What can I say? In 1985, my parents went on an organized tour to Munich (it's not like they could've went on their own) and bought a deeply discounted Speccy an

What can I say? In 1985, my parents went on an organized tour to Munich (it's not like they could've went on their own) and bought a deeply discounted Speccy and smuggled it -- it's not like we could've afforded a computer any other way. At the same time, they sent me to a computer-focused summer camp at the nearby community center. Of course, some of it was just playing video games but some of it was learning BASIC, also on ZX Spectrum machines. I was ten. I am 47. I am still coding. It's not BASIC but still. In my niche, I have become one of the world's top for doing what I do and I am paid far beyond anything that ten year old in socialist Hungary could've dreamed of. Not that boy had a lot in dreams beyond the fierce desire to live a different life... I wrote that up just two months ago https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29681279 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29681279 Ironically, I still live in a concrete high rise built in the early 70s but a Vancouver high rise on the shores of the English Bay is slightly more livable than a Hungarian microraion. Thanks Speccy for giving me the opportunity. I ran with it.