02.02.06
The real reason I went to MIT…
When I was growing up, we had an Apple IIe computer. (Actually, we still do. It’s sitting in my closet at this very moment. And it still works) I loved it. I used it to write the little reports you have to write in elementary school, like about a president (James K. Polk) or a planet (Neptune). I also used it to write my very first short story. (It involved a boy who wanted a dog. And then got one.) But my most favorite thing ever was playing games on it. And my most favorite game was Rocky’s Boots. Oh, man. I spent hours and hours playing this game.
What is Rocky’s Boots, you ask?
It was a game designed to teach kids about logic gates and circuits. You learned about AND, OR, and NOT gates. It even taught you about timing and flipflops. Of course, I didn’t realize it was teaching me about these things until I started learning about logic gates in college. In the game, you have to build a circuit that will kick out certain shapes based on a particular rule. (Okay, that probably doesn’t make too much sense. There’s a better description of it at everything2.) If you kicked all the right shapes and didn’t kick any of the wrong shapes, Rocky the Raccoon would appear and do a dance for you.
Hmm…perhaps a picture would help:
Don’t you just love the giant pixels? And how can you go wrong with a dancing raccoon?