The shrinking size of transistors

When I was first introduced to transistors they were in a metal box which was a cylinder of about ½’’ or 10mm. about the diameter of a modern 5p piece with three fine wires issuing from underneath which were trimmed to size.



These primitive devices were the precursor of the micro chip’s which are in use today. Modern micro processors can have several thousand transistors contained within a small sliver of silicon the size of you’re pinkie finger nail.

This may all sound compicated, but basically the transistor amplifies an electrical impulse so that we no longer have to carry around a mobile phone or radio weighing several kilograms like we did before. Small transistors mean small portable products.

A lot of the development work was carried out by the Ministry of Defence in the early years after world war two. A lot of women were employed in the assembly work as it would seem they are more patient than men and were less likely to be curious as to what function each individual component carried out. This was for reasons of secrecy and to deter industial breach of copyright.

F.C.

Chicken Thighs with Marmalade.

Browsing around in a bookshop a few years ago I saw a recipe book for retired people. I immediately thought ”that’s me” and bought it. It was one of the best buys that I have made in the book world,and I have made many recipes out of it time and time again.I feel it would be nice to give one of the recipes to those of you who may read this blog,and hope they will make the dish and enjoy it.

Ingredients.
Four chicken thighs with skin removed.
Two tablespoons of oil.
Three tablespoons of marmalade.
Clove of garlic or garlic powder.
Juice of a lemon.
Teaspoon of herbs(any sort preferred).
Salt and pepper.

Method.
Put the chicken thighs in a casserole dish.Put all the other ingredients together in a bowl and mix well.Then pour over the chicken covering them well.Put aside for a few hours to marinade .It can be made overnight.
Cook in a moderate oven 190c or gas mark 5,for about fortyfive minutes until the chicken is chrisp and brown.

Good luck with cooking this. More recipes later on.

Polly.

My first experience with a personal computer

My first encounter with computers was an encounter about thirty years ago with a Sinclair model. That was 1981.



My father bought this ‘box of tricks’ simply because he wanted to compile a data base of race horses so that he could win the Grand National, or at least the horse he chose could. I was chosen for to manage this task with the Sinclair.

From what I can remember a smallish, quite heavy keyboard connected via a TV antenna jack which was then plugged into the back of an old fashioned black & white television, and off you jolly well went, typing to your hearts content. Green on Black.

Unfortunately, The Sinclair model ZX81 did not have a lot of memory and so we could not programme all of dear old pop’s parameters so our horse lost and my mothers horse won, ( because it had a pretty sounding name ).

Needless to say, the dastardly device was relocated to a space in the attic where it probably still is.

Frank Cotterill.

For more information about the Sinclair ZX81 computer, click on its name.