At my present job site the motto is 'Christopher Columbus eat your heart
out!" Think about it. Nothing but a sort of compass and a backstaff. No
idea of longitude and never mind what's on the weather channel. Today we
rely heavily on the satellite and computerized weather systems in doing
route planning. Want a good ride just download the 500 mb chart and stay 500
miles or so south of the heavy 564mb line. No weather fax? Just tune in the
right radio broadcast. On the faster ships we get warning way in advance
and just move out of the way. Slower vessels such as our sailing yachts
still get plenty of detailed warning compared to 'way back when." But you
rR\eally have to respect those early Irish, Norse, and other sailing folk
who relied on nothing more than skill and memorized stories to cross oceans.
Respect them for venturing offshore but . ......trade in my sextant for a
backstaff? No way!

M.


"Jonathan Ganz" wrote in message
...
Why do you think he would scoff at a GPS? Cell phone for sure, but
seems to me he would think the GPS is a practical device.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 13:15:33 -0700, "Jonathan Ganz"

wrote:

I would think he'd be amazed at the new technology and use
it. Don't you? .. at least the GPS and compass.

He'd laugh at the notion that having a GPS and Cell phone on board might
be
"spartan".

And I'm pretty sure Slocum had a compass - or several.

BB

I remember not even having a computer and using an IBM Selectric to write
mail for the snail to deliver. at - .00015 baud....

--
katysails
s/v Chanteuse
Kirie Elite 32
http://katysails.tripod.com

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein



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by his book he had a timepiece
gf.

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 13:15:33 -0700, "Jonathan Ganz"

wrote:

I would think he'd be amazed at the new technology and use
it. Don't you? .. at least the GPS and compass.

He'd laugh at the notion that having a GPS and Cell phone on board might
be
"spartan".

And I'm pretty sure Slocum had a compass - or several.

BB

First high capacity hard drive our store sold was to a programmer. His
business ponied up a bit over a $1,000 for it. How much capacity? 80MB.
That's it. Myfirst computer, the Kaypro had 64K RAM and two DSDD 360k FD.
One more. Our store was the first in the state to sell laser printers for
under $1,000 and our first full bed b&w scanner was purchased wholesale to
us for about the same amount. And the original Kaypro with daisy wheel for
the nice stuff and dot matrix wide carraige ran $2,000 for everything. That
was in 1983, just 21 years ago. We had the first BB in our store on a 20mb
HD. Not much but it got folks started. Phone company wanted to charge us
an extra line and by the minute. But they were up for franchise renewal,
had Sprint to compete with and I was on the city council. . . . . . .

Now my wris****ch has more computing power than that first Kaypro ....

What's next insight? A badge or somethingsimilar. You touch it and say,
"Computer!"


"Jonathan Ganz" wrote in message
...
Yeh, I had similar. The first modem I bought was $450 and was good
up to 1200 baud. I thought it was a fantastic deal and quite cutting
edge at the time. (I had been using the expensive crap at work.) My
first HD was a whopping 17 megs. That also cost about $500. Nothing
but trouble. It was external since I couldn't fit in the box, but the
cables
were a couple of inches too long and it was always flaking due to
signal degradation.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Michael" wrote in message
...
Kaypro with 65K and 300 baud modem. Hard drive was separate and as big
as
a
shoebox.

"Jonathan Ganz" wrote in message
...
Well that figures.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Horvath" wrote in message
...
On 23 Jul 2004 12:23:06 -0500, Dave wrote this
crap:

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 10:28:21 GMT, "Scout"
said:

My first connection was just 1200 bps (bulletin boards).

Ah, such a child. My first was at the then state of the art speed
of
300.


The first time I connected to the internet with my OWN computer, was
a
Commodore VIC-20, at 300 baud.





Pathetic Earthlings! No one can save you now!

Why do you think he would scoff at a GPS? Cell phone for sure, but
seems to me he would think the GPS is a practical device.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 13:15:33 -0700, "Jonathan Ganz"

wrote:

I would think he'd be amazed at the new technology and use
it. Don't you? .. at least the GPS and compass.

He'd laugh at the notion that having a GPS and Cell phone on board might
be
"spartan".

And I'm pretty sure Slocum had a compass - or several.

BB

well, when I was a kid, it was sooo cold that we had to thaw our words out
before we could hear them!
Scout

"katysails" wrote in message
...
I remember not even having a computer and using an IBM Selectric to write
mail for the snail to deliver. at - .00015 baud....

--
katysails
s/v Chanteuse
Kirie Elite 32
http://katysails.tripod.com

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein



---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
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why would he scoff at a cell phone even? It's pretty handy for all but long
passages.
Scout

"Jonathan Ganz" wrote in message
...
Why do you think he would scoff at a GPS? Cell phone for sure, but
seems to me he would think the GPS is a practical device.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 13:15:33 -0700, "Jonathan Ganz"

wrote:

I would think he'd be amazed at the new technology and use
it. Don't you? .. at least the GPS and compass.

He'd laugh at the notion that having a GPS and Cell phone on board might
be
"spartan".

And I'm pretty sure Slocum had a compass - or several.

BB

Add a decade or so . . ..

"Jonathan Ganz" wrote in message
...
You have to touch it?? You have to say it? I would prefer to just
think it. :-)

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Michael" wrote in message
...
First high capacity hard drive our store sold was to a programmer. His
business ponied up a bit over a $1,000 for it. How much capacity?
80MB.
That's it. Myfirst computer, the Kaypro had 64K RAM and two DSDD 360k
FD.
One more. Our store was the first in the state to sell laser printers
for
under $1,000 and our first full bed b&w scanner was purchased wholesale
to
us for about the same amount. And the original Kaypro with daisy wheel
for
the nice stuff and dot matrix wide carraige ran $2,000 for everything.
That
was in 1983, just 21 years ago. We had the first BB in our store on a
20mb
HD. Not much but it got folks started. Phone company wanted to charge
us
an extra line and by the minute. But they were up for franchise
renewal,
had Sprint to compete with and I was on the city council. . . . . . .

Now my wris****ch has more computing power than that first Kaypro ....

What's next insight? A badge or somethingsimilar. You touch it and
say,
"Computer!"


"Jonathan Ganz" wrote in message
...
Yeh, I had similar. The first modem I bought was $450 and was good
up to 1200 baud. I thought it was a fantastic deal and quite cutting
edge at the time. (I had been using the expensive crap at work.) My
first HD was a whopping 17 megs. That also cost about $500. Nothing
but trouble. It was external since I couldn't fit in the box, but the
cables
were a couple of inches too long and it was always flaking due to
signal degradation.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Michael" wrote in message
...
Kaypro with 65K and 300 baud modem. Hard drive was separate and as
big
as
a
shoebox.

"Jonathan Ganz" wrote in message
...
Well that figures.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"Horvath" wrote in message
...
On 23 Jul 2004 12:23:06 -0500, Dave wrote
this
crap:

On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 10:28:21 GMT, "Scout"

said:

My first connection was just 1200 bps (bulletin boards).

Ah, such a child. My first was at the then state of the art
speed
of
300.


The first time I connected to the internet with my OWN computer,
was
a
Commodore VIC-20, at 300 baud.





Pathetic Earthlings! No one can save you now!

all too true - of course, Thor Heyerdahl would laugh even harder at both of
us!
Scout

wrote in message
...
On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 22:44:04 -0700, "Jonathan Ganz"

wrote:

Why do you think he would scoff at a GPS? Cell phone for sure, but
seems to me he would think the GPS is a practical device.

I don't think he would scoff at a GPS or a Cell phone if he were alive
today.
But to hear a "modern" sailor call these items spartan, compared to what
he had
available would make him bust a gut for sure.

BB

Thor Heyerdahl would laugh even harder at both of
us!
Scout

Ah, good old Thor...he died a while back....I read all his books when I was
a kid and he inspired us to make the telephone pole sailing barge that took
3 days to sink....
--
katysails
s/v Chanteuse
Kirie Elite 32
http://katysails.tripod.com

"Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax
and get used to the idea." - Robert A. Heinlein



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Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
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