Whooo, cold this am. Currently 39F and damp. Clear skies so maybe it will warm up. Yesterday fooled me. It was shirtsleeves weather by the afternoon, and I was buying seeds at Lowes while picking up the rat traps. Time to get the garden started! Well, maybe not quite yet đ
nick
32F this morning in the land of OS. Subbing today. Did not ride the bike to school as the roads were wet and was skeptical of any wet spots. Subbing for the chemistry teacher. Wife usually subs her classes as the teacher likes my wife. But wife unit has left for two weeks to Texas and a cruise with her friend from San Antonio. Leaving from Galveston for five days. Rest of the time will be spent visiting her family. I wisely chose to stay home.
Hey temps have increased to 44F, almost balmy!
@ray, time for binge watching TV…
n
I went to one of my first wife’s family reunions, way back when. It wasn’t terrible for me, mostly just boring. I ended up doing a lot (a lot) of home repairs for the aunt we stayed with, a widowed septuagenarian whose house was mostly sound but had the usual thousand little things that needed to be replaced or tightened or lubricated or painted. (And I reduced her to tears before we left because her son and his family lived about 100′ away and he could never be bothered to oil that squeaking hinge even though she’d asked a dozen times.) I did some other repairs for various other of my then-wife’s elderly and widowed relatives, while I was at it, and earned a bunch of brownie points (from half a dozen people I never saw again).
@Nick
ĂŒ, as in GĂŒten morgen, is ALT+129.
If you don’t stop doing that I will have to spank you.
Does “charmap” on the run line not work past Win7?
â is what I get when I do alt+129. Windows 10, x64, Firefox.
Not trying to nit-pick. Darned unicode made some things easier, but made a lot of the old tried & true obsolete.
I just noticed my avatar is me as a baby – around 1 year old. Last night I was cleaning out my workroom (the basement) and found some more old pix. Me at 7 or 8 with glasses and a picture with my birth announcement. I had a curl on top of my melon.
No pictures, please. I’m embarrassed enough as it is.
What? You don’t have a box full of seeds sitting on the shelf waiting to be planted?
“Does âcharmapâ on the run line not work past Win7?”
I woke up late this morning as the heater did not go on at 5:00 as programmed. Thermostat read 70°F when I went downstairs. Very warm yesterday and today.
Note: degree symbol, °, is from charmap utility on this W10 laptop.
Check your privilege, you Windows bigot! You’re committing microaggressions here!
Alt-129 is a trick that works on Windows. Not even all versions of Windows, IIRC.
On my Linux box, Alt-1 in Firefox brings me to the first Firefox tab, whether I use the number row or the numeric keypad, and similarly for Alt-2 and Alt-9 (though I seldom have as many as nine tabs open). In other apps, Alt-129 mostly does nothing.
@dave, I’ve got roll-aways and boxes full of tools too, but that doesn’t stop me picking up tools!
I actually considered that I had seeds at home, and that they were producing as well as could be. So I bought seeds I don’t have. I picked up some seeds for herbs that I usually buy as seedlings and transplant. I managed to kill a rosemary bush that was thriving in only a month or two of over-watering. It occurred to me that if that happened post STHF, I wouldn’t be able to get more. Kinda made me think about adding seeds for stuff I don’t normally plant from seed.
Besides, trying an new variety gives one hope that THIS time, it will actually thrive and produce……..
n
(I keep trying for beans and peas, and keep failing. This is why you need to practice gardening. Which reminds me, I wonder if Bob has a lot of the seed vault stuff left? Did anyone buy one and plant any of the seeds? Get good results?)
A HA!
I screwed up. One needs to precede the codes with an initial 0, and it is zero, zip, nada, nothing, George Zip.
So you’ll be swell, you’ll be great, have the whole world on your plate if you do the following:
Hence ALT+ 0186 = 212Âș F
and
ALT+ 0252 = ĂŒ and results in GĂŒten morgen.
RUN LINE!!!!111!!?????
Oh my it works on 8.2 I always dug thru the menus to get char map and don’t think it’s worth it most of the time. I’m guessing that when I see the (inverted question mark) Âż in the middle of words in comments from Brits it’s a code difference between the browsers/ html renderers, UK vs US keyboards, etc. So I generally avoid special characters. If I can remember the html I’ll use it ()
n
Interesting to note that phone keyboards (presumably due to the international-ness of phone hardware)make it easy to enter specials as select-able alternates for the regular characters.
44°F partly cloudy. Beautiful spring weather yesterday and predicted for today at 71°F.
Using a chromebook press ctrl+shift+u then 00b0 for degree symbol. Of course it’s easier to just type 77F and everyone knows.
Hah, typical computer BS. 40 different ways to do it, and NONE of them work all the time, but fail for completely different and opaque reasons…
Which is why I am not a programmer.
n
Hmm, the flu situation is getting serious enough that it made today’s FEMA brief…
https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USDHSFEMA/2018/01/29/file_attachments/949915/FEMA%2BDaily%2BOps%2BBriefing%2B01-29-2018.pdf
n
Oh and 00fc will give ĂŒ. Don’t y’all work in hex?
50°F and clear in Vegas. Using iOS keyboard. Tap and hold the number 0 and the Âș comes up.
Guys, (and gals) I’ve just heard that OFD is still with us. Hooray!
I asked if I can share more and hope to have an update soon. In the meanwhile, crack open a Moxie….
nick
Hah! 32ÂșF. I get to run in shorts @ lunch today. Thank jim~
and pretzels. Hooray!
Click on the ORB that brings up programs. Type in CHAR and Character Map will appear as the selection. Find the character you want, select, copy, then paste. Who remembers all those funky sequences for weird characters? I certainly don’t. Works on W7, W8, W8.1, and W10.
time for binge watching TVâŠ
I generally do that anyway. But not any particular programs in sequence.
Tonight I have a basketball game, home game. Tomorrow is another game, away, but only about 5 miles. Rivalry match with another school. Rivalry has been going on for years due to the proximity of the two schools.
Iâve just heard that OFD is still with us
Good news indeed. Be interesting to hear his thoughts on his condition and the demise of RBT.
Which is why I am not a programmer.
There are intelligent programmers and then there are programmers. Some of them live very sheltered lives and are clueless about how humans work. Been living in the digital world for so long a bizarre sequences of characters seems perfectly reasonable to them, not so to the rest of the world.
Bah. All that means is that the rest of the world is inferior and should be eaten by rats. Luckily, Nick has enough pet rats to do the job.
Been living in the digital world for so long a bizarre sequences of characters seems perfectly reasonable to them, not so to the rest of the world.
Hey I resemble that.
Haven’t checked the traps yet this am…..
but I had one stuck to a glue pad and thrashing around last night. He tore the staples loose from the pad and fell into the soffit. I am NOT reaching blindly into the soffit to try to recover him until all the thrashing STOPS. If that means he gets free, oh well, I’ll get him later.
I’ve removed most of the food in soft packages, except the bait. I REALLY don’t want to drive them into my KITCHEN, so I left some spoiled packages in the garage.
n
@ Nick
Congrats on your run line success! Note that you will sometimes need to shift to “Symbol” fonts, but many of the keystrokes are the same.
I actually use an old (Just *how* old?) Peter Norton program called “Keyfinder”. Came with Win 3.1, I think.
Glad to hear OFD is among the living. Perhaps we’ll hear from him mañana…
ALT+0241 over and out.
So I heard there was a political event called the Grammy’s. Apparently people read from some guy’s book who wrote down a bunch of stories people told him about the President. He didn’t check the stories with others or even do basic fact checking. I suspect that Primary Colors had more true information about Bill Clinton that the latest Michael Wolffe book about President Trump. Of course in Primary Colors, the Bill Clinton character was called Jack Stanton, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there is more truth about Clinton in Primary Colors than there is truth about Trump in the latest book.
I am NOT reaching blindly into the soffit to try to recover him until all the thrashing STOPS
Thick leather gloves will work just fine to grab whatever is in the trap. Do it while the rat is alive so you can have the pleasure of putting the rat in a bucket of water and watch them drown. I was surprised a mouse can hold it’s breath for well over a minute.
So I heard there was a political event called the Grammyâs
I watched about 3 minutes until I was about to wretch. The music sucked, the awards sucked, the political attempts sucked, the entire affair sucked.
Why anyone thinks that a highly paid entertainer has anything to say of any value is beyond comprehension. The movie and TV stars that people think their opinion is worth something are basically idiots.
I am refusing to watch any more Hollywood, music, Broadway award shows. I am tired of these people spending time patting themselves on the back for awards that are entirely made up junk. I hope the advertisers notice.
I put them in a shopping bag and introduce them to mr shovel. One intro is usually all that is needed.
n
Guys, (and gals) Iâve just heard that OFD is still with us. Hooray!
Holy Guacamole, Batman! That is great news! Hopefully you can get an address, etc., to send snail mail to him. This could turn out to be a great week.
“Oh and 00fc will give ĂŒ. Donât yâall work in hex?”
Nope, I grew up in IBM 7094 and octal.
Glad to hear OFD is still with us. Hope to hear more soon. I have no Moxie, but I will enjoy my lunch knowing he is still among the living. If he is up for receiving cards that might lift his spirts, I would love to have a snail mail address for him.
I never watched that many award shows. I think that entertainers have a lot of talent, and it would be interesting to meet some of them. But I don’t think that makes their opinions worth more than mine are. If I had to spend time with celebrities, I’d choose Nashville types rather than Hollywood types. I like country music, but I prefer rock. I think the Nashville types are less likely to have let their good fortune and hard work go to their heads.
“71°F.
Using a chromebook press ctrl+shift+u then 00b0 for degree symbol. Of course itâs easier to just type 77F and everyone knows.”
As a professional thermodynamicist, not using the symbol ° was like a symphony conductor not using a baton. And, no, I did not use °K!
“Iâd choose Nashville types rather than Hollywood types. I like country music,….”
Roger that, I saw these guys play Sat. in my neighborhood:
http://www.trevormcspadden.com/
Really great band!
â71°F.
Using a chromebook press ctrl+shift+u then 00b0 for degree symbol. Of course itâs easier to just type 77F and everyone knows.â
This also works in Linux. 43° here.
There’s also a Character Pallette GNOME applet for Mate Panel
that might work for other distros.
I’ve worked with entertainers from a broad range of genres.
The worst were young up and coming hip hop and rap, the best were the old timers, with decades under their belts.
Some of the most fun were the guys working the ‘corporate party’ circuit, who accepted that it was easy money, and put on a good show. Huey Louis and the News were the KINGS of corporate and made huge bank. I worked so many “Tops and Temps” shows, I’ve lost track. (some incarnation of The Four Tops or The Temptations) They were pros who came in, gave a good show to people who enjoyed the music, got paid and went on to the next gig.
Self important, ignorant, and self-entitled acts like Salt n Peppa, any of dozens of rap “stars”, or any other young act were a huge pain in the @ss to work with. Flash in the pan describes most of them….
Buddy Epson was a prince among men. He was the very definition of a “trouper”.
Any artist doing stuff they were ‘talked into’ or doing ‘just for the money’ was miserable and hateful, including one I worked for and otherwise really liked. Some gigs are better left undone, and the money left un-taken.
The Circ du solei people were generally nice but a bit clannish and isolated by language.
The “Joe Isuzu” guy was a blast.
Ol Blue Eyes was so far gone from drink he would forget the words to his own songs without a teleprompter.
Fashion models in general are more pathetic than attractive, but Vanna White is a real pro and very friendly.
Country shows were always very different from rock or rap in pretty much every way.
Lots of great people behind the scenes even when the artists themselves were wankers.
nick
My take on awards shows for acting:
“Oh my God! You are really really good at pretending to be somebody you’re not. So, here’s an award. Now, please use your acceptance speech as an opportunity to launch into an ignorant political rant on national TV. Our celebrity worshiping viewers will take everything you say as gospel. When you are done please join the other limousine liberals at an after party.”
Some of the most fun were the guys working the âcorporate partyâ circuit, who accepted that it was easy money, and put on a good show. Huey Louis and the News were the KINGS of corporate and made huge bank.
Huey *Lewis*.
We saw Huey twice during our Portland sentence -er- tenure. Once at a traditional concert venue outside of town, Maryhill, and once at the zoo. Both shows were excellent, and the band was into being there to perform, even at Maryhill, which ended shortly before a sandstorm blew in from the high desert.
Huey talked about retirement at one show but joked that he gets grief from the crew anytime the subject comes up. “We have kids in college, Huey, and IRAs to fund. What about our health insurance?”
Iâve just heard that OFD is still with us
Yesssss!
Over the weekend I created a couple of letters to OFD’s immediate neighbors (as determined by Google maps and Zillow.com) asking them about his whereabouts. Fortunately the good news in re OFD arrived early enough that I was able to retrieve them from the outgoing mail before they were picked up.
Two rats so far,not including the one in the soffit (who isn’t making noise, but might just have escaped.) The electronic ‘shocker’ trap worked.
Mountain House freeze dried eggs make pretty good bait.
n
The electronic âshockerâ trap worked.
Can it be used on politicians? Or self-important movie stars?
Oprah said she was going to leave the country if Trump was elected. She is still here. Guess she decided that the other places were shirt(-r)holesâą and were much worse than being in the US. Perhaps those other countries wisely told her she was not wanted.
Dad and I went to see “12 Strong” at the movies last night. Highly recommended. I never knew that we had Army Special Forces teams in Afghanistan only six weeks after 9/11. I also did not know that Chinook helicopters could fly up to 25,000 ft altitude (claimed in the movie).
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/12_strong/
BTW, the movie comes from the book, “12 Strong: The Declassified True Story of the Horse Soldiers”
https://www.amazon.com/12-Strong-Declassified-Story-Soldiers/dp/1501179950/
This celebrity story makes me laugh and long for better days. David Coverdale was in Paris and saw John Wayne in a sidewalk cafe. He walks up to him to ask for an autograph for his mom. This is in the middle of the Vietnam war, and Coverdale has hair down to his waist. John Wayne happily gives him an autograph and ask what brings him to Paris. Coverdale explains he’s the lead singer for a band called Deep Purple. John Wayne bursts into laughter. Coverdale asks what is so funny. Wayne explains he was sitting in a cafe trying to figure out how to get his daughter tickets to the Deep Purple concert when the lead singer for the band walks up and asks for an autograph.
Sadly most celebrities don’t have the class that John Wayne did.
I am refusing to watch any more Hollywood, music, Broadway award shows.
I will watch the Oscars, as I have family in the business, at the blue collar level. My brothers and I text each other during the show with out observations. Some of the nominated films are really pretty conservative in outlook – Dunkirk and Finest Hour in particular.
I will also be up for the Oscar nominations announcements next year, as a movie my brother has coming out this year is a likely candidate for a nomination in his field (production design) and if it gets nominated he will be up for an Oscar. Just a nomination would totally bump his career up a notch. He is already well known for his work, but this would really put him on the “to call” list.
Iâve just heard that OFD is still with us
Merciful Xenu!
(Sooner or later, that will get a response from the man himself, telling me where to stick the e-meter probes for a proper “auditing”.)
Given all the kneeling players, I’ve decided I won’t be watching the Stupor Bowl this year. I frequently watch all or part of the Stupor Bowl to get my annual allotment of team sports viewing in. This year I’m skipping it. Not just because of the kneeling, but also because I am tired of hearing about players with Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy.
I also did not know that Chinook helicopters could fly up to 25,000 ft
Yes, the “Shithook” can get that high, but the service ceiling is 20K. Above 12,500, you need oxygen (for the pilots, scum in the back are on their own). The venerable Huey tops out at around 15K. It was used extensively during the Cold War in Germany as a SIGINT asset. The pilots used O2 and had a full auto-pilot system that the factory UH-1 did not have. It’s boring flying in circles until you are bingo on gas.
Dad and I went to see â12 Strongâ at the movies last night. Highly recommended. I never knew that we had Army Special Forces teams in Afghanistan only six weeks after 9/11.
IIRC, we were bombing by early December in 2001. Doing meaningful damage to the “caves” requires laser sighting by someone on the ground with the training and equipment.
At this point, Dr. Pournelle’s Iron Law is in effect with the “War”. Even if my son didn’t have a heart issue which precludes him from serving, I wouldn’t let the military recruiters anywhere near the house. I saw too much living around the REMFs (emphasis on the ‘F’) running the war from the CentCom *head*quarters in Tampa.
I will DVR the Super Bowl. Thus I can skip through the game and watch the commercials. I can also watch the halftime show and immediately terminate if the show gets political. Or I may just wait until the next day and view all the commercials on the web. Several companies will have their commercials on the web a couple of days before. Budweiser has always had excellent commercials.
This happened a mile or two from where I grew up…
“Chilling moment man grabs a young girl off the street in broad daylight before bundling her into his SUV and driving away
The FBI released footage of a kidnapping in Calumet City on December 20
The clip allegedly shows Brian Protho standing near his SUV as a girl walks by
Prosecutors say Protho, 38, snatched the girl and bundled her into his vehicle”
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5325561/Chilling-moment-man-grabs-young-girl-street.html
That used to be a nice working class neighborhood. It’s near better areas. East Chicago Indiana is not really nearby, but it’s not that far away. The predator isn’t too far from home but he is out of his neighborhood.
n
I stopped watching the NFL when it turned into the National Felon League. I remember when you didn’t see NFL players in the news for a crime every other day. Back before that, players just kept their mouths shut about their personal indiscretions. Now it’s fcuk President tRump nonstop.
@Lynn: What happened. I thought one of the Castro brothers was lining up to take on Cruz. The Univision debate would have been classic since the scions of La Raza don’t “Si Habla” while Cruz does … even if it is Cuban accented.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2018-elections/2018/01/28/cruz-challenger-beto-orourke-raises-24m-latest-quarter
WRT the superbowl, not gonna watch. Don’t usually. Haven’t for years.
Worked on Bud Bowl stuff several years. Worked on MTV’s superbowl stuff a couple years. Still have friends who are very involved in the half time show, and I have 0 interest in working on it.
I might watch a commercial if something rises to the top and gets attention on the web.
I used to MAKE high end commercials, and work on live concerts, so it’s like being at work to watch this sh!t. I have to make an effort to disengage my ‘work’ brain, and it’s usually not worth it.
n
“Microsoft Finds Itself Stuck in the middle of Intelâs on-going PR Disaster”
https://www.petri.com/microsoft-finds-stuck-middle-intels-going-pr-disaster
“Intel has found itself on the wrong side of a security vulnerability and the company canât seem to figure out how to properly get out of this hole beside continuing to dig down. After the company released vague and understated statements regarding the impact of these vulnerabilities, the company has now released a microcode update that is causing more issues than it fixes.”
“Microsoft has released an out-of-band Windows update that disables Intelâs fix. Why is Microsoft doing this? Intelâs update that was intended to make your device more secure is resulting in unexpected reboots and more alarming, data loss or corruption.”
When you find yourself in the bottom of a deep hole, the first thing to do is stop digging ? I am not sure what that looks like in this scenario.
WRT afgan caves, I was involved in a project to upgrade some stuff for 1MEF at Pendleton in ’02 and during our construction meetings the designated morale officer would share unclass stuff with us. One particularly memorable share was black and white 8×10 glossys of the “caves.” Looked like Luke Skywalkers place on Tatooine. Beds, plastered and painted walls, posters on the wall of how to make an IED, and in one, row after row after row of pallets of RPG rounds.
The american public was told they were ‘hiding in caves’ and that brings to mind fugitives on the run, huddled in the dark. The pix from one of the seal teams showed a well furnished, if a bit rustic, hotel and warehouse. Not at all what was implied by the reporting.
nick
@Dave: While I’ve never watched a Superbowl in my life, because I dislike the sport, I understand that all the disrespect has dropped NFL viewership by more than 20% this year. I hope the Superbowl drops by at least that much. Then we can test the truth of Vox Day’s hypothesis that “SJWs always double down”. Because if they do, they will do something really brilliant, like telling _all_ the players to kneel, or stay off the field, or somesuch when the anthem plays.
Actually, it’s really amazing watching stupid people at work. I do occasional consulting gigs, and you don’t always know what you’re getting into. There’s this one group of people where I keep asking myself the “evil vs. incompetent” question. So far, incompetence keeps winning. It’s not that they wouldn’t like to be evil – they would happily cheat everyone around them – but they aren’t actually smart enough to pull it off. If I weren’t involved, it would be hilarious. As it is, its just annoying, watching your back while trying to actually get things done, and I’ll be damned glad when it’s over.
When you find yourself in the bottom of a deep hole, the first thing to do is stop digging ? I am not sure what that looks like in this scenario.
During my first attempt at grad school in WA State, the only person Intel hired from our CS program for a permanent position in their Portland facilities was the department’s diversity PR stunt, a literal “single mother” who was carefully shepherded through the curriculum. And she only lasted the 18 month training period — not surprising, but they knew what they were getting into with that hire.
My Intel interviews were the most insulting I’ve ever experienced. They’re coasting on their fab advantage, but that is a huge advantage.
Just read that viewership was down 24% (amongst that key 18-49 demo) from last year’s Grammy’s. Politicizing awards shows is working out really well for you, entertainment industry. Keep it up.
IIRC, we were bombing by early December in 2001. Doing meaningful damage to the âcavesâ requires laser sighting by someone on the ground with the training and equipment.
The Special Forces troops were providing bombing coordinates and laser sighting for the B-52s to make bombing runs in October 1991. It was 12 special forces against 15,000 Taliban. Make it rain !
BTW, their communications were primitive at best. When the B-52s arrived overhead they could talk on a man portable radio with them. Otherwise they had to set up a refrigerator sized antenna to talk to anyone. When the satphones became field usable, things were vastly improved. My son called us on a satphone from Iraq in 2006.
@Lynn: What happened. I thought one of the Castro brothers was lining up to take on Cruz. The Univision debate would have been classic since the scions of La Raza donât âSi Hablaâ while Cruz does ⊠even if it is Cuban accented.
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2018-elections/2018/01/28/cruz-challenger-beto-orourke-raises-24m-latest-quarter
Hillary was supposed to win the Presidency and make all the dreamers citizens and voters by now. Trump messed all that up. Pray that he gets a second term.
BTW, the dreamers will not get citizenship on Cruz’s watch. I need to send him some money …
EDIT: The dumbocrats think that they can turn Texas red without the dreamers. Not a chance but they are going to fund any Cruz attacker from all 50 states. Cruz will probably get 98% of his money from Texas.
Iâve just heard that OFD is still with us
That is the best piece of news Iâve heard for a long time. I built a list of facilities he may be receiving care to call over the weekend but hadnât begun calling yet. Iâll belay that happily.
I hope he is recovering and that there is light at the end of the proverbial tunnel.
Super Bowl – husband and I have enjoyed attending a Super Bowl party for the last 8 or 10 years. Iâve watched a few commercials and bits of the half time show. I donât believe either of us have watched more than a cumulative 20 minutes of actual football in that entire period. We do enjoy the racket the crowd of party goers make when something interesting has happened. Itâs very tribal.
The food st the party is fantastic and people are always very happy. There are far worse ways to spend an afternoon.
Iâve just heard that OFD is still with us
Yay! Great news.
SO, here is the no-update. I made contact with OFD’s wife (she replied to the RBT email I sent out.) She shared a few details, and passed along their condolences to Barbara.
I replied to that email sharing a bit about this place and OFD’s place here, and expressing our concern for him. I asked her if I could share what she told me, but I haven’t heard anything back….
I don’t know how often she checks that account, or if she’ll join us here or respond to my email.
Dave isn’t currently able to join us and won’t be for some time. That’s what I’ve got for now.
I passed along our (group) offer to help in any way we could.
Hopefully, she’ll join us and share an update.
nick
Dave isnât currently able to join us and wonât be for some time. Thatâs what Iâve got for now.
If the issue is access to a laptop, I can throw Linux Mint on the ThinkPad T420 I used for school. The machine has been gathering dust since I graduated, and Dave used the same model when he worked for IBM.
No, it’s more medical than that.
n
Ok, just heard back from OFD’s wife, so I’m quoting her below, and we knew some of it, but not the current “state of the Dave.”
“just read your message to Dave and he is so appreciative, as am I. Iâm on his cell at the hospital and will reply on the site as soon as I can. Feel free to share with the group- will be in touch!”
======
“Hi Nick
Iâm Daveâs wife. Dave has been hospitalized since late October and still has a long way to go. He ended up with Guillain -Barre Syndrome , an autoimmune disorder that attacks the motor nerves. He is currently unable to speak or write, but as soon as he can he will be in touch. Please pass along our condolences to Barbara on her loss and you are all in our thoughts through this tough time.”
[emp added]
Doesn’t sound like our buddy will be back soon, but perhaps there is something we can help with, or that would help him communicate.
nick
Regarding OFD’s status, I’m deeply saddened again.
EDIT: The dumbocrats think that they can turn Texas red without the dreamers. Not a chance but they are going to fund any Cruz attacker from all 50 states. Cruz will probably get 98% of his money from Texas.
Amazon HQ going to either Dallas or Austin will import 50,000 mostly left-wing voters. Apple is making noise about their own HQ2, and they already have a huge complex here in town.
Austin from The Domain down to the Colorado along Mopac already looks like San Jose/Sunnyvale. At least Google did us a favor by removing their logo from the side of their building — they had too many job applicants without on-site HR.
OFD doesn’t do things by halves, does he? đ
Nope, and it may be premature, (he may already have something like an eye tracker) but this is the VA we’re talking about.
I’ve got some stuff on the shelf, mainly this:
http://www.ioddev.org/inventory_detail.php?equip_id=1299
But I’m not certain it has all the parts until I can look inside (rats are too creepy tonight).
I’ve got some other assistive stuff too, that’s been replaced with software, but might help…
nick
@Ray et al.
Just cross-posted this to Barbara’s journal, yet it may come in handy here.
*****
Barbara,
A couple observations re cataracts & glaucoma.
I was extremely myopic since childhood, and despite Ray Thompson’s constant insistence that I’d really love new IOLs, I waited and waited before having them done. The old fart was right, I do! But I’ve learned a few things since then, and figured I ought to pass them along.
1. After IOLs, you have absolutely no power of accomodation, so if you spend a lot of time reading, have them use lenses a bit under-powered so you won’t need reading glasses.
2. I think the push is to seÄșl the fancy new lenses which are “bifocal”. Aside from the expense, I suspect they are more trouble than just glasses (bifocal or whatever) to wear on top of your new eyeballs.
3, Color! I got conned into getting IOLs with a slight yellow tint as it was supposedly better for some damn reason. I wish to God I hadn’t. It shifts your color perception ten ways from Sunday and blue, in particular, is muted. I’m still futzing with the technical calibration on my TV (hidden settings used by repair folks) to get the color rendered the way I’d like.
4. Flaring. This was and *IS* the worst drawback. I don’t know what caused it, and my Doc calls it a “high-order abberation” which is Doc-speak for “Hell if I know”. So please, please discuss this possible side effect with your doc before ever getting cataract replacement surgery and insist he does all he can to minimize it.
5. Dry eyes. Another side effect not mentioned beforehand. You’re going to need a lubricant like Restayne every morning. If I had the balls, I’d make my own solution with methylcellulose, but it’s really confusing because there are many types. The damn drops are expensive, too!
6. Glaucoma. Runs in the family so I always , ahem, keep an eye on it. 19/18 for years, praise the Lord. I don’t trust those air-puff machines and think they’ve fallen out of favor anyway, but make sure you get a direct pressure reading.
*****
@jim~, the yellow acts as a blue blocker, which makes everything seem sharper. After a certain point your brain should ‘fix’ the color for you, if it’s consistent all the time.
The brain/eye thing is fascinating. It turns out that your brain is making up most of what you think you see, unless you are very strange or have some particular training in actually LOOKING and SEEING. Artists, fighter pilots, competitive shooters, and a few others actually look, but even then a lot gets edited out.
nick
Oh no, sadness for Mr. OFD.
Nick, can you share where he is at? Cards and letters can help.
I posted earlier about my BIL’s experience with G-B Syndrome. I’m betting on a full recovery *and* he is out chopping wood by December.
@Nick
Why yes, I *am* strange, and so are my eyes. One is/was twice as bad as the other, and there’s a another weird phenomenon going on as well. Cyclo-torsional rotation, or something like that.
I’m aware of the brain/eye thing and do have some experience LOOKING and/or SEEING. Ask any pilot… I can spot things in a photograph no one else would notice.
Kind of makes me wish I’d been one of those guys studying satellite photographs during the wars.
But it’s been over a year now, and the color thing still bugs me. Maybe someone will benefit from my note.
“Illustrating the failure of the climate movement â in one graph”
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2018/01/29/illustrating-the-failure-of-the-climate-movement-in-one-graph/
While the various nations are “promising” reduction of their fossil fuel usage, the world wide usage of fossil fuel has increased by 57% since 1992.
Reduction of fossil fuels in the USA is all about bankrupting the USA. Nothing more, nothing less. The USA is the most resource rich country in the world and everyone else is jealous.
That is distressing news re Mr.OFD ..
As per MrAtoz.. an address of sorts would be welcome.. (discreetly of course..) đ
He might like something from the land down under.. Like a Koala Bear or some other exotic creature…
Cyclo-torsional rotation, or something like that.
Rotary nystagmus?
re: intel.
When in danger, or in doubt, run in circles, scream an shout. Heinlein, I believe.
When something goes wrong, more often than not, right thing to do is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING until you know the full extent of the problem.
Microsoft “fixed” Windows by removing (commenting out?) the code that reads the speculative execution. Thus intel had NOTHING to do until they were sure they had it right. MS has a lot more experience fixing and testing than Intel does. They were the right ones to attack the problem. Intel should learn from MS.
Saddened to hear about Mr. OFD, but glad that he is still with us. When my Dad was doing poorly and my family discussed his troubles, I remarked that life can still be sweet even when things are bad.
My hope is that OFD finds life sweet and is able to recover. I look forward to reading his missives again.
Pretty skeptical about the “my islands are sinking” woman…
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-01-30/kathy-jetnil-kijiner-to-talk-climate-change-at-womadelaide/9370686?WT.ac=localnews_adelaide
Given the current state of OFD’s health, I’m not sure if cards would be appropriate. When cards are appropriate, I’d love to send him one. Nick, please convey to Mrs. OFD that he has friends praying for his recovery. Also, please let her know we would be happy to help in any way we can.
Will do and have done, and I’ve invited her to join us here directly….
nick
Re: OFD
I am not sure how his disease affects his eyes but if they work normally the following products could be beneficial to him. I am currently using both of these. I would not be lurking without them. The only downside could be cost approximately $10000 Canadian. That being said I live in Canada and you folks in the USA usually have more options than we do north of the border.
https://thinksmartbox.com/product/grid-pad-eye/
http://www.mygaze.com/products/mygaze-eye-tracker/
Thanks for the links Ralph I was thinking something like that only with the sip and puff interface. he probably still has control over his breathing . Eye tracking is cool but I don’t have any eye trackers sitting on my shelf.
it may be that the Veterans Administration is already hooked him up with a way to communicate.
My prepper mindset though says develop a backup plan.
N
@ mwave
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclotropia
Not severe enough for surgery (not that I’d undergo it anyway) and the expense involved getting both an accurate diagnosis AND the weird lenses worked out correctly is almost prohibitive.
Ain’t aging wonderful?
I sure hope OFD can still read. The bastard made me read the entire Catholic catechism a few years ago, so I sent him a cool book about a month ago.
https://www.amazon.com/Sparrow-Novel-Ballantine-Readers-Circle/dp/0449912558/
I think almost anyone on here would enjoy it. Probably best if you do NOT read the reviews or synopses.