, it hurts, and if I touch my head here, it hurts, and if I touch my foot here, it hurts."

"I believe you've broken your finger."

Young

Doesn't his smile just suggest that he really DOES know what an enviable position he's in?

Three silly doctor jokes

Patient: How much to have this tooth pulled?

Dentist: Ninety dollars.

Patient: Ninety dollars for just a few minutes' work?

Dentist: I can do it slower if you like"
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Doctor, am I going to die?"

"That's the last thing you're going to do."
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"Doctor, my fingers hurt. Do you think I should file my nails?"

"No, just throw them away."

Friday, April 02, 2010

A Cute Story

Adam and Eve said, ‘Lord, when we were in the garden, you walked with us every day. Now we do not see you anymore. We are lonesome here, and it is difficult for us to remember how much you love us.’

And God said, I will create a companion for you that will be with you and who will be a reflection of my love for you, so that you will love me even when you cannot see me. Regardless of how selfish or childish or unlovable you may be, this new companion will accept you as you are and will love you as I do, in spite of yourselves.’

And God created a new animal to be a companion for Adam and Eve.
And it was a good animal,
And God was pleased.

And the new animal was pleased to be with Adam and Eve and he wagged his tail

And Adam said, ‘Lord, I have already named all the animals in the Kingdom and I cannot think of a name for this new animal.’

Dog1And God said, ‘I have created this new animal to be a reflection of my love for you, his name will be a reflection of my own name, and you will call him DOG.’

And Dog lived with Adam and Eve and was a companion to them and loved them.

And they were comforted

Dog2And God was pleased.

And Dog was content and wagged his tail.

After a while, it came to pass that an angel came to the Lord and said, ‘Lord, Adam and Eve have become filled with pride. They strut and preen like peacocks and they believe they are worthy of adoration. Dog has indeed taught them that they are loved, but perhaps too well.’

And God said, I will create for them a companion who will be with them and who will see them as they are. The companion will remind them of Cat1their limitations, so they will know that they are not always worthy of adoration.’

And God created CAT to be a companion to Adam and Eve.

And Cat would not obey them. And when Adam and Eve gazed into Cat’s eyes, they were reminded that they were not the supreme beings.

And Adam and Eve learned humility.

Dog3And they were greatly improved.

And God was pleased . . . . . .

And Dog was happy. . . . .

And Cat didn’t give a shit one way or the other….

Cat2

From Miss Cellania