-interesting that what is considered the first modern computer was commissioned by the department of defense because they wanted faster computing of ballistics, called the Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer, or ENIAC (3)

-the "devices show the importance of calculation and modeling in human history" (3)
-many original machines were intended to make mathematics easier and faster, and the story of is important to the rise of the first computers

-IBM corporation came out of a machine designed for Census tabulation (23)

-John Astanoff was an electrical engineer and doctor of physics. He self-taught binary and, in an effort to perform faster calculations, designed his own computer using vacuum tubes and binary code. He was one of a handful of scientists in the world who understood binary code and it helped him build the first computer with a form of refreshing memory and a digital signal (27). After a lengthy legal battle, Astanoff and his ABC computer was deemed the first digital computer in the world (30).

-In attempting to break encrypted military codes during WWII, Turing helped facilitate the process of speedy computing (34). Without scientists engaging in real-world examples where they needed an edge mathematically and computationally, such advancements in computers and design might not have been possible.

-The cold war also helped facilitate jumps in computing technological invention, "never had a war been so dependent on research in science and technology" (47).

-The cold war era was also the first time that the government hired the nation's best and brightest students to work solely in scientific and computer research and defense research, without intending any of it for civilian research. "Without this Cold war--induced spending, computer technology would have developed more slowly." (48)
-By spending money and resources on technological development, computers and technology was vastly improved. What was intending to be used for military programs, later were extrapolated and updated or modified to be used for civilian projects and sales. Wars have helped man-kinds learning and innovation with technology and computers. "as always, American defense spending remained an important driver in the first three decades of electronic computers." (56)

Ok...since I didn't do the first blog properly, I'll do it properly this time. I have class Mondays and Thursdays only, so I'm on the internet a lot during my days off. I spend about 6-7 hours total browsing online. Most of my time is spent reading news articles, mainly from Drudgereport.com. I'd say 75% of all the news I read comes from this portal. CNN is biased and a joke, however I do read some of their articles as well. Every weekend I read Peggy Noonan's column. She is an excellent writer, and an excellent political analyst and satirist, however Wall Street Journal is making me pay now to read her article, so that makes me sad. The other few hours I spend reading sports news. An avid Jets fan, I scour Jets related message boards, namely nyjetsfan.com and theganggreen.com. Espn.com is another one of my main go-to-sites.

Facebook is not really a favorite place to hang out online for me. I maybe log in every few days or so, mainly to get updates from my friends that are still in school or have moved away, and to check on peoples birthdays. That's like the best feature on facebook, it reminds bad friends like me, when to say happy birthday to people. I visit ebaumsworld.com and break.com every once in a while as well. They have some decently funny content but usually its pretty lame. I do enjoy the break picture galleries and ebaumsworld monday morning randomness galleries. It has taken a dive over the last year or so, but theres an occasional funny picture.

Does internet on our phone count as places we should discuss here too? If yes, i visited imdb a few times and used espn score alert for Syracuse football because i couldn't find it on tv. And i used the awesome google voice search feature on it to find BofA atms, then put the location into my gps, all while driving; that was pretty cool.

I actually created this blog during our first class meeting on my phone. I did it namely to see if my phone was able to do it, and secondly because I felt i would forget. I was able to successfully create it using my phone which was pretty easy, and in the process, it showed me that i already created a blog on here years ago for an english class which i had completely forgotten about. I'm not a big blogger obviously, I don't really feel it necessary or fun to just tell the world about my boring days and activities, however this blog is for class and will mainly consist of academic related material, so that is something i feel is worthwhile to blog about haha.

I would love to be blogging about the Computers book, however a week after ordering it, it has still not arrived. I have received the Wikipedia book, but that sadly does not help me.