Wapsi Square Forum

Slowly reading through the archives for the Precocious webcomic *, i ran into this YouTube link, in the comments for a particular page.

When they first reached the part where the lyrics said "diggy diggy hole", I could have sworn they had said "Inky Dinky hole"...


* Comic is currently on hiatus, due to health issues with the author, but his archive is large... He had already reached 1000 comics in 2012 or 2013... so you'll still have plenty to read, should you decide to do an archive dive.

Interesting quote, from my wallpaper changer:

“#3 pencils and quadrille pads.” - Seymoure Cray (1925-1996) when asked what CAD tools he used
to design the Cray I supercomputer; he also recommended using
the back side of the pages so that the lines were not so
dominant.

OLD school drafting.

When you think about it, there was no Computer Aided Design (CAD) available, in order to design the first computer(s)...

In the early days, a "computer" was a human being... a person who used a slide rule, or mathematical tables, or a mechanical calculator, to compute answers. It was a job description, not the name of a device.

It wasn't until after the development of the "electronic computer" in the 1950s that the meaning of this word changed to referred exclusively to the latter, and the humans were referred to as "programmers" or "users". It's a bit amusing to read Doc Smith's classic Lensman space-opera series, full of futuristic technology capable of smashing entire planets together at hyperlight speeds, and run across an obsolete term usage like that.

And, no, there was no CAD/CAM available when the original "computers" were designed... in fact, like Topsy, "they just growed".

Dave wrote:In the early days, a "computer" was a human being... a person who used a slide rule, or mathematical tables, or a mechanical calculator, to compute answers. It was a job description, not the name of a device.

It wasn't until after the development of the "electronic computer" in the 1950s that the meaning of this word changed to referred exclusively to the latter, and the humans were referred to as "programmers" or "users". It's a bit amusing to read Doc Smith's classic Lensman space-opera series, full of futuristic technology capable of smashing entire planets together at hyperlight speeds, and run across an obsolete term usage like that.

And, no, there was no CAD/CAM available when the original "computers" were designed... in fact, like Topsy, "they just growed".

Actually, the only time i recall Doc using that sort of terminology was in Spacehounds of IPC.

Even before the shift in the term "computer", the same thing happened with "typewriter".

Also, for those who haven't found it yet, may i recommend the wonderful webcomic Wilde Life, which features Sylvia, a young lady who was a computer.

{Wilde Life is set in roughly the present day, BTW.}

AnotherFairportfan wrote:

Dave wrote:It's a bit amusing to read Doc Smith's classic Lensman space-opera series, full of futuristic technology capable of smashing entire planets together at hyperlight speeds, and run across an obsolete term usage like that.

Actually, the only time i recall Doc using that sort of terminology was in Spacehounds of IPC.

Yes, he did use it there... the skill at computation of IPC's practical mathematicians was one of their biggest stocks in trade.

The other time I recall his using that terminology, was the incident in which Kimball Kinnison was trying out his Arisian-enhanced powers of mental control for the first time, and tried to compel one of the Galactic Patrol's computers to set up and perform a computation. The attempt failed... the computer started to do it, stopped, and then commented to his co-worker that he could swear someone told him to do it.

I could be mis-remembering the exact language, but I believe Kinnison did refer to the guy as a "computer" when he apologized, later, for having tried out his (non-existent) "mind control ray" on him.

Dave wrote:

AnotherFairportfan wrote:

Dave wrote:It's a bit amusing to read Doc Smith's classic Lensman space-opera series, full of futuristic technology capable of smashing entire planets together at hyperlight speeds, and run across an obsolete term usage like that.

Actually, the only time i recall Doc using that sort of terminology was in Spacehounds of IPC.

Yes, he did use it there... the skill at computation of IPC's practical mathematicians was one of their biggest stocks in trade.

The other time I recall his using that terminology, was the incident in which Kimball Kinnison was trying out his Arisian-enhanced powers of mental control for the first time, and tried to compel one of the Galactic Patrol's computers to set up and perform a computation. The attempt failed... the computer started to do it, stopped, and then commented to his co-worker that he could swear someone told him to do it.

I could be mis-remembering the exact language, but I believe Kinnison did refer to the guy as a "computer" when he apologized, later, for having tried out his (non-existent) "mind control ray" on him.

Yeah; i thought of that one after i posted.

The IPC reference is when "Steve" Stevens signs on aboard ship at the beginning of the book.

I remember it confused twelve-year-old me when i first read it.

AnotherFairportfan wrote:

Dave wrote:Also, for those who haven't found it yet, may i recommend the wonderful webcomic Wilde Life, which features Sylvia, a young lady who was a computer.

{Wilde Life is set in roughly the present day, BTW.}

There's a reason she's so young in spite of having had a career that has been obsolete for so long... it's a matter of her, well, being...

(drops a bottle of spirits in the pun jar)

Well, my rifle parts arrived earlier than I expected, but because I don't have the tools and the fact that I had my sister's oldest with me and I didn't want to leave the house again yesterday, I'm still gonna have to wait until Friday or Saturday to get that handled.

I also finally got around to watching one of the movies I bought over the weekend. This one was My Neighbor Totoro. Interesting movie.

Alkarii wrote:I also finally got around to watching one of the movies I bought over the weekend. This one was My Neighbor Totoro. Interesting movie.

I strongly recommend another of Miyazaki's movies, "Spirited Away". The DVD has both the English-dubbed version, and the Japanese dialog with English subtitles... I prefer the latter.

Dave wrote:

Alkarii wrote:I also finally got around to watching one of the movies I bought over the weekend. This one was My Neighbor Totoro. Interesting movie.

I strongly recommend another of Miyazaki's movies, "Spirited Away". The DVD has both the English-dubbed version, and the Japanese dialog with English subtitles... I prefer the latter.

As a fan of author Diana Wynn Jones, i do NOT recommend Miyazaki's version of "Howls's Moving Castle" - or at least not till after you read the book, so you will understand how the elements of the original that remain in the film fit together ... and so you'll see how they altered the rest totally out of recognition - it's not even the same story any more.

Actually, I bought Spirited Away at the same time that I bought Totoro. I'd also bought Princess Mononoke that morning, but I'd already seen that one.

I'd also suggest Laputa: Castle in the Sky. It was the first Miyazaki offering I encountered. I purchased a copy (it was certainly a bootleg, I know better now, but early-teens me didn't) at a convention I was working at.

ShneekeyTheLost wrote:I'd also suggest Laputa: Castle in the Sky. It was the first Miyazaki offering I encountered. I purchased a copy (it was certainly a bootleg, I know better now, but early-teens me didn't) at a convention I was working at.

Heh. Depending on where that con was, you might we'll have bought it from a friend of mine.

AnotherFairportfan wrote:

ShneekeyTheLost wrote:I'd also suggest Laputa: Castle in the Sky. It was the first Miyazaki offering I encountered. I purchased a copy (it was certainly a bootleg, I know better now, but early-teens me didn't) at a convention I was working at.

Heh. Depending on where that con was, you might we'll have bought it from a friend of mine.

It was a DragonCon, which I believe is your neck of the woods, so entirely possible. Long enough ago that it was VHS. Only at a Larry Con could a bootlegger get a spot in the Dealer's Room and not get busted.

ShneekeyTheLost wrote:

AnotherFairportfan wrote:

ShneekeyTheLost wrote:I'd also suggest Laputa: Castle in the Sky. It was the first Miyazaki offering I encountered. I purchased a copy (it was certainly a bootleg, I know better now, but early-teens me didn't) at a convention I was working at.

Heh. Depending on where that con was, you might we'll have bought it from a friend of mine.

It was a DragonCon, which I believe is your neck of the woods, so entirely possible. Long enough ago that it was VHS. Only at a Larry Con could a bootlegger get a spot in the Dealer's Room and not get busted.

That must have been a bit more recently than i'm thinkig of - Bill wasn't the only person selling that sort of stuff in the Dealer Rooms at a number of Southern cons in the old days - like thirty years ago, come to think.

AnotherFairportfan wrote:That must have been a bit more recently than i'm thinkig of - Bill wasn't the only person selling that sort of stuff in the Dealer Rooms at a number of Southern cons in the old days - like thirty years ago, come to think.

Yea, this was in the 90's, so it would probably be more like 25ish years ago.

AnotherFairportfan wrote:

Dave wrote:

Alkarii wrote:I also finally got around to watching one of the movies I bought over the weekend. This one was My Neighbor Totoro. Interesting movie.

I strongly recommend another of Miyazaki's movies, "Spirited Away". The DVD has both the English-dubbed version, and the Japanese dialog with English subtitles... I prefer the latter.

As a fan of author Diana Wynn Jones, i do NOT recommend Miyazaki's version of "Howls's Moving Castle" - or at least not till after you read the book, so you will understand how the elements of the original that remain in the film fit together ... and so you'll see how they altered the rest totally out of recognition - it's not even the same story any more.

I never would have read any of her books if I hadn't seen that film, so I strongly disagree.
When I was first recommended her books as a kid, I could not get into anything she wrote.

After that film, I got the book, and could appreciate the tale far better.
A couple of years after that, a friend sent me Dogsbody for Jólabókaflóðið along with a bottle of perfume by Black Phoenix Trading Post of the same name(a charity event scent that came with a book. She sent it as she had her very own well-loved copy, and said I needed it...she knew I was a fan of Howl's Moving Castle.).

The thing is, and where i'm coming from, is that it's not a film of the book in any real essentials - i knew it was likely to disappoint me when i read that Miyazaki had decided to have the castle walking on legs, and gave it a weird design, rather than than, as described, a classic European castle just bumping and grinding along the ground.