Community Chat

[tansy]

I have a cheap Tracphone Apple6 iPhone, in case anyone cares.  Probably as cheap as maintaining an old flip phone😏

What brought on this tech rant?

[SeaMaiden]

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@Drythe wrote:

@SeaMaiden 

No beating here... for anyone who hasn’t read, or seen, please take a moment to read about the women behind the computers at NASA.

 Go women!!

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@Drythe   THAT was what I was thinking about when I stated about going to the moon. 

[patbz]

@Drythe :  Not to diminish the role of black women ( and other races) in race to space but surely you realize Hidden Figures deliberately highlighted one group of women to make a point.  These hidden figures made their contributions prior to 1962 when IBM won the contract to install a mainframe computer at NASA.  The movie made reference to John Glenn and his faith in Helen Johnson; Glenn orbited the earth prior to 1962 (I think it was actually 1961).

[AngelPuppy1]

I know what you mean.  We did school without phones or tablets (electronic ones) or computers.  We had regular textbooks and I feel we all got really good educations!  If we needed to be reached, the school office and personnel had phones and easily got ahold of us!  

Back in the day, when malls were where we all went to shop and were actually fun places to go and socialize (I still think they are great if you can find them), if you were out and needed to make calls, you had little phone kiosks.  Phone booths were all over the place, too!  And we all did just fine!  Was it as convenient --- well, no, not all the time, but none of us knew any better and we survived!  

I do think the cell phone thing has gone way beyond what is necessary and I know I am old school, but I don't see where kids need to have them at school.  Just another distraction, really.  And what about parents who really can't afford the expensive phones --- another thing to make kids feel different from the other kids who do have them. 

DH and I were talking the other day and we both said, we miss the 60's and 70's and said, no way in the world would we want to be growing up in this day and age!  

[haddon9]

Sometimes I do wonder how we managed...no computers meant going to the library to research school projects and papers.  No cell phone meant using a pay phone to let my parents know I was okay if I were out late. No GPS meant reading a paper map to figure out how to get places.....seems so long ago!

ETA:  I do have an iPhone and use it a lot.  It's great for: texting quick messages to my kids & friends when I need to say something without having to make a call, great for banking, checking the weather and GPS among other things.  I also have a small online business so it's great for quick business communications and transactions.

[tototwo]

Ya know, when I was in school, if we'd had cell phones, they would've called it "cheating."   And it is.   Instead of spending hours and hours in the library going thru encyclopedias and taking notes, I could've just googled my term papers and reports.  Copy and paste a paragraph here and there.

And yes, back in the day of early space travel, they hired mathematicians and other "humans" to double-check the computers.   We've come a long way, Baby - and we probably wouldn't be where we're at without technology and computers.  But sometimes I force myself to use my brain, just for exercise.

[Spurt]

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@SeaMaiden wrote:

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@Marp wrote:

Excerpt from:   space.com/26630-apollo-11-vintage-tech-innovations.html

Computers

While the Apollo missions are best remembered for the computers the astronauts operated, there were several other important computers used for the mission. One example is the Saturn V computer that was used to guide the rocket into Earth orbit, automatically. NASA also had large computers on the ground that it could use for things like navigation corrections.

On lunar missions, however, the bulk of the attention was focused on the command module computer and the lunar module computers. The CM was in charge of navigating the crew between the Earth and the moon, while the LM did landings, ascents and rendezvous, according to NASA.

The CM and the LM each had a computer (with different software, but the same design) called the Primary Guidance, Navigation, and Control System (PGNCS, pronounced "pings"). The LM also had a computer which was a part of the Abort Guidance System, to give a backup if the PGNCS failed during the landing.

"Ground systems backed up the CM computer and its associated guidance system so that if the CM system failed, the spacecraft could be guided manually based on data transmitted from the ground," NASA stated. "If contact with the ground were lost, the CM system had autonomous return capability."

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@Marp  I believe most of the earlier calculations were done by hand ...and then IBM came out with their mammoth sized computers. 

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@SeaMaiden 

The movie "Hidden Figures" was fascinating, Katherine Johnson, the NASA Mathematician did all those manual calculations what a mind ----a brilliant and amazing woman as were all the others at NASA....

[Sooner]

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@SilleeMee wrote:

I believe there will be a day, in the distant future, where education will be a matter of downloading info into our brains...no schooling needed. 

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@SilleeMee It's been happening for a while now and it's nothing new.  It is brainwashing and propaganda.  It's been around a long time, only we now call it curriculum.

[Spurt]

Technology has its pros and cons--- Information is available at our finger tips, we can talk and even see  anyone in the world or even in outer space.....

But yes @SeaMaiden  some take their use of smart phones/technology/social media too far, it can become an addiction---theres now even a term for it---"nomophobia".......

The devices can calcuate and think for us, but without the device one becomes clueless...so there's a danger there ---what's the saying---if you dont use it, you lose it.  It could also dampen imagination and creativity since the electronics do all the thinking

There's also lost productivity for companies/employers with workers wasting work time on their phones/social media.

It can be tough for teachers when kids arent paying attention and are on their phones/electronics---And if a teacher tells them to put the phone up the kid balks,  creates a scene, parents are called and they back the kid up....no win situation for teachers!

But some parents give their kids a phone so they can call to tell the parents to pick them up after sports practice or an after school activity....Or if the kids walk home, they have a phone for safety and a way to call for help if needed. There have been incidents in our city where a stranger approached a kid and tried to lure them into a car ......

It's like everything else there's good and bad about technology and advancements.....

[caroln242]

I remember, way back when I was working as a secretary, my boss mentioned to me that our department was getting computers.  I was terrified!  I had never used a computer in my life and the idea of having to learn just freaked me out.   I quit before the computers were installed, not because of that though.  Just a better job.

Then in the mid '80s, I had a job where I was required to use computers, and also to do all the daily back ups in this huge temperature controlled computer room.  Why they trusted me to do that, I have no idea to this day.  I had absolutely no computer training whatsoever.

Fast forward to 1995, I purchased my first PC which came with Windows 95.  From the first time I heard the Windows "tones", I was hooked.  I felt like I was transported to the Star Trek future.

Then came cell phones and I got a flip phone.  Used it for years until it died and I decided to upgrade to an Android phone.   Took me FOREVER to figure it out and I still can't figure out some of the features.  I have to ask my daughter and grandkids how to do things on it.

So I finally became computer literate but I'm in a continuous learning curve on my phone!

Sorry, didn't mean for this to be such a long post.  I just started thinking about my technology journey through life and kept on typing!