Happy birthday, modern computing.

[Baruch]

Were you older than the other students?  I took some college classes where I was twice the age of most of the other students.  It was "interesting".

I am twice the age of most people where I work ... it is interesting indeed.  The youth are energetic.

[Baruch]

See, young people are so oppressed!  Well, some of them are.  But what a great time to be a young programmer at a conference in Cadiz Spain ;-)

I got to go to a couple conferences back in the day ... at UCLA back in 1985, for IJCAI.

[PickelledEggs]

Technically, the Z3 being developed by the Germans was first ...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Konrad_Zuse

Americans think they invent everything first, Ensign Checkov can correct that for you ;-)

Germans first, then the Brits, then the Americans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Z3_(computer) by Konrad Zuse

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colossus_computer by Tommy Flowers (not Alan Turing ... who built the much more primitive Bombe)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ENIAC by John Mauchley and J Presper Eckert

All early computer work was funded secretly for the security and military services ... and still are.  Who is spending big bucks on quantum computing?  Guess who.

How in the hell is Manchester an American location

[Baruch]

How in the hell is Manchester an American location

Look at the dates the Manchester experiments were after WW II.  Yes, Manchester is in England.  But then ... Americans are just half-breed English.

[Cavebear]

How in the hell is Manchester an American location

Don't respond to Baruch.  Mostly, he just wants to get a response he can joke about...

[Baruch]

Don't respond to Baruch.  Mostly, he just wants to get a response he can joke about...

You are my biggest joke ;-)

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Were you older than the other students?  I took some college classes where I was twice the age of most of the other students.  It was "interesting".

I started Purdue after I retired from the USN. I was 40 when I started my first class there.

[Cavebear]

I started Purdue after I retired from the USN. I was 40 when I started my first class there.

Never too late!  I got my BS in 1995 when I was 45.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Never too late!  I got my BS in 1995 when I was 45.

Bachelors in Psych and Soc in '98, Master in History in '04. I was going part time, only when a class interested me.

[Cavebear]

Bachelors in Psych and Soc in '98, Master in History in '04. I was going part time, only when a class interested me.

That's good!  I stopped at a BS in Political Science because that was all I needed to continue my career, and more wouldn't have helped any.  After that it was really just OTJ training.  Out of curiousity, what did your History Masters specialize in?

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That's good!  I stopped at a BS in Political Science because that was all I needed to continue my career, and more wouldn't have helped any.  After that it was really just OTJ training.  Out of curiousity, what did your History Masters specialize in?

"Misinterpretations in the MAGIC documents in the last quarter of 1941."

[Cavebear]

"Misinterpretations in the MAGIC documents in the last quarter of 1941."

You need to be more factually detailed that that.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You need to be more factually detailed that that.

Okay. OP-20-G and S.I.S. were intercepting Purple code messages from Gaimu Daijin and interpreting them for the President and eleven other officials (the "Twelve Apostles"). They routinely gave three interpretations to ambiguous words, "soft", "medium", and "hard", with "hard" being the most bellicose. They then chose which option would be used in the English translations shown to the people eligible to read them. In about 95% of the cases they used "hard" versions of words, giving a belligerent view of the original message.

I was working with a gentleman at Tokyo U. to provide all three options for the uncertain terms when I was a grad student. Unfortunately he died and I had no means of getting the Japanese versions. So I just settled for a Masters and went to work for the Navy.

[Cavebear]

Okay. OP-20-G and S.I.S. were intercepting Purple code messages from Gaimu Daijin and interpreting them for the President and eleven other officials (the "Twelve Apostles"). They routinely gave three interpretations to ambiguous words, "soft", "medium", and "hard", with "hard" being the most bellicose. They then chose which option would be used in the English translations shown to the people eligible to read them. In about 95% of the cases they used "hard" versions of words, giving a belligerent view of the original message.

I was working with a gentleman at Tokyo U. to provide all three options for the uncertain terms when I was a grad student. Unfortunately he died and I had no means of getting the Japanese versions. So I just settled for a Masters and went to work for the Navy.

That was MUCH better.  Thank you.

But you still didn't detail your Master subject in history.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That was MUCH better.  Thank you.

But you still didn't detail your Master subject in history.

Oh. "Undecided."