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  • Reading is fundemental...

    From Popping Mad@21:1/5 to All on Fri Apr 11 05:20:53 2025
    https://slate.com/human-interest/2024/02/literacy-crisis-reading-comprehension-college.html

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  • From root@21:1/5 to Popping Mad on Fri Apr 11 18:20:06 2025
    Popping Mad <rainbow@colition.gov> wrote:
    https://slate.com/human-interest/2024/02/literacy-crisis-reading-comprehension-college.html

    Check your spelling.

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  • From c186282@21:1/5 to Popping Mad on Fri Apr 11 17:05:59 2025
    On 4/11/25 5:20 AM, Popping Mad wrote:
    https://slate.com/human-interest/2024/02/literacy-crisis-reading-comprehension-college.html


    I thought it was about being able to read paper
    data tapes by eye :-)

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From Lawrence D'Oliveiro@21:1/5 to root on Fri Apr 11 22:10:53 2025
    On Fri, 11 Apr 2025 18:20:06 -0000 (UTC), root wrote:

    Popping Mad <rainbow@colition.gov> wrote:

    https://slate.com/human-interest/2024/02/literacy-crisis-reading-comprehension-college.html

    Check your spelling.

    Put it down to Muphry’s Law.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From c186282@21:1/5 to Lawrence D'Oliveiro on Fri Apr 11 19:32:58 2025
    On 4/11/25 6:10 PM, Lawrence D'Oliveiro wrote:
    On Fri, 11 Apr 2025 18:20:06 -0000 (UTC), root wrote:

    Popping Mad <rainbow@colition.gov> wrote:

    https://slate.com/human-interest/2024/02/literacy-crisis-reading-comprehension-college.html

    Check your spelling.

    Put it down to Muphry’s Law.


    Somebody is training an AI on this contentz.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From c186282@21:1/5 to All on Fri Apr 11 22:00:05 2025
    On 4/11/25 5:05 PM, c186282 wrote:
    On 4/11/25 5:20 AM, Popping Mad wrote:
    https://slate.com/human-interest/2024/02/literacy-crisis-reading-comprehension-college.html



      I thought it was about being able to read paper
      data tapes by eye :-)


    Hmmm ... researching ... paper data tapes go back
    all the way to 1725 - to run automated cloth looms.

    The PROBLEM was that the tapes back then were kinda
    fragile and there was no good way to fix them.

    Jacquard is commonly credited - but HIS innovation
    was to switch from tapes to wider, physically linked,
    paper-ish data CARDS. Those were strong enough to
    hold up AND you could de-chain, insert new cards,
    and put the chain together again. "RAM" -vs- ROM
    so to speak.

    Jacquard inspired BABBAGE ... who designed the
    first real computers - albeit in brass gears.
    Poor bastard HAD IT RIGHT - but didn't live
    quite long enough to see electric/electronic
    solutions.

    Oh, according to story, Jacquard was just the
    company OWNER ... some OTHER, unnamed, guy
    thought up the cards and mechanism and did
    all the programming. SO typical ...

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From rbowman@21:1/5 to All on Sat Apr 12 02:54:22 2025
    On Fri, 11 Apr 2025 22:00:05 -0400, c186282 wrote:

    Jacquard inspired BABBAGE ... who designed the first real computers -
    albeit in brass gears. Poor bastard HAD IT RIGHT - but didn't live
    quite long enough to see electric/electronic solutions.

    https://www.hpmuseum.org/srw.htm

    It had an electric motor so you didn't have to crank it but it was all
    gears, cams, levers, and springs. The NYS Dept. of Education was still
    using them when I worked there summers in the mid-60s.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From c186282@21:1/5 to rbowman on Sat Apr 12 00:06:24 2025
    On 4/11/25 10:54 PM, rbowman wrote:
    On Fri, 11 Apr 2025 22:00:05 -0400, c186282 wrote:

    Jacquard inspired BABBAGE ... who designed the first real computers -
    albeit in brass gears. Poor bastard HAD IT RIGHT - but didn't live
    quite long enough to see electric/electronic solutions.

    https://www.hpmuseum.org/srw.htm

    It had an electric motor so you didn't have to crank it but it was all
    gears, cams, levers, and springs. The NYS Dept. of Education was still
    using them when I worked there summers in the mid-60s.

    OWN an electric - mechanical - calculator. Belonged
    to my dad. Unpolarized plug, so if you get it wrong
    the thing will shock the shit out of you. "Marchant".
    Big bank of keys. Would chunka-chunka-chunka-whirr
    through all the steps. Fascinating to watch. The
    internal mechanics just incomprehensible.

    The Babbage machines were a bit more complex/capable.
    His 'analytical engine' WAS a modern computer with
    all the perks - but he never got enough money to
    complete one (and kept changing the design). Brass
    gears/cogs were THE tech back then.

    So, the actual MACHINE was doomed - but the IDEAS
    to make it work were right on.

    Interesting that while Babbage was kinda fixated
    on doing nothing but utilitarian math, lady Ada
    saw the far more abstract, interesting, uses
    of such machines. Alas she died kinda young ...

    With the 4004, mechanical calculators became
    obsolete. There were some digital solutions a
    few years before, but the 4004 made it all
    vastly simpler/cheaper. Still, VERY interesting
    to see the final-gen mechanicals.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Charlie Gibbs@21:1/5 to c186282@nnada.net on Sat Apr 12 06:12:11 2025
    On 2025-04-11, c186282 <c186282@nnada.net> wrote:

    On 4/11/25 5:20 AM, Popping Mad wrote:

    https://slate.com/human-interest/2024/02/literacy-crisis-reading-comprehension-college.html

    I thought it was about being able to read paper
    data tapes by eye :-)

    ASCII or BCD?

    --
    /~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
    \ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
    X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
    / \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
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  • From rbowman@21:1/5 to All on Sat Apr 12 06:28:24 2025
    On Sat, 12 Apr 2025 00:06:24 -0400, c186282 wrote:

    With the 4004, mechanical calculators became obsolete. There were
    some digital solutions a few years before, but the 4004 made it all
    vastly simpler/cheaper. Still, VERY interesting to see the final-gen
    mechanicals.

    My mother brought home a mechanical when they were phased out. The catch
    was she worked for Cluett & Peabody, the manufacturer of Arrow shirts, and
    the thing was essentially base 12.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From Woozy Song@21:1/5 to All on Sat Apr 12 17:50:17 2025
    c186282 wrote:
    On 4/11/25 10:54 PM, rbowman wrote:
    On Fri, 11 Apr 2025 22:00:05 -0400, c186282 wrote:

        Jacquard inspired BABBAGE ... who designed the first real
    computers -
        albeit in brass gears. Poor bastard HAD IT RIGHT - but didn't live >>>     quite long enough to see electric/electronic solutions.

    https://www.hpmuseum.org/srw.htm

    It had an electric motor so you didn't have to crank it but it was all
    gears, cams, levers, and springs. The NYS Dept. of Education was still
    using them when I worked there summers in the mid-60s.


    My university professor had a mechanical calculator in the 1970s. One of
    the Cortina Curta things with a crank handle on top, made in
    Lichtenstein. We had 2 or 3 computers on campus by then, but he loved
    to show it off to people.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)
  • From c186282@21:1/5 to Woozy Song on Sat Apr 12 18:53:37 2025
    On 4/12/25 5:50 AM, Woozy Song wrote:
    c186282 wrote:
    On 4/11/25 10:54 PM, rbowman wrote:
    On Fri, 11 Apr 2025 22:00:05 -0400, c186282 wrote:

        Jacquard inspired BABBAGE ... who designed the first real
    computers -
        albeit in brass gears. Poor bastard HAD IT RIGHT - but didn't live >>>>     quite long enough to see electric/electronic solutions.

    https://www.hpmuseum.org/srw.htm

    It had an electric motor so you didn't have to crank it but it was all
    gears, cams, levers, and springs. The NYS Dept. of Education was still
    using them when I worked there summers in the mid-60s.


    My university professor had a mechanical calculator in the 1970s. One of
    the Cortina Curta things with a crank handle on top, made in
    Lichtenstein. We had 2 or 3  computers on campus by then, but he loved
    to show it off to people.

    The ones with the handle were basically "adding machines".

    The 'mechanical', motor-driven, calculators looked like :

    https://clarkiv.dev/public/2020-5-26/DSC_5599_2.jpg

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j88JslB67fU

    The top part would slide back and forth, much whirring
    and chunka-chunka.

    --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
    * Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)