24 March 26

My tie today features IBM "AT" desktop computers, which were sold from 1984-1987. The letters "AT" stood for Advanced Technology. The typewriter-style keyboard from 40 years ago is essentially the only component that is directly related to our current hardware. I last wore this tie in November 2021. My calendar shows three historical events for 24 March: in 1980, Roman Catholic Archbishop Óscar Romero was assassinated in San Salvador; in 1721, Johann Sebastian Bach dedicated his Brandenburg Concertos to his patron, Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt; and it is National Chocolate-Covered Raisin Day.

21 November 21

 On 20 November 1985, Microsoft introduced "Windows 1.01," the first graphical user interface designed for IBM personal computers. It offered a way to select files and programs using a mouse or the cursor keys, but it would take four years and the release of Windows 3.0 for the appearance of icons and clickable images. My tie shows the IBM PC/AT with a corded mouse, first common around 1987.

6 August 20

On this date in 1935, William Coolidge received a patent for the cathode ray tube, the major display element for televisions, oscilloscopes and many other electronic devices. My tie features personal computers of the "IBM AT" era, in the 1980s-early 1990s, when the hefty monitors were based on cathode ray tubes. In our house, we have one TV left that uses a CRT. It's completely offline because it can't handle digital signals, but it could be hooked up to a DVD player through those old RCA plugs.

12 August 19

Thirty-eight years ago today, International Business Machines introduced the first personal computer, with the operating system PC-DOS 1.0. The original price was $1,565 for a system with what counts today as a very slow processor, miniscule memory and no disk drives. The DOS text-based command line interface persisted through 2000. The computers pictured on my tie are from the "AT" era of the late 1980s. I personally prefer Macintosh computers!

13 August 18

A somewhat-convoluted connection for a computer tie: 1984 should probably be known as the foundational year for personal computers, because both the first Macintosh and the IBM AT were released in January. My tie honors the release of "MS-DOS 3.0" on this date that year, which was the first operating system (for IBM) to support 5.25" floppy disks with 1.2 MB storage -- to be used in AT-class computers (as shown on my tie). Microsoft released "Windows 1.0" in 1985, but Microsoft and IBM continued to develop MS-DOS through version 6.22. And MS-DOS remained inside the Windows operating systems up through Windows 2000/ME.

20 April 17

I have no special event for 20 April, so I'll recap some history to justify wearing this computer-themed tie, "because it's time" to wear it again. In the spring of 1981 -- 36 years ago now -- researchers at CUNY and Yale created BITNET, the "Because It's Time Network," to connect their computer systems via telephone. At this very early stage in networking, files and email messages traveled from one computer to another over prescribed chains of "nodes," and with inconsistent connections it could take hours or days for a single message to arrive at its destination! BITNET was the primary channel for public networking through 1991. My tie features IBM "AT" desktop computers, which were sold from 1984-1987.

29 October 15

Next year maybe I'll find another great occasion for 29 October. This time I'm celebrating the usual Internet tidbit (or should I say tidbyte?) about the very first computer-to-computer electronic communication. As recorded in Wikipedia: "The first message on the ARPANET was sent by UCLA student programmer Charley Kline, at 10:30 pm on 29 October 1969, from Boelter Hall 3420. Kline transmitted from the university's SDS Sigma 7 Host computer to the Stanford Research Institute's SDS 940 Host computer. The message text was the word login; the l and the o letters were transmitted, but the system then crashed. Hence, the literal first message over the ARPANET was lo. About an hour later, having recovered from the crash, the SDS Sigma 7 computer effected a full login."

29 October 13

This is the day when the net-magic all began, 44 years ago, with the first message successfully delivered from one host computer to another. It began with a crash. As described in Wikipedia:

The first message on the ARPANET was sent by UCLA student programmer Charley Kline, at 10:30 pm on 29 October 1969, from Boelter Hall 3420. Kline transmitted from the university's SDS Sigma 7 Host computer to the Stanford Research Institute's SDS 940 Host computer. The message text was the word login; the l and the o letters were transmitted, but the system then crashed. Hence, the literal first message over the ARPANET was lo. About an hour later, having recovered from the crash, the SDS Sigma 7 computer effected a full login.

I have also learned, a bit too late, that yesterday or today is celebrated annually as NATIONAL CHOCOLATE DAY. (Just like every day of the year?)

27 April 11

Happy Birthday, Computer Mouse! Thirty years ago today, Xerox PARC introduced the mobile input device with a tail. Thirty years from now, computer mice will be ancient relics. My tie has computers and mice from the IBM "AT" era, mid-1980s.

13 July 10

I usually resist being categorized as a geek. But on "Embrace Your Inner Geek Day" I think it is appropriate to recall the days in the 1980s when IBM AT computers had hard drives that could hold up to 30 megabytes, and still used 5-1/4" floppy disks (housed in square, black, paperboard frames).

11 September 08

Today was another day to be a computer geek, distributing information about how Information Technology fits into the general EKU project to help faculty identify troubled and troubling students, and deal with them appropriately. We are calling it the Faculty 9-1-1 project because of its focus on dealing with emergency situations, and we held an awareness "drop-in day" on 9/11. During the event my tie was covered up under a bright red T-shirt labeled for the day, but I was still "all about computers."