given the current climate this pride especially i feel i must mention that i love my trans friends, i stand with trans people in the fight against transphobic legislation and those who would enforce it, and this blog is not a good place for you to be if you do not vibe with that
Continuing my redos of old characters: SSEC-tan, and Harvard Marks II, III & IV; the NYC socialite, automaton naval ordnance experts and the outcast non-automaton (respectively) of the Aiken Computer Expanded Universe.
Bios to be posted when I'm finished writing them . . .
Harvard Mark II-tan (a.k.a. Aiken Relay Calculator [ARC])
Automaton like her big sister
- Electromechanical computer.
Moves & speaks faster than Mark I but still slowly by all standards.
- Several times faster than predecessor.
Smaller stature than Mark I, but heavier build.
- Improved/simpler design, but larger in scale.
Dedicated mathematician
- Specialized math function hardware.
Interested in telephony
- Logic used telephone relays.
Two personae
- Mark II consisted of two sub-computers that checked each other.
Jumpy about the moths she seems to attract
- First computer bug!
Slight southern drawl
- Built in MA, moved to Naval Proving Ground in VA.
Loves the ocean
- See above
Bit of a "youngest child" despite being second-oldest
- Last fully electro-mechanical HM, later releases trended toward electronic computing.
Status: Dead.
Relationships:
Loves her sisters despite geographical distance.
Closest to her "mom"
- Programmed by Grace Hopper.
To that end, considers the Univacs distant kin.
Protective instinct over GENIAC-chan
- Shared programmer/creator Edmund Berkeley.
Friends with NORC-tan, bonded over proximity and a shared love of math. Exposed to the IBM side of the family through her, on better terms with them than her older sister.
Friendly rivalry with the Army-tans up the coast: ENIAC-heika, EDVAC-san, ORDVAC-tan.
Appearance & Personality:
Below average height, disproportionately dense for her size/build, long red-brown hair tied into twin tails, one bronze eye one hazel eye, light skin. Exposed metal limbs, legs usually covered by white stockings but forearms are exposed. White gloves. Wears a 1950s contemporary dark blue sailor-style dress, perpetually covered in moth-holes patched with embroidery. Cream colored punch tape belt & neckerchief. Buttons on skirt-front resemble dials. Bronze wind-up key on head.
Quaint. Classic tomboy, outdoorsy and physical. Confident without her sister's smugness. Indecisive. More aware of electronic computers, but still doesn't compare herself to or feel threatened by them. Warmer & more effusive than her sisters, clingier too, a bit of a mama's girl.
. . . .
Harvard Mark III-tan (a.k.a. Aiken Dahlgren Electronic Calculator [ADEC])
Doll or machine-like traits less apparent
- Mixed electromechanical-electronic computer.
Experimental construction makes her less stable than her elder sisters
- See above.
Tidewater accent.
Bombastic, self-assured, perhaps even in love with herself.
- Delivered to Dahlgren without testing.
Prides herself in being "careful" and "methodical", which others see as laziness
- Slowest computer of its generation.
Fan of military marches, plays the drums herself
- Storage drums.
Always coming up with some big plan or another, rarely carries them to completion
- Less-successful departure from Mark I & II.
Proud of her status as cover-girl
- Featured on a time magazine cover.
Likes the age of sail & seafaring
- Naval computer.
Fancies herself the captain of her crew (really just Mark II & the other mechanical computers at Dahlgren).
Retired to a farm on the Northern Neck, where she died and was buried…
Status: Dead.
Relationships:
Gets along best with Harvard Mark II.
Likes her sisters, even if she finds both Mark I and Mark IV difficult to understand.
More of a rivalry with NORC.
Tends to be the target of pranks from ORDVAC-tan & BRLESC-tan given her outsized reactions.
Appearance & Personality:
Average height, pale skin, dark brown hair braided into drums over where her ears would be, with long wires plugging into the braids. Gold eyes. Wears a double-breasted white dress with tape reel inspired buttons and a magnetic tape bow, an antiquated navy & gold captain's coat, and captain's hat. The hat is styled with magnetic tape florettes and a tassel of magnetic drum heads. Platform-soled tall black boots.
Old-fashioned, tries to incorporate new ideas but isn't very good at it. Projects her confidence better than her elder sisters, commanding and martial. Inherited Mark I's arrogance and stubbornness without being able to deliver on it, which gets her into trouble more often than not. Takes a long time to do anything, less successful than her sisters but she doesn't seem to mind. Somewhat bellicose toward electronic computers.
. . . .
Harvard Mark IV-tan
Living girl unlike her sisters
- Lone electronic computer in the lineup.
Otherwise identical to Mark III
- Mark III minus electromechanical aspects.
She's somewhat of an outcast in her family, they try to include her but differences of personality make it hard.
Boston accent.
- Only HM to be designed, built & used in the Boston metro area.
Kind of religious
- Used for biblical analysis.
Sings, the only in her family to do so.
- Performed hymns.
Works for the USAF
Detail oriented, interested in building and inventing.
- Might have been used aerospace & optics research.
Rejects the prevailing wisdom of computers of her era, giving her a reputation as fuddy-duddy.
- Not stored program, uses decimal, and other outdated concepts.
Despite this, is the most worldly of her sisters with a better awareness of human culture, existentialism, mortality, spirituality, etc
- Incorporated ideas outside Aiken's methodologies.
(Correctly) denies taking after Whirlwind
- Early adopter of core memory, albeit An Wang's design rather than Forrester's.
Status: Dead.
Relationships:
Closest with Harvard Mark I, despite having very different personalities. Shared a home with her & UNIVAC I
Housed together at Harvard.
Takes more after her uncle than father, has his sense of humor and compassion, considered an auntie by the Wang computers
An Wang's first computing project.
Colleague of Whirlwind and SAGE-tan
Used by Cambridge A.F. Research Lab.
Liked by her peers, even if they're wary of her religiosity.
Aware of Whirlwind's health issues and thankful she doesn't face them
- Team chose core memory over electrostatic tubes (like Whirlwind's) because of their unreliability.
Harvard Mark I is convinced Whirlwind has been "an influence" on her, which embarrasses her greatly…
Appearance & Personality:
Identical to Harvard Mark III but a living girl, pallid skin, bags under eyes. Gold eyes and half-moon glasses. Hair worn in long, Victorian-style ringlettes. Wears a long sleeved dark green dress and long black cape/coat with a white standing collar with frog closures styled in the design of tape reels. Buckled shoes and a bonnet decorated with magnetic tape ribbons.
Her dress and serious demeanor makes her comes off as rather puritanical. While she is dour, it's the result of her deep introspection about the nature of computers, their relationship to humans, and spiritual proclivities. Accepts her differences and the loneliness that comes with it, and cherishes the connections she has for what they are. Between her surprisingly accepting nature and hard work ethic perhaps she would be better classed as a Neo-Shaker of sorts.
. . .
IBM SSEC (Selective Sequence Electronic Calculator)-tan
Estranged cousin of the Harvard Marks
- IBM project inspired by ASCC/HM1.
Considers herself both the culmination of the IBM calculators, and the rightful foundress of the IBM computer families.
- Bridged IBM's older & newer technologies.
Talented mathematician
Pacifist, thinks her cousins waste their talents in the military.
- Co-designer Wallace Eckert believed HM1 failed to live up to its potential in the Navy.
Trained astronomer with particular interest in lunar & planetary mechanics.
- Used to calculate celestial mechanics.
Prides herself for helping man to the moon.
- Calculated tables used by NASA including the Apollo Program.
"Visionary" inventor more than a hands-on tinkerer
- Used in the nuclear propelled aircraft program.
Enjoys gambling
- Large scale application of monte carlo methods.
Model-tier good looks and fashion sense.
- Very stylish design, meant to be looked at.
Fashion trends toward 1940s and 20s/art deco style.
- "Behind the times" like other mechanical computers, but less so than some of the others.
Bon vivant, loves socializing and nights out on the town
- Housed behind glass at IBM HQ in Manhattan.
Magazine cover-girl
- Subject of a famous New Yorker cover.
Transatlantic accent.
Modest about her talents
IBM marketing heavily emphasized the SSEC as an aid to scientists, not a replacement.
Status: :(
Relationships:
Number one enemy is Harvard Mark I.
- Acrimonious falling out between Watson Sr. & Aiken.
Does not really care for the others, either …
Number two enemy is IAS-sama
- IBM 701 (commercialized IAS computer) replaced the SSEC.
No children or heirs otherwise but considers IBM 650 a protegee
- Shared development team.
ENIAC and EDVAC find her frivolous and vain
- Described by J. Presper Eckert as "a monstrosity"
Appearance and personality:
Smaller than HM1, medium skintone, bronze eyes, red hair, glass chassis with exposed machinery. "Classic" good looks for 1940s. Dresses in a sheer jacket studded with many red jewels, long bronze & silver gown, and red gemstone jewelry, and red high heels. Makeup is smokey and dramatic, taking more after 1920s than 40s contemporary looks.
Intelligent, quick-witted and sociable. Considers the people of New York City her friends and gets along easily with humans, and doesn't feel particularly isolated even if she doesn't interact much with other computers. A born performer, thinks of the world as her stage and people broadly as her audience.
The IRL SSEC computer had a short operational lifespan even by the standards of its era, 1948 - 1952. (Compare with ENIAC which was '45 - '55, and not even the longest-lasting computer of its generation.)
I left how this translates to -tan terms ambiguous, but it's not good. Usually full deactivation and no available emulator or replica translates to the -tan being dead, but I think that would be particularly cruel given how briefly the computer actually operated for. And perhaps not totally accurate as that the console for SSEC still resides in IBM's private museum.
So I think she would rather be something of a washed-up star, forever reliving the nostalgia of the "good old days", a living specter in the halls of IBM HQ.
But they loop back into bitter disagreement because SSEC-tan's complaint is "she ruined my life" while Mark I-tan's is "she was a bit peevish to me once".
