The continuing story of... (was: Closing down :-|)

[Stephen Hart]

Hi Don, ...In a msg of <16 Feb 04>, ***@hotmail.Com wrote:

F> From: ***@hotmail.com (The Three Mooseketeers)

This reminds me of actually having to delete a packet after I recently
wrote a Users249 message from "Stephen MooseHart" after switching from
MooseChat to Users249 without changing the GoldED user name. What
I've suddenly realized is that I missed an opportunity to write a plug
about the MooseChat echo now being "gated" to the alt.moose.rights
UseNet newsgroup. Thank you for giving me another chance...:-)


F> Carrying on from your last e-mail...

A bold move. Inspired even! Why didn't I think of it?

Have I asked you why you want to use tape back-up, yet?
...Is it some high-capacity tape drive, or what?

F> Well the "why" is a healthy recipie which combines disproportionate
F> amounts of paranoia, curiosity, and a strange need to hook as many
F> devices to a SCSI controller as is practical. ;-)

What with deciding to do my mainboard/CPU/RAM upgrade myself, I can
relate to the curiosity and strange needs that relate to hardware.
After all, I'm not saving much money, though I may be getting slightly
more bang for my buck.

F> The paranoia comes from most of my self-employment book keeping being
F> maintained via PC, and a fear of Murphy's Law which dictates that
F> should I suffer some catastrophic hardware failure, Revenue Canada
F> will withing 3 days of the failure decide to perform a five year
F> audit.

F> The curious part of me wants to see if I can do it, plain and simple.

Sure, I can relate. What with my still bearing the scars of an audit
which is now ancient history, I can firmly assert that there is no
shame in fearing Revenue Canada.

...Meanwhile, the curiosity and
stuff explain why you're not solving this with incremental CD-RW
back-ups or (if you were generating a whole slew of records) a
back-up to DVD disk.

F> The drive in question is an older, external Conner DAT unit which I
F> picked up off of eBay for a reasonable price some time ago. I can't
F> remember off the top of my head what it's maximum capacity is, but
F> with the right kind of tape 4GB rings a bell.

..It would have really hurt if Sacha's mainboard or CPU got "toasted"
by the straining power supply.

F> Yep, that solved it. Fortunately nothing was hurt save for the old
F> power supply, and a few brain cells trying to sort out the cause of
F> the problem.

That's good to hear.

I'll keep that in mind. I certainly can't bear to throw much of it

F> out, tho I

_may_ think about converting a 486 motherboard into some sorta

F> sculpture.

F> :-)

You smile, meanwhile I'll try to overcome the horrid embarrassment of
having a casual "artistic" whim quoted into a public message area! :-)

F> There's a day care on the ground floor of the office building I'm
F> currently stationed in, and last year the kids did just that. A big
F> cardboard cut-out sort of humanoid-shaped thing, with old computer
F> components fastened to it here & there to give it some character.

I'll certainly try to avoid anything quite that cute. In passing, the
neatest bit of computer related "found art" that I've seen were some
old hard drives that had been cut open and had an electric clock motor
installed behind the disk platter.

Meanwhile you've reminded me that there an exhibit coming-up at the
Agnes Etherington Art Gallery, in which the artist has apparently used
various computer parts. I think it should be ready for viewing by
now, so maybe I'll wander over tomorrow.

Now that you're temporarily set up with groups.google.com, the other

F> "detail"

is that someone needs to start some new messages threads in Users249.

F> :-)

F> I think I just did. :-)

Thank you, I guess. ;-) ...Since "whining" is on of my other
hobbies, I do feel an obligation to mention that switching from
private to public messages did somehow seem to require "switching
mental gears". :-/

They may not spark too many replies, but I've been tossing around
ideas for one new conversational thread as well as a return to an
extremely old one.

As well as discovering that I would need a new ATX power supply before
upgrading to a Pentium4 mainboard, I've run across a few other
vaguely interesting upgrade concerns. Since we were already done with
that part of our e-mail exchange, that'll make a fresh topic.


Also, for better or worse, I accidentally ran across copies of some
of the original "death of mall?" message that were written four years
ago. They showed up as part of a back-up I'd made before the last
major Operating System change on my antique laptop. Of course, it is
open to debate whether my resurrecting that old conversational thread
is anything for Users249 participants to look forward to.

F> Ooof. Our 75lb puppy just body checked my desk chair. I think it's
F> time to stop typing and pay attention to this 7 month old beast.

Puppy, eh? :-) ...What breed?

F> Have a good one,

Thanks for the thought, but I had a "social evening" last night. So,
tonight is dedicated to catching up with online stuff. (Next up is
recycling an old MooseChat message.) Since this is a Saturday night
and I'm spending it at a computer, I may have to really think a little
about my "quality of life" and such...:-)

More seriously, thanks again for moving this over to Users249. After
all, it seems a shame not to share our "deep thoughts" with others.


TTYL, ...Steve

-
I'm sure it's clearly explained in the Zmodem DOC's

[Don Guy]

On 04-02-21, ***@f127.n249.z1.fidonet.org (Stephen Hart) had a few words to say about
The continuing story of... (was: Closing down :-|)...

Post by Stephen Hart
This reminds me of actually having to delete a packet after I recently
wrote a Users249 message from "Stephen MooseHart" after switching from
MooseChat to Users249 without changing the GoldED user name.

Which in turn remined me to change the user name in my news client a few minutes ago. :)

Post by Stephen Hart
What
I've suddenly realized is that I missed an opportunity to write a plug
about the MooseChat echo now being "gated" to the alt.moose.rights
UseNet newsgroup. Thank you for giving me another chance...:-)

Well that was easy. What shall I do for my next trick I wonder?

Post by Stephen Hart
What with deciding to do my mainboard/CPU/RAM upgrade myself, I can
relate to the curiosity and strange needs that relate to hardware. After
all, I'm not saving much money, though I may be getting slightly more
bang for my buck.

"...curiosity and strange needs that relate to hardware." Apparently I have a dirty mind this morning, because I just took a left turn down a different alley.

"More bang for my buck." 't is an relatively harmless expression, right? Just another way of saying "best value for my money." Well apparently it's not so harmless in some regions of the U.S.A. I was chatting with a mislocated friend of mine who has adjusted to Ottawa's high-tech downturn by taking a job in South Carolina, and he had an interesting comment about just that expression.

He had prepared an assessment document for the company he works for, and somewhere in there mentioned "getting more bang for the buck." While not what most would call a professional statement, it gets the point across as well as any of the latest big business buzzwords do. I digress...

After a review of the document by one of his seniors, he was asked... no, ~told~ to remove that phrase. Apparently down there in the left ventricle of the bible belt as he calls it, "more bang for the buck" has rather less than complimentary meaning in a sexual light. i.e. the best cheap lay you can find. Who would have thunk it?

Post by Stephen Hart
Sure, I can relate. What with my still bearing the scars of an audit
which is now ancient history, I can firmly assert that there is no shame
in fearing Revenue Canada.

I imagine it's rather like having a police cruiser follow you for a while, whether you're doing anything wrong or not. An intense feeling of being stuck under a microscope like a bug on a pin, however I imagine Revenue Canada makes it last longer than a few minutes on the road.

Post by Stephen Hart
...Meanwhile, the curiosity and stuff
explain why you're not solving this with incremental CD-RW back-ups or
(if you were generating a whole slew of records) a back-up to DVD disk.

Well there's also the part where I'm working with older hardware that I've picked up cheaply on eBay. The machine in question has no CD burner. In fact, its two CD drives are a whole 2x and 4x I think.

DVD burner? What's that? ;-)

Post by Stephen Hart
You smile, meanwhile I'll try to overcome the horrid embarrassment of
having a casual "artistic" whim quoted into a public message area! :-)

Hey you should see some of the junk I've come up with in the garage. None of it pretty, but it works.

For example, a stainless steel sink found for cheap at a second hand store, a battery charger, and some scrap iron gave me an electrolytic rust remover.

...or the creative combination of some plumbing & air tool fittings, and an old propane tank which resulted in a balast tank to smooth out the "pulses" her air brush's compressor generates.

...or the discarded lawn mower engine I found in the ditch down the road which is presently being turned in to a light-duty air compressor.

Sorry Red Green, no duct tape in any of it yet.

Post by Stephen Hart
I'll certainly try to avoid anything quite that cute. In passing, the
neatest bit of computer related "found art" that I've seen were some old
hard drives that had been cut open and had an electric clock motor
installed behind the disk platter.

I have a strange habit of turning my dead drives' platters in to coasters. It's somehow satisfying to viscously rip apart a hard drive after it had the nerve to fail and cause much inconvenience.

Post by Stephen Hart
Thank you, I guess. ;-) ...Since "whining" is on of my other hobbies,
I do feel an obligation to mention that switching from private to public
messages did somehow seem to require "switching mental gears". :-/

I wouldn't have considered anything you've said (either in private or here) to be whining, but that's obviously your call and not mine.

Post by Stephen Hart
As well as discovering that I would need a new ATX power supply before
upgrading to a Pentium4 mainboard, I've run across a few other vaguely
interesting upgrade concerns. Since we were already done with that part
of our e-mail exchange, that'll make a fresh topic.

...and on that note, I suddenly have "Subway... eat fresh!" dancing in my head. Too much time paying attention to ads on the radio maybe?

Post by Stephen Hart
F> Ooof. Our 75lb puppy just body checked my desk chair. I think it's
F> time to stop typing and pay attention to this 7 month old beast.
Puppy, eh? :-) ...What breed?

Yup, puppy. Last summer my wife made the mistake of sending me a link to a local animal rescue group who had taken in a young pregnant rotweiller. My mistake was going to see half of the litter when they were four weeks old. ;-) This little brat stretched up from my lap and pulled as hard on my beard as he could, and I was hooked. He's still a little brat, just on a different scale. I've had puppies before, but it takes a new level of patience when you pack all that energy & exuberance into a big heavy body.

Post by Stephen Hart
Thanks for the thought, but I had a "social evening" last night. So,
tonight is dedicated to catching up with online stuff. (Next up is
recycling an old MooseChat message.) Since this is a Saturday night and
I'm spending it at a computer, I may have to really think a little about
my "quality of life" and such...:-)

Hey, I spent last night (and most of the day come to think of it) in the garage with a couple of beers, a cd player, Raven, and my tool collection. I should probably get back to that now, come to think of it. It all started with accidentally leaning on a plastic fitting when cold, and snapping it off.

So I remove the part and repair the broken fitting. In the process of removing the part, I discover that the bracket which holds it is kinda messed up with grime & surface rust, and so is the one beside it. Which is why I built the electrolytic de-ruster I mentioned earlier. Then a strang urge to slowly start detailing the engine compartment hit me, and I'm playing with cans of paint today. :rolling eyes:


-d.

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