Computing, in common terms
For several weeks now, a team has been tasked with laying in the new extension cord that will tie our local power system back to the grid. A special ship came over from Europe and stayed on site until just a couple of days back. Seems that winter caught up with their effort.
And so, unable to continue work until warmer weather sets in (several months from now), the ship has decided to return to base. My hope, a faint one, was to catch a glimpse as the vessel sailed eastward. I ran out of daylight hours, and fog set in. I could see the passage on a radio tracking display, but no naked eye confirmation. Oh well, maybe the next time around.
This was a “two movie day”, what with just me and the dog hanging around the living room. First up, a war movie from the initial Iraq skirmish. Based on a true story, I didn’t get the urge to don uniform myself; things looked very uncomfortable. So unlike the feel-good movies we watched from the WW2 period.
Next, a historical drama dealing with the initial Mercury space flights. Or rather, the math required to send someone up, around and down again. Although I knew how the story would turn out, I still stayed in my seat until splashdown. Along the way, some spectacular calculations on how to treat people. I’d love to say that fifty years has resolved that “math”, but I’m unsure. For the record, “computing” has come to mean something very different from the original (NASA) usage.
