Friday Ephemera
This versus that. // There was an awful lot of dancing in 80s movies. // Sweet Dreams, orchestrated. // Wooden skyscrapers and tall timber buildings. // For Weird Tales enthusiasts. // Lift your spirits with levitating glassware. // Candles of note. // At last, a title capitalizing tool. // Old NYC, a Google Street View of yesteryear. // Gender role test. It’s cutting edge science, people. // Ski slopes are sexist. // Sponge holder of note. // Meals made of paper. // Atomically thin transistors. (h/t, Peter) // Art. // Dissolving drugs. // Composite birds. // Elevated bus carries 300 passengers. // His balloon animals are better than yours. // Bespoke joints, only $7000. “What Monet was to Impressionism, Tony is to the art of joint rolling.” // And finally, informatively, how to chop an onion.
I showed the ski slope article to wife earlier this week. She was a competitive ski racer in Europe in her younger years before she got her Ph.D. in linguistics. A summation of her learned opinion: The author is full of shit.
There was an awful lot of dancing in 80s movies.
That would be because MTV was spawned in 1981, where the decision to create such involved the all too common theory of jump first, think later.
In this instance, the jumping involved the idea of pointing cameras at musicians, and only after that finally having the realization of Oh, Crap, we’re stuck with watching what one listens to, and doing all that at very close range, and doing that for hour after hour after hour.
You would have thought they would have learned from when Andy Warhol made movies, but such learning requires thought instead of merely hearing someone quoting what the fellow may have said.
No, having nice sounding copies of the music was not the point, the CD got invented about the same time. And unfortunately for the MTV producers—and everyone else—not everyone manages to be James Burke, with Connections, in 1978, to be Gwynne Dyer, with War, in 1981, or to be Clive James, with Postcard From bloody everywhere, in 1989-1995 . . .
And thus the MTV producers were left floundering about, desperately trying to figure out what moves a lot and will be cheap. Apparently first they tried hoping that yanking the camera all over the place would distract from the utter lack of visual subject material presented by musicians. Following that, they apparently resorted to throwing lots of bodies all over the place while again attempting to resort to yanking the camera all over the place . . . .
And from there, once that was done, among the results would be all those MTV production crews, and casts, and even then, HollywoodIsh wannabe producers running out of ideas. All this as a lot of audience started staying staying home to watch cable TV—also from the Nineteen Empties— and the new fangled thing called the VCR, again also from the early Nineteen Empties. Therefore, the resulting attempt at logic of Oh, Gee, if MTV is getting audience with that, then we’ll try it too, so that There was an awful lot of dancing in 80s movies. . . . .
Wooden skyscrapers and tall timber buildings.
I’ve already commented Oh Good God No to a friend of mine who’s had a long career with Habitats For Humanities, particularly commenting after reading that;
Ohhh, lesseee, as long as you wait long enough for the next round to grow, or if you have enough buildings on hand to salvage from, but then for that salvage version, you’re getting bits and pieces and having to tear apart something else . . . and then . . .
Hmmm. I missed the memo about gathering around the warmth of the concrete fueled fire . . . At some point more recently than not, I also ran across Gigacrete, particularly when noting that:
Old NYC, a Google Street View of yesteryear.
San Francisco, 1938.
Ski slopes are sexist.
Oh, perhaps they should add a bit of skydiving to make it all better.
Art.
Clearly just keeping abreast of things.
Elevated bus carries 300 passengers.
For some reason this sort of story keeps turning up. Literally.
His balloon animals are better than yours.
I went looking for the weasel, but I couldn’t find it.
HEY YOU GUYS! I’M CASUALLY MASCULINE!
53% masculine; 19% feminine
Might explain why I have such trouble attracting hetero men, or why my first two boyfriends were closet cases.
Ski slopes are sexist.
Er, aren’t mountain peaks reminiscent of something decidedly feminine?
After all, the Tetons are named after a French name for, you know, the female chesticular area.
And then there’s this whole Wiki article on the phenomenon.
Though come to think of it, skiing down female anatomical analogs is Yet Another Example of Teh Patriarchy dominating women’s bodies or something.
Sheesh, you just can’t escape sexism these days, can ya?
Bespoke joints, only $7000.
“On a counter sat a trio of mason jars, each brimming with the butt-ends of run-of-the-mill joints. ‘We hand those out to the homeless,’ said Courtney, a weed photographer who has 270,000 followers of her own on Instagram.”
Giving back to the community.
Morning, all.
The ‘Everything Wrong With’ series takes on Batman V Superman. Needless to say, it’s one of their longer videos.
And, unexpectedly.
Renewal wood resources do exist, a 25-26 year growing to harvesting cycle using pinus radiata for example. When you want higher strength beams you laminate, and treated laminated wood burns very slowly and holds its strength longer than steel does in a fire. Concrete, even reinforced concrete doesn’t always fare well in a fire, and is relatively expensive and heavy.
Wood isn’t everything, but it can be a useful building material for even medium size buildings. High rise I’m a little less sure of.
Branding!
Er, aren’t mountain peaks reminiscent of something decidedly feminine? After all, the Tetons are named after a French name for, you know, the female chesticular area.
I’m staring intently but boobs aren’t coming to mind. Maybe that’s just me. I suppose it’s possible that women secretly yearn for boobs that are jagged and hard as granite.
The author is full of shit.
I suspect he is what Clint Eastwood would consider part of the “pussy generation” (spits on ground). Can’t say I disagree.
unlike concrete and steel, wood is a renewable resource…
Recycled concrete.
I’d bet that the same people touting these wooden buildings are the same ones wailing about “deforestation”, and though the 1888 year old concrete Pantheon is still standing, I have noted a large lack of Roman wooden structures still intact.
@ Dicentra
The Tetons from a few weeks ago.
Meanwhile in California and speaking of buildings, the Chancellor of UC Berkeley has himself an escape hatch built so he can escape all the protesters.
Not sure why he would want that seeing as how peaceful and reasonable they are.
I suppose it’s possible that women secretly yearn for boobs that are jagged and hard as granite.
You say jagged and hard, I say perky and firm for millennia to come.
You say jagged and hard, I say perky and firm for millennia to come.
Clearly, I’m out of my depth here.
I’m staring intently but boobs aren’t coming to mind.
Well, you have to allow for the fact that the trappers who first named them probably hadn’t seen a woman, let alone a woman’s “chesticular” area, in a long long time. So a little poetic license should be granted.
Letting the Gender Role…Apparently I’m “casually masculine”. Yet I sometimes I wear a tie even when I don’t have to, but that wasn’t one of the questions
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paps_of_Anu
. . . I sometimes I wear a tie even when I don’t have to . . .
Women wearing ties.
Ties don’t indicate gender, just—happily—being utterly contrived and completely out of date. Even when more prevalent, the most that wearing a tie was ever hoped for was attempting a pharaoh’s fake beard . . .
Paps of Anu
I learn so much from these threads.
Rate my tea.
Ties don’t indicate gender
Beg to differ, there. The attraction of the “Women wearing ties” meme is the suggestive nature of it. Rather like the “Women wearing man’s shirt” meme, which takes it a little step further by intimating that she grabbed the shirt in a hurry after an activity that has led to her clothing, as well as said shirt, having been previously removed by their respective wearers.
the most that wearing a tie was ever hoped for was attempting a pharaoh’s fake beard
Actually, the origin of the necktie seems to come from the habit of Croatian Hussars to wear a scarf tied around their neck, variously thought to be used for (scant) protection in a sword fight, or as a reminder provided by their wives to ensure that they think of them and remain faithful. At any rate Cardinal Richelieu hired a bunch of Croatian Hussars as mercenaries during the Thirty Years War. When they showed up in Paris with their trademark scarf around the neck, a fashion was born: l’écharpe à la croate, which became cravate.
Rate my tea.
I’m not a big tea drinker, but some of those look way too beige and foamy.
variously thought to be used for (scant) protection in a sword fight, or as a reminder provided by their wives to ensure that they think of them and remain faithful.
Got it. Being the early version of a hipster thinking that having a bathtub ring or comb under on one’s face might get mistaken for a benefit or being one . . .
Topical humor
http://a.disquscdn.com/get?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpbs.twimg.com%2Fmedia%2FCpEHUu2WEAMv0Qq.jpg&key=E19x90Sc32C5nfBJBdUIVA&w=600&h=258
OK, your daily stupid in a double dose.
The alphabet usurped female power and caused the rise of the patriarchy. No, really.
Damn that literacy, life was so much better when no one was literate, and happy days were spent scratching in the dirt and dying at 35.
Moving on, lowering crime could contribute to global warming.
How you ask, it is obvious.
I see, good thing all those people who have, say, cars stolen don’t replace them, or the thief who boosts a guy’s wallet never spends the money in it. Yay crime ! If we all become criminals we’ll get this global warming thing licked, and the seas will recede, and the polar bears will have a party.
Muldoon: A quick read of the book review you cite about literacy and the patriarchy suggests two things to me:
1) The author and reviewer are saturated in gender-and-feminism as a POV from which to regard the whole of creation. It’s the contemporary “hammer” which makes everything look like a bunch of nails. Useless.
2) The underlying thesis, which seems to be that the invention of alphabets and grammar led to the dominance of analytic thinking, v. holistic / synthetic thinking, does not sound too implausible at first glance. I think I will put some time into that idea.
Well, dicentra, turns out I’m “casually feminine” … 59% male 72% female.
I’m all hands-on earth mom and come from a very huggy family, but dad also taught me the finer art of analytical thinking and persuasive debate over the dinner table …
oh…
and how to hit like a boy.
Hmm. I come out 47% M & 44% F.
First, I want to know what happened to the missing 9% of my gender persona? Is this some kind of scam, like shaving tenths of pennies in bank account transfers? Someone is accumulating the missing bits? Someone is plotting to build a world-dominating droid powered by the stolen fragments of everyone’s personality?
Second, the whole thing reminded me of a bit from Weinberg’s “The Psychology of Computer Programming”: A bunch of programmers (c. 1980?) are about to fill out a psych quiz. One asks “How are we supposed to answer these questions?” Shrink says “Honestly, of course.” Programmer says “Do we look like idiots?”
(Note to self: Adjust meds. Again.)
Teenager jailed for eight years after spraying acid on group of friends . . . and related observations . . .
. . . As the saying goes, with friends like that, who needs an enema?
Being an arrogant, ill-informed, narcissistic wanker and obstructing traffic for hours, including emergency vehicles and people trying to catch flights, deserves “huge solidarity,” says Laurie.
Fred,
The underlying thesis…does not sound too implausible at first glance.
One difficulty is believing that there ever was female power to have been usurped, another that females are incapable of analytic thinking.
Being an arrogant, ill-informed, narcissistic wanker and obstructing traffic for hours…
To those of you in the UK, what the hell do they have their panties in a wad allegedly over ? Correct me if I am wrong, but haven’t all the persons of color (but not colored people) in the UK and/or their ancestors arrived their voluntarily and not in chains, and aren’t being shot by anyone ?
I take it this is just another “look at meeee” exercise ?
Meanwhile, speaking of ephemera, this is beyond amazing – extreme photomicrographs of chemical bonds forming. The process was apparently developed by those evil corporate bastiges at IBM.
One difficulty is believing that there ever was female power to have been usurped, another that females are incapable of analytic thinking.
Among many feminists, there is the belief that in the dark, dark past, a grand matriarchal society of perfect harmony existed, which the Patriarchy overthrew and then erased from consciousness. See, e.g. the rantings of Andrea Dworkin for examples. This belief, in turn, makes everything evidence of nefarious patriarchal dominance. One could substitute mathematics or the moldboard plow for literacy in the linked essay and still reach the author’s conclusion.
“At last, a title capitalizing tool.”
Ummmm, WordPerfect has had one since the 1980s.
I never quite understood how the much less useful Microsoft Word became dominant in the market.
Check Your Privilege ! I am a Shitlord with a score of 180.
I take it this is just another “look at meeee” exercise?
The ‘protestors’ felt obliged to announce that their actions were also intended to bring down “sexism, Islamophobia, classism, ableism, homophobia and transphobia.” Which probably tells you all you need to know about their immense seriousness. From a cursory glance at the comments following coverage in mainstream newspapers, the reaction of the general public is basically: (a) students are wankers, especially leftwing ‘activist’ students, and (b) the penalty for any frivolous, attention-seeking obstruction of the highway should be ramped up dramatically.
So, job well done.
Eat your heart out, Johannesburg. Rio is then new home of the global vagina http://twitchy.com/gregp-3534/2016/08/06/people-keep-comparing-the-openingceremony-to-a-part-of-the-female-anatomy/
@Farnsworth
I, too, scored “Shitlord,” though I didn’t find the appropriate answer to the “physical attractiveness” question. Strangely, “not grotesque” was not an option.
In any event, I suggest a “Shitlord” organizational meeting/smoker to be held next Friday in the basement of St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Amidon, North Dakota. BYOB. Set-ups and snacks provided by the Shitlord Ladies Auxiliary, provided they can get away from the quilting club.
Strangely, “not grotesque” was not an option.
Yes, I had the same problem but was looking for “Does not normally frighten children and small animals.” I see Amidon has both a bar and a restaurant, but we may have to set up a fest tent for the overflow.
Rio is then new home of the global vagina
Looks more like a vulva.
Looks more like a vulva.
Thanks – the conflation of vulva and vagina is annoying. The former is readily visible, the latter usually requires a speculum.
…[T]he latter usually requires a speculum.
Well, this thread has taken an unexpected turn.
Giant Olympic Vagina Openings? Vulvas?
Can someone please help out David with all this foreign terminology?
Well, this thread has taken an unexpected turn.
Honi soit qui mal y pense, that was just a purely scientific observation…
Oh dear. The Man From U.N.C.L.E remake is flat, charmless and too boring to persevere with. I suppose I’ll have to console myself with wine.
Farnsworth, Sherman: I supposed my declaration that the “gender” POV was ridiculous spoke for itself, but I guess it was not clear. I abase myself. I’m the one who’s always quoting this: “Do not write to be understood. Write so you cannot be misunderstood.”
I think the suggestion that the invention / discovery of certain tools can change the way whole cultures think is an interesting one. For instance, the invention of calculus and its impact on the scientific / mathematical subculture. Or the “Atomic” theory of matter (though it would be more correct to say “subcultures” in these cases).
This is hardly a new deep thought on my part – my curiosity about the “alphabet” thing is merely that: my curiosity.
“Honi soit…” Sure, Muldoon, whatever you say (rolls eyes).
And why do the Brits have a German royal family with a French motto? Is this the result of some 16th century version of Diversity? Were they (shock, horror!) way ahead of their time?
I never quite understood how the much less useful Microsoft Word became dominant in the market.
I do: Hardball Bundling
Back in the day, Bill Gates made deals with hardware companies like Dell, HP, and IBM for them to sell their computers to the public with his MS-DOS already installed. He gave them a price on the operating system that made it cheaper to buy the pre-loaded models than buy separately and install it yourself.
No problem: those kinds of OEM (original equipment manufacturing) deals happen all the time. I’m involved in several with the software project I work on.
But then when those same hardware companies tried to pre-install OTHER operating systems on their hardware, such as IBM’s OS/2, Gates started charging them so much more for MS-DOS that they had to abandon efforts to sell other operating systems, and MS-DOS was popular enough that the companies couldn’t afford to defy him.
That is how Microsoft came to dominate the PC market.
But Microsoft sold more than operating systems: they sold the what eventually became the Office suite, including MS Word, and people could then buy computers with Word bundled in with the price of the operating system and hardware.
Meaning that if you wanted to install WordPerfect you were free to do so but you had to pay extra. Not to mention the sneaking suspicion that Microsoft Windows deliberately sabotaged competing products that were installed thereupon, making it Not Worth Your Time to NOT use Word.
Contributing to WordPerfect’s demise was mismanagement: Novell bought it and tried to bundle it with THEIR operating system, but Novell has had a sad history of mismanagement for a long time. Novell’s NetWare was far superior to Microsoft’s networking products, and it dominated installed LAN systems for many years, being highly popular among sysadmins.
But then Microsoft started courting the suits: “Hey, you’re already using Windows on your PCs: might as well use Microsoft for networking, so you only have one vendor to deal with.”
The suits didn’t know that Microsoft’s client worked better with Novell NetWare than with Microsoft’s networking, so they began to take over the purchasing decisions from the nerds.
Novell also had the grand misfortune of releasing NetWare 6 on Sept 11, 2001. I know because I had a big deadline that day with NetWare 6 documentation work contracted from Novell.
After that, Novell was never the same. They made some really stupid mistakes internally that contributed to their demise, but the fact was that Gates knew how to trounce the competition not on quality but on INFLUENCE, as well as the realities of file-type and operating system compatibility.
After all, Gates did not aspire to have the BEST software company in the world but the ONLY software company in the world. That’s how he played it, and that’s how he won.
Inspiring, no?
Your privilege level is Privileged with a score of 50.
Combine that with my being “casually masculine” and I’m probably a Shitlord, too.
the conflation of vulva and vagina is annoying
Yes, it bugs me too, but I would point out that “vulva” is creepier to pronounce than “vaj.”
extreme photomicrographs of chemical bonds forming.
I didn’t think it was POSSIBLE to see those, that chemical bonds were like magnetism: can’t directly SEE electromagnetic fields but you can see what they DO.
One difficulty is believing that there ever was female power to have been usurped,
Females in nearly every species, including ours, decide which males get to pass on their genes. That’s damned powerful. It also explains why men (in general) want to dominate women: to get some control over that process.
“Do not write to be understood. Write so you cannot be misunderstood.”
You’ve obviously never had to write instructions for IT professionals, who never RTFM (read the frakking manual) until after they’ve wrapped everything tightly around the axles.
And even then, after they consult the Holy Writ, they only skim it, second-guess it, and do end-runs around it (because they’re Just That Clever), which forces the guy from Support to run upstairs an hour before the release is to be launched and tells me to rewrite several pages of the release notes so that they REALLY cannot be misunderstood.
“IMPORTANT (it now says in large red letters on the front page): If you do what you usually do and attempt this upgrade without RTFM-ing, you’ll lose vast swathes of data and settings. [big list of things that won’t be preserved on upgrade]”
It has to be THAT explicit, because otherwise they WILL drop the blow dryer in the bathtub–not because they’re stupid but because they’re smart and assume they know what they’re doing.
Speaking of shitlords, I recalled this comment to one of David’s posts almost a year ago. It explains things quite well, I think.
And why do the Brits have a German royal family with a French motto?
Because royals have the king gene that you and I lack. Pity about the inbreeding.
I have also hear it put forth that intermarriage between the various royal families was an attempt to avoid a major European war that would inevitably go global. Sadly, in 1914 all attempts to avoid that war failed.
Not to mention the sneaking suspicion that Microsoft Windows deliberately sabotaged competing products
While I vividly remember having edit the registry to get the Internet Explorer icon off of the desktop, not to mention uninstalling part of Windows 95 to get rid of the Microsoft Network icon, it must be said that:
1. While Word Perfect was a stellar DOS ap, it really wasn’t that good of a Windows ap.
2. Speaking as an experienced user, Excel 97 was better than Quartro Pro 3 for Windows. Nobody loved Word 97, but it wasn’t any worse than Word Perfect for Windows. Since Excel 97, Access 97, and Word 97 were part of the same suite, it made sense to get them all, and that’s the decision my agency made. From where I sat, Excel and Access dragged Word over the finish line.
I’m not sure about Windows sabotaging things, but each new version of dos made lotus 123 unusable. It was pretty clear what was going on.
R.Sherman,
I recalled this comment to one of David’s posts almost a year ago.
Whatever happened to Steve? I’ve seen his posts at a couple of other blogs, but not here in a long time.
Spiny,
I don’t know. But in reviewing the above thread, I also noted these two comments–here and here from Dicentra.
Dicentra, it’s August 2016. Time to dust off the Spanish Lit again, dear. (I related your remarks about Quixote’s delusions to my 16 year old son this past year when his H.S. sophomore world lit class was discussing Cervantes. He used them to good effect.)
I’m not sure about Windows sabotaging things
All they had to do was not correct the errors (or the “errors”) in the SDK or accidentally fail to update it.
Which, oops! Can’t trust those ignoramuses in TechPubs, can you?
Nobody loved Word 97, but it wasn’t any worse than Word Perfect for Windows
Two words: Reveal Codes
I rest my case.
Dicentra, it’s August 2016.
Aw, hell. It’s not like my memory gets better over time. Moore’s law doesn’t apply to ME.
OK, here’s an amusing anecdote about Fray Luís de León:
An Augustinian friar and lecturer at the University of Salamanca, he fell afoul of the Inquisition in 1572 when a colleague accused him of heresy; in fact, he was guilty only of Being Brilliant In The Presence Of An Inferior Mind. (He got tattled on by a sniveling little lickspittle, IOW.)
He was arrested in the middle of a lecture and hauled off. After four years imprisonment he was cleared of all charges, then he returned to the lecture hall and began with “Dicebamus hesterna die”…
ISN’T THAT A SCREAM?
Oh, and I have a photo of me somewhere sitting in that very lecture hall (as a tourist, not a student) when I visited Spain in 1990. I can’t find it. Sorry.
Dicentra, I’ve yet to visit Iberia, but its on the list. And I was a German Lit. dude who gave up cardigans, pipes and gentlemanly discussions of obscure 17th Century East Prussian poets for a different type of sophistry. Not the A.B.D., though. I stopped after the M.A.
Sigh
The upside is sophistry pays the bills.
Ummmm, WordPerfect . . . .
I never quite understood how the much less useful Microsoft Word became dominant in the market.
While granting the noted MS tactical and production issues, in the case of Word vs the lesser, there was always certainty of what to get things done with. When slogging through WP, one had zero documentation, hopeless design, and “reveal codes” or whatever it was called, being the required tool for getting any sort of use out of the fiasco.
With Word, one started it up, there was no need for all the desperate peering under the hood because all made sense, the menuing system told all, and on the rare occasions when one way of doing something was blocked for whatever textual—not software—issue, then with utter ease one then went at the current bout of editing a completely different way . . . .
—Among the typical examples of the failures of WP was the job I had where some salesman had suckered the company in getting WP, and _the_ central guiding document had thus wound up being a hopelessly convoluted and WP mangled collection of pifalls. I solved all the issues by copying into Word and saving it that way. Certainly with the noted company ailment, I did have to then copy it back into WP, but at that point all was in order and made sense and could be made use of . . .
I should note that Novell’s demise as THE networking OS was distinctly assisted by MS deliberately (and it was just that) ensuring that various versions of Windows would not run the Novell client cleanly. There were several specific completely undocumented system calls that Windows would invoke, and the Novell client couldn’t do this properly until they finally found out what was in the compiled source. MS settled the resulting suit quietly, but it rather too late for Novell.
I recall working through the real problems this caused a number of companies who almost to a man adopted Windows networking as inferior as it was at the time, in order just to get things working.
From a cursory glance at the comments following coverage in mainstream newspapers, the reaction of the general public is basically: (a) students are wankers, especially leftwing ‘activist’ students, and (b) the penalty for any frivolous, attention-seeking obstruction of the highway should be ramped up dramatically.
Sargon of Akkad: “Black Lives Matter UK is a cringeworthy thing.”
https://youtu.be/pHGPMese9xE?t=15m58s
There were several specific completely undocumented system calls that Windows would invoke, and the Novell client couldn’t do this properly until they finally found out what was in the compiled source. MS settled the resulting suit quietly, but it rather too late for Novell.
And this, dicentra, is why coders do not trust documentation. That and in order to RTFM, you need to first FTFM. Hence the popularity of Hello World. A truism I discovered in school that would separate the software “engineers” from the software developers goes thus…No one really knows what goes on inside a computer. It all boils down to theory and conjecture.
Sargon of Akkad: “Black Lives Matter UK is a cringeworthy thing.”
Heh. I do like the juxtaposition of the driver and the wankers blocking his way. Based on their own pronouncements, these people are either shockingly dense, such that they can’t even read figures properly or look up the lengthy criminal histories of the thugs they excuse, or they’re wilfully dishonest. Either way, I think we can add it to the pile of evidence that “social justice” is a morally corrosive and stupefying ideology.
Heh. I do like the juxtaposition of the driver and the wankers blocking his way.
Over here several of the “protests” have held up ambulances one episode of which reportedly led to the death of a black man.
…these people are either shockingly dense, such that they can’t even read figures properly or look up the lengthy criminal histories of the thugs they excuse, or they’re wilfully dishonest.
Both, the whole thing is based on the “hands up, don’t shoot” lie about Michael Brown, the willfully dishonest just MSU, and the shockingly dense, which includes a large portion of our politicians and nearly all the media, follow along.
The Ultra Spiritual take on The Olympics
Over here several of the “protests” have held up ambulances one episode of which reportedly led to the death of a black man.
Setting aside the missed flights, ruined holidays, missed job interviews, the cost to any number of businesses, and the general aggravation… delaying emergency vehicles puts lives at risk. This hazard is so glaringly obvious that any protestations of ignorance or higher purpose should be treated with utter contempt. The shitstains who blather about “social justice” while delighting in thwarting random people – just because they can – should, in a just world, expect to face prison sentences.
Or better yet, they could be locked in a room with some of the people they’d so proudly fucked over.
I am Typically Masculine (69/28) and a SHITLORD (115). I spent all day feeling awesome.
I’m very masculine and a major Shitlord (140). I consider that as it should be.
I was disappointed that there were so football questions though — what sort of test of masculinity doesn’t ask about your attitude to contact sports?
Finally got in from the weekend and was able to put myself to the test. 83% masculine/8% feminine, which makes me “Extremely Masculine”. So you won’t be surprised to hear that I score an equally dazzling 235 on the Coprarch-O-Meter®(*), all without even breaking a sweat.
(*) Coprarch: fr. Greek copros, “feces” and archon, “ruler”. Also known as “shitlord” (vulg.)
No one really knows what goes on inside a computer. It all boils down to theory and conjecture.
Read Larry Correia’s latest (in collaboration with John Ringo, of “Oh John Ringo, NO!” fame): Monster Hunter Memoirs: Grunge. The mysteries of computers are explained therein.
Gender role test.
Apparently, not giving a f**k makes me ‘Undifferentiated-Androgynous’.
I quite liked the balloon animals, although I think the artist made an anatomical error with the last one of the pink-faced ape (Japanese snow monkey?). Whatever that is behind him, it sure don’t look like a tail. I’m not sure I’d hire this balloonbender for my upcoming kiddies party. Too many awkward questions afterwards methinks.
I’m not sure I’d hire this balloonbender for my upcoming kiddies party. Too many awkward questions afterwards methinks.
When it comes to kiddies and inflatable rubber, I recommend something less controversial, like this, maybe.
What?
Getting around to reading the content…
And finally, informatively, how to chop an onion.
Sneaking up behind it and scaring it seems to be the method that least resembles work. I like the idea.
Gender role test. It’s cutting edge science, people.
I came out as “Casually masculine”…
Meh….
What could possibly go wrong?
Oh well played, sir.
[ Rummages in linty pocket for handful of cake. ]
Shitlord score of 195! Woo!
(polishes monocle with $100 bill)
And this, dicentra, is why coders do not trust documentation.
The other reason is that most tech writers are forced to write their stuff with only the requirements document as their source, not the latest build and its GUI.
As for SDKs, those are not written by the same peeps who do the Help Files and User Manuals: They’re written by other coders, who are Sneaky Bastards if they work for Microsoft (and who knows who else) or they don’t speak English as a first language or they technically ARE native English speakers but can’t explain themselves in Human Language to save their lives.
With Word, one started it up, there was no need for all the desperate peering under the hood because all made sense
I don’t just BEG to differ, I fairly INSIST.
If things act weirdly in Word, you have no way of knowing what insane command is lurking underneath the text, because only a few things–spaces, tabs, hard returns/pages, table boundaries–can be made visible. If there’s something wonky with the template (a common situation when one has to use the corporate template) or something dodgy with a style, you’re SCREWED. Nothing short of pasting the text AS TEXT into a clean doc fixes the thing, because then you’ve laundered all the style crap off the ASCII.
I mean, which MENSA chapter decided that it was possible–nay, desirable–to apply a style to a HARD PAGE BREAK?
(I won’t even MENTION what happens when you convert Word to HTML; I still get woozy at the thought.)
Can you tell me, for example, the One True Way to adjust hanging indents? The UI offers three ways but only one way actually works.
I cannot speak for versions of WP past 5, but I HAVE had to do enough hand-to-hand combat with Other People’s Word Docs to disabuse the world entire of notions of an “intuitive” interface.
Dicentra: I too have suffered from Word as you describe. Nroff for the win.
I used to be an OS Internals implementor, and worked with tech writers to produce documentation.
The biggest problem I had was attempting to restrain their tendency to wordsmith, e.g. using differing descriptions for common elements of various system calls. (Because using the exact same words to describe the exact same things was “boring and repetitive”. Oy.)