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Don Shepherd · (This post was last modified: 04-06-2019 01:49 AM by Don Shepherd.)

Dedication page for the book "Programming the IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Computer and Data Processing Machine," copyright 1958 by Richard Andree.

Translation mine.

A man after my own heart.

BobVA · 04-06-2019, 02:14 AM

Thanks! That's pretty cool.

**rprosperi** · 04-06-2019, 02:29 AM

Cool Don, thanks for sharing that. A man ahead of his time, both clever and sincere.

Is this a manual from IBM, or an actual book? If the former, I'd guess IBM never knew what the card said.

Don Shepherd · 04-06-2019, 02:56 AM

(04-06-2019 02:29 AM)rprosperi Wrote: Cool Don, thanks for sharing that. A man ahead of his time, both clever and sincere.

Is this a manual from IBM, or an actual book? If the former, I'd guess IBM never knew what the card said.

It's a book, link is from bitsavers:

link

Bill (Smithville NJ) · 04-06-2019, 12:39 PM

Hi Don,

That is cool. Thanks for posting it.

Reminds me of something that happened to me many years ago.

I had a date with a young lady who maintained Cobol programs for an insurance company. At the end of the date, when I returned to the car, I found a punch card on the car seat. It had been punched with the typing turned off. When I decoded it, it read "THANKS FOR A WONDERFUL EVENING." I later asked how she knew it would be a wonderful evening. She said there was a second card punched for that occasion. I never found out what the other card said.

Bill
Smithville, NJ

smp · 04-06-2019, 12:47 PM

That's very cool, Don! Thanks a lot for sharing this.

smp

**rprosperi** · 04-06-2019, 12:58 PM

(04-06-2019 12:39 PM)Bill (Smithville NJ) Wrote: Hi Don,

That is cool. Thanks for posting it.

Reminds me of something that happened to me many years ago.

I had a date with a young lady who maintained Cobol programs for an insurance company. At the end of the date, when I returned to the car, I found a punch card on the car seat. It had been punched with the typing turned off. When I decoded it, it read "THANKS FOR A WONDERFUL EVENING." I later asked how she knew it would be a wonderful evening. She said there was a second card punched for that occasion. I never found out what the other card said.

Bill
Smithville, NJ

Great story Bill, thanks for relating that. Interesting girl...

Don Shepherd · 04-06-2019, 01:25 PM

(04-06-2019 12:39 PM)Bill (Smithville NJ) Wrote: Hi Don,

That is cool. Thanks for posting it.

Reminds me of something that happened to me many years ago.

I had a date with a young lady who maintained Cobol programs for an insurance company. At the end of the date, when I returned to the car, I found a punch card on the car seat. It had been punched with the typing turned off. When I decoded it, it read "THANKS FOR A WONDERFUL EVENING." I later asked how she knew it would be a wonderful evening. She said there was a second card punched for that occasion. I never found out what the other card said.

Bill
Smithville, NJ

I'll bet that second card said something like "IT WAS FUN BUT LETS NOT SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN."

And when she keypunched that card, she would have turned printing "on"!!

pier4r · (This post was last modified: 04-06-2019 01:58 PM by pier4r.)

(04-06-2019 01:48 AM)Don Shepherd Wrote: Dedication page for the book "Programming the IBM 650 Magnetic Drum Computer and Data Processing Machine," copyright 1958 by Richard Andree.

Thanks for sharing. Really nice.

Now since it was 1958 and we are 50 years later, we may try to give an approximate answer to that.

Did computers (or augmented capacity to proceess data) make the life of kids better or not? (at least those fortunate to grow in developed societies)

I'd argue yes. Especially for communications, although there are dangers too: one communicates remotely without really having personal strong bonds.

Bill (Smithville NJ) · 04-06-2019, 02:14 PM

(04-06-2019 01:25 PM)Don Shepherd Wrote: I'll bet that second card said something like "IT WAS FUN BUT LETS NOT SEE EACH OTHER AGAIN."

And when she keypunched that card, she would have turned printing "on"!!

There was a series of Greeting Cards called "Bitter Sweet" that a person designed after a failed/bad relationship. The one that stayed in my mind:

On the Cover: "It was nice while it lasted"
Inside: "Too bad it lasted longer than it was nice"

I always thought that described many relationships.

Bill
Smithville, NJ

Don Shepherd · 04-06-2019, 02:52 PM

(04-06-2019 01:57 PM)pier4r Wrote: Did computers (or augmented capacity to proceess data) make the life of kids better or not? (at least those fortunate to grow in developed societies)

Ah, that is a subject for an entirely different forum, much less different thread.

Computers have unquestionably made for a more efficient society, in many ways. That is good. But smart phones and apps have also had a negative long-term effect, especially on kids I think. And "social" media has created millions of people who are anything but social, each person poring over their own little screen and oblivious to those around them.

I think I am one of about a dozen people in the US who does not text or use smart phones. But I am happy!