Skip to main content

It is only when they go wrong that machines remind you how powerful they are.


Ezra takes over the world! Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery, Hobart. February 2012.

Those of you logging in today this merry Theme Thursday expecting me to wax lyrical about the distribution of a characteristic of a physical system or phenomenon, or a graphic or photographic representation of such a distribution or indeed list a broad sequence or range of related qualities, ideas, or activities will be sorely dissatisfied!

When I here the word SPECTRUM I think about a computer system that I have never seen in person, let alone used or owned. Yes, the Sinclair ZX SPECTRUM! To explain, we must travel back to the heady days of 1986...

NASA needed another seven astronauts; we were all let down by Halley's Comet; and we all suddenly discovered an obscure little place called the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant. Unlike the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, we had a Commodore 64 home computer. At the time, the terminally slow cassette drive did not worry us (although we coveted floppy disks in secret). In retrospect the fifteen minute load time to have another three-second crack at dying in Dragon's Lair just does not seem worth it.

But you see, it could have been worse… It could have been a SPECTRUM. The SPECTRUM gave me perspective. The SPECTRUM gave me hope.
Labels:

Comments

smudgeon said…
Ah yes, the Spectrum. Clive Sinclair might have been a genius (apparently) & the Spectrum a phenomenon in the UK, but I don't think you can even pick them up for 50c at the Salvos down here...
8 March 2012 at 16:01
JANU said…
Nice take.
8 March 2012 at 23:32
Kris McCracken said…
Smudgeon, these things were wonderful at the time but I confess that I have as much enthusiasm to go back and play the C64 as I do have surgery sans anaesthetic!

Janeki, cheers!
9 March 2012 at 11:50
4U2 said…
A different way to take a picture in ... spectrum. Nice!
9 March 2012 at 19:13
Roddy said…
When I see the word spectrum I think of the broad range of colours in a prism.
9 March 2012 at 20:57
Mrsupole said…
I went to visit the link for the Spectrum last night and after watching it I think I fell asleep at the computer. I vaguely remember getting up and going to bed. I truly cannot remember ever seeing that and so was a little strange to see it.

When I was in college we had a computer that took up the whole basement of one of the largest buildings there. We were so amazed in that we could play multilevel tic tac toe with it. We had to move all the pieces and then input where we moved our pieces but it was truly amazing. Plus we rarely would beat it and there could be over 20 of us playing against it.

I have heard that the C64's are collectors items and worth a lot of money nowadays.

Happy TT and a great take on the Spectrum prompt.

God bless.
9 March 2012 at 23:33
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Mad as hell

So there I was, arm hooked up to the machine, watching my plasma swirl away into a bag while the morning news dribbled across the screen like a bad fever dream. And what were they showing? A "riot" in Melbourne, allegedly. The sort of riot where the real thugs wear body armour, carry pepper spray and look like they just walked off the set of RoboCop. The people they were beating? A ragtag crew of teenagers and old hippies—probably fresh out of a drum circle, still smelling of patchouli. But sure, let's call it a riot. Now, here's where it really gets good. I mentioned this spectacle to a few people later, thinking maybe they'd share my outrage or, at the very least, give a damn. But no. What did I get instead? A smirk, a chuckle, and—oh, the pièce de résistance—"You should really just let it go." Let it go? Yeah, let me uncork a nice, overpriced cup of coffee, sit back with my legs crossed, and soak in the latest reality TV trash. Why bother caring when ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Hold me now, oh hold me now, until this hour has gone around. And I'm gone on the rising tide, to face Van Dieman's Land

Theme Thursday again, and this one is rather easy. I am Tasmanian, you see, and aside from being all around general geniuses - as I have amply described previously - we are also very familiar with the concept of WATER. Tasmania is the ONLY island state of an ISLAND continent. That means, we're surrounded by WATER. That should help explain why I take so many photographs of water . Tasmania was for a long time the place where the British (an island race terrified of water) sent their poor people most vile and horrid criminals. The sort of folk who would face the stark choice of a death sentence , or transportation to the other end of the world. Their catalogue of crimes is horrifying : stealing bread assault stealing gentlemen's handkerchiefs drunken assault being poor affray ladies being overly friendly with gentlemen for money hitting people having a drink and a laugh public drunkenness being Irish Fenian terrorist activities being Catholic religious subversion. ...
62 comments
Read more

Something unpleasant is coming when men are anxious to tell the truth.

This is the moon. Have I mentioned how much I adore the zoom on my camera? It's Theme Thursday you see, and after last week's limp effort, I have been thinking about how I might redeem myself. Then I clicked on the topic and discover that it was BUTTON. We've been hearing a lot about the moon in the past couple of weeks. Apparently some fellas went up there and played golf and what-not forty-odd years ago. The desire to get to the moon, however, was not simply about enhancing opportunities for Meg and Mog titles and skirting local planning by-laws in the construction of new and innovative golf courses. No, all of your Sputniks , "One small steps" and freeze dried ice cream was about one thing , and one thing only : MAD Now, I don't mean mad in terms of "bloke breaks record for number of scorpions he can get up his bum", no I mean MAD as in Mutual assured destruction . When I was a young man you see, there was a lot of talk about the type of m...
50 comments
Read more