Memories...or the lack thereof....

  Lesley and I were getting to a very critical stage where we were all caught up with shows recorded on our DVR, the new season shows hadn't started yet, and we thoroughly plowed through everything on Prime Video, Netflix and Starz. Now what do we do?!?! 
  I had a moment of genius and went over to our DVD cabinet to survey the multitude of movies therein. And guess what?  There were some that we couldn't recollect if we had seen or not. Of course we have seen them all, otherwise they wouldn't be in the cabinet. Hence I created this axiom; "The length of time since a DVD has been viewed is directly proportional to what is remembered about it, assuming the subject is of Senior status."
  So the result is that we have a whole new resource of movies to watch!

Happiness is nothing more than good health and a bad memory. - Albert Schweitzer

A Life Well Lived - Evelyn Berezin

  As you might guess, there are many unsung heroes, past and present in our world. Sunday With Willie Geist (Sunday morning show on NBC) has a segment about those that have passed on that have made a significant contribution. I found Ms. Berezin particularly interesting 'cuz I am a techy kind of guy and with the help of Wikipedia, I would like to share some of her story:
 

Early life and education

Berezin was born in the Bronx in 1925 to Jewish immigrants from Russian Empire, and attended Christopher Columbus High School. She started university at Hunter College in January 1941, studying Economics instead of the Physics she preferred because it was preferred as a subject for women at that time. After WWII started, new opportunities made the study of physics possible with a scholarship at New York University, plus free classes at both Hunter and Brooklyn Polytech during the war years. At the same time, she worked full-time during the day as an assistant in the Rheology Department of the Research Division of the International Printing Company (IPI). Going to university at night, she received her B.S. in physics in 1946.

Career and contributions

Berezin began graduate work at New York University, holding a fellowship from the United States Atomic Energy Commission. In 1951 she accepted a job with the Electronic Computer Corporation and began there as head of the Logic Design Department. Berezin was the only person doing the logic design for computers being developed by ECC. In 1957 ECC was purchased by Underwood Corporation (originally known as the Underwood Typewriter Company). Here, she designed a number of computers which were very general in structure but individual in specific application. Among them was a system for the US Army for range calculations, a system for controlling the distribution of magazines, and what is now considered the first office computer.

The Underwood Typewriter Company was not able to continue the development beyond 1957, and Berezin went to a company called Teleregister, formerly a division of Western Union.

Using vacuum tube computers and electromechanical switching, Teleregister had built one of the first airline reservation systems, the "Reservisor." Using newly available transistor technology, Berezin developed a computerized reservation system for United Airlines which was one of the largest computer systems at that time, controlling 60 cities in a communication system that provided 1 second response time. While working for Teleregister, Berezin also developed the first computerized banking system.

In 1968, Berezin had the idea for a word processor to simplify the work of secretaries, and in 1969 she founded Redactron Corporation, which became a public company and delivered thousands of systems to customers throughout its international marketing organization. The company's main product was called the "Data Secretary" and it was the size of a small refrigerator, had no screen, and the keyboard and printer was an IBM Selectric typewriter.

In the 1970s, although the market continued strong the economy suffered a serious inflation, increasing interest rates to a level (16%) which was untenable for a business like Redactron which operated in a world in which equipment was rented. The Company was sold to the Burroughs Corporation in 1976, and integrated into its office equipment division. Berezin stayed on until 1979. 

In 1980, Berezin served as President of Greenhouse Management Company, General Partner of a venture capital group dedicated to early stage high technology companies.

Throughout her career she received honorary doctorates from Adelphi University and Eastern Michigan University. Berezin also served on the Boards of CIGNA, Standard Microsystems, Koppers, and Datapoint.

Berezin served on the Board of the Stony Brook Foundation at Stony Brook University, the Brookhaven National Laboratory and the Boyce Thompson Institute.

Berezin established the Berezin-Wilenitz Endowment, which will give the value of her estate to fund either a chair, professorship, or research fund at Stony Brook in any field of science as stated in her will and testament. In addition to the endowment, Berezin and her late husband funded the Sam and Rose Berezin Endowed Scholarship, a full-tuition scholarship that is awarded to an undergraduate student who plans to study in the field of science, engineering or mathematics, in honor of her parents. Berezin and Wilenitz also established the Israel Wilenitz Endowment. This provides discretionary funds to the Linguistics Department at Stony Brook University, where Wilenitz received a Master's Degree.

Personal life

Berezin was married for 51 years to Israel Wilenitz, born in 1922 in London. Wilenitz died on February 20, 2003. Berezin died on December 8, 2018 at the age of 93.

Awards

• 2006 Long Island Technology Hall of Fame
• 2006 Women Achiever's Against the Odds Honoree for the Long Island Fund for Women and Girls
• 2011 Women in Technology International (WITI) Hall of Fame
• Long Island Distinguished Leadership Award
• Top 100 Business Women in the United States in Business Week magazine
• Honorary Doctorate from Adelphi University
• Honorary Doctorate from Eastern Michigan University
• In 2015, she was made a Fellow of the Computer History Museum for "her early work in computer design and a lifetime of entrepreneurial activity."

Patents

• Information Transfer Apparatus
• Electronic Data File Processor
• Information Transfer System
• On-Line Data Transfer Apparatus
• Electrical Assemblage
• Data Processing System
• Arithmetic Device
• Electronic Calculator with Dynamic Recirculating Storage Register
• Control means with Record Sensing for an Electronic Calculator

Refreshing Some Memories

Recently, a cousin asked about my thoughts on some family members that have passed. After replying, I thought I would add them to my blog:

Dear L_____

  My recollection of your dad was that he was a smart guy. I always thought so because managing and owning department stores must be no small task, especially since I have seen a lot of stores in my work and met a lot of managers. I think Gram mostly affected Uncle _____'s personality. He seemed to be a no nonsense guy where everything was mostly black or white. I think Uncle J___ and Dad were more like Gramp where they were both more mellow.

  I never heard that my dad was the favourite of the three. Maybe that was the perception by his brothers. My memory of my dad was that he was quiet unless I stepped out of line. I remember that he was vehemently non verbal about his participation in WWII and the Korean War. Never talked about it at all. One exception when I was a kid lying on the living room floor watching a war movie on TV and made a stupid remark. He walked up one side of me and down the other for my comment. That was the only time I got a rise out of him about war.

  I have few memories of my dad because I really wasn't around him that much. When I was young he was overseas for a good deal of time. The family split up later when I think I was about ten and I then lived with Gram and Gramp. I think K_____ lived with Uncle J____ and Aunt M____ at this time.  Then Dad remarried and I moved back with him and my step mom, G____, and three step brothers.. I think I was about thirteen when I went back to Gram and Gramp's. Not sure why the move back. He stayed with G____ until his death. I am still in touch with her occasionally. I stayed with the grandparents until I was on my own.

  As far as Gram & Gramp go, I cannot sing enough praises of them.  I often kick myself for not doing so while they were still living. You are absolutely right, Gramp was a sweetheart. He was a sensitive guy who would tear up when the occasion warranted it and even when it didn't. He loved everyone in the family and his face often showed it though he seldom verbalized it. He worked hard and I loved tagging along on those lucky days when he would let me be a bag boy at Sampson's Market or hang out with him when he visited his buddies at Swift on Commercial St. in Portland.

My little brain did not realize the sacrifices they made for me while living with them. Gramp continued to work instead of retiring because they had a kid to support. When Gramp passed away, Gram went back to work. Yup, I was a dumb kid.

  Gram was a smart lady. Very proper and no nonsense, though she did have her moments of levity. She could hold her own in any situation, whether it was commanding the kitchen at Colby College or discussing articles in the Congressional Record with Senator Muskie. I have fond memories of the fantastic holiday meals that were laid before us on the table covered with the protective panels and lace table cloth. The extended family all gathered round. The yeast rolls and apple pies are most prominent in my mind!

  After Gramp passed away, I would occasionally hear Gram sob late at night when I was in my bedroom. Looking back, I wished I had gone to her and comforted her. Like I said, I was a dumb kid.

A good formula for life:

“This is what you shall do; Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons and with the young and with the mothers of families, read these leaves in the open air every season of every year of your life, re-examine all you have been told at school or church or in any book, dismiss whatever insults your own soul, and your very flesh shall be a great poem and have the richest fluency not only in its words but in the silent lines of its lips and face and between the lashes of your eyes and in every motion and joint of your body.” 
― Walt Whitman

State Of Mind

  I don't know about you, but I have been depressed. Thinking on it, I equate it to how I would feel if my parents were squabbling, or I lost my best friend. Further thought leads me to this:
  It's my country that is squabbling. It is my country who is my best friend whom I am on the 'outs' with.  I have watched more news in the past year and a half then I have in my whole lifetime. All I see is how the country is divided on how it is being run. It feels like there is a cloud over my head all day long. I'm sorry if I am yammering on, but I think it is affecting all of us to a certain degree. Even my readers outside of the USA might be affected. After all, we are a world community and the behaviour of one country can affect other countries.
  In contrast, it is nice, though sad, that we can celebrate the lives well lived that have passed on. Most recently, John McCain and Aretha Franklin. It is definitely a nice change on the media to be hearing about them instead of the political turmoil that dominates the news.

  Though I offer no solution, don't you think it is therapeutic to talk about it? I know I feel better after venting. I do hear that spending time in sunshine is helpful, just remember the sun block!

Concern should drive us into action and not into a depression. No man is free who cannot control himself.   Pythagoras

The Reading Corner

  I'm not a reader of books by a long shot. Over the years I may have read an occasional novel, usually a classic and usually Charles Dickens. I can't even tell you the last book I read or when. If I had to guess it would be A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. Normal people usually read fiction so I guess I may be a lost cause.
  Today, however, I had a notion to read a book, shocking, right? So I scanned the bookcases looking for one. Unlike me, my wife is an avid reader. One of her favourite authors is James Patterson, consequently there are several of his books on the shelf. I pick one titled The Murder House. Okay, that will work. I found an unneeded business card to use as a book mark and settled in to read. Now, obviously I knew it was a murder mystery from the title, but I couldn't even finish the prologue. The beginning of the book started with a school shooting. Do I need to say anymore?

My Life's Itinerary.....So Far - Part 16

  So we are in the last half of 1992 and living in a rented home in Boise, Idaho on a street called Breckenridge. Never knew why the street had that name. Researched it a little and all I found was a professor and a horse breeder by that name, from Idaho, of course.  See how easily I get sidetracked? Which makes me wonder what the etymology of sidetracked is. See? There I go again!
  The family settled in and as I mentioned in Part 15, the Vermont house sold and all of it's contents were brought out to us. I still worked for the same company, but in the home office in Boise, servicing POS systems.
  I think the most memorable part of our stay here, was the night that a rodent ran across the living room floor.  It didn't end there. In all my 'wisdom' I decided to combat our unwanted residents by laying out some poison here and there. Well, it worked, but not in the best way. I found one deceased in the garage. I didn't know how many there were, but assumed there was more then one. Time passed and we began to notice a horrible odor developing in the house. We contacted the management company of the house and they sent someone out. He discovered that a rodent had ingested the poison and succumbed in one of the HVAC ducts. Next time, traps, not poison.

Later on, we bought a home on Mitchell St. Breckenridge was below 'the bench' and Mitchell St. was on 'the bench' which basically means we were up the hill. We were in this house for a few years, and a funny thing happened. The kids were growing up into adults and moving on and so did Mom and Dad.

OK, OK, OK, I Know, Dereliction of Duty....

Well, again, it has been another four months since my last entry. If it was three months, I could say I am doing quarterly entries. What do I call four months? Thirdly? Trimesterly? I dunno.  Anyway, my bad. I could say I will try and do better but I don't like to lie.

I believe the route of my problem is a malady that is afflicting many of us. Depression. The reason is the current state of the World. There is a lot of chaos and uncertainty due to wars, threats of wars, uprisings, protests, political upheaval, acts of God, and acts of world leaders.  All the bad news is getting us down.  I think it comes down to taking hold of one of three concepts:

1. Isolate yourself from all news and events and blissfully go on with your life. (Good luck with that)

2. Complain about and criticize everything that is going on but not do anything about it. (The easiest and the most self damaging way to go)

3. Accept things as they are but hope for the better. Participate in actions that embrace improvement and remember that we are all in this together. (I think John Lennon had a good hold on this)

Some may think that conditions of the World have never been this bad. I disagree, because of instantaneous communications of current events, we are just more informed then ever before.

My interpretation of the Human Condition may be overly simplified but endeavors can be more productive by starting with baby steps.

“Such is the influence which the condition of our own thoughts, exercises, even over the appearance of external objects. Men who look on nature, and their fellow-men, and cry that all is dark and gloomy, are in the right; but the sombre colours are reflections from their own jaundiced eyes and hearts. The real hues are delicate, and need a clearer vision.” 
― Charles Dickens, Oliver Twist