PFY: (7) Do not touch the machines
Ben
normally expected. I pick it up. Perhaps in retrospect I should have
gone out for a night of hard drinking. Either way I would have ended up
the same in the morning; tired, unshaven and smelling like a yak's
underarm. I'm at home.
So, there I am at home on a Friday night. I've taken home one of the
new laptops and am happily installing my little collection of 'special
applications' including such gems as "URL Logger", "Dialup Details
Logger" and my personal favourite, the "Low Bandwidth Desktop Snoop",
useful when you've set their 56k modem to only work at 28.8.
I like to make sure the phone's ring sounds nothing like the one at
work. It stops me from getting nervous palpatations on the occasions I
don't manage to divert my work line to the sex number. I don't think
I'm the only person who enjoys the break from having to deal with tech
problems. There have been a number of people who have called more than
once to find out just where exactly their dongles fit in, or whether
their hardware is compatible.
It's sad really, but no-one's complained.
I pick up the phone and wait for the person to identify themselves.
People who ring me at home people understand what I do during daylight
hours and why I don't confirm if someone's rung the right number till I
know who they are and why they're calling. I once tried to never give
out my home number out to people connect with me at work, but someone
had the idea of making us fill out 'emergency contact details' forms.
Naturally, being aware of the dangers of working with lusers all the
time, I felt it might be in my best intrests to make sure someone could
get in contact with a certain someone who knew how to disarm the traps
on backup systems and stop the deadman's switch on the ring mains at my
three previous jobs in case I actually pull through whatever horrors the
lusers have inflicted on me.
"Hello?"
"Hello." I'm giving nothing away.
"Is that you?" They're good.
But I'm better. "Who?"
"Oh it is you, I recognise the voice. This is the Admin Office."
Damn.
"We need you to come in. Now."
The first answer that comes to mind is unspeakable, let alone
unprintable. There isn't a character-set in existance that supports the
kind of thoughts that have come unbidden to mind.
"... Why?" I managed to choke out. It's Friday. Admitedly it's only
15:00, but given the hours I've put in this last week alone I thought it
might be nice to stay late for once, not extend lunch until 17:00.
"The server is telling people that there are S-C-S-I errors and now
anything we save we can't get back. We've saved five or six important
things now and we can't get them back. We were wondering what you could
do because if we save anything else we'll be in trouble."
I actually offer some advice. "Stop saving things to the server for the
moment then?" I suggest. "Would that work?" she enquires hopefully.
"It might just." I sigh, "I'll be in in a while."
...
Around 16:30 I get into work. Most of the people have gone home for the
weekend, which is good. I like to do my magic alone. I notice that
once again the bike racks are full and that only the disabled ramp has
available locking points. Being a Bastard, but not a complete bastard
just yet, I decide that for once I'll not lock the bike over the end of
the disabled ramp, (usually necessitating the occasional glance from the
window to see if the Custodian is removing my locks with an
angle-grinder) and instead I simply roll it through the freshly setting
concrete a few times to expose the network cables into the building.
Given the serious amounts of Cat-5E and 6 I scored off the installation
of ethernet in the library I think I should be able to get the spare
cameras I have connected to it in a matter of a few hours, giving me
100% coverage of the outside of the building in case I should have any
unwanted visitors.
With this cheery thought in mind I slide a few leaves over the grooves,
lock the bike to something solid and wander into the building. The
lift's on the ground floor so I come over all lazy and jump in. This
lift is old and rickety and isn't even modern enough to have even a
voice circuit in it. This hasn't stopped me though. I've installed a
couple of relays on some of the more important signal wires and run a
few wires up to the small linux box at the top of the shaft that runs
the webcam which points north, towards the women's college. The RS232
interface is a wonderful thing.
Bzzzzzzz-chack! Fourth floor. I wander out and typically find the
offices empty. Amble into my room (having disabled the door knob
current with an old Sony remote) and check to see if the technician's
left her machine insecure. I find that doing things to her machine
tends to be the best way to keep her on her toes and up to date with all
the breaking security issues. I spend the regulation twenty seconds
checking my machine for tampering and review the webcam trained on the
machine to see if the technician's done anything. Looks like she's been
too busy to try stuff. Jolly good. I log back in and try the nifty
little port hack mentioned on the tech channel I frequent. Damn, she's
closed her machine to it already. I power off her machine and then
rapidly cycle it a few times. Maybe she'll learn to disconnect the
power button and padlock her case.
I wander back over to my machine and talk a look at the server.
Everyone seem to have left their files open. This includes the
pay/assessment review files. The ones kept passworded and on the
standalone machine. Looks like someone forgot that they're saved to
Central, rather than my servers where I can get at them.
It would be totally unethical and wrong for me to look at them,
nevermind the fact that I could do irreperable damage to people's long
term careers. I save a copy, on general principles.
On the other hand, one can never tell when Central services might suffer
a sudden, catastrophic, irrevokably damaging data-loss incident due to,
say, a distributed denial of service attack during a maintenance and
transaction cycle. You'd have to know that the vunerable period was
between 02:00 and 04:00 on a Sunday morning, and what exactly the buffer
overflow was in the software was...
The odds of getting exactly the right time would be staggering.
Anyway, there are strange things afoot at the Circle-BOFH. Seems
someone's been buggering about with the disks on the server, resulting
in SCSI errors. I power down the server (over 278 days of uptime lost,
someone will pay) and open the caddy box. Not only has one of the disks
been dislodged in its caddy. The disk marked 'spare' is no long spare,
it's gone.
"!" sez I. and "?". After a few speechless seconds I come out with
"%^&*". Unless I come up with something plausible soon I'm going to run
out of special characters. There's no way the technician would have
done this. Not only would she do a better job of hiding the loss with
spares, she'd have told me as soon as possible as she values her job,
and life.
Who would have done this? I take closer look at the machine's casing.
There's a boot mark. Someone has been kicking my servers. MY SERVERS.
Goddamnit.
I check with the technician using the phone number taped under her desk.
Nothing untoward has happened while she was at work, but she did have to
fix someone's printer and left the door unlocked for longer than
normally advised (I chastise her over the phone by letting her listen to
the sound of me writing with a squeaky indelible marker on the magnetic
surface of her backup floppies). This oversight means it could have
been anyone, including outsiders. I grep the logs for anything
suspicious. One person has had a sudden increase in free space. I
check his .bash_history and logs, there's a powerdown and reboot
followed by "pico /etc/fstab" (no lie) which looks promising. I have
motive and opportunity. Naturally I can't prove anything, yet.
I fire up some mp3s while I think. The webcam's not caught anything as
the servers are out of shot. Fuckit; he's to blame, he gets to pay.
Random Violence without Proof 101, if you can't prove it straight away,
do it anyway.
I pop downstairs with the comms room key and switch him over to a small
10-base 5-port hub with an intermittent collision fault. I also reroute
his telephone. From the recesses of the comms rack I pull out a black
cable with an RJ-45 on one end and a power plug on the other. An
etherkiller.
I'm prepared to sacrifice one run of cat-5 and a PC, or at least, parts
thereof. I've never actually used an etherkiller. This presents the
perfect opportunity. Especially as we've just had a 440V spur
installed. I set a small domestic timer switch and retreat.
I connect up the PC after opening the case and confirm that, yes,
there's a new SCSI disk in there. I make sure the thing is as isolated
from the rest of the net as possible and wander back upstairs to repair
the damage to the server and its files. Kicking back for thirty minutes
of Unreal Tournament I then consider what else I can prepare for the
next day's offensive against Mr Clumsy Boots.
...
Next morning I'm in at the crack of 11:59. Bleary-eyed and requiring
coffee I stare at the technician long enough to get her to reveal
everything she's done to my computer, and apparently the chair, too.
Sometimes it's good to have not so much a 'thousand meter stare' but an
'I can see your P45' variation of same.
I let her in on the results of the server foobar and do a quick Q&A on
what she would have done in my place. There aren't many differences,
except she would have seeded his files with abusive words (her own perl
script) and tacked on some imaginative header fields to his email and
news posts. I approve and fill in another little box on the "road to
BOFH-hood" wall planner.
I fire up a little application which watches the load on the 440V spur
and wait. At around 12:30 there's a mometary rise which triggers a .wav
of maniacal laughter as performed by Vincent Price. Down the stairs I
hear a pop and a loud shriek muffled by distance. A few heartbeat
calming minutes later the phone rings. The technician answers.
"Hardware support and maintenance," officially one of our titles,
really.
"What have you broken?"
"Erm, I was using my PC and the network wasn't working. I saved some
files to my disk before coming up to get you to fix it and suddenly
everything went bang. My monitor has gone black and there's smoke
coming out of my case. I really need to get my report finished for
three this afternoon or we lose out on the project. Come and fix it, or
give me a new PC."
I listen on the speakerphone and decide to bait the hook.
"Have you done anything to your PC recently?"
"No..."
"... Because this sounds like an incorrectly connected hard drive
situation." I continue smoothly. "When someone untrained adds a SCSI
hard disk to a machine, they sometimes forget that connecting a Low
Voltage Differential drive to an older HVD SCSI chain can result in an
uncontainable backing up of voltage which, in addition to generating a
massive EMP pulse which can wipe whole sections of a magnetic media
device..." I pause, letting that line of bullshit sink in, "can
also mean that large current surges ground out in other components in
direct contact with that bus. I wouldn't be suprised if your network
card is half-melted. No, don't touch anything. We'll be right down."
I hang up. The possibilities at this point are almost infinite. It's
dizzying.
We leave the room, and head on down. He hasn't got a chance.
Steve VanDevender
> I notice that once again the bike racks are full and that only the
> disabled ramp has available locking points. Being a Bastard, but not
> a complete bastard just yet, I decide that for once I'll not lock the
> bike over the end of the disabled ramp, (usually necessitating the
> occasional glance from the window to see if the Custodian is removing
> my locks with an angle-grinder)
Keep showing that kind of good judgement. Someday you may meet me when
I need to use one of those ramps. I'd make sure that you could never
park _that_ bike on a ramp again, or at least that if it was on a ramp
it would be in small easily-removable pieces that wouldn't get in my way.
I think I may still have the cartoon I drew once while bored that's a
sort of Stick Figure Death Theater depiction of "Stick Figure Luser
parks his car across an access ramp, and Stick Figure With Wheelchair
removes it using a bazooka."
Actually, I don't think I was bored so much as sublimating some
frustration at having this girl who I was intensely attracted to turning
out to have a boyfriend who wasn't me, which I had just found out about
during that visit. While watching me draw this stick-figure cartoon,
she said something about "do you have some kind of unresolved anger
issues?" Hmm, maybe I do.
--
Steve VanDevender "I ride the big iron" http://jcomm.uoregon.edu/~stevev
ste...@efn.org PGP key fingerprint=929FB79734DF8CC0 210DA447510FF93B
Little things break, circuitry burns / Time flies while my little world turns
Every day comes, every day goes / 100 years and nobody shows -- Happy Rhodes
Ben
<ste...@efn.org> writes:
> B...@lspace.org (Ben) writes:
>
> > I notice that once again the bike racks are full and that only the
> > disabled ramp has available locking points. Being a Bastard, but not
> > a complete bastard just yet, I decide that for once I'll not lock the
> > bike over the end of the disabled ramp, (usually necessitating the
> > occasional glance from the window to see if the Custodian is removing
> > my locks with an angle-grinder)
>
> Keep showing that kind of good judgement. Someday you may meet me when
> I need to use one of those ramps. I'd make sure that you could never
> park _that_ bike on a ramp again, or at least that if it was on a ramp
> it would be in small easily-removable pieces that wouldn't get in my way.
Hey, artistic license in this case. That actual real-life disabled ramp
is redundant as there's a newer one nearby (which is much more
convenient for people) which doesn't get covered in glass by the
skateboarders who tire of rattling up and down the thing and shatter
alcopop bottles liberally along its surface. Like I said, I'm not a
bastard when it comes to disabilities. Apologies if I caused any ire.
> I think I may still have the cartoon I drew once while bored that's a
> sort of Stick Figure Death Theater depiction of "Stick Figure Luser
> parks his car across an access ramp, and Stick Figure With Wheelchair
> removes it using a bazooka."
>
> Actually, I don't think I was bored so much as sublimating some
> frustration at having this girl who I was intensely attracted to turning
> out to have a boyfriend who wasn't me, which I had just found out about
> during that visit. While watching me draw this stick-figure cartoon,
> she said something about "do you have some kind of unresolved anger
> issues?" Hmm, maybe I do.
Sense much anger in him, I do. Train him we will not.
Ben
--
"I'm sorry, you must be confusing | For your top-notch JenniCam
me with someone who gives a damn." | parody: http://bofhcam.org
Abbot, Cambridge Chapter of the Monks of Cool since MCMXCVI a.d.
JoeB
Roger Burton West wrote in message
<20001004101154...@firedrake.org>...
>In article <39daf2c8....@nntp-serv.cam.ac.uk>,>Sense much anger in him, I do. A BOFH he will be.
>
>or, alternatively:
>
>Do not underestimate the power of the command line.
*snarf*
If I may....
JoeB
Tim Haynes
[snip]
> during that visit. While watching me draw this stick-figure cartoon, she
> said something about "do you have some kind of unresolved anger issues?"
> Hmm, maybe I do.
She said the forbidden I-word and you were still angry?
Keep her away from me...
~Tim
--
| Geek Code: GCS dpu s-:+ a-- C++++ UBLUAVHSC++++ P+++ L++ E--- W+++(--) N++
| w--- O- M-- V-- PS PGP++ t--- X+(-) b D+ G e++(*) h++(*) r--- y-
| The sun is melting over the hills, | http://piglet.is.dreaming.org/
| All our roads are waiting / To be revealed | pig...@glutinous.custard.org
JoeB
Roger Burton West wrote in message
>In article <v2FC5.3146$d4.1...@nnrp4.clara.net>,
>JoeB <mo...@fallingonion.screaming.net.invalid> wrote:
>>Roger Burton West wrote in message
>><20001004101154...@firedrake.org>...
>
>
>>*snarf*
>>If I may....
>
>
There is that, I suppose....
JoeB
Steve VanDevender
> In article <87n1gl2...@localhost.efn.org> Steve VanDevender
> <ste...@efn.org> writes:
>
> > Keep showing that kind of good judgement. Someday you may meet me when
> > I need to use one of those ramps. I'd make sure that you could never
> > park _that_ bike on a ramp again, or at least that if it was on a ramp
> > it would be in small easily-removable pieces that wouldn't get in my way.
>
> Hey, artistic license in this case. That actual real-life disabled ramp
> is redundant as there's a newer one nearby (which is much more
> convenient for people) which doesn't get covered in glass by the
> skateboarders who tire of rattling up and down the thing and shatter
> alcopop bottles liberally along its surface. Like I said, I'm not a
> bastard when it comes to disabilities. Apologies if I caused any ire.
Actually, it wasn't until after I finished posting that I kept reading
and realized that this was one of those PFY stories you write. The
beginning was so true-to-life that I was temporarily confused. That,
and you pressed one of my luser peeve buttons.
You see, since I usually have only one good way in or out of a building,
I tend to get a bit annoyed to find that some dickhead has parked right
in front of it. Having most such dickheads be annoyed when I complain
to them and respond "I'm only going to be here for a minute" doesn't
help, either. Sure, dumbass, you're only going to be there for a
minute. Unfortunately there are a hundred of you dumbasses for every
one of me, and the chance that any one of you will be keeping me from
getting in or out of what is sometimes an area as large as a city block
becomes significant. And usually the outlets to ramps or curb cuts are
clearly marked as no-parking zones, but every one of you thinks you're
special and can park there anyway "for a minute".
But what's a.s.r for if we can't have some outright bristling hostility
for no good reason once in a while?
--
Steve VanDevender "I ride the big iron" http://jcomm.uoregon.edu/~stevev
ste...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu PGP keyprint 4AD7AF61F0B9DE87 522902969C0A7EE8
"bash awk grep perl sed df du, du-du du-du,
vi troff su fsck rm * halt LART LART LART!" -- the Swedish BOFH
Ben
<ste...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu> writes:
> B...@lspace.org (Ben) writes:
>
> > In article <87n1gl2...@localhost.efn.org> Steve VanDevender
> > <ste...@efn.org> writes:
> >
> > > Keep showing that kind of good judgement. Someday you may meet me when
> > > I need to use one of those ramps. I'd make sure that you could never
> > > park _that_ bike on a ramp again, or at least that if it was on a ramp
> > > it would be in small easily-removable pieces that wouldn't get in my way.
> >
> > Hey, artistic license in this case. That actual real-life disabled ramp
> > is redundant as there's a newer one nearby (which is much more
> > convenient for people) which doesn't get covered in glass by the
> > skateboarders who tire of rattling up and down the thing and shatter
> > alcopop bottles liberally along its surface. Like I said, I'm not a
> > bastard when it comes to disabilities. Apologies if I caused any ire.
>
> Actually, it wasn't until after I finished posting that I kept reading
> and realized that this was one of those PFY stories you write. The
> beginning was so true-to-life that I was temporarily confused. That,
> and you pressed one of my luser peeve buttons.
>
> [peeve snipped]
>
> But what's a.s.r for if we can't have some outright bristling hostility
> for no good reason once in a while?
ObOutrightBristlingHostility: You can take your well reasoned and polite
explanation, fold it until it's all sharp corners and cram it, sideways,
with an anglegrinder.
Jan Ingvoldstad
> ObOutrightBristlingHostility: You can take your well reasoned and polite
> explanation, fold it until it's all sharp corners and cram it, sideways,
> with an anglegrinder.
No lubricant?
--
ASR: We took both pills.
JoeB
Jan Ingvoldstad wrote in message ...
<slaps forehead>
Ben, you forgot the tabasco *again*.
JoeB
Mike Andrews
: You see, since I usually have only one good way in or out of a building,
: I tend to get a bit annoyed to find that some dickhead has parked right
: in front of it. Having most such dickheads be annoyed when I complain
: to them and respond "I'm only going to be here for a minute" doesn't
: help, either. Sure, dumbass, you're only going to be there for a
: minute. Unfortunately there are a hundred of you dumbasses for every
: one of me, and the chance that any one of you will be keeping me from
: getting in or out of what is sometimes an area as large as a city block
: becomes significant. And usually the outlets to ramps or curb cuts are
: clearly marked as no-parking zones, but every one of you thinks you're
: special and can park there anyway "for a minute".
: But what's a.s.r for if we can't have some outright bristling hostility
: for no good reason once in a while?
I always get a bang out of the ones who, when asked to fscking park
elsewhere, ask how many handicapped people work in the building. The
last time I got asked that, I just told the putz that it didn't
make any difference and to get his pickemup out of those stalls.
(He had parked crossways across TWO handicapped stalls while he
was trying to locate some buried gas lines or steam pipes or
whatnot.)
--
"HTML's a cheap whore. Treating her with respect is possible, and even pref-
erable, because once upon a time she was a beautiful and virginal format, but
you shouldn't expect too much of her at this point." (Mark 'Kamikaze' Hughes)
Paul Tomko
Mike Andrews <mi...@mikea.ath.cx> wrote:
>I always get a bang out of the ones who, when asked to fscking park
>elsewhere, ask how many handicapped people work in the building. The
>last time I got asked that, I just told the putz that it didn't
>make any difference and to get his pickemup out of those stalls.
>
>(He had parked crossways across TWO handicapped stalls while he
>was trying to locate some buried gas lines or steam pipes or
>whatnot.)
I'm always taken aback when I see a contractor's truck with a handicapped
sticker on it. God bless 'em! Handicapped and yet they still are able
to climb ladders and operate heavy machinery.
A few months back I was at a local home improvement store when I saw a
car full of people park in the handicapped zone. They had the handicapped
sticker, but none of them showed any outward disabilities. Then another
car, also with a sticker parked in another handicapped spot, and when
they got out, there were also no outwardly visible ailments. When one
group spotted the other group, they hailed each other. Apparently, they
knew each other. Perhaps there is some sort of focus group for people
who use great grandma's parking sticker whenever they go anywhere.
Paul
--
Paul Tomko pa...@tomkoinc.com http://www.tomkoinc.com
10000+ Humorous Quotes http://www.tomkoinc.com/quotes.html
"Behold the warranty ... the bold print giveth and the fine
print taketh away." - fortune file
Lurking Girl
Paul Tomko <to...@earth.execpc.com> wrote:
>
>A few months back I was at a local home improvement store when I saw a
>car full of people park in the handicapped zone. They had the handicapped
>sticker, but none of them showed any outward disabilities.
To be perfectly fair (and yet avoiding the obvious response),
sometimes the disability is not visible. My father-in-law qualified
on account of his heart trouble, for instance.
--
Victoria Swann to...@cugc.org
A friend in need is a friend indeed, a friend with weed is better;
A friend with breasts and all the rest, a friend who's dressed in leather.
--Placebo, "Pure Morning"
Mike Andrews
: I'm always taken aback when I see a contractor's truck with a handicapped
: sticker on it. God bless 'em! Handicapped and yet they still are able
: to climb ladders and operate heavy machinery.
: A few months back I was at a local home improvement store when I saw a
: car full of people park in the handicapped zone. They had the handicapped
: sticker, but none of them showed any outward disabilities. Then another
: car, also with a sticker parked in another handicapped spot, and when
: they got out, there were also no outwardly visible ailments. When one
: group spotted the other group, they hailed each other. Apparently, they
: knew each other. Perhaps there is some sort of focus group for people
: who use great grandma's parking sticker whenever they go anywhere.
Could be they have heart conditions that keep them from walking
much; that qualifies here in .ok.us. So does severe Rheumatoid
Arthritis. Not all handicaps show all the time.
And then there are the mental and moral handicaps.
--
Cats give a whole new meaning to the phrase "fuzzy logic".
-- Seanette Blaylock, in nanae
Michael Farebrother
>In article <39e485f9$0$62630$726...@news.execpc.com>,
>Paul Tomko <to...@earth.execpc.com> wrote:
>>
>>car full of people park in the handicapped zone. They had the handicapped
>>sticker, but none of them showed any outward disabilities.
>
>sometimes the disability is not visible. My father-in-law qualified
>on account of his heart trouble, for instance.
Or my $BRIDGE_PARTNER[1]. After 6 years of rehabilitation and physio,
she is out of her wheelchair 90% of the time, and has walking_time =
120s, or standing_time = 60s. Which is just enough time to get her from
car to restaurant, or the game room - provided she parks in one of those
blue spaces.
Grocery shopping still requires the Beast[0]. Or long "walks" down
country lanes with grandchildren. Or when she overdid it the day
before.
I still feel uncomfortable for her, because it isn't apparent - unless
she hits uneven ground or a slope. And I'm sure she gets the occasional
nasty glance[2].
Michael.
[0] Standard Electric Wheelchair, about 200kg without passenger. And
yes, I've maneuvered it and occupant over sidewalk berm where there
was no ramp.
[1] array ref, NAF.
[2] Though not as many, or as nasty glances as I used to get. She is an
"elderly grandmother", after all. But before she could walk, getting to
bridge games worked like this: get assigned to a stationary position.
Go to table. $PARTNER maneuvers out of wheelchair into seat (the room
is crowded enough without a chair the size of a card table in it), and I
am detailed to put the wheelchair someplace out of the way[3]. Other
bridge players, most of whom don't know me, graciously[4] get out of my
way as I pilot the Beast to its parking place - then get up and calmly
walk back to my seat opposite $PARTNER. They used to clue in, though,
at the end when I ferried the chair back to her.
[3] Whee - powered wheelchairs are Fun To Drive[5]. Not, however,
anywhere near sufficient compensation for needing one. I'll stick to
occasional ferrying duty, TYVM.
[4] Or maybe not so graciously. 250kg capable of accelerating very
quickly to a good running pace, which, if it hits from the front, will
likely catch anyone in the way mid-shin with the foot-rest, makes a good
LART. Not that I've ever done this, but I know of people who do, as a
last resort.
[5] so are cars equipped with hand controls. Same caveat applies as in
[3].
--
Michael Farebrother | "Yeah, yeah, yeah. Patience. How long will
Waterloo.on.ca | that take?" - Rick Green, Ti Kwan Leap.
----------------------
Yes, it's real, but "michael@..." gets read more often.
Paul Tomko
Mike Andrews <mi...@mikea.ath.cx> wrote:
>Scripsit Paul Tomko <to...@earth.execpc.com>:
>
>: I'm always taken aback when I see a contractor's truck with a handicapped
>: sticker on it. God bless 'em! Handicapped and yet they still are able
>: to climb ladders and operate heavy machinery.
>
>: car full of people park in the handicapped zone. They had the handicapped
>: car, also with a sticker parked in another handicapped spot, and when
>: they got out, there were also no outwardly visible ailments. When one
>: group spotted the other group, they hailed each other. Apparently, they
>: knew each other. Perhaps there is some sort of focus group for people
>: who use great grandma's parking sticker whenever they go anywhere.
>
>Could be they have heart conditions that keep them from walking
>much; that qualifies here in .ok.us. So does severe Rheumatoid
>Arthritis. Not all handicaps show all the time.
>
>And then there are the mental and moral handicaps.
I'm guessing moral in this case. They were all under 30, seemed sane
and had all their limbs.
Patrick R. Wade
>
>A few months back I was at a local home improvement store when I saw a
>car full of people park in the handicapped zone. They had the handicapped
>sticker, but none of them showed any outward disabilities. Then another
>car, also with a sticker parked in another handicapped spot, and when
>they got out, there were also no outwardly visible ailments. When one
>group spotted the other group, they hailed each other. Apparently, they
>knew each other. Perhaps there is some sort of focus group for people
>who use great grandma's parking sticker whenever they go anywhere.
>
ObPCism: you don't need to be visibly impaired to need the tag.
There was local news coverage here about a fellow with a severe heart
condition, who could not walk for any signifigant distance nor stand up
for any prolonged period without danger, who was frequently flamed by the
lusers for using the tag when "there was nothing wrong with him".
--
It's a hard work, being a network pusher. Your customers beep you in
the middle of the night, hungry for another fix. But, what can you do?
Customer satisfaction and all that crap...
Pays good, though. --Ingvar the Grey, in the Monastery
Jenny Holmberg
> I still feel uncomfortable for her, because it isn't apparent - unless
> she hits uneven ground or a slope. And I'm sure she gets the occasional
> nasty glance[2].
This is one of the reasons for carrying a cane. I have problems
standing for longer than $i of minutes, where $i depends on how bad
the pain is at the moment (walking is generally easier). Thus, if I
need to go on the commuter train or the subway when I know it's
crowded, I take the collapsible cane out of the backpack. Sometimes
people actually let me have a handicap seat on the train; if not, then
at least it'll be enough support that I'm able to walk even after
getting of the train. And it does make people at least slightly less
likely to push me around in the crowd.
The black collapsible cane is cool, though I'd really prefer one with
a sword in it. But I think those are illegal.
--
Jenny With the Axe, and the Temper http://www.algonet.se/~jenny-h/
#include <std_disclaimer.h>
"You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else."
--Ambassador Delenn, B5
John Riddoch
> At our local fitness center, there's a huge row of handicapped parking
> spots. It's always full, which seemed odd to me until I spent about
> half an hour watching them.
Not particularly; there's plenty of useful equipment to help recovery
after some debilitating accident. Of course, such things should
probably best be done under proper supervision by a trained person, but
there are several things which may be useful to a disabled person.
> Sure 'nuff, all of the cars I saw park
> there (with stickers) contained healthy teenaged hooligans^wmales.
> I just don't get this one in particular -- you're there to *exercise*,
> right? So why are you abusing gramma's handicap sticker so you don't
> have to walk as far to the front door? Fsckers, every one.
If that was the case, then you're right.
--
John Riddoch Email: j...@scms.rgu.ac.uk Telephone: (01224)262721
http://www.scms.rgu.ac.uk/staff/jr/
"I'd change the world but God won't give me the source code" - Anonymous
Lionel
der...@xmission.xmission.com (Derick Siddoway) said:
>At our local fitness center, there's a huge row of handicapped parking
>spots. It's always full, which seemed odd to me until I spent about
>half an hour watching them. Sure 'nuff, all of the cars I saw park
>there (with stickers) contained healthy teenaged hooligans^wmales.
>I just don't get this one in particular -- you're there to *exercise*,
>right? So why are you abusing gramma's handicap sticker so you don't
>have to walk as far to the front door? Fsckers, every one.
This begs the obvious question as to why a fitness centre needs
handicapped slots at all.
--
W
. | ,. w , "Some people are alive only because
\|/ \|/ it is illegal to kill them." Perna condita delenda est
---^----^---------------------------------------------------------------
Jan Ingvoldstad
said:
> The black collapsible cane is cool, though I'd really prefer one with
> a sword in it. But I think those are illegal.
Hmm, a black collapsible cane with a sword innit. I like it.
Perdita
>>At our local fitness center, there's a huge row of handicapped parking
>>spots. It's always full, which seemed odd to me until I spent about
>>half an hour watching them. Sure 'nuff, all of the cars I saw park
>>there (with stickers) contained healthy teenaged hooligans^wmales.
>>I just don't get this one in particular -- you're there to *exercise*,
>>right? So why are you abusing gramma's handicap sticker so you don't
>>have to walk as far to the front door? Fsckers, every one.
>This begs the obvious question as to why a fitness centre needs
>handicapped slots at all.
Bit of a dumbass question if you really think about it, though.
Claire
David P. Murphy
You're probably a little late, but the HIGHLANDER merchandising
company had a going-off-the-air sale. Of course, I never grokked
whether the swords were collapsible or everyone's coats had
Pockets of Holding, so more research is advised before buying.
ok
dpm
--
David P. Murphy http://www.myths.com/~dpm/
systems programmer ftp://ftp.myths.com
mailto:d...@myths.com (personal)
COGITO ERGO DISCLAMO mailto:Murphy...@emc.com (work)
David Scheidt
: | last time I got asked that, I just told the putz that it didn't
: ..or have it clamped.
Towed. Clamping a vehicle illegally parked in handicapped spot is a
bit, well, dumb, innnit? This is one my pet peeves -- I once went so
far as to call the state police to come out and remove the municpal
police vehicles that were illegally parked. Unfortunatly, they just
radioed the local yokels and told them to move.
--
... but, dammit, I'm a sysadmin, not a doctor! I really don't want to
get mail from a complete stranger telling me about her old man's erectile
dysfunction. -- Malcom Ray
Tanuki the Raccoon-dog
said
>Word has it that on 12 Oct 2000 07:19:28 GMT, in this august forum,
>der...@xmission.xmission.com (Derick Siddoway) said:
>>spots. It's always full, which seemed odd to me until I spent about
>>half an hour watching them. Sure 'nuff, all of the cars I saw park
>>there (with stickers) contained healthy teenaged hooligans^wmales.
>>I just don't get this one in particular -- you're there to *exercise*,
>>right? So why are you abusing gramma's handicap sticker so you don't
>>have to walk as far to the front door? Fsckers, every one.
>
>This begs the obvious question as to why a fitness centre needs
>handicapped slots at all.
Do they offer physiotherapy? One of my cow-orkers who was
injured in a car-wreck a few years back has nerve-damage
that periodically triggers severe and crippling muscle spasms
which require some rather-vicious massage by a sports-grade
physiohterapist to free off. When he's in spasm, he can't
drive[1], so gets someone else to drive him to the sports
centre. (and yes, he has an orange badge).
[1]indeed he can barely continue breathing.
--
!Raised Tails! -:Tanuki:-
http://www.canismajor.demon.co.uk/index.htm
Now showing: Demented Death Farm Massacre The Movie
Mads Bach
> "At least one that I know of, and I don't know everybody in the building".
> We have an external contractor who had difficulty getting a full ten year
> car licence on account of the fact that he only had the use of one arm,
> they kept issuing him with one year ones. He resolved this by pointing out
> that he had a full licence to drive HGVs[1]. He got his car licence.
Your license to drive a car is only good for ten years? Good for you, I say.
Mine doesn't expire until 2043, when I'll be 70 years old. And that includes
the right to drive lorries (C) and busses (D), and would have included HGV's
(CE) if I were allowed to drive those (the army didn't make me take that,
thank $DEITY). This is wrong, IMHO, because it lets people like my mother
drive, even though they shouldn't (she's very near-sighted, and doesn't wear
glasses or contacts). But what the heck, it'll probably change before I'm 70 anyway.
/Mads
--
"Honestly, OS/2 with EMX is closer to Unix than AIX is."
- Brandon S. Allbery in Scary Devil Monastery
Colette Reap
>Lionel <n...@alt.net> wrote:
>
>>This begs the obvious question as to why a fitness centre needs
>>handicapped slots at all.
>
>There's a guy who works out in our gym who has no arms. (Thalidomide, by
>the look of it - hands directly attached to the shoulders. I've not
>_quite_ worked out how he gets changed, but he seems to manage quite
>effectively.) There might also be wheelchair users as well, but the
>place is nearly impossible for them.
>
>Up five floors. But there's a lift in the car park. But then all the
>facilities except for the cafe and the changing rooms are then down a
>floor, and the men's changing rooms are half a floor down.
>
>There _may_ be an internal lift, but I've not seen it.
>
That's because the lift is in the Women Only section of the gym - and
before anyone asks, the reason that the gym has such a section is to
cater for the sensibilities of the female members of the Islamic
persuasion.
--
Colette
* "2002: A Discworld Odyssey" * The Discworld Convention *
* Hanover International, Hinckley * August 16th-19th, 2002 *
* Web: http://www.dwcon.org/ * Email: in...@dwcon.org *
al...@cif.rochester.edu
> This begs the obvious question as to why a fitness centre needs
> handicapped slots at all.
Physical therapy. One fitness center around home does a relatively large
business with sports injuries. There's also another smaller type fitness
center at home that does most of their business with physical therapy --
my mother went there 3 times a week for a couple months after having her
hip replaced. They have more than just a few handicapped parking spots.
Dan
--
Dan Grabski | al...@cif.rochester.edu | Running OpenBSD, and proud of it.
"Developing error messages? Doesn't Windows have enough of these
already? And we need a whole fscking book on how to do this?"
-- Derick Siddoway on O'Reilly NT books
Michael Farebrother
Jenny Holmberg <jen...@algonet.se> wrote:
>Michael Farebrother <spam...@farebrother.cx> writes:
>
>> I still feel uncomfortable for her, because it isn't apparent - unless
>> she hits uneven ground or a slope. And I'm sure she gets the occasional
>> nasty glance[2].
>
>This is one of the reasons for carrying a cane. I have problems
>standing for longer than $i of minutes, where $i depends on how bad
>the pain is at the moment (walking is generally easier).
My guess is that you have it worse - not looking properly grandmotherly
or teacherly. (You aren't a grandmother, are you?)
>The black collapsible cane is cool, though I'd really prefer one with
>a sword in it. But I think those are illegal.
I have a cane^H^H^H^Hwalking-stick. Again, I don't need it for
mobililty, but it works well with the tails, hat, and cloak. It's an
old walking stick, designed for gravel paths, and so has a 10cm steel
spike (5mm square tip) at the end, for traction. Sometimes, when I've
been bumped around on the train too much, I accidentally recover my
balance with the cane on the offender's shoe. I don't push hard - I
don't need to[1].
I'd wish it to you, but it isn't collapsable, and it's designed for
someone around 6'.[2]
Michael.
[1] I've been stepped on by someone in spike heels once. As a joke.
She didn't press hard either. I still felt it for three days.
[2] Yes, Canada enjoys a fscked-up measurement system. Because of being
forcibly metricated about 20 years ago, I can think in kms, ms, cms up
to about one foot[2], kgs and the rest. But height of people is still
feet/inches, weight still lbs.
--
Michael Farebrother - yes, it's real, but "michael@..." gets read more often.
Good evening, music fans, here we are at Philharmonic Hall in New York
Mills, Minnesota. It's a beautiful night for a concert, there's not a
cloud in the ceiling. - Peter Schickele.
Aaron Denney
> That's because the lift is in the Women Only section of the gym - and
> before anyone asks, the reason that the gym has such a section is to
> cater for the sensibilities of the female members of the Islamic
> persuasion.
Not for the sensibilities of the male members? They do tend to be the ones
who have more power and are more upset about Western Cultural Imperialism.
--
Aaron Denney
-><-
Steve VanDevender
> This begs the obvious question as to why a fitness centre needs
> handicapped slots at all.
Because the handicapped also exercise?
I'm planning on putting in about 2000 yards of swimming followed by a
weight workout this evening, for example. On the other hand, I walk[1]
to campus so I don't use any of the campus rec center's disabled parking
spots.
I happen to know a number of other people who have perfectly valid
reasons to use disabled parking spots at the places they work out. For
example, they might use a van with a lift, and it's rather hard to
deploy a lift in a standard parking space.
[1] verb chosen for easy comprehension by readers rather than accurate
description of my method of locomotion.
--
Steve VanDevender "I ride the big iron" http://jcomm.uoregon.edu/~stevev
ste...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu PGP keyprint 4AD7AF61F0B9DE87 522902969C0A7EE8
"bash awk grep perl sed df du, du-du du-du,
vi troff su fsck rm * halt LART LART LART!" -- the Swedish BOFH
Lionel
per...@fysh.org (Perdita) said:
>Lionel <n...@alt.net> writes:
>
>>>At our local fitness center, there's a huge row of handicapped parking
>>>spots. It's always full, which seemed odd to me until I spent about
>>>half an hour watching them. Sure 'nuff, all of the cars I saw park
>>>there (with stickers) contained healthy teenaged hooligans^wmales.
>>>I just don't get this one in particular -- you're there to *exercise*,
>>>right? So why are you abusing gramma's handicap sticker so you don't
>>>have to walk as far to the front door? Fsckers, every one.
>
>>This begs the obvious question as to why a fitness centre needs
>>handicapped slots at all.
>
>Bit of a dumbass question if you really think about it, though.
Well yes.
Think of it as arguing reductio ad absurdium(sic?) about the portion of
the original post at the top of this one, & it might make my point
clearer.
Lionel
dagb...@home.com (Dave Brown) said:
>In article <u8abusk955v1iut53...@4ax.com>,
>Lionel <n...@alt.net> wrote:
>: Word has it that on 12 Oct 2000 07:19:28 GMT, in this august forum,
>: der...@xmission.xmission.com (Derick Siddoway) said:
>: >At our local fitness center, there's a huge row of handicapped parking
>: >spots.
>:
>: This begs the obvious question as to why a fitness centre needs
>: handicapped slots at all.
>
>Physiotherapy.
*sigh* I seem to be getting too subtle in my dotage.
Colette Reap
The way it was explained to me was that the Islamic ladies feel that
it would not be right for members of the opposite sex to see them in
workout gear, and to allow themselves to be seen while exercising
would be immodest. I doubt if it was the Islamic men who requested
that the women have their own area, although you could argue that the
women have had their codes of conduct so thoroughly drilled into them
by their (seemingly very) patriarchal society that it might as well
have been the men asking directly.
PS Apologies for the apparent double post - my machine crashed part
way through an upload.
David P. Murphy
> Good evening, music fans, here we are at Philharmonic Hall in New York
> Mills, Minnesota. It's a beautiful night for a concert, there's not a
> cloud in the ceiling. - Peter Schickele.
"And they're off!"
Lionel
pmca...@iol.ie (Paul Mc Auley) said:
>David Scheidt <dsch...@enteract.com> wrote on 12 Oct 2000 14:35:16 GMT:
>| Paul Mc Auley <pmca...@iol.ie> wrote:
>(Watch those attribs, dammit)
>| : | last time I got asked that, I just told the putz that it didn't
>| : | make any difference and to get his pickemup out of those stalls.
>
>| : ..or have it clamped.
>
>| Towed. Clamping a vehicle illegally parked in handicapped spot is a
>| bit, well, dumb, innnit? This is one my pet peeves -- I once went so
>
>Hmm, you could be right, OTOH our new office is part of a set of blocks
>that are still being built, which means there is a conveniently located
>site crane[1]...
>
>This bears further thought.
Hm, I can certainly see how leaving the offender's vehicle parked on the
roof of the building would be a strong deterrant. Even more so if you
accumulated a row of them along the edge of the roof & put a sign near
the parking slot that directed peoples' attention to the new detention
area.
Jenny Holmberg
> My guess is that you have it worse - not looking properly grandmotherly
> or teacherly. (You aren't a grandmother, are you?)
No, I'm 29. And since my illness isn't visible on the outside, having
a walking aid decreases the risk of my being verbally attacked for
sitting down when a 45-year-old wants the seat I'm on.
> I have a cane^H^H^H^Hwalking-stick. Again, I don't need it for
> mobililty, but it works well with the tails, hat, and cloak. It's an
> old walking stick, designed for gravel paths, and so has a 10cm steel
> spike (5mm square tip) at the end, for traction. Sometimes, when I've
> been bumped around on the train too much, I accidentally recover my
> balance with the cane on the offender's shoe. I don't push hard - I
> don't need to[1].
Mine doesn't have a spike, but it's fairly thin, so accidentally
placing it on someone's foot would probably make them experience some
discomfort...
> I'd wish it to you, but it isn't collapsable, and it's designed for
> someone around 6'.[2]
Thanks for the thougt, though...
> [1] I've been stepped on by someone in spike heels once. As a joke.
> She didn't press hard either. I still felt it for three days.
The mother of one of my friends was one of the first women to study at
Chalmers University of Technology. She's quite short and always wears
high heels, generally spike ones... One evening she was in the local
phone booth, talking to her then fiance. She noticed a man waiting
outside and finished the conversation so he could have the phone.
Apparently he decided to have her instead - he went into the phone
booth and attempted to rape her. She stamped him on the foot, which
made him let go of her, and then she ran home. She wondered why he
didn't follow her... until she got home and took her shoes off, and
noticed that the heel was bloody.
/Jenny, who doesn't wear spike heels any more but realises their
potential as a weapon
Ralph Wade Phillips
...
Jenny Holmberg <jen...@algonet.se> wrote in message
news:xrzz1yxl...@gruk.algonet.se...
>
> The mother of one of my friends was one of the first women to study at
> Chalmers University of Technology. She's quite short and always wears
> high heels, generally spike ones... One evening she was in the local
> phone booth, talking to her then fiance. She noticed a man waiting
> outside and finished the conversation so he could have the phone.
> Apparently he decided to have her instead - he went into the phone
> booth and attempted to rape her. She stamped him on the foot, which
> made him let go of her, and then she ran home. She wondered why he
> didn't follow her... until she got home and took her shoes off, and
> noticed that the heel was bloody.
/me remembers adverts in Reader's Digest (TV Guide? Some periodical
of that size) during the 60's where it showed some petite, 98 lb. female
with a banner that says "She's putting umpteen tons of pressure on her high
heels, and they don't break!"
The ad also had the math - something like 98 lbs. on .005 inches
square = 200 tons/square inch or something like that.
Remember, it's to do also with the area load ...
RwP
(1) Monk-friendly version of "Howdy!"
David P. Murphy
> /Jenny, who doesn't wear spike heels any more but realises their
> potential as a weapon
"Jenny With the Heel"? You're right, "Axe" has a better ring to it.
David P. Murphy
> Grrr(1)
>
> (1) Monk-friendly version of "Howdy!"
^^^^^^^^^^^^^
I'm at a loss for this. At first I thought it was a massive oxymoron
but then I figured it was *possible* to be friendly to a monk, but I
didn't see any $LIQUID or $CURRENCY so it's a washout.
Mark W. Schumann
Paul Tomko <to...@earth.execpc.com> wrote:
>In article <xd1F5.1590$ln6.1...@news.flash.net>,
>Mike Andrews <mi...@mikea.ath.cx> wrote:
>>Scripsit Paul Tomko <to...@earth.execpc.com>:
>>
>>: I'm always taken aback when I see a contractor's truck with a handicapped
>>: sticker on it. God bless 'em! Handicapped and yet they still are able
>>: to climb ladders and operate heavy machinery.
>>
>>: car full of people park in the handicapped zone. They had the handicapped
>>: sticker, but none of them showed any outward disabilities. Then another
>>: car, also with a sticker parked in another handicapped spot, and when
>>: they got out, there were also no outwardly visible ailments. When one
>>: group spotted the other group, they hailed each other. Apparently, they
>>: knew each other. Perhaps there is some sort of focus group for people
>>: who use great grandma's parking sticker whenever they go anywhere.
>>
>>much; that qualifies here in .ok.us. So does severe Rheumatoid
>>Arthritis. Not all handicaps show all the time.
>>
>>And then there are the mental and moral handicaps.
>
>I'm guessing moral in this case. They were all under 30, seemed sane
>and had all their limbs.
So, uh, you mean to tell me that you can't have asthma, heart trouble,
or cystic fibrosis until you're 30?
News to me.
Ralph Wade Phillips
David P. Murphy <d...@myths.com> wrote in message
news:suems4d...@news.supernews.com...
> Ralph Wade Phillips <ral...@techie.com> wrote:
>
> > Grrr(1)
> >
> > (1) Monk-friendly version of "Howdy!"
> ^^^^^^^^^^^^^
>
> I'm at a loss for this. At first I thought it was a massive oxymoron
> but then I figured it was *possible* to be friendly to a monk, but I
> didn't see any $LIQUID or $CURRENCY so it's a washout.
>
Friendly like Unix is user-friendly.
"Oh, Unix is a VERY user-friendly operating system. It's just very
selective as to whom it makes friends with."
No need to STR - it'll show up in some of the .SIGs around here
sooner or later (or is it afc?)
RwP
Kai Henningsen
> I happen to know a number of other people who have perfectly valid
> reasons to use disabled parking spots at the places they work out. For
> example, they might use a van with a lift, and it's rather hard to
> deploy a lift in a standard parking space.
So your disabled parking spaces are not just normal parking spaces with
signs on them?
Kai
--
http://www.westfalen.de/private/khms/
"... by God I *KNOW* what this network is for, and you can't have it."
- Russ Allbery (r...@stanford.edu)
Steve VanDevender
> ste...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu (Steve VanDevender) wrote on 12.10.00 in <x7g0m1s...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu>:
>
> > I happen to know a number of other people who have perfectly valid
> > reasons to use disabled parking spots at the places they work out. For
> > example, they might use a van with a lift, and it's rather hard to
> > deploy a lift in a standard parking space.
>
> So your disabled parking spaces are not just normal parking spaces with
> signs on them?
Yes. They require that there be a certain amount of clearance on one
side of the space, to ensure that there is room to deploy a lift or get
a wheelchair out of the car without bumping up against the car next to
it. If the space is up against a curb, there must also be a curb cut
easily accessible from the clearance region.
It is this clearance region (clearly marked with the white diagonal
stripes that mean "you cannot put your car here") that is frequently
impinged upon by lusers.
David P. Murphy
> ISTR a somewhat average movie starring Rutger Heuer(sp?) in which he was a
> blind Vietnam vet who was trained in swordplay by Vietnamese natives. He
> had a cane with a nice sharp sword in it, which led to some interesting
> swordfights. It wasn't collapsible, though.
_Blind Fury_ with Rutger Hauer. Yeah, it could have been better,
the bit about his friend's son was pretty cheap.
David P. Murphy
> In article <suemn0p...@news.supernews.com>,
> David P. Murphy <d...@myths.com> wrote:
>>Jenny Holmberg <jen...@algonet.se> wrote:
>>
>>> /Jenny, who doesn't wear spike heels any more but realises their
>>> potential as a weapon
>>
>>"Jenny With the Heel"? You're right, "Axe" has a better ring to it.
> "Jenny with the Spike"
That's no good, you're just routing back to the Buffy thread.
Pim van Riezen
> _Blind Fury_ with Rutger Hauer. Yeah, it could have been better,
> the bit about his friend's son was pretty cheap.
I consider any movie with Hauer in it that isn't Blade Runner to be
automatically B grade.
Pi
--
A mouse is a device used to focus xterms.
Jenny Holmberg
> I consider any movie with Hauer in it that isn't Blade Runner to be
> automatically B grade.
Oh no. Some are much worse than that. Omega Doom, for instance, is one
of the worst pieces of crap I've ever tried to watch.
With the exception of Blade Runner, it seems to me about half of his
films are fun but not impressive, and the other half are simply
boringly bad.
Kai Henningsen
> kaih=7nl5-...@khms.westfalen.de (Kai Henningsen) writes:
>
> > ste...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu (Steve VanDevender) wrote on 12.10.00 in
> > <x7g0m1s...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu>:
> >
> > > I happen to know a number of other people who have perfectly valid
> > > reasons to use disabled parking spots at the places they work out. For
> > > example, they might use a van with a lift, and it's rather hard to
> > > deploy a lift in a standard parking space.
> >
> > So your disabled parking spaces are not just normal parking spaces with
> > signs on them?
>
> Yes. They require that there be a certain amount of clearance on one
> side of the space, to ensure that there is room to deploy a lift or get
> a wheelchair out of the car without bumping up against the car next to
> it. If the space is up against a curb, there must also be a curb cut
> easily accessible from the clearance region.
>
> It is this clearance region (clearly marked with the white diagonal
> stripes that mean "you cannot put your car here") that is frequently
> impinged upon by lusers.
Hmm. I don't think I've ever seen something like that. (I should probably
mention that mother drives a car with the relevant sign, and employs
crutches when out of it, so I tend to notice these things.)
David P. Murphy
> On Sat, 14 Oct 2000, David P. Murphy wrote:
>> _Blind Fury_ with Rutger Hauer. Yeah, it could have been better,
>> the bit about his friend's son was pretty cheap.
> I consider any movie with Hauer in it that isn't Blade Runner to be
> automatically B grade.
Oh. I had thought he was in _Ladyhawke_, but that was another
mistake of mine.
Terje Bless
Ingvar the Grey <ing...@bofh.se> wrote:
> "Split Second" is *very* nice.
So a few years ago we were putting up a satellite dish[0] and it turns
out the tech from over the pond is also a movie buff. We were doing
some heavy shifts[1] and every once in a while someone would look up,
utter some favourite expletitive, and walk off muttering "Bigger tools.
We need bigger tools." :-)
Split Second has me in some form of weird hate-love-hate triangle[2].
[0] - 11 Meter Datron dish for capturing data from radar satellites;
not some piddly little dipol for piss poor TV reception.
[1] - You try doing 16 hours straight in a manlift 10+ meters in the
air -- at 70N/20E (Northern Norway) -- in the middle of a snow
storm while handling heavy equipment, which to top it off also
contained some fairly fragile electronics. Two months of this
and sysdmining didn't sound so bad[3].
[2] - That's the movie, me, and my other self.
[3] - Ye gods but I miss those days! :-(
--
Interviewer: In what language do you write your algorithms?
Abigail: English.
Interviewer: What would you do if, say, Telnet didn't work?
Abigail: Look at the error message.
Steve VanDevender
> ste...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu (Steve VanDevender) wrote on 13.10.00 in <x7aec8s...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu>:
>
> > kaih=7nl5-...@khms.westfalen.de (Kai Henningsen) writes:
> >
> > > So your disabled parking spaces are not just normal parking spaces with
> > > signs on them?
> >
> > Yes. They require that there be a certain amount of clearance on one
> > side of the space, to ensure that there is room to deploy a lift or get
> > a wheelchair out of the car without bumping up against the car next to
> > it. If the space is up against a curb, there must also be a curb cut
> > easily accessible from the clearance region.
>
> Hmm. I don't think I've ever seen something like that. (I should probably
> mention that mother drives a car with the relevant sign, and employs
> crutches when out of it, so I tend to notice these things.)
My impression when visiting Germany last year was that it was not quite
as good at wheelchair accessibility as many places in the U.S. are.
From what I have heard this is typical of Europe in general. For the
most part being a pedestrian was OK, as there were lowered curbs at
street crossings, but most buildings were not that easy to get into and
the train system was a mixture of almost-passable and rather nasty
depending on where one was.
--
Steve VanDevender "I ride the big iron" http://jcomm.uoregon.edu/~stevev
ste...@efn.org PGP key fingerprint=929FB79734DF8CC0 210DA447510FF93B
Little things break, circuitry burns / Time flies while my little world turns
Every day comes, every day goes / 100 years and nobody shows -- Happy Rhodes
Jan Ingvoldstad
said:
> _Ladyhawke_ and _Blade Runner_, then.
Fatherland, Ladyhawke and Blade Runner.
Fetch the plushy pillows!
--
ASR: We took both pills.
Rob Hagman
>d...@myths.com (David P. Murphy) wrote:
>
>>Oh. I had thought he was in _Ladyhawke_, but that was another
>>mistake of mine.
>
>_Ladyhawke_ and _Blade Runner_, then.
>
I liked the "Floris"[0] series, but i think they never leaked out of .nl
"Turks fruit" and "Soldaat van Oranje" was not to bad ether[1]
Rob Hagman
[0] think Ivanho rewritten to be relevant to dutch culture/history
[1] On all three Paul Verhoeven was the director
David P. Murphy
> I've always liked, "You're going to need a bigger boat."
You are Noah and I claim the mating pair of unicorns you didn't have room for.
gr...@pobox.com
> It is this clearance region (clearly marked with the white diagonal
> stripes that mean "you cannot put your car here") that is frequently
> impinged upon by lusers.
Aaaah! I read "...clearcase region...". A luser parking a car in it
would certainly do bad things.
--
"If I were a Microsoft public relations person, I would probably be
sobbing on a desk right now," says Miller.
"Microsoft has no comment at this time," said a Microsoft public
relations spokesperson. -- salon.com | May 11, 2000
Eric The Read
> Steve VanDevender <ste...@hexadecimal.uoregon.edu> writes:
> > It is this clearance region (clearly marked with the white diagonal
> > stripes that mean "you cannot put your car here") that is frequently
> > impinged upon by lusers.
>
> Aaaah! I read "...clearcase region...". A luser parking a car in it
> would certainly do bad things.
But no worse than might be expected by clearcase itself.
-=Eric
--
Breasts can be violent. Forging metal is violent. Violence in and
day out, that i am more into squash at the moment.
-- MegaHal, trained on <goss...@tertius.net.au>'s quotes file
Matt Brown
> I'm guessing moral in this case. They were all under 30, seemed sane
> and had all their limbs.
I remember a case about last year when it turned out that a bunch of
college footballers (ISTR they were UCLA, but I may be wrong) had
forged doctor's notes in order to get themselves handicap placards, so
they could be lazy and park close to the training
ground/stadium/whatever. That would be, in fact, one of the few times
you COULD challenge someone about using a placard -- if you just saw
them in the game ;)
Turns out that California DMV does NO verification of applications for
a disabled placard, due to manpower shortages (well, that's their
excuse).
-Matt
Jasper Janssen
>T. M. Pederson<sal...@plethora.net> wrote:
>>David P. Murphy <d...@myths.com> wrote:
>>>T. M. Pederson <sal...@plethora.net> wrote:
>>>> "Jenny with the Spike"
>>>
>>>That's no good, you're just routing back to the Buffy thread.
>>
>
> Nope, I don't recall anyone in Buffy called 'Steak'[0].
There was a Mr Pointy, though, who was *a* stake.
"Jenny with the Calendar"
Jasper
Gid Holyoake
generously decided to share with us..
Snippetry..
> But the Noah question is very interesting. Did Skeeters get a ride?
> Was the water salty or fresh? What did the other fish do? Et cetera.
And, indeed, why did he waste so much time looking through the crap below
the hull for a second amoeba..
Gid
--
The Most Noble and Exalted Peculiar , Harem Master to Veiled Concubines
Guardian of the Sacred !!!!!'s , Defender of the Temple of AFPdoration
ISTP http://www.netcomuk.co.uk/~gidnsuzi/ for The Irrelevant Page! MJBC
Adam met Eve and turned over a new leaf..
Lionel
sa...@maths.uwa.edu.au (The Scarlet Manuka) said:
>Lionel <n...@alt.net> wrote:
>> Word has it that on Thu, 12 Oct 2000 22:03:49 GMT, in this august forum,
>> pmca...@iol.ie (Paul Mc Auley) said:
>>
>>>David Scheidt <dsch...@enteract.com> wrote on 12 Oct 2000 14:35:16 GMT:
>>>
>>>| Towed. Clamping a vehicle illegally parked in handicapped spot is a
>>>| bit, well, dumb, innnit? This is one my pet peeves -- I once went so
>>>
>>>Hmm, you could be right, OTOH our new office is part of a set of blocks
>>>that are still being built, which means there is a conveniently located
>>>site crane[1]...
>>
>> Hm, I can certainly see how leaving the offender's vehicle parked on the
>> roof of the building would be a strong deterrant. Even more so if you
>
>I was thinking "encased in concrete", but on the roof would work too.
Better yet, combine the two approaches & make an 'art statement' as
well, by embedding the car half into an exterior wall during a concrete
pour. Handled correctly, you could probably obtain an arts grant or
prize as a bonus, not to mention a few headlines.
Joe Zeff
>I consider any movie with Hauer in it that isn't Blade Runner to be
>automatically B grade.
B movies aren't what you seem to think. Back in the days of
double-features, B movies were made to be the second movie on the
bill, A movies got top billing. There are some great B movies.
Monolith Monsters, Them and Rocket to the Moon come to mind.
--
Joe Zeff
The Guy With the Sideburns
If you haven't got time to RTFM, you
haven't got time to whine on Usenet about it.
http://www.lasfs.org http://home.earthlink.net/~sidebrnz
Mike Andrews
: The mother of one of my friends was one of the first women to study at
: Chalmers University of Technology. She's quite short and always wears
: high heels, generally spike ones... One evening she was in the local
: phone booth, talking to her then fiance. She noticed a man waiting
: outside and finished the conversation so he could have the phone.
: Apparently he decided to have her instead - he went into the phone
: booth and attempted to rape her. She stamped him on the foot, which
: made him let go of her, and then she ran home. She wondered why he
: didn't follow her... until she got home and took her shoes off, and
: noticed that the heel was bloody.
: /Jenny, who doesn't wear spike heels any more but realises their
: potential as a weapon
There was a reason the airlines didn't want prople wearing spike
heels on the aircraft, and it wasn't _just_ the difficulty of
moving quickly in an emergency.
They tended to punch through the flooring and get stuck, which was
viewed as a Bad Thing.
--
Comparing Knuth with O'Reilly books is like comparing
Unix with Windows.
-- Abigail, in the Monastery
Mike Andrews
: In article <sufjgnf...@news.supernews.com>,
:>> In article <suemn0p...@news.supernews.com>,
:>> David P. Murphy <d...@myths.com> wrote:
:>>>Jenny Holmberg <jen...@algonet.se> wrote:
:>>>
:>>>> /Jenny, who doesn't wear spike heels any more but realises their
:>>>> potential as a weapon
:>>>
:>>>"Jenny With the Heel"? You're right, "Axe" has a better ring to it.
:>
:>> "Jenny with the Spike"
:>
:>That's no good, you're just routing back to the Buffy thread.
: IIRC, that would require 's/Spike/Steak/'.
You are the Beet in the short story "Vegetable Vampire", and
you get to be buried with a steak through your heart.
--
Censorship sucks^H^H^H^H^H is for your own good.
Nix
> "Jenny with the Spike"
But Jenny doesn't look in the *least* like the Shrike...
... ohm just one spike, not a tree of pain? Damn ;)
--
`Normally, we don't do people's homework around here, but Venice
is a very beautiful city, so I'll make a small exception.'
--- Robert Redelmeier compromises his principles
Marc Bowden
Scarlet Manuka) wrote:
> Mike Andrews <mi...@mikea.ath.cx> wrote:
> > Scripsit T. M. Pederson <sal...@plethora.net>:
> > : In article <sufjgnf...@news.supernews.com>,
> > : David P. Murphy <d...@myths.com> wrote:
> > :>
> > :>That's no good, you're just routing back to the Buffy thread.
> >
> > : IIRC, that would require 's/Spike/Steak/'.
> >
> > You are the Beet in the short story "Vegetable Vampire", and
> > you get to be buried with a steak through your heart.
>
> Or a nice bit of celery?
>
Which means he's perfectly okay, until the celery starts to wilt?
--
Marc Bowden - Chief Cook & Bottle Washer
The MERIT Systeam, "Where grown men cry themselves to sleep."
KEkKt lWdmp EHd++ m4 CPEIVc B-x Olm Lbm SsC++ T+++ A6T H6omenp b3 D1
o...@bofh.dot.no
mi...@mikea.ath.cx (Mike Andrews) writes:
> I always get a bang out of the ones who, when asked to fscking park
> elsewhere, ask how many handicapped people work in the building. The
> last time I got asked that, I just told the putz that it didn't
> make any difference and to get his pickemup out of those stalls.
>
> (He had parked crossways across TWO handicapped stalls while he
> was trying to locate some buried gas lines or steam pipes or
> whatnot.)
Can you really blame him? They are put there so disabled people can
park. Why do you with physical disabilities always ignore the rights of
those with mental disabilities?
--
Ove
T.J. Nijweide
> Towed. Clamping a vehicle illegally parked in handicapped spot is a
> bit, well, dumb, innnit? This is one my pet peeves -- I once went so
> police vehicles that were illegally parked. Unfortunatly, they just
> radioed the local yokels and told them to move.
My mother was not able to park in the handicapped place in front of
the police station. She parked in a no parking zone next to it. She
got a parking ticket. She walked into the police station:
M: Why did I get a ticket, I have a disabled parking license that allows
me to park in a no parking zone if the disabled spaces are full [1].
Police officer who issued the ticket: Well there was nobody in de disabled
space when I gave you the ticket.
M: Do you drive the police vehicle with license plate XX-NN-XX?
PO: Yes.
M: Well, that car was in the disabled space when I arrived.
PO: .....
Tob
PS Or the time she called the mayor to get here towed car back _very_
late in the evening (after leaving the theatre), and succeeding.
I don't think that parking attendant got a bonus that year. :)
[1] I believe this rule is not in effect anymore nowadays.
Jenny Holmberg
> Jenny with the Colander?
Please don't involve Joxer in this.
D. Joseph Creighton
}sa...@maths.uwa.edu.au (The Scarlet Manuka) writes:
}> Jenny with the Colander?
}
}Please don't involve Joxer in this.
Isn't time for the ladies to hit the bath house and splash about?
(I don't watch this, honestly)
--
"I hope I didn't brain my damage." - Homer Simpson
D. Joseph Creighton [ESTP] | Programmer Analyst, Database Technologies, IST
Joe_Cr...@UManitoba.CA | University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB, Canada, eh?
Jasper Janssen
>Jasper Janssen <jas...@insaneoc.com> wrote:
>>25$42$rbr...@miggy.org (Athanasius) wrote:
[Jenny names, rotating through into Buffy]
>>"Jenny with the Calendar"
>
>"Jenny with the Calender" would be *much* more effective, though messy.
Jenny with the Collander?
You can sieve the bits of luser out of the pulp with one of those...
Jasper
Juergen Nieveler
<vvvvvv14pcu4j6l9j...@4ax.com>:
>>"Jenny with the Calender" would be *much* more effective, though messy.
>
>Jenny with the Collander?
>
>You can sieve the bits of luser out of the pulp with one of those...
Jenny with the Kalander?
Think industrial strenght ironing.... 10 meters wide, and with HIGH
pressure.
--
Juergen Nieveler
Support the ban of Dihydrogen Monoxide: http://www.dhmo.org/
"The people united can never be ignited!"- Sgt. Colon, Ankh-Morpork Watch
PGP-Key available under www.netcologne.de/~nc-nievelju/
Mike Andrews
: Mike Andrews <mi...@mikea.ath.cx> wrote:
:> Scripsit T. M. Pederson <sal...@plethora.net>:
:> : In article <sufjgnf...@news.supernews.com>,
:> : David P. Murphy <d...@myths.com> wrote:
:> :>
:> :>That's no good, you're just routing back to the Buffy thread.
:>
:> : IIRC, that would require 's/Spike/Steak/'.
:>
:> You are the Beet in the short story "Vegetable Vampire", and
:> you get to be buried with a steak through your heart.
: Or a nice bit of celery?
No, they're not on celery. They are paid by the hour.
--
Prediction is difficult, especially of the future. - (Niels Bohr)
Marc Bowden
Andrews) wrote:
> Scripsit The Scarlet Manuka <sa...@maths.uwa.edu.au>:
> : Mike Andrews <mi...@mikea.ath.cx> wrote:
> :> Scripsit T. M. Pederson <sal...@plethora.net>:
> :> : In article <sufjgnf...@news.supernews.com>,
> :> : David P. Murphy <d...@myths.com> wrote:
> :> :>
> :> :>That's no good, you're just routing back to the Buffy thread.
> :>
> :> : IIRC, that would require 's/Spike/Steak/'.
> :>
> :> You are the Beet in the short story "Vegetable Vampire", and
> :> you get to be buried with a steak through your heart.
>
> : Or a nice bit of celery?
>
> No, they're not on celery. They are paid by the hour.
>
I'm fairly sure we're not supposed to leek that information.