# Nerd...!! ..... Moi?



## Snakehips (Jun 2, 2015)

Received a birthday gift this week.

Framed layered art made by my daughter the sentiment of which was proposed by my 10 year old granddaughter.

















NERD ????

Ok, I have made over 4000 posts on an Excel forum, 400 plus on this coffee forum, have an upgrade history that includes 5 different espresso machines and three grinders and yes I admit to keeping a spreadsheet to log coffee data. But surely that doesn't qualify as Nerdery ? For goodness sakes I can't even spell refracomitur let alone use one.

How do your nearest and dearest view your passion for coffee making?


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Have to say it.... An Excel forum... Nerd


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Lotus 123... Now we're talking!!!


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## Snakehips (Jun 2, 2015)

Daren said:


> Lotus 123... Now we're talking!!!


Dinosaur !


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## Daren (Jan 16, 2012)

Snakehips said:


> Dinosaur !


I can't believe you bit!! Lol


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## 7493 (May 29, 2014)

Definite geek! Nerd is more perjorative so no!


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## grumpydaddy (Oct 20, 2014)

Supercalc FTW

Useful to know Mr Snakehips knows sheet(s)


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## AndyDClements (Aug 29, 2016)

Daren said:


> I can't believe you bit!! Lol


I still recall my (frequent) errors when initially using Excel, things like 123 fixed a formula if you dragged it so you had to tell it to make them relative, whereas Excel assumes if you move the formula then you want the source cells to be moved.

I'm still glad of the work programming the Oric1, using Visual Basic is very similar.

Great work by your daughter, perhaps your granddaughter is trying to tell you to move away from the monitor more often when she's there.


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## Snakehips (Jun 2, 2015)

Rob666 said:


> Definite geek! Nerd is more perjorative so no!


Rob you must be something of a Word-Nerd...... sorry, having Googled 'pejorative' ..... a Word-Geek.

I will contact daughter and demand a re-wording.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Lol, lol and thrice lol! That's very artistic and personalised - it's the thought that counts. Unfortunately they think you're a nerd! I learned spreadsheets on Lotus 123, on an old Tulip 80286 with twin floppies and DOS 5. I too have a sheet with coffee data (but probably not as comprehensive as yours!)

   

The Hotmetalette, whenever she sees me typing on my mobile, says "are you talking to the Internet about coffee again?" and if I say "no this time it's the motorbike forum" she says "Karaoke 375" or some improbable combination of letters and numbers which is what she thinks all bikes are called. She, on the other hand watches whole programmes about people decorating, which is like, er, watching paint dry!


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## Drewster (Dec 1, 2013)

1) I like the picture and the implied tongue in cheek "dig at dad" 

2) I remember using

Lotus 123, Symphony and 20/20

along with

Dataease, Volkswriter, Word (NOT for Windows), WordPerfect

DOS 2, DR DOS, Lotus Magellan,

(Real) Norton Utilities

a bit of OS/2 and Warp

oh and running "networks" on Novell

All on XT's and IBM PS/2s (Mod 50s, 55s, 60s, 70s etc)

Tin: IBM VM/SP, Prime (Primos and Connections) as well as MVS CICS/VSAM etc

I do maintain that I could take most of the multi-Gigabyte Excel Spreadsheets being used today on Dual-core mega-Gigabyte water cooled machines and

still do all the actual "maths" on an XT using Lotus 123 v2.01 on DOS3 in 512K RAM

(NB All tha maths and calculations NOT all the prettiness)


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## anton78 (Oct 12, 2014)

Excel and coffee. 2 of life's utter joys.


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## MrShades (Jul 29, 2009)

grumpydaddy said:


> Supercalc FTW
> 
> Useful to know Mr Snakehips knows sheet(s)


Errr... Visicalc FTW. On a Commodore Pet, and an IBM PC (and @hotmetal - If you haven't used an 8088 based IBM PC running at 4.77MHz and saw DOS 3.3 as cutting edge, then you haven't lived ;-) I remember getting my first PC with an HDD - 10MB but thought it was awesome! )

But I also have to say.... an Excel forum... really?


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

When Windows 3 came out it was the first time I had heard of multi tasking. I remember thinking "why would you want to do 2 things at once?" That was my version of the famous statement attributed to the chairman of IBM that "the world market for computers is about 5". The work PC (one per dept, not each!) had 2 floppy drives

and NO HD at all!

Funnily enough we all got all our work done by 530 in those days. And if someone wanted to empty your bank account they needed a stripy jumper, shotgun and a sack with $wag written on it. Where did it all go wrong?


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## MrShades (Jul 29, 2009)

Drewster said:


> ...
> 
> I do maintain that I could take most of the multi-Gigabyte Excel Spreadsheets being used today on Dual-core mega-Gigabyte water cooled machines and
> 
> still do all the actual "maths" on an XT using Lotus 123 v2.01 on DOS3 in 512K RAM


This reminds me of a story I heard a few years ago.

A company had engaged an IT Consultant to visit and prepare a report on future hardware upgrades required - and in the course of that visit he noticed that the IT Manager was running a top-end PC (I can't recall exactly when this was, but it was probably around 10 years ago) but rather than running Windows Vista (who would anyway?) which all the other PCs in the building were operating on, he was running Windows 95.

When he was asked why on earth he was running a really old version of Windows, and not the "latest and greatest" he replied that - all he did all day was create Word documents, Excel spreadsheets and Powerpoint presentations - and ran Outlook to send and receive emails. Windows 95 could do this as well as Vista could, but if he ran Vista then his machine felt sluggish - but Windows 95 on 'modern' processors would boot up in less than 30 seconds, and everything he used and did was absolutely instantaneous. His machine ran like the wind and he wasn't changing anything thank-you.

On an aside, I keep saying that if modern mobile phone technology was used to create a basic voice + SMS mobile (akin to a Nokia 101) then it could be pretty small and the battery (powering a mono, traditional LCD display rather than a huge fancy backlit multicoloured display) would probably last months! Even better if we went back to the old fashioned 'clip the battery on the back of the phone' and YOU could decide how many mAh's of battery you wanted to haul around with you - rather than Apple or Samsung doing so for us.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Amen to that!

Remember those Nokia 5000 series business phones that could take 2 SIM cards and the battery lasted a week.


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## Drewster (Dec 1, 2013)

MrShades said:


> On an aside.....modern mobile phone technology.....old fashioned 'clip the battery on the back of the phone'......


In one of my other lives - I actually used "prototype" mobile phones*...

The handset was "pretty big" ie about 9-10 inches long and a couple of inches "square" with another 7-8 inch arial......

.... and a curly cable leading to the battery.... which was basically a car battery with a handle.....

* the place I worked (a bit of HMG) got our hands on some of the phones as they were setting up the Cell-Net network (just in the London area)...


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## 7493 (May 29, 2014)

I've been working as a part time technical author for the last 20 years so you've outed me! I plead guilty your honour.







I wear my geekdom with pride.

The artwork is lovely!

My first spreadsheet was Visicalc and the next Excel. Still using it of course.


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## Snakehips (Jun 2, 2015)

Back in the day, Mrs Snakehips used to work in the computer department at the local Poly Tech. A large air conditioned room was needed to house the Elliot 803 computer which would require about 3.5Kw of power. The power supply was relatively unusual being based around a battery charger and a large lead-acid battery enabling it to cope with fluctuations and interruptions in mains power.First job every morning was to input the compiler by way of punched paper tape, Input programmes and output also in the form of punched tape required the use of flexiwriters. A broken tape or or the slip of a flexiwriter key could set you back hours. Her boss at the time maintained that 'computers are the thing of the future' and everybody thought he was nuts!

I dabbled with bit of Algol and Cobol programming that time as part of my degree studies.

Not many years later I think I paid £40 for a Sinclair ZX Spectrum that would almost fit through your letter box, that out performed the 803!!

Progressed on to a BBC and actually used BBC basic to program a payroll package that dealt with piecework earnings etc etc. before paying what seemed like a small fortune in 1988 for, I think, an Amstrad 1512 for business use.

Co-wrote a complete production control, sales, purchasing system at one time using' TAS Professional '- Multi-relational data bases and Basic. which I guess was a fore runner to Access & VBA. Never really encountered the early version spreadsheets as I only got involved about 15 years back when Excel already ruled the roost. Have had great fun with Excel and VBA but don't do so much in recent times. Excel is a fabulous tool with capabilities far beyond the needs of most.


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## MrShades (Jul 29, 2009)

OK - whom besides me, has ever punched cards (80 column) on a punch-card machine (Univac) and loaded a tray of punched cards (or even, heaven forbid, dropped a tray of punched cards) into a 'computer'

Cummon - let's see who's really been around the DP/IT industry for a while!

It was one just like this...


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## Brewer in training (Feb 7, 2015)

Having read this entire thread and not understanding very much, I think there is more than one copy of the artwork required..........

Don't know if you are showing off or not, but well done, whoever won!!!!!

;-);-);-);-);-);-);-)


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

I think it's a case of "my first computer was worse than your first computer!"

I don't remember punched tape personally, but the finance office I worked in during the late 1980s had a thing called a comptometer (or something) which was the size of a cash register, and with a ridiculous number of buttons. It was like a typewriter for numbers. Kind of predated the electronic calculator, and was still used because a trained comp operator could calculate stuff way quicker than a normal calculator. That was before spreadsheets were available and it was all done on 18 column cash pads.

It was something very like this:


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## Snakehips (Jun 2, 2015)

I had an abacus.


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Abacus? Luxury. When aah wuz a lad we had pebbles and clay tablets wi' sticks. Next to the primordial soup. Proto-mammals kept creeping out o' watta and messing up the marks int sand.


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## Snakehips (Jun 2, 2015)

OK, this is getting way too silly!!

My abacus did have two beads missing though which didn't exactly make life easy.


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## MrShades (Jul 29, 2009)

I always took the micky out of my mother and said that she didn't pass all of her 'O' levels because she had a bumpy slate...


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## Drewster (Dec 1, 2013)

hotmetal said:


> ..... but the finance office I worked in during the late 1980s had a thing called a comptometer (or something) ............
> 
> It was something very like this:


I bought 3 of those last year £5 + commission.....

Sold for a tidy profit ;-)


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## BoldBlend (Aug 16, 2016)

Rob666 said:


> Definite geek! Nerd is more perjorative so no!


Reminded me of this


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

What on earth is 'LARPing'? Until I saw that infographic I thought nerd and geek were interchangeable. Every day's a school day!

Edit. I just Googled it. Also known as Cosplay - adults dressing up in superhero costumes and playing fantasy games IRL. I was working with a guy who is a total ace at 3d modelling and 3d printing. He makes Cosplay stuff to order. Want the gun out of Blakes 7? A replica Judge Dredd badge? Star wars helmet? Lord of the Rings staff? No problem.


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## Snakehips (Jun 2, 2015)

BoldBlend said:


> Reminded me of this
> 
> View attachment 22721


Judging by this then I like to think that I've definitely been misdiagnosed !


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## Raptorex (Sep 10, 2016)

hotmetal said:


> What on earth is 'LARPing'? Until I saw that infographic I thought nerd and geek were interchangeable. Every day's a school day!
> 
> Edit. I just Googled it. Also known as Cosplay - adults dressing up in superhero costumes and playing fantasy games IRL. I was working with a guy who is a total ace at 3d modelling and 3d printing. He makes Cosplay stuff to order. Want the gun out of Blakes 7? A replica Judge Dredd badge? Star wars helmet? Lord of the Rings staff? No problem.


I'd love a model the Andromida Ascendent. And know a few people who are after a Force Lances from the show.

Personally I'm a trekie but see no reason to have toys, guess I've finally grown up?


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## hotmetal (Oct 31, 2013)

Raptorex said:


> I'd love a model the Andromida Ascendent. And know a few people who are after a Force Lances from the show.


Ok well have a look at this thread then. There's a link to his website.

http://coffeeforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=31437


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