6 Jan
2002
6 Jan
'02
4:10 p.m.
From: John Lawson <jpl15(a)panix.com>
I believe that in actual fact, Burroughs, after a
few years of
night-and-day work on his mechanical calculator design, including tossing
one finished prototype out a second story window in frustration, patented
the *application* of a hydraulic damper to the actuator crank. His
problem was that if the actuator lever was pulled down by the operator
too quickly, the machine would jam very destructively. This 'bug' very
nearly killed the product in the early market. He added what amounts to
a
small shock absorber to the crank lever, slowing it
down enough so the
machine could operate efficiently but not be overdriven. Then, there was
no stopping it and the rest is well-known.
I certainly don't mean to question your word, but can you provide specific
references?
Material published by William S. Burroughs (references available upon
request) indicate that the problem was that *exactly* the proper amount of
pressure had to be applied to the actuator lever in order to produce a
correct result, which was nearly impossible. The hydraulic piston ensured
that the same force was delivered to the machine no matter how much
pressure was applied (as long as it was enough to depress the lever). This
gave the Burroughs machine a huge advantage over competing products
(several of which existed at the time and all had the same problem), and
allowed it to capture the market.
Now, just a sec, I wanna check my spelling, grammar,
syntax,
orthography, references, style, Flesch Rating, ....
No shit, this list is a real shark tank these days when it comes to
precision in expression ;>)
Glen
0/0
6 Jan
6 Jan
5:14 p.m.
On Mon, 7 Jan 2002, Glen Goodwin wrote:
And I must place myself in that Group; faddish moronic mangling of
English evokes my very strong underlying concern over the precipitous
slide of overall American educational standards, the fact that
ever-more-stupid teachers continue the downward spiral, and the
market-driven grotesque Deification of vulgar pop-culture fueled by
billions of indiscriminate young dollars. Most often I just delete %99 of
the Beavis-and-Butthead stuff I see, but occasionally I simply wish to
raise a little flag in the gathering Storm of Dumb.
Now: contrast the above with the fact that, as my years advance (nearly
50) I find it increasingly more difficult to type without falling into
egregious and repeated errors, mainly right-left handed letter
transposition errors, and spelling errors that go undetected because I
'see' the word I *meant* to type instead of what actually came off the
keyboard. I am using Pine under a Unix shell, (and have turned off my
main wordprocessor spell checkers) in an effort to force myself to pay
more attention. As well, I don't touch-type, I use four or five fingers
and watch the keys, not the screen. I've tried several time to *learn*
touch-typing; all that generates is smashed keyboards and frustration.
And, back in the day, I could do 45 or 50 WPM consistently, and hardly
make a mistake. Now, my geriatric throughput is... um.... uh, what were
we talking about?
;}
So: I can cast the stones up in the air and let them land on me, too.
Cheers
John
> From: John Lawson <jpl15(a)panix.com>
[snip]
I certainly don't mean to question your word, but can you provide specific
references?
Please, no problem! Kinda like 'peer-review' in scientific-journal-land!
I have (somewhere) a Burroughs internal publication that outlines points
of company history, in there is the article I'm refering to. It is packed
away just now, but in a couple of months I'll have my library out of the
boxes and back on the shelves, Insh'Allah!
Material published by William S. Burroughs (references
available upon
request) indicate that the problem was that *exactly* the proper amount of
pressure had to be applied to the actuator lever in order to produce a
correct result, which was nearly impossible. The hydraulic piston ensured
that the same force was delivered to the machine no matter how much
pressure was applied (as long as it was enough to depress the lever). This
gave the Burroughs machine a huge advantage over competing products
(several of which existed at the time and all had the same problem), and
allowed it to capture the market.
Well, okay, I think we're describing the same symptom from slightly
different viewpoints. My reference specifically mentions machine damage
as a result of improper crank use; it is undoubtedly also the case that
inaccurate results would also devolve from this; and in fact that would be
far more serious a situation, since, in the case of gross mechanical
failure, you at least know to check your results - because your desk is
suddenly littered with oily springs and bent levers...
crunch sproingggg (turn-of-last-century expletives deleted)
Now, just a
sec, I wanna check my spelling, grammar, syntax,
orthography, references, style, Flesch Rating, ....
No shit, this list is a real shark tank these days when it comes to
precision in expression ;>)
8387
days inactive
8387
days old
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