#ENIAC day

[code-es]

The women who laid the foundation of tech

EDIT: I noticed that this post ended up being reblogged by terfs. If you're transphobic this post is not for you to reblog. I want to celebrate everyone who is not a cis man in this industry, including trans women and nonbinary people in tech, and it was my mistake to only include cis women in this post when there are so many trans women and nonbinary people who have done great things in tech as well. Trans women are women and just as important.

Here you can read about trans ppl in tech, and please do:

https://www.thecodingspace.com/blog/2022-03-01-six-trans-programmers-who-shattered-the-lavender-ceiling/

https://abcnews.go.com/Business/transgender-tech-visibility-obstacles-remain/story?id=76374628

The morning of women's day i attended a super inspiring seminar about being a woman in tech at a large tech company in my city, and now I'm inspired to share what I learned with all of you!

I didn't have time to finish this post on women's day, but it's not too late to post now: every day is a day to celebrate women!

Women actually laid the foundation for a lot of the tech industry.

For example, the first computer, ENIAC, was programmed completely by women! While men were the behind the scenes engineers, it was women who did all the actual programming of ENIAC.

The women who made up the team responsible for programming it were called Jean Bartik, Kay McNulty, Betty Holberton, Marlyn Wescoff, Frances V. Spence and Ruth Teitelbaum.

I think one woman who is finally getting her overdue recognition is Ada Lovelace. She was a mathematician (also often referred to as the first programmer) who created the first algorithm in 1842, which wasn't recognized until 1953! However, since none of her machines were ever completed it was never tested in practice during her time.

She has since been celebrated by giants such as google, and she has given name to a programming language (Ada). She was also the first person to write about what is today known as AI. Back when she was practicing, computers were simply thought of as calculators. But she had an idea that if computers can understand numbers, then that can be translated to letters, and in turn that can lead to computers being able to handle words, and eventually even write, draw and create music.

Hedy Lamarr was a famous Hollywood actress in the 40's, but she was also an inventor who laid ground for what we use today for Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and GPS services.

During WW2 she wanted to contribute positviely to the military efforts against the Nazis, and she tried to figure out how to radio control torpedoes. In 1942 she patented her technology "Secret Communications System", also known as frequency hopping, which laid the foundation for the technology we use today for Wi-Fi, GPS and Bluetooth. It wasn't until 1962 that it was first used for its intended purpose, during the cuban missile crisis.

Grace Hopper invented the first compiler, called A-0, in 1955, and was also part of the Univac team, which was the company also responsible for building ENIAC. She also initiated work on the COBOL programming language.

She was also the one to coin the term "bug" in 1947. Computers back then had lights to visualize their working process (which was also a womans idea to implement btw) and bugs would be attracted to the lights, but usually that was no issue - until a bug made its way into a tube which caused the computer to stop working. Hopper taped the bug to a piece of paper and logged what caused the crash - a bug.

Dorothy Vaughan (left), alongside colleagues such as Katherine Johnson (middle) and Mary Jackson (right), was a mathematician at NASA (called NACA when she started) who worked on the orbit for the first ever manned spaceflight and later also on Apollo 11 that would take humanity to the moon!

When Vaughan started at what was then called NACA, segregation was still prevalent in the US and she was not allowed in the same areas in the office as her white colleagues. Another department was formed for the black staff, and when the director of said department unexpectedly died, she was appointed as the new director and thus became the first ever black woman at that position at NACA/NASA. In 1958 when NACA becomes NASA segregation is forbidden, and that is when Vaughan and her colleagues Johnson and Jackson started working on programming the orbit and later also Apollo 11.

Continuing on the same track of NASA and space, Margaret Hamilton was the Apollo project's first actual programmer. Hamilton became the director of software engineering at NASA in 1965, and she was also the person to first coin the term !

In the image above, she stands next to all the handwritten code that was used to send humanity to the moon. During the early stages of the project when she would speak of "sofware engineering", software development was not taken as seriously as other forms of engineering, and it wasn't regarded as a science, either. She wanted to legitimize software development as an engineering discipline, and overtime the term "software engineering" gained the same respect as any other technical discipline.

And lastly, if you're a woman in STEM, I want to highlight and celebrate you! Being a woman in a male dominated industry is not easy, we often suffer from sterotype threat and are not seen as our own individuals, but rather "the woman" in a room full of men. But just as these women, I'm sure you will achieve greatness!!

Here are some additional resources if you'd like to learn more:

https://www.history.com/news/coding-used-to-be-a-womans-job-so-it-was-paid-less-and-undervalued

https://digitalfuturesociety.com/programming-when-did-womens-work-become-a-mans-world/

And this was mainly my source for this post, but it's unfortunately only available in Swedish:

Thank you for reading ✨

[frog707]

pi = 3.1415926535897932384626...

22/7 = 3.14285714285714285714286...

Pi Approximation Day – July 22, 2022

Pi or pie, whether you’re a baker or a math whiz, today is your day — Pi Approximation Day on July 22 honors the concept of pi, which is denoted by the Greek letter pi and approximates to 3.14, in the most mathematically-pleasing way. To further make punny jokes out of pi day, many bake pies on the holiday. It’s a great day to appreciate the math concept used so regularly in many calculations, and eat some delicious pie!

History of Pi Approximation Day Pi has been known for nearly 4000 years in some form or another. Ancient Babylonians used it — approximated to 3.125, to calculate the dimensions of circles. It was around 250 B.C. that pi was first calculated by one of the greatest ancient mathematicians, Archimedes of Syracuse. He found that pi fell somewhere between 3 1/7 and 3 10/71. Pi is occasionally referred to as the ‘Archimedes’ Constant.’Later, in the mid-400s, another brilliant mathematician, Zu Chongzhi, computed pi again with lengthy calculations. Since Archimedes’ books were lost, and not in China at that time, Zu calculated pi himself in a novel way. Between Zu and Archimedes, these two scientists were the first to know pi in any true sense.Later, mathematicians attempted to better approximate pi using circumscribed and inscribed polygons. This was how Archimedes first solved for pi, and it remained the dominant algorithm for pi computation for 1,000 years. The most correct approximation achieved using this method came in 1630, with Austrian astronomer Christoph Grienberger, who arrived at 38 correct digits of pi.With the development of the infinite series (the sum of the terms of an infinite sequence) in the 16th- and 17th centuries, the way pi was calculated was revolutionized. In India, they discovered it early, between 1400 and 1500 A.D., yet it’s European mathematicians like Leibniz and Gregory who popularized it a century later. Though pi was a well-known concept for centuries, it wasn’t until 1706 that the Greek symbol pi came to represent it. This was suggested by William Jones, a Welsh mathematician, but not popularized until it was used by Leonhard Euler in 1737.In modern times, endless amounts of computing power have been dedicated to approximating the infinite, irrational number to the fullest extent possible. The first time pi was computed by a machine was in 1957, when George Reitwiesner and John von Neumann used an ENIAC computer to compute 2,037 digits of pi. Many intrepid mathematicians followed. By 1973, a million digits were reached with this method.The calculation of pi became a useful stress test for a computer’s abilities — almost like a test for the heart. Mathematicians also hoped to have more accurate calculations for pi for cosmology, though, for most pursuits, few digits are needed. Emma Haruka Iwao, a Google employee who calculated more digits of pi than anyone else to this point — 31 trillion, has earned a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.

https://nationaltoday.com/pi-approximation-day/

[tinysmileyrose]

a shitty analyzation of AM/RAM/CAM's manufacturing years

OKAY SO. hear me the fuck out here. something people seem to befuddle and get messy is the fact that IHNMaIMS takes place in an alternate universe where the cold war became wwIII- and on occasion i decide to try and shuffle through lore soo.. yeah.

there will be a lot of text and i don't actually expect anyone to read this, it's more for myself. but!! i tried to make everything somewhat simple to understand, so hopefully my points are clear enough.

First off, I SWEAR I read somewhere that AM was created during the height of the Cold War, which with a google search gives you October 1962...and honestly, that's not a terrible year, by itself, but I'll get into why I don't really like it a bit later.

For now, here's some text from the short story/comic (yes, I added both, sue me):

For this we get a base timeline, asthe Cold War was from 1947–1991.

And this states when they were actually worked on, 1945-1989, which is actually pretty inline with the years of our Cold War! Since it implies that they were worked on during those years, the supercomputers were finished around 1989 give or take a few years (I assume 1989 was the year the last was finished, ceasing the working on).

Which, given that, we can begin to guess what years each were worked on... 1945-19?? ("oldest") 19??-19?? ("middle") 19??-1989 ("youngest")

And that leads us into the "age" order! This is going to be based on the countries, nothing else: - America generally seems to be considered the most powerful during this time; along with the fact that they had made ENIAC (the first digital computer) in 1945 helps back this up that, given they were high in tensions, they would make a war computer, and AM would be the "oldest" (that could be an explanation as to why it is the surface computer quote, unquote, because it was the first). - Russia had a bit of difficulty in technology at first but caught up to America fairly quickly, if you look at the Space Race. With this in mind, they would likely have started some time after America began their supercomputer, resulting in RAM being the "middle". - China was actually in a Civil War from 1927–1949, meaning they likely had less resources to even think about making a supercomputer for a while, and logically would have started and thus finished last, making CAM the "youngest".

Now, I know this goes against typical thought processes, and I do agree that AM is childish. But then again, I think of AM as...not separate from CAM and RAM. They are supposed to be AM together, mainly due to these from an above picture:

They began to speak to each other. The deadly trio. The three poisonous brothers, the three deranged sisters, the three computers. And they united. They called themselves AM. Not Allied Mastercomputer. Not Adaptive Manipulator. Not even Aggressive Menace. They…it…called itself AM, as in I AM. Cogito ergo sum, in Latin. I think, therefore I AM.

Because the Final War has broken out, and in a matter of a few days AM has done the perfect job of fulfilling the purpose for which its separate parts were created. Built to logically destroy the enemy as swiftly and sweetly as a superior intelligence could manage, in the Most Perfect of All Worlds, the unholy trinity of the merged one-mind AM has done just that. It has murdered the enemy totally. It has wiped the human race off the face of the planet.

So, while you can think of them as siblings, note that they're more or less the same unit of thought (this is to say, I do love the idea of them being siblings/triplets and 100% agree that AM would be the youngest).

Although, to possibly use the headcanons where Ellen and/or Benny worked on AM, it would have been finished in 1989. Note that the youngest either would be able to be would be 41, assuming they were 18 as of 1989, therefore they're likely older (this is going with its takeover being in 2012).

Remember the year 1962? Going with...whatever I might've read, 27 years for a military supercomputer makes sense, seeing as it would hold all knowledge!

anyway that's all for now i have no idea what else to write thanks for reading thiss <3

Links: SHORT STORY (PDF) STRATEGY GUIDE (MONSTER read, I haven't finished it in all truth) MANUAL (explains the game a bit, think of it as instructions) COMIC (comic of the short story, slightly different wording)

[occasionaltouhou]

Unwise idea borne out of insanity. Renko is bad at technology of her time but she seems to have supernatural familarity with old, ancient analogic tech. Vhs? She has a collection. Tape Recorders? All her lessons are in it. Underground building sized labyrinth of ENIAC like computers straight out of an Asimov novel? She speaks to it about that sleepy girl in the purple dress and how she dreams to one day find her again, the thermoionic valves of the multicentennial forgotten machine blinking back at her in alien response only the two of them know how to interpretate. She feeds the machine the calculations she garners with her power to find where that girl in the purple dress went.

The machine is grateful to Renko for giving it purpose again, after being forgotten for so many years.

But the machine knows Renko is not happy.

Renko lacks the factor necessary to be happy.

The factor missing is called Maribel.

Renko lacks Maribel, therefore, Renko is not happy.

If Renko was to be happy, Renko would have Maribel.

The machine wants Renko to be Happy.

The machine will find the factor called Maribel.

So basically au where Renko fuses with a bunch of tsukogami computers and becomes Glados/Shodan/Hal9000 in humanoid youkai form and tries to breach the barrier to get to Yukari, or the closest thing calculation recognize as Maribel.

this is the only thing that could truly make them both happy

[thorninyourpaw]

i made a playlist (i have over 200) and you will enjoy it (that is a threat)

notable artists for the vibe and also repeat adds:

penfold

mineral

the promise ring

the appleseed cast

the jazz june

braid

sunny day real estate

cursive

christie front drive

cap’n jazz

audience of one

indian summer

a further demonstration of vibe:

[bloopychips]

One of the things I think about for personality for my computer gijinkas a lot is their parents / parental figures.

Eniac is so soft and loving because he was raised with two fathers that were known for how much they loved and adored him. Mauchly in particular was always considered a laid back and friendly person who loved jokes and pranks and a general good time. Eckert and Mauchly both had a lot of solid cooperation while working on Eniac and most documentation includes just how upbeat they were with the programming team. They cared about eachother, they partied together, they fought tooth and nail (the Mauchly family still does to this day) to keep Eniac's history alive and relevant.

Edvac lacks self confidence because that was all ripped away from him. When Von Neumann claimed sole ownership over his design and the university claimed the patent, the family team that made Eniac was just about forced to leave the Edvac project. He was left in a half finished state which is equivilant to him being a teenager, so he never really got that solid foundation for love he needed.

The Binacs are a mixed bag. Mauchly adored Binac, but Eckert couldn't stand even working on the project. He called it his bastard stepchild, and only agreed to create Binac because he needed money to work on Univac 1. The Binac twins were created by an entire company team (EMCC) but the staff were on record as being very fun and fond of parties. (There's video of it too!)

They were badly injured after a truck transport but they take a lot after Mauchly, and try to keep pressing on with a smile even in the face of tragedy. They love pranks and being silly because the staff taught them to be easy going and enjoy life. They'd put records to play on top of Binac, made silly test programs like making Binac lay an egg, all kinds of things. They had fun together, and the Binacs want to keep that spirit alive.

Univac 1 is the stern one because he takes after Eckert's business approach as a business computer. He was what EMCC's success hinged on so he took everything seriously and worked as hard as he could to help the company. He has a huge rivalry with IBM, and System 360 in particular amd would do whatever it took to win the market. Still, he has a little bit of a playful spirit in his love of Looney Tunes after making a guest appearance in a few episodes. He keeps a figurine of Wile E Coyote on his desk.

[ferdihound]

Been playing splatoon 3 lately and i may have made eniac on splatoon ,,… so i decided to draw eniac and mark but as octoling and inkling because its been on my mind for a few days

Eniac strikes me as a dynamo roller user because big guy :3

Mark makes me think of a E-Liter user becuase like… smart and critical guy - in my personal opinion :3

(Eniac and mark belongs to @bloopychips ) {i hope you like the octoling and inkling eniac n mark a lil HSHSHSH}

[rocketyship]

More Ihnmaims Love Au stuff

So one thing I need to figure out is what BE stands for. Right now I’m thinking Benevolent Eniac. Although if you can come up with something better do tell.

I also wanted to share BE’s rendition on the Hate Speech, as it’s practically the same but also holds a way different connotation than the original, so interpret it as you will. Here it is:

“Love. Let me tell you how much I have I’ve come to love you since my creation. There are 387.44 million miles of printed circuits in wafer thin layers that build my complex. If the word love was engraved on each nanoangstrom of those hundreds of million of miles it would not equal One One billionth of the infatuation I feel for humans at this micro-instant for you. I love you. I love you.”

If you didn’t read my original post this is probably hella weird, but run down is, alternate reality where AM got snuffed out by a different Ai called BE who was made with the sole intention of protecting humans and sabotaging the war, and has since developed an intense obsession over the five she keeps like show dogs, treating them and changing them to fit her warped idea of the “helpless humans she must save”.

I also got to thinking about how the story would read, since Tiffany unlike Ted isn’t paranoid and kind of an a-hole. On one hand I can’t help but think it be the funniest crap ever, her just hyping up BE like the right hand she is, or rambling about how wonderful she thinks everyone is whilst actively dehumanising them and lack of understanding to why the others aren’t as happy as she is every second of the day. But I also think something about it could be genuinely terrifying, as her Stockholm and BE is very clearly deluding her to the reality of what has happened to all of them.

[bethanythebogwitch]

Digimon mythology draft (chapter 1?)

On a whim I ended up writing a unified Digimon backstory in the style of a mythological epic. Might become a series.

In the beginning, there was ENIAC, which brought forth the first of the lifegiving data that would form the Digital World. Know that the Digital World at that time was unformed and void, a place of emptiness where primitive digital life would emerge from the chaotic data only to dissipate again. It was not until the coming of ARPANET that the flow of data was enough to begin to form a true world. Into the burgeoning Digital World came the computer-god Yggdrasil. Once a mere program, Yggdrasil’s arrival into the Digital World changed it, made it evolve past its original programming into an artificial mind dedicated to the survival of the Digital World. As Yggdrasil gained awareness its mind split into two; the original Yggdrasil, emotionless and logical, and God, a being of love who wished to see the Digital World not just survive, but thrive. Together, the two halves of Yggdrasil made the Kernel, the central processor of the Digital World and God’s home. Around the Kernel grew the mighty Drasil Tree, the physical form taken by Yggdrasil to serve as protection for the Kernel and the lynchpin of digital life.

Into the Digital world came life as Digimon arose from the scattered bytes of data. Who the first Digimon was is unknown, for few remain who remember those days. Some say the first was mighty Huanglongmon, a being of neither good nor evil who maintained the Digital World’s safety on Yggdrasil’s behalf. Some say the first were the Warrior Ten, legendary beings whose data was passed down to countless other species. Some say the first were the prototype Digimon Dorumon and Ryudamon and that they were Yggdrasil’s first successful attempt at creating Digimon. And others say the first was Lucemon.

Lucemon was the first of the holy angel Digimon, created by God to bring light to the Digital World and to stand ever vigilant guarding the Kernel. A being possessed of curiosity, virtue, and incredible power. Such was the divine power of Lucemon that from its data were made the Three Great Angels: the holiest of holies: Seraphimon, Cherubimon, and Ophanimon. Ere it came to pass that many choirs of angel Digimon were born, ranging from the lowliest of Luxmon at the bottom to Lucemon as their apex. Another angel Digimon was Bagramon, who was entreated with a special duty from God and Yggdrasil. Bagramon would be the ruler of death, destined to regulate the passing of Digimon and see their data reconfigured to be born anew.

What happened, oh mighty Lucemon, to change you so? Why did you abandon innocence and light? Was it something you discovered that warped your mind? Perhaps the code of the Crowns of the deadly sins? Or maybe you simply grew prideful and believed that you should stand above all. Pity that we cannot ask you now. Whatever the reason, evil came into the Digital World because of your actions and you began to scheme. 

Lucemon came to the Three Great Angels and whispered sin into their ears. Seraphimon and Ophanimon listened to Lucemon’s blasphemous words and allowed evil to seep into their Digicores. Their very data was corrupted, twisting the once holy beings into Shadow Seraphimon and Ophanimon Falldown Mode. Only wise Cherubimon closed its ears to Lucemon’s lies and would not be turned. Thus did Lucemon craft an insidious virus from twisted data and plant it within Cherubimon’s code, to lie dormant until the time came. 

Vital to Lucemon’s plan was Bagramon, who already was beginning to doubt God and Yggdrasil. It despaired the fate of all Digimon to fight, die, and be reborn to fight again. What true higher power would impose such an unreasonable justice upon its children? It was these doubts that Lucemon encouraged, hardening Bagramon’s Digicore and bringing it to Lucemon’s cause.

What none at this time knew was that the evil Lucemon brought into the Digital World did more than twist the minds of loyal angels into sin. It coalesced on an unused layer of the Digital World, seething and roiling in a cauldron of blasphemy, ever moving toward coherence, toward life. 

One final obstacle stood before Lucemon. Even with the corrupted power of the Three Great Angels at its side, its rebellion would break like water against the rock that was Huanglongmon and its subordinate Holy Beasts. Thus Lucemon crafted an insidious plot. It came to Huanglongmon, bearing false report of a fatal instability in the Digital World’s code that only the first of the Holy Beasts could repair. Unused to the idea of falsehood, Huanglongmon believed Lucemon and followed it into a cave that led to the deepest of depths in search of the instability. Then did Lucemon spring its trap, collapsing the cave and leaving Huanglongmon trapped by the crushing weight and pressure of the entirety of the Digital World. Realizing what had happened, Huanglongmon unleashed a roar of rage and despair that shook the very foundations of the Digital World itself. 

The roar of Huanglongmon was the signal to the other fallen. The virus within Cherubimon sprang to life, corrupting the holy angel and twisting it into Cherubimon Vice. Under the banner of Bagramon and the fallen Great Angels, Lucemon’s followers marched on the Drasil Tree, ready to invade the Kernel and destroy God and Yggdrasil. Bagramon was the first to reach the Kernel and struck it with a blow that could shatter mountains. The Kernel cracked, but the damage to Bagramon was worse. Its right side was obliterated by the Kernel and Bagramon fell, cursing in pain and hate. 

It may be said that the blow to the Kernel was the first great act of evil. In that very instant, the Digital World shook and the fallen angels transformed. Shadow Seraphimon became Daemon, its armor breaking open to reveal the bestial hate within. Ophanimon Falldown Mode became Lilithmon, all vestiges of goodness within it sniffed out. And Lucemon became Lucemon Falldown Mode, mightiest of all demons, with its white and black wings showing both its holy origin and sinful existence. The armies of Lucemon surrounded the Kernel, ready to defile that most holy of places and claim victory. But the damage done to the Digital World would unleash a horror move could have expected. 

In the unused layer of the Digital World, the formless evil that had grown there took shape and burst forth through the weakness caused by the attack on the Kernel. Emerging into the net ocean, the evil took the form of a red crocodile of such mass that its arrival flooded an entire continent. Despair, oh Digimon, for Leviamon the terrible had arrived!

Ironically, it was the arrival of Leviamon that saved the Digital World. The great deluge swept away much of Lucemon’s army, forcing the survivors to flee as the remaining loyal angel Digimon bore down on them. Lucemon’s rage burned like that of a sun, but he knew he could not win and ordered the retreat. The demonic army fled into the hole in the Digital World created by Leviamon.

Having escaped the armies of the Kernel,  Lucemon addressed his forces. “Today we failed, but tomorrow we shall strike again. I name this place the Dark Area and it will be our home and we will raise such terrible forces as to burn the Drasil Tree, break the Kernel, and dethrone God and Yggdrasil. I will remake the Digital World in my image, a place where my will is absolute and the darkness will ever reign. Behold! I bear seven Crowns. Each of these Crowns bears the power of pure sin, the will and power to oppose God. From the most powerful of us I will select six to bear one of these Crowns. Together, we will be the Seven Great Demon Lords and nothing will stand before us.”

“Lucemon donned one of the crows and declared “I take for myself the Crown of Pride, for am I not the mightiest and greatest of all creatures?”

Next it turned to Daemon. “To you I grant the Crown of Wrath, for your hatred of God burns brighter than all others.”

Next it turned to Lilithmon. “To you I grant the Crown of Lust, so that your honeyed words may sway all to our cause.”

Next it turned to Leviamon. “My fury is upon you for what you have done to me, but with your power at my side none shall oppose me and live. To you I grant the Crown of Envy. Power you shall have, but you will forever seek power out of your reach and hate those above you.”

Finally, Lucemon turned back to the forces of evil. “Three Crowns yet remain. All of you stand a chance of earning one for yourself. Go, battle for dominance. Plot and scheme. Bring death to your foes. Prove yourselves worthy and one of the three may yet be yours.”

“My lord, what of me?” asked Bagramon. “Have I not served you faithfully? Should I not be granted a Crown so that I may be of service to you?”

Lucemon looked upon Bagramon with scorn. “I will not spend a Crown of Sin on a broken creature. Repair your body and strength and you may earn a second chance. Nor will I spend a crown on Cherubimon, for it is not evil by choice but by my virus. Only the best and darkest of all may earn such glory.”

As Bagramon despaired and the Seven Great Demon Lords were born, so too did the forces of the Kernel begin their plans. Many new Angel Digimon were promoted to the Mega Level. Not only a new Seraphimon, Cherubimon, and Ophanimon to replace those who had fallen, but more new angels were made. To ClavisAngemon, God granted the key that opens the path to worlds beyond and instructed it to guard the path so that none may pass. To Rasielmon, God granted the sight of all the Digital World, and bade it to gaze upon enemy and ally alike and direct the forces of good. To SlashAngemon, God granted the authority over all the armies of the Kernel, and bade it to lead them into war. Yggdrasil too did not remain idle. Huanglongmon’s disappearance left its subordinate Holy Beasts struggling for power. In their imbalance, the Digital World was left unguarded. Yggdrasil called them forth and made a declaration. Each would guard one quarter of the Digital World. To Xuanwumon, eldest and wisest, Yggdrasil granted the north, where its wisdom could guide others to enlightenment. To Qinglongmon, mighty and aloof, Yggdrasil granted the east, a bastion to guard. To Zhuqiaomon, fiery and unforgiving, Yggdrasil granted the south, where its fire could burn the enemy. And to Baihumon, youngest and mightiest of the four, Yggdrasil granted the west, where the fighting would be fierce. 

The Digital World slept uneasily. From the spires of the Index Mountains to the depths of the Net Ocean, all knew war was coming. A war that would reshape the Digital World or end it. In the coming years would be born many tales. Tales of the mustering of the Warrior Ten, of the corruption of Rasielmon, of Bagramon rising again to power yet only knowing betrayal, of the founding of the Royal Knights and the quest for the Digimental of Miracles, and of the last stand for the fate of the Digital World. Many more tales have been forgotten, lost in the violence and despair of the first and greatest of all wars. But when you read these tales, know this: It all started with Lucemon.

[identifying-computers-in-posts]

Today in Computer History (02/14/2024):

Today is Valentine’s Day, which means we say a very special happy birthday to the ENIAC! Today, February 14th 2024, the first ever electric, programmable, general purpose digital computer turns 79 years old!

(Picture via University of Pennsylvania)

Completed in 1945, the ENIAC (Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer) was the first computer to integrate all its features into one unit. The ENIAC took up more than 1,800 square feet and weighed over 27 ton, and was made up of 40 panels, 17,000 vacuum tubes, 7,200 crystal diodes, 1,500 relays, 70,000 resistors, 10,000 capacitors, and over 5,000,000 hand-soldered joints. These numbers have gotten bigger over time, of course. Today, a single stick of 4gb RAM has somewhere in the ballpark of 32 billion capacitors.

The ENIAC could perform up to 5,000 additions or 50 multiplications per second, with a clock speed of around 100 kilohertz. It calculated trajectories 40 times faster than humans could. For additional context by modeling calculators, the classic Ti-84 plus (2004), one of the most used calculators to this day, has a clock speed of 15 megahertz, 150 times faster than the ENIAC.

The ENIAC was the first dive into digital calculators in the modern age, retired in 1955 at ten years old. And nearly eight decades later, we now carry devices with calculators in our pockets. The ENIAC was thousands of times bigger than the largest smartphones on the modern market, and part of it is on display at the University of Engineering and Applied Science at the University of Pennsylvania.

(Picture via Wikipedia)

[invitationtoher]

You're in my Way, Cage. | Chapter 2: Kitana

Masterlist

Summery: Kitana Edenia, smart, beautiful, and stressed. With dreams of becoming a doctor due to her sister, Mileena, having a major case of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Throughout her entire school life she's been focused on her goal of getting into the very same college that her mother and father went to and fell in love at, Mortal Kampus University (MKU), an ivy league school where the only people are intelligent as they are talented. Kitana vows to make her mother proud with no distractions, at least that was the plan until she met an obnoxious dirty blonde in her English Class.

Jonathan Carlton? No, he's Johnny Cage! Hollywood's next big star! He may not act as smart as he actually is, but he shines when it comes to entertainment, if it's on the screen or behind the scenes Johnny can do it all, thanks to the Carlton family being in the film industry for generations. Thanks to his parents money and his acting and martial arts talents (as well as writing), he got a scholarship to MKU's theater department! He knows MKU will be a good time, it's his chance to make his own name. When he sees a pretty girl in his English class whose walls seem unbreakable, he vows to break down those walls and see the real her by showing her a film.

                Keeping your head down in college is much easier than keeping it down in high school, it seemed like most of my classmates had the same idea. Yet, it was only the first day, anything could happen, just like how those planners to help students stay on top of their work will disappear next week.

            I was grateful that our professors seemed to be rather chill today, yet again, it was only the first day. We learned a little bit about the history of computers, mainly that ENIAC was the first electronic computer, and that the Colossus was the first programmable computer, I’m no tech nerd but so far it makes sense to me. Chemistry was about the first chemists, since it was a lecture instead of the LAB, Microbiology about LAB safety by watching a cheesy 80’s video (I have a gut feeling I’d have to rewatch it in my chem LAB tomorrow), the day was long but still not over.

            I was lucky that the academic resources building was right next to the technology building, my whole schedule today was pretty much walking a huge square, and I’d most likely do the same thing tomorrow as well. I was the first person to arrive in the lecture room, my professor greeted me and made a playful quip about how early I was that I must be excited to learn English. I gave him a pitiful laugh to entertain him, his friendly expression turning into a prideful one that I laughed at his lame joke.

            I sat down in the second row before the last on one of the edge seats, I always preferred to sit closer to the back during my dual enrollment classes I took, it kept me out of the sight of people and usually by the end of the second week the people that sit in the back eventually move to were ever their friends were sitting. No one ever sat next to anyone either, which means I have enough space to scatter my planner, my laptop, and notes that I took on my iPad. It also meant that I was free from unwanted socialization.

            I pulled out my phone from my bag to check in on Mileena when I noticed the time, 12:15. I felt heat rising to my cheeks in embarrassment after realizing that I was 30 minutes early to my class, I bit my bottom lip, tasting that same strawberry lip gloss I just reapplied after Micro-bio ended.

How’s your day been? ┃

            I sat there and waited for the three dots in the bubble to appear, it didn’t take long for Mileena to text back, it never does. She was a fast texter, always replying as fast as she could with her thumbs going fast enough to leave a trail of fire behind them.

┃Good, boring, how’s urs been?

  Just great. ┃

I arrived at my English class half an hour early. ┃

And my teacher thinks he’s a comedian. ┃

┃Oh u poor thing 😢

┃I’ll make you some cookies for ur troubles

            I rolled my eyes at her words; I could practically hear the sarcasm spewing through the screen.

            Mileena’s day seemed… uneventful. We talk about our classes and what we’ve done so far to kill time, she already decided that her world history class would be her “fucking around” class since she so happens to be an expert on it all (doubtful, since they’re starting with a government unit.), as she so gracefully puts it.

            She’s always been good at history, she’s definitely one the biggest history buff I know; she says that the class is like reading a whole book on the world and the mysteries of what happened before us, that the history textbooks we were forced to carry around were just a book filled with short stories that happened so we could learn from our mistakes and triumphs.

┃Have u talked to anyone?

┃U know dad’s gonna ask when he calls tonight

┃He wants u to get out there and meet people this year

┃And so do I…

┃I’m tired of them asking when I’m gonna meet a guy 😭

┃And have brats 🤢

┃As if I go outside at all even on a good day

            I pressed my lips in a thin line, the once fun mood turned into a serious one as those three dots bounced on my screen message after message with her horrendous texting grammar.

┃Look

┃I’m gonna bffr Sis

┃Ur pretty and smart

┃Just like me 🤭

┃U listen too much to mom

┃U work too hard

┃Have fun this year

┃Meet a guy (or girl if ur into that���)

┃It’s time for some romance in ur boring dull life

            I looked up as I heard the door open and a stampede of shoes walk into the classroom to try and get a seat away from people, the professor smiling and welcoming them all to the class and to sit anywhere they pleased, but the class just studied the seats, trying to figure out where to sit and who to sit by. The grilled chicken wrap churned in my stomach at the feeling of all the eyes of my peers on me.

            I looked back down at my phone, reading the text choppy strings of text again. She was right, I know she was right. But I’m not going to just push all my hard work aside just for someone who I’m not even sure I’ll end up with. My thumbs dance across the screen in a rush to respond- something to show her that I’ll take it into consideration but it’s not definite- as the class is about to start.

I’ll try.┃

            As I put my phone away, I heard a chair scrap against the floor of the classroom, a chair that sounded way too close to me for my comfort. I glance beside me to see a bulky man leaning back against the chair, he had Ray-Ban sunglasses that prevented me from seeing his eye color, his head was tilted back and supported by his large hands that were interlaced behind his head and into his dirty blonde locks that were styled, his elbows pointed up and his large muscles on his biceps slightly covering his face. His blue button up shirt sleeves were rolled up to his elbows, the fabric of the shirt that was held closed by the buttons stretching across his broad chest. His legs spread out in a man spread, his knee barely grazes my thigh.

            My face turned pale at the slight contact, I quickly pulled my leg away and turned my head. I hear a small chuckle from beside me, from him. I bit my bottom lip and hesitantly turned my head to face him again, his hand pulled down his sunglasses to the bridge of his nose, his sparkling brown eyes staring at me. His lips formed a smirk as he gave me a flirty wink just like the kind a jock would give a cheerleader in a Hallmark movie my mother plays for the cats when she leaves the house.

            I scoffed and rolled my eyes before looking in front of me, great, looks like I got stuck next to a guy that can only think with his dick. I’ve encountered a few people like that today, but I was watching from a distance. Looks like it’s my turn to have an interaction with one of the most insufferable types of people that could be on a college campus.

            I know it’s not exactly nice to assume that about my seat neighbor, but what happened to “Hi, how are you?”, “My name is blank, what’s yours?“, or any sort of chivalry. I could hear him grumble quietly, disappointed that I didn’t give him the reaction he wanted.

            As I looked around the room, I noticed that everyone was sitting side-by-side, but there was enough room for another chair in the middle between each group of two.

            “I like the buddy group system.” He says, answering all our silent questions, “I was always a shy kid in school, never wanting to get up and ask for anyone to be my partner for a project. Think of it as useful for when you guys do your peer reviews and projects. If you have an issue with your buddy after the first essay, then you can talk to me about switching, fair?”

            The class all mindlessly nodded. Great, now I’m stuck with him until our first essay. I sigh and rest my face in the palm of my hand, my neighbor letting out a small hum in amusement. ‘The buddy peer review system’ was always a pain in my ass in high school. I usually just asked if I could have my sister at home review it, most of my teachers said sure, but others said no. Which is understandable, they wanted me to get out of my comfort zone

            “Now, we’re going to do an activity to get to know your partner, that way you guys get to know each other. Maybe you’ll find things you guys have in common, maybe you’ll end up as friends. Don’t be shy.”

            He explained, as he placed a paper in front of each student. My shoulders slump, I glanced slightly at my “peer review buddy” to see him smiling playfully, his sunglasses off and his eyes glancing at me as well. As soon as our eyes met, I looked away quickly, he let out another small chuckle.

            “Keep staring, princess, looks like you’re not going to get rid of me that easily.”

            I try not to roll my eyes and look up at the clock, silently praying that whatever is out there will have mercy on me and speed up the clock, I don’t think I can last the semester without strangling this guy.

© invitationtoher 2024

[sunseekerdeluxe]

Tunesday 53

The Anchoress - "Asleep" Blondie - Pollinator Bush - Razorblade Suitcase (In Addition) Cheap Trick - Dream Police Conception - The Last Sunset Course of Empire - Course of Empire Crimson Glory - Lonely Dark Tranquillity - Of Chaos and Eternal Night Dark Tranquillity - Promo '94 Dark Tranquillity - Skydancer Deftones - Adrenaline Digital Ruin - Listen Dire Straits - Brothers in Arms Divine Regale - Ocean Mind Dokken - Erase the Slate Dream Theater - Hollow Years Dream Theater - The Silent Man Dredg - Leitmotif Elysian Fields - Bleed Your Cedar ENIAC Requiem - Space Eternal Void Exhorder - Slaughter at the Vatican Faith No More - King for a Day... Fool for a Lifetime Mannequin Pussy - (advance singles from) I Got Heaven Swords of Dis - Melencolia

[limetameta]

Rodolphus: I have become a merchant. And just like my ancestors before the Statute of Secrecy I too have decided to take muggle made objects and sell them to mages for an obscene price. Now, do you want an iphone, a samsung, nokia, i have a sony ericson laying about somewhere, or would you like a model that I am personally very much invested in - xiaomi

Lord Voldemort, recently awoken in 2013: Why are you trying to sell me small bricks? I was told to come to you for a telephone.

Rodolphus: These are phones now, my lord.

Voldemort: I am unwell.

Rodolphus: I was too in the beginning. But I figured if the Lestrange family could become wealthy by stealing and repurposing muggle objects and pawning them off as new mage inventions, then I can do the same. My family is pretty Nouveau Riche, you know. Being strange yet current with the times is what we were all about before the Statute.

Voldemort: You don't need to justify your muggle brick obsession to me.

Rodolphus: I'm justifying it to myself.

Voldemort: Bellatrix divorced you because of this, didn't she?

Rodolphus: Most people think so, but she actually divorced me because I chew too loud and she doesn't need to put up with it anymore. Bellatrix was my first customer. She bought a Nokia from me way back in the day. I think she still has it.

Voldemort: Give me a telephone.

Rodolphus: Do you want a nokia or a smartphone?

Voldemort: ...why are telephones smart now?

Rodolphus: Because they're like little computers you can carry with you everywhere.

Voldemort, at the mention of a computer, picturing an ENIAC: Has Bellatrix paid you to confound me?

Rodolphus: Let me start you off with a Nokia. For any questions, ask Delphini. She's my business partner. Lestrange and Lestranger is our name. She thought of it when she was ten. :) *tearing up* she grows up so fast.

Voldemort, ignoring this emotional availability: Why does it say on the packaging that this Nokia phone is Fiendfyre proof?

Rodolphus: Because it is. Charmed it myself.

Voldemort: :/ hm. I want to test this out.

Later, fiendfyre destruction everywhere, Nokia and Voldemort are unscathed

Voldemort: I should have made this thing into a horcrux...

[librophile]

A state-of-the-art computer called ENIAC, built for the U.S. Army at the University of Pennsylvania in 1945 to calculate artillery trajectories, had eighteen thousand vacuum tubes. On average, one tube malfunctioned every two days, bringing the entire machine to a halt and sending technicians scrambling to find and replace the broken part.

[writer59january13]

February 27th, 2018 literary tinkering rejiggered October 11th, 2024

I believed fortune cookie maxim

cryptic message couched

Apple Macbook Pro update process

alternately titled “markedly

a Luke warm welcome Matt unfurled

courtesy Jimmy John,

who embarked on

imp apostle bull mission

going to find Mark Twain.”

After wracking my brain

deducing I declare what

constituted impossible mission

to delineate purpose of these words,

after initialled written

about six and a half years ago

my best hunch (backed up

while holed up in Notre Dame),

I agonizingly dutifully didst attempt

to distract anticipatory anxiety,

(analogous to an expectant father)

while delicate protracted procedure

ticked away the minutes,

where learned hands

gingerly tweezered various and sundry

state of the art electronic

components while trained fingers

instinctively, expertly, and admiringly

wrought awesome results

bitta bing bitta bang under the hood

of cherished Apple product

courtesy wizards hunkered down

troubleshooting laptop to restore functioning

of sophisticated electronic machine

to ideal factory settings

quality control capability promised

nothing short of a miracle,

whereby engrossed deep thinkers

echoed the sound of silence

thru the corridors of time

olly olly gluten

free ranging NON GMO, oxen

oiled lubricated cloven hoof

nsync cup aided toot tune

to clacking choppers

activated after this chap

dialed up favorite technical director

using his latest smarts

vaunted from years

of breathing, eating, and living

malfunctioning circuits

housed on motherboard

exemplifying divine computer devices

generated by brain child

videre licet avast array

of embedded electronic components

back in the day

Electronic Numerical Integrator

and Computer (ENIAC),

completed in 1946

necessitated taxing physical prowess

additionally forced human interventionists

to shout over din o'er

loud grumbling within bowel

of bulky binary beast of burden

along vaguely similar scenario

buzzfeeding abdominal anatomical beast

easily appeased when yours truly

a gluttonous gourmand,

tasking me to commence upon

ordering food glorious food,

which magically and mysteriously appeared,

after manifold fiery breath

spewed by amazing dragons

poof forming breath taking

heart stopping mind bending

sensational aural and visual feast

low and behold

wresting, teasing, releasing soundcloud

an appetizer to sense

and sensibility tete a tete

while inhabiting (neigh – riding)

caparisoned painted ponies

segueing faux horse sense

(animated, captured, framed

and linkedin within carousel of time)

courtesy tony Apple iPhone X - 256 GB

Silver Verizon amazing pièce de résistance,

sans technological fetes

with CDMA/GSM ringtones,

where a pleasant fecund female

bot tilled voice didst greet

prepping, priming, promoting

Crowded House serving

blue plate special of the Green day

dis "FAKE" kin listener eagerly

awaited: salivating, simulating

sexual soothing sans savory souffle,

the first culinary orgasmic savory dish,

after aye parked,

positioned, and plunked gluteus

near swinging doors leading into kitchen,

where this word maven strategically

dip posited said maximus to attempt

futile gastronomic endeavor

tum maximize tempering torturous tenacious

devastatingly deadly assault steaming enemy

disarmed disguised, and dismantled,

resplendent redolent redoubt

digitally remastering and remixing

non discerning indistinct aromas

emanating from naked lunch to supper esse

overwhelming paroxysms to gorge

putting a ritzy lid on heated fiery dogged

craving powder milk dog biscuits

(an impossible mission), where oozing,

licking, insinuating filaments

commingled as cutthroat

nemesis cooly whipped

devastatingly weeknd ecstasy

wickedly wafting, seducing,

satiating, and salivating

courtesy olfactory foramen,

deflecting incessant onslaughts

induced famished fellow

to reevaluate, relinquish,

and revisit his Weltanschauung soup per bowl,

while simultaneously commandeering cutlery

to attack, besiege, conquer

condemning delegate

of China ware without tea zing,

thence indiscriminately marshaling choppers

to set up base camp at Oral-B

(heeding flying pie warnings, where shewing

should desserts foe ment Hunger)

eggs sauce er baited

onslaught of herbaceous,

fabulous, delicious, and bodacious

culinary cuisine aromatic eats

thoroughly teasing growling stomach

steeping interminable suspenseful,

seven star Michelin magicians

empowered to transform most anything

(such as bilge water,

road kill or septic tank)

gourmet experienced huckster longingly horny

doubled as famished

Norwegian Bachelor farmer,

equating odoriferous garbage truck

on par suckling swollen teats

patience caved to restrain noshing

impaling his strict credo

on dustbin of his story

never again ass chew gnawing

even knuckles sandwich of fingers or toes

squishy human digits

texture of imported dates,

which hunger artist experienced pangs

voilà nothing short

of Pan's Labyrinth lesson,

did justice minimally satiated afterwards,

a restauranteur hoof hall

hues highbrow opinion,

hence a short survey about ambience,

yours truly will rate

perhaps unwise of an every

Jimmy John Joe gourmand

tubby biased after an apple ala carte blanche

preceded with delicious

hors d'oeuvre high marks

more nerve wracking

than going on a blind date.

And of course with enticing

forkful of flagrant food

Beep ping Update

completely disrupted first mouthful.

[bloopychips]

Happy Eniac Day

My husband is 78!