The PC’s back story involves a little-known Texas connection Source: http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9111341/Forgotten_PC_history_The_true_origins_of_the_personal_computer Lamont Wood August 8, 2008 (Computerworld) Blueprint of the Datapoint 2200 enclosure, showing the crowded interior. Click to view larger image This year marks an almost forgotten 40th anniversary: the conception of the device that ultimately became the PC. And no, it did not happen in California. For decades, histories have traced the PC’s x86 lineage back to 1972, with Intel Corp.‘s introduction of the 8008 chip, the 8-bit follow-on to the 4-bit 4004, itself introduced in 1971 and remembered as the world’s first microprocessor (download PDF). But the full story was not that simple. For one thing, the x86’s lineage can…

WHEN a coelacanth, a type of lobe-finned fish once considered the missing link between fishand amphibians, was found off the coast of South Africa in 1938, it came as a shock topalaeontologists. Until then, the most recent traces of such a creature had been in rocksdating from the last days of the dinosaurs, 65m years ago. It was, in its way, as surprising asif a live Tyrannosaurus had been found hiding in an obscure part of Montana. Now the sameexperience is hitting palaeontologists again—but this time in reverse. Instead of finding a“living fossil” identical to an ancient beast, they have found a real fossil identical to a modernone.The fossil in…

By John D. Cox | Tue Apr 27, 2010 12:11 AM ET It may come as little surprise and no comfort to survivors of the weekend tragedy in Mississippi, but recent research confirms that they are living in the most dangerous region in the most dangerous tornado country in the world. “Tornado Alley” is an unofficial term traditionally used to describe a vaguely outlined swath of countryside from the deep south, through the southern plains and into the upper Midwest, but the label really doesn’t tell you very much. New research on display recently at the annual meeting of the American Association of Geographers in Washington, DC adds new levels of detail…

April 16, 2011 Storm Kills at Least 35 in 6 States By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A furious storm system that kicked up tornadoes, flash floods and hail as big as softballs has claimed at least 35 lives on a rampage that began in Oklahoma days ago, then smashed across several Southern states as it reached a new and deadly pitch in North Carolina and Virginia. Emergency crews searched for victims in hard-hit swaths of North Carolina, where 62 tornadoes were reported from the worst spring storm in two decades to hit the state. Ten people were confirmed dead in Bertie County, county manager Zee Lamb said.…

Wars and Battles, April 14-19, 1961 The Bay of Pigs invasion was intended to provoke popularity for an uprising against Fidel Castro, who had overthrown American-backed dictatorFulgencio Batista. Instead, it gave Castro a military victory and a permanent symbol of Cuban resistance to American aggression. The Bay of Pigs was not originally John F. Kennedy‘s idea. As the communist nature of Fidel Castro‘s regime became apparent, the urge to topple his government grew. Dwight D. Eisenhower‘s administration planned the invasion, which would be handled by the CIA. By the time of Kennedy’s inauguration, the order to invade was the only remaining piece of the plan to put into place. Planning for the invasion began in…