TOT as usual: train spotters

On 13/12/2011 13:30, Peter Duncanson wrote:
On Tue, 13 Dec 2011 13:21:03 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article
,
wrote:
Talking about stereotypes, ever been to a Linux developers conference?

To attend such a thing would define that? Unless just doing the bog
cleaning.

They have bog cleaners at Linux developers conferences?

Surely it would be part of the culture for the developers to clean the
bogs themselves?

Obviously there would be a variety of cleaning tools and fluids
according to personal preference. Some bog-cleaning Linux developers
would make their own cleaning brushes and mix their own cleaning fluids.

The idea of using bog-standard items would be anathema to them.


I wonder who would clean their windows? Bit of a rubber gloves job,
that, for them.

--
Moving things in still pictures

"ian batten" wrote in message
...

On Dec 16, 7:07 pm, Jim Lesurf wrote:

Afraid I started with ICL1900s

#upper and #lower, eh? PLAN was great fun.

ian

That brings back memories!


Richard

On Dec 17, 1:02*pm, Jim Lesurf wrote:
In article
,
ian

batten wrote:
On Dec 16, 7:07 pm, Jim Lesurf wrote:
Afraid I started with ICL1900s
#upper and #lower, eh? *PLAN was great fun.

Surely 44k of core is enough for any user. :-)

Was that the limit? #lower was the stuff you could access directly,
#upper was the stuff you had to use modification through registers
1..3: all the fall out of using a 24-bit word. I thought in
principle (obviously not in reality, given the cost of memory) #upper
could be 2^24 words, ie 16MWords, because you're modifying the 12 bits
or whatever it was of the direct address with the full width of the
modification register.

(Mind you, it was so long ago I now wonder if I dreamed it was a 44k limit
for normal users on the QMC ICL1900s. Rather less than Uncle Bill's old
limit, though! 8-] )

Not much less, because 44k words would be 132K of today's bytes, or
176k of sawn-off, capital letters only 6-bit characters.

GO #QMMA was the console command to start up Maximop, which I think
was QMC's contribution to time-sharing on 1900s.

ian

On Dec 15, 10:29*am, Peter Duncanson wrote:


The Oxford English Dictionary says:

* * gricer, n.
* * Etymology: *Origin uncertain. Said to have been current in 1938
* * amongst members of the Manchester Locomotive Society (H. D.
* * Bowtell).

* * The suggestion that the word is a humorous representation of a
* * 'received' pronunciation of grouser n.1, or that it is formed on a
* * humorous plural of grouse n.1, on the basis of the supposed
* * resemblance of train-spotting to grouse-shooting, has been reported
* * several times independently: see Railway World (1970) June 279,
* * which also gives some other speculative etymologies.

* * A railway enthusiast, esp. one who assiduously seeks out and
* * photographs unusual trains; loosely, a train-spotter.

* * 1969 * *Railway World Dec. 550/1 * Perhaps the greatest unpreserved
* * loss has been the gricer, or full time railway enthusiast.
* * ....

ISTR a tongue-in-cheek letter-writer to Steam Railway in about 1983
who came up with GRICE as being an acronym for Gumbooted Raincoated
Idiots Chasing Engines - most of my mates would say that describes me
to a T!!! :-)

On Thu, 22 Dec 2011 12:34:24 -0800 (PST), The Gardener
wrote:

On Dec 15, 10:29Â*am, Peter Duncanson wrote:


The Oxford English Dictionary says:

Â* Â* gricer, n.
Â* Â* Etymology: Â*Origin uncertain. Said to have been current in 1938
Â* Â* amongst members of the Manchester Locomotive Society (H. D.
Â* Â* Bowtell).

Â* Â* The suggestion that the word is a humorous representation of a
Â* Â* 'received' pronunciation of grouser n.1, or that it is formed on a
Â* Â* humorous plural of grouse n.1, on the basis of the supposed
Â* Â* resemblance of train-spotting to grouse-shooting, has been reported
Â* Â* several times independently: see Railway World (1970) June 279,
Â* Â* which also gives some other speculative etymologies.

Â* Â* A railway enthusiast, esp. one who assiduously seeks out and
Â* Â* photographs unusual trains; loosely, a train-spotter.

Â* Â* 1969 Â* Â*Railway World Dec. 550/1 Â* Perhaps the greatest unpreserved
Â* Â* loss has been the gricer, or full time railway enthusiast.
Â* Â* ....

ISTR a tongue-in-cheek letter-writer to Steam Railway in about 1983
who came up with GRICE as being an acronym for Gumbooted Raincoated
Idiots Chasing Engines - most of my mates would say that describes me
to a T!!! :-)

smile

--
Peter Duncanson
(in uk.tech.digital-tv)

On Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:48:22 -0000, "Woody"
wrote:

Don't you knock Practikas - they brought many (me included) into
SLR photography and they were built like brick privvies. The
lenses - the Lydith 30mm, and the Pentacon 100mm and 135mm - were
in a class apart. The 100mm was undoubtedly the best portrait
lens I ever used.

The Pentacon 135/2.8 has enjoyed a revival in recent years as a bit of
a bokeh monster - I just find it a nice lens.