(no subject)
Dec. 9th, 2013 06:19 pmmonday, rainy, 40 degrees F/4 Celsius -- I know half the country is snowed in, but ugh.
I see that today is Adm. Grace Hopper's birthday (107, to be precise.) My favorite part of her legend (a true part, even) is how she used to hand out "nanoseconds" -- a piece of rope about a foot long that was the distance light would travel in a nanosecond. For all you youngsters out there, this was an issue because, in the pre-integrated circuits world, this would have severely impacted the size/speed of computers and GH was on a crusade to explain this (and many other things.) I had a prof in college who'd met her at a conference or something and kept his little loop of a nanosecond hooked over the blackboard in his office (yes, I'm old enough to pre-date cheap/available whiteboards.) I think that gives me 2 degrees of separation from her, right?
eta: Courtesy of![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sarah, Herself on Letterman, complete with nanoseconds and bonus picoseconds
Also, as we enter the second week of December, with the holidays staring me down, it is time to haul out the Embrace Imperfection icon (w/seasonal lighting effects) just to serve as a reminder.
I see that today is Adm. Grace Hopper's birthday (107, to be precise.) My favorite part of her legend (a true part, even) is how she used to hand out "nanoseconds" -- a piece of rope about a foot long that was the distance light would travel in a nanosecond. For all you youngsters out there, this was an issue because, in the pre-integrated circuits world, this would have severely impacted the size/speed of computers and GH was on a crusade to explain this (and many other things.) I had a prof in college who'd met her at a conference or something and kept his little loop of a nanosecond hooked over the blackboard in his office (yes, I'm old enough to pre-date cheap/available whiteboards.) I think that gives me 2 degrees of separation from her, right?
eta: Courtesy of
sarah, Herself on Letterman, complete with nanoseconds and bonus picosecondsAlso, as we enter the second week of December, with the holidays staring me down, it is time to haul out the Embrace Imperfection icon (w/seasonal lighting effects) just to serve as a reminder.
