sandymcmurray

He also made the Kessel Run in less than twelve parsecs.

As a Canadian, I describe my country as, "Proudly Not England, Not France, and Not America, since 1867."

I think I used every Six Apart blogging tool and I loved Movable Type. It was a shame (for me as a user) when Ben and Mena sold the company.

Wholesome and sweet. Thank you! I'll gladly add to the flower fund.

And now you need to know about Crokicurl, a mash-up of Crokinole and curling!

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/crokicurl-curling-cr...

You paid by the minute to connect to CompuServe. I eventually found free software - shared in the CompuServe forums - that would dial up, collect messages from threads you had marked offline, then hang up your modem so you could read and reply at your leisure. This was my first exposure to shareware and a huge $$ saving. I contacted the developer and offered to pay him for this and he replied with, "No thanks. Just pay it forward." A couple of great lessons there.

Thank you for sharing, and for writing so clearly. I just finished Four Magic Words and enjoyed it very much, including the author's note. Just bought your book as well. I wish you joy even in these difficult circumstances.

This is me as well. I don't naturally 'see' that a task is actually a bunch of smaller, easier tasks. It's easier not to start when you're not sure where to start.

The Twin Peaks theme always makes me think of The Locomotion by Little Eva. Play The Locomotion at half speed and compare. https://youtu.be/eKpVQm41f8Y

upvote for reminding me of the Nutrimatic Drinks Dispenser...

When I interviewed for my current job, I asked the HR rep and the hiring manager if they were happy working at the company. The question seemed to surprise them. Both smiled, thought for a moment, then responded positively, with some details about why they enjoyed their jobs and this company. That was 11 years ago and we're all still here.

"Stay Alert! Trust no one! Keep your laser handy!" is a quote from Paranoia, the role-playing game. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paranoia_(role-playing_game)

The most memorable of these for me, by far, was the Surinam Toad on the cover of Windows XP Annoyances by David Karp. Every problem has another little brood of problems inside it. Brr. https://www.oreilly.com/library/view/windows-xp-annoyances/0...

This started in 2018. See https://www.fool.com/investing/2018/02/02/understanding-appl...

You can always download more RAM. https://downloadmoreram.com/

Summary of discussion in this thread (from The West Wing)

https://youtu.be/7fkMR96I0sw

This. Client wants a "simple" site, but insists on custom themes and plugins that break or are unsupported or abandoned by the developer.

This is me too.

I have learned, slowly and painfully, that I need to wait 24 hours before saying yes to any optional assignment. I'm too optimistic about my available time and wired to be a people pleaser. When I'm asked to help and I recognize a gap I can fill, I tend to volunteer, even if I'm not the right person for the job. Days or weeks later, I realize it was the wrong decision then the Ugh feelings start up in earnest.

It's important for me to realistically assess whether I have the knowledge, desire, and time to do the task. I'm learning to say no more often than I would like, and to be less afraid of the consequences of saying no. Promising to do something I can't or won't do is bad for everyone.

Better to think on the decision and politely say no up front if I don't have the time or interest or enthusiasm required to get the job done.

Reminds me of a small detail from John Brunner's sci-fi book "Shockwave Rider". If I remember it correctly, citizens who voted were then allowed to bet on who would win the election.

I rely on AppZapper for this. One-click delete of apps and all related files. https://www.appzapper.com/

"You are likely to be eaten by a Grue. If this predicament seems particularly cruel, consider whose fault it might be; not a torch or a match in your inventory." https://youtu.be/4nigRT2KmCE

Mega Monopoly is the best official variant I've ever played. There's an extra dice with a symbol on two faces that forces you to move to the next unowned property after you complete your first turn. When all properties are owned, the same roll sends you to the next space where you have to pay rent after you complete your turn. This speeds up the property distribution and the end game considerably.

Mega Monopoly has other fun changes, including one more property on each colour group, an extra level of building above hotels (skyscrapers), "depots" on railroads that double the rent, and "bus tickets" that permit you to move forward to any space on your side of the board instead of rolling the dice.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monopoly:_The_Mega_Edition

This. I had both iPod and Nomad Jukebox. Firewire made it possible to update or completely replace the song selection in minutes rather than hours.

Very happy with hover.com for domain registration.

I'm proud to say I managed to diagnose a similar issue over the phone. Employee called the Help Desk saying her screen would go black when she tried to sign in. When she finished entering her password and clicked the button on the trackpad the computer screen would suddenly go black. She said she had to start up the computer after each incident. She also noted that it didn't happen consistently, just some days.

During troubleshooting we clarified that the computer was not shutting down; the login window appeared immediately if she pressed the power button gently instead of holding it down. She also allowed that the unexpected sleep was not only at login, but could happen any time if she got past the login window. And she could work around the problem by using a USB keyboard.

The culprit was a magnetic bracelet that she wore only occasionally. First thing in the morning she would try to log in to the laptop, without the USB keyboard, and her wrist got close enough to trigger the sleep-when-lid-closed setting. I heard the bracelet jangle on the phone, and guessed correctly that it might be a magnet.

This was my second encounter with this problem. The first time was when a laptop on my workbench died unexpectedly during troubleshooting and would not start up. It was stacked on top of another of the same model, and the lid of the laptop underneath was triggering sleep-on-closed-lid setting of the laptop on top.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago. I diagnosed a similar problem in 5 seconds while walking through the office. Laptop sleep was being triggered by an employee's new Apple watch.

It might take hours or days to figure out a problem the first time you encounter it. The second time is a memory test. The third time you look like a genius.

What service do you use to manage the domain? I'm looking for an affordable option that would make it easy to redirect to a new service frequently, as you describe.

I loved this essay, and own a paperback copy. I also loved his novels Zodiac, REAMDE (a fast, fun read), and Anathem, which was a tough read at first, but I ended up loving it. (I started the first novel of his Baroque Cycle but got bogged down and never finished those ones.)

REAMDE is a great book!

In 1999 I think I had just switched from HotDog to HomeSite. Honourable mention to HoTMetaL and Microsoft FrontPage, which I tried then abandoned for various reasons. Eventually I started using a plain text editor (BBEdit).

I toured Intel around this time and attended a press Q&A with Andy Grove. It was amazing. He was lively and fun and thoughtful. We received a printed copy of a booklet entitled WIRLII - What's It Really Like Inside Intel. It covered corporate culture, which was very Andy-centric, including the habit of starting meetings exactly on time (and not allowing late people in). Powerpoint was widespread, but our tour guides used low-tech "foils" (aka clear sheets on an overhead projector) for the presentations. Fascinating guy.