Ah, yes. "Deteriorata" -- a parody of Les Crane's reading of "Desiderata" from only a year earlier that was a staple of Alison Steele's show.
National Lampoon had some good stuff in those years. Remember the piece on the Metroliner -- "Speeding America into the Fifties ... railroading's answer to the DC-6"?
For some reason a recording from the early 70's came to mind with regards to this thread, especially with the following snippets:
"Be comforted that in the face of all aridity and disillusionmentAnd despite the changing fortunes of time,There is always a big future in computer maintenance."
"And reflect that whatever misfortune may be your lotit could only be worse in Milwaukee."
Semper Vaporo Some web sites will list who is on-line and reading
This Forum used to do so, and I think the "Model Railroader" Forum still does. I kind of miss that feature, but it's not the end of the world without it.
EuclidFlintlock76 Overmod 'how few people read the forums' There's probably more people viewing and reading them than we realize. On casual observation there always seems to be a lot more views than replies. So someone's looking in besides the regulars. I have come to the same conclusion that there are far more people who read the forums, but seldom if ever post anyting. Many of those readers are probably not even registered as members. I have watched threads consistently get over 200 views overnight without any posts in that same period.
Overmod 'how few people read the forums' There's probably more people viewing and reading them than we realize. On casual observation there always seems to be a lot more views than replies. So someone's looking in besides the regulars.
'how few people read the forums'
There's probably more people viewing and reading them than we realize. On casual observation there always seems to be a lot more views than replies.
So someone's looking in besides the regulars.
I have come to the same conclusion that there are far more people who read the forums, but seldom if ever post anyting. Many of those readers are probably not even registered as members. I have watched threads consistently get over 200 views overnight without any posts in that same period.
Many of those overnight "readers" are not people, but search engine robots. Some web sites will list who is on-line and reading, and I have seen up to 15 "Bots" listed, some will say the name, (like "Google", "Bing", "DuckDuckGo", etc.) and others just list "Search Engine" or "Bot".
Semper Vaporo
Pkgs.
Flintlock76 Overmod 'how few people read the forums' There's probably more people viewing and reading them than we realize. On casual observation there always seems to be a lot more views than replies. So someone's looking in besides the regulars.
Overmod 'how few people read the forums'
samfp1943When I first got involved with IT, and its' nuances; I had it driven home by the instructor that 'changes' were always made to 'improve the experience, and reduce key-strokes(?)... Unfortunately, it always seems to have the opposite effect I guess, I'm just overly aensitive????
I've always been under the impression that developers monitor which features users use most, then they either eliminate them, or hide them where the sun doesn't shine.
Larry Resident Microferroequinologist (at least at my house) Everyone goes home; Safety begins with you My Opinion. Standard Disclaimers Apply. No Expiration Date Come ride the rails with me! There's one thing about humility - the moment you think you've got it, you've lost it...
Overmod samfp1943 Personally, my faith has been shaken and victimized more than once in the last 20(or so years). Yes, but look: it's a free resource, and one that over the years has caused them grief without tangible reward. I stopped criticizing them in the absolute sense just as I stopped arguing about Yahoo's suicidal reworking of Groups: you can't force people to do attentive customer service to demanding people when there's no money future in it. A parallel issue with 'how few people read the forums' is that fixing things wrong with them, especially if complicated or requiring 'legacy-systems' knowledge that may be long gone even in specialty consultancy or public support groups, is very low on any priority list. If the financial situation at Babblebrook Publishing is even remotely as dire as recent actions may indicate, I'd be grateful to see no more than a 'common-core' new system get built and tested and then instantiates on a particular 'flag day' -- and that fits everything we have been told about a stage-three forum (etc.) reworking to come 'in the spring'. (Which, note, doesn't even start until near the end of March). Until then I wouldn't expect any broken feature to be fixed, and I'm in fact paradoxically grateful that IT thought enough about some aspect of forum security -- whether peripheral or not -- to go in and tinker with the access permission system. It would be nice if they fixed the iPhone repair scam issue, which I have only ever gotten from this and no other Kalmbach or other forum or site ... but I can wait. I have to fire up the desktop to edit my own profile or read PMs, but use a different browser there to post anything ...but again, I can wait. Now, if we get the vaporware shuffle at the end of June, or it turns out the new-and-improved forums require subscription or acceptance of targeted inline ad viewing, or back-end data and preference 'sharing with partners' is excessive or becomes annoying ... I'll have more to say. But until then I cut them some slack, even if my New York tone doesn't imply so.
samfp1943 Personally, my faith has been shaken and victimized more than once in the last 20(or so years).
Yes, but look: it's a free resource, and one that over the years has caused them grief without tangible reward. I stopped criticizing them in the absolute sense just as I stopped arguing about Yahoo's suicidal reworking of Groups: you can't force people to do attentive customer service to demanding people when there's no money future in it.
A parallel issue with 'how few people read the forums' is that fixing things wrong with them, especially if complicated or requiring 'legacy-systems' knowledge that may be long gone even in specialty consultancy or public support groups, is very low on any priority list. If the financial situation at Babblebrook Publishing is even remotely as dire as recent actions may indicate, I'd be grateful to see no more than a 'common-core' new system get built and tested and then instantiates on a particular 'flag day' -- and that fits everything we have been told about a stage-three forum (etc.) reworking to come 'in the spring'. (Which, note, doesn't even start until near the end of March).
Until then I wouldn't expect any broken feature to be fixed, and I'm in fact paradoxically grateful that IT thought enough about some aspect of forum security -- whether peripheral or not -- to go in and tinker with the access permission system. It would be nice if they fixed the iPhone repair scam issue, which I have only ever gotten from this and no other Kalmbach or other forum or site ... but I can wait. I have to fire up the desktop to edit my own profile or read PMs, but use a different browser there to post anything ...but again, I can wait.
Now, if we get the vaporware shuffle at the end of June, or it turns out the new-and-improved forums require subscription or acceptance of targeted inline ad viewing, or back-end data and preference 'sharing with partners' is excessive or becomes annoying ... I'll have more to say. But until then I cut them some slack, even if my New York tone doesn't imply so.
OK! Overmod ! Point made, and taken
I guess, I'm overly sensitive where the IT folks are concerned....
When I first got involved with IT, and its' nuances; I had it driven home by the instructor that 'changes' were always made to 'improve the experience', and reduce key-strokes(?)... Unfortunately, it always seems to have the opposite effect I guess, I'm just overly sensitive????
You know, when I hear "New and Improved!" the first thing I think of is the old George Carlin gag:
"New and improved? What was it before, old and crappy?"
Lithonia Operator To tell you the truth, I keep hearing about the "new" online Trains and forums. But I'm yet to notice one iota of difference. I watched a video which seems to promise that they're going to put some content behind a paywall, though. I don't know if subscriptions to Trains and CT (which I have) will qualify as a secret handshake or not. Maybe they're just not done yet. Heck, I'm still waiting for America to complete our conversion to metric.
To tell you the truth, I keep hearing about the "new" online Trains and forums. But I'm yet to notice one iota of difference.
I watched a video which seems to promise that they're going to put some content behind a paywall, though. I don't know if subscriptions to Trains and CT (which I have) will qualify as a secret handshake or not.
Maybe they're just not done yet. Heck, I'm still waiting for America to complete our conversion to metric.
IN the palance of the Klambake's Coprporate I.T. jargon...."NEW" is one of those terms used to scare off the Pilgrims who post .... Personally, my faith has been shaken and victimizsed more than once in the last 20(or so years). IF, a new car was a product of I.T.
They would still have a crank, out front to start them.
BaltACDWhen I have gotten a 403 Forbidden error - when I use the back arrow at the top of the browser - what I intended to post comes back into view.
That is why what he seemed to be saying about having his post disappear was novel and alarming.
OvermodWait... you're saying that when you get one of these 403s it blanks the text in the post? I have plenty of spontaneous resets, where the page shivers a moment like a wet dog and resets itself, and everything typed is lost. But when there's a bad or slow connection and the submission 'times out', I still have the post text in the window and can resubmit it -- and I think that works if in the interim you sign out and then back in from a separate window or browser with the same credentials. As I understand the security model to work, a 403 is just an unhandled access failure, and you should still have your text buffered... Of course, a quick select-all-and-copy is always a prudent 'periodic' thing to do here, as is composing the posts on a word processor and pasting them in.
I have plenty of spontaneous resets, where the page shivers a moment like a wet dog and resets itself, and everything typed is lost. But when there's a bad or slow connection and the submission 'times out', I still have the post text in the window and can resubmit it -- and I think that works if in the interim you sign out and then back in from a separate window or browser with the same credentials. As I understand the security model to work, a 403 is just an unhandled access failure, and you should still have your text buffered...
Of course, a quick select-all-and-copy is always a prudent 'periodic' thing to do here, as is composing the posts on a word processor and pasting them in.
When I have gotten a 403 Forbidden error - when I use the back arrow at the top of the browser - what I intended to post comes back into view. If I attempt to enter it again, I will get the 403 Forbidden error again and again until I get tired and go onto something else.
Never too old to have a happy childhood!
Flintlock76And people think gremlins made their last appearance in Bugs Bunny cartoons.
[Note to mods: this is not serious. It is metaphorical and for entertainment purposes only. No harm to gremlins or other culturally-valued icons, appropriated through privilege or otherwise, is either contemplated or condoned thereby.]
And people think gremlins made their last appearance in Bugs Bunny cartoons.
They're still out there, just more diversified.
Wait... you're saying that when you get one of these 403s it blanks the text in the post?
Yes again. Have taken to copying posts before submitting.
Just got it and now I am posting W?????????????????
I seems if I am quoting a prior post in my reply I am more likely to get the 403 error. If I am posting 'straightaway' I am more likely to be successful.
The other thing I see - When the 403 comes up it is immediate. When a successful post is made there is a delay in processing.
Figured....
Weird thing is that I haven't had a 403 error on the General Discussion forum.
Wrote that a bit too soon.
It comes and it goes. Kalmbach IT.
Just tried deleting cookies and logging in again, still got the 403 error on the Transit forum.
I was getting 403's yesterday - deleted all the cookies from the various 'trains' sites in my browser and was able to get back posting.
I've gotten some 403's myself today, some on the "Classic Trains" Forum and some on "Classic Toy Trains."
Probably something to do with the rest of the mess 2020 has been.
FWIW, I've been getting the 403 forbidden error every time in trying to reply to a post on the Transit section. This was over a period of 15 hours and with two different browsers.
rdamonCan't match the precision of a cubit
Can't match the precision of a cubit
Semper Vaporo For measuring speed, I have always been partial to "FpF" (Furlongs per Fortnight). I think 1 FpF is the speed of the tip of the minute hand on clock of a diameter of about 6-inches.
For measuring speed, I have always been partial to "FpF" (Furlongs per Fortnight).
I think 1 FpF is the speed of the tip of the minute hand on clock of a diameter of about 6-inches.
All sorts of fun conversions; FpF, along with volume in acre-ft, area in square yards, flow in ..??.., etc...
from the Far East of the Sunset Route
(In the shadow of the Huey P Long bridge)
Overmod The problem for the meretric system is that (1) in precise science, origin stories matter, and (2) in matters of ultimate precision, close is no cigar. What rational system defines its unit of length in fractional wavelengths of an emission spectrum?
The problem for the meretric system is that (1) in precise science, origin stories matter, and (2) in matters of ultimate precision, close is no cigar. What rational system defines its unit of length in fractional wavelengths of an emission spectrum?
The latest definition of the meter is a given fraction of the distance that light travels in one second - various metrology geeks figured out how to measure frequency of either NIR or optical wavelengths and the decision was made to fix the speed of light and use advances in metrology to better define the meter.
The current standard inch is defined as a relatively simple fraction of a meter, leading some interesting results where the U.S. Letter size paper sheet can be expressed exactly with a tenth of a millimeter resolution where A4 paper can only be approximated.
OvermodProof that the Creator intended English units to be best!
"If God had intended the world to use the metric system, he would have had 10 Apostles"
___Anonymous
Our community is FREE to join. To participate you must either login or register for an account.