OT Re: Pair of HP 1000 E-Series minicomputers on eBay

[Warner Losh]

> On Jan 30, 2015, at 11:23 AM, js at cimmeri.com wrote:
> 
> 
> 
> On 1/30/2015 12:13 PM, tony duell wrote:
>>> Here:
>>> 
>>>  http://www.ebay.com/itm/141300893919
>>> 
>>> The seller has them listed at 'Buy-It-Now' for $1,800, but the listing does
>>> say 'make an offer', so you might be able to get it down a ways, to something
>>> more reasonable. They seem like they have an interesting (non-identical) set
>>> of peripheral cards. However, I know nothing of HP's, so take this all with a
>>> large grain of salt!
>> Pity they're the wrong side of the Pond :-(...
>> 
>> -tony
> 
> It's not a pond.. it's an ocean.  Why do some people insist on calling it a pond?
> 
> And "whilst" I'm at it, why do some insist on using "blinkenlights" in re CPU front panels instead of correct English -- blinking lights?

Because the Faux German Blinkenlights is so much cooler to say. It’s a corruption of Blinenlichten from an old joke:

ACHTUNG!
ALLES TURISTEN UND NONTEKNISCHEN LOOKENPEEPERS!
DAS KOMPUTERMASCHINE IST NICHT FÜR DER GEFINGERPOKEN UND MITTENGRABEN! ODERWISE IST EASY TO SCHNAPPEN DER SPRINGENWERK, BLOWENFUSEN UND POPPENCORKEN MIT SPITZENSPARKEN.
IST NICHT FÜR GEWERKEN BEI DUMMKOPFEN. DER RUBBERNECKEN SIGHTSEEREN KEEPEN DAS COTTONPICKEN HÄNDER IN DAS POCKETS MUSS.
ZO RELAXEN UND WATSCHEN DER BLINKENLICHTEN.

which dates to the 1950’s…

See also the insistence on the plural of VAX being VAXEN.

Warner