This is a really big deal, the computing world would look a whole lot different today if not for the C.B.B.S.
I confess that I don’t know Back, but I know that the WDR Computerclub was behind a nifty paper computer used for education in the 3rd world. Was Back also a tech person (like George Morrow, who hosted the Computer Chronicles in the US but also designed and sold small computers)?
All these deaths of small computing pioneers has me sad, especially since I doubt few people today understand what a huge creative leap some of their ideas were.
Back got a degree in electrical engineering at RWTH Aachen in the late 1960ies, worked for an electronics magazine and started working in television in 1970. The first programme he was involved in was a series about digital technology. After that he co-wrote and co-hosted a very popular DIY programme which not only showed how to make something but also explained how and why it worked, giving at least a primer in the science behind it. From 1981 until 2003 hosted a programme on computers.
Video interview with Wolfgang Back (English version):
This. Today practically everybody carries and uses a powerful computer in every waking minute - most of them are not even aware of it, let alone have at least a vague notion about how the bloody thing functions.
I was about to try posting a pic of a cool wristwatch from this book - turns out you can download the whole book!
That is if you’re into late 70s visions of the future we nearly had.
https://archive.org/details/Usborne_Book_of_the_Future_1979_pointlessmuseum
The watch is on page 46 
I pine for that future we all learned to expect during that brief period between the dawning of the Age of Aquarius and the rise of Thatcher and Reagan.
I had that as a kid! I bet my parents threw it away.
I remember the pictures, I had the German version as a kid.
Once browsing I realised I remembered almost every image. Reminders of a childhood spent trying to make most of the vehicles from Lego.
Hell burns brighter today.
That was the Ying. Here’s the Yang.
Damn. According to my mother, I kicked along to the Charlie Brown Christmas album before I was born. It’s still probably my favorite Christmas music.
There is other Christmas music?
Yes there is:
That there is an Alfa Spider Duetto. If the album is '66 then it was the car’s first year of production. Perfect Christmas driving!
Correct. Also, the Duetto is the only real Alfa Spider. Not that this would keep me from driving any one of the other Spiders, even the one with the ridiculous rubber spoiler.
