Random randomness

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 3:42 pm

Kraken wrote:
LordMortis wrote:
Kraken wrote:A motel that we visit every few years is still using a DOS system with a monitor that displays amber text and a dot-matrix printer. Every time we go in there I'm happy to see the old system is still in service. If something works, you stick with it.
We prefer the term "impact printer" and I still have one I support in my office because enough documents still need use the modern equivalent of carbon paper.
That would be a daisy wheel, wouldn't it? Dot matrix is the one that makes the high pitched SCREEE sound...I thought those squirt dots of ink.

My first printer was a daisy wheel. We called it the ghost typewriter.

Dot Matrix printers use a ribbon and an impact print head.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 3:47 pm

Kraken wrote:
LordMortis wrote:
Kraken wrote:A motel that we visit every few years is still using a DOS system with a monitor that displays amber text and a dot-matrix printer. Every time we go in there I'm happy to see the old system is still in service. If something works, you stick with it.
We prefer the term "impact printer" and I still have one I support in my office because enough documents still need use the modern equivalent of carbon paper.
That would be a daisy wheel, wouldn't it? Dot matrix is the one that makes the high pitched SCREEE sound...I thought those squirt dots of ink.

My first printer was a daisy wheel. We called it the ghost typewriter.

If you are squirting ink you are an ink jet. Daisy wheel is a form of impact printer but so is a dot matrix. A dot matrix still relies on pressure through a ribbon. It just makes so many impacts that makes a high pitch SCREE sound.

wonderpug · Post by **wonderpug** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 4:23 pm

Dot matrix print head in slow motion

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 5:00 pm

Got my first PC in 94 so Im guessing late 94 or early 95...still using BBSs ....a local BBS guy gave me a dot matrix printer. It was the size of a suitcase, weighed about 30 lbs, and was as loud as a jet but i loved that thing and was so happy to have it. the ribbon worked too and all I had to find was a stack of ribbon paper or whatever that attached paper was. It would never stay straight ...something about the teeth on the guides or something. But I was very thankful to have it and it printed a many thing for me. Once I bought my first Inkjet I sold it along wit ha pc system to just get rid of it. Wish i still had all that stuff now. Memories.

hitbyambulance · Post by **hitbyambulance** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 8:03 pm

my 1995 Raleigh C-40 commuter bike - had that for 15 years, rebuilt it, got a lot of travel in with it. dumped a lot of $$$ into parts and labor.

sold this morning for all of $30. SEE YA (tho the new buyer promised to send me photos of it after he's done fixing it up)

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 10:32 pm

Brian wrote:
Kraken wrote:
LordMortis wrote:
Kraken wrote:A motel that we visit every few years is still using a DOS system with a monitor that displays amber text and a dot-matrix printer. Every time we go in there I'm happy to see the old system is still in service. If something works, you stick with it.
We prefer the term "impact printer" and I still have one I support in my office because enough documents still need use the modern equivalent of carbon paper.
That would be a daisy wheel, wouldn't it? Dot matrix is the one that makes the high pitched SCREEE sound...I thought those squirt dots of ink.

My first printer was a daisy wheel. We called it the ghost typewriter.
Dot Matrix printers use a ribbon and an impact print head.

By golly, I learned something. I hate when that happens.

Brian · Post by **Brian** » Mon Oct 03, 2016 10:39 pm

Sorry.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 6:01 am

I don't think the news media thinks the American public (or the world) can read. They keep insisting on putting in sometimes dozens of videos on a page. And of course they all have to be running at once.
Even the main news stories are sometime only available on streaming. I mean even besides the point of slowing down the page loading I'd really rather read it than watch it.
And I do use adblock which seems to infuriate so my websites.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 8:51 am

dbt1949 wrote:I don't think the news media thinks the American public (or the world) can read. They keep insisting on putting in sometimes dozens of videos on a page. And of course they all have to be running at once.
Even the main news stories are sometime only available on streaming. I mean even besides the point of slowing down the page loading I'd really rather read it than watch it.
And I do use adblock which seems to infuriate so my websites.

You and me, both. Auto starting streaming video loops are the worst. Worse than pop ups. Their bandwidth hogs that have scripts that time out. Blech.

GreenGoo · Post by **GreenGoo** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 11:56 am

News only available through video doesn't get viewed.

It's not something I have a stance about or whatever. I just don't view random video on the net. Not as a source of news anyway.

Smoove_B · Post by **Smoove_B** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:38 pm

I know we had a clown comment in this thread last month, but I don't know if it warrants a new thread. Then again, it seems to be an issue everywhere...if I'm to believe the news. What I wasn't expecting was this message from a local police agency:

If you spot a person dressed as a clown call 911.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:42 pm

hepcat wrote:Creepy clown sightings are up dramatically.

I'm out. Would the last person shut off the lights on planet Earth on their way out?

That was me. And I was scoffed at for saying "dramatically". I now stand by my post with 70 percent certainty that I was right in doing so, and 30 percent certainty that I'm an alarmist.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:43 pm

First they came for the Clowns, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Clown.

Then they came for the Jugglers, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Juggler.

Then they came for the Carnies, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Carnie.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me—
Because all that was left were us Mimes.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:50 pm

Smoove_B wrote:I know we had a clown comment in this thread last month, but I don't know if it warrants a new thread. Then again, it seems to be an issue everywhere...if I'm to believe the news. What I wasn't expecting was this message from a local police agency:

If you spot a person dressed as a clown call 911.

It changed in my area in the last 24 hours. One slashing of a child... with a butter knife? and one armed robbery between this time yesterday and today. And that's just what I've heard in passing.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/2-cl ... -ann-arbor

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/boy- ... police-say

Zarathud · Post by **Zarathud** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:51 pm

Clown costumes let you hide among all the ironic hipsters and teens.

Happy Halloween!

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:54 pm

Isgrimnur wrote:First they came for the Clowns, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Clown.

Then they came for the Jugglers, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Juggler.

Then they came for the Carnies, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Carnie.

Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me—
Because all that was left were us Mimes.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 1:54 pm

Zarathud wrote:Clown costumes let you hide among all the ironic hipsters and teens.

Happy Halloween!

It's the same reason people fear someone in a drawn hoodie and cap. It gives a certain sort of anonymity that allows for criminal activity. Can you ban such things? Should you?

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:00 pm

Meanwhile, I walk around inconspicuously in my "Confused Batman in a Fedora and red suspenders" outfit.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:10 pm

Classy.

Some people are left wondering what to do about the creepy clowns appearing in cities and towns across the country. One Denton police officer seems to be offering an answer.

“Pop a cap in the first clown you see,” Officer Latrice Pettaway posted on Facebook on Monday evening. “Someone needs to just hit one, and the rest of the fools will learn.”
...
Denton police didn’t respond to requests for comment, but officials did tell other news outlets that they were investigating Pettaway’s Facebook post to see if it violates the department’s social media policy.

The Dallas Morning News reported that an unidentified source sent them a screenshot of the Pettaway’s post, indicating that she may have privately posted the comment out of frustration over the creepy clown craze. “This clown crap is really getting on my nerves,” she wrote prior to her urging vigilantes to pop a cap in the first clown they see. “Please handle it.”

I share a ZIP code with Denton.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:12 pm

Yay Denton. Home of happiness.

Anonymous Bosch · Post by **Anonymous Bosch** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:15 pm

Smoove_B wrote:I know we had a clown comment in this thread last month, but I don't know if it warrants a new thread. Then again, it seems to be an issue everywhere...if I'm to believe the news. What I wasn't expecting was this message from a local police agency:

If you spot a person dressed as a clown call 911.

Speaking as someone that generally considered your locale as more of a reeking hellmouth than a denizen of dipsticks, I may have to revise my opinion. But at least you can now sleep safely, knowing that the long arm of the law is taking a stand against the fiendish criminal cruelty to *animals that has apparently swept the nation.

* balloon

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:15 pm

So the engine light comes on yesterday. Panic time.
I check the oil for the first time in two years and it's low by 2 quarts(!) I refill the crankcase but that turn the light off.
So I go into my local dealer and have it checked out. The diagnosticator says I need $3800 in repairs. I need a new timing belt and a new water pump. My brakes are at 10%. I think almost every bearing and gasket in the car need replacing.
I have the oil changed and new windshield wiper blades.
The thing causing the light to come on is a bad gas cap.
A bad gas cap. Not all that other crap.
So after paying $200 for the oil change, new wiper blades and the diagnostics I facetiously ask the service manager if he thinks I can make it home.
He says, "With a bad timing belt you can never tell."
So I tell him you all replaced that 20,000 mile ago.
"Oh, in that case you're good to go, the other stuff doesn't matter that much".

Remus West · Post by **Remus West** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:17 pm

hepcat wrote:Meanwhile, I walk around inconspicuously in my "Confused Batman in a Fedora and red suspenders" outfit.

only if inconspicuously means "location updated minute to minute on twitter with #fabuloushair"

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:24 pm

New mechanic?

Also O2 censors commonly get you that engine light. It's downright annoying. That used to be a narrow indicator related to either heat or oil pressure, now it's diagnostic revenue generator.

If it weren't for gas mileage and braking differences, I'd be all about having a solid restored old car over the modern ones. I fear what they insist I will need for my 80,000 mile check up (what I will likely refuse) and my modern suspension is shot, so it's only it's only a matter of time until all of the electronic bits and pieces start falling out of whack.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:27 pm

Remus West wrote:
hepcat wrote:Meanwhile, I walk around inconspicuously in my "Confused Batman in a Fedora and red suspenders" outfit.
only if inconspicuously means "location updated minute to minute on twitter with #fabuloushair"

Oh my gosh, you're STILL running that fan site and twitter feed!?

Remus West · Post by **Remus West** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:29 pm

LordMortis wrote:New mechanic?

Also O2 censors commonly get you that engine light. It's downright annoying. That used to be a narrow indicator related to either heat or oil pressure, now it's diagnostic revenue generator.

If it weren't for gas mileage and braking differences, I'd be all about having a solid restored old car over the modern ones. I fear what they insist I will need for my 80,000 mile check up (what I will likely refuse) and my modern suspension is shot, so it's only it's only a matter of time until all of the electronic bits and pieces start falling out of whack.

My wife's car (now mine as I have her drive the better one) had a clicking noise under the dash. Opened it up and found out the car wasn't able to change from fresh to recirculated air but kept trying or the valve is stuck, thus the clicking noise as it tried to do so. I unplugged the part, closed everything up, and called it good. Car runs fine now. Nice and quiet.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:34 pm

That sounds like a louder radio problem to me.

LordMortis · Post by **LordMortis** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:54 pm

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 2:58 pm

LordMortis wrote:
dbt1949 wrote:I don't think the news media thinks the American public (or the world) can read. They keep insisting on putting in sometimes dozens of videos on a page. And of course they all have to be running at once.
Even the main news stories are sometime only available on streaming. I mean even besides the point of slowing down the page loading I'd really rather read it than watch it.
And I do use adblock which seems to infuriate so my websites.
You and me, both. Auto starting streaming video loops are the worst. Worse than pop ups. Their bandwidth hogs that have scripts that time out. Blech.

What irks me most is waiting for a video to load before I can stop it. I just want to read the frigging story.

Some sites let you toggle Autoplay off and then remember your preference. I wish they would all do it.

Other sites make you sit and wait for their video to load, then tell you you can't watch the video unless you turn off adblock. Those sites can burn in hell.

Kraken · Post by **Kraken** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 3:02 pm

LordMortis wrote:
Smoove_B wrote:I know we had a clown comment in this thread last month, but I don't know if it warrants a new thread. Then again, it seems to be an issue everywhere...if I'm to believe the news. What I wasn't expecting was this message from a local police agency:

If you spot a person dressed as a clown call 911.
It changed in my area in the last 24 hours. One slashing of a child... with a butter knife? and one armed robbery between this time yesterday and today. And that's just what I've heard in passing.

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/2-cl ... -ann-arbor

http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/boy- ... police-say

We had a clown incident here yesterday. Someone called 911 about a clown wielding a knife (he wasn't really). Police responded with sirens and lights. A motorcyclist dumped his bike while getting out of the way and was slightly injured. Yet another clown-related casualty.

Z-Corn · Post by **Z-Corn** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 3:10 pm

I High School and a Middle School in Muskegon went on lockdown yesterday after some clown made a threat on Facebook.

Daehawk · Post by **Daehawk** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 3:31 pm

He says, "With a bad timing belt you can never tell."
So I tell him you all replaced that 20,000 mile ago.
"Oh, in that case you're good to go, the other stuff doesn't matter that much".

Only one time have I had a timing belt crap out. One minute all was fine the next dead as a door nail. Nothing. Towed away to fix. Ouch.

dbt1949 · Post by **dbt1949** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 4:02 pm

Ditto. $850.

Blackhawk · Post by **Blackhawk** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 6:26 pm

Smoove_B wrote:I know we had a clown comment in this thread last month, but I don't know if it warrants a new thread. Then again, it seems to be an issue everywhere...if I'm to believe the news. What I wasn't expecting was this message from a local police agency:

If you spot a person dressed as a clown call 911.

Now it is only a matter of time before Juggalos are extinct.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 6:30 pm

Blackhawk wrote:
Smoove_B wrote:I know we had a clown comment in this thread last month, but I don't know if it warrants a new thread. Then again, it seems to be an issue everywhere...if I'm to believe the news. What I wasn't expecting was this message from a local police agency:

If you spot a person dressed as a clown call 911.
Now it is only a matter of time before Juggalos are extinct.

One can only hope.

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 8:42 pm

Spend 4 hours on a plane to DC to meet with two key clients who are attending an event tomorrow morning. Both of them confirm yesterday that they're coming, then decide to cancel...as I'm on the plane.

This has not been my best week ever.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 8:54 pm

Plenty of museums at which to kill time until the flight home. I can think of worse cities in which to have unexpected free time.

hepcat · Post by **hepcat** » Wed Oct 05, 2016 8:55 pm

Two words: air...rage

Skinypupy · Post by **Skinypupy** » Thu Oct 06, 2016 6:33 am

Oh, I still have to be at the event, since I'm helping to staff it. I just won't have any actual clients there.

Isgrimnur · Post by **Isgrimnur** » Thu Oct 06, 2016 7:26 am

Now THAT blows.