Yet another quiz

And strangely appropriate. I've programmed in QuickBasic, it was one of the first compiler languages available for the PC. It would compile executables, which the version of Basic normally included with Dos would not, it was strictly an interpreted language (each line is executed as it is read). QuickBasic was the successor to QBasic which was an improvement to the interpreted Basic in that it supported modular programming that allowed subroutines and functions as opposed to every line requiring a line number. Microsoft's QuickBasic eventually matured into Visual Basic and is now the Dot Net framework. Borland came out with TurboBasic which also compiled into executables, it was part of a family that included TurboC, TurboPascal, and even TurboProlog (a language for developing artificial intelligence models.) Microsoft came out with a QuickPascal but it never went beyond the 1.0 version.

So there you have it, a little lesson in programming language history that is all but totally worthless. :-)


You are 'programming in QBASIC'. This programming
language (of which the acronym stands for
'Quick Beginners' All-purpose Symbolic
Instruction Code'), which is so primitive that
it cannot easily be used for any purpose
involving the Internet nor even sound, was
current more than a decade ago.

You are independent, in a good way. When something
which you need cannot be found, you make it
yourself. In writing and in talking with
people, you value clarity and precision; your
friends may not realize how important that is.
When necessary, you are prepared to be a
mediator in conflicts between your friends.
You are very rational, and you think of things
in terms of logic and common sense.
Unfortunately, your emotionally unstable
friends may be put off by your devotion to
logic; they may even accuse you of pedantry and
insensitivity. Your problem is that
programming in QBASIC has been obsolete for a
long time.


What obsolete skill are you?
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A weekend in San Diego

One of my favorite Mexican food restaurants in San Diego is closing. Casa de Pico is in Old Town, in the actual Old Town complex, in a little corner called Bazaar Del Mundo. Though they have apparently gained a temporary extension, it's pretty well doomed. The restaurant itself will be relocated and will grow and multiply, and its sister store, Casa de Guadalajara will continue as it is on privately-held land and is not leased from the City. Without going into lots of detail as to how they've been kicked out of Old town, let's leave it at a friend and I went to San Diego for a last hurrah.

Here's some pictures. These are the raw take with zero Photoshopping to clean up exposures and color balance. Here's two stitch photos of the interior of the courtyard (9MB) and the exterior showing the entrance (3MB) of the Bazaar itself from the Old Town plaza. The first picture covers probably over 270 degrees of the plaza, the second over 100 degrees.


Early 2004, a new museum opened on the water front of San Diego. It was the 1945 aircraft carrier USS Midway. The ship served for over 40 years and had over 200,000 men serve on it through its history. Currently open are the flight deck, the island (that's the superstructure on top of the flight deck), the hanger deck (the level below the flight deck), one of the galleys, the sick bay, the munitions watch room, the inertial guidance room, enlisted and junior officer quarters, and the machine shop. Opening in March 2005 is the engineering spaces and apparently a diorama in the sick bay.

There's a tremendous number of stories to be told, and far more than I can get into here. So I'll leave it at this along with the raw photo take.


No guarantees on how long the photos will be up.