{"id":140,"date":"2023-08-28T21:39:25","date_gmt":"2023-08-29T01:39:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/?p=140"},"modified":"2023-08-31T21:16:51","modified_gmt":"2023-09-01T01:16:51","slug":"the-spark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/?p=140","title":{"rendered":"The Spark"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/BasicBasic.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"800\" height=\"350\" src=\"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/BasicBasic.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-141\" srcset=\"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/BasicBasic.jpg 800w, http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/BasicBasic-300x131.jpg 300w, http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/BasicBasic-768x336.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">I was maybe 13 years old, and I was in Mrs. Reed\u2019s algebra classroom. Keep in mind, I wasn\u2019t taking algebra, but I was in there to see the new Apple II Computer she had received. If memory serves, it was the only one in Randolph County, West Virginia. I still remember the goofy smile I had on my face when I hit ENTER, and it replied with my name.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">This ridiculously simple, three line program was the spark that started it all for me. A MicroAce kit computer, that a friend of my father\u2019s help me assemble, followed by a Vic-20, a Commodore 64, an Amiga 1000, a XEROX IBM compatible, lastly an ACER all-in-one with a DX2-66 chip (just so I could play a new program called Doom). From that point on I\u2019d build my own, moving to hardware from the coding I did, which could best be called \u201ctinkering\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Now I help define the direction of workstation computing with the platforms we released in June, as well as the ones we\u2019re working on \u201cnext\u201d. What a wild, weird journey\u2026 so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">And it all started with this basic, BASIC program.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was maybe 13 years old, and I was in<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nerd-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=140"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140\/revisions\/142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lestersworld.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}