Jerry_Atrick

When I worked for AV Jennings, this was the system I worked on: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_System/360_Model_30

They decomissioned it not long after I left (can't remember how long I was there - maybe a year or so).. As I recall, there was a tall filing cabinet sized disk, which held a whopping 64mb - or maybe it was 128.. it was some time ago. Gigabytes were not for those

However, while that was the oldest system I used (had core memory which where like ferris doughnuts), the fiirst system I worked on that got my career started was a Prime 750 (last photo here): https://www.chilton-computing.org.uk/acd/icf/mums/p014.htm

That big box to the left is a line printer - oh the fun we had with thise thinhs...

The phot above shows the removable disk drives we used - they were a whole 300mb each... And they were heavy.

The latest in the lineup I used was a 9955 Mod II here: https://www.banjohangout.org/photo/71150

Their downfall was they claimed they had a 64 bit system,. but it was really 32 bits... they just moved two "words" (32 bits) at a time to make the operating system think it was 64 bits..

Of all the systems I worked on, I still preferred the Primos operating system the most. Rock solid, easy to use, and super flexible in programming..

Apols for the thread drift...

Here is a corny joke to make up for it:

Why is Cinderella so bad at football? She keeps running away from the ball.

48 minutes ago, nomadpete said:

None of that report made sense. A mystery source of radiation, significant enough to invoke a 'state of emergency ', and it was discovered by a boy? And the source was placed in a safe container and removed, but they don't know what the source was?

And no exposure to the public.....  Nothing makes sense. 

Not really... It should read, "... are an immigrant."

An interesting event  one doesn't hear of every day: https://www.lbc.co.uk/news/russia-state-emergency-mystery-radiation-leak-khabarovsk/

Large country, small population... has its disadvantages.

Nev's pretty well on the money.. though it looks like there may be a better bus option for you than waiting around until 20 past 6 at Southern Cross: https://www.rome2rio.com/map/Melbourne-Airport-MEL/Pyalong#trips

Arrive at 11:35; on the Bus at Tulla at 12:06 (so hope your flight isn't too late and you're off quick smart). A few hours in Melb and arrive at Pyalong at 18:20... Assuming the site is accurate.

You're referring ot the 90s if your referencing Keating's famous line. Fraser was in until 1983. As I recall, his last term in office - unitl 1983 - he and his cabinet where known as thee razor gang.

@onetrack, feel for you and that part of the left side. Read that the water desalination plants are being used to truck drinking water, but there's only so much they can produce, and they're not the most environmentally friendly things. Obviously with the heat, the air can hold more moisture before it ha to let go.

Sadly, it is not lookng too good for the future: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-04-03/more-megadrought-warnings-climate-change-australia/103661658

Price of food will get more expensive.

I have a Galaxy A21. Bought it about 4 years ago for £169. It stull runs well; batteris is still good.. But I bloody dropped it and smashed the screen and apparently beyond repaid.

Buggah!

6 hours ago, facthunter said:

. Make America GRATE again. . ? Why are Republicans SO  inclined to stuff things up?. MONEY is ALL that motivates them. Isolationism appeals to selfish, self centred People till a way to profit from something different presents itself. (Like Lend LEASE in WW2)..  Nev

I am not so sure it is about money. The large defence industrues and fossil fule companies love this sort of thing. Deferring sending aid to Ukraine defers their revenues, defers their profits, defers their additional bonuses, etc.

This is more ideological... Can't let it be seen that Biden is doing good.. make him look bad and when the repubs come back, turn the stuff around and look how good they did... In other words, it is power and ideology...

Yes, the yanks like to make money where they can.. but they don't seem too different to others in that regards. They are more brazen about it.

8 hours ago, old man emu said:

I think that the point of the video was to have a chuckle at the thieves, nothing more.

Looking at his other vids, I am not so sure it was... or if it was, he really needs to pasa at being a comedian.

On 02/04/2024 at 11:31 PM, old man emu said:

Posted here, but could also go in the Funnies.

 

 

I didn't want to click on that one as I have seen one of his vids previously, and disigenous is a polite way I would decribe it.

Yeah.. if one steals a car low on fuel, it is likely to run out...

But, that vid misses the point. All this advanced tech - regardless of fuel type - can help lower crime, can't it... After all, if the crims can't steal getaway cars without their owners being able to track them, which will finally lead to a foot chase, if not being nabbed, then will they not less likely a) steal a car for the crime (one less ciminal action); or b) just not bother with the crime in the first place? Yeah, they may try something else, but a lot of theft of that nature anyway, requires a getaway car...

Yeah, when the argument is lost, personally attack those that have won the argument. Helps console oneself, I suppose.

There seems to be ample dull men's clubs to choose from if the one you are in is too dull to take your submissions...

19 hours ago, pmccarthy said:

Extent of winter sea ice in the Arctic has been stable for the last 20 years.

That looks like a downward trend to me. Also it seems to be comparing a monhly trend v a longe term annual trend, which distorts the linea trajectory of a (graph) surface. You would have to compae either the same month per years, or the annual average per year/s.

I prefer a more comprehensive Apples v apples comparison like this one: https://www.eea.europa.eu/en/analysis/indicators/arctic-and-baltic-sea-ice. Importantly, as sea ice reflects the suns rays back into space and acts as a reflector, the sea-ice reduction in summer per decate is c. 12.8%...

NASA comes in for a September annual comparison, with a decade decline of a more conservative 12.2% on average isnce 1980.

You can deny all you like, but the numbers are there. If you love your kids and grandkids and further generations and you want them to life in a (relatively) safe world, you'd want to do something about it.

BTW, CERN, a nuclear physics research institure recognise it, and are trying to drop their emissions by 28%. I live next to the Royal College of Surgeon's (UK) chair on climate change.. the stuff he can quote chapter and verse scares me. All fact and data driven.

Let's hope... or should that be pray?

Onetrack - you may have to join the Dull Men's Club/Group...

5 hours ago, rgmwa said:

I don't suppose it tells the time by any chance?

 

Nah.. You still have to look at the watch..

Jeepers.. haven't been on PPRUNE for yonks.. totally forgot about it until now.

Unlike ovre here, where rail fares are atronomical, Vic Rail is wanting passengers to use their services: https://www.ptv.vic.gov.au/tickets/fares/regional-fares/.  $10.60 max fare is not too expensive.

The weather in the Bellarine Peninsula is getting better with global warming - according to my brother who has purchased a house in Port Arlignton - not to close to the shoreline.

13 hours ago, facthunter said:

Quite a few places around the world call it Sidney but it's been Sinney since Rum was the currency. People are leaving in droves. It's UNFIT for HUMAN habitation. After Xmas every year there's a mass exodus of RICH  people doing a very risky  trip in boats to  escape to a formal Penal Colony. with a MOAT around it.  What better evidence do you need? Nev 

Indeed.. Sidders,, Sid-a-ney, and the like are not where I want to live to start with... Not because  I am Melbourne born and bred, but because I don't really know too much about it, apart from trying to stay away from the western suburbs. I also think that for what we want, Melbourne fits better; we don't want to have a car; the tram network is fantastic, and last time I looked, the bike paths and other options looked very reasonable. Of course, Sidders has Bankstown, buit there is something about Moorabbin and Essendon that seem to make things easily accessible.

Uggghhhh! It's going to be a long year for Hawthorn... All that promise in the run home to the end of the season last year as evaporated.

It was the random thought of cancellign all public holidays.. so I could have a drink in peace and quiet! This eve, had to invite Wolfie and a couple of friends around.

There are very real economically structural issues that will mean the worst that will happen in the big citites will be a correction rather than a crash. The durty money is only part of it. Negative gearing is another component, too, because it allows you to offset your PAYG payable against the losses on your property to increase your cash flow. Despite the size of Australia, the concentration of work and population actually make it very densely populated in the cities (https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/parts-of-melbourne-are-more-crowded-than-manhattan-and-london-find-out-how-dense-your-suburb-is-20240327-p5ffqz.html)..

And the areas that are desirable for people to live. Rental crisis? Pfft! If you'e willing to move. Cost of a property too expensive.. Pfft.. If you're willing to move, or look elsewhere, and somewhere not so popular, but could yield a very decent standard of living: https://www.homely.com.au/narrandera-narrandera-murrumbidgee-new-south-wales I just happened to be lookign there this eve (on realestate.com.au) as when I drove through there, it was a town that had immediate appeal to me.

In terms of the cost of properties for me, even in Melbourne, until recently, I was not too fazed by the price increases as the equity I have in property here sold, and cash sent to Aus would be enough to buy somethign decent in a realtively inner suburb. But, lately, even with the weak AUD$, I am having to cast my net wider or downsize expectation. As we are bringing doggo with us, downsizing expectation is not the easiest thing to do in an already densley populated city. So, we may cast our net to the Bellarine Peninsula as I hear that the maximum cost of a v/line ticket is something like $11 each way..

I am going to start dropping hints with management next week that I would like to move to our Sydney office. It only has a small sales presence for our firm, as most of everythign else is done in Singapore, but as they want my to work with my global counterparts putting in global systems, I am putting the argumen that it doesn't matter where I sit. The Sydney will be my paymaster, and I can base myself anywhee in Aus that I want.

Quite frankly, it looks like economics at work. Allocation of scarce resources against unlimited wants; demand is increasing for EVs, someone has to support them, let's put more resources into that rather than a declining industry of ICE vehicles. Capitalsim (regulated rather than totally free) is still the most efficient mechanism of allocating resources.

Excellent stuff, OME.

On another note, time really does fly when one is having fun. Most of us can remember those one hour flying lessons breezing by at twice the knots that the aircraft was going. Well, I have been telling everyone back in November that it was my third anniversary at work. But I just checked, and it is my 4th. When I look back, it feels like three years, but I have actually really enjoyed this job. How good is that? Most people aren't in that position at all..

So,  I estimated how long I have been on different incarnations of this forum. I fugured it was 5 years give or take - but it is 7.5 years. Heck - to some of you, it must seem like a prison sentence.. But time does fly when you're having fun.