1-2-3 - 26 January 2022 - Plague Journal Day 685

Micah 6:8
Job 40:15-24
Yes, your life matters.

Some of you are still sheltering in place, but fear not: I'm here to keep you sane and entertained.
One could hardly ask for much more than that, now could one?

Ah, the wonders of electronic spreadsheets. I'm fairly certain there are plenty of folks out there who would think that phrase a bit redundant. Having never encountered a non-electronic spreadsheet, they have no idea of the volume of columnar pads of paper we used to consume back before the advent of Visicalc and then the mighty Lotus 1-2-3. In fact, today is actually Lotus 1-2-3 Day, so please celebrate responsibly.
I never did use Visicalc on any computer (unless Dad's Apple IIe had it and I looked at it sometime - if so I do not remember it at all), so Lotus 1-2-3 was my introduction to the wonders of electronic calculation.

Oddly, I actually had experience with dBase II before I used Lotus 1-2-3, based on having used a proprietary dBase application our agency had commissioned. Pretty much as soon as I was proficient with it, I ended up moving to another company and didn't see dBase-type stuff for a couple years. However, I was deeply immersed in the world of Lotus and its very straightforward and powerful way of doing macros. We macroed the crap out of a lot of stuff back then.

Later we moved to a spectacular integrated piece of software called Enable which had a DBMS, Spreadsheet, Word Processor, Graphics, and Communications all in one nicely designed package. I wish they had managed to survive MicroSoft's "help" in moving into the world of Windows. That reminded me of the nurse who "helped" her patients to shuffle off their mortal coil with off-the-records injections of meds. Thanks, Bill Gates.

Today is also Library Shelfie Day. We're supposed to post pictures of ourselves in front of our bookshelves or in the local library. Instead of that, I'm posting a picture of a couple of my books sitting on an actual public library shelf. I'm not exactly following directions, but I think this qualifies.
Now go read a good book!


Keep Calm and Don't Stay Away.
I'll be back tomorrow.
The mental health issues related to our insane lockdown and the pandemic are especially hard for people with depression. NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, has a 24 hour helpline: 800-950-6264.