Modern Vespa

My career as a software engineer is largely the result of two teachers:
- George Zopf, who brought his own personal minicomputer to my 6th-grade (circa 1978) middle school science class, and taught us how to program in Pascal.
- Gene Campbell, who taught the High School "computer math" class at my Dallas high school. I took the class for three consecutive years (1982-1984) and I think maybe I was the only person ever to do so. After the first year, satisfied that whatever I was doing in his classroom qualified as learning, Mr. Campbell set me loose to make up my own plan. And I used every moment in the lab constructively.

All of this is a very long way to say: thanks for being a teacher. A good teacher can make a real difference in a person's life.

Those were the Sinclair ZX80 and ZX81 over in the UK. Of course I added 32k of RAM and eight software switchable ROMs as well. Those were the days - building your own EPROM blowers and programming purely in 8-bit machine code on Z80s and 6502s etc. Then along came the BBC micro.

Then enter the Acorn RISC Machines Archimedes - 32 bit with integral barrel shifter. Soon after the company became Advanced Risc Machines (ARM) that we now know as the designer of a huge proportion of the computer chips we use today.

FTFY.

(Modern Vespa runs entirely on ARM64 machines).

Thanks, Jess.

I was a teacher for 15 years. My wife retired after 40.

I think we both made some positive difference in the world, one kid at a time.

I've been a psychotherapist for 40 years now (there was some overlap - I'm not that old) and have also been teaching and training new therapists for most of that time. I've never made a ton of money, but I know I've made a positive difference in more than a few lives - maybe even saved a few, hard to know.

I think that I've made the biggest difference in my own life, which is probably why I got into this stuff in the first place.

And, BTW Jess,

My goal of doing group therapy (my specialty) is "to create a space into which the members can enter and engage with each other in ways that are ultimately therapeutic".

I feel that you have accomplished much the same here, which I have greatly appreciated for over 16 years.

You know, the joke is that Modern Vespa is actually a well-funded, in-depth, long-term study on behavior modification, directed by a shadowy organization with a decidedly opaque agenda.

I still have mine and I'll do one better. I also have the 16K memory upgrade.

I just KNEW the Illuminati were involved.

But aren't they always?

At a cafe in Hot Springs, South Dakota.

Jess,

You and possibly and some others have created an amazing forum for our love of these amazing machines. We are fortunate that you were the connection of software programing and these two wheeled delights. I love communicating with folks all over the world. You are the best of the best and even put up with me. I had a great weekend riding with my scooter group.

Someday, I will be to old to ride, but I can still live in this great website, smoking a cigar and enjoy others here.

Bob Copeland
Good Spring rain here in Minnesota

Might be exceeding the tongue weight rating. Steering might be a little twitchy

We're in Roswell, New Mexico today, where weird shit is a way of life....and a fine source of tourist dollars as well.

^^^^ There are some MV stickers on there somewhere.

Only in Roswell!

No smiles allowed in Roswell.

Smirks and sneers are almost impossible to supress, and eye-rolling is mandatory, at least among the non-believers in little green men from space...and alien autopsies.

I've always been a bit suspicious of 'Billboard Attorneys', and it seems that my concerns have finally been justified.

Just saw Piaggio's video with new Vespa merch ... Might be considered weird

Weird. Weird.

Bedazzled Vespa cigarette case?

Looks the right size for a phone and a vape

This is making my decision to not buy a new Vespa more palatable.

And a Trust Fund.

Well, I'll be damned!

So THAT'S where they come from!

Of course, this begs the question....

Are the bars to keep them in, or to keep them out?

A little something I saw in Sturgis this afternoon.

(Sorry about the quality)

Okay, full confession, I started out life thinking cow brains tasted pretty good. Surprised me a bit to see them offered as quesadilla filling at a fairly upscale buffet in Mexico City 20 years ago.

But not your everyday grocery offering. Got to go to the really authentic places to see the weird stuff..

When I were a lad brawn was a regular dish at our dinner table. I suspect BSE (Mad Cow Disease) has put an end to that in the UK and US - not that US folk go in for offal that much.

Last year I went to a talk at a retro computer museum from one of the early game developers from Sheffield in the UK, which had a disproportionately huge part of the industry in the 80s & 90s. It all started with teenagers who had gone to a computer club run by a single teacher, who went on to get some of the first jobs (many while still at school) in the industry.

Anyone for eyeballs?

Maybe I'll stick with brains.

All those eyes looking at one could really flame up some paranoia!

It's fine until one winks at you.


For anyone who cares, they are glass eyes, made by one of the former residents who lived and worked here.

https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/visit/birmingham-west-midlands/birmingham-back-to-backs

Not sure that this belongs here, but, anyway...

Posted on an Amazon review for non-stick pans:

" I was making some pot stickers and they all stuck hard to the bottom"

Well, duh. Pot stickers.

Woke up today to see an ex-girlfriend of 25 years ago had followed me on Instagram. I thought she hated me? 🤯

Did you have a Vespa 25 years ago?

No, started riding 14 years ago

So you're immensely more attractive now then!

Yeah but could just be the cats pics (she's quite a cat lover)