Don’t Take Your Computer For Granted

Jascin N. Leonardo Finger • Feb 12, 2024

As I zip around on my computer, downloading attachments from emails, copying them into document folders, cutting and pasting documents from one folder to another, I am constantly amazed. I mean, look how far we have come. When I was in elementary school, there was ONE student computer for the entire public school I attended. Mr. G – the sixth grade teacher who must have had some sort of tape worm as he was always walking around with HUGE sub sandwiches in his hand – was in charge of it. He wheeled it around on a giant cart and my class maybe used it a few times a year. We were allowed to go out in the hall in groups and, basically, we sort of just touched it – I kid you not – especially because it’s hard to share a computer with 6 children gathered around. My Dad, when he was first in the US Air force during Vietnam, was in charge of a massive computer at the air base before he was sent overseas. What I am doing on my computer now, my little work laptop, was done on a computer that filled a HUGE room.  I imagine it was something like a UNIVAC1050 or some such thing and he would often be called in late at night when it was having issues.



Funnily – or ironically – enough, Maria Mitchell was a computer herself.  It was her official title as she calculated the ephemeris of Venus for the US Nautical Almanac. What she did was mathematical computations – computations that took quite a bit of time and that today would take less than a second for a computer.  Her work for the Nautical Almanac also made her one of the first women to work for the US federal government.


So the next time you are zipping about your computer whether it be crunching numbers, dealing with equations, moving documents around, writing . . . remember what it was like in Maria’s day before such a thing existed – or when computers first came into more public use and took up a huge room – or many huge rooms! And give thanks for this modern marvel we all take for granted whether it be on our desk of an iPhone in hand. (Can you imagine Maria Mitchell and an iPhone?)


JNLF 


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Shards

By Jascin N. Leonardo FInger • 06 May, 2024
I have written of my love for sea glass and pottery shards in the past and the recent replacement of the sewer and water lines on Vestal Street created a small shard collection over the last month. Since the work required the asphalt to be completely removed (all twelve inches of it!) and the road to be dug up multiple times as they worked to remove pipe, relay new pipe, hook up the water meters, and install drainage and manhole covers, this resulted in the earth in the street being tossed about quite a bit. And, with that, came the shards! Some of these likely came from the sewer line (yes, yuck) but others came from being simply in the dirt of the road – which was not paved until 1946/1948. Pieces were likely tossed out at times, made to act as filler in holes, or simply tossed. So I found all sorts of pieces I will keep here at the Mitchell House. They included: a lovely piece with a red floral, many pieces of plates, glass, the top of a late nineteenth or early twentieth century (medicine) bottle, glass shards, a flattened spoon, a brass knob (found by a neighbor) some nails, a spike, pieces of a larger container or two based on the size and curve and coloring of the shards, and possibly a Wampanoag stone tool. One person’s trash is another one’s treasures! JNLF

Is That A Wrap?

22 Apr, 2024
Yes. Well, almost. After about a month of working – and some living (staff and or neighbors) – on Vestal Street with all the sewer and water replacement work, the paving happened today (April 17, 2024). This is the first “layer” – a three-inch binder coat. In the fall, once time has passed, they will return for the final one inch of the finish layer. Some of the other things along Vestal Street will also be repaired and updated between now and the final coat – and a bit after that. But we are very happy, after all these years to have a modern system of piping – and all new drainage we never had before! While the curator in me loved the old clay pipes, they were riddled with roots from the trees, holes, and in some places, collapsed, and the twelve inches of asphalt had to go. Vestal Street was only paved in about 1946/1948 – and has not been paved in maybe twenty years so that is a lot of asphalt in about fifty years! And with climate change and the increase in how much rain we get in these heavy rain events, all that water rushed down Vestal Street with nowhere to go – except our cellars. I am sure the neighbors are happy too! A thank you to the Town of Nantucket’s Sewer Department, especially David Gray (who may regret giving me his cellphone number forever), N&M Excavating and Utilities (Dean, we appreciate you being so nice when we had too many questions), Victor-Brandon Corp for paving, and numerous others. We are looking forward to great flushing, powerful hose lines, and rainwater being whisked away via the new, never-before-had storm drains! JNLF And to all the N&M workers who wondered why I was constantly looking down as I walked along Vestal Street, you should see the trove of porcelain shards, glass, old nails, a bottle neck, 19 th century spoon, and even possibly a Wampanoag stone tool I found!
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