Judge Bean
Senior Member
- Messages
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This may be Titor
In my opinion, the one known as John Titor (as in ?yes, that?s a real name,? as he wrote) may be a middleaged technical publisher and inventor on the East Coast named Jonathan Titus.
In the first place, the name Titus has been linked to the Titor Foundation by research done by one of our members. In the second place, Titus was the inventor of what some claim was the first personal computer?clearly, the ?grandfather? of ?Titor? was the ?inventor? of the precursor of the IBM 5100.
The story is somewhat convoluted, and I apologize if some of it has already appeared here or on other sites. Suffice it to say that we should make a quick study of the ?addresses,? if we have any, of anyone we have suspected of being Titor. If they come out to connect us to Massachusetts, New Jersey, or New York, this will be one more piece of the puzzle, for these are Titus? stomping-grounds.
Quoting an internet source,
?In the March, 1974, issue of QST magazine there appeared the first advertisement for a "personal computer." It was called the Scelbi ...The second "personal computer kit" was the Mark-8 (also Intel 8008 based) designed by Jonathan Titus. The July issue of Radio Electronics magazine published an article on building a Mark-8 microcomputer, information the general public was hungry for. ...?
And another:
?Hobbyists have always been an integral part of the electronics world, and every so often one hobbyist comes along who makes a real impact within the industry. In Jonathan Titus? case, he was a computing hobbyist who wanted to build a computer for himself at a time when the smallest computers were Digital Equipment PDP-8 series machines. Titus successfully built a computer, the Mark-8, in 1973, based on an Intel 8008 microprocessor. The Mark-8 may not have been the very first home-built computer ever completed, but it was the first to be written up in a national magazine and converted into a kit design so that many other hobbyists could follow in Titus? footsteps. While there is no documented proof of a link, it is possible that the Mark-8 may have gone on to inspire other systems designers like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who designed the Apple I in Jobs? garage.
"....In 1973, Titus purchased three 8008 chips for $125 each. Because he had no way to read or write PROM (programmable read-only memory) chips, Titus instead developed a front panel with switch controls and indicators. The switches acted as individual bits, and by manipulating the switch array, he could create small programs to allow the use of a keyboard or display device.
"Surprisingly, Titus? first attempt at a prototype design worked. The computer featured three banks of 256-byte memory. While applying decals to the system, Titus realized that the system needed a name, and since the computer relied on Intel?s 8-bit processor, he named it the Mark-8.
"Titus pitched an article on the Mark-8 to Popular Electronics magazine and was rejected. Fortunately, Radio-Electronics magazine liked the project and agreed to publish an article on it, including circuit board layouts and how to assemble the system. A supplemental instruction book advertised in the magazine sold several thousand copies.
"'Experimenters realized they could have their own computer, and in fact, such a computer was simple, relatively inexpensive, and easy to build and use,' says Titus. 'Although few if any ?application? programs existed in 1974, the Mark-8 gave people a way to learn about computers first hand. It blazed a trail for others to follow.'?
Mr. Titus is also very much interested in current events, politics, crime, and the End of the World?if his reviews on Amazon is any indication of his interests. Consider the following examples, the last one of which is a letter to the editor of his hometown newspaper:
"Reviewer: Jon Titus from Milford, MA United States
Not much of a plot, not much action.
(From Amazon.com?a description of this novel which Titus didn?t like at all:
"With occasional references to "the Kursk incident" and to Vladimir Putin's unpopularity with the Russian people, and with a plot centered around the antics of an ultra-nationalist Russian general, Dead Hand positions itself as an up-to-the-minute thriller with significant political resonance--and even throws in a natural disaster for good measure. Ever wary of being caught off-guard by a nuclear strike, Russia has carefully cultivated a retaliatory system capable of launching its own missiles: mordantly dubbed Dead Hand, the system will activate without a central command. When an asteroid hits Siberia with enough force to trigger the system, Moscow finds itself faced with both unspeakable environmental chaos and General Likatchev's bid to subvert the disaster to his own anti-Western purposes.
Politics makes strange bedfellows, and Russia must ask the U.S., NATO, and the French Foreign Legion (to name but a few of the players) to invade its own borders and destroy the missiles before Likatchev can get to them. Confronted by mass destruction and a Russian squadron led by one of the general's former prot?g?s, the motley group of Western soldiers races against the clock toward the bevy of silos--but at what cost?
"Harold Coyle is anything but subtle: his characters can't cross a room without the author pausing to reflect on the glory of the soldier's calling. His pedantic asides often bring the plot to a screeching halt, and he has an unfortunate tendency to present his characters in the manner of an announcer at a beauty pageant: heavy on the platitudes and light on meaningful revelation. That said, Coyle has built up a loyal following, and these readers will no doubt be pleased with the obvious au courant sincerity of his latest offering." --Kelly Flynn)
He much prefers reading about real disasters:
"Inviting Disaster: Lessons from the Edge of Technology by James R. Chiles
"Great book, but illustrations lacking, December 18, 2001 Every engineer or scientist should put this title on their "must read" list. Chiles' interesting explanations and descriptions of accidents waiting to happen often sent chills up my spine. Readers can see trouble brewing. Too bad the participants didn't.
The book suffers, though, from poor illustrations. There's not a photo in the book that shows either the components involved in the various disasters or the aftermath of these disasters. The lack of photos makes the various events seem almost surreal. The simple 2-D line drawings don't convey much information. The figure showing the Three Mile Island reactor, for example, describes a condensate valve and relief valve, but the illustration doesn't point them out.
"The book has a couple of minor technical errors. The author refers to Sevin and Temik as herbicides. Actually, they're insecticides. He also mentiones cleaning a gunky trimer out of a pipe. Unless you know what a trimer is--three molecules of the same substance--this unexplained term may leave you scratching your head.
Overall a very good book. I recommend it highly."
Letter: That $500M belongs to the taxpayers
Milford Daily News Saturday, June 12, 2004
"The announcement of a $500 million budget surplus ("Surplus $100 million may go to towns," Milford Daily News, June 4, 2004) has set off a spending spree in the statehouse. Given Governor Romney's plans to return $100 million to cities and towns and individual legislators' pet projects, that money won't last long.
Taxpayers should remember the $500 million surplus came out of their pockets. Just because the Commonwealth collected that money from us, it should not have the right to spend it. Instead of an amendment that redefines marriage, we need one that demands fiscal responsibility from government.
"That "extra" $500 million should get refunded to the people and companies that paid it. If government needs more money, legislators should ask for it -- and taxpayers should have the opportunity to vote on those requests.
JON TITUS, Milford"
He holds higher degrees in chemistry, and his original ?Mark 8? personal computer is at the Smithsonian?sitting forever in a straight line from pulp fiction and the back pages of comics to Gates? Forty Billion?but, of course, passing him by. The psychology of the story makes a compelling case for the identification of this man as Titor, if nothing else did. Having been passed by by history, he prophecies the end of it, meanwhile reading Clancy-type novels and bitching about the government in his spare time.
Plus, he?s in the publishing business, and his contribution to science existed nowhere really but as blueprints in a magazine. A prototype put together in a garage, a footnote in the grand epic of intellectual history. It must hurt badly. Notice his nitpicking and plain language; and his desire for hands-on pictures and photos.
In summary, he is a writer, apocalyptic dreamer, and professional writer/editor/reader. In fact, he is three or four out of the five-person Titor ?committee? I proposed.
Again, if he has been the subject of speculation or discussion before now, I apologize
In my opinion, the one known as John Titor (as in ?yes, that?s a real name,? as he wrote) may be a middleaged technical publisher and inventor on the East Coast named Jonathan Titus.
In the first place, the name Titus has been linked to the Titor Foundation by research done by one of our members. In the second place, Titus was the inventor of what some claim was the first personal computer?clearly, the ?grandfather? of ?Titor? was the ?inventor? of the precursor of the IBM 5100.
The story is somewhat convoluted, and I apologize if some of it has already appeared here or on other sites. Suffice it to say that we should make a quick study of the ?addresses,? if we have any, of anyone we have suspected of being Titor. If they come out to connect us to Massachusetts, New Jersey, or New York, this will be one more piece of the puzzle, for these are Titus? stomping-grounds.
Quoting an internet source,
?In the March, 1974, issue of QST magazine there appeared the first advertisement for a "personal computer." It was called the Scelbi ...The second "personal computer kit" was the Mark-8 (also Intel 8008 based) designed by Jonathan Titus. The July issue of Radio Electronics magazine published an article on building a Mark-8 microcomputer, information the general public was hungry for. ...?
And another:
?Hobbyists have always been an integral part of the electronics world, and every so often one hobbyist comes along who makes a real impact within the industry. In Jonathan Titus? case, he was a computing hobbyist who wanted to build a computer for himself at a time when the smallest computers were Digital Equipment PDP-8 series machines. Titus successfully built a computer, the Mark-8, in 1973, based on an Intel 8008 microprocessor. The Mark-8 may not have been the very first home-built computer ever completed, but it was the first to be written up in a national magazine and converted into a kit design so that many other hobbyists could follow in Titus? footsteps. While there is no documented proof of a link, it is possible that the Mark-8 may have gone on to inspire other systems designers like Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, who designed the Apple I in Jobs? garage.
"....In 1973, Titus purchased three 8008 chips for $125 each. Because he had no way to read or write PROM (programmable read-only memory) chips, Titus instead developed a front panel with switch controls and indicators. The switches acted as individual bits, and by manipulating the switch array, he could create small programs to allow the use of a keyboard or display device.
"Surprisingly, Titus? first attempt at a prototype design worked. The computer featured three banks of 256-byte memory. While applying decals to the system, Titus realized that the system needed a name, and since the computer relied on Intel?s 8-bit processor, he named it the Mark-8.
"Titus pitched an article on the Mark-8 to Popular Electronics magazine and was rejected. Fortunately, Radio-Electronics magazine liked the project and agreed to publish an article on it, including circuit board layouts and how to assemble the system. A supplemental instruction book advertised in the magazine sold several thousand copies.
"'Experimenters realized they could have their own computer, and in fact, such a computer was simple, relatively inexpensive, and easy to build and use,' says Titus. 'Although few if any ?application? programs existed in 1974, the Mark-8 gave people a way to learn about computers first hand. It blazed a trail for others to follow.'?
Mr. Titus is also very much interested in current events, politics, crime, and the End of the World?if his reviews on Amazon is any indication of his interests. Consider the following examples, the last one of which is a letter to the editor of his hometown newspaper:
"Reviewer: Jon Titus from Milford, MA United States
Not much of a plot, not much action.
(From Amazon.com?a description of this novel which Titus didn?t like at all:
"With occasional references to "the Kursk incident" and to Vladimir Putin's unpopularity with the Russian people, and with a plot centered around the antics of an ultra-nationalist Russian general, Dead Hand positions itself as an up-to-the-minute thriller with significant political resonance--and even throws in a natural disaster for good measure. Ever wary of being caught off-guard by a nuclear strike, Russia has carefully cultivated a retaliatory system capable of launching its own missiles: mordantly dubbed Dead Hand, the system will activate without a central command. When an asteroid hits Siberia with enough force to trigger the system, Moscow finds itself faced with both unspeakable environmental chaos and General Likatchev's bid to subvert the disaster to his own anti-Western purposes.
Politics makes strange bedfellows, and Russia must ask the U.S., NATO, and the French Foreign Legion (to name but a few of the players) to invade its own borders and destroy the missiles before Likatchev can get to them. Confronted by mass destruction and a Russian squadron led by one of the general's former prot?g?s, the motley group of Western soldiers races against the clock toward the bevy of silos--but at what cost?
"Harold Coyle is anything but subtle: his characters can't cross a room without the author pausing to reflect on the glory of the soldier's calling. His pedantic asides often bring the plot to a screeching halt, and he has an unfortunate tendency to present his characters in the manner of an announcer at a beauty pageant: heavy on the platitudes and light on meaningful revelation. That said, Coyle has built up a loyal following, and these readers will no doubt be pleased with the obvious au courant sincerity of his latest offering." --Kelly Flynn)
He much prefers reading about real disasters:
"Inviting Disaster: Lessons from the Edge of Technology by James R. Chiles
"Great book, but illustrations lacking, December 18, 2001 Every engineer or scientist should put this title on their "must read" list. Chiles' interesting explanations and descriptions of accidents waiting to happen often sent chills up my spine. Readers can see trouble brewing. Too bad the participants didn't.
The book suffers, though, from poor illustrations. There's not a photo in the book that shows either the components involved in the various disasters or the aftermath of these disasters. The lack of photos makes the various events seem almost surreal. The simple 2-D line drawings don't convey much information. The figure showing the Three Mile Island reactor, for example, describes a condensate valve and relief valve, but the illustration doesn't point them out.
"The book has a couple of minor technical errors. The author refers to Sevin and Temik as herbicides. Actually, they're insecticides. He also mentiones cleaning a gunky trimer out of a pipe. Unless you know what a trimer is--three molecules of the same substance--this unexplained term may leave you scratching your head.
Overall a very good book. I recommend it highly."
Letter: That $500M belongs to the taxpayers
Milford Daily News Saturday, June 12, 2004
"The announcement of a $500 million budget surplus ("Surplus $100 million may go to towns," Milford Daily News, June 4, 2004) has set off a spending spree in the statehouse. Given Governor Romney's plans to return $100 million to cities and towns and individual legislators' pet projects, that money won't last long.
Taxpayers should remember the $500 million surplus came out of their pockets. Just because the Commonwealth collected that money from us, it should not have the right to spend it. Instead of an amendment that redefines marriage, we need one that demands fiscal responsibility from government.
"That "extra" $500 million should get refunded to the people and companies that paid it. If government needs more money, legislators should ask for it -- and taxpayers should have the opportunity to vote on those requests.
JON TITUS, Milford"
He holds higher degrees in chemistry, and his original ?Mark 8? personal computer is at the Smithsonian?sitting forever in a straight line from pulp fiction and the back pages of comics to Gates? Forty Billion?but, of course, passing him by. The psychology of the story makes a compelling case for the identification of this man as Titor, if nothing else did. Having been passed by by history, he prophecies the end of it, meanwhile reading Clancy-type novels and bitching about the government in his spare time.
Plus, he?s in the publishing business, and his contribution to science existed nowhere really but as blueprints in a magazine. A prototype put together in a garage, a footnote in the grand epic of intellectual history. It must hurt badly. Notice his nitpicking and plain language; and his desire for hands-on pictures and photos.
In summary, he is a writer, apocalyptic dreamer, and professional writer/editor/reader. In fact, he is three or four out of the five-person Titor ?committee? I proposed.
Again, if he has been the subject of speculation or discussion before now, I apologize