blame it on the gremlins

Think about it: personal computers were first becoming popular in the early 1980s -- about 40 years after World War II, at a time when many of the last WW II planes were being grounded or scrapped. And we all know that those planes were infested with gremlins (I have it on the word of veteran who served in the Army Air Force in the war.)  So what was a gremlin to do when he was kicked out of his airplane home? The little guys have an affinity for machines, so I think they found new homes in PCs. In fact, I'm sure of it, because they're still up to their old tricks, causing trouble.

not-to-be-forgotten authors: nevil shute

Not-to-be-forgotten authors -- some have a cult following, some have titles studied as classics, some you may never have heard of if you're under a certain age, but all have been popularly read for pleasure, and are worth a seeking out for a good read.

Nevil Shute (1899-1960) was a British-Australian author who usually wrote about aviation and/or World War II and/or Australia. One of these, What Happened to the Corbetts, is a novel of The Blitz -- written two years before The Blitz. His autobiography, Slide Rule, is a fascinating account of his aeronautic engineering career.

He was quite popular in Britain, Australia, and the United States during the War and in the postwar years, and today he's best known now for his novels that were made into movies or television mini-series, including:

On the Beach (1959)
  starring Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Fred Astaire, Anthony Perkins

A Town Like Alice (1981 television mini-series)
  starring Helen Morse, Bryan Brown, Gordon Jackson

The Thorn Birds (1983 television mini-series)
  starring Richard Chamberlain, Rachel Ward, Christopher Plummer

There's a list of his works, including any alternative U.S. titles, on his Wikipedia page.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nevil_Shute