>>>>>By the way, in my s/w engineering days we used to manipulate 4-bit chunks of data - called "nybbles"
>>>>
>>>>In my mainframe days even bits were expensive. :)
>>>
>>>Tell me about it! ICL 1903a using 24-bit core storage in my case.
>>
>>Tell me about it. In my case we had a 24 byte disk which we had to wind up, and a tape unit which worked on coal.
>
> Luxury! My first computer was a cardboard box filled with pebbles, with salty seaweed making the electrical connections - when we could get electricity!

All I had was a paper bag and *one* pebble -- and had nudge all the electrons around *by hand*, none of the luxury of having salty seaweed!