Slinky Day

What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs
and makes a slinkity sound?
A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing!
Everyone knows it’s Slinky.

Yes, August 30 we celebrate the springy toy that has brought so much fun to children. Richard James, a naval engineer, invented the slinky. In 1943, he accidentally knocked a torsion spring off a workbench and watched the spring “walk” along the floor. Intrigued, he decided to see if he could create just the right steel and tension to turn it into a toy. After months of experimentation, he decided he had found the right wire and design, took out a loan of $500 and had a local machine shop make 400 of the toys. He priced them at $1 a toy. His wife Betty gave the toy its name, a Swedish word meaning sleek and graceful.

When Gimbels in Philadelphia allowed him to set up an inclined plane in their toy department during the Christmas season, he sold out of his entire stock in 90 minutes, and a toy classic was born. James quit his day job and went into full-time production, setting up a shop in Philadelphia. His wife came up with the jingle, which you can see and hear in several versions on YouTube.

In 1999, the United States Postal Service issued a Slinky postage stamp. The Slinky was inducted into the Toy Hall of Fame in 2000. In 2001, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania made Slinky the Official State Toy of Pennsylvania.

Slinkys now come in both metal and plastic, and in various colors, but still provide simple joy to children (and the adults who remembered playing with the toys when they were young) If you are intrigued, there is a marvelous history of the toy here.

Quotes about slinkys and toys in general

I met this wonderful girl at Macy’s. She was buying clothes and I was putting Slinkies on the escalator.–Steven Wright

If time is a staircase, reality is a Slinky.–Louis Menand

I’ve kind of fashioned my life after a Slinky. Bend me in a million shapes, and eventually I’ll spring back to what I originally was.–Sylvester Stallone

Time is the continuous loop, the snakeskin with scales endlessly overlapping without beginning or end, or time is an ascending spiral if you will, like a child’s toy Slinky.–Annie Dillard

I have three step brothers and one step sister. It’s like a staircase, and I am the slinky.–Jarod Kintz

Give children toys that are powered by their imagination, not by batteries.–H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

A toy has no gender and no idea of whether a girl or boy is playing with it.–Letty Cottin Pogrebin

I like to do nice things for my grandchildren – like buy them those toys I’ve always wanted to play with.–Gene Perret

No matter how old you are, if a little kid hands you a toy phone… you answer it.–Dave Chappelle

Were I a philosopher, I should write a philosophy of toys, showing that nothing else in life need to be taken seriously, and that Christmas Day in the company of children is one of the few occasions on which men become entirely alive.–Robert Wilson Lynd

To a real child anything will serve as a toy.–John Cowper Powys

The simplest toy, one which even the youngest child can operate, is called a grandparent.–Sam Levenson

Sports is the toy department of human life.–Howard Cosell

You get to relive your childhood when you have a baby and you see these toys and these books you read when you were little – the innocence that you are able to maintain because you have to find that again in order to connect with your child keeps you in a special state of mind.–Idina Menzel

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Bow Tie Day

How could I be a Doctor Who fan and not celebrate Bow Tie Day on August 28? I love how Days of the Year begin their remarks about this holiday: “A whirling noise in the distance, followed by a male in a bow tie and a female in a summer dress running out of a blue police box. A small wooden puppet with a large blue bow tie that is still there when the puppet comes to life. Or a sharply dressed man hunting around for information in order to save the world from annihilation. … Whether it be the Doctor from Dr. Who, Pinocchio, or James Bond, each wears a bow tie very well, and accentuates it for that very character.” I must admit, however, that the second person I think of wearing a bow tie is Bill Nye, the Science Guy.

Before there were bow ties, in the 17^th century, soldiers in Croatia wore cravats to tie their shirts together. The French soldiers saw this during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648) and brought the idea home, but it didn’t really catch on until 1886 when a tobacco magnate Pierre Lorillard wore one with his new style of formal wear to the Tuxedo Club. He made a hit, and from then on, bow ties became part of men’s formal wear. If you want to learn to tie a proper bow tie, you can find the instructions on a site called Ties.com.

In modern day, bow ties can be seen as eccentric, as fashionable, or as a throwback to another era. It’s up to the wearer to carry off the image he wants to present. As is put in the essay, “In Defense of the Bow Tie,” by Ellis Perry, “Don’t wear a Bow to stand-out. Wear it to be Outstanding.”

Quotes about bow ties

Wearing a bow tie is a statement. Almost an act of defiance.–Rick Kaplan

To its devotees the bowtie suggests iconoclasm of an Old World sort, a fusty adherence to a contrarian point of view. The bowtie hints at intellectualism, real or feigned, and sometimes suggests technical acumen, perhaps because it is so hard to tie. BowTies are worn by magicians, country doctors, lawyers and professors and by people hoping to look like the above. But perhaps most of all, wearing a bow tie is a way of broadcasting an aggressive lack of concern for what other people think.–Warren St. John

When you wear a bow tie, doors open for you. Your posture is a little more erect; your shoulders are a little further back; your style is a little more dynamic. It’s about the reestablishment of the gentleman.–Dhani Jones

See the bowtie? I wear it and I don’t care. That’s why it’s cool.–Steven Moffat

Read about a few men who wear (or wore) bow ties as an act of defiance, and check out a tie that makes a strong statement. Bow ties are cool.–Matt Smith

You can’t dribble on bow ties.–Dr. Seuss

As a southern man, there’s two things I’m definitely not scared of: bow ties and white pants.–Justin Townes Earle

I was a show-off as a kid. I was wearing bow ties and matching coloured trousers.–Mika

My father was a very good Boy Scout. He was very skilled with knots, and he showed me how to tie a bow tie.–Bill Nye

I was a ‘Laurel and Hardy’ nut. I got to know Laurel at the end of his life, and it was a great thrill for me. He left me his bow tie and derby and told me that if they ever made a movie about him, he’d want me to play him.–Dick Van Dyke

A gentleman can never have too many bow ties.–Justin Timberlake

Women’s Equality Day

In 1971, the U.S. Congress designated August 26 as Women’s Equality Day. Bella Abzug championed the declaration to commemorate the anniversary of the 19^th amendment to the Constitution, added in 1920, which gave women the right to vote. The push for the right to vote was first begun in 1848, so it took 72 years of efforts by women to make it come to pass.

Time and Date reports, “Opposition to voting by women was widespread and the amendment did not get to the see the light of the day again until 1914 when it was once gain brought up in the US congress. In May 1919, two-thirds of the Congress voted in favor of the amendment and it was sent to the states for ratification.”

Days of the Year says about this: “Over the last century, great women have proved [stereotypes about them] wrong as the world has witnessed just what women are capable of achieving, from the likes of Rosa Parks and Eleanor Roosevelt fighting for civil rights and equality to great scientists such as Marie Curie, Rosalind Franklin and Jane Goodall. The last century has shown more than ever what both women and men are capable of achieving, given the opportunity.”

Not only does this day celebrate the right to vote, but also draws attention to the ways women have yet to achieve full equality. This is alas, still true in the United States, but even more so in other parts of the world. There is much work to be done in this area. If we are to become a more just world, women need access to education, health care, child care, and equal pay for equal work, among others.

Quotes about gender equality

Too often, these are called women’s issues. Well, I am a proud lifelong fighter for women’s issues, because I firmly believe what’s good for women is good for America.–Hillary Clinton

I am a feminist. I’ve been female for a long time now. I’d be stupid not to be on my own side.–Maya Angelou

A gender-equal society would be one where the word ‘gender’ does not exist: where everyone can be themselves.–Gloria Steinem

When God created man and woman, he was thinking, ‘Who shall I give the power to, to give birth to the next human being?’ And God chose woman. And this is the big evidence that women are powerful–Malala Yousafzai

Gender equality is more than a goal in itself. It is a precondition for meeting the challenge of reducing poverty, promoting sustainable development and building good governance.–Kofi Annan

Achieving gender equality requires the engagement of women and men, girls and boys. It is everyone’s responsibility.–Ban Ki-moon

I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.–B. R. Ambedkar

I write for those women who do not speak, for those who do not have a voice because they were so terrified, because we are taught to respect fear more than ourselves. We’ve been taught that silence would save us, but it won’t.–Audre Lorde

I do not wish women to have power over men; but over themselves.–Mary Shelley

Whatever women do, they must do twice as well as men to be thought half as good. Luckily, this is not difficult.–Charlotte Whitton

Women, like men, should try to do the impossible. And when they fail, their failure should be a challenge to others.–Amelia Earhart

Men, their rights, and nothing more; women, their rights, and nothing less.–Susan B. Anthony

How can we effect change in the world when only half of it is invited or feel welcome to participate in the conversation?-—Emma Watson

We need women at all levels, including the top, to change the dynamic, reshape the conversation, to make sure women’s voices are heard and heeded, not overlooked and ignored.–Sheryl Sandberg

Can Opener Day

Each year on August 24, we celebrate Can Opener Day. Peter Durand invented canned food in 1813. The patent for a can opener was obtained in 1855 or 1858, depending on whom you consider the inventor. How did people open canned food before the can opener? The instructions on an 1824 can of roast veal read, “Cut round on the top near to the outer edge with a chisel and hammer.”

The reason why there is a debate as to when the can opener was invented is that the idea came separately to a Brit and an American. First in Britain was Roberts Yates, who made knives and surgical instruments. His patent for “lock and lever knives,” was given on July 13, 1855. He did not specifically design his tool for canned food, but for opening cases, and anything else that might need that type of opening tool.

In 1858, Ezra J. Warner of Waterbury, Connecticut, became the first American to patent a can opener. He proved to be the right man at the right time, as the US military adopted his invention for use during the Civil War. Both of these openers stabbed the can, then worked like a lever to open it. To bring the invention closer to what we might think of as a modern can opener, William W. Lyman added a wheel for continuous operation in 1870.

The first electric can opener was patented in 1931 and modeled after the cutting-wheel design. Those openers were produced in the 1930s and advertised as capable of removing lids from more than 20 cans per minute without risk of injury. However, they were not popular. They were reintroduced in 1955 and had more success.

For a long time it was considered lazy for a woman to cook with food from a can, but fighting that image was Poppy Cannon, who said about herself, “Armed with a can opener, I become the artist cook, the massive creative chef.” So whether your can opener is a fancy electric one, or one of the manual kinds, get it out tonight to help make dinner.

Quotes about can openers and canned food

This cookbook solves the problem of those who demand gourmet cooking in short-order time. The menus and recipes show how the hurried and even inexperienced cook, using the prepared mix, the jar, the frozen-food package, or the canned product as a base, can produce delectable, impressive dishes.–Poppy Cannon

Our cooking ideas and ideals have their roots in many lands and cultures, but our new way of achieving gourmet food can only happen here – in the land of the mix, the jar, the frozen-food package, and the ubiquitous can opener.–Poppy Cannon

At one time a badge of shame, hallmark of the lazy lady and the careless wife, today the can opener is becoming a magic wand…–Poppy Cannon

It is exciting to discover electrons and figure out the equations that govern their movement; it is boring to use those principles to design electric can openers. From here on out, it’s all can openers.–Neal Stephenson

She’s the only museum curator I know who can take a beer-can opener and a frying pan and make a marvelous exhibition out of it.–Thomas Sokolowski

I live out of cans a lot. But I try to indulge only in healthy canned food.–Dwight Yoakam

Canned food is a perversion, Ignatius said. I suspect that it is ultimately very damaging to the soul.–John Kennedy Toole

I read everything, including the labels on canned food.–Robert Anton Wilson

Is there anything sadder than the foods of the 1950s? Canned, frozen, packaged concoctions, served up by the plateful, three meals per day, in an era in which the supermarket was king, the farmer’s market was, well, for farmers, and the word ‘locavore’ sounded vaguely like a mythical beast.–Jeffrey Kluger

Be an Angel Day

Started to encourage people to do random acts of kindness, Jayne Howard Feldman first proposed this celebration on August 22, 1993. We have all had experience with those who have helped us when we needed it the most. Even just a kind word can make all the difference sometimes. Ms. Feldman calls people who do those angels, but you don’t need to believe in literal angels to celebrate this day.

Today is a day to be alert to those around you, and to offer aid where you may, whether that’s physical, emotional, or any other kind. Though its original purpose is to celebrate random acts of kindness, you can also do things you have been thinking about for a long time.

It would be great for folks to be kind to those they interact with today, from coworkers to family members to those who serve us, such as sales people, restaurant workers, and all those who work in service industries. It could also be a day to step up and support a charitable organization that regularly gives help to others or helps animals or the environment. I think it is particularly appropriate to do something kind anonymously so that no one but yourself knows the good deed you have done.

By the way, Cute Calendar says, “research has shown that acts of kindness do not only benefit receivers of the kind act, but also the giver, as a result of the release of neurotransmitters responsible for feelings of contentment and relaxation when such acts are committed.”

Some suggestions for today are Fill a random parking meter, mow your neighbor’s lawn, or send an unexpected note to a loved one. Listen to someone with the intention of understanding. Volunteer at a community program of some kind. Plant a tree. Clean up litter. There are as many ideas as there are people, but don’t let this day pass by without being kind in some way.

Quotes about kindness

You may be sorry that you spoke,
sorry you stayed or went,
sorry you won or lost,
sorry so much was spent.
But as you go through life, you’ll find–
you’re never sorry you were kind.–Herb Prochnow

You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you.–Ruth Smeltzer

You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late.–Ralph Waldo Emerson

Write your name in kindness, love and mercy on the hearts of the thousands you come in contact with year by year, and you will never be forgotten.—-Thomas Chalmers

When you carry out acts of kindness, you get a wonderful feeling inside. It is as though something inside your body responds and says, “Yes, this is how I ought to feel.”–Harold Kushner

When you are kind to someone in trouble, you hope they’ll remember and be kind to someone else. And, it’ll become like a wildfire.–Whoopi Goldberg

When one begins to purposefully perform acts of kindness, the spirit changes and soon doing good deeds becomes a focal point for our life; doing good begins to be the same as feeling good. The periods of emptiness when we search for the “meaning of it all” begin to fill with acts of kindness.–Gary Ryan Blair

When I was young, I admired clever people. Now that I am old, I admire kind people.–Abraham Heschel

Try to make at least one person happy every day. … If you cannot do a kind deed, speak a kind word. If you cannot speak a kind word, think a kind thought. Count up, if you can, the treasure of happiness that you would dispense in a week, in a year, in a lifetime!–Lawrence G. Lovasik

H. P. Lovecraft

Howard Phillips Lovecraft was born August 20, 1890, in Providence, Rhode Island, an only child. A sickly child, he was often too ill to go to school and was mainly self-taught. When he was 18, Lovecraft had a nervous breakdown, and never finished high school.

Along with Edgar Allen Poe, Lovecraft was a father of the modern horror story. His stories have a bleak view of life, perhaps influenced by the fact that he was prey to night terrors. They are some of the first stories to be about aliens, who generally did not wish mankind well. He also wrote of people who meddled in things best left alone, with terrible consequences.

Lovecraft was not a great writer. He published mainly in pulp magazines and had little success during his lifetime. So why am I promoting him in this blog? First, because there is something in his stories that can draw in the reader. His most mature work At the Mountains of Madness is a gripping tales of an expedition in Antarctica, which finds the remains of a non-human city buried for thousands of years, and what happens to those who dig too deeply. And his Cthulhu/the great old ones mythology is extensive and fascinating. Though as with Burroughs, a near contemporary, you have to overlook his racism, I like is that he never glorifies s evil, but always treats is as banal and degenerate.

However, his real contribution is not his stories themselves, but the influence he had on other writers, as diverse as Stephen King and Neil Gaiman, who wrote “A Study in Emerald,” that references Lovecraftian mythology. His influence on visual media is even greater, with The Thing from Another World, and Alien, probably being the most obvious, but from Batman to Doctor Who to role playing games, his inspiration is always there.

Quotes by Lovecraft

As for the Republicans – how can one regard seriously a frightened, greedy, nostalgic huddle of tradesmen and lucky idlers who shut their eyes to history and science, [and] steel their emotions against decent human sympathy.

I felt myself on the edge of the world; peering over the rim into a fathomless chaos of eternal night.

The ignorant and the deluded are, I think, in a strange way to be envied. That which is not known of does not trouble us, while an imagined but insubstantial peril does not harm us. To know the truths behind reality is a far greater burden.

That is not dead which can eternal lie,
And with strange aeons even death may die.

No new horror can be more terrible than the daily torture of the commonplace.

If religion were true, its followers would not try to bludgeon their young into an artificial conformity; but would merely insist on their unbending quest for truth, irrespective of artificial backgrounds or practical consequences.

I never ask a man what his business is, for it never interests me. What I ask him about are his thoughts and dreams.

The world is indeed comic, but the joke is on mankind.

The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown

For I have always been a seeker, a dreamer, and a ponderer on seeking and dreaming…

The greatest human achievements have never been for profit.

Ocean is more ancient than the mountains, and freighted with the memories and the dreams of Time.

I could not write about “ordinary people” because I am not in the least interested in them.

Pleasure to me is wonder – the unexplored, the unexpected, the thing that is hidden and the changeless thing that lurks behind superficial mutability. To trace the remote in the immediate; the eternal in the ephemeral; the past in the present; the infinite in the finite; these are to me the springs of delight and beauty.

Helium Discovery Day

During a total eclipse of the sun on August 18, 1868, French astronomer Pierre Jules César Janssen observed a strange yellow line in the spectrum of the sun. At first, he assumed it was sodium, but it didn’t match up to that wavelength. He had discovered helium, though he didn’t realize it at the time. On October 20th of that same year, English astronomer Norman Lockyer observed a yellow line in the solar spectrum which he concluded was caused by an unknown element in the Sun. Lockyer and English chemist Edward Frankland named the element helios, after the Greek word for the Sun.

Today we tend to think of helium as the gas that does strange things to your voice (to hear a silly demonstration of that go to this YouTube video or as the gas that makes balloons rise. However, it has many more uses. According to Universe Today, helium is used for a wide range of scientific and medical applications. The greatest use is in cryogenic applications, where liquid-helium acts as a coolant for superconducting magnets in MRI scanners and spectrometers. It is also a component of rocket fuel and used in the Large Hadron Collider.

Helium is the second most abundant element in the universe, second only to hydrogen. However, it is rare on Earth, only found in small quantities during gas and oil drilling. However, a huge field of ancient helium was found in 2016 in the Rift Valley in Africa, which could make a big difference. I was able to find several articles announcing the discovery, but none more recent than that to tell whether anyone had been able to actually make use of it. Hopefully, by now, they have been able to tap this significant new resource.

Quotes about helium

Nuclear fusion of light elements like hydrogen or helium would permit approaching the speed of light. It seems very attractive to refuel your space ships where the fuel is.–Wilson Greatbatch

A hot air balloon requires a great deal of fuel to keep it aloft, so that you can’t fly it even for one day. A gas balloon, which usually uses helium, has the problem that the helium cools at night when the sun is not on it, and you have to throw ballast overboard to keep it from going to the surface.–Steve Fossett

The helium which we handle must have been put together at some time and some place. We do not argue with the critic who urges that the stars are not hot enough for this process; we tell him to go and find a hotter place.–Arthur Eddington

I quit my job at the helium gas factory. I didn’t like being spoken to in that voice.–Stewart Francis

We, all of us, are what happens when a primordial mixture of hydrogen and helium evolves for so long that it begins to ask where it came from.–Jill Tarter

Our entire universe emerged from a point smaller than a single atom. Space itself exploded in a cosmic fire, launching the expansion of the universe and giving birth to all the energy and all the matter we know today. I know that sounds crazy, but there’s strong observational evidence to support the Big Bang theory. And it includes the amount of helium in the cosmos and the glow of radio waves left over from the explosion.–Neil deGrasse Tyson

You see, the chemists have a complicated way of counting: instead of saying “one, two, three, four, five protons”, they say, “hydrogen, helium, lithium, beryllium, boron.”–Richard P. Feynman

I’ve read short stories that are as dense as a 19th century novel and novels that really are short stories filled with a lot of helium.–Lynn Abbey

Love is a helium-based emotion; Love always takes the high road.–Augusten Burroughs

National Roller Coaster Day

August 16 has been celebrated as National Roller Coaster Day since 1986. It is not entirely clear why this day was chosen, but the most usual explanation is that on August 16, 1898, the first patent for a roller coaster ride was issued to Richard Knudsen and J.G. Taylor. It seems they never actually built their ride, but they were given the patent.

The precursor to a roller coaster was created in Russia, where people slid down ice mountains on carts. Wheels were added later so that the rides could operate all year around. According to the Roller Coaster Museum, “Although the groundwork for the invention of the roller coaster was laid in Europe, the ride as we know it today developed in the United States. La Marcus Thompson is often credited as the ‘father of the roller coaster’ building a switchback railway at Coney Island in 1884. While there is no doubt that he built Coney’s Switchback Railway, it doesn’t mean that he invented, or built the first — rather, he was the best at promoting and improving it.”

Roller Coasters expanded rapidly in the 1920s. The United States had just come out of a war and was ready to express itself. Frederick Ingersoll opened Luna Park in Pittsburgh, and then shortly afterward another in Cleveland. The roller coaster rides there were very popular, with the rides themselves being created by John A. Miller. He held over a hundred patents related to roller coasters and invented much of what we think of as modern roller coasters, including the way they are able to go up such steep tracks, as well as others that make roller coasters the thrill rides they are today.

There is a Facebook page for National Roller Coaster Day. You can click here to join up with a group going to an amusement park today.

Quotes about riding the roller coaster literally or in life

You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster. Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride! I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn’t like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.–Lowell Ganz

Everybody likes a roller coaster ride.–Pete Waterman

There’s something about a roller coaster that triggers strong feelings, maybe because most of us associate them with childhood. They’re inherently cinematic; the very shape of a coaster, all hills and valleys and sickening helices, evokes a human emotional response.–Diablo Cody

I do feel more myself in America. I can regress there, and they have roller-coaster parks.–Alan Rickman

I’m on a roller coaster that only goes up, my friend.–John Green

Life is like a roller coaster, live it, be happy, enjoy life.–Avril Lavigne

If my life were a song it would probably be titled ‘Roller Coaster’, up and down all the time.–Scotty McCreery

The truth is that entrepreneurship is more like a roller coaster ride than a cruise.–Vivek Wadhwa

It’s kinda like being on a roller coaster. If you don’t get on the ride, you won’t experience the adventure.–Mariah Carey

My life, my career has been like a roller coaster. I’ve either been an enormous success or just a down-and-out failure.–Judy Garland

The roller-coaster is my life; life is a fast, dizzying game; life is a parachute jump; it’s taking chances, falling over and getting up again; it’s mountaineering; it’s wanting to get to the very top of yourself and feeling angry and dissatisfied when you don’t manage it–Paulo Coelho

National Navajo Code Talkers Day

August 14 we celebrate the contributions of the Navajo Code Talkers to the success of the war in the Pacific during World War II. The Americans were having quite a problem with the Pacific area of the war because the Japanese were able to break their military codes about as fast as they could create them. Enter Philip Johnston, a civil engineer who lived in Los Angeles, and who had been a missionary child on the Navajo Indian Reservation. He believed setting up a code based on the Navajo language could work well for the military. What makes the Navajo language so useful in this circumstance is that it includes a number of words that, when spoken with varying inflections, may have as many as four different meanings. Navajo verb forms are especially complex.

The military agreed to a test, which was completely successful. So they recruited thirty Navajos, trained them as Marines, and set them to devising a code for military communication. It proved a total success – the Japanese never broke the code. Code Talkers were given the messages in English. Without writing them down, they translated and sent them to another Code Talker. After the message was transmitted and received, it was written down in English and entered into a message logbook. Before the war was over, over 400 were involved in the code work, and their aid was invaluable in such things as the Iwo Jima landing.

The Code Talkers’ work was a secret outside the military, and it was not until much later they were recognized for their service. It was Ronald Reagan who set aside a special day to honor the Navajo Code Talkers. In 1982, he declared August 14 to be National Navajo Code Talkers Day. You can read the proclamation, 4954, here.

Quotes about secrets

Whoever wishes to keep a secret must hide the fact that he possesses one.–Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

Nothing weighs on us so heavily as a secret.–Jean de La Fontaine

How can we accept another to keep our secret if we have been unable to keep it ourselves.–Francois de La Rochefoucauld

To keep your secret is wisdom; but to expect others to keep it is folly.–Samuel Johnson

There are no secrets better kept than the secrets everybody guesses.–George Bernard Shaw

Secrecy is the first essential in affairs of the State.–Cardinal Richelieu

Secrets have a way of making themselves felt, even before you know there’s a secret.–Jean Ferris

All secrets become deep. All secrets become dark. That’s in the nature of secrets.–Cory Doctorow

The best way of keeping a secret is to pretend there isn’t one.–Margaret Atwood

The secret to strong security: less reliance on secrets.–Whitfield Diffie

Secrets have power, and that power diminishes when they are shared, so they are best kept and kept well. Sharing secrets, real secrets, important ones, with even one other person, will change them.–Erin Morgenstern

Some secrets are meant to stay secret forever.–Liane Moriarty

A real secret is something which only one person knows.–Idries Shah

The first rule in keeping secrets is nothing on paper.–Thomas Powers

A secret is most valuable when it remains a secret.–Brian Herbert

The greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places.–Roald Dahl

A secret remains a secret until you make someone promise never to reveal it.–Fausto Cercignani

A secret’s worth depends on the people from whom it must be kept.–Carlos Ruiz Zafón

Do not tell secrets to those whose faith and silence you have not already tested.–Elizabeth I

Secrets are dark things. They don’t exist in the light. They glow faintly in forgotten corners, in mysterious mind nooks, in lost memory maps. Secrets are the shadows of the soul.–Sukanya Venkatraghavan

IBM PC Day

On August 12, 1981, IBM introduced the IBM5150, the first personal computer inexpensive enough for the public. Though at the time $1500 was a lot of money, it was far less than most business computers, which could cost tens of thousands of dollars and needed to be kept in certain temperature conditions, often requiring a large staff to maintain them.

The IBM5150 used an Intel 8088 processor and ran on Microsoft DOS. It had no hard drive and only 64K of RAM. I am old enough to remember using, if not this exact model, one very similar. In the library where I worked, we had two programs, Lotus 1-2-3, version 1.0, a spreadsheet, and Wordstar, the precursor to Word. You used a five and a half inch floppy to load the program, then removed that and put in another floppy that allowed you run the program, then entered the floppy you wanted to save your work on. The computer itself had a small screen, with a black background and either gold or green lettering. It was clunky, it was inconvenient, and it was wonderful.

The 5150 was developed in only a year, using microchips from Intel, and an operating system from Microsoft. This was both its strength, and its weakness. By combining already existing hardware and software, it made the machine less expensive. But it also meant others could do the same thing, and it wasn’t too many years before IBM lost the PC market.

The new technology put more computing power on the desktop than in many of the older, larger mainframes. It also led finally to the Internet, without which no one could read this blog. Today we salute the day when the first IBM PC went on the market and changed the world. Without them, we would not have the better, faster, more versatile machines of today.

Quotes about computers

The question of whether computers can think is like the question of whether submarines can swim.–Edsger Dijkstra

If GM had kept up with technology like the computer industry has, we would all be driving $25 cars that got 1,000 MPG.–Bill Gates

Computers are like Old Testament gods; lots of rules and no mercy.–Joseph Campbell

To err is human – and to blame it on a computer is even more so.–Robert Orben

A computer will do what you tell it to do, but that may be much different from what you had in mind.–Joseph Weizenbaum

The most likely way for the world to be destroyed, most experts agree, is by accident. That’s where we come in; we’re computer professionals. We cause accidents.–Nathaniel Borenstein

One of the most feared expressions in modern times is “The computer is down.”–Norman Ralph Augustine

Part of the inhumanity of the computer is that, once it is competently programmed and working smoothly, it is completely honest.–Isaac Asimov

Computers are useless. They can only give you answers.–Pablo Picasso

Home computers are being called upon to perform many new functions, including the consumption of homework formerly eaten by the dog.–Doug Larson

To err is human, but to really foul things up you need a computer.–Paul R. Ehrlich

First we thought the PC was a calculator. Then we found out how to turn numbers into letters with ASCII — and we thought it was a typewriter. Then we discovered graphics, and we thought it was a television. With the World Wide Web, we’ve realized it’s a brochure.–Douglas Adams

Computers are good at following instructions, but not at reading your mind.–Donald Knuth

Buying the right computer and getting it to work properly is no more complicated than building a nuclear reactor from wristwatch parts in a darkened room using only your teeth.–Dave Barry

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Month: August 2017