From hoverboards to flying cars to cloud cities, anti-gravity is a staple of science fiction and our dream of a less Earth-bound future. But in the real universe gravity appears to be a purely attractive force. Feels like its main MO is keeping us stuck to the surface of this lonely rock. But maybe if we science hard enough we can remove the fiction from science fiction. For the sake of our flying cars we should at least try. And for many years, physicists have wondered whether a certain well-known exotic material may experience gravitational repulsion from the Earth. That material is antimatter, and physicists at CERN have just completed a very long and very difficult experiment to answer a seemingly simple question: does antimatter fall down, or does it fall up?
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This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
A reader writes:
I’m an events freelancer who works on a variety of projects. Most are just a one-day event, but a number of times per year I will do a longer-term project which spans a few weeks to a month.
An increasing problem I have is people misreading my professional friendliness and problem-solving abilities as true overtures of friendship and support. After the project is over, they will use my personal contact details to contact me repeatedly to ask me to hang out, ask for advice, or just to chat. Slow fades / grey rock works sometimes, but some people just cannot take the hint, because the previous friendliness has them convinced we’ve made a connection. Or because I’ve solved a problem for them or helped them during work, they see me as a resource for ongoing help and support.
I already struggle with correspondence (part of why I find this so stressful), so do not want to get a separate number just for work, and occasionally contacts reach out months after an event with an offer or recommendation for other work, which I don’t want to miss out on. Also, I am often the one recruiting staff for events so I may need to reach out to them myself at some point.
But it is a repeated problem and I’m hoping you might have a script for this sort of issue. Because I am dealing with high level VIP clients, I just slip into my “work face,” which is extremely friendly, agreeable, complimentary, and helpful (no wonder they all want to be friends with that person, who wouldn’t!) and that will extend to all staff and guests at these events. Boundaries and professionalism are already a struggle in this line of work, because the work often is fun and grueling at the same time — camaraderie is often a must-do in terms of getting the best from your team and creating the right vibe for the VIP’s we are servicing.
I’ve tried telling people that I am the world’s worst texter and that I am a hermit outside of events. A few times I’ve even gone so far as to say that this is a work mask and that I’m a very different person outside of work, but this problem still occurs a handful of times a year.
It makes me feel awful to just ignore repeated overtures of friendship when I can feel that people are really trying to build a relationship, especially when there are so many people out there who really struggle to make new friends, but I have neither the interest nor the bandwidth to sustain all of these relationships. Also it’s very apparent that many of these people have fallen for “the mask” and we would have little to nothing in common outside of work — the real me actually has thoughts and opinions outside of “oh wow!” and “great work!” and is nowhere near as cheery as work me.
Is there a polite way to say, “Yes, we’ve had a lovely time working together and if we see each other on another project I’ll be delighted to see you, but if its not work-related please don’t contact me”? Is it that simple? Because I feel like I’ve said versions of that before, but people just do not think I’m being serious because of the prior friendliness.
To some extent, this is just part of the package of being human: sometimes people will want a connection with you that you’re not feeling. You’re just getting a lot more of it because of your line of work. But because this is so intertwined with being human, I don’t think you’ll be able to fully stamp it out — at least not without being rude in ways that wouldn’t serve you professionally.
So your measure of success here shouldn’t be “no professional contact tries to pursues a friendship with me ever again.” You won’t get that. Your measure of success should be “I successfully maintain boundaries with professional contacts and don’t get sucked into relationships I don’t want.” It’s about controlling your side of the equation, not theirs.
The way to do it is to be stay firm that you’re not up for socializing outside of work. The easiest way to do that is to lean in hard to the idea that your schedule just keeps you too busy/exhausted for much else. So when people keep contacting you after a work project is over, these are your responses:
* “My schedule is crazy right now and I don’t have time for much outside of work. But thank you for thinking of me!”
* “I loved working with you and was sorry our project ended! Unfortunately my schedule is so hectic that I’m trying to be really disciplined about not adding anything to it since otherwise I’ll never get to see my family.”
* “You’re so kind to ask! My schedule is awful right now — I’m barely even seeing my spouse — so I’m trying to be really disciplined about turning off my phone at night and on weekends.”
* “I’ve got a family situation right now that is keeping most of my time tied up, so please don’t take it personally!” (This is true; you are part of your family and your time is needed on other things.)
Also, if people are calling you rather than emailing/texting, let calls go to voicemail and reply through text later (“got your message, texting back since I’m not somewhere where I can call,” etc.) since that way it’s easier to control the time investment.
If it’s practical with your work schedule, you might even set aside a chunk of work time to send these responses, which could have the mental health benefit of letting you see this work as “managing professional relationships” rather than “fending off personal incursions.”
Again, it won’t be perfect — people will still continue making social overtures. But I think you’ll feel better about it if you shift your framework from “there’s got to be a way to make them stop” to “as long as I politely and firmly enforce my own boundaries, I’ve succeeded.”
TALLAHASSEE, FL—With its legislature passing a resolution that cited the rich and significant history of the reproductive organ, Florida named the penis its official state genital on Wednesday. “It fills me with great pleasure to sign this legislation recognizing the profound influence of the human penis on the…
COLUMBUS, OH—Stressing that she felt almost entirely numb as she entered her fourth hour of viewership, local kindergartner Amelia Sanders told reporters Wednesday that she needed increasingly intense YouTube videos of a Latvian woman playing with Barbies just to feel anything. “God, all it used to take was some…
PHILADELPHIA—Impressing all with their financial savvy, local engaged couple Michelle Zwicker and Peter Elliott reportedly saved thousands of dollars on their wedding by booking their venue for 3 a.m. on a Wednesday. “At first, I wasn’t sure if the venue would let me book it for a single hour in the middle of the…
According to a poll from the Angus Reid Institute, two thirds of Canadians surveyed said they don’t think democracy will withstand another presidential term with Donald Trump in the White House, with 49% of respondents also saying that the U.S. is on the way to becoming an authoritarian state. What do you think?
VALPARAISO, IN—Frowning and reaching for her reading glasses so she could see better, local mother Justine Artese was reportedly asking her phone Wednesday what that one thing was called. “Alexis [sic], tell me, what is the thing?” said Artese, who was seen in her quest for knowledge holding down the volume button on…
ARLINGTON, TX—Easing back into shape after a long offseason, frail, emaciated Major League Baseball players confirmed Wednesday that they were still a few weeks away from regaining the strength necessary to lift a single baseball. “It’s going to take a lot of work, but we should be able to pick up the ball without…
This post was written by Alison Green and published on Ask a Manager.
Last week, I asked for stories about strangely dramatic reactions that you’ve seen people have to mundane changes at work. The comment section was full of fantastic stories — so many that I had to split my favorites up into two posts. Here’s part one, and part two is coming tomorrow.
1. The microwave
Tom has his food warming up in the microwave, and has walked off for a moment while it’s heating up. The timer goes off, Jerry immediately pulls Tom’s food out, and puts his own food in, starts the time, and also walks off. Tom comes back and finds that his food is not completely warm, stops Jerry’s food, takes it out, and put’s his food in. Jerry comes back, sees what has happened, and starts shouting at Tom for touching his food. Tom shouts back at Jerry for touching his food in the first place. This escalates into an all out screaming match between the two. Meanwhile, management is trying to get the two to stop shouting at each other. Tom screams that he can’t take this anymore, he quits, grabs his stuff, and walks out. Jerry then also says he’s done, grabs his stuff, and walks out.
CUT TO THE PARKING LOT. Tom is waiting for a ride to come and get him and has some of his stuff on the ground next to him. Jerry comes pulling out, swerves towards Tom, not hitting him, but running over his coffee mug that is sitting on the ground. Tom calls the police to file a destruction of property complaint over a $15 coffee cup. Police decline to report to the scene.
Jerry calls management later that day, and says that he does not quit, he just got worked up, and that he’ll be back in the morning. Management goes to HR, and HR begins the internal process to terminate an employee, but even in this situation, that requires some time (it would have completed before the end of the next day, but terminations require a few sign offs). Jerry reports to work the next morning, but reads the tea leaves, and leaves “for lunch” and never returns.
2. The toilet seat covers
We were changing over suppliers for things like toilet paper, entry mats, and such. There was some discussion between the few people arranging this about whether we needed to buy those mounted toilet seat cover dispensers or people could just grab them out of the cardboard container they came in.
During some informal polling, there was apparently a misunderstanding that the question was whether there would be toilet seat covers at all. One guy lost his mind over it, another went all White Knight because this was an “attack” on his direct report, and that’s how I ended up with two grown adults in my office yelling at each other about thin pieces of tissue paper. The phrase “You don’t get to tell me where to put my bare ass!” was bellowed. The fact that they didn’t know they were in violent agreement on what should actually happen was just the icing on the cake.
3. The table
I worked an internship for only four weeks because of this outsized reaction.
A rectangular cafeteria table was rotated. That’s it. It went from being perpendicular to the cabinets to parallel.
Holy mother of breakdowns, batman. A team lead came in and saw it and completely lost his mind. I’m talking screaming, ranting, mugs thrown against the wall, holes punched into the wall, all the tables flipped over, just absolute violent meltdown. All because the one table rotated was his favorite table and now the flow of the room was permanently ruined.
We were not allowed to evacuate the office during this, nor were we allowed to call the police. The company issued no statement afterwards, and the team lead was back at work the next day. I quit two days later.
4. The bagel club
Old job had a once-a-month bagel club. Members contributed to the cost and then took turns buying the bagels. This involved my dept and a smaller dept across the hall; about 35 people total.
One designated Friday, a manager from the other department forgot to pick up the bagels on his way in and couldn’t get away from the office until almost ten o’clock. By then the bakery at the local supermarket was almost out of bagels so he ended up with a miscellaneous assortment of mostly rolls, muffins, even a couple donuts. He brought it back along with the usual cream cheese & butter.
Oh, the outrage, the wailing, the gnashing of teeth that ensued! This was unacceptable, an outright failure, a major topic for (prolonged) discussion & analysis, critique & condemnation.
It ended with said manager dramatically quitting the bagel club via an overwrought email sent copy all to both depts, both bagel club & non-bagel club members. Hurt feelings lingered for months!
A few years later, we moved to a new building. My manager quietly ended the bagel club.
5. The venue change
Fairly recently I had two no-shows at a mandatory training course, and when I chased up the participants afterwards I discovered that one was off sick that day (fine) but the other had (according to her manager) refused to attend the course because she “did not appreciate the short notice venue change.”
The “short notice venue change” in question was our training admin updating the calendar invite a few days in advance of the session to let people know that the course was being held in Training Room 2 not Training Room 1, because Training Room 1 was having some IT equipment fixes. There was also a sign on the door of Room 1 saying “IT cabling in progress; for [course] please go to Room 2 next door.”
The rooms are identical, and next door to one another – both on the ground floor, with no access differences. They have the same chairs, the same tables, the same projector … it’s just that the door to Room 2 is about seven steps further along that Room 1.
6. The revenge
Years ago, I worked in fundraising at a small university. The job was very standard 8:30-4:30 every day; but the expectation was one day a year (literally one) all staff had to plan to work 8:30 to 7:30 for the school’s annual gala, which was on campus and always on a Friday. The date was chosen a full year out and we got nine thousand reminders about it. We had one employee, D, who requested that day off the week of the event because she wanted to “try her hand at bartending” at her boyfriend’s bar. Our boss told her no, but he was willing to let her leave at 5pm. Instead she quit on the spot, then while we were at the gala, she came back to our office (as seen on security cameras) and destroyed every potted plant in the office and stole every stapler and all of the paper out of the printer. Still the weirdest over-reaction to be asked to work 30 minutes of overtime I’ve ever seen.
7. The cheese wheel
Our organization holds an annual event where the summer interns make presentations on their projects. It’s always a nice event and people from the colleges and the community are invited. The interns’ supervisors are expected to give pretty detailed feedback on the presentations and the interns’ overall performance. One year a new administrative assistant ordered appetizers from a different vendor and there was no cheese tray. A supervisor who had worked with multiple interns came in as the event was starting, looked at the food, loudly exclaimed, “WHERE IS THE CHEESE WHEEL?” and then stormed out and refused to participate when he was told there was no cheese. We had to scramble to keep the interns calm and get them the paperwork they needed to satisfy their internship requirements.
A few of us still use “cheese wheel” as a code word for “I’d like to leave this meeting.”
8. The water fountain war
We installed some new water fountains about five years back–ones with filtered cold and hot water, for cups/bottles instead of the drinking fountains we had before. They have a small tray beneath where you fill your cup/bottle but it says on the machine, “No drain”. The tray is just to catch small drips or whatever. Fine, we were good with that.
We must have had someone new start or something about a year and a half ago or so because we started coming into the tray FILLED with coffee creamer. It was gross looking and I’m not sure how it was emptied (if facilities dealt with it or what), but every morning we would come in to more. I’m one of the first in the office, and I didn’t really start noticing until a couple of my coworkers absolutely lost their minds.
Coworker A took it personally, and we came in to a sign taped on the water fountain in all caps, “CLEAN UP AFTER YOURSELF. YOU’RE AN ADULT. THIS HAS NO DRAIN.” Kind of aggressive, but whatever. We weren’t surprised that it was this particular coworker. But it had no effect. Every morning there was still dumped coffee and creamer in it.
But then, one of the people in my department, Coworker B, took it beyond personally. Like it was THEIR PERSONAL water cooler or something. They started putting signs up ALL OVER the cooler. To the point where it covered up the buttons where you pressed for water. They were all to the effect of, “YOUR MOTHER DOESN’T WORK HERE” in 72 pt font followed by “THERE IS NO DRAIN IN THIS UNIT. STOP DUMPING YOUR GROSS COFFEE.” And of course, it was still ignored.
So then Coworker B cut out foot prints out of printer paper and TAPED THEM TO THE FLOOR leading up to the cooler, and in front of the cooler as if to tell you where to stand. There was also a foot press from COVID times when we didn’t want to touch things other people touched with their hands. A foot print was taped to that too. And, still ignored! There was still creamer and coffee.
It came to a head where Coworker B brought in one of those cameras you mount to your porch to check for porch thieves. Incidentally, I was the one who had actually given it to them, when they were having issues with their neighbor harassing them about their dog (that’s actually an entire OTHER story of bizarreness). So they put the camera on the water fountain. They didn’t actually connect it to anything, but they put it on there as . . . some sort of warning? I don’t even know. But when I saw it I KNEW that IT was going to have a problem (we’re a large enough company with our own security systems and servers and all sort of proprietary stuff).
Sure enough, the camera disappeared. And Coworker B was ranting about how the person who was dumping the coffee had stolen it, and was saying, “They stole [my name]’s camera! That’s so messed up.” I didn’t care because I had given it to them with no intention of receiving it back. I knew it was in IT’s office because they’re the only ones who would have done that. And, surprise surprise, IT returned the camera to Coworker B and told them to knock it off, that it was a security issue, regardless of if the camera was turned on.
At this point, I think enough people had complained to our boss (including me) that all of the signs disappeared, and so did the foot prints, and all that was left was a sign saying “No Drain.” And then, another person was like, “Oh our sister company used to have this problem. Just put some paper towels in the non-drain and people will realize there’s no drain.” And we did that. And voila, the issue was gone.
This went on for weeks. It was insane. I like to think the culprit knew who was losing their mind and just kept doing it to piss Coworker B off, because they’re not super well liked in the office. Exactly for this reason. I never did learn who was doing it, but it’s never been an issue again.
9. The chips
20-cough years ago, my summer college job was working the overnight shift at a manufacturing plant. The break room was a small room smack in the middle of the assembly line floor. Rumor had it that one time the vending machine didn’t dispense someone’s chips and they were so incensed that they got in their forklift and drove it straight through the vending machine. This lore was passed to all of us wide-eyed, temporary college workers like a warning: not all of your coworkers are ok, beware!
10. The revenge, part 2
We had a young (fresh from college) employee who was let go. He went out to the parking lot, threw down his company logo jacket, and then drove his car back and forth over it a few times before skidding off. The windows to the parking lot are visible to a large section of the office, so several employees and managers got to watch this fit of pique live.
11. The Brita filter
I worked in a small office (less than 10 people) and we had a very small kitchenette – mini-fridge, coffee maker, microwave, sink, and a cupboard for storing mugs. In the mini-fridge we had a Brita pitcher for drinking water. People were pretty good about refilling it throughout the day, so it was rarely empty.
A new hire thought this was absolutely barbaric. He regularly ranted about how unhygienic Brita filters are, how they stop working if the filter ever gets dry, and we needed a proper water cooler. He created a petition (again, in an office of less than 10 people!) to get us all on his side. I think this was happening as I had one foot out the door so I went ahead and signed on, but had no idea if the petition was every brought to the person who could actually make that decision. But right after my last day they moved to a slightly larger office. I went back to return some equipment and the first thing this (now former) co-worker showed me was the new water cooler.
12. The last stand
My mother works in academia and she has Seen Things. Some 10 years ago they relocated one of the departments to a new building. To be clear, this new building was very similar in size and layout to the old one, and just around the corner. Well, one random admin decided that this WOULD NOT DO and she WOULD NOT LEAVE the old building.
On the day the movers were supposed to take all the department stuff to the new building, she barricaded herself into the office and refused to let them in. They moved everyone else’s stuff into the new building, except for this lady’s stuff. I guess everyone expected her to give up once she saw the rest of the building was literally deserted? She did not.
She started to come into the old building, go into her old office and lock herself in (she had all the keys). Everyone else was working in the new building, and the old building was just deserted aside from this one rogue admin. I asked my mother why they couldn’t just force her to give up the old office. She said the university had already fired her once for some other egregious behaviour, but rogue admin had sued and won and been reinstated with backpay. So now she was basically untouchable.
I think they got her to take early retirement eventually. But I have to consider the possibility that, 10 years later, she’s still going into that deserted building every day to lock herself into her office to do who knows what kind of work for the entire day…
13. The phone directory
Many years ago, the administrative assistant made up the yearly phone directory. She had been doing this for years, with few changes in staff in my department. The directory was set up by department and then alphabetically by last name within that department. This particular year, my department got a new member with a “B” last name. The directories were printed and distributed. One person, who had been at the top of the list because their last name started with a “C” lost their damn mind. Apparently, they had been under the impression that the list was in order of seniority/importance (which still wouldn’t have put them at the top of the list but whatever) and had never noticed the alphabetical nature of the list. Someone suggested maybe the list should be in numerical order by extension. That was no good because that would put this person even further down the list! So, directories were reprinted with every other department in alphabetical order but our department had this person at the top and then alphabetical. Also, we had to rearrange our phone extensions so this person had the first one, numerically. This person retired 3 months later.
14. The movie poll
My boss sent out a poll in Teams about Movies You Liked. We could vote for other peoples’ entries and/or add our own.
People campaigned for their choices like it was an election for the sanitation commissioner.
People made judgments about the movies that had the most votes and the ones that didn’t have any. Votes were changed willy-nilly. Work was put aside as people sat in their chairs debating what made their movie better than the others’. Some conversations fell just short of a screaming match.
After the three-day period, the vote closed and … that’s it. There was no point to the poll. My boss was “just interested” in what people watched. :/
15. The empty coffee pot
Years ago, an employee came to work, noticed an issue (I’m intentionally being vague here because the reason is even better after you know all the reactions) started yelling, dramatically cleaned off her desk (think sweeping all the items off of it into a box) and declared she couldn’t work in these conditions any longer.
Her issue?
The coffee pot was empty … and currently in the process of making new coffee … so her wait was minutes at best.
To this day I refuse to believe that was her only reason for quitting. But we never saw her again and she did quit to HR, but they never shared if she had another reason.
16. The parking garage
I work in higher ed which is the land of Strangely Dramatic Responses. One of my favorites happened many years ago when the parking company decided, after many years, that they would no longer reserve an entire floor of the parkade for us as not enough people had purchased parking passes to justify it. Mind you we could still purchase passes and could still park in the parkade. One faculty member sent an all-staff email complaining bitterly about this decision and while I wish I could remember it in its entirety, it did contain the phrase “this is the greatest threat to education that we have ever faced” (because maybe it would take you an extra minute to find a spot when you got to work).
17. The bigger monitor
One night after work, my coworker swapped her computer monitor for another coworker’s monitor that was much, much bigger (this second coworker had a graphics-centric job that required a larger monitor, whereas the “thief” did not). When confronted, this coworker denied taking it at first, but as it was VERY obvious that she had taken it she eventually said she had permission from our boss to make the swap. Our boss insisted this was not the case, and said coworker was ordered repeatedly to give back the stolen monitor. And she just refused.
HR got involved and still she wouldn’t budge. The HR process was moving slowly (weeks at this point), so one night a couple people stayed late and just swapped the monitors back (my coworker locked her door each evening so getting in to do this was not easy or else I suspect this would have been done earlier).
When coworker came in and saw what had happened she was furious. Screaming. Crying. Bad mouthing all of us to anyone who would listen. Ultimately she quit and spread tales of her “unfair mistreatment” throughout our shared professional circles. It’s been years since this happened and sometimes I still encounter people who know her (wildly inaccurate) side of the story and she’s managed to convince people that we’re monsters.
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LOS ANGELES—With the hopes of learning more about the reclusive and oft-unseen individuals, 3.1 million viewers reportedly watched the 75th Emmy Awards to catch a rare glimpse of TV actors. “What’s fascinating is that you get this peek at these deeply private people who emerge to be seen in public for just one…
At the end of December 2023, several disk images of very old versions of Seattle Computer Products 86-DOS unexpectedly turned up. This includes previously unseen releases of 86-DOS version 0.11 and 0.34 (going by the version number in the 86-DOS kernel).
Just how old these releases are is somewhat difficult to establish. Unlike 86-DOS 1.0 from April 1981, the older versions used a different format of FAT directory entries. The old format only used 16 bytes per entry (rather than 32) and had no room to store any timestamps, much like CP/M formats of the era.
The 0.34 disk (8″ of course) has a handwritten label which includes a date, 81/02/20. If the disk was written and the label was made on February 20, 1981, the 86-DOS files on the disk are presumably not newer than late February 1981.
86-DOS version 0.34 disk
The file INIT.ASM on the 86-DOS 0.34 disk contains the following comment:
; Translated from the Z80 on 12-19-80 and subsequently upgraded to handle
; all of the following controllers. Set switch to one to select.
Assuming the comment is correct, 86-DOS 0.34 must have been released sometime after December 19, 1980 but before late February 1981.
The file MSDOS.ASM released by the Computer History Museum includes revision history that starts with version 0.34, which is dated as December 29, 1980. It is likely that the date refers to the DOS kernel itself and not necessarily when 86-DOS 0.34 was shipped to customers.
The 86-DOS 0.11 disk contains no real clues about its age. The sign-on message says “Copyright 1980 Seattle Computer Products, Inc.” which is not too helpful. An interview with Tim Paterson from 1983 suggests that “QDOS 0.11” was finalized in August 1980. While this is possible, the interview is somewhat questionable because there is no sign of “QDOS” in 86-DOS 0.11; the system clearly identifies itself as “86-DOS version 0.11”.
In any case, August 1980 is at least plausible as a release date of 86-DOS 0.11. If so, it would pre-date the release of the IBM PC (and PC DOS) by a whole year.
Old Directory Format
Cracking the ancient 16-byte FAT directory entry format took a little bit of effort, but in the end the format turned out to be very straightforward. There does not (yet) appear to be any public documentation of what the directory entries used to look like.
From looking at the disk images it’s obvious that the first 11 bytes are the file name and extension, just like in the newer 32-byte directory entry format. But the remaining five bytes were somewhat mysterious.
Logically, 86-DOS must have stored information about the starting cluster of a file, as well as the file size. But was there anything else?
The release notes for 86-DOS 1.0 mention that with the new 32-byte directory entry format, file sizes are no longer limited to 16 megabytes. At the same time, prior to 86-DOS 1.0, file size was only recorded with the granularity of 128-byte records (ever wondered why text files used to end with ASCII SUB aka Ctrl-Z?). Perhaps file sizes were stored in units of 128-byte records?
Upon closer examination, it turned out that the last three bytes of a 16-byte directory entry are simply the file size in bytes, stored in LSB order. Due to the 128-byte granularity, the low byte of the file size only ever contains the value 00h or 80h.
The remaining two bytes (at offset 11 and 12 in the directory entry) are the file’s starting cluster, again stored in LSB order.
The 16-byte directory entry is then formatted as follows:
8 bytes of file name, padded with spaces
3 bytes of file extension
2 bytes of starting cluster (LSB order)
3 bytes of file size in bytes (LSB order)
This information takes up 16 bytes and there is no room for timestamps, attributes, or anything else.
The 16-byte directory entry is a proper subset of the 32-byte directory entry, and is therefore easy to convert to a 32-byte entry with no date or time stamps and no attributes set.
What’s Included?
The 86-DOS 0.11 disk has very little on it. There is COMMAND.COM, SYS, the RDCPM utility, plus the SCP development tools: EDLIN, ASM, TRANS, and HEX2BIN. There is no DEBUG yet, but there is a chess program of unknown provenance.
The 86-DOS 0.34 disk is rather more interesting. It newly includes CHKDSK, as well as DEBUG. There is also SCP source code for a firmware monitor, boot loader, and the 86-DOS I/O subsystem: MON.ASM, BOOT.ASM, and DOSIO.ASM. There’s also INIT.ASM, a low level floppy disk format utility.
There’s considerably more than that on the disk… but it’s not very useful. Consider the following (transcript from a SIMH simulator session):
SCP 8086 Monitor 1.5
>B
86-DOS version 0.34
Copyright 1980 Seattle Computer Products, Inc.
COMMAND v. 0.2
A:aargh
GEE... I DIDN'T KNOW YOU SPOKE CHINESE!
A:damn!
THERE'S NO NEED TO SWEAR!
A:shit
NOT HERE, PLEASE. IT STAINS THE CARPET.
A:dir *.asm
BOOT ASM 2688
CPMTAB ASM 1152
MON ASM 35584
INIT ASM 4992
DOSIO ASM 11008
MOVE ASM 512
DAMN ASM 384
SHIT! ASM 384
AARGH ASM 384
SPEEDCHK ASM 128
SHIT ASM 384
AARGH! ASM 384
A:
It is worth noticing that 86-DOS 0.34 displayed file sizes (in bytes), though of course no timestamps were shown. Version 0.11 only showed file names without any further information.
Here’s what AARGH.ASM contains (note the somewhat unfamiliar SCP assembler syntax):
; A PROGRAM TO EXPRESS HOW I FEEL.
PUT 0100H
ORG 0100H
MOV CX,CHARCOUNT
MOV SI,OUTBUFF
UP
LOOP: LODB
MOV DL,AL
MOV AH,2
INT 21H
LOOP LOOP
INT 20H
; BUFFERS AND CONSTANTS
OUTBUFF: DM "GEE... I DIDN'T KNOW YOU SPOKE CHINESE!"
CHARCOUNT: EQU 39
; END OF *AARGH*
The contents of AARGH!.ASM, DAMN.ASM, etc. are quite similar. While the programs are all amusing, it would be an exaggeration to say that they are of historical significance.
However, the 86-DOS 0.34 disk as such is certainly historically significant, and shows just how far the development of 86-DOS was (or wasn’t) at the beginning of 1981.
For example, the DEBUG utility was able to single step programs and show register state or dump memory… but it was not yet able to disassemble instructions. It was clearly meant to be used with a printed program listing in hand, which is not something that’s always available.
Conclusion
Even after more than 40 years(!), old software releases and pre-releases can still surface. In the case of 86-DOS 0.11 and 0.34 it’s practically a miracle, since there were probably never very many copies in existence.
For the first time since the early 1980s, FAT formatted floppies with the primordial 16-byte directory entry format have come to light. The old 16-byte directory entries were gone by 86-DOS 1.0 in April 1981 and of course never appeared in any public PC DOS release.
These prehistoric versions of 86-DOS allow us to fill in further missing pieces in the puzzle of DOS origins. It is fascinating to follow how DOS developed from almost nothing to a multi-million dollar business in the course of just a few years.
Addendum: SMALLDIR
The previously mentioned DOS 1.25 source code mentions that one of the changes in version 1.20 was to “Kill SMALLDIR”. Further comments mention that “Entry number zero [in the FAT] is used as an end-of-file trap in the OS and as a flag for directory entry size (if SMALLDIR selected).”
In the CREATE function, there is an unreferenced label called SMALLENT which is clearly a remnant of the SMALLDIR support.
Examining 86DOS.SYS in 86-DOS version 1.10 allows the reader to form a good idea about what the SMALLDIR logic was about. If the first FAT byte was FFh, the disk was considered to be using the original “small” 16-byte directory entries. Any other value (in practice FEh) indicated 32-byte directory entries.
All code locations where 86-DOS dealt with directory entries (not too many) checked the first FAT byte and used either 32-byte or 16-byte directory entries.
It is likely that starting with version 0.42 (02/25/81, “32-byte directory entries added”) and prior to version 1.20 (12/31/81), 86-DOS was (optionally) able to read and write disks with both 16-byte and 32-byte directory entries. 86-DOS 1.10 certainly appears to be able to do just that.
After several months, disks with 16-byte directory entries were considered obsolete and only the support for 32-byte directory entries remained.
Note that PC DOS 1.0 was apparently built with SMALLDIR not set and was thus only able to work with 32-byte directory entries.
Having some fun at Megacon in London with @juicygirltv on the LGBTQ Panel! Thank you to all the fans who said hello, and thanks to @AddyHarajuku for filming this footage!
Summary: We’re now in the worst part of this Arctic freeze, when we need to be cognizant of the very cold temperatures and wind chills, some remaining icy spots on roadways around Houston, and the Texas electricity grid. Fortunately the end is in sight, even if the next 24 hours look cold.
First, let’s discuss the forecast, then look at roads and the electricity grid.
The entire state of Texas is seeing freezing temperatures this morning. (Weather Bell)
Tuesday
The temperature at Houston’s official station, Bush Intercontinental Airport, dropped to 19 degrees this morning (After publication, the temperature fell to 18 degrees at 6:50 am). This set a new record low for today. If you’re wondering how this temperature compares to the Valentine’s freeze in 2021, the lowest recorded temperature then was 12 degrees at Bush. (See lows during that freeze for a bunch of Southeast Texas locations here). When you layer on winds of 15 mph and higher gusts on to these temperatures, it feels like single-digit temperatures outside. That’s pretty brutal for Houston.
Winds will remain up this morning, but should subside some this afternoon finally. We’ll also see clearing skies this morning, which should help the temperatures some. Highs today in Houston should climb above freezing for a couple of hours, but their upper limit is likely mid-30s. Areas further inland, such as Katy and The Woodlands, may only briefly touch temperatures above freezing, or may not make it at all.
Low temperatures tonight should be similar to Monday night’s temperatures. The upside is that with significantly reduced winds, it will feel less cold outside.
Minimum temperature forecast for Wednesday morning. (Weather Bell)
Wednesday
This will be another sunny day, but some clouds will start to build during the afternoon or evening hours. Temperatures will reach about 50 degrees, with lows only falling into the 40s.
Thursday
This day looks even warmer, if cloudy. Look for highs near 70 degrees. Alas, another cold front arrives later on Thursday to bring another round of rather cold air. Lows on Thursday night will drop to around 40 degrees in Houston, with slightly cooler conditions further inland.
Friday
Winter’s back, baby. Look for highs of around 50 degrees and a cold night. Expect temperatures to drop to around 30 degrees in Houston, so a light freeze is possible for the city. Inland areas may drop into the upper 20s. So maybe just keep your plants covered this week. This surge of colder air won’t be as sharp as the one we’re presently experiencing, but it still will be rather cold by Houston standards. Fortunately there is no precipitation in the forecast during the coldest periods.
Saturday, Sunday, and beyond
The weekend looks cold. Saturday should be mostly sunny with highs in the 40s. A light freeze will be possible for inland areas overnight. Sunday may reach 50 degrees or so with more cloud cover.
It’s gonna rain in Texas next week. (Pivotal Weather)
After this point we’re going to see a significant pattern change, although the details are still fuzzy. We’ll see warmer weather for awhile, with highs in the 60s or possibly low 70s for most of next week. We’re also going to see the return of some rain showers, possibly a few inches in accumulation starting on Sunday night or Monday. So after the cold, we’re going to get warmer and wet for awhile. I’ve been faithfully placing my orders for days in the 60s and 70s with lots of sunshine this winter, but y’all must be outvoting me.
Roadways
A lot of roads have dried out overnight with the winds. But icy patches remain on elevated freeways and exit ramps and bridges around the region. There are still quite a bit of closures, and travel is inadvisable until later this morning when sunshine and rising temperatures should help to dispatch the ice. You can track icy road locations at Houston Transtar’s website. After today there should be no concerns about winter-related mobility in the Houston area.
Electricity
As of 6:20 am CT, the Texas electricity grid is maintaining between 6,000 and 7,000 MW of excess capacity according to ERCOT. We’re expecting peak demand during the next couple of hours, but given the current capacity it seems that rolling blackouts are unlikely. After this morning, as most of Texas starts to warm up, the grid should have plenty of capacity to cover demand. So, crisis averted.
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Look, we’re not perverts. This is a real thing that members of Gen Z are doing. The Onion asked people in their late teens and 20s why they are “resetting” their virginity, and this is what they said.
When Martin Luther King Jr. walked up the steps to the Lincoln Memorial, he delivered a speech that would change history. With passion and eloquence, he showed us a vision of true equality—an America where people of all colors and backgrounds could enjoy life, liberty, and a piece of this sweet Fort Lauderdale timeshare I’m offering.
Seriously, he would have wanted you to sign up right away. It’s a primo bog-side location in the heart of the city’s outskirts.
America was founded on principles of justice. Unfortunately, it took over a century to begin living up to those ideals. Only when Dr. King uttered his famous words, “I have a dream,” did we realize that he probably meant to follow up with, “that you will all go for the Platinum Package, with access to a reasonably well-maintained thirteen-hole golf course.”
That, and the fact that you haven’t given me your credit card number yet, might be the greatest injustice of all.
What must it have been like to see the speech in person? Imagine it. You’re standing in the crowd on that hot summer or maybe spring day in 1960-something, surrounded by dozens of others, and it dawns on you that, much like the TripAdvisor reviews left on my timeshare, many of Dr. King’s critics are needlessly hateful. Back then, lots of Americans felt that the civil rights movement was moving “too fast,” and, in a grim repetition of history, many of my guests feel that the Wi-Fi is “too spotty,” the rooms “too smelly,” and the buffet a “single brown banana.”
I guess the reverend’s vision for racial equality—just like my vision for you riding through a swamp on an off-brand jet ski a guy once died on—was simply ahead of its time.
Of course, it’s all too common for people to twist Dr. King’s words to suit their own agendas. Not me. Like Martin (I’m pretty sure we’d be on a first-name basis if he hadn’t been deported or whatever), I’m always honest about what I believe. And what I believe is that you’d be a fool to pass up a free tour of the pet cemetery my timeshare is next to. It’s a pretty romantic spot if you’re drunk enough.
By the way, Malcolm X, who I understand is still terrifying to much of America, would have hated this timeshare. If you want to stick it to his legacy, go ahead and sign on the dotted line, then we’ll set you up at our spa with an unlicensed masseuse with cold hands.
Get in on this timeshare now. Do it for those who marched. For those who suffered. For those who, in the face of long odds, decided they want a future where people of all races can leave me a hundred-dollar tip for labeling which milk in the fridge is expired.
As polls show Nikki Haley edging out his lead in New Hampshire, former President Donald Trump started a birther rumor about his political rival, falsely stating that her Indian immigrant parents were not citizens when she was born in South Carolina and throwing into question her eligibility for the presidency. What do …
86-DOS version 0.34 Copyright 1980 Seattle Computer Products, Inc. COMMAND v. 0.2 A:aargh GEE... I DIDN'T KNOW YOU SPOKE CHINESE! A:damn! THERE'S NO NEED TO SWEAR! A:shit NOT HERE, PLEASE. IT STAINS THE CARPET. A:dir *.asm BOOT ASM 2688 CPMTAB ASM 1152 MON ASM 35584 INIT ASM 4992 DOSIO ASM 11008 MOVE ASM 512 DAMN ASM 384 SHIT! ASM 384 AARGH ASM 384 SPEEDCHK ASM 128 SHIT ASM 384 AARGH! ASM 384 A:
