Comment So exactly how is this pronounced? (Score 2, Funny) 356
Xfinity.
ECKS-finity
ZIN-inity
CROSS-finity
OOOOPS-finity
Hugs-n-kisses-finity
?
ECKS-finity
ZIN-inity
CROSS-finity
OOOOPS-finity
Hugs-n-kisses-finity
?
Re-Engineering the Immune System 175
destinyland notes a microbiology professor describing "Immunity on Demand" (or "Immunity 2.0") and wonders whether we could genetically engineer all the antibodies we need. "...there's a good chance this system, or something like it, will actually be in place within decades. Caltech scientists have already engineered stem cells into B cells that produce HIV-fighting antibodies — and an NIH researcher engineered T cells that recognize tumors which has already had promising clinical trials again skin cancer. Our best hope may be to cut out the middleman. Rather than merely hoping that the vaccine will indirectly lead to the antibody an individual needs, imagine if we could genetically engineer these antibodies and make them available as needed?"
Comment It wasn't mine but an IMSAI 8080 (Score 1) 1485
When I was in 8th grade, my school had an IMSAI 8080 http://oldcomputers.net/imsai8080.html that had 8K of RAM, ran BASIC, and had 2 TTY's with paper tape punch/readers. When it crashed, the teacher had to reload the OS with a paper tape that took about 30-45 mins to load.
Then, in high school, we had an Interdata something or other. It had 36K, 2 8.5 inch floppy drives, 7 TTY's and 3 CRTs, ran BASIC and had a Centronix dot matrix printer, and man, that printer was fast. The TTY's had paper tape punch/readers, so you could punch your program and take it home with you! To boot the Interdata, you had to enter a series of codes into an octal keypad on the front panel, the last of which caused the read/write head to move into position on the floppy drive, with a loud clunk. I always that that was really cool!
The first computer I actually owned was an ATARI 800XL that when you entered "print SQRT(4)," it said 1.9. I don't recall the exact details, but it was some goofy bug in the built-in BASIC. In those days, there were magazines that had programs in them that you entered into your computer by keying thousands of (decimal) machine codes into some little BASIC program. I keyed in a word processing program that worked pretty darn well--it got me through my first college career--for the cost of a $2.00 magazine.
Then, in high school, we had an Interdata something or other. It had 36K, 2 8.5 inch floppy drives, 7 TTY's and 3 CRTs, ran BASIC and had a Centronix dot matrix printer, and man, that printer was fast. The TTY's had paper tape punch/readers, so you could punch your program and take it home with you! To boot the Interdata, you had to enter a series of codes into an octal keypad on the front panel, the last of which caused the read/write head to move into position on the floppy drive, with a loud clunk. I always that that was really cool!
The first computer I actually owned was an ATARI 800XL that when you entered "print SQRT(4)," it said 1.9. I don't recall the exact details, but it was some goofy bug in the built-in BASIC. In those days, there were magazines that had programs in them that you entered into your computer by keying thousands of (decimal) machine codes into some little BASIC program. I keyed in a word processing program that worked pretty darn well--it got me through my first college career--for the cost of a $2.00 magazine.
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Thus spake the master programmer: "When a program is being tested, it is too late to make design changes." -- Geoffrey James, "The Tao of Programming"
