Stories and Comments about Timber Tom

Ethan Wyma posted on 02-11-24

So, I was going through YCombinator (a old school tech news forum) and saw a post about this dude who created a free version of BASIC (freebasic.net). BASIC is one of those really old programming languages, so it seems kind of pointless in this day and age because basically any modern programming language can do the same stuff easier, better, and faster.

Anyway, Python is essentially the modern version of BASIC, and it's much better. You can actually code some really cool stuff in it without too much trouble, unlike BASIC. But reading about this project and seeing comments from people who talked about how BASIC was their first language reminded me of something my dad always told me: His first computer was a Commodore 64, and he would spend all day writing BASIC programs. These programs would do simple stuff, and it would take him hours to make the computer beep or show a green square on the screen. Whenever he saw something crazy on modern computers, he'd always say, "Back in my day, it took me four hours to make my Commodore 64 go beep boop and show a little green box on the screen!" It was a really funny thing he'd do, and I can't help but remember my dad having so much fun with that.

This makes me think about how much my dad enjoyed those early days of programming, and how I think it is so weird and/or unfortunate that he lost interest in computers and tech.

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Ethan Wyma posted on 11-13-23

While my dad was in the thick of his cancer treatment, we had a tree in our side yard that was old and rotted. I told my mom I would cut it down, so my dad offered to show me how. I got all dressed up in my forester getup (pinstripe shirt, logger boots, jeans, suspenders, kevlar chaps, a helmet, deerskin gloves) and went out to cut the tree. My dad showed me how to point the tree so it would fall, how to cut the right angle, the works. By the time I was done with the whole process I was half dead it was so difficult and the temperature was so hot.

Now comes the time that we go to trim this next tree that needed a little trim, and I am afraid I can't get the tiny little saw in to cut where it is. So dad says "Give it here" and takes it and makes instantaneous work of the tree we are trimming and made it look like the most effortless thing on the planet.

Even when my dad was dying of cancer and chemo therapy he was still able to show me what a badass forester he was. How many other men could cut down a tree like it was nothing while also dying two unique ways?

Attached is one of the pictures I have of my dad wearing his forester outfit

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