Another ~1960 computer kit

From: John Lawson <jpl15_at_netcom.com>
Date: Wed Dec 16 00:48:00 1998

On Tue, 15 Dec 1998, dave dameron wrote:

> I was looked through some older magazines and found another computer kit
> from about 1959, 1960, a full page ad for the "geniac". It has 6 dials, each
> with 16 sets of radial holes. It's cost was US$19.95 and made in Mass. My

(ssnip)

> -Dave
>
>

  Before me is a little book from my childhood.. one I had in 4th
grade, lost, and recently found another copy of. It is "The Space
Child's Mother Goose" and was printed in 1958. (I read it in 1960) It
is a unique collection of 'modernized' nursery rhymes, with
whimsical fine-point pen drawings. On page 36 is a drawing of a kid
standing on a stool, writing formulae on the blackboard and operating
a Geniac, while off to one side a Bearded Professor exhibits great
surprise. The rhyme for this page is:


   Geniac, Geniac,
    Digital miracle,
   Giving and answer that's
    Truly empirical.
   Learned men, lost in a
    Drawjopping daze,
   Watch six-year-old Seniors, all
    Grabbing off A's.



  Note that the strangely spelt word in the text is as it appears;
part of the magic of this little book and perhaps partly an
explanation for The Way I Am today... draw your own conclusions.

      ;}


  Cheers and Best of the Season

John
Received on Wed Dec 16 1998 - 00:48:00 GMT