Tea and computers

Tea and computers

Who knew that the first modern commercial computer was developed by
the Lyons tea shops? Note well, it was developed not just *for*
Lyons, but *by* them:

http :// www .nytimes,com /2008/06/29/technology/29caminer.html?ref=todayspaper

/Lew
---
Lew Perin / perin@acm.org
http :// www .panix,com /~perin/babelcarp.html

Re: Tea and computers

On Jun 29, 11:19 am, Lewis Perin <pe...@panix,com > wrote:
> Who knew that the first modern commercial computer was developed by
> the Lyons tea shops? Note well, it was developed not just *for*
> Lyons, but *by* them:
>
> http :// www .nytimes,com /2008/06/29/technology/29caminer.html?ref=today...
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin / pe...@acm.org http :// www .panix,com /~perin/babelcarp.html

Huh... I never knew that. I'm a computer guy (and have been for 14+
years) and always thought I was pretty well-versed on early computer
history/trivia. Learn something new every day.

I'm always amazed at the strong link between tea drinkers and
computers/science. I know that when I read Mike Petro's bio a few
years back it almost could have been copy/pasted in for my own. A lot
of diverse hobbies and interests as well as a computer/science tie is
almost always the case. I had a waiter the other day who struck up a
conversation with me and it came to tea and he was super knowledgeable
of real teas and was waiting tables due to having trouble finding a
computer job. It's a neat link and probably could be a life's work of
study.

- Dominic

Re: Tea and computers

On 29 juin, 20:01, "Dominic T." <dominictibe...@gmail,com > wrote:
> [...]
>
> I'm always amazed at the strong link between tea drinkers and
> computers/science.
> [...]
> - Dominic

I'm used to drink tea on a daily basis, including at work. As I often
forgot the tea in the tea pot, and as I am a computer guy to, I was
looking for a way to avoid too much bitter tea cups ...

So, I wrote a very small and simple Firefox (which I use very often
when working) Extension to warns me when my tea is ready. I would
really appreciate if some connoisseurs can tell me what they think
about this extension, and if they have some advices to improve it
slightly.

If you are kind enough to do that, you can find it here :
https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/7472

Thanks in advance for any feedback.
--
BBa

Re: Tea and computers

benoitb <benoit.bailleux@gmail,com > writes:

> On 29 juin, 20:01, "Dominic T." <dominictibe...@gmail,com > wrote:
> [...]
> So, I wrote a very small and simple Firefox (which I use very often
> when working) Extension to warns me when my tea is ready. I would
> really appreciate if some connoisseurs can tell me what they think
> about this extension, and if they have some advices to improve it
> slightly.
>
> If you are kind enough to do that, you can find it here :
> https://addons.mozilla.org/fr/firefox/addon/7472
>
> Thanks in advance for any feedback.

It looks nice, but I would have trouble with the steep times, which
for my purposes are long and, what's worse, fixed.

Disclosure: I use a tiny program I wrote myself that beeps a number of
seconds after it's started; the number of seconds gets typed on the
Windows command line. It's kind of stark, but it gets the job done
for me.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin / perin@acm.org
http :// www .panix,com /~perin/babelcarp.html

Re: Tea and computers

On 1 juil, 15:47, Lewis Perin <pe...@panix,com > wrote:
>
> It looks nice, but I would have trouble with the steep times, which
> for my purposes are long and, what's worse, fixed.

Do you mean that :
1. the steep times are way too long, but I don't know where to find a
list of common durations. Have you noticed the option "tonic" that cut
off the times ? Do you think it may be useful ?
2. you would prefer to be able to provide your own prefered steep
times for each variety of tea ?

--
BBa

Re: Tea and computers

benoitb <benoit.bailleux@gmail,com > writes:

> On 1 juil, 15:47, Lewis Perin <pe...@panix,com > wrote:
> >
> > It looks nice, but I would have trouble with the steep times, which
> > for my purposes are long and, what's worse, fixed.
>
> Do you mean that :
> 1. the steep times are way too long, but I don't know where to find a
> list of common durations.

Yes, they're too long for me. But there are other people for whom
they aren't too long, I'm sure.

> Have you noticed the option "tonic" that cut off the times ? Do you
> think it may be useful ?

I noticed it in the screen shot in the documentation, but I don't
understand its purpose. I confess I haven't installed the plugin;
I've only looked over the documentation.

> 2. you would prefer to be able to provide your own prefered steep
> times for each variety of tea ?

For me that would be a minimum. But really, I like to be able to just
tell the program how long it should wait before rousing me. I doubt I
could get used to having a standard duration - even one set by me -
for, say, all green teas. But hey, I'm old-fashioned enough to find
the keyboard more comfortable than the mouse.

/Lew
---
Lew Perin / perin@acm.org
http :// www .panix,com /~perin/babelcarp.html

Re: Tea and computers

I used to use a one-liner which beeped (Unix operating system, in
my .cshrc):

alias tea2 'sleep 120; echo ^G; sleep 2; echo ^G; sleep 2; echo ^G'

and so on for tea2, tea3, tea4, and tea5 (I don't steep longer than 5
minutes,
or if I do I don't bother timing it).

But then I would keep e-mailing, etc., despite the alarm and my tea
would
get stewed. A catastrophe. So I wrote a new one:

alias t2 'sleep 120; mpg123 ~/News/mp3s/SUNARAC.mp3'

where SUNARAC.mp3 is the Red Army Chorus singing the Soviet
(I think, perhaps Russian; the tunes are the same) national anthem.
Works like a charm.

Best,

Rick.

> Disclosure: I use a tiny program I wrote myself that beeps a number of
> seconds after it's started; the number of seconds gets typed on the
> Windows command line. It's kind of stark, but it gets the job done
> for me.
>
> /Lew
> ---
> Lew Perin / pe...@acm.org http :// www .panix,com /~perin/babelcarp.html

Re: Tea and computers

On Jul 1, 4:46 pm, chapp...@biostat.wisc.edu wrote:
> I used to use a one-liner which beeped (Unix operating system, in
> my .cshrc):
>
> alias tea2 'sleep 120; echo ^G; sleep 2; echo ^G; sleep 2; echo ^G'
>
> and so on for tea2, tea3, tea4, and tea5 (I don't steep longer than 5
> minutes,
> or if I do I don't bother timing it).
>
> But then I would keep e-mailing, etc., despite the alarm and my tea
> would
> get stewed.  A catastrophe.  So I wrote a new one:
>
> alias t2 'sleep 120; mpg123   ~/News/mp3s/SUNARAC.mp3'
>
> where SUNARAC.mp3 is the Red Army Chorus singing the Soviet
> (I think, perhaps Russian; the tunes are the same) national anthem.
> Works like a charm.
>
> Best,
>
> Rick.
>
> > Disclosure: I use a tiny program I wrote myself that beeps a number of
> > seconds after it's started; the number of seconds gets typed on the
> > Windows command line.  It's kind of stark, but it gets the job done
> > for me.
>
> > /Lew
> > ---
> > Lew Perin / pe...@acm.org http :// www .panix,com /~perin/babelcarp.html


I made I think a very nice GUI wxpython app that's very handy not only
for
regular tea timing but also for gong-fu timing because you can define
presets
in advance for 30sec, 45s, 1:00, 1:15, etc using any times, and there
are a few
rows of buttons that can be setup like that. That makes it very
convenient for
gong-fu when you're doing a dozen or more steeps. Unfortunately I
almost never
do gong-fu but I find this app still very useful for regular tea
timing, as well. I can
also quickly type in custom time in the main gui windows. Here it is:

http :// lightbird,net /ptimer/

Re: Tea and computers

On Jul 2, 2:45 am, Rainy <andrei....@gmail,com > wrote:
> On Jul 1, 4:46 pm, chapp...@biostat.wisc.edu wrote:
>
>
>
> > I used to use a one-liner which beeped (Unix operating system, in
> > my .cshrc):
>
> > alias tea2 'sleep 120; echo ^G; sleep 2; echo ^G; sleep 2; echo ^G'
>
> > and so on for tea2, tea3, tea4, and tea5 (I don't steep longer than 5
> > minutes,
> > or if I do I don't bother timing it).
>
> > But then I would keep e-mailing, etc., despite the alarm and my tea
> > would
> > get stewed. A catastrophe. So I wrote a new one:
>
> > alias t2 'sleep 120; mpg123 ~/News/mp3s/SUNARAC.mp3'
>
> > where SUNARAC.mp3 is the Red Army Chorus singing the Soviet
> > (I think, perhaps Russian; the tunes are the same) national anthem.
> > Works like a charm.
>
> > Best,
>
> > Rick.
>
> > > Disclosure: I use a tiny program I wrote myself that beeps a number of
> > > seconds after it's started; the number of seconds gets typed on the
> > > Windows command line. It's kind of stark, but it gets the job done
> > > for me.
>
> > > /Lew
> > > ---
> > > Lew Perin / pe...@acm.org http :// www .panix,com /~perin/babelcarp.html
>
> I made I think a very nice GUI wxpython app that's very handy not only
> for
> regular tea timing but also for gong-fu timing because you can define
> presets
> in advance for 30sec, 45s, 1:00, 1:15, etc using any times, and there
> are a few
> rows of buttons that can be setup like that. That makes it very
> convenient for
> gong-fu when you're doing a dozen or more steeps. Unfortunately I
> almost never
> do gong-fu but I find this app still very useful for regular tea
> timing, as well. I can
> also quickly type in custom time in the main gui windows. Here it is:
>
> http :// lightbird,net /ptimer/

Dear Tea Lovers,

Heard of the famous human computer and Mathematician Shakuntala Devi?
One of her famous quotes, which I read in a book by visionary Vijay
Dudeja goes thus:-
"Every time I challenge a computer, I drink a cup of Tea...."

Tea Cheers!
Jayesh S Pandya.

Re: Tea and computers

In message <pc7hcbcw9o3.fsf@panix1.panix,com >, Lewis Perin
<perin@panix,com > writes
>Who knew that the first modern commercial computer was developed by
>the Lyons tea shops? Note well, it was developed not just *for*
>Lyons, but *by* them:
>
> http :// www .nytimes,com /2008/06/29/technology/29caminer.html?ref=todayspaper
>
>/Lew
>---
>Lew Perin / perin@acm.org
> http :// www .panix,com /~perin/babelcarp.html
Well I did for one.

Lyons were certainly a prime mover and the first to implement a
commercial computer system but they didn't develop the actual machine
themselves.

LEO 3 was also used by Dept of National Savings.

I can recall in the late 60s/early 70s they decided to order more LEOs
rather than update to ICL System 4.

There was a witch hunt around the company for all those who had ever
worked on Leo and they were dragged of kicking and screaming to
commission the new machines.

They then discovered that they had recently had a clear out at the
production factory and all the jigs for the metal work and been sold off
to a scrap dealer, so they had to go and buy them back.
--
hugh
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