And if you’re not sure what a PDP-11 is, just pretend I said “Intel® Core™2 Quad.”

BBW Branch Both Ways
BEW Branch Either Way
BBBF Branch on Bit Bucket Full
BH Branch and Hang
BMR Branch Multiple Registers
BOB Branch On Bug
BPO Branch on Power Off
BST Backspace and Stretch Tape
CDS Condense and Destroy System
CLBR CLoBber Register
CLBRI CLoBer Register Immediately
CM Circulate Memory
CMFRM CoMe FRoM — essential for truly structured programming
CPPR Crumple Printer Paper and Rip
CRN Convert to Roman Numerals

DC Divide and Conquer
DMPK Destroy Memory Protect Key
DO Divide and Overflow
EMPC EMulate Pocket Calculator
EPI Execute Programmer Immediately
EROS Erase Read Only Storage
EXCE Execute Customer Engineer
HCF Halt and Catch Fire
IBP Insert Bug and Proceed
INSQSW INSert into Queue SomeWhere (for FISH queues (First In Still Here))
PBC Print and Break Chain
PDSK Punch Disk

PI Punch Invalid
POPI Punch OPerator Immediately
PVLC Punch Variable Length Card
RASC Read And Shred Card
RPM Read Programmers Mind
RSSC Reduce Speed, Step Carefully (for improved accuracy)
RTAB Rewind Tape And Break
RWDSK REWind DiSK
RWOC Read Writing On Card
SCRBL SCRibBLe to disk — faster than a write
SLC Search for Lost Chord
SPSW Scramble Program Status Word
SRSD Seek Record and Scar Disk
STROM Store in Read Only Memory
TDB Transfer and Drop Bit
WBT Water Binary Tree

I have a similar list that’s lost somewhere in my house, but this particular list comes from

http://www.gotlisp.com/lambda/lambda.txt

I installed WordPress 2.5 on the library’s server today. I only just installed 2.3.3 on Friday, so there wasn’t much to salvage. I ripped out the 2.3.3 install (but not the database files) and just copied all the new 2.5 files over. I forget to save wp-config, so I had to edit it again, but that only took a few seconds. It just doesn’t get any easier than this. (Of course, I remember doing a sysgen for RSX11M that took all night, so anything else pales by comparison. Except maybe a Windows 3.1 installation.)

I wasn’t there at the very beginning, but I wasn’t too far behind. In the early 1970s, the company I was working for joined the MACSYMA consortium, and soon I was exchanging emails and hacking login scripts with some of the stars of Project MAC. I feel strongly that a true professional should know something about the history of his or her field, and develop a sense of “standing on the shoulders of giants.” If you agree, or if you just enjoy amassing geeky techie knowledge, then you may enjoy reading Dr. Peter Salus’s The Daemon, the GNU & the Penguin. Note that the chapter numbering starts at 0. But then, you expected that, didn’t you?