Category: tech

Knife

During 2000 I visited the USA on an escorted coach tour. Part-way through we stopped at a tax-free shopping outlet; not a mall but one of those unpreposessing, drab buildings, the exteriors of which belie their contents.

I looked around for a while and, almost in desperation, bought a grey SwissCard – this newer variant on the Victorinox site is almost identical, save for the case material.

It has just enough tools to be useful whilst being thin enough to fit in my wallet:

  • nail file,
  • screwdriver,
  • toothpick,
  • tweezers,
  • pen,
  • pin,
  • blade,
  • scissors,
  • measuring scale along the side.

Though the knife is around 15 years old and though I've looked after it, it's never been sharpened since new. Which makes all the more remarkable the fact that today I stripped the wires in an extension reel cable, to repair it after our otherwise-delightful Ruby dog chewed right through the insulation.*

If only everything lasted as long.

*She's fine, it wasn't live!

SVG

I attempted to create an SVG file suitable for my test blog at bazbt3.github.io (or here if you’re reading it as a test!)

I’ve had partial success, but only in producing an image in the footer that links to my App.net (ADN) profile. (It’s why I started this.)

Rather than attempting a search I asked a question:

Bit of a longshot, this. Do any of you have an SVG version of the ADN icon, pastable into an (s)CSS file? Here’s an example of what I see for an RSS icon in a test I’ve been fiddling with, a text screenshot first:

An answer came quickly (thanks Barbara!):

@logista: @bazbt3 I don’t have one, but I found this one [simpleicons.org]

Looks great!

Unfortunately, it’s not in the same format as the rest in the file. No matter, I’ll search, an online converter won’t be hard to find, all I need is to get a smallish file, a file with a header looking a bit likeā€¦

  &.dribbble      { background-image: url(data:image/svg+xml;base64,PHN2Zyā€¦ ā€©

In not-quite-desperation I eventually settled on one that produces a base64 jpeg instead of the SVG. One which obviously overfills the container it’s supposed to fit in.

Looks a bit crap.

But hey, it’s a test, right?

jekyll-now

My first blog post using jekyll-now repo. Yes, this is indeed a test.

The date of the first post is simply a holdover from the repo from which I cloned mine.

For more instructions on how I did this, head over to the Jekyll Now repository on GitHub.

Computer book required

I don't read enough. I bought 3 novels a few months ago with the intention of making time. Of course it didn't work! To help speed things along I'm thinking of narrowing my focus somewhat – to something I'm certain can start this process off. At the dawn of the UK's home computer revolution I bought a book about computers.

A key phrase from it still resonates: something like "computers are fast rule following idiots", then the obligatory "garbage in equals garbage out." It seems that those words are both truer than ever and at the same time subject to disproval based on what we see every day. But that's a topic for another timeā€¦

I'd like to re-acquire a copy of the book.

A quick trawl through the histories of various computers and computer companies from that era indicates a publishing date after 1977, and before 1982. It's a fairly big window given the massive progress being made at that time, so how can I be sure?

Well, 1977 as I'm certain the Tandy TRS-80 was mentioned in the book, as was the Apple ][. 1982 because when my first computer (a 1K RAM Sinclair ZX81) arrived my focus narrowed from the previous theoretical 'what if' to the more practical 'eeek, what now?!'

I wonder, can you help me find it?

Some help:

  • It's heavily slanted towards the U.S., relating to both that country's computing history and its then-contemporary devices. That's not surprising.
  • It has a picture or a photo of a computer on the front.
  • The colour beige or orange features predominantly on the cover.
  • it's the same size as a thick novel.
  • Erā€¦ I know it's not much help!

So, how about it? Have you got what this quest needs?

Computer assistance required

Why do people ask for assistance with computer problems they havenā€™t solutions for? Thatā€™s an easy one to answer: so they can show off their superior ability.

An example using you as the twit: thereā€™s something wrong on your screen, a dialogue box appears and you can progress no further. What do you do? You ask your shining white knight to assist! Easy.

Said knight (me) arrives, asks you to do nothing more, not even move the mouse, then asks a series of questions. My first word though is ā€œSTOP!ā€

You:

Dismiss any and all dialogue boxes remaining on the screen,
Pan and scroll the screen so that the area causing problems is no longer visible, let alone in focus,

Answer ā€œWhat were you doing prior to the event?ā€ with ā€œNothing!ā€

Answer ā€œWhat were the contents of the dialogue box, even approximately?ā€ with ā€œI donā€™t know, something technical, how am I supposed to know?ā€

Answer ā€œWhat do you need to do to progress?ā€ with ā€œI donā€™t understand.ā€

Eventually a dialogue is established, an approximate timeline leading up to the error is ascertained, and other big wordsā€¦

A plan coalesces!

ā€œRight,ā€ I say ā€œI think I know whatā€™s causing the problem and Iā€™ve a solution* I think will work. Should we try it?ā€

ā€œYes.ā€ you say.

I start to patiently explain the background, the reason for the error, and steps necessary to avoid the ā€˜thingā€™ happening in the future. And this is where it falls apart.

You click, pan, scroll, press buttons, dismiss dialogue boxes, and then, as if it wasnā€™t enough, offer an alternative solution. You do it before I finish. Every time.
ā€œI know mine will work,ā€ I say. You ignore this with ā€œYeah, butā€¦ā€ so I walk away.

Until the next timeā€¦

A few minutes later I observe a thought bubble above your head: ā€œErā€¦ that didnā€™t work, crap idea, Iā€™ll go and ask Xā€¦ā€

A quarter of an hour later I observe X walking away a little flustered, and Google search appears on their screen. Eventually a solutionĀ appears and itā€™s implemented. X of course gets due credit. It is indeed only fair.

And thereā€™s a smile on your face, you did well fixing that.

Until the next timeā€¦