The Class of '57, Computers, And Y2K
By Cecil Houk
This is the 5th in a series about The Class of '57. There were no PC's in 1957, and wouldn't be for nearly 3 decades. Mainframe computers were rare. The transistor was jut becoming available to the public (the CK-722 junction transistor). The only digital equipment we had was the fingers on our hands. The closest things to a calculator we had were adding machines and slide rules. Although the Y2K (the year 2000), problem has its roots in early efforts to conserve computer code and memory, who could have known it would create the situation we now face, on the day that the Class of '57 graduated?
To see and read more of my articles about Sweet Home see my I remember ... series.
I could not resist this topic, and who knows, it could have been some of the class of '57 that contributed to the Y2K bug that resides in many computers today. For that last person who doesn't know what the Y2K bug is.... Until recently most computers used only 2 digits for the year when recording and dealing with dates. This was okay in the beginning, but with the year 2000 just around the corner many computers will think that the date is January 1, 1900, at 1 second past midnight on December 31, 1999.
When we enrolled in 1st grade in 1945 we headed down the path to education that would last 12 years for most of us - a little longer for others. Our computers were our brains. With pencil and paper (and a little help from our fingers), we learned math. I still have some of the papers my brother did when he was in the 1st grade at Foster. By the way, I still count on my fingers now and then.
I have no idea why Mrs. Marker (his teacher), put a red star on his paper; he did get a hundred. It should have been a gold star. This is also an example of things done on the hectograph.
In the photo below you can see the rear of the original school building in Foster. The lady in the photo was one of my brother's teachers. I cannot put an exact date on this picture, but the view is to the west. I believe that the church on the other side of the shool house is still there.
The student group photo (see part 2), was taken on the front steps of this building. The building faced South, and had only two classrooms. Mrs. Marker didn't have to drive to school because she lived just across the street from the school.
I don't know where it is now, but when I was attending SHUHS (now SHHS), there was a monster slide rule hanging on the wall in one of the classrooms. If you are still using your slip stick you have nothing to worry about because it doesn't care what the date is.
I have no idea where this slide rule came from, but I've had it for at least 30 years. In the image above it is set to multiply 2 times 2. The arrow on the left is pointing to where the 1 on the "B" scale is moved to "point" at the first 2 on the "A" scale. The arrow on the right is pointing at the cursor moved to the second 2 on the "B" scale, and the result is now read on the "A" scale; 4.
I'm sure the rest of the class of '57 remembers as little as I do about this nifty little gadget.
I'm certain that there are many people of the class of '57 (and others of that generation), who think they're safe from the Y2K bug because they don't use computers - and never will. NOT! Unless you are a hermit, living totally off the land, you may very well be effected by this glitch. Right now some machines that read the magnetic stripe on credit cards will reject cards that expire in the year 2000 and beyond. The machines are gradually being replaced, but some banks are not issuing new cards that expire later than December 1999. Take a look at your check book. Look where you write the date. If it has this on it "Date_______________19_____"; you may have a problem with your bank. If your checks look like the one below you probably have nothing to worry about.
Not to throw gasoline on the fire, but some experts are saying that because our electricity generating stations and distibution systems are all controlled by computers we face a nation wide blackout at midnight December 31, 1999. You are cautioned to not be in an elevator, hospital, or airplane at that time.
I have no idea as to what will happen January 1, 2000. We started without PC's, but now many of us have them; some will never touch a keyboard, and I feel sorry for them. They don't know what they're missing about the rest of the class of '57.
I guess that we can all relax now that January 1, 2000 is long past.
part 1
part 2
part 3
part 4
part 6
part 7
The Pictures
San Diego CA
SHUHS Class of '57
