One of you ne'er-do-wells just dragged my name through the mud regarding card decks. Just for that, I'm gonna subject you to the best story regarding computer programs on decks ever.....
OK, the scene is Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, Fall of 1976. (Never heard of it? Look it up on the US News & World Report college ranking under 'undergraduate engineering programs' http://www.rose-hulman.edu/news/articles/usnews081806.htm.) This is important because you need to understand that this school prides itself on being more nerdly than MIT or CalTech. Sidebar: I was down in the basement of my dorm one night doing laundry, when I heard a commotion in the rec room down the hall. These two guys are playing ping-pong with a half-dozen others watching, and they're arguing. Very loudly, very heated, was getting pretty nasty, involving the relative 'quality' of each other's mothers, the nocturnal habits of their sisters, that sort of thing. The topic of the argument: Which was 'better' - integral calculus or differential calculus. Yes, this is where I went to undergrad, and this is the home of this story. So, it's the third week of school, freshman year. We have about 45 guys living on the second floor of Speed Hall (evidently Grover Speed gave a bunch of money to the school a while back.) This school is 6 miles outside of Terre Haute, which other than being the home of ISU, where Larry Bird failed to beat Michigan State in 1978, has absolutely nothing going for it. So the school has this small town feel - not a lot of locked doors, a lot of friendliness, that sort of thing. A co-Badger, Jack, is down the hall, working on his Chemistry homework. Jack had the unfortunate problem of being an all-state (alternate) quarterback and prom king in high school while at the same time scoring mid-1400s on his SATs. His roommate, John, occupied the other end of the social spectrum. While most of us had vinyl collections that included Ted Nugent, Aerosmith and Lynyrd Skynyrd, John brought "How to learn Morse code" albums to school. The third week of school, not only had John FOUND the computer center, but he had two 18" high stacks of computer card decks on his desk. Each program had a green job card on top, was properly labeled in concise printed lettering, and was rubber-banded neatly. Maybe 25 programs altogether between the two stacks. This particular fall afternoon, another member of our floor, Andy, who made John Belushi look suave and sophisticated by comparison, walks into Jack and John's room. "Hi Jack!" he says, big grin on his face. He doesn't just saunter, he walks in with a purpose. Straight over to John's desk (John wasn't there, by the way). Takes all of his decks and spreads them out on the desk. Takes the rubber bands off each deck. Takes the green job cards off each deck. Shuffles all of the cards together for a minute or two. Divides them up again, into about 25 piles. Puts a green job card on top of each one. Neatly rubber-bands each pile. Restacks the decks into two, 18" stacks on the desk. Turns to leave. "Bye Jack!" Still grinning. And leaves. Jack buries his head in his hands. Whil _______________________________________________ Post Messages to: [email protected] Subscription Maintenance: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profox OT-free version of this list: http://leafe.com/mailman/listinfo/profoxtech Searchable Archive: http://leafe.com/archives/search/profox This message: http://leafe.com/archives/byMID/profox/[EMAIL PROTECTED] ** All postings, unless explicitly stated otherwise, are the opinions of the author, and do not constitute legal or medical advice. This statement is added to the messages for those lawyers who are too stupid to see the obvious.
