Comments on: Smashing Your Thumb with Your Trusty Hammer http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2009/11/smashing-your-thumb-with-your-trusty-hammer/ Ridiculous Pursuits, Solemn Matters Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:10:32 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 By: John http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2009/11/smashing-your-thumb-with-your-trusty-hammer/comment-page-1/#comment-10909 John Fri, 13 Nov 2009 18:58:55 +0000 http://johnesimpson.com/blog/?p=6009#comment-10909 <strong>Darc</strong>: I knew you'd appreciate the story, not in its particulars but in its general form: being simultaneously confident in one's own tech abilities, and frustrated by the intractable novelty presented by some particular form of tech hell. The gearing-down to Jaunty is... in-progress, let's say. I expect it to be complete (as such things go) sometime tomorrow. <strong>Squirrel:</strong> I'm flattered to be called brave by someone who's attempting to write 100 stories in 100 days (and to all intents and purposes succeeding in the effort). If I could execute a sweeping bow in HTML, I would! <strong>cynth:</strong> "See what he says," she says. Somehow I don't imagine it involved a lot of actual speech -- rather, a lot of chortling. :) <strong>marta</strong>: I never had a C64, but my first PC (actually belonged to The ex-Missus) was from about the same era. (It ran the CP/M operating system.) The word processor was WordStar -- text showed up onscreen as amber-on-black -- and I remember the little shudder of anticipation when you printed a document... waiting to see what the dot-matrix printer would do with it. Heh. <strong>Son:</strong> Whoa -- a ghost walks among us! I <a href="http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2008/09/publisher-seeking-authors-the-new-frontier/" target="blank" rel="nofollow">wrote</a> about Authonomy a little over a year ago. At that time, I felt ambivalent about it. You've put some of that muddlement to rest, but I still wonder about the time commitment -- at least, if I were to do it "right" (as it would feel to me). I'll indeed mention your re-emergence into Scandinavian late-fall sunshine to the other <a href="http://burninglines.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">Burning Lines</a>, uh, participants. (As you may have noticed, things sputtered out practically overnight once we got into 2009.) But I gotta say, that summary of <em>Einstein's Road Trip</em> sounds dangerously like a ripoff of BL Story #1 (<a href="http://burningarchives.blogspot.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow"><em>The Way Home</em></a>) to me, not counting Monsieur. Ha!<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('10909','John'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('10909','John','<strong>Darc<\/strong>: I knew you\'d appreciate the story, not in its particulars but in its general form: being simultaneously confident in one\'s own tech abilities, and frustrated by the intractable novelty presented by some particular form of tech hell.\r\n\r\nThe gearing-down to Jaunty is... in-progress, let\'s say. I expect it to be complete (as such things go) sometime tomorrow.\r\n\r\n<strong>Squirrel:<\/strong> I\'m flattered to be called brave by someone who\'s attempting to write 100 stories in 100 days (and to all intents and purposes succeeding in the effort). If I could execute a sweeping bow in HTML, I would!\r\n\r\n<strong>cynth:<\/strong> \"See what he says,\" she says. Somehow I don\'t imagine it involved a lot of actual speech -- rather, a lot of chortling. :)\r\n\r\n<strong>marta<\/strong>: I never had a C64, but my first PC (actually belonged to The ex-Missus) was from about the same era. (It ran the CP\/M operating system.) The word processor was WordStar -- text showed up onscreen as amber-on-black -- and I remember the little shudder of anticipation when you printed a document... waiting to see what the dot-matrix printer would do with it. Heh.\r\n\r\n<strong>Son:<\/strong> Whoa -- a ghost walks among us!\r\n\r\nI <a href=\"http:\/\/johnesimpson.com\/blog\/2008\/09\/publisher-seeking-authors-the-new-frontier\/\" target=\"blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">wrote<\/a> about Authonomy a little over a year ago. At that time, I felt ambivalent about it. You\'ve put some of that muddlement to rest, but I still wonder about the time commitment -- at least, if I were to do it \"right\" (as it would feel to me).\r\n\r\nI\'ll indeed mention your re-emergence into Scandinavian late-fall sunshine to the other <a href=\"http:\/\/burninglines.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Burning Lines<\/a>, uh, participants. (As you may have noticed, things sputtered out practically overnight once we got into 2009.)\r\n\r\nBut I gotta say, that summary of <em>Einstein\'s Road Trip<\/em> sounds dangerously like a ripoff of BL Story #1 (<a href=\"http:\/\/burningarchives.blogspot.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\"><em>The Way Home<\/em><\/a>) to me, not counting Monsieur. Ha!'); return false;">Quote</a></div> Darc: I knew you’d appreciate the story, not in its particulars but in its general form: being simultaneously confident in one’s own tech abilities, and frustrated by the intractable novelty presented by some particular form of tech hell.

The gearing-down to Jaunty is… in-progress, let’s say. I expect it to be complete (as such things go) sometime tomorrow.

Squirrel: I’m flattered to be called brave by someone who’s attempting to write 100 stories in 100 days (and to all intents and purposes succeeding in the effort). If I could execute a sweeping bow in HTML, I would!

cynth: “See what he says,” she says. Somehow I don’t imagine it involved a lot of actual speech — rather, a lot of chortling. :)

marta: I never had a C64, but my first PC (actually belonged to The ex-Missus) was from about the same era. (It ran the CP/M operating system.) The word processor was WordStar — text showed up onscreen as amber-on-black — and I remember the little shudder of anticipation when you printed a document… waiting to see what the dot-matrix printer would do with it. Heh.

Son: Whoa — a ghost walks among us!

I wrote about Authonomy a little over a year ago. At that time, I felt ambivalent about it. You’ve put some of that muddlement to rest, but I still wonder about the time commitment — at least, if I were to do it “right” (as it would feel to me).

I’ll indeed mention your re-emergence into Scandinavian late-fall sunshine to the other Burning Lines, uh, participants. (As you may have noticed, things sputtered out practically overnight once we got into 2009.)

But I gotta say, that summary of Einstein’s Road Trip sounds dangerously like a ripoff of BL Story #1 (The Way Home) to me, not counting Monsieur. Ha!

Reply – Quote
]]> By: Son of Incogneato http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2009/11/smashing-your-thumb-with-your-trusty-hammer/comment-page-1/#comment-10902 Son of Incogneato Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:53:39 +0000 http://johnesimpson.com/blog/?p=6009#comment-10902 Sorry, couldn’t resist this. Here are the tags from a book on site, ‘Einstein’s Road Trip’: albert einstein, arizona, dreams, dwarfs, einstein, fantasy, fate, french quarter, hawaii, literary fiction, magic realism, maui, midgets, murder, mystery.

I ask you , Sir. Can you seriously afford to miss Authonomy much longer?

Reply – Quote
]]> By: Son of Incogneato http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2009/11/smashing-your-thumb-with-your-trusty-hammer/comment-page-1/#comment-10900 Son of Incogneato Fri, 13 Nov 2009 10:31:48 +0000 http://johnesimpson.com/blog/?p=6009#comment-10900 Hello John!
Bit off topic this, but I didn’t know where else to write. Thanks for dropping by SoIAR the other day. Nice to know some of the old gang is still in touch. Did you ever make it over to Authonomy? It would be great to have you over there – lots going on, lots to learn. Lots of crap, too, and that, oddly enough, is one of the best parts. All my life I have been reading good literature, telling me how to do it right, yet here is a place with scads of bad stuff, showing you what NOT to do. Make no mistake, there are some great reads as well (er, um, The Beauregarde Affair for example), so it’s not just picking apart lousy manuscripts. Anyhow, if you have a manuscript you’d like some feedback on, come on over. It’s not as scary as it looks. It’s much scarier . . .

Hope everything is otherwise fine as we sail into these pre-Christmas days (daze). Are you still in touch with Kate or any of the others? If so, wish her/them the best from me.

Best wishes from an old Burning Liner,
- Brian
Aka Son of Incogneato
Aka Robert J. Roid Jr.

Reply – Quote
]]> By: marta http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2009/11/smashing-your-thumb-with-your-trusty-hammer/comment-page-1/#comment-10896 marta Fri, 13 Nov 2009 05:00:03 +0000 http://johnesimpson.com/blog/?p=6009#comment-10896 I used to have a Commodore 64 (fun times!) and on the screen everything would look normal, but on the printed page it looked like every symbol ever suggested to a computer except actual letters in any sort of order. I never figured that out--I am a computer idiot. Good luck with all that!<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('10896','marta'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('10896','marta','I used to have a Commodore 64 (fun times!) and on the screen everything would look normal, but on the printed page it looked like every symbol ever suggested to a computer except actual letters in any sort of order. I never figured that out--I am a computer idiot.\r\n\r\nGood luck with all that!'); return false;">Quote</a></div> I used to have a Commodore 64 (fun times!) and on the screen everything would look normal, but on the printed page it looked like every symbol ever suggested to a computer except actual letters in any sort of order. I never figured that out–I am a computer idiot.

Good luck with all that!

Reply – Quote
]]> By: cynth http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2009/11/smashing-your-thumb-with-your-trusty-hammer/comment-page-1/#comment-10833 cynth Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:28:01 +0000 http://johnesimpson.com/blog/?p=6009#comment-10833 This is why hubby is the brains of the operation. I'm just the mincing minion, taking orders and NEVER upgrading anything unless told to do so. I'll pass this along to the significant other and see what he says...although you can probably guess...<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('10833','cynth'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('10833','cynth','This is why hubby is the brains of the operation. I\'m just the mincing minion, taking orders and NEVER upgrading anything unless told to do so. I\'ll pass this along to the significant other and see what he says...although you can probably guess...'); return false;">Quote</a></div> This is why hubby is the brains of the operation. I’m just the mincing minion, taking orders and NEVER upgrading anything unless told to do so. I’ll pass this along to the significant other and see what he says…although you can probably guess…
Reply – Quote
]]> By: The Querulous Squirrel http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2009/11/smashing-your-thumb-with-your-trusty-hammer/comment-page-1/#comment-10826 The Querulous Squirrel Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:38:00 +0000 http://johnesimpson.com/blog/?p=6009#comment-10826 As someone mystified by all things computer, this is a Halloween horror story. Gives me shivers. You are a brave soul.<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('10826','The Querulous Squirrel'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('10826','The Querulous Squirrel','As someone mystified by all things computer, this is a Halloween horror story. Gives me shivers. You are a brave soul.'); return false;">Quote</a></div> As someone mystified by all things computer, this is a Halloween horror story. Gives me shivers. You are a brave soul.
Reply – Quote
]]> By: DarcKnyt http://johnesimpson.com/blog/2009/11/smashing-your-thumb-with-your-trusty-hammer/comment-page-1/#comment-10825 DarcKnyt Tue, 10 Nov 2009 20:08:17 +0000 http://johnesimpson.com/blog/?p=6009#comment-10825 See, this is one of my major fears with alternative operating systems NOT supported by Megasoft Corps. If something goes south, you have to wait for the kid in the basement to stop playing his MMORPG and get to your question, IF he feels like it. I know, I know, I'm stereotyping and being a little facetious, but there's a modicum of truth in it. With SUSE, for instance, yes, there's a fee; but Novell is there behind it. You can get someone on the company's nickel to work on your issue with you. And it's not that one's a bank-breaker. Still I feel your pain here, JES. I know how hard it is to be hamstrung by a computer issue you can't resolve yourself. Hope it gets better soon. Oh, and I'd back down to Jaunty too, if it were me. Just sayin'. Stick with what works; if it ain't broke, y'know?<div class="comment-remix-meta"><a href="#" class="replyto" onclick="replyto('10825','DarcKnyt'); return false;">Reply</a> - <a href="#" class="quote" onclick="quote('10825','DarcKnyt','See, this is one of my major fears with alternative operating systems NOT supported by Megasoft Corps. If something goes south, you have to wait for the kid in the basement to stop playing his MMORPG and get to your question, IF he feels like it.\r\n\r\nI know, I know, I\'m stereotyping and being a little facetious, but there\'s a modicum of truth in it. With SUSE, for instance, yes, there\'s a fee; but Novell is there behind it. You can get someone on the company\'s nickel to work on your issue with you. And it\'s not that one\'s a bank-breaker.\r\n\r\nStill I feel your pain here, JES. I know how hard it is to be hamstrung by a computer issue you can\'t resolve yourself.\r\n\r\nHope it gets better soon. Oh, and I\'d back down to Jaunty too, if it were me. Just sayin\'. Stick with what works; if it ain\'t broke, y\'know?'); return false;">Quote</a></div> See, this is one of my major fears with alternative operating systems NOT supported by Megasoft Corps. If something goes south, you have to wait for the kid in the basement to stop playing his MMORPG and get to your question, IF he feels like it.

I know, I know, I’m stereotyping and being a little facetious, but there’s a modicum of truth in it. With SUSE, for instance, yes, there’s a fee; but Novell is there behind it. You can get someone on the company’s nickel to work on your issue with you. And it’s not that one’s a bank-breaker.

Still I feel your pain here, JES. I know how hard it is to be hamstrung by a computer issue you can’t resolve yourself.

Hope it gets better soon. Oh, and I’d back down to Jaunty too, if it were me. Just sayin’. Stick with what works; if it ain’t broke, y’know?

Reply – Quote
]]>