Steve,
I think the Rainbow is still in my attic in Massachusetts! So, when you are getting together your Museum of Computer Arcania, you can have it. There's pretty much a decade of correspondence up there on disks that nobody can read, any more. Good thing none of my students ever became a president . or was seduced by one. I lost another five years when I got mad at Outlook and switched to Earthlink's Total Abcess. They announced one day that they weren't supporting it any more and . that was that! Believe it or not, there was no way to bring those files over into another mail program. Even Dot Foil couldn't do it. What will be the computer equivalent of the Box of Lincoln's letters uncovered in an old lady's attic in Peioria? Will an industry develop some time in the future of recovering old cp/m disks at vast expense? Bill's love emails to Paula Jones? Nick From: Friam [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Steve Smith Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2013 9:10 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: Re: [FRIAM] Arcane Points Nick - There have to be *some* APs in there for you... certainly your reference to the old Dec RAINBOW kicked a few neurons loose. Samna rings a bell, didn't they get bought up by Lotus? This kicks loose a cascade of neurons around the whole spreadsheet legacy of visicalc/123/improv! Thanks, I'll be up all night dreaming pivot tables and projections of OLAP hypercubes! - Steve How about A.P.'s for a word processor called Samna running on cpm on a computer called a Rainbow? Had some features that Word has yet to introduce. N From: Friam [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Steve Smith Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2013 1:40 PM To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group Subject: [FRIAM] Arcane Points Robert - Can I get some Arcane Points for writing my first program in ISO coded Atlas Autocode on an EELM KDF9? Robert C I'm not sure what is required for granting Arcane Points... certainly, without help from Dr. Internet, I don't have a clue about these referencesI I suppose there is a "sweet spot" where *at least* one other member of the group recognizes the reference... but obviously not too many. And I suppose that only makes them Obscure, not Arcane. Merriam Webster seems to distinguish Arcane from Obscure by invoking an element of the Mysterious or the Occult. I think there is an overtone of being therefore only known to "the Initiate". I suppose all of our references to Obscure (or Arcane) details is motivated by rememberances of our time as "Initiates", sort of offering a "secret handshake" from an old fraternity or childhood treehouse-club? Let's see who has an EELM KDF9 in their cupboard or a reference manual to Atlas Autocode in their bookshelf! - Steve ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
