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| Woodworking (rec.woodworking) Discussion forum covering all aspects of working with wood. All levels of expertise are encouraged to particiapte. |
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#121
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Is Usnet Dying?
In article . com,
mrdancer wrote: "Philski" wrote in message ... And to think, Digital Research was first approached by IBM for a new operating system and because they thought IBM would be like the Borg, they ended up turning it down - enter then Microsoft and the rest is history.... The story I heard was that the Digital Research CEO was on a plane heading for vacation, and couldn't be bothered with IBM (DR thought they were the only software game in town). That's when IBM got in touch with Bill Gates. Gates promised an operating system (OS) on a very short timeline and IBM jumped on it. However, Gates wanted to maintain the rights to the OS. IBM said "sure", not realizing the power that that one little decision would provide in creating the MicroSoft monopoly. Anywayz, Gates quickly cobbled together the OS and dubbed it QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System). Later, the Q was dropped and the acronym became DOS (I used to think it meant "Disk Operating System"!). FALSE TO HISTORY. Gates *DID*NOT*BUILD*IT*. He _purchased_ rights to an _existing_ O/S, called QDOS, from a company called "Seattle Computing". And the rest is history. DOS evolved into the Windows GUI. So, the basis of Windows was a quick and dirty operating system. And folks wonder why Windows has so many problems.... ;-) |
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#122
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Is Usnet Dying?
Robert Bonomi wrote: FALSE TO HISTORY. Gates *DID*NOT*BUILD*IT*. He _purchased_ rights to an _existing_ O/S, called QDOS, from a company called "Seattle Computing". And the rest is history. And he bought it for $50,000 -- Mark N.E. Ohio Never argue with a fool, a bystander can't tell you apart. (S. Clemens, A.K.A. Mark Twain) When in doubt hit the throttle. It may not help but it sure ends the suspense. (Gaz, r.moto) |
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#123
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Is Usnet Dying?
"Robert Bonomi" wrote in message
rvers.com... In article . com, mrdancer wrote: "Philski" wrote in message ... And to think, Digital Research was first approached by IBM for a new operating system and because they thought IBM would be like the Borg, they ended up turning it down - enter then Microsoft and the rest is history.... The story I heard was that the Digital Research CEO was on a plane heading for vacation, and couldn't be bothered with IBM (DR thought they were the only software game in town). That's when IBM got in touch with Bill Gates. Gates promised an operating system (OS) on a very short timeline and IBM jumped on it. However, Gates wanted to maintain the rights to the OS. IBM said "sure", not realizing the power that that one little decision would provide in creating the MicroSoft monopoly. Anywayz, Gates quickly cobbled together the OS and dubbed it QDOS (Quick and Dirty Operating System). Later, the Q was dropped and the acronym became DOS (I used to think it meant "Disk Operating System"!). FALSE TO HISTORY. Gates *DID*NOT*BUILD*IT*. He _purchased_ rights to an _existing_ O/S, called QDOS, from a company called "Seattle Computing". And the rest is history. Arrgh! That's what I get for believing what I see on TV!  |
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#124
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Is Usnet Dying?
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#126
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Is Usnet Dying?
Bob McConnell responds:
MS-DOS 2.0 came out, it listed for US$45.00, but by then, the other two were almost extinct. I was working on what eventually became the NCR PC-4, and we had to test all three on it, along with the standard set of programs. So we had to have three copies each of WordStar, CalcStar, DataStar, and a couple of others. I had almost--thankfully--forgotten WordStar's command structure..start the sentence with a dot (.) and a number to do certain things. Amazing what 20 years can chew up in memory. And trying to do mail merges was such a joy...but it did beat re-typing the addresses, if not by a whole lot. As a writer, I found the ability to go back and erase or change half a page so that pagination changed a real marvel. The program took care of it. When typing a ms., you had to go back to that point, re-type and then re-type ever blinking page (my editors got used to a lot of crossed out words, additions on rubber cemented sheets and so forth). Charlie Self "If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner." H. L. Mencken |
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#127
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Is Usnet Dying?
Brian Henderson wrote:
Last time I did a complete upgrade, I went around and got some price quotes for the system if they installed it. The prices I got ended up being 2-3x as much as it cost me to just do it myself and that's not even counting the money I saved using perfectly good components that I already had. In the end, the labor costs far exceeded the hardware costs and I'm about the cheapest labor I know.  This wasn't an upgrade. Since they finally changed the case spec, I had to buy a new box, and all new components. I priced parts, determined that these people literally only cost a few dollars more (like $15-20) than buying parts mail order (after considering shipping vs. sales tax). It cost essentially nothing to have them put it all together, so I let them build the damn thing and that was that. I've put together enough computers in my day that I take no joy in it anymore. Sort of like working on my car. Been there, done that, and if I could afford to pay a mechanic, I'd never touch the thing again. I'm definitely not a wrench jockey, and I'm not a computer hardware guy either. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ |
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#128
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Is Usnet Dying?
Brian Henderson wrote:
Since the net has been open to the general public then. You're right, when I first got access to Usenet back in '86, it wasn't like this, but there weren't that many of us out there either. Far too many Right indeed. Not that many of us here, and traffic volume was a tiny fraction of what it is today. I used to use rn to read news, because that's what my university had installed. I had to go through newsgroups reading the articles sequentially. It sucked then, but it would *really* suck now. people point to the 'good old days' just a couple years ago and seem to have very selective memories. Oh, don't get me wrong. The good old days weren't that good in some ways. We didn't have spammers, but we didn't have the web either. Everybody was also much less relaxed in those days. There was still a military air hanging about the place. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ |
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#129
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Is Usnet Dying?
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#130
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Is Usnet Dying?
Charlie Self wrote:
Thanks for the correction. Silvan is kind of short of money, so...anything that works. This is out of a case that got messed up somehow, without Kind of short of money. I'm down to $3 now. Whee ha! I'll look you up maybe when I get my Christmas bonus. Can't be *that* expensive to ship it, but probably more than I can spare right now. Sure do appreciate it. One day I'm going to stop being broke. Sure would help if my family would just make up their minds to stop getting sick already. Been working for me for the last three or five or seven years or something.  (I feel another insurance rant coming on, so I'll shut up again.) -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ |
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#131
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Is Usnet Dying?
Charlie Self wrote:
As a writer, I found the ability to go back and erase or change half a It *ruined* Piers Anthony. After he discovered computers, he started writing crap. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ |
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#132
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Is Usnet Dying?
Silvan writes:
As a writer, I found the ability to go back and erase or change half a It *ruined* Piers Anthony. After he discovered computers, he started writing crap. Some will say he just practiced writing crap before computers, then was able to turn up the output so it was noticeable. Charlie Self "If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner." H. L. Mencken |
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#133
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Is Usnet Dying?
CharlieDIY wrote:
As a writer, I found the ability to go back and erase or change half a It *ruined* Piers Anthony. After he discovered computers, he started writing crap. Some will say he just practiced writing crap before computers, then was able to turn up the output so it was noticeable. Another point: I quit reading Anthony years ago for a reason other than his deteriorating writing: I got sick of his constant whines at the end of every book about how badly his most recently dumped publisher treated him. Every writer can complain about publishers, every writer either changes publishers or uses more than one, unless they're in the fortunate position of having each book sell a few hundred thousand copies in its first couple months. It's known as making a living, something that isn't all pleasure for anyone I know. Charlie Self "If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner." H. L. Mencken |
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#134
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Is Usnet Dying?
Charlie Self wrote:
Another point: I quit reading Anthony years ago for a reason other than his deteriorating writing: I got sick of his constant whines at the end of every book about how badly his most recently dumped publisher treated Yeah, me too. I was tempted to mail him a block of cheese at the end of every book. Wah. I really liked his early stuff, but it could well be due to my age at the time. Every writer can complain about publishers, every writer either changes publishers or uses more than one, unless they're in the fortunate position Or never gets published. Let's not forget that most writers by volume can't get published unless they pay for the privledge. The ones earning any money at all are the fortunate few. (DAMHIKT... No I didn't actually pay to get published. I just gave up. 500 billion other people writing better versions of everything I ever thought of writing. There are 10 trillion would-be authors in the world, and only 500 of them make any money. Only 10 of them actually earn a decent living at it. Sour grapes, hyperbole, sour grapes, hyperbole... -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ |
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#135
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Is Usnet Dying?
In article e.rogers.com,
Michael Daly wrote: On 26-Nov-2003, (Robert Bonomi) wrote: FALSE TO HISTORY. Gates *DID*NOT*BUILD*IT*. He _purchased_ rights to an _existing_ O/S, called QDOS, from a company called "Seattle Computing". And the rest is history. Actually, there were three operating systems available for the IBM PC. However, two of them were sold for something like $300 a copy, whereas MS sold theirs for $50. Not sure if those numbers are right, but they're in that sort of ballpark. That's why everyone bought MS. The other two were DR DOS and CP/M-86 IIRC. Or maybe it was USCD... anyway, the myth that only MS had a product or had exclusivity is exactly that - a myth. MS won in the marketplace, not in the IBM boardrooms. "Not Exactly". grin From IBM, you could get the base box, with BASIC in ROM, or, _IF_ you shelled out the big bucks for a floppy drive, you could get IBM's "PC-DOS" for a moderate additional cost. At "day one", those were the -only- options. CP/M-86 appeared on the scene a few months later, *NOT*SUPPORTED* by IBM, but as a 'third party' product -- the CP/M people had to wait and buy a 'retail' machine, to have the 'porting platform' to work on. "Concurrent CP/M 86" (multi-user) was also ported --soon after they got the 'base' system out the door. There was also MP/M-86, a competing multi-user system, but it didn't come along till some time later. Gates had purchased _exlcusive_ marketing rights for a period of several years from Seattle Computing. MS then licensed it to IBM, with a fairly "short" period where it was marketed exclusively under the IBM label. After that exclusive marketing period expired, MS offered the product directly to customers under their own label, as well as collecting royalties on every copy IBM sold. About this point, the 'compatible' market started to develop -- with varying degrees of compatibility to the 'genuine IBM' product. Oddly enough, IBM would -not- license PC-DOS to the other hardware manufacturers. MS, on the other hand, had no such reservations. And they were the "*only* other game in town" as far as a low-cost O/S for the 8088 platform went. And the war was on. IBM tried to hamstring the software it sold, so it would run on *only* a genuine IBM manufactured machine, and the 3rd-party manufacturers got better and better at being 'compatible' -- to the point of being 'virtually indistinguishable'. When the 'next generation' microprocessors came along -- the 80286, with it's rudimentary 'protected mode', *large* address-space, and memory- management, other, more powerful/sophisticated O/S options became available. Including several early UNIX derivitives (e.g. Xenix and Venix), some "looks like UNIX, but _not_ based on it (e.g. Chromix, Coherent), and other 'specialized' systems (e.g. QNX, OS/2). All these products filled "niche" markets, with MS-DOS being the 'de facto standard' for the 'typical' single-user desktop system. There were several others systems as well, whose names escape me at this remove. The "UCSD 'p-system'" deserves mention, it was a 'laudable attempt' to *really* insulate the application from the hardware it ran on. It defined a 'virtual machine', and implemented a 'simulator' for that machine. Applications were written in the 'pseudo-code' for that 'virtual machine'. By simply implementing that simulator on any specific platform, *regardless* of the actual processor used, you could run *any* "p-system" application on that machine. It didn't matter whether it was a "genuine IBM PC", a "clone", a "more-or-less compatible", or something *totally* different, like a Motorola-68000 based box -- you could copy the actual executable from one box to another, and *IT*WOULD*RUN*! While the design was laudable, it suffered in execution. the 'virtual machine' was, of necessity, implemented as an _interpreter_, with the associated performance penalties. And, because it _was_ "hardware independant", you only had a basic set of "generic" device capabilities available. This put it at a *definite* "glitz" disadvantage, vs. anything that 'took advantage' of 'device specific' capabilities on a particular platform. Primarily for those reasons, it never reached 'critical mass', to the point of being self-sustaining in the marketplace. In the mean time, Seattle Computing had transformed itself into "Digital Research", and after the 'exclusive' period of the license to MS expired, offered their own 'compatible' verson of a Disk Operating Ssystem, based on their 'original' QDOS (with enhancements to offer features comparable to the then-current MS offering). Unfortunately for them, MS had sewn up the 'brand recognition' issue, and effectively 'owned' the low end single-user O/S market. |
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#136
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Is Usnet Dying?
Silvan responds:
Every writer can complain about publishers, every writer either changes publishers or uses more than one, unless they're in the fortunate position Or never gets published. Let's not forget that most writers by volume can't get published unless they pay for the privledge. The ones earning any money at all are the fortunate few. (DAMHIKT... No I didn't actually pay to get published. I just gave up. 500 billion other people writing better versions of everything I ever thought of writing. There are 10 trillion would-be authors in the world, and only 500 of them make any money. Only 10 of them actually earn a decent living at it. Sour grapes, hyperbole, sour grapes, hyperbole... Depends on what you're writing, I think. I'm working on book #41 (might be #42: I lost count) now, and will shortly sign for another. The money is NOT good for woodworking writers, but it does seem to do a better job of being a long term deal than do magazine articles. I've got one book I wrote in late '84 that still brings in a few hundred bucks a year. That's about the only one, though, which is largely my fault because a lot of the early books were written during a deteriorating home situation when the money in hand was more necessary than money in 2003, and onward. Flat fee stuff, in other words. And far more than 500 make money at it. Let's not forget there are well over 40,000 books published annually in the U.S. alone. Maybe way more by now. And Internet publishing has increased the actual numbers more than a little. But there may not be many more than 5000 in this country who make GOOD money at book writing. By good, I mean having the need to do only one book a year as primary income source, and making at least 4 times the per U.S. capita income ($30,941 in 2002). Charlie Self "If a politician found he had cannibals among his constituents, he would promise them missionaries for dinner." H. L. Mencken |
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#137
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Is Usnet Dying?
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#138
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Is Usnet Dying?
Luigi Zanasi writes:
I guess you couldn't afford a dedicated word processor such as an AES (although I think that was a Canadian company) or a Wang before the PCs came along. You got that right. I also remember using C/PM machines and falling in love with Supercalc. Of course, I quickly ran up my spreadsheets to 64K, so it was back to FORTRAN or SAS to do lots of arithmetic. You know, to this day, I haven't got a clue as to how to operate ANY spreadsheet. Don't want one, either. Charlie Self "Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." H. L. Mencken |
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#139
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Is Usnet Dying?
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#141
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Is Usnet Dying?
Charlie Self wrote:
Depends on what you're writing, I think. I'm working on book #41 (might be #42: I lost count) now, and will shortly sign for another. The money is I can only imagine. Closest I came to getting published was a nice offer to get a few volumes printed up for $2,000 or something like that. Of course, I'm not saying I'm necessarily that good of a writer to start with. That's part of the problem, really. I think I write very well, but it doesn't matter what *I* think of my writing... Anyway, all my self-piteous hyperbolic whining aside, I'm glad you're making money doing something I've only dreamed of. Good on ya. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ |
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#142
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Is Usnet Dying?
Silvan writes:
Anyway, all my self-piteous hyperbolic whining aside, I'm glad you're making money doing something I've only dreamed of. Good on ya. Sort of an accident, too. I got out of the Marines and went to work for a small ad agency, ending a short period as a copywriter. From there, I eventually went back to school, and ended up with a BA in English, which is really not a whole lot of help in writing. Couldn't find a job and had sold a couple items, so I started freelancing motorcycle off-road stuff in upstate NY. Or from upstate NY. That worked, so I slipped into DIY magazines and thence into woodworking. The money's not great, but it can be very, very enjoyable. Charlie Self "Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." H. L. Mencken |
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#143
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Is Usnet Dying?
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#144
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Is Usnet Dying?
Charlie Self wrote:
money doing something I've only dreamed of. Good on ya. eventually went back to school, and ended up with a BA in English, which is really not a whole lot of help in writing. Couldn't find a job and had Hee... Me too, 'cept mine's in Spanish, French and Latin. Same thing, really. You read Dickens and Chaucer and Poe and Twain (or whomever) and I read Borges and Fuentes and des Cartes and Sartre and Caesar and Pliny. It's all pretty damn useless in the real world. Stupid me, if I had realized that majoring in foreign languages meant spending the last two thirds of my time doing literary analysis of the same sort of yawn fodder I could have been reading as an English major (no offense), I would have changed to biology or anthropology or something. Probably wouldn't have changed the net outcome, and I'd still be driving a truck, but I wish I hadn't ****ed away my free education studying something both useless and mind numbingly boring. I thought it was about *language* (and it was, in the beginning), not *literature*. Grammar, syntax, etymology, linguistics. Nope. Instead, it's about spending 30 pages bull****ting about the deep significance of the author's peculiar choice of subject pronouns in some book so intensely boring I never could bring myself to finish it. (/La muerte de Artemio Cruz/ to be precise, and I haven't a clue who wrote it.) The money's not great, but it can be very, very enjoyable. I've always thought it would be indeed, but I've just never gotten over the initial hump. I've even thought about trying to get on with the local rag as a columnist of some sort. I ca'nt do any wosre than the peuple they of rigint fore than now, and it might earn me wood money. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ |
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#145
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Is Usnet Dying?
Silvan writes:
Hee... Me too, 'cept mine's in Spanish, French and Latin. Same thing, really. You read Dickens and Chaucer and Poe and Twain (or whomever) and I read Borges and Fuentes and des Cartes and Sartre and Caesar and Pliny. It's all pretty damn useless in the real world. Read most of those, too, except in translation. Sartre translates well. Stupid me, if I had realized that majoring in foreign languages meant spending the last two thirds of my time doing literary analysis of the same sort of yawn fodder I could have been reading as an English major (no offense), I would have changed to biology or anthropology or something. Grammar, syntax, etymology, linguistics. Nope. Instead, it's about spending 30 pages bull****ting about the deep significance of the author's peculiar choice of subject pronouns in some book so intensely boring I never could bring myself to finish it. (/La muerte de Artemio Cruz/ to be precise, and I haven't a clue who wrote it.) Water symbolism in Sir Gawain & The Green Knight. Or some such. It may have been in The Great Gatsby, which was at least interesting reading, which SGATGK was not. Of historical interest, but otherwise pure crap. I've always thought it would be indeed, but I've just never gotten over the initial hump. I've even thought about trying to get on with the local rag as a columnist of some sort. I ca'nt do any wosre than the peuple they of rigint fore than now, and it might earn me wood money Dunno, man. The Roanoke paper is excellent for a small city. You should read the Parkersburg paper. Or listen to the one local TV station. Stupidity reigns. Does Blacksburg have its own paper? Charlie Self "Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." H. L. Mencken |
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#146
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Is Usnet Dying?
On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 00:39:16 -0500, Silvan
brought forth from the murky depths: Charlie Self wrote: money doing something I've only dreamed of. Good on ya. eventually went back to school, and ended up with a BA in English, which is really not a whole lot of help in writing. Couldn't find a job and had Hee... Me too, 'cept mine's in Spanish, French and Latin. Same thing, really. You read Dickens and Chaucer and Poe and Twain (or whomever) and I read Borges and Fuentes and des Cartes and Sartre and Caesar and Pliny. It's all pretty damn useless in the real world. Au contraire, mi amigo. You'll need that Spanish in the new world order in Norte America after the Shrub wrings the money out of the US treasury and Señor Fox takes over. He already has just a few of his agents here in the States, ready to help. The money's not great, but it can be very, very enjoyable. Which can be enjoyable, the money or the work? I've always thought it would be indeed, but I've just never gotten over the initial hump. I've even thought about trying to get on with the local rag as a columnist of some sort. I ca'nt do any wosre than the peuple they of rigint fore than now, and it might earn me wood money. Sounds more like they need a freakin' editor, Charlie. Go for it! We're all behind you. ================================================== ======== CAUTION: Do not use remaining fingers as pushsticks! ================================================== ======== http://www.diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development |
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#147
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Is Usnet Dying?
On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 00:39:16 -0500, Silvan
brought forth from the murky depths: Charlie Self wrote: money doing something I've only dreamed of. Good on ya. eventually went back to school, and ended up with a BA in English, which is really not a whole lot of help in writing. Couldn't find a job and had Hee... Me too, 'cept mine's in Spanish, French and Latin. Same thing, really. You read Dickens and Chaucer and Poe and Twain (or whomever) and I read Borges and Fuentes and des Cartes and Sartre and Caesar and Pliny. It's all pretty damn useless in the real world. Au contraire, mi amigo. You'll need that Spanish in the new world order in Norte America after the Shrub wrings the money out of the US treasury and Señor Fox takes over. He already has just a few of his agents here in the States, ready to help. The money's not great, but it can be very, very enjoyable. Which can be enjoyable, the money or the work? I've always thought it would be indeed, but I've just never gotten over the initial hump. I've even thought about trying to get on with the local rag as a columnist of some sort. I ca'nt do any wosre than the peuple they of rigint fore than now, and it might earn me wood money. Sounds more like they need a freakin' editor, Mikey. Go for it! We're all behind you. ================================================== ======== CAUTION: Do not use remaining fingers as pushsticks! ================================================== ======== http://www.diversify.com Comprehensive Website Development |
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#148
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Is Usnet Dying?
Larry Jaques writes:
Which can be enjoyable, the money or the work? Work. Money's money. I've always thought it would be indeed, but I've just never gotten over the initial hump. I've even thought about trying to get on with the local rag as a columnist of some sort. I ca'nt do any wosre than the peuple they of rigint fore than now, and it might earn me wood money. Sounds more like they need a freakin' editor, Mikey. Go for it! We're all behind you. That's Silvan's area, not mine. No more jobs. I can't deal with the backstabbing. Charlie Self "Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." H. L. Mencken |
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#149
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Is Usnet Dying?
Charlie Self wrote:
It's all pretty damn useless in the real world. Read most of those, too, except in translation. Sartre translates well. If you can stay awake long enough. I think the day I really lost my spirit... Well, I had a prof who had kept saying "use more references" and giving me B's and C's on my papers. See, I was trying to think for myself, and analyze this stuff to her standards on my own, which is what I mistook for the underlying purpose of the whole endeavor. I decided to show her, so I waited until the night before the paper was due, then went the library. I checked out all these masters' and doctoral theses about this book, then proceded to spend the night compiling other people's thoughts into a new work where every single sentence was either quoted or paraphrased; all with proper attribution. I made absolutely sure there wasn't a single original thought or insight in the paper, and that there was no chance anything I said could be mistaken for having come from my own mind. Furthermore, I never even read the book I was "analyzing." The paper came back, "A+++ Excellent! Your best work ever! Why can't you do this more often?" That's when it dawned on me that academia is pure bull****, and Dr. D. Michael McIntyre was never to be. I just couldn't see it after that, and I had no idea what else to do with myself, so I got a job at Wal-Mart and barely scraped through that last semester. I almost didn't graduate, and I don't think I would have cared if I hadn't. (Having a pregnant girlfriend-cum-wife at that point of my life didn't do anything to help either, mind you.) *That's* why I don't go to the highland festival thing. I never want to see any of those people again. I didn't go to my graduation, and my diploma sat around here for years before I bothered to frame it. It doesn't *mean* anything. Looking back at the photos of my induction into all those various honor societies, I can't even remember who any of those people were anymore. All of my dreams evaporated when I got back that stupid paper that should have been an F, and I was left in limbo. Well, *those* dreams. I still have dreams. Different dreams. Mostly I'd like to find some profession that doesn't feel like a black hole for the hours I spend doing it. Something that could be part of my life, instead of something I have to wade through to get to the life bits in between. Yeah, well, quit whining, McIntyre, and join the ****ing club. I know. I know. Dunno, man. The Roanoke paper is excellent for a small city. You should Not the Roanoke paper. No way I'd get on with them. I was talking about the *local* rag. They of sum prety lame riting in that won. Usually 3/4 of the paper is given over to high school sports, all year round. Probably the reason why I've never actually bothered to try. I'd get the job, and then I'd have to feign an interest in high school sports, or else write about the procedings at the lastest hearing to decide what color to paint the light poles downtown. I'm not *that* desperate to get my name in print somewhere. Though I *would* like to get in print some day, so some of the original words I've invented can eventually wend their way into the OED. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ |
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Is Usnet Dying?
Larry Jaques wrote:
Au contraire, mi amigo. You'll need that Spanish in the new world order in Norte America after the Shrub wrings the money out of the US treasury and Señor Fox takes over. He already has just a few of his agents here in the States, ready to help. Doubt it. Most of those guys don't speak any language I can understand anyway. It's about as close to textbook Spanish as that black hip hop dialect is to textbook English, right right, nowumsain? Sounds more like they need a freakin' editor, Mikey. Go for it! We're all behind you. Yeah thay dew fore shore. I'm exaggerating, but really, some of their writing is truly *awful*. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ |
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Is Usnet Dying?
Silvan wrote:
Well, *those* dreams. I still have dreams. Different dreams. Mostly I'd like to find some profession that doesn't feel like a black hole for the hours I spend doing it. Something that could be part of my life, instead of something I have to wade through to get to the life bits in between. Anything you can safely do whilst driving, like listening to teaching tapes & voice recording thoughts & ideas? I've listened to 1000's of hours of tapes over the years... -- Mark |
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Is Usnet Dying?
Silvan writes:
Sounds more like they need a freakin' editor, Mikey. Go for it! We're all behind you. Yeah thay dew fore shore. I'm exaggerating, but really, some of their writing is truly *awful*. Then you had better never move to Parkersburg. This newspaper is dreadful on its good days. The TV station is worse, but continues to win awards. Incredible. The talking heats mumble, don't know the difference 'tween 'of' and 'for' and lots of good stuff like that. A lot like my ex-boss, who had a good chance at spelling 'cat'...if you spotted her the 'c', the 't' and explained that it was a small, furry animal that purred. And she was sure that "cat's" was plural. Charlie Self "Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." H. L. Mencken |
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#154
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Is Usnet Dying?
Charlie Self wrote:
spotted her the 'c', the 't' and explained that it was a small, furry animal that purred. And she was sure that "cat's" was plural. The only thing that bug's me more than people who don't know how to use apostrophe's are people who put accents where they don't belong to make things look "classy." There's some outfit that does strip malls all over the Carolinas. Red and white signs that say "[Town Name] Centré." The é in this instance is comparable to the -ed suffix in English, so those signs read [Town Name] Centered. Just bugs the hell out of me. Or worse, people who put accents on words that should have them, but the wrong accents, or on the wrong letters. I've met women named Reneé (very common) Reneè (equally common) and various permutations. Just makes me want to slap people. Better not to do it at all than to try and get it wrong. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ |
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Is Usnet Dying?
Mark Jerde wrote:
Anything you can safely do whilst driving, like listening to teaching tapes & voice recording thoughts & ideas? I've listened to 1000's of hours of tapes over the years... I listen to lots o' stuff, but I have narry a clue how anything of that flavor might give me better options job wise. I guess really what I need to do is finish paying off some bills, so I can afford to take a massive pay cut. If I could work for less money, I'd have a lot of options. T minus 24 months or thereabouts. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ |
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#156
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Is Usnet Dying?
On Wed, 26 Nov 2003 21:33:23 -0500, Silvan
wrote: This wasn't an upgrade. Since they finally changed the case spec, I had to buy a new box, and all new components. I priced parts, determined that these people literally only cost a few dollars more (like $15-20) than buying parts mail order (after considering shipping vs. sales tax). It cost essentially nothing to have them put it all together, so I let them build the damn thing and that was that. My point was that it would have cost me 2-3x more to buy an entirely new system. One place quoted me $2200 for a computer that I built myself for $500. A couple others couldn't even build the system I wanted because they only used Intel chips and I wanted AMD. I've put together enough computers in my day that I take no joy in it anymore. Sort of like working on my car. Been there, done that, and if I could afford to pay a mechanic, I'd never touch the thing again. I'm definitely not a wrench jockey, and I'm not a computer hardware guy either. I do most of my own work. I did my wife's rear brakes a week ago or so for $40, which included pads and having both rotors resurfaced. It took me about an hour. If I took it to the shop, they'd charge me $200 and take 2 days. Tell me which is better? |
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Is Usnet Dying?
Silvan wrote:
Mark Jerde wrote: Anything you can safely do whilst driving, like listening to teaching tapes & voice recording thoughts & ideas? I've listened to 1000's of hours of tapes over the years... I listen to lots o' stuff, but I have narry a clue how anything of that flavor might give me better options job wise. Well, just off the top of my head, putting myself in your shoes, thinking about "How can I make some money off my love of languages?" - Written / spoken translation service. Uncle Sammy's so desperate for some languages, I hear, you might be able to do it from your home. - Tutoring -- Foreign languages -- English to U.S. newbies I'm not saying these ideas are any good. Just agreeing with the late Earl Nightengale that you can come up with at least one idea that can change your life for the better. -- Mark |
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Is Usnet Dying?
Brian Henderson wrote:
My point was that it would have cost me 2-3x more to buy an entirely new system. One place quoted me $2200 for a computer that I built myself for $500. A couple others couldn't even build the system I wanted because they only used Intel chips and I wanted AMD. You were calling the wrong places, mayhap. These people are local, and they're Chinese. They have really good prices. I think maybe they get good deals from the manufacturers because they speak Chinese fluently. I wouldn't pay $1700 not to build it myself, but for as much as $50, screw it, call me when it's ready. I do most of my own work. I did my wife's rear brakes a week ago or so for $40, which included pads and having both rotors resurfaced. It took me about an hour. If I took it to the shop, they'd charge me $200 and take 2 days. Tell me which is better? If I had $200 I wouldn't miss (and it would take a *lot* for me not to miss $200, granted), I'd pay the wrench jockey to do it. Not better, not worse. I can do a brake job. Take an afternoon and get greasy, rip open a few knuckles, make a big mess on my driveway, and not have any time left over to do anything fun. I guess that's it right there. Working on my car used to be an end unto itself. Something I *did* for fun. Now it's something I *have* to do, that robs me of time spent doing something else. -- Michael McIntyre ---- Silvan Linux fanatic, and certified Geek; registered Linux user #243621 http://www.geocities.com/Paris/Rue/5407/ |
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Is Usnet Dying?
On Sat, 29 Nov 2003 21:19:28 -0500, Silvan
scribbled Charlie Self wrote: spotted her the 'c', the 't' and explained that it was a small, furry animal that purred. And she was sure that "cat's" was plural. The only thing that bug's me more than people who don't know how to use apostrophe's are people who put accents where they don't belong to make ^^^^^!!!! Isn't there a fundamental law of the universe stating that any usenet post complaining about or correcting spelling and grammatical mistakes will have spelling and/or grammar errors? :-) things look "classy." There's some outfit that does strip malls all over the Carolinas. Red and white signs that say "[Town Name] Centré." The é in this instance is comparable to the -ed suffix in English, so those signs read [Town Name] Centered. Just bugs the hell out of me. I agree with you. My pet peeve is that dishwatery Seattle imitation of real caffè latte (in Italian) or café au lait (in French), the so called "Latté". Latte means milk, not coffee, and takes no accent. Or worse, people who put accents on words that should have them, but the wrong accents, or on the wrong letters. I've met women named Reneé (very common) Reneè (equally common) and various permutations. Just makes me want to slap people. Better not to do it at all than to try and get it wrong. In my eyes, this is just as stupid and hilarious as the many mistranslations of English seen in various tourist establishments across the world and circulated throughout the net. You want to make Italians laugh at your ignorance and pretension, spell it "latté". Or calling a mall "[Town] Centré" is equally hilarious to francophones. There is no longer any excuse with the multitude of language dictionaries on the web to misspell foreign words. Here's a business idea for you, Silvan. Offer your services as an editor at the multitude of French and Spanish web sites with horrible English translations. For relatively benign examples, go see: http://www.uselinuxathome.com/ENindex.htm or bits of the (OBWW) General web site http://www.general.ca/ like "Security First" instead of "Safety First" and "Instructions Manuals". BTW, "Adieu" is one word. ;-) Luigi Replace "no" with "yk" for real email address |
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Is Usnet Dying?
Brian Henderson writes:
I do most of my own work. I did my wife's rear brakes a week ago or so for $40, which included pads and having both rotors resurfaced. It took me about an hour. If I took it to the shop, they'd charge me $200 and take 2 days. Quit doing auto work when I had to reshoe the front brakes on a '67 Plymouth in 92 deg. weather. But we found one of the good points of WV: got the front brakes on my wife's Dodge Stratus done, including turned rotors, for $78 not long ago. Charlie Self "Say what you will about the ten commandments, you must always come back to the pleasant fact that there are only ten of them." H. L. Mencken |
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