August 2021 – Observations from Uppsala

Timesharing System Design Concepts (1970)

When I recently turned 50, a friend of mine gave me a book that was about as old as me – Timesharing System Design Concepts, by Richard W Watson. The copyright date is 1970, but the publishing date found online 1971. The book covers the hardware support and software techniques needed to provide multiple users with simultaneous access to a computer system. Typically, using remote teletype terminals. It is a wonderful book, reflecting on the state of computer technology around 1970. It shows both how many of the basic concepts we still use today were already in use back then, but at the same time just how far we have evolved computing since.

Cancer Part 4: All’s Well that Ends Well

I last blogged about my experience with thyroid cancer in early 2020. Back then, I said that I felt pretty much normal. That has indeed continued to be the case, and recently I was declared as having formally recovered from the cancer. The guideline is apparently that after two years with no sign of a cancer resurgence, you are considered fully recovered. Future follow-ups are the responsibility of the primary care system instead of the hospital, with something like yearly or bi-yearly follow-up tests. Not so much to look out for the cancer, but to keep the Levaxin prescription correct.