A new shield for Ben: 20k!

[altenbach]

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@Ben wrote:
You remembered a guy that wore a white shirt, sports coat, and wore a cap with a propeller and a teddy bear AT NI WEEK? 

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Yes, that image is permanently burned into my memory. 😄

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@Ben wrote:
See the video below to get an idea of the first computers I was train on. 

I love that video. Quite a few soundbites (bytes?) could be turned into quotes or even memes:

"Obviously, computer accuracy depends on the quality of the information it receives and that depends on the skill and understanding of the men"

Still true!!! (except it would be more gender neutral these days 😉

We had no computers in the swiss army, so the calculation of mortar settings was done purely graphically with a soft pencil on a big transparent disk that can be rotated over an underlying grid and measuring with some special rulers with nonlinear scales. Better than any text calculations! 😄 (Still true!)

Cannot find what we had on the internet, but here's a picture of a similar US model ("Plotting board") found on the web. These things were big to improve accuracy.

[AnalogKid2DigitalMan]

Ben:

Awesome work. Thanks for your contributions to the world of LabVIEW and to the forums.

And your Sea Stories and home adventures too.

So I presume in LabVIEW 1945 the icons were shafts, cams, gears, racks, and pinions....??

-AK2DM

[LiliMcDonald]

Congrats, Ben! Thanks for all of your contributions!

[Darren]

Thanks for everything, Ben. Your name regularly comes up in LabVIEW R&D discussions as an invaluable member of the LabVIEW community.

[mcduff]

Ben,

Thanks for all of your contributions! You, the other knights, and trusted enthusiasts have made this discussion board incredibly useful.

Cheers,

mcduff 

[JB]

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We had no computers in the swiss army, so the calculation of mortar settings was done purely graphically with a soft pencil on a big transparent disk that can be rotated over an underlying grid and measuring with some special rulers with nonlinear scales. Better than any text calculations! 😄 (Still true!)

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Yes I did this during my military service.

[Ray.R]

Congratulations Ben,

Wow 20K posts.. That's quite something. 

You've always been an inspiration on how to improve writing LabVIEW code.  You've been extremely supportive over the years, especially during the earlier days on the NI forums.  Your knowledge and persistent quest for perfection is admirable. Your choice of avatar is quite fitting since many "newbies" must have felt comfort with coding in LabVIEW from a soft "teddy bear" who had sufficient patience to explain the minute details on how to properly write functions and solve their issues.

Your retirement will keep you busy with your hobbies and your grand-daughters.  We all hope that you will find some time to visit these forums; hopefully more often than I do.  As a matter of fact, you should plan on it just to keep up with the beloved language.

Keep active!  It's the secret to staying young.  And stay in touch...

3 cheers for Ben!

RayR

[jcarmody]

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@Ray.R wrote:

Congratulations Ben,

[...]

3 cheers for Ben!

Hurray!

[Ben]

Thanks to you!

I have been made an offer that my better-half wants me to accept that will keep me involved in LabVIEW on  a part-time basis. If I accept the offer, it will help pay for more of those hobbies. After all Ben could handle an upgraded milling machine.

Emulating what Dave Richards has done (see below) would keep this old man busy for quite a few years.

Spoiler

He believes he is the only steam powered machine shop left in North America

After all I have a steam engine being machined for me, a coal seam on The Ridge. So what am I waiting for?

And then there is the orchard, the gardens, a vineyard, ponds, springs and dream to build an arched stone bridge...

Again, thank you!

Ben

[GerdW]

Hi Ben,

it seems I really should look more often into the Breakpoint thread: (late) congratulations to reaching the 20k mark!

And also good luck when changing into retirement, even with proposed part-time LabVIEW work… 😄

Wishing a Merry XMas and Happy New Year!