cfmcdonald

6 ms·

31.
From ACS to Altair: The Rise of the Hobby Computer(technicshistory.com)
41 points by cfmcdonald 2y ago|3 comments
32.
by cfmcdonald 2y ago
Every time a list like this shows up on HN, multiple commenters will show up to say things like this. Do you really have such a hard time believing that other people sincerely have different taste from you/the general population? If yo
33.
From ACS to Altair: The Rise of the Hobby Computer(technicshistory.com)
2 points by cfmcdonald 2y ago|0 comments
34.
From ACS to Altair: The Rise of the Hobby Computer(technicshistory.com)
2 points by cfmcdonald 2y ago|0 comments
35.
Interactive Computing: A Counterculture(technicshistory.com)
1 points by cfmcdonald 2y ago|0 comments
36.
Interactive Computing: A Counterculture(technicshistory.com)
2 points by cfmcdonald 2y ago|0 comments
37.
by cfmcdonald 2y ago
It's available on my blog website: https://technicshistory.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/cfm_7... I did capture there his most choice quote from the interview: > Kurtz later said that he and Kem
38.
by cfmcdonald 2y ago
I interviewed Thomas Kurtz at his home in 2010 for my dissertation on the "computer utility" vision of the 60s and 70s (which foresaw a world of large computer utilities that would function like AT&T or an electrical power com
39.
by cfmcdonald 2y ago
The point of citing sources is so that the reader can retrace the evidential basis on which the writer's claims rest. A citation to "Chat GPT" doesn't help with this at all. Saying "Chat GPT helped me write this&quo
40.
A Craving for Calculation(technicshistory.com)
16 points by cfmcdonald 2y ago|0 comments
41.
by cfmcdonald 2y ago
I can't tell if this comment is really serious. In case it needs explanation, you don't ban gambling advertising by having a censor watch every ad and then decide which ones to allow. You pass a law that says "no advertising
42.
A Bicycle for the Mind – Prologue(technicshistory.com)
1 points by cfmcdonald 2y ago|0 comments
43.
by cfmcdonald 2y ago
> but I think we can say that it was _designed_ to survive a nuclear strike On what basis? What is the distinction between being "created" to survive a nuclear strike, and being "designed" to do so? > that was one
44.
by cfmcdonald 2y ago
Author here. Having been neck-deep in steam engine history for years, the possible confusion caused by the title didn't even occur to me. It's obvious in retrospect. I guess I created accidental clickbait.
45.
by cfmcdonald 2y ago
Author here. Some of the apparent errors here are due to the fact that this is part of a larger series, more of a book in blog form. > every coal and nuclear electric power station, and a good fraction of the oil ones and part of each co
46.
Steam's Last Stand(technicshistory.com)
108 points by cfmcdonald 2y ago|70 comments
47.
by cfmcdonald 2y ago
> The problem is, their online book lending is far from the most important part of the Internet Archive, I disagree. Archiving information for future researchers is valuable, but giving access to information to people right now is also v
48.
Twilight of the Age of Steam, Part 2: Petroleum and After(technicshistory.com)
17 points by cfmcdonald 2y ago|0 comments
49.
by cfmcdonald 2y ago
This is accurate in my experience. My two self-published history books have sold about 400 and 150 copies respectively (combined print an ebook), with no marketing other than my blog, which occasionally makes it to the front page of HN. Not
50.
by cfmcdonald 3y ago
This article is all about how streaming is a big money loser for almost everyone. So it has growth without profitability. I'd rather have profitability without growth.
51.
by cfmcdonald 3y ago
Author here. I'm by no means an expert on 1848 politics, but I got this information from the cited source (Hamerow, "Restoration, Revolution, Reaction"). Quoting 191-192: "In industry conservatism could afford to do more
52.
Twilight of the Steam Age, Part 1: Internal Combustion(technicshistory.com)
68 points by cfmcdonald 3y ago|9 comments
53.
Steam Revolution: The Turbine(technicshistory.com)
2 points by cfmcdonald 3y ago|0 comments
54.
Steam and Electricity, Part 1: Electric Light(technicshistory.com)
36 points by cfmcdonald 3y ago|10 comments
55.
by cfmcdonald 3y ago
Well, the pressure of the atmosphere is not 1 psi, it's ~15psi. So under the ideal gas law, a gas falling from 20 psi to 15 would expand about 20/15 = 1.33x its original volume, not 20 times. Likewise it would expand about 2x when
56.
The Pursuit of Efficiency and the Science of Steam(technicshistory.com)
43 points by cfmcdonald 3y ago|6 comments
57.
America's Steam Empire(technicshistory.com)
77 points by cfmcdonald 3y ago|12 comments
58.
by cfmcdonald 3y ago
IMO the best overall "soup to nuts" survey of the history of computers is Campbell-Kelly, et. al., "Computer: A History of the Information Machine." Specifically on the relation of telecommunications to computers I will
59.
Britain's Steam Empire(wordpress.com)
4 points by cfmcdonald 3y ago|0 comments
60.
by cfmcdonald 3y ago
Author here. Agree based on looking at other sources, my dating on OC-48 deployment seems to be off by ~a decade (it would be more like late 1990s/early 2000s, e.g. [0] says 1999 for a very early use). I sourced this from Fred Goldstei

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