Same here. Old enough to remember when your signature on a credit card receipt would be given a quick look to compare it to the scrawl on the back of the card. If this was still being done I’d probably fail 50% of the transactions I attempt.
Nobody has checked the back of my credit card for the presence of a signature in decades, let alone whether the signature matches. (I also haven't bothered to sign my credit card for this reason, but also because why would I want somebody to have my actual signature if my card is stolen?) These days my "signature" on a credit card purchase is usually a smiley face. Nobody has ever complained.
Yup, it’s been decades - I remember it happening with the carbon copy imprinting devices and it may have been more common in the US rural South where I was working at the time. The squiggles I fingerpaint on checkout screens now are my version of your smiley face.
Back in the 90’s Perl was about the only scripting platform that gave you access to host commands and info as well as the ability to connect to databases running on that host. Part of bringing up a Solaris host for Oracle always started with a visit to sunfreeware.com to get a version of Perl compatible with the latest DBI/DBD and enhanced email CPAN modules. I abused the backtick feature heavily.
“Flipping burgers…”. This made me laugh because it is so true. My last involvement in interviewing candidates was for a position for an ETL developer. One of the other team members who was part of the interviewer schedule proudly announced that he had discovered a great source of tricky SQL puzzles that he intended to use. My comments were along the lines of “you do you, but I’m more interested in how someone would generally approach the 3 or 4 categories of tasks they will be routinely doing day-to-day”.
Years ago I decided to take the Lake Shore Limited from Albany to Chicago for a business trip just to have a different experience. Two things I didn’t expect:
1. It was very difficult to get pre-approved for the expense because my employer’s process had to make sure I wasn’t costing them extra money. Somehow this was not an issue with plane tickets.
2. Overnight stops interrupted my sleep (in seat) as boarders banged luggage around and discussed seat selection when groups were involved.
Interesting, but would book a room if traveling this way next time.
This brought back some memories. Back in the day I couldn't afford the Aztec compiler (or it wouldn't fit onto my dual floppy 48K Heathkit H89, can't remember which). I ended up buying Leor Zolman's BDS C compiler. Just looked him up and it looks like he's still around!
I have always asked the first part of your first question, but it never occurred to me to ask the second part as a follow-up. It reveals a lot about a manager - if there isn’t a thoughtful answer that’s a red flag for me.
Years ago he was a guest lecturer for a class I was taking from Scott Bradner - as you said, incredibly nice an approachable guy. I could have listened to him for another hour or two.
We would have loved nothing more than to talk to him for hours. He was already calling in from England while on his vacation, so I didn't want to take any more of his time, haha!
7-Eleven’s will vary. Some are closer to the Japanese model, but in my experience the ones in the typical PTT/Amazon coffee/KFC clusters are more like their US counterparts than not.
Edit: should add except for an absence of overall sketchiness
I think CMoA acquired the contents of David Larsen’s museum in Floyd, VA. Larsen was one of the authors of the Bugbook series and the museum was kind of a snapshot of the mid to late 70’s micro scene. I’m glad the Apple I didn’t end up in a Goodwill bin somewhere.
Yes, this is still a thing. Last year I installed Linux on an old laptop to use while traveling in SE Asia. Had problems with TD Bank because of this, complicated by my account needing SMS to the US number for the extra verification.
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