So who invented what?

Earlier this week I linked to a Globe and Mail story that stated a Canadian had invented the first personal computer.

But the MCM-70 Microcomputer, unveiled by Micro Computer Machines 30 years ago today and built at least four years before the Apple, has been recognized as the first of its kind in a recent issue of IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, a respected journal based in the United States.

With only two to eight kilobytes of random access memory and 14 kilobytes of read-only memory, the computer’s capacity was small compared with the megabyte-rich machines we have today.

It was the size of a typical typewriter of that time and used a cassette tape instead of a floppy disk to store data.

But it was “capable of running many useful applications,” said Zbigniew Stachniak, author of the article and an associate professor at York University.

It appears the Globe and Mail may have the facts wrong. I got an email today from the curator of the Nova Scotia Computer Museum.

The first personal computer was the Kenbak-1 built by John Blankenbaker of California in 1971. I’m the curator of the Nova Scotia Computer Museum. We specialize in early Personal Computers and host the biggest collection of Kenbak-1s in the world. If you are interested in this matter I can give you more detailed information.
I don’t want to take anything away from Mers Kutt – he was a great inventor
- but we can’t say a Canadian invented the PC if it is not true.

Several attempts by the museum to get the Globe and Mail to pay attention have been iqnored. I’m happy to put this information up and let the academics and historians figure it out.
If you’d like more information from the museum, email me and I’ll pass it on.

There is an announcement over at Superblessed today.

Killing Comment Spam
Cre8d linked up to this post on how to kill comment spam. I get very little, I’ve had a couple of ‘christian’ ones, and a penis enlargement comment get into the archives the other day. My tech and server people are very good at what they do, and I’m grateful.
I keep the tone on my email on so I can check comments quickly when I’m off doing other things. This is my blog and I believe I am responsible to myself and my readers to keep this place as clutter-spam free as possible. Rachel is referring to bloggers who use other blogs comments sections, overloading them with links to their blogs to boost their Google ranking.
Comments sections require care, attention and common sense.

“Vandalism experts note that one of the best ways to combat graffiti and other forms of vandalism is to clean it up immediately.”

Revenue Canada has some s’plaining to do

I could understand on some level if Revenue Canada computers were hacked.
What I can’t understand is how thieves can do a smash and grab and make off with computers containing personal data on 120 thousand Canadians.
Why do I get the sense these employee errors are probably common?
Revenue Canada minister Elinor Caplin has had to step in on this one.
Hello Revenue Canada personnel. You work with sensitive data as civil servants.
Pay attention, ok?

Eugene Peterson
In the interview with Eugene Peterson in Christianity Today yesterday, two things caught my attention.
In speaking about congruence (the alignment of who you are and what you do, the harmony of the ends you seek and the means you use to achieve them) Peterson prefers that word to integrity.
He points out two areas the American church has lost it’s way.

The deeper problem, Peterson said, is that two things that are basic to the Christian life run counter to the American ethos. First, the Christian life is not about us, but about God. It is not like giving ourselves a makeover. “We’re in on it, but we’re not the subject or the action,” Peterson said. Ever notice how in the Bible, we always come in after a preposition? God with us, in us, for us. In an individualistic, commercial culture, where the self is the center of everything, an autonomous agent of transformation, we have lost this grammar of shalom—what Peterson called “prepositional participation.”

In an implusive and stressed society his second point also rings true.

The second principle of the Christian life that runs against the grain of American culture, Peterson said, is that the ways and means must be appropriate to the ends. “We can’t participate in God’s work if we insist on doing it our own way.” He cited two examples of “doing the right thing the wrong way”: congregation and Scripture. We consider both to be our matters, not God’s. Instead of forming communities that embody self-denial, sacrifice, and patience for God to become present in them, we form “consumer churches,” using commercial methods to attract people and cater to their wants. And rather than reading Scripture as a way of “listening to God revealing God,” we treat it as information for us to process to become more successful and enlightened people.

I had a long chat the other night with a minister and stumbled badly over what bothers me about western christianity. I think Peterson has the words I lack.

Reading the Bible
I read a lot of god-blogs where the blogger really wrestles with how to ‘read’/'study’ the bible, what bible translation to use, how to interpret, etc, etc, etc. I get weary just reading the struggles between what people hear their minister or leader say versus where they are at and where they are going. A lot of believers are tortured and guilt ridden about the ‘how.’ connexions has a good post up on how to approach the bible, and it isn’t nearly as complicated as most people make it out to be.

Blog Quiz!
Are you a Blogaholic?
In the interest of fair disclosure I scored 40/100.
Stats are up on the result page on how many have taken the test and where you place….a tongue in cheek reminder that blogging is fun, and not a good hobby for megalomaniacs. :^)