Tom Austin wrote:

> I once swapped the J & K keys on my keyboard at work.
> 
> It was great seeing other people try to figure out what was wrong.

You think that's bad? Try taking a PC, disconnecting the US keyboard and 
hooking up a UK keyboard. Confuses the **** out of people until you load 
the correct keymap.

[Unfortunately, we have quite a lot of US keyboards here. I blame Dell...]

Post a reply to this message

Tom Austin wrote:

> I once swapped the J & K keys on my keyboard at work.
> 
> It was great seeing other people try to figure out what was wrong.

If you really want to play evil games with people, take a calculator and 
rearrange the bottoms the opposite way round. As in, if the buttons are 
arranged as

   1 2 3
   4 5 6
   7 8 9

change it to

   7 8 9
   4 5 6
   1 2 3

Both arrangements are entirely plausible, and so nobody will think this 
strange. Until they try to use it...



PS. I've always wondered... Do German keyboards have that weird 
beta-like glyph on them?

Post a reply to this message

Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Tom Austin wrote:
>
> > I once swapped the J & K keys on my keyboard at work.
> >
> > It was great seeing other people try to figure out what was wrong.
>
> You think that's bad? Try taking a PC, disconnecting the US keyboard and
> hooking up a UK keyboard. Confuses the **** out of people until you load
> the correct keymap.
>
> [Unfortunately, we have quite a lot of US keyboards here. I blame Dell...]

You think that’s bad, try using a US k/board with Word’s language set to US
English as default and the document’s language set to UK English. Every now and
again my k/board changes to the UK one but the keys are still the US layout.
Only in word. I love it.

BTW German K/boards are different from ours.
BTW2 How can you tell if a keyboard is a French one?


Stephen

Post a reply to this message

"scott" <sco### [at] laptopcom> wrote in message news:472f982f@news.povray.org...

> Hehe, the old "take a screenshot of a window and set it as the desktop
> wallpaper" trick used to confuse the hell out of even the IT guys at
school

That was a prank going round the company I worked for round about 5 years
ago. Was a good laugh. Someone tried to do it to my PC. Problem was, they
couldn't find Paint, or the control panel. I was running litestep instead of
explorer as a windows shell. Good fun

Post a reply to this message

Invisible escribió:
> Darren New wrote:
> 
>> I suspect she takes the car back to the dealer when she runs out of 
>> gas, too.
> 
> I don't really know why, but some people become paralysed by fear when 
> they go near a computer. Otherwise normal people become unbelievably 
> stupid when confronted by a PC. It's as if their brain switches off 
> while using one.

"Frequently, a normal, intelligent person loses grasp of all his 
faculties when in the presence of a computer."

http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/cs_amnesia.shtml

Post a reply to this message

Gail Shaw wrote:

> That was a prank going round the company I worked for round about 5 years
> ago. Was a good laugh. Someone tried to do it to my PC. Problem was, they
> couldn't find Paint, or the control panel. I was running litestep instead of
> explorer as a windows shell. Good fun

Heh. I think I tried LiteStep once... Nice idea, but not very useable.

When I was at uni, there was a prank going round involving a file named 
BEARDED.EXE. Any person incautious enough to run this program has their 
Windoze wallpaper changed to an image of a fat naked women demonstrating 
how bushy she is. And I don't mean her face.

I remember sitting next to Pam, and watching her run it, and her then 
not knowing how to change the settings back to normal. (Personally, I 
would have thought *anybody* would have more sense than to run an 
attachment from Rich, but anyway...)

Post a reply to this message

Nicolas Alvarez wrote:

> "Frequently, a normal, intelligent person loses grasp of all his 
> faculties when in the presence of a computer."

It's a bit like this:

http://www.xkcd.com/231/

> http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/cs_amnesia.shtml

Customer: "What do you mean guess? I told you everything you need to 
know! Now quit messing around and just tell me what I need to do to fix it!"

This sounds *far* too familiar. :-S

Post a reply to this message

Stephen <mcavoys_AT_aolDOT.com> wrote:
> BTW2 How can you tell if a keyboard is a French one?

  AZERTY?

-- 
                                                          - Warp

Post a reply to this message

Tom Austin <taustin> wrote:
> I once swapped the J & K keys on my keyboard at work.

> It was great seeing other people try to figure out what was wrong.

  The nerdiness of a person can be measured by how long he uses a computer
with a fumbled keycapping setting (but with intact keymapping) before
noticing that the keyboard caps have been changed.

-- 
                                                          - Warp

Post a reply to this message

http://www.google.com/search?q=german+keyboard

...

do you mean "ß"? -> near "backspace"

kk

Post a reply to this message

>> I once swapped the J & K keys on my keyboard at work.
>>
>> It was great seeing other people try to figure out what was wrong.
>
> You think that's bad? Try taking a PC, disconnecting the US keyboard and 
> hooking up a UK keyboard. Confuses the **** out of people until you load 
> the correct keymap.

Don't laugh, it took me about 5 minutes to find the @ sign on my German 
keyboard when I first got it.  Still haven't got used to the location of the 
<>[]{} keys (which I use quite regularly).

Post a reply to this message

> PS. I've always wondered... Do German keyboards have that weird 
> beta-like glyph on them?

Yeh, it also has keys dedicated for a, u and o with umlauts on top.

Post a reply to this message

>  The nerdiness of a person can be measured by how long he uses a computer
> with a fumbled keycapping setting (but with intact keymapping) before
> noticing that the keyboard caps have been changed.

one of the greatest nerds I knew had his keyboard layout set to dvorak (sp?) 
and the keys actually placed in a totally random order.  nobody else could 
use his computer.

Post a reply to this message

scott wrote:
>>  The nerdiness of a person can be measured by how long he uses a computer
>> with a fumbled keycapping setting (but with intact keymapping) before
>> noticing that the keyboard caps have been changed.
> 
> one of the greatest nerds I knew had his keyboard layout set to dvorak 
> (sp?) and the keys actually placed in a totally random order.  nobody 
> else could use his computer.

We had 1 user who had their mouse buttons swapped. I'm not sure why...

Post a reply to this message

Tom Austin wrote:
> I once swapped the J & K keys on my keyboard at work.
> It was great seeing other people try to figure out what was wrong.

"The system rejects my password unless I'm sitting down when I type it. 
What's wrong?"

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     Remember the good old days, when we
     used to complain about cryptography
     being export-restricted?

Post a reply to this message

Warp wrote:
> Tom Austin <taustin> wrote:
>> I once swapped the J & K keys on my keyboard at work.
> 
>> It was great seeing other people try to figure out what was wrong.
> 
>   The nerdiness of a person can be measured by how long he uses a computer
> with a fumbled keycapping setting (but with intact keymapping) before
> noticing that the keyboard caps have been changed.
> 


They usually spotted it pretty quick as their typing was messed up.

At least in the US the j has a bump used for touch typing.
By swapping the keys their one hand was in the wrong position.

So, people that touch typed didn't get very far.
I had no problem - I don't touch type.



Tom

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
> Actually normal common sense isn't applicable to new technology.

Rechargable batteries aren't really what I'd call "cutting edge."

-- 
   Darren New / San Diego, CA, USA (PST)
     Remember the good old days, when we
     used to complain about cryptography
     being export-restricted?

Post a reply to this message

Stephen nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/11/06 10:31:

> BTW2 How can you tell if a keyboard is a French one?
> 
> 
> Stephen
> 
> 
Switch A & Q, switch Z & W, switch M & ;, set the number key to the special 
characters.
Canadian French:
Similar to US but: "@" is accessed with AltCar+2, the ] is used for ¸(cedil) and 
¨. AltCar+` and <(over the enter) for { and }. The / is used for é (I use the 
num keypad for the /)

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
You know you've been raytracing too long when you've tried to scan your face for 
a texture.
Quietly Watching

Post a reply to this message

Invisible nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/11/06 04:19:
> Darren New wrote:
> 
>> I suspect she takes the car back to the dealer when she runs out of 
>> gas, too.
> 
> I don't really know why, but some people become paralysed by fear when 
> they go near a computer. Otherwise normal people become unbelievably 
> stupid when confronted by a PC. It's as if their brain switches off 
> while using one.
> 
> I don't know - perhaps these people think normal common sense isn't 
> applicable to new technology?
Go take a look there:

http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/

There is a case where a secretary, who have used her word processor got it 
upgraded, and she had to relearn EVERYTHING!
Or that seller who once sayd that you CAN'T multithread on a Pentium!
Or those that beleive that the monitor IS the computer, well before the iMac...
Or several who tried, and managed to, insert a CD into a 3.5" floppy drive, not 
to talk about the CDs in 5.25" floppy drives, or the credit cards, or some other 
strange stuff...

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
  My wife only has sex with me for a purpose. Last night she used me To time an egg.
  	Rodney Dangerfield

Post a reply to this message

On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:08:23 -0500, Alain <ele### [at] netscapenet> wrote:

>Go take a look there:
>
>http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/
>

This one actually made me laugh...

The second day I worked doing phone tech support, I was called by an elderly woman who
was sobbing and panicked. After spending twenty minutes getting her calmed down, I
finally found out what her
problem was. She had been on the Internet and recieved the ever-popular message "This
program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down." Immediately
afterward, she had heard police
sirens down the road and thought, "They're coming to lock me up!"

Post a reply to this message

Alain wrote:

> http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/

The one that seriously made *me* laugh was the story about the guy who 
wanted to use an American ISP's setup CD. But it didn't work [because he 
was in the UK]. So he went to the back of the PC and changed the mains 
voltage selector from UK to USA. And the PSU *exploded*!

[I rather suspect it's fake - why would it *explode*? Very amusing 
though...]

Or all those ones from people who's PC is on fire (this *surely* must be 
absurdly rare) and aren't interested in fleeing to safety, they just 
want to save their work or something. (OMG, the guy who asked "How do I 
perform a backup? Quickest possible method." Like, dude... you're 
worrying about backups *now*? With your PC already on fire? PROPPER 
FORWARD PLANNING! LMAO.)

Post a reply to this message

Darren New wrote:
> Stephen wrote:
>> Actually normal common sense isn't applicable to new technology.
> 
> Rechargable batteries aren't really what I'd call "cutting edge."

Wait...you can recharge batteries now?

-- 
Tim Cook
http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-empyrean

-----BEGIN GEEK CODE BLOCK-----
Version: 3.12
GFA dpu- s: a?-- C++(++++) U P? L E--- W++(+++)>$
N++ o? K- w(+) O? M-(--) V? PS+(+++) PE(--) Y(--)
PGP-(--) t* 5++>+++++ X+ R* tv+ b++(+++) DI
D++(---) G(++) e*>++ h+ !r--- !y--
------END GEEK CODE BLOCK------

Post a reply to this message

Alain <ele### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
> Stephen nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/11/06 10:31:
>
> > BTW2 How can you tell if a keyboard is a French one?
> >
> >
> > Stephen
> >
> >
> Switch A & Q, switch Z & W, switch M & ;, set the number key to the special
> characters.
> Canadian French:
> Similar to US but: "@" is accessed with AltCar+2, the ] is used for ¸(cedil) and
> ¨. AltCar+` and <(over the enter) for { and }. The / is used for é (I use the
> num keypad for the /)
>
> --
> Alain

No! They use “French Letters” :)

Brit Joke sorry :)


Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Tim Cook <z99### [at] bellsouthnet> wrote:
> Darren New wrote:
> > Stephen wrote:
> >> Actually normal common sense isn't applicable to new technology.
> >
> > Rechargable batteries aren't really what I'd call "cutting edge."
>
> Wait...you can recharge batteries now?
>
> --
> Tim Cook
> http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-empyrean


You always could recharge “non” rechargeable batteries. The manufacturers don’t
like it though.

Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Invisible a écrit :
> Nicolas Alvarez wrote:
>> "Frequently, a normal, intelligent person loses grasp of all his 
>> faculties when in the presence of a computer."
> 
> It's a bit like this:
> 
> http://www.xkcd.com/231/
> 
>> http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/cs_amnesia.shtml

Imagine what happens when the cat is sitting on the computer :-D

-- 
Vincent

Post a reply to this message

And lo on Tue, 06 Nov 2007 20:31:46 -0000, Kyle <hob### [at] gatenet> did  
spake, saying:

> On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 15:08:23 -0500, Alain <ele### [at] netscapenet>  
> wrote:
>
>> Go take a look there:
>>
>> http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/
>>
>
> This one actually made me laugh...
>
> The second day I worked doing phone tech support, I was called by an  
> elderly woman who was sobbing and panicked. After spending twenty  
> minutes getting her calmed down, I finally found out what her
> problem was. She had been on the Internet and recieved the ever-popular  
> message "This program has performed an illegal operation and will be  
> shut down." Immediately afterward, she had heard police
> sirens down the road and thought, "They're coming to lock me up!"

"This program has tried to do something in a way I don't understand so I'm  
going to shut it down" how easy would that have been to use; instead of  
illegal this and exception that?

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message

Invisible wrote:
> Tom Austin wrote:
> 
>> I once swapped the J & K keys on my keyboard at work.
>>
>> It was great seeing other people try to figure out what was wrong.
> 
> You think that's bad? Try taking a PC, disconnecting the US keyboard and 
> hooking up a UK keyboard. Confuses the **** out of people until you load 
> the correct keymap.
> 
> [Unfortunately, we have quite a lot of US keyboards here. I blame Dell...]

I installed the German win ME (never touched it before) using a French
keyboard (using the German keymap).  I don't speak either language.  It
worked tho ;-)

Tom

Post a reply to this message

Tom Austin nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/11/06 14:44:
> Warp wrote:
>> Tom Austin <taustin> wrote:
>>> I once swapped the J & K keys on my keyboard at work.
>>
>>> It was great seeing other people try to figure out what was wrong.
>>
>>   The nerdiness of a person can be measured by how long he uses a 
>> computer
>> with a fumbled keycapping setting (but with intact keymapping) before
>> noticing that the keyboard caps have been changed.
>>
> 
> 
> They usually spotted it pretty quick as their typing was messed up.
> 
> At least in the US the j has a bump used for touch typing.
> By swapping the keys their one hand was in the wrong position.
> 
> So, people that touch typed didn't get very far.
> I had no problem - I don't touch type.
> 
> 
> 
> Tom
Swap the "F" and "J" key (the two marked keys), then take all the other keys and 
randomly replace them. On the key-pad, leave the "5" in place and replace the 
others.
Touch typists won't feel the difference.

Now, you can spot the nerds and touch typists from "ordinary" users. Ordinary 
users will get all fucked up, while the advanced users may not even realise that 
all the keys are messed up for days, even months...

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
You know you have been raytracing for too long when the animation you
render will be finished after yourself.
Urs Holzer

Post a reply to this message

Stephen nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/11/07 03:00:
> Tim Cook <z99### [at] bellsouthnet> wrote:
>> Darren New wrote:
>>> Stephen wrote:
>>>> Actually normal common sense isn't applicable to new technology.
>>> Rechargable batteries aren't really what I'd call "cutting edge."
>> Wait...you can recharge batteries now?
>>
>> --
>> Tim Cook
>> http://home.bellsouth.net/p/PWP-empyrean
> 
> 
> You always could recharge “non” rechargeable batteries. The manufacturers
don’t
> like it though.
> 
> Stephen
> 
> 
> 
You can, but they don't keep the charge very well. The ones I did recharge 
lasted less than half as long as rechargeable ones. They also got warmer during 
the recharge.

-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
A husband is what is left of a man after the nerve is extracted.

Post a reply to this message

Orchid XP v7 nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/11/06 16:54:
> Alain wrote:
> 
>> http://www.rinkworks.com/stupid/
> 
> The one that seriously made *me* laugh was the story about the guy who 
> wanted to use an American ISP's setup CD. But it didn't work [because he 
> was in the UK]. So he went to the back of the PC and changed the mains 
> voltage selector from UK to USA. And the PSU *exploded*!
> 
US voltage = 120V. UK voltage = 240V. Have an underspecs PSU with no protection 
and underpar isolation. You can get sparking, grosly over loaded capacitors, 
electrolyt capacitor overheat, electrolyt undergoes electrolysis and start to 
boil, KABOOM!
Once when playing with a small speaker, I pluged it in a transformer and was 
prety unimpressed by the feeble low hum I got, so, I plugged it directly into 
the wall socket, hoping for a loud hum. Use a regular electrical plug, hook the 
speaker whires in to it, plug it in. Instant POF, flash of light, small cloud of 
smoke, smell of ozone and burnt metal, bursted speaker's dome. The coil's whires 
got vaporised.
At the time, I was about 10 or 11.
> [I rather suspect it's fake - why would it *explode*? Very amusing 
> though...]
> 
> Or all those ones from people who's PC is on fire (this *surely* must be 
> absurdly rare) and aren't interested in fleeing to safety, they just 
> want to save their work or something. (OMG, the guy who asked "How do I 
> perform a backup? Quickest possible method." Like, dude... you're 
> worrying about backups *now*? With your PC already on fire? PROPPER 
> FORWARD PLANNING! LMAO.)


-- 
Alain
-------------------------------------------------
Boss spelled backwards is 'double-SOB'

Post a reply to this message

Phil Cook wrote:

> "This program has tried to do something in a way I don't understand so 
> I'm going to shut it down" how easy would that have been to use; instead 
> of illegal this and exception that?

How about just "the program has malfunctioned, so we're shutting it down"?

Post a reply to this message

Alain <ele### [at] netscapenet> wrote:
> Stephen nous apporta ses lumieres en ce 2007/11/07 03:00:

> > You always could recharge non-rechargeable batteries. The manufacturers do
> > notlike it though.
> >
> > Stephen
> >
> >
> >
> You can, but they don't keep the charge very well. The ones I did recharge
> lasted less than half as long as rechargeable ones. They also got warmer during
> the recharge.
>


They do get warm but I think that it depends on the charger and the current it
uses for charging. Don’t say it! That was a stupid thing to say. Of course it
depends on the current. I built mine myself and charged them at about 20 ma and
IIRC discharge was between 7.5 and 10 ma.
If your batteries are not holding their charge then the discharge cycle is
probably too low.
And that came from another life, one before Pov :)
Also if you were old enough to wire up a mains plug you were old enough to die.
Dear oh dear the things that didn’t kill us. :) I wouldn’t like to put in
writing some of the things that I did.


Stephen

Post a reply to this message

"Orchid XP v7" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message 
news:47323256@news.povray.org...
> Phil Cook wrote:
>
>> "This program has tried to do something in a way I don't understand so 
>> I'm going to shut it down" how easy would that have been to use; instead 
>> of illegal this and exception that?
>
> How about just "the program has malfunctioned, so we're shutting it down"?

Yes, either would do well, Andy's is more friendly to the "normal" user 
(comp. unsavvy).

But the messages didn't turn out friendly because it was written by one of 
"our" type: an I.T. nerd / high priest, who disdains communications with and 
the intelligence of everyone except other I.T. nerds / high priests.

OK, we might be sensitive, but we never said we're perfect.  :-)
Well alright, we imply it sometimes  ;-)

-- 
Brian

Post a reply to this message

And lo on Thu, 08 Nov 2007 09:05:58 -0000, Brian Elliott  
<NotForSpam@AskIfUWant> did spake, saying:

> "Orchid XP v7" <voi### [at] devnull> wrote in message  
> news:47323256@news.povray.org...
>> Phil Cook wrote:
>>
>>> "This program has tried to do something in a way I don't understand so  
>>> I'm going to shut it down" how easy would that have been to use;  
>>> instead of illegal this and exception that?
>>
>> How about just "the program has malfunctioned, so we're shutting it  
>> down"?
>
> Yes, either would do well, Andy's is more friendly to the "normal" user  
> (comp. unsavvy).

Agreed Andy's is better.

> But the messages didn't turn out friendly because it was written by one  
> of "our" type: an I.T. nerd / high priest, who disdains communications  
> with and the intelligence of everyone except other I.T. nerds / high  
> priests.

And for some reason has perpetuated through countless operating systems of  
countless versions. I thought Microsoft had an entire department dedicated  
to user-friendliness; oh wait it's run by 'us' isn't it :-)

> OK, we might be sensitive, but we never said we're perfect.  :-)
> Well alright, we imply it sometimes  ;-)

Nobody's perfect, we're just the closest thing there is.

-- 
Phil Cook

--
I once tried to be apathetic, but I just couldn't be bothered
http://flipc.blogspot.com

Post a reply to this message

>> But the messages didn't turn out friendly because it was written by 
>> one of "our" type: an I.T. nerd / high priest, who disdains 
>> communications with and the intelligence of everyone except other I.T. 
>> nerds / high priests.

Yeah, well, that's why you have the "details" button that gives you 
three pages of gibberish that you can pretend to understand.

(I never really understood why programs produce core dumps. I mean, 
seriously. What chance is there of anybody *ever* deducing anything 
useful from this data? 10^-78?)

> And for some reason has perpetuated through countless operating systems 
> of countless versions. I thought Microsoft had an entire department 
> dedicated to user-friendliness; oh wait it's run by 'us' isn't it :-)

It's not *run* be us - we just do all the actual *work*. :-P

Post a reply to this message

"Alain" <ele### [at] netscapenet> wrote in message 
news:4731f3f7$1@news.povray.org...
> Once when playing with a small speaker, I pluged it in a transformer and 
> was prety unimpressed by the feeble low hum I got, so, I plugged it 
> directly into the wall socket, hoping for a loud hum. Use a regular 
> electrical plug, hook the speaker whires in to it, plug it in. Instant 
> POF, flash of light, small cloud of smoke, smell of ozone and burnt metal, 
> bursted speaker's dome. The coil's whires got vaporised.
> At the time, I was about 10 or 11.

I did the same to one of those tiny 3-volt DC motors, like the cog-ended 
ones that are in battery-powered toys.  A friend bragged at school he'd 
plugged one into the mains, and it went really incredibly fast and was 
really hot afterwards.

So I did it, and it went instant POF, flash of light, small cloud of  smoke, 
smell of ozone and the armature flew out of the casing onto the floor.  It 
was too hot to pick up.  No spin.  The brushes were all twisted and 
blackened and the commutator was scorched.

And in that instant, I knew my friend had lied.  At the time, I was about 10 
or 11.

Postscript:
Amazingly, the armature winding didn't burn out.  Although the bearing face 
that had held one end of the shaft in place was completely gone, and the 
brushes were wonky,  if you held the shaft of the armature in the right 
place with your fingers, it would still spin on battery power.

I kept it for a long time as a special memento.

Post a reply to this message

...I'm beginning to think POV-Ray attracts crazy people... o_O

Post a reply to this message

Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> ...I'm beginning to think POV-Ray attracts crazy people... o_O

Yoy would know :)

Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>> ...I'm beginning to think POV-Ray attracts crazy people... o_O
> 
> Yoy would know :)

Yeah - but I thought *I* was the only one...

Post a reply to this message

Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Stephen wrote:
> > Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> >> ...I'm beginning to think POV-Ray attracts crazy people... o_O
> >
> > Yoy would know :)
>
> Yeah - but I thought *I* was the only one...

What an egoist :)
I suppose that you think that you are special :)


Stephen

Post a reply to this message

Stephen wrote:
> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>> Yeah - but I thought *I* was the only one...
> 
> What an egoist :)
> I suppose that you think that you are special :)

Oh the irony...

Post a reply to this message

"Invisible" <voi### [at] devnull> a écrit dans le message de news: 
4733018a$1@news.povray.org...
> Stephen wrote:
>> Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
>>> Yeah - but I thought *I* was the only one...
>>
>> What an egoist :)
>> I suppose that you think that you are special :)
>
> Oh the irony...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQqq3e03EBQ

I heard you say "I'm not!" ;-)

Marc

Post a reply to this message

Brian Elliott escribió:
> But the messages didn't turn out friendly because it was written by one 
> of "our" type: an I.T. nerd / high priest, who disdains communications 
> with and the intelligence of everyone except other I.T. nerds / high 
> priests.

Hehe, I remember one of those "computer stupidities" where the program 
gave an internal error saying "type mismatch", but the user typed the 
word "mismatch" and it didn't solve the problem.

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Invisible escribió:
> (I never really understood why programs produce core dumps. I mean, 
> seriously. What chance is there of anybody *ever* deducing anything 
> useful from this data? 10^-78?)

The original programmer with access to the sourcecode *can* deduce data 
from it.

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Brian Elliott escribió:
> I did the same to one of those tiny 3-volt DC motors, like the cog-ended 
> ones that are in battery-powered toys.  A friend bragged at school he'd 
> plugged one into the mains, and it went really incredibly fast and was 
> really hot afterwards.
> 
> So I did it, and it went instant POF, flash of light, small cloud of  
> smoke, smell of ozone and the armature flew out of the casing onto the 
> floor.  It was too hot to pick up.  No spin.  The brushes were all 
> twisted and blackened and the commutator was scorched.
> 
> And in that instant, I knew my friend had lied.  At the time, I was 
> about 10 or 11.

I was once playing around with the flash of an old instant camera. I 
kept saying it was safe because it used two AA batteries. My dad kept 
saying it had some kind of transformer to do the flash, so there was 
higher voltage inside.

When I walked away shaking after being surprised by the big flash (that 
didn't exactly come out of the lamp, but from the circuits I was 
touching with the screwdriver), my dad asked me what I had shorted... I 
guess I was 10 or 11 too. Seems like a common age to screw up with 
electricity?

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Nicolas Alvarez wrote:

> Hehe, I remember one of those "computer stupidities" where the program 
> gave an internal error saying "type mismatch", but the user typed the 
> word "mismatch" and it didn't solve the problem.

OK, that's *advanced*!

We have a buggy program that keeps throwing exceptions due to a "pure 
virtual function call". I understand this term means something to C++ 
programmers. Anyway, the user who oversees the system is *convinced* 
it's saying it's run out of virtual memory - a condition that has 
absolutely nothing to do with the error in question. *sigh*

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Nicolas Alvarez wrote:

> I 
> guess I was 10 or 11 too. Seems like a common age to screw up with 
> electricity?

I made a solid-state amplifier glow. o_O

(Actually, you could arguably blame my mum for that one. I asked for a 
1A fuse, and she gave me a fuse. I *really* should have paid much more 
attention to the "36A" written on it - but my mum assured me that was 
only surge protection or something. Hmm.)

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Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> Stephen wrote:
> > Invisible <voi### [at] devnull> wrote:
> >> Yeah - but I thought *I* was the only one...
> >
> > What an egoist :)
> > I suppose that you think that you are special :)
>
> Oh the irony...

I’m special, at least I went to a special school :)

Stephen

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Phil Cook wrote:
> And for some reason has perpetuated through countless operating systems
> of countless versions. I thought Microsoft had an entire department
> dedicated to user-friendliness; oh wait it's run by 'us' isn't it :-)
> 

Still they produce frontends too slow and crappy for me (as a nerd) :p.


-- 
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
   http://www.zbxt.net
      aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid

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Brian Elliott wrote:
> "Alain" <ele### [at] netscapenet> wrote in message
> news:4731f3f7$1@news.povray.org...
>> Once when playing with a small speaker, I pluged it in a transformer
>> and was prety unimpressed by the feeble low hum I got, so, I plugged
>> it directly into the wall socket, hoping for a loud hum. Use a regular
>> electrical plug, hook the speaker whires in to it, plug it in. Instant
>> POF, flash of light, small cloud of smoke, smell of ozone and burnt
>> metal, bursted speaker's dome. The coil's whires got vaporised.
>> At the time, I was about 10 or 11.
> 
> I did the same to one of those tiny 3-volt DC motors, like the cog-ended
> ones that are in battery-powered toys.  A friend bragged at school he'd
> plugged one into the mains, and it went really incredibly fast and was
> really hot afterwards.
>

Every time I read these I feel more and more sorry for myself for NOT
doing something that stupid (and cool :p) as a kid.

-- 
Eero "Aero" Ahonen
   http://www.zbxt.net
      aer### [at] removethiszbxtnetinvalid

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