At about three last night, I was woken by constant thunder and lightning. It was continuous, more continuous than I have ever heard in my life. Then strong winds and heavy rain were added.
Fortunately, we only had one set of windows open and I was able to close them before much rain came in.
Then the lighted clock went dark.
I tried to sleep, but the light of every lightning bolt went right through my eyelids. I laid on my stomach and hid my face in the pillow.
I don’t know how long it took the storm to pass, but it did.
At about seven, I woke up and checked Duluth news on my iPhone. It was quite a wide ranging storm causing outages and deaths. Trees were toppled blocking roads and damaging houses. No travel was advised.
All day our cell phone service has been erratic. Sometimes our phones work, sometimes we can’t even get a signal.
I can see a cell phone pole from our house, but I can’t remember if it had visible equipment at the top or not.
My wife couldn’t even call on her phone. The call could not be completed.
The strength of signal was one bar most of the day; my phone is now up to four. But instead of 4G or LTE service, it only shows E, whatever that means.
I was able to get websites, now loading some of them gets stuck. I wonder how much local data there is. Just now I could not load Yahoo! Finance, but I could get most of the New York Times. But going to a different article is going very slow, but maybe that is because convention news is so popular. On the other hand, the online banking page of my bank is not making any progress loading on my iPhone. Meanwhile, I started and finished reading a convention article.
So much for the seamless, at-our-fingertips operation of our gadgets we rely so much on. We are retired and it is only a nuisance. But there are many people who depend on these gadgets to do their work.
Now, how long will this take to post? Essentially, quite a while. As soon as I typed the first sentence, I tried loading blogger.com. Firefox could not find the page!
Finally! At 4:30 pm the web seems back to normal. I have five dots and LTE on my cellphone and Yahoo! Finance came right up!
Can our electricity be far behind?
Showing posts with label seamless. Show all posts
Showing posts with label seamless. Show all posts
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Sunday, July 06, 2014
The Meaning of Meaningless Words and Phrases
As seen on TV
I think I saw this phrase about a week ago as I flung another of the countless flyers we get in the mail into the recycle box. So how does “As seen on TV” make any product better than any other product, whether seen on TV or not seen on TV. The actor John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt was paid to act out a script touting the features of the Okey Dokey Wonder Tool. Is the Okey Dokey company going to say anything about the faults of their Wonder Tool? Oh, they might have a small print disclaimer like “results may vary” or “not to be used by children under twelve.”
Did you, dear astute reader, catch my meaningless word - countless? I am going to weasel on that one and state that countless doesn’t mean without end; it means I am not counting them.
Almost endless
How are the uses of any product almost endless? Or infinite? No matter how many uses of a product you find, you will have found only a finite number of uses. If everybody in the world found found even more uses, they will still have found only a finite number of uses. If all future generations found even more uses, they will still have found only a finite number of uses. And when the sun explodes or burns out, the number of uses found will still be a finite number.
Seamless operation
I thought this expression had fallen out of use, but Apple CEO Tim Cook used it at the recent developer’s conference. He really should visit the online Apple User Community to find out how seamless Apple software is not. Especially how operations that were once simple and obvious have become complex and obtuse.
It seems to me that the more complicated software becomes, the more glitches and operational quirks there are. Sure, I can do a lot more with computers than I did even five years ago, but I have an even longer list of problems that I haven’t found a round tuit to resolve.
Perfect gift
This “omniscient” phrase appeared in dozens of ads for hundreds of products before Father’s Day. “Just what Dad wants.” First, how do these advertisers even know what each and very father wants? Second, this father really didn’t want any of the products advertised. Third, our family doesn’t give gifts on Father’s Day. Fourth, our family doesn’t celebrate Father’s day. Fifth, this curmudgeonly father doesn’t even care.
Business friendly
Many judge cities and states on how “business-friendly” they are. That is, are taxes low, are subsidies given for relocation, are environmental laws relaxed? Rarely are cities and states judged by the “business-friendly” crowd as to how well the police and fire departments operate, how good the roads and utilities are, and how willing people are to move for reasons other than being moved there by the new or expanding company.
“Business-friendly” often means “corporate-friendly”. Local businesses are often the losers when a corporation moves in. What happened to the local stationery store when Office Depot moved into downtown Duluth? How many other local businesses were disrupted? How long did Office Depot stay in downtown Duluth? More and more chain drug stores have been opened in Duluth. When was the last time you visited a locally-owned pharmacy?
The good news is that there are still several locally-owned businesses in Duluth. Be truly business-friendly and support them with your business.
Voters decided/Investors decided
I wish journalists would stop using these sweeping generalizations to describe the choices of a minority. I’ve written over and over how a minority of eligible or even registered voters chose the eventual winners of an election. When it comes to “investors decided”, the proportion of “deciders” is a tiny fraction of “investors”.
First, how often are the “investors” day-traders? Second, how often are the “day-traders” computers programmed to look for the tiniest advantage?
The real investors are those who buy and hold for years. They invested because they believed in the purpose of the company, because they perceived long-term growth, or because they wanted steady dividends. These investors are not deciding the daily gyrations of the stock markets.
Conservative and liberal
It seems these terms have devolved into if you are one of these then you are on the good side and the other is the bad side. Conservatives have devolved from those who deliberated carefully to those who believe in a long list of bullet points, even if some of these are contradictory, like abortion is bad and war is good. Liberals have devolved from those who were generous to those in real need to those who support a long list of groups who they see as disadvantaged.
The “conservatives” have managed to put the “liberals” on the defensive.
Maybe someday we will once again have more conservatives like Ross Douthat and David Brooks and liberals like Paul Krugman and Eugene Robinson. These and several others in government and journalism look at the “big picture” rather than narrow interests.
Mel would have visited three locally-owned businesses the day he wrote this, but he wimped out when the wind blew dust on his contact lenses.
Also published in the Reader Weekly, 2014-07-03 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/07/03/3656_the_meaning_of_meaningless_words_and_phrases
I think I saw this phrase about a week ago as I flung another of the countless flyers we get in the mail into the recycle box. So how does “As seen on TV” make any product better than any other product, whether seen on TV or not seen on TV. The actor John Jacob Jingleheimer Schmidt was paid to act out a script touting the features of the Okey Dokey Wonder Tool. Is the Okey Dokey company going to say anything about the faults of their Wonder Tool? Oh, they might have a small print disclaimer like “results may vary” or “not to be used by children under twelve.”
Did you, dear astute reader, catch my meaningless word - countless? I am going to weasel on that one and state that countless doesn’t mean without end; it means I am not counting them.
Almost endless
How are the uses of any product almost endless? Or infinite? No matter how many uses of a product you find, you will have found only a finite number of uses. If everybody in the world found found even more uses, they will still have found only a finite number of uses. If all future generations found even more uses, they will still have found only a finite number of uses. And when the sun explodes or burns out, the number of uses found will still be a finite number.
Seamless operation
I thought this expression had fallen out of use, but Apple CEO Tim Cook used it at the recent developer’s conference. He really should visit the online Apple User Community to find out how seamless Apple software is not. Especially how operations that were once simple and obvious have become complex and obtuse.
It seems to me that the more complicated software becomes, the more glitches and operational quirks there are. Sure, I can do a lot more with computers than I did even five years ago, but I have an even longer list of problems that I haven’t found a round tuit to resolve.
Perfect gift
This “omniscient” phrase appeared in dozens of ads for hundreds of products before Father’s Day. “Just what Dad wants.” First, how do these advertisers even know what each and very father wants? Second, this father really didn’t want any of the products advertised. Third, our family doesn’t give gifts on Father’s Day. Fourth, our family doesn’t celebrate Father’s day. Fifth, this curmudgeonly father doesn’t even care.
Business friendly
Many judge cities and states on how “business-friendly” they are. That is, are taxes low, are subsidies given for relocation, are environmental laws relaxed? Rarely are cities and states judged by the “business-friendly” crowd as to how well the police and fire departments operate, how good the roads and utilities are, and how willing people are to move for reasons other than being moved there by the new or expanding company.
“Business-friendly” often means “corporate-friendly”. Local businesses are often the losers when a corporation moves in. What happened to the local stationery store when Office Depot moved into downtown Duluth? How many other local businesses were disrupted? How long did Office Depot stay in downtown Duluth? More and more chain drug stores have been opened in Duluth. When was the last time you visited a locally-owned pharmacy?
The good news is that there are still several locally-owned businesses in Duluth. Be truly business-friendly and support them with your business.
Voters decided/Investors decided
I wish journalists would stop using these sweeping generalizations to describe the choices of a minority. I’ve written over and over how a minority of eligible or even registered voters chose the eventual winners of an election. When it comes to “investors decided”, the proportion of “deciders” is a tiny fraction of “investors”.
First, how often are the “investors” day-traders? Second, how often are the “day-traders” computers programmed to look for the tiniest advantage?
The real investors are those who buy and hold for years. They invested because they believed in the purpose of the company, because they perceived long-term growth, or because they wanted steady dividends. These investors are not deciding the daily gyrations of the stock markets.
Conservative and liberal
It seems these terms have devolved into if you are one of these then you are on the good side and the other is the bad side. Conservatives have devolved from those who deliberated carefully to those who believe in a long list of bullet points, even if some of these are contradictory, like abortion is bad and war is good. Liberals have devolved from those who were generous to those in real need to those who support a long list of groups who they see as disadvantaged.
The “conservatives” have managed to put the “liberals” on the defensive.
Maybe someday we will once again have more conservatives like Ross Douthat and David Brooks and liberals like Paul Krugman and Eugene Robinson. These and several others in government and journalism look at the “big picture” rather than narrow interests.
Mel would have visited three locally-owned businesses the day he wrote this, but he wimped out when the wind blew dust on his contact lenses.
Also published in the Reader Weekly, 2014-07-03 at http://duluthreader.com/articles/2014/07/03/3656_the_meaning_of_meaningless_words_and_phrases
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Software systems working incorrectly? What's new?
I'm cleaning up lots of old notes and I found this feedback that I sent to Apple on 2002-12-18. Sorry, the referenced article is not available on Yahoo.com anymore. You can find it at http://arstechnica.com/civis/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=728071 with lots of sarcastic commentary.
Beginning of feedback
I concur with Mike Berman's article at http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20021218/bs_nf/20277. Although I don't have the degree of problems he has, there are many things in OS X and software written for OS X that definitely do not provide "seamless" operation.
Instead of putting flashy new interfaces or applications into OS X, I wish Apple would devote far more resources to making OS X a truly effortless operating system. For example, when I select a server to access a computer connected to mine by a single Ethernet cable, it takes a long time and then OS X starts dialing the phone!!!!
Second, it would help users greatly if Apple certified third-party software as being "seamless". For example, Microsoft does not have a consistent handling of text among Office products (Word to Entourage is worst). For example, I can click on Send Messages in Entourage and it will connect with Internet Connect and wait for the connection. If I select a site from Favorites in Internet Explorer, it starts the connection but says the server can't be found when the connection is made.
Third, it would help if Apple would certify major web sites as being "seamless" for Macintosh users. Try using Ameritrade.com with a Macintosh; many of the fancy features just don't work or can be erratic.
I don't see any point to upgrading to OS X 10.2 at a cost of $200 for two computers for features I don't have any great need for and I don't have any guarantee all the little gotchas in 10.1 have been fixed.
Apple has been a leader in user friendly software for 18 years. I hope Apple will now turn its focus to being a leader in software reliability.
End of feedback
Has it been eleven years since I learned to be a late adapter? Well, I haven't completely learned my lesson. iOS 7 had a huge learning curve, and I still encounter many annoyances. And in 29 years they still haven't learned to "do it right" on the first release. And people expect the ACA systems to work seamlessly on the first day?
Beginning of feedback
I concur with Mike Berman's article at http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nf/20021218/bs_nf/20277. Although I don't have the degree of problems he has, there are many things in OS X and software written for OS X that definitely do not provide "seamless" operation.
Instead of putting flashy new interfaces or applications into OS X, I wish Apple would devote far more resources to making OS X a truly effortless operating system. For example, when I select a server to access a computer connected to mine by a single Ethernet cable, it takes a long time and then OS X starts dialing the phone!!!!
Second, it would help users greatly if Apple certified third-party software as being "seamless". For example, Microsoft does not have a consistent handling of text among Office products (Word to Entourage is worst). For example, I can click on Send Messages in Entourage and it will connect with Internet Connect and wait for the connection. If I select a site from Favorites in Internet Explorer, it starts the connection but says the server can't be found when the connection is made.
Third, it would help if Apple would certify major web sites as being "seamless" for Macintosh users. Try using Ameritrade.com with a Macintosh; many of the fancy features just don't work or can be erratic.
I don't see any point to upgrading to OS X 10.2 at a cost of $200 for two computers for features I don't have any great need for and I don't have any guarantee all the little gotchas in 10.1 have been fixed.
Apple has been a leader in user friendly software for 18 years. I hope Apple will now turn its focus to being a leader in software reliability.
End of feedback
Has it been eleven years since I learned to be a late adapter? Well, I haven't completely learned my lesson. iOS 7 had a huge learning curve, and I still encounter many annoyances. And in 29 years they still haven't learned to "do it right" on the first release. And people expect the ACA systems to work seamlessly on the first day?
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