>>>>>>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!

And you try and tell the young people of today that ..... they won't believe you.