Anyone’s For A Farthing
Consider this an open thread, but with a catch. Due to my infinite cunning.
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For newcomers wishing to know more about what’s been going on here for the last fourteen years, in over 3,000 posts and over 100,000 comments, the reheated series is a pretty good place to start – in particular, the end-of-year-summaries, which convey the fullest flavour of what it is we do. A sort of blog concentrate. If you like what you find there… well, there’s lots more of that.
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As always, thanks for the support, the comments, and the company.
Now share ye links and bicker. 
Should a nephew ask what a “fax machine” was
One of my now totally useless skills is the ability to troubleshoot a fax machine connection by sound alone.
One of my now totally useless skills is the ability to troubleshoot a fax machine connection by sound alone.
I recall being excited by having a fax number on my very first business card. Later overshadowed by having a CompuServe email address. Or rather, a CompuServe string of numbers and punctuation that was all but impossible to remember.
Ah, heady days.
[ Drifts into reverie. ]
Ah, heady days.
Everybody who has gotten oil-stained jeans from sitting at a teletype, raise your hands.
All right, I sent you a little something from the colonies. I really enjoy Friday ephemera
All right, I sent you a little something from the colonies.
Bless you. May your hairdresser be so skilled, and your haircut so sensational, that your sister-in-law is convinced you’ve lost weight.
True story.
But you did lose weight after the haircut. All that hair must’ve weighed something. *removes pedant hat*
Should a nephew ask what a “fax machine” was
On the first morning of my first office job in 1988, I attempted to answer what appeared to be a very fancy phone on the next desk.
Mortification ensued.
Mortification ensued.
A previous employer kept a 5 gallon jar in which people were free to “report” goofs and funny comments. At the end of the year we all voted on the funniest and the winner got a small prize.
C’mon, man. You know the thing. You should have gotten it by now, Ace. The ping. Corn pop out front should have told ya’.
(recitative) “I can’t believe no Republicans voted for this”.
Perhaps they objected to taxing people to award them a gift from a compassionate government?
Joe and The Filibuster: Wouldn’t a law passed by 60% of the Senate represent more “unity” than one passed with just 50 votes, requiring the VP to break the tie? Joe seems not to sense any dissonance on this point.
Press conference takeaway: Joe seemed to order the deportation of 13 year old Josel back to his mother in Guatemala. This right after saying that people there are desperate because of corrupt government, lack of infrastructure, bad water, gang violence, etc. Poor Josel will be sent back by “decent, moral” Joe Biden.
Not to be consistent, Joe also said that he solved these problems when VP by directly installing street lights in one city in Guatemala which cut the crime rate.
If investigative journalism were still allowed, a journalist could make a reputation by following up these leads.
(Tip jar tinkled this morning.)
The ping.
Bless you, sir. May your beloved other’s innovations not include a third category of laundry sorting, namely clothes that aren’t filthy enough to go in the wash but which can’t be hung up with items that have been washed, thereby complicating things enormously.
clothes that aren’t filthy enough to go in the wash but which can’t be hung up with items that have been washed
That’s what the back of the chair in the bedroom is for. I may be a lazy batchelor(ette) but I’m not a total slob.
I inherited 5 mismatched wooden dining room chairs from a friend’s parents, and my table is square, so the extra chair went in my bedroom as the clotheshorse. It works perfectly – dirty stuff in the hamper, clean stuff hung up or in the clean clothes basket (or on occasion, actually folded and in drawers), and clean-enough-to-wear-again outer clothing draped across the back of the chair. Of course, the system works because it’s just me. Adding a second human to the system would complicate matters exponentially.
Bless you, sir. May your beloved other’s innovations not include a third category of laundry sorting, namely clothes that aren’t filthy enough to go in the wash but which can’t be hung up with items that have been washed, thereby complicating things enormously.
Actually…that is exactly my methodology. See, being an engineer I know that over the course of a year I save my poor suffering wife from doing at least one extra load of laundry per year. Though now just thinking…maybe that has something to do with her European travel constipation thing…nah…
Also, as Star Trek subject was raised up thread, not sure where I originally saw this but thought it might be enjoyed here…
And given The Shat’s upcoming 90th birthday (surely you will be attending), I was reminded of a discussion months ago regarding his staccato delivery. Someone noted that such was actually prompted by Gene Roddenberry (or someone) specifically for ST TOS. By pure happenstance that very evening months ago we watched the 1958 film The Brothers Karamazov starring The Great One and Yule Brenner, Maria Schell, Lee J. Cobb and a few others. Shatner’s role was the brother who was a priest or monk or some such so it wasn’t a real demanding role, but my wife and I thought he was quite good in it. She didn’t realize it was him until I pointed it out 3/4 of the way through. A pretty good film that I could recommend if you like such things.
Damn…got so lost trying to find a good link to that image…I meant to say in regard to the staccato delivery, it was completely absent in tBK. Which is probably what caught my wife off guard. She had seen him in other roles but nothing very serious. Which is something about discussion of actors amongst know-it-all movie goer types that I find amusing. People really like to mock/dig on how bad some actors are, especially TV and B-movie actors and such, but when you read their bios many of these (supposedly) awful actors have pretty solid backgrounds in earlier films that got overlooked or sucked for reasons that had nothing to do with said actor or his/her performance which then hurt their careers for very superficial reasons. Many of them were quite successful on stage in NY or LA or chose to refine their acting craft outside of the limelight such that you can find an occasional very positive review by someone who stumbled across them in so-called obscurity.
That’s what the back of the chair in the bedroom is for.
It’s the extent to which the “clean-enough-to-wear-again” pile can expand. More than one chair, or one laundry hamper, could hope to accommodate.
Tomorrow’s Ephemera has been compiled and should materialise just after midnight. That’s midnight Her Majesty’s Time. Not whatever heathen time-keeping you savages overseas use.
Which is something about discussion of actors amongst know-it-all movie goer types that I find amusing. People really like to mock/dig on how bad some…
I’m pretty sure that over 99% of Star Trek fans have never seen Shatner in any movie role other than Star Trek. Likewise for other Star Trek actors. To paraphrase that SNL sketch, “if it’s not Star Trek it’s crap!” (Stop me before I comment any more about the narrow-mindedness of fans.)
That’s midnight Her Majesty’s Time. Not whatever heathen time-keeping you savages overseas use.
[ glares across the Atlantic ]
Adding a second human to the system would complicate matters exponentially.
The chair will fall over.
That’s midnight Her Majesty’s Time.
Would that be Her Majesty Elizabeth the Second, by the Grace of God of the United Kingdom, Canada and Her other Realms and Territories Queen, Head of the Commonwealth, Defender of the Faith.
Her Majesty is rather fond of Daylight Savings Time in this dominion. So much so, I predict it will come to your shores this Sunday.
Tip jar tinkled this morning.
Bless you, sir. May your clean-enough-to-wear-again clothing pile never exceed the load-bearing capacity of sturdy furniture.
Her Majesty is rather fond of Daylight Savings Time in this dominion. So much so, I predict it will come to your shores this Sunday.
Don’t forget to drive to Stonehenge, David, to help them move the stones forward one hour. They will thank you.
William Shatner turned 90 on Monday. 🎂
People who don’t think he can act should watch his Twilight Zone episodes. In the one where there’s a gremlin that only he can see, attacking the plane’s wing, he tells the pilot and the pilot says, soothingly, “Of course we know it’s there, but we don’t want to alarm the other passengers.” Shatner starts to agree, then realizes the pilot thinks he’s crazy. The expressions that flash across his face—relief, realization, embarrassment, hopelessness—are perfect.
I vaguely recall reading that a director wanted the staccato delivery. Roddenberry liked it and told Shatner to keep doing it. Don’t know if it’s true or not.
Someone noted that such was actually prompted by Gene Roddenberry (or someone) specifically for ST TOS.
That was likely me, as I’m fond of pointing out that a) Shatner was recruited from the Stratford Festival back when it had a much better reputation than it does now, and b) most TOS episodes were intended to be shot/directed as if they were stage plays. Shatner’s doing classical iambic pentameter, or a reasonable facsimile thereof.
While much of his spoken-word album is intentional self-parody, you only have to listen to It Hasn’t Happened Yet to appreciate how good a voice actor he really is.
There’s a later episode of Voyager that pays homage to this; B’ehlanna crashes on a primitive planet, and barters for supplies with a local poet with stories about the Voyager’s adventures – which the poet then stages as classical Greek morality plays.
Don’t forget to drive to Stonehenge, David, to help them move the stones forward one hour
[ stands on the hill overlooking Carnac, hands on hips in frustration ]
Does anyone know where the manual is?
Does anyone know where the manual is?
No manual is needed: Good engineering is self-explanatory and any manual would quickly become obsolete.
(An engineer told me that.)
People who don’t think he can act should watch his Twilight Zone episodes.
Shatner is a classically trained actor. Early in his career he did a season at Stratford, which is a permanent Shakespeare festival not too far from where I live. He apeared in “Measure for Measure”, “The Taming of the Shrew”, “Julius Caesar”, “The Merchant of Venice” “The Merry Wives of Windsor” and “Oedipus Rex”.
Does anyone know where the manual is?
Not sure what the rune time looked like, but it’s been blinking XII, XII, XII…since Roman times.
Shatner’s role was the brother who was a priest or monk or some such so it wasn’t a real demanding role, but my wife and I thought he was quite good in it
It irks me no end when people confuse hackneyed characters, poor writing, unimaginative direction or blocking, etc. with “bad acting”. Shatner is, and always has been a very fine actor bringing whatever is needed and asked for to whatever he is being paid to portray. He has excellent range–St:tos was one of the least interesting things he did. See also Keanu Reeves, Tom Cruise etc.
If you’re still not convinced ponder upon how people are still talking about, criticizing, mimicking these performances decades later.
PST314
A good user interface is inuitive; the way you think it should work is the way it does work–almost no manual needed.
Otoh, some machinery is inherently complex and a manual is needed to get the most out of it.
Shatner is a classically trained actor.
His delivery is always crisp and precise, his timing and beats “perfect”, imho–there’s no murkiness or ambiguity in his performances unless he puts it there.
I have not seen his Shakespeare, but would like to to . . . maybe youtube?
Oh, and ping! Thanks, David.
And in other ‘progressive’ news from a co-ed school in Victoria, Australia: “Brauer College, Warrnambool: Male students forced to apologise to female students for ‘sexism’”
At an assembly all boys present were ordered to stand up and “apologise to the girls for offensive behaviour on behalf of their gender.”
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/parenting/school-life/brauer-college-warrnambool-male-students-forced-to-apologise-to-female-students-for-sexism/news-story/7feedbf34dbcd3bac9d40be43748ac4c
It seems a great way to foster mutual respectful relationships – not.
I have not seen his Shakespeare, but would like to to . . . maybe youtube?
Not sure. His Stratford performances were in the mid 50s.
A good user interface is intuitive; the way you think it should work is the way it does work–almost no manual needed.
Otoh, some machinery is inherently complex and a manual is needed to get the most out of it.
True. I was attempting to be funny by repeating something that a no-documentation absolutist said to me.
A reprehensible business reason for not publishing documentation: If you do not publicly say that your app does X, leaving it to your customers to discover X, then your customers cannot object when you quietly disable X later. (Thank you, Microsoft and others. You bastards.)
Good engineering is self-explanatory
[ Flaps hands at the Carnac stones. Glares in exasperation. ]
your customers cannot object when you quietly disable X later
Well, I’m a software engineer. Not all APIs are intended to be public, not least of which because not all APIs work reliably. You only expose and document the APIs you have the bandwidth to support. Undocumented APIs are the software equivalent of “no user serviceable parts inside”. If you pop the back off and start fiddling around in there with a socket wrench, your warranty is null and void.
Microsoft gets a lot of flack for its engineering, which surprises me. Their business practices are certainly blameworthy, but aside from “Embrace, Extend, Exterminate” their engineering and project management has generally been superior to all their competitors. Current state of Azure notwithstanding, that is. It’s an utter sh!tshow.
What DR said. I’ve had my beefs with M$ and spent considerable time in DLL hell and never bought into the COM thing as sold. While I’m certainly not a big fan, some of their problems were more a symptom of an immature industry whose standards only came along as a result of the opportunities presented by the tech M$ provided that others were too shy to. Granted much of it was rushed, hence the problems. But M$ were willing to provide a great deal, really too much, functionality such that something had to give support wise. Either overtly or covertly. It sucked at times to have the rug pulled out and I didn’t like it. But I understood why such that it would bother me to hear people bitch about it mostly just for street cred. And from where we sit today, I’m pretty sick of the whole damn industry for similar and other newer reasons. They’re all evil one way or another. With less reason to justify it.
Undocumented APIs are the software equivalent of “no user serviceable parts inside”.
I certainly remember an example of an MS API which was documented but nonetheless didn’t work.
Admittedly, this was back in the very early 1990s and so the applicability to anything that is remotely current is (I honestly hope) is minimal. Given that this was ~30 years ago, I don’t remember the details (mainly because that was the last time I had to deal with MS APIs or any other bleeping thing around MS other than being a stupid Windows user; it’s good for games and that’s the almost the only reason why I boot into Windows in the decade of 2020).
I’ve spent the rest of the time in either Protel or Protel-2 (good luck finding out about them, assuming that you never look at Wikipedia (damn them (I’ve also done LISP programming, not that you could tell from this comment))), C++ on an AIX machine, and Java on various Linux machines.
@WTP, where I work now provides REST endpoints for people/companies using our services. We only expose to the outer world what is, and should be, accessible to our customers. We use entitlements to determine what they can or cannot do. That is a different space than accessing a local software library on your machine; my point is that entire software industry doesn’t feel like it can pull the rug out from customers.
The big boys, of course, believe that you have no alternative to them. Funny how that works.
Bless you, sirs. May you rediscover the pleasures of a good piccalilli.
TBH, I read that as Pickaninny. Which does put a different slant on the sentence.
My mom used to make piccalilli. Until David,I found no one outside my family who’d ever heard of it.
Dropped something in your tip jar. Thanks for doing what you do.
Here is some Shatner doing Shakespeare archived on yt in Julius Caesar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=__mnDDk464M
Here is Shatner performing “Rocket Man”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lul-Y8vSr0I
*PING*
Oh, and ping!
Dropped something in your tip jar. Thanks for doing what you do.
*PING!*
Bless you, sirs. May you always have enough wireless chargers, all conveniently positioned, thereby eliminating those gruelling strolls across the room.
I’ll see your “Rocket Man” and raise you a Lucy In the Sky With Diamonds.
TBF, though, it is not as bad as Spock doing The Ballad of Bilbo Baggins.
Well, I’m a software engineer. Not all APIs are intended to be public…
I was not talking about API’s. I was talking about features, and disappearances that I as an end-user encountered without warning.
I don’t know if this shows up on Amazon elsewhere, but every time I open my Amazon Ads account (where I set up the ad campaigns for my products), I’m informed at the top of the page that:
“Stop Asian Hate
Amazon Advertising stands with the Asian, Asian American, and Pacific Islander communities in response to increasing violence in the US. We are committed to helping build a country and a world where everyone can live with dignity and free from fear.”
Whoopie.