The 2018 Golden Globe Race

[jack_sparrow]

If you’re ever there, it’s worth seeing the world’s first chip - the Jack Kilby-designed 1958 one, the famous “flying wires” design (http://smithsonianchips.si.edu/augarten/i6.htm)...and compare to Noyce’s slightly later elegant planar process design...https://www.edn.com/electronics-blogs/edn-moments/4412805/Noyce-receives-1st-IC-patent--April-25--1961-

Cant remember how many individual transistors have been made to fit on a chip now - over a billion... View attachment 279139

Fabulous place requiring many visits to appreciate it all. Science and Technology and Maritime museums are my favourite touring haunts.

Kilby was working for Texas Instruments when he came up with that. Noyce who subsequently got the patent first worked for a guy called William Shockley (who was jointly awarded the 1956 Nobel Prize in Physics for research on semiconductors) but left with a bunch of engineers  to create Fairchild Semiconductor and where he was when patent was awarded. After suing each other Texas Instruments and Fairchild then shared the spoils. Shockley while a prolific securer of patents never profited to the extent others did, however it is acknowledged he is the one who brought silicon to Silicon Valley.

Seems like it was a very incestious business back then.

Everyone automatically thinks the Integrated Circuit gave birth to the personnel computer which indeed it did however remember most universities and businesses were still importing data via punch cards onto mainframes for another two decades. Even with the wider introduction of the IBM PC in early 80's they were hellishly expensive and a shared resource in the workplace.

The thing that impacted upon most people's lives was the introduction of the electronic calculator in the late 60's by company's such as Texas Instruments and Hewlett Packard. The best example of how the PC was slow to launch is HP came up with a desktop PC in late 60's but elected to call it a "calculator" fearing market resistance to the word "computer".  Steve Wozniak (Apple tech wizard and joint founder) was working at HP developing the Apple 1 in his spare time and offered it to HP half a dozen times under a first right of refusal arrangement, yet HP knocked him back.

I first starting using a scientific calculator in the 70's then splashed out on a Tamaya NC2 navigation calculator to speed up the transformation of sextant readings into celestial fixes. This was before the Sat Nav or NAVSTAR was made available to the public by US Defence in early 80's (intertmitant fixes not continuous like current GPS) though recievers cost an arm and a leg ensuring the sextant still had a life. GPS as we know it today didn't arrive until the early 90's but with no electronic maps. However you could get a electronic plotting device that took the fix from the Reciever and when calibrated to and laid over a paper chart it showed the fix on the paper chart.

I think of the time that navigation calculator saved plus you tended to get less errors compared to these guys having to do it all longhand.

I still have a HP Financial Calculator released in the early 80's and cost I recall a couple of hundred dollars which in today's dollars is thousands. HP still make that exactly the same calculator today but costs less than a $100.

Long live the humble calculator. 

 

[littlechay]

[No message]

 

[littlechay]

I still have a HP Financial Calculator released in the early 80's and cost I recall a couple of hundred dollars which in today's dollars is thousands. HP still make that exactly the same calculator today but costs less than a $100.

Long live the humble calculator. 

I still have, and use, an HP32 RPN calculator. My fingers can fly though a set of calculations using RPN .. I even have a soft version on my phone these days. 

 

[r.finn]

I first starting using a scientific calculator in the 70's then splashed out on a Tamaya NC2 navigation calculator to speed up the transformation of sextant readings into celestial fixes. This was before the Sat Nav or NAVSTAR was made available to the public by US Defence in early 80's (intertmitant fixes not continuous like current GPS) though recievers cost an arm and a leg ensuring the sextant still had a life. GPS as we know it today didn't arrive until the early 90's but with no electronic maps. However you could get a electronic plotting device that took the fix from the Reciever and when calibrated to and laid over a paper chart it showed the fix on the paper chart.

Here's a paperback version of the scientific calculator.  I've found it to be really quick and perfectly accurate for reducing sites from a small boat.  And at only 9 reference pages, it's really "racey"  https://www.amazon.com/Celestial-Navigation-Table-Mike-Pepperday/dp/0939837099

 

[Buna]

OFF

Well, if you are so sick of ot nostalgia.

Perfectly working.

 

[Buna]

Slats set to cape.
The wind there  already enough.
Soon we will see who is first and who is the eleventh.

 

[jack_sparrow]

OFF

Well, if you are so sick of ot nostalgia.

Perfectly working.

Is that a Russian PC?

One of my calculators last time I changed the battery was last century 

 

[Buna]

jast

 

[Buna]

OFF

On ebay I do not sell, on photostock let they steal

I think they took off with HP (nip), but I do not know the model

Logarithmic ruler of  father's 50 years Germans

Accumulators such for a long time did not see NiCd

 

[bplipschitz]

I still have, and use, an HP32 RPN calculator. My fingers can fly though a set of calculations using RPN .. I even have a soft version on my phone these days. 

Ah, finally something I can contribute.  The one on the right was my workhorse all through college and beyond.

The secret weapon is my little friend made of bamboo in the bottom of the picture, complete with magnifier.

 

[bucc5062]

Since y'all are walking down this past highway, I cut my teeth on the IBM 370 then moved on to the sleek HP3000 before going to the dark side of distributed systems and the client/server world.  I wrote my own calculator programs ^_^

The HP had disk drives the size of small washing machines holding maybe 10 megs of data on  multiple disks and the first system I worked on had 4 meg of RAM.  Still, these systems were able to do so much, because back then programmers had to learn how to wring the most out of code in the least amount of instructions.

Good times.

As to the race, Susie needs to start showing a better commitment to an easterly heading or she'll lose what she's gained on Slats and Gregor.  86 miles separation between Peche and Heede with Peche more south, Heede more east and still a toss up on who passes the Cape first (still betting Heede).  Igor must have fallen in a hole for he had been up with that east pack, but is now a good bit behind.  Are is slowly knocking them down and it is a long race, but come on Susie, time to turn left.

 

[Cuffy]

Has Are Wiig enough diesel to run his engine all the way around?!? He has had impressive boat speed over the last week, caught up and now in probably a real 3rd / 4th.

 

[Buna]

Аllowed to row

 

[mowgli]

Mark Slats is climing in the ranking to 4e place. If you look at the 24 run he is sailing very vast (vmg 44kn and 711nm) :lol:

 

[littlechay]

Since y'all are walking down this past highway, I cut my teeth on the IBM 370 then moved on to the sleek HP3000 before going to the dark side of distributed systems and the client/server world.  I wrote my own calculator programs ^_^

The HP had disk drives the size of small washing machines holding maybe 10 megs of data on  multiple disks and the first system I worked on had 4 meg of RAM.  Still, these systems were able to do so much, because back then programmers had to learn how to wring the most out of code in the least amount of instructions.

I learnt on the  PDP8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-8 and later on the BBC model B, and yes the PDP 8 hard drives were in another room and the size of a washing machine.

Slats must be getting weather, now at least, because it looks like he is coming east harder than he would have done if sailing to a plan. 

 

[spyderpig]

I learnt on the  PDP8 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-8 and later on the BBC model B, and yes the PDP 8 hard drives were in another room and the size of a washing machine.

Ah , quite a modern machine, I was at North Staffs College where we had a DEUCE , no semiconductors , you could walk around inside it and the valves kept you warm, cathode ray memory as well as a prototype drum.

Great to see the fleet all pushing on and enjoying the race. Keep up the excellent analysis.

 

[Priscilla]

About time for someone to pull the Crowhurst and move to stealth mode.

 

[LOK77]

Has Are Wiig enough diesel to run his engine all the way around?!? He has had impressive boat speed over the last week, caught up and now in probably a real 3rd / 4th.

Are Wiig is one of few in the fleet that is not using his engine at all, actually! Just look at the tracker from Biscay and after Cape Verde where he was drifting around in circles and being left behind the others. He said before the start and also at his sat call last week(in Norwegian) that he is not using the engine for propulsion and he is not going to do so, as he wants to be the first Norwegian who is sailing solo non-stop around - the proper way. He rather saves the fuel for his Dickinson diesel heater for drying clothes and have a comfortable cabin when in the Southern Ocean. 

So yes, the small old Swedish double ender is impressingly fast! On his sea trials last October, he broke the record of sailing from the Southern cape of Norway to the Northern Cape; 7 days, 1 hour, 1 min. 10 hours faster than the old record held by a fully crewed Pogo 10.50! (netto 7 days, 11 hrs, 27 min, but they had one stop of 2 days to repair their forestay, so actually 9 days, 11 hrs, 20 min).

Check out his official Facebook site Are Sailing, if you want see some photos and films from his preparations for the race. 

https://www.facebook.com/aresailing/

 

[jack_sparrow]

As to the race, Susie needs to start showing a better commitment to an easterly heading or she'll lose what she's gained on Slats and Gregor. 

Buccaneer nothing has changed from my weekend offering below.

Sheis now stretched out to being around 30 mile further south than those on the inside and still going quicker. When the wind backs your wish will come true.

Susie may want to start bending east if she can and close the gap on Uku for it does seem that the center east is the place to be with these speed daemons, but sitting fourth is not too shabby.

Those GGR reports using tracker positions are nonsence. Susie is third   and the weather will be the decider of her route not where Uku is. I would rather be where she is looking ahead, get south and east will look after itself.

 

[jack_sparrow]

48 hour over the ground numbers to midnight for my Top 3 are:

Peche 267 mile or 5.6k average;

Heede 252 mile or 5.3k average; 

Slatts 327 mile or 6.8k average

Very simply Heede unchanged doing what he does, Peche shortening the string on the old fellow and Slatts on fire, not only BS but a VMG nearly the same, noting the tracker stating it is 45k is a tad overstating his good fortune. He is not only blitzing it getting east but extended his southern seperation out to around a 100 mile. 

However as forecast last weekend the tables are going to turn suddenly today and both Heede and Peche will get to enjoy the backside of the High coming through with around 25+ and backing north through to the weekend. This will put them below 30S and with more east. Good place to be.

Slatts on the other hand is falling off the back of the High as we speak and will hit the wall with a mix of light stuff through to the weekend. He is going loose out quite badly from this system cycle.

The weekend is looking very interesting with potentialy the three of them getting a sling shot, for Peche and Heede it will be out the barrel heading east but for Slatts he might need his thermals.

If this occurs it will be luck for Team France not weather routing as this opportunity did not exist last weekend. Having said that subject to sea state this might be the first time in the race they will need to take it easy or we might be hearing about busted gear. 

Who said this race was like watching snails fight over a dead ant.