- How the bootstrap load made the historic Intel 8008 processor possible (righto.com)
Near the end of 1972, Intel introduced their first 8-bit microprocessor, the 8008. Decades later, this processor still influences computing; you probably use an x86 processor that is a descendent of the 8008. One unusual feature of the 8008 processor is its use of a “bootstrap load” or “bootstrap capacitor”, a special capacitor circuit to improve performance. Federico Faggin, who led the development of the 8008, is the main character in this story; he invented a new way to fabricate bootstrap capacitors for the Intel 4004 and 8008 processors and says it “proved essential to the microprocessor realization” and “without [the bootstrap load], there was no microprocessor.”
- Bellatrix (stars.astro.illinois.edu)
BELLATRIX (Gamma Orionis). If constellations could talk, they might well shout “unfair” at great Orion, the Hunter, one of only four constellations to have two first magnitude stars (the others Crux, the Southern Cross, Centaurus, the Centaur, and Canis Major, Orion’s Hunting Dog).
- Bellatrix (Wikipedia)
Bellatrix is the third-brightest star in the constellation of Orion, positioned 5° west of the red supergiant Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis). It has the Bayer designation γ Orionis, which is Latinized to Gamma Orionis. With a slightly variable magnitude of around 1.6, it is typically the 25th-brightest star in the night sky. Located at a distance of 250±10 light-years from the Sun, it is a blue giant star around 7.7 times as massive as the sun with 5.75 times its diameter.
