Who is the oldest?

[Bennett]

I've been working with computers since fortran days. Input was via paper punch tape, pre punch cards. 1961. Old Guy... yeah I guess so. 

What fun! Any of you ever used a Univac (or even ever heard of one)? The Department of Defense "gave" me one (of 12 in the world) to use in the mid 1950s. It was the Cray supercomputer of its day, and all programming was done in analogs. Punched paper, punched cards, and punched steel (Gillette computer interface) were sometimes used as input devices. The Univac used a roomful of vacuum tubes- 6L6s or 5881 (mil spec) by the hundreds filling an air conditioned and humidity regulated room. Yeah - "sophisticated" 8 K programs! But it was the best tool we had at the time. And amazingly we built some great equipment with it. Now I sit here typing this on my iPhone 7+, with far more power than I could ever have envisioned then. An observation from a very old guy: You are never truly old if you keep yourself on the leading edge of technology, and learn to use the power to expand your skills. In a week I will fly down to San Louis Obispo for a UFO. (United Flying Octogenarians) meeting. As always there will be some very technical sessions dealing with the use of the newest avionics, and how to best understand their use. Fun group.


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[N201MKTurbo]

5 minutes ago, Bennett said:

What fun! Any of you ever used a Univac (or even ever heard of one)? The Department of Defense "gave" me one (of 12 in the world) to use in the mid 1950s. It was the Cray supercomputer of its day, and all programming was done in analogs. Punched paper, punched cards, and punched steel (Gillette computer interface) were sometimes used as input devices. The Univac used a roomful of vacuum tubes- 6L6s or 5881 (mil spec) by the hundreds filling an air conditioned and humidity regulated room. Yeah - "sophisticated" 8 K programs! But it was the best tool we had at the time. And amazingly we built some great equipment with it. Now I sit here typing this on my iPhone 7+, with far more power than I could ever have envisioned then. An observation from a very old guy: You are never truly old if you keep yourself on the leading edge of technology, and learn to use the power to expand your skills. In a week I will fly down to San Louis Obispo for a UFO. (United Flying Octogenarians) meeting. As always there will be some very technical sessions dealing with the use of the newest avionics, and how to best understand their use. Fun group.


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Cool,

the best I did was a modification to the Bouroughs DDP224 that ran Frontier Airlines 737 sim so it could load programs through an RS232 serial interface instead of a card reader. That computer was vintage 1965. It had core, you could power it up down up down, hit run and it was fine! 

BTW the FAA made us file a 337 on the mod.

Edited March 24, 2017 by N201MKTurbo

[sgrooves]

27 here. Got my PPL and Mooney at 26. 

[Oldguy]

18 minutes ago, Bennett said:

What fun! Any of you ever used a Univac (or even ever heard of one)? The Department of Defense "gave" me one (of 12 in the world) to use in the mid 1950s. It was the Cray supercomputer of its day, and all programming was done in analogs. Punched paper, punched cards, and punched steel (Gillette computer interface) were sometimes used as input devices. The Univac used a roomful of vacuum tubes- 6L6s or 5881 (mil spec) by the hundreds filling an air conditioned and humidity regulated room. Yeah - "sophisticated" 8 K programs! But it was the best tool we had at the time. And amazingly we built some great equipment with it. Now I sit here typing this on my iPhone 7+, with far more power than I could ever have envisioned then. An observation from a very old guy: You are never truly old if you keep yourself on the leading edge of technology, and learn to use the power to expand your skills. In a week I will fly down to San Louis Obispo for a UFO. (United Flying Octogenarians) meeting. As always there will be some very technical sessions dealing with the use of the newest avionics, and how to best understand their use. Fun group.


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Actually wrote pieces of Exec 8 in MASM for a while. Also worked on several B1 compartmentalized UNIVAC systems in a different life. I do wish I had kept a handful of 5081's for note taking.

You probably remember the IBM BUNCH as well!

[ArtVandelay]

I've been working with computers since fortran days. Input was via paper punch tape, pre punch cards. 1961. Old Guy... yeah I guess so. 

If you're feeling nostalgic you can buy old computers on ebay, like PD
P-8 for $12000!

[Marauder]

What fun! Any of you ever used a Univac (or even ever heard of one)? The Department of Defense "gave" me one (of 12 in the world) to use in the mid 1950s. It was the Cray supercomputer of its day, and all programming was done in analogs. Punched paper, punched cards, and punched steel (Gillette computer interface) were sometimes used as input devices. The Univac used a roomful of vacuum tubes- 6L6s or 5881 (mil spec) by the hundreds filling an air conditioned and humidity regulated room. Yeah - "sophisticated" 8 K programs! But it was the best tool we had at the time. And amazingly we built some great equipment with it. Now I sit here typing this on my iPhone 7+, with far more power than I could ever have envisioned then. An observation from a very old guy: You are never truly old if you keep yourself on the leading edge of technology, and learn to use the power to expand your skills. In a week I will fly down to San Louis Obispo for a UFO. (United Flying Octogenarians) meeting. As always there will be some very technical sessions dealing with the use of the newest avionics, and how to best understand their use. Fun group.


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And to make sure you weren't late, you had the latest in Swiss watches.




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[carusoam]

4 hours ago, Mooneymite said:

 

where is that "point" and how does one know?

Cognitively speaking.... these things are self measurable.

It isn't usually a 'point' unless you wake up one day in the hospital.  They ask you questions like 'what year is it?' And  'who is the president'.  

Never answer with the first thing that comes to mind... always check your answer before letting it out.

 

The brain works in several different ways. The top few are probably...

- thought process speed.

- memory.

- memory retrieval.

- recognition.

- attention span.

You can lose different parts of the brain's skills at different times.  They all don't usually disappear together.  

Ever sit through a green light?  Do it a couple of times?

Unplug the wrong appliance?  Your spouse will know because the microwave will be flashing 12:00.

See how far back you can remember what you had for lunch. Today, yesterday, the day before, last Tuesday...?

 

 

start measuring your cog skills today so you can build a base line to measure against...

Slow changes are difficult to recognize in an ordinary day.  Measuring yourself and comparing to your baseline is pretty objective.

 

Some of this can be fun.  It is fun if, you continue to exercise your cog skills. The brain can and does recover and get better than with no exercise.

 

Flying deep into your later years is going to take some physical exercise and some cognitive exercise, and following Bennet's suggestions above...

Seek some professional advice.  Exercising without pro advice can have you waking up in the hospital...

physical exercise increases blood flow to the brain.  Increased blood flow delivers more O2.  More O2 improves brain function.

Measuring O2 on your finger tip is pretty interesting.  But it doesn't tell the whole story about O2 reaching the far corners of the brain...

PP thoughts only, not a cognitive therapist.  I work with people trying to regain their cognitive skills.

walk, jog, read, write, fly, repeat...  G, T, L for the older Jersey shore set... (gym, tan, laundry) 

Getting old isn't horrible, just takes some additional effort.  Get a Fitbit (HR) to help measure how well you have slept and how well you have exercised.

Best regards,

-a-

 

Edited March 24, 2017 by carusoam

[Hector]

Yep, WATFOR, 360 ASM, and all of those forgotten languages we used to write enormous 4K programs. Back when a "forklift upgrade" actually required a forklift!

Funny, I was cleaning up the office a few months back and found an old box of 5 1/4 floppies that I had not seen in over 25 years. Went through the box and it was incredible the memories that came back. There was one disk labeled WATFOR compiler, another with Word Star, Lotus 123.


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[DrBill]

i got my ppl at 21 in 1970 at Kobelt AIrport, Wallkill NY (Just NW of Stewart) at the time Stewart just went publlic and was used by airlines to train 747 pilots in landings (before sims). I can remember being on downwind there and the tower warning me of wake turbulance of a 747 on downwind too ( abt 5 miles to my right), full flaps, gear down, he would obviously pass me in my cherokee 140  and turn base, final then touch an go do it again. I could land 3 times on that long runway.

Mount Beacon was 3.5 miles away and if we could see that it was VFR.

Bill

 

 

[TonyK]

I'm faithfully holding up the center of the bell curve at 50 and hoping to ride down the other side to the very end.  Barring any of my multitude of bad habits or behaviors getting the better of me.

[Rustler]

Body is 74 'til April.  Mentally, probably about to graduate from high school.

Soloed in 1957, ticket in '60.

[aviatoreb]

49 and 11/12ths

[donkaye, MCFI]

Took my first flight lesson on September 17, 1967.  Soloed October 31, 1967.  Private on March 13, 1968.  I'm on my 10th logbook now and going on 50 years of flying.  It's hard to even write that number.  I was the youngest in my section at work at that time.  Time goes by faster than you think.

[Marauder]

Funny, I was cleaning up the office a few months back and found an old box of 5 1/4 floppies that I had not seen in over 25 years. Went through the box and it was incredible the memories that came back. There was one disk labeled WATFOR compiler, another with Word Star, Lotus 123.


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You aren't ancient until you worked with 8" floppies.


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[mike_elliott]

9 hours ago, Bob_Belville said:

I've been working with computers since fortran days. Input was via paper punch tape, pre punch cards. 1961. Old Guy... yeah I guess so. 

used COGO and punch tapes first year at Purdue in one of my Civil Eng. courses. That was 1969, so much much younger than you, you old fart.

[donkaye, MCFI]

33 minutes ago, Marauder said:

 

You aren't ancient until you worked with 8" floppies.


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Used them in Accounting Plus and FMS 80, an early database program using my Altos Computer for the management of my 1st Real Estate Development.  I was able to provide the Bank with information much quicker than they could get it from their big mainframes.  Made financing the 2nd Development much easier.  All with a computer having 64K of memory and those slow 8" floppy disks.

[DonMuncy]

Gee, I guess all the really old guys aren't willing to fess up openly. At 78, I appear to be the second oldest one to admit it.

[Bob_Belville]

8 hours ago, DonMuncy said:

Gee, I guess all the really old guys aren't willing to fess up openly. At 78, I appear to be the second oldest one to admit it.

Phew. But I bet I'm not really #3 @ 74.

[Mcstealth]

I'm Joe average at 51. I certainly hope my brain power lets me fly another 25 years.

[Samurai Husky]

On 3/23/2017 at 2:53 PM, cnoe said:

... like anybody's going to admit either one.

I'm pretty sure there's at least one octogenarian on the forum, and I don't think Bob's one of them.

How old was Samurai Husky, anybody? 

Was? im still alive!!!!!!

36.

 

 

[Guest]

On March 24, 2017 at 9:58 PM, Marauder said:

 

You aren't ancient until you worked with 8" floppies.


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Now I understand what those women see in you!

Clarence

[Bravoman]

Got my ticket in 88 when I was 27. My first job out of school was with a law firm in Tampa and we used a charter company out of Vandenberg airport. The pilot who would fly us was a C130 pilot recently out of the Air Force and not much older than me. We became fast friends and whenever it was just him and me he would let me take it while en route somewhere. I naturally was instantly addicted and that pilot became my instructor. He is a Delta captain now and we have remained close friends to this day. 

[Roger O]

Got my ticket in 1976 while stationed at Lackland AFB in San Antonio.  Will be 66 in August, but don't look a day over 65!  Plan to fly as long as my eyes and the good Lord will allow!

[Joe Zuffoletto]

52. PPL at 21. Mooney owner since 2000.

[co2bruce]

62, Mooney owner since 1989 (231, 201, currently Screaming Eagle)