From: snidely.too@gmail.com   
      
   Mouse-maker William English has clicked the umscribe button.   
      
      
   If you’re on a desktop right now, you’re probably using a computer   
   mouse. In which case, you should raise a glass to William English.   
      
   English, an engineer and researcher, died on July 26 at the age of 91   
   due to respiratory failure in San Rafael, California. And while his   
   cohort Douglas Englebart is probably more famous for coming up with the   
   idea for the computer mouse, English was the man who actually made it   
   happen.   
   [...]   
   In 1963, English had created a prototype based off of Englebart’s notes   
   and rough sketches. The first mouse featured a pinewood case that   
   housed two “potentiometers”—electrical mechanisms that worked by   
   tracking the movement of two wheels as they moved across a surface.   
   They decided to name the device a mouse because the on-screen   
   cursor—dubbed CAT—looked like it was “chasing” the “mouse” across   
   the   
   screen.   
   [...]   
   Englebart delivered the 90-minute presentation on December 9, 1968, but   
   it was English who made sure everything ran smoothly behind the scenes.   
   English directed the whole production from the back of the Civic   
   Auditorium in San Francisco, using cameras and microphones to   
   coordinate live, two-way video between the lab in Menlo Park and the   
   presentation hall.   
      
      
   More at   
      
      
   /dps   
      
   --   
   "That's a good sort of hectic, innit?"   
      
   " Very much so, and I'd recommend the haggis wontons."   
                   -njm   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)