Readers Remember
Our grandson enjoys using our computer. I told him he is fortunate that his retired grandfather was a computer specialist, because most senior citizens don’t have computers. He looked shocked and questioned what senior citizens do all day. How do they send mail or look up information without computers?
I said each morning they brush their teeth and eat their breakfasts. They shop, visit friends, read books, play cards, eat meals, attend movies and concerts. If they wish to research a subject, they consult an encyclopedia or visit a library. They dial the telephone to speak to someone. They glue stamps on envelopes that contain handwritten letters.
He murmured he is happy he lives in 1999.
ESTHER JAFFE KAPLINSKY
Los Angeles
*
My first job right out of college in 1951 was with Northrop Aircraft in Hawthorne, in a small group experimenting with digital technology as a replacement for analog fire control computers. Eleven months later the group was sold to the Bendix Corp.
Soon a program was started to produce and market a more general-purpose digital computer based upon a design by Harry Huskey. The final design (the Bendix G-15) was about the size of two five-drawer file cabinets side by side, weighed 500 pounds and was priced at $49,500.
Late in 1954, I installed one in Huskey’s home nears UC Berkeley--possibly the world’s first home computer.
LOWELL S. MICHELS
Los Angeles
*
The editors of The Times thank all the readers who so enriched the “Stories That Shaped the Century” series with their important and meaningful memories. More than 2,000 people submitted personal stories; we were able to publish only a tiny fraction of those.
