Cut, Paste & Copy

These days it is difficult to find much being written about anything other than the corona virus. Understandably so. As I write this, worldwide it has already touched the lives of over 300,000 people, claimed the lives of nearly 13,000, including over 300 in the United States, and had a significant negative impact on economies throughout the world as well. It remains a major problem that scientists and government leaders are continuing to grapple with virtually every moment of every day. At present, we are still being told it may not be till the end of 2020 or beginning of 2021 when an antidote to the virus is ready for public consumption. Fingers crossed indeed.

As a sharp change of pace, in this entry I wanted to acknowledge the passing of Larry Tesler, a chief scientist with Apple who passed away in February at the age of 74. Tesler is credited with inventing the command of cut, paste & copy. Nowadays nearly every computer-user who spends any time writing on his or her lap top or desk computer can probably utilize the cut, paste & copy command with their eyes closed. (Full disclosure: I can't. Even for something as basic as this, I need my eyes wide open.) Nevertheless, for anyone who has used this command as part of an attempt to write a paper or report, for instance, having the ability to cut, paste and copy text into their initial drafts has been nothing less than a most marvelous invention.

Thank you, Larry Tesler. Your smarts has made the lives of so many of us so much easier. This includes saving us an enormous amount of time by being able to insert text from an earlier draft into what we may be working on at the moment. For one such as myself who is a bit phobic when to comes to matters of technology, all of us remain very much in your debt. Something all of wish for in our lives is that we will be remembered for making a positive contribution to mankind. Big or small. You did that, Larry Tesler. I bet not a day passes when someone somewhere does not take advantage of your creation. What a great gift you gave us!