The AH Coffee Shop and Reading Room 09

[Bubo_bubo]

I need to work on keeping my posts free of clues! lol

(I was going to go back and delete the 3 hour part...then realize, waiiit. I'd have to delete all the hourly things.)

Yes ... west coast.

Keep the clues spread out and none in your profile. (And woman on US West Coast that's still a fuck load of people to sift through, a lot more than white guys in Bamako - though less info available on that last one).

 

[Duleigh]

You may not. It's not your computing devices, it's the millions and millions of computers you don't see nor have any control over that, in a way, influence your life.

DST is actually a case in point! IIRC, the 2007 rule change fubar'ed thousands of ATMs with Intel-based computers inside running an already-obsolete version of Windows XT. The then-current upgrade with the new DST rules couldn't run on the old hardware. Those ATMs' internals had to be upgraded, which setup a chain of changes at every level, in many cases requiring replacement of the entire terminal.

I was administering high-end region-wide traffic control systems at the time. It was a real scramble loading the new DST system on the two dozen controllers in my computer room. While the hardware was good, the changes that needed to be loaded had other pieces - we call them "dependencies" - that also required updating. It took about a month to get everything in order, gathering the pieces one glitch at a time. In the meanwhile I was manually adjusting times every day when the time sync routines activated on their schedule. Not pretty.

In the cable industry the DST changeover was a NIGHTMARE for the digital operators. Everything had to be working on the same time within a second or two of each other, conditional access controllers, billing systems, and every single cable box out there regardless of how old it is. Scripts had to be run to make sure the controllers sent out the DST change to every box because if the box and the controllers are not synced, the guide would be wrong, impulse pay per view would shut down (necessitating refunds) and Video on Demand no longer worked.

As a conditional access engineer I sat up all night on a huge conference all with engineers of all specialties from all over the company waiting for reports from the field to come in and being the guy who owned the controllers, I was target #1 when the calls came in. And they always came in. So often it was a script that had a flaw and missed a series of boxes, or a region whose connectivity was sketchy when the scripts ran. Worst of all was a series of boxes that came out of Cisco that was "invulnerable" to the DST scripts and since they were inexpensive, they were EVERYWHERE in the system.

In retrospect I am so glad I was given the opportunity to go home and rest up for the rest of my life.

 

[Bubo_bubo]

Computers and machines should all function on UTC and then just show/tell/... their meatpuppet users whatever time they're comfortable with.

 

[DarkRaven13]

In retrospect I am so glad I was given the opportunity to go home and rest up for the rest of my life.

But....but wait! Until the March 2023 change timeframe that was discussed ... wouldn't your rest be more like ...

- "...rest up for the rest of my life ....plus an hour." Or ...
- "... rest up for the rest of my life ... minus an hour?"

Sorry lol, I am being silly today.

 

[Duleigh]

I need to work on keeping my posts free of clues! lol

(I was going to go back and delete the 3 hour part...then realize, waiiit. I'd have to delete all the hourly things.)

Yes ... west coast.

LOL
Yeah, there's no crowds to hide in on the west coast, are there DR?

View attachment 2182261

 

[Duleigh]

But....but wait! Until the March 2023 change timeframe that was discussed ... wouldn't your rest be more like ...

- "...rest up for the rest of my life ....plus an hour." Or ...
- "... rest up for the rest of my life ... minus an hour?"

Sorry lol, I am being silly today.

I intend to live for an entire year so it will all even out

 

[Handley_Page]

Microsoft has had perfectly fine systems?

They've had one or two in the last thirty years;
But they have this annoying habit of thinking that 'modern is best - regardless

Computers and machines should all function on UTC and then just show/tell/... their meatpuppet users whatever time they're comfortable with.

Here here.
There's a lot of UK citizens who'd much rather leave the GMT alone.
Any fool can start /finish an hour earlier. . . . .

I need a brew.

 

[Duleigh]

They've had one or two in the last thirty years;
But they have this annoying habit of thinking that 'modern is best - regardless

Believe it or not but Windows XP was a very stable platform, I had a series of application servers that ran on XP and the only think I had to do was log in on occasion and clean out the .tmp files. those machines lasted well beyond the XP "Drop Dead" date because MicroSoft hadn't come out with a usable replacement.

Windows 10 was fairly close to good, it doesn't have the long-term stability that XP or NT had, but Windows 11, what a nightmare! Unstable, Unreliable, UGLY what a hunk of crap! 12 minutes to boot up completely! I was beta testing 11 since Day 1 and it's gotten to the point where it hangs and crashes daily and all I'm running is MS Office. I miss Windows 7, it looked so much better than this childish glop...

 

[TxRad]

D, that is why I stopped at W-7 and added Umbuta to the mix. Dual boot is the only way to go if you want the best of both worlds.

The evening coffee is a little early but... what's an hour here or there.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I don't know why, I just felt like a cup of Earl Grey tea this morning to go with my cackleberries.

I'm sure I'll get over it.

 

[TxRad]

Lets us know how that comes out tomorrow, Rusty.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Well, regardless of time changes due to DST, all I know is, because of Lit (and other social media where you can interact with people around the globe) .... I am soooo much better at world time!

NY City = 3Hr ahead
Italy = 9 Hr ahead
Australia = uhm ... okay, I still am learning them. Stop judging me.

All you need to remember for Australia is, they're "tomorrow".

 

[TxRad]

Looks like I'll be making the midnight coffee on my way to bed.

 

[dmallord]

And with all this time travel, er, time shifting, or is that shape shifting events ... I still find the coffee here still has the same excellent taste regardless of the time zone in which you partake of it.

It's to the point in my timeframe that I gauge time by looking at my neighbor's driveway: if it has a trashcan set out, I put out mine; if there is a newspaper in my yard it's either a Monday through Saturday - unless the delivery guy missed a day. My doctors leave voicemail reminders, thankfully or I would miss those.

I'm glad the Macintosh puts up that Tue Oct 11 11:57 PM flag up in the corner as a reminder for me to know I'm about to cross into another usual day of retirement.

Thanks for the cup of deliciousness, Tx.

 

[FifthEstate]

All this talk of computers, software, and time zones gives me a headache…what’s for breakfast TxR?

 

[sirhugs]

And with all this time travel, er, time shifting, or is that shape shifting events ... I still find the coffee here still has the same excellent taste regardless of the time zone in which you partake of it.

It's to the point in my timeframe that I gauge time by looking at my neighbor's driveway: if it has a trashcan set out, I put out mine; if there is a newspaper in my yard it's either a Monday through Saturday - unless the delivery guy missed a day. My doctors leave voicemail reminders, thankfully or I would miss those.

I'm glad the Macintosh puts up that Tue Oct 11 11:57 PM flag up in the corner as a reminder for me to know I'm about to cross into another usual day of retirement.

Thanks for the cup of deliciousness, Tx.

which raises the question whether or not plot bunnies can tell time... with or without coffee.

 

[Handley_Page]

It's morning, and a cool one at that.
GMT will restart on the last Sunday this month.

Preparations to reset the clocks (again) are in hand:
View attachment 2182342

 

[Rustyoznail]

It's such a pain adjusting those sundials.

 

[Lifestyle66]

Awaiting my first mug of coffee.

My LW troll poker went live today: "A Gathering of Trolls" 'Ambitious friends look in on the slut and her husband.'

It's at 2.26 with 14 ratings!
Now 15 minutes later, it's at 2.06 with three more 1's!

 

[TxRad]

I'll make the coffee while Lifestyles score continues into the bottomless pit.

Don't even ask about breakfast. I need at least one cuppa and a shower. Don't ask.

Never feed plot bunnies coffee. It could cause a stampede that could stop the spin of the world.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I'll make the coffee while Lifestyles score continues into the bottomless pit.

Don't even ask about breakfast. I need at least one cuppa and a shower. Don't ask.

Never feed plot bunnies coffee. It could cause a stampede that could stop the spin of the world.

It's not a bottomless pit. The bottom is at 1.00.

But I'm now at 2.00 with 18 ratings!

 

[Rustyoznail]

It's not a bottomless pit. The bottom is at 1.00.

But I'm now at 2.00 with 18 ratings!

Well done Sir! You have indeed stirred up the troll nest and you should delight in your magnificent accomplishment. Truly a five-star effort.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Thx for the coffee, Tex. Does anyone else need one while I'm pouring....

View attachment 2182359

 

[Duleigh]

I'll make the coffee while Lifestyles score continues into the bottomless pit.

Don't even ask about breakfast. I need at least one cuppa and a shower. Don't ask.

Never feed plot bunnies coffee. It could cause a stampede that could stop the spin of the world.

I gave A Gathering of Trolls a 5 mostly for capturing the true essence of the On Line Troll. I was thinking of a 4 because Lifestyle missed their habits of kicking puppies and swearing at young girls, but the nosepickers were fairly represented.

I made that coffee/plot bunny mistake once, it was espresso. They didn't stop gnawing on the wall paper until I hit Chapter 17 ( ͡• ͜ʖ ͡• )

 

[Rustyoznail]

Thx for the coffee, Tex. Does anyone else need one while I'm pouring....

View attachment 2182359

Hi Chloe! Good to see you! No thanks. A bit late at night for me, but I do have the Irish part of Irish coffee beside me.