Babbage Analytical Engine - CBC interview

[blstuart at bellsouth.net]

> I do believe that Whitney invented cotton gin as counterpoint to the 
> really terrible wool vermouth of the time.  He probably liked his 
> martinis VERY dry.

I am loathe to extend this off topic further, but I can't pass up
this lead in...

For several decades my family was in the cotton ginning business.
(As a slight nod to classic computing, I wrote a management system
for the gin about 20 years ago.)   So when dad was in college he
was dating this one girl.  When he told her that his family had a
cotton gin, she responded:

"I didn't know they made gin out of cotton!"

BLS