Re: One of the fastest growing threats - the web site you visit
"philo" <philo@privacy.net> wrote in
news:9oCdnSqzpeuo6YbVnZ2dnUVZ_qainZ2d@ntd.net:
> I seriously doubt that you are useless.
I like to do nice things for people, BION, but generally
speaking I am totally useless. It's a long sad story. I /can/
fix a lamp
> Though I go way
> back and took my first course in FORTRAN IV at Milwaukee
> School of Engineering back
> in 1968. I was *shocked* that punch cards were being used.
I still used them in the late 70's when I worked (summer job, I
never went ANYWHERE) in the registrar's office of my college.
The closest we got to computers at the time, until 1980 IIRC,
was an IBM Selectric with a tiny memory for mass "customized"
mailings etc.. That was pretty damn snazzy I thought! But you
still had to type in every address manually!
> It seemed absurd! Eleven years later when I went back to
> school to get additional education for my job,
> I was mortified that we were still using punch cards! It
> seemed insane. After constructing a 68000 based machine for
> one of my advanced courses...in May 1982
> or so...I eventually grew to HATE computers so much that I
> swore I would never touch one again.
Was it such an awful experience?
> I tossed my TV out and got a 1939 L.C Smith & Corona
> typewriter at a rummage sale
> for maybe $5 and fixed it up and got it working.
It's a peculiar coupling of events but while I have been
addicted to TV for most of my life, I must say reading and
writing are definitely mouch more valuable activities than being
a semi-vegetable (producers OR viewers).
> From then on I absolutely loathed computers...and the only
> thing I hated worse than computers
> were the people who used them.
Wow. I was pretty clueless at the time and my college was an art
school... The closest I got to a computer was a basic video
editying system and a video synthesizer - but that was analog to
begin with, and really not much of a computer. I remember
watching short analog computer graphics films (conisdered
valuable works of art) which the Whitney brothers (and others)
made at /great/ pains and then seeing almost EXACTLY the same
things in screen savers...
> I retreated inwardly to my own world and wrote non-stop for
> well over 12 years.(poetry and prose)
Impressive. Especially since as you know I have seen your
paintings and artwork and find them quite good.
> The first year it was all anger...but it took me many more
> years to get the anger out of my
> system. I had originally intended all my thoughts to be
> private...but eventually started going
> to poetry readings... I changed from an extreme introvert
> to an extreme extrovert...
I was always an introvert although I have performed on stage
about two dozen times (as actor and musician/singer). Frankly, I
don't know HOW I ever managed it. Now I think I would probably
have a heart attack if I just SAW a dressing room.
> and did performance poetry in Chicago on a regular basis.
> Did tons of poetry slams at the
> Green Mill in Chicago and let me tell you that was tough.
> There is absolutely nothing tougher!
> I ROAR with laughter if someone on Usenet tries to insult
> me. There is
> nothing like
> a live Chicago crowd out to kill you!
I totally understand.
> I've performed in Manhattan too...and finally pretty much
> retired from poetry
> when I finally won a poetry slam in Milwaukee!
Congratulations
> The highlight of my poetic career was in 1995... when I was
> invited to the Peace Museum in Chicago
> to read two of my poems at the commemoration of the ending
> of WW-II with the bombing of Nagasaki.
> The poem was deeply inspired by stories my father told
> me...as he was among the first US troops
> to go into the city after the bombing.
Wow. That must have been quite an experience for him.
> Through the poetry readings...I met my girlfriend Colleen.
> We have been engaged for many years...
> she has the ring...but since I am such an old fart...who
> knows when we will get married.
I don't think I have ever met more than MAYBE two couples where
at least one of them did not tell me in private that gettng
married destoyed their relationship. In MY case, just the
/suggestion/ of a marriage destroyed a relationship.
> Anyway...Colleen was the one who got me interested in
> computers when she gave me her old Packard Bell
> back in 1999. I was with her when she bought it new in 1995
> for $1600. I thought she was nuts!
That does sound a little expensive, even for those days. I
guesss it must have been that top-of-the line brand name!!!
> Since the machine was a freebie...I took it home and
> figured..might as well see what all this computer stuff is
> about. Then I go hooked. When she owned the machine I would
> never go near it, and if she ever wanted to show me
> something... I literally ran out of the room screaming.
I would have liked to see that /laughs/.
> So there I was alone at home watching Windows 95 boot up
> for the very first time. I knew *nothing*. I knew less than
> nothing. I did not even have negative knowledge, I was so
> clueless.
>
> But I raced home from work each day...to fool with the
> thing for countless hours each day.
> The first time Windows 95 booted up...I saw the start
> button and said to myself: "Maybe start here?"
> That was pretty much my ending.
It's horrible how these things have invisible yet SO powerful
tentacles, huh?
<SNIP>
> By early in the year 2000 I felt familiar enough with the
> machines to tell everyone that I had finally entered the
> 20th century... and with humor they pointed out to me that
> (popularly) it was now the 21st century. (Technically the
> 21st century did not begin until the year 2001...but even
> joining the 20th century on the very last year...was funny
> enough.
You will not be surprised to hear how many arguments I have had
with people about that. Of course all things start with one!
(Except AFA computers are concerned!)
> Then, after I had at least somewhat learned what I had
> missed...I went forward and upgraded that PB
> to win98...upgraded the CPU, RAM and harddrive...then
> installed Linux. Back in those days...getting a Linux
> distro installed was pretty tough...and it was a real
> challenge...but it taught me a hell of a lot in the
> process.
I had never even /heard/ of Linux then. The day MAY be
approaching though...
<SNIP>
> then he asked me something
> that was about a million times over my head. It was not for
> at least six more months that I was able to successfully
> compile a new kernel...and he had wanted to do so to enable
> some specialized hardware .
I will NEVER get that far. My father used to write computer
programs for the huge boxes at universities they used in the
60's and 70's (does the word mainframe apply to those?) to do
his psychological statistics calculations, but the closest I
ever came to programming was making an IBM PC (the one with 2 5¼
flopppies) draw a circle on the screen. It /was/ very
satisfying.
<SNIP>
> Every time I repair a machine...I look at
> it as a new opportunity to learn something. To me, it's a
> cheap education...way better than any college course I had
> ever taken. I went to school for more years than
> I'd care to admit...but learned much more on my own.
Same here.
> So if you want to learn about computers...get some old
> junkers. Even though I always end up formatting the drive
> and starting over from scratch...
> I have spent ages with old junk with horribly corrupted
> OS's on them and repairing them first.
You are much more inquisitive than I am... I tend to get really
nervous and sweaty when things get really hairy and prefer to
just start clean. And I have never "worked" with computers -
except when I did DTP and general office boy crap at my last
job, I /somehow/ quickly turned into the person who had to show
everyone how to use their computers. Yet I remained the lowest
paid person in the company. Even then I never built one, I was
just fairly good at software - I actually READ entire manuals
just on principle! The only actual "fixing" experience I've had
is with my 3 machines (the 3rd is an HP Vectra 486/66 which I
can't even remember last firing up - but it is built like a
tank!) and a few friends' machines - but that just leads to very
unpleasant "misunderstandings". I have sworn to myself to NEVER
help any friend again.
> When you have an old junk machine to experiment on...
> since you are not working with anything valuable...you can
> feel free to do anything you want. I only blew up one
> machine..and that was a 286 that was missing a power
> supply...and I tried to rewire one from a 486 and
> definitely got some wires crossed! Poof. OOPs I said...too
> bad <G>
<SNIP>
>> I don't know what CLI is. I started with computers around
>> 1991 or so.
>> Ah.. would it be command line interpreter? (Mot that I
>> know any more than the name
>
> CLI ...command line interface Viz : dos or linux bash
> shell for example.
>
> In other words ...no GUI
Get it.
>> > So what do I do with the P-1's? If someone is using
>> > Win98 on the machine... I usually give them a choice.
>> > They can trade it up to a P-II or P-III... or else I
>> > simply take their existing win98 installation, clean it
>> > up and perhaps add some RAM and send them on their way.
>> >
>> > But that still leaves me with a number of P1's.
>> > I simply load a light Linux distro onto those.
>> > Generally, Damn Small Linux (heck I can put that on a
>> > 100 meg drive and have plenty of room to spare)... then
>> > offer the machines on Craig's list.
I never heard of that distro. Perhaps it is not as beginning-
user friendly as it is small?
> Well a lot of the machines are being recycled. I actually
> had a service call at a recycling center
> recently...and all the stuff is being stripped down, metal
> , plastic etc and being shipped to China. I found it hard
> to believe that it would be economically feasible...but I
> guess it is. Even the recycling center told me that the old
> CRT's can be a problem though.
I have always wondered - doesn't SHIPPING those millions of tons
of stuff, even on boats, cost ANYTHING? HOW cheap can it get?
> Woah, did I go on and on ...
> too much coffee I think. I should still be at work,
> but I went home early.
Good for you. I am guessing me you are a conscientious and hard
worker, but that a lot of your time is spent in just sitting and
watching things and making sure nothing screws up - /then/ you
spring into action like WonderWoman! (I hope you don't mind the
comparison.)
So you spend a fair amt. of time on the Usenet so you won't go
crazy from boredom. Or am I totally off?
--
Of course, it is no easy matter to be polite; in so far, I mean,
as it requires us to show great respect for everybody, whereas
most people deserve none at all; and again in so far as it
demands that we should feign the most lively interest in people,
when we must be very glad that we have nothing to do with them.
- Arthur Schopenhauer