20 GOTO 10
How times have changed. As most computer geeks will tell you, the code above is perhaps their first exciting dive into the world of computer programming. Having a father who worked for IBM for many many years, I was fortunate enough to grow up with computers around me as a child so I got on the digital bandwagon at an early age.
It was some time in 1987 that I was first introduced to this thing called the "Internet". Back then, you got beat up at school if you admitted to having an eMail address, and WWW didn't mean anything yet. It was a very appropriate time for me to get online, being 12 or so I was going through changes and beginning to question the world. I had the world at my fingertips too (over a 1200bps modem!).
Up to this point I found my solitude by confiding my deepest darkest feelings in a journal (well, journals, had been keeping them for many years). As I chatted with more and more strangers from around the globe about everyday life, I found myself having less and less time to journal my thoughts until finally I wrote my last entry and put them all in a safe place.
The Internet changed my life, as it has for pretty much anyone in a modern developed country. I soon realised I was gay and not alone. I met five very special men who would eventually win (and break) my heart. I've ordered home delivery pizza with a mouse click. I've kept in touch with a close friend who moved to the other side of the planet.
This revolution has made my daily life a tapestry of information, communication and anchovy toppings, however the one thing that has been lacking is a record of my thoughts and feelings through each event. Sadly, the journals of my youth are lost forever; an unfortunate event that was part of the breakup with boyfriend #1 ("The anniversary guy").
This week in 1949 An Wang [*giggles* - how can you not] patented a way for scientists to store information using magnetic ferrite core modules - later forming the heart of early supercomputer memory. This very simple design revolutionised the birth of modern computing beyond the old fashioned punch-card technology.
I thought it fitting on the same week Mr Wang [*giggle*] changed the way science uses memory, I'd finally start up writing my own diary again, albeit in the new modern trendy weBLOG genre. It seems everyone I know is blogging these days and I find myself spending a great deal of time reading about the lives of others through their own digital diary.
This is the start of mine.
October 16th:
- World-wide "Dictionary Day". Heralds the beginning of world-wide "torn pocket day" thanks to the Oxford Pocket Dictionary
- An Wang [*giggle*] patents Magnetic Ferrite Core memory design
- USA National Chestnut Week (Oct 14th-20th)
- Department Store day
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