OT - Views on Death (friend died today)

[Bill Rogers]

Rubbish. It's just a feeble excuse for no-brainers to publish it and think it's still OK. Filling in a woodworking conference with tons of other material is simply a childish, selfish whim. This newsgroup is plugged to the teeth with off-topic subjects by people who have nothing to say about woodworking since they can't tell pine from oak. You have to sift through all the crap to find anything worth reading, and the more off-topic subjects there are the more useless it is to try. Sure it's OK to post that crap. You have the same rights as anyone. Just find the brains, maturity, and common decency to post it somewhere else.

I'm in other newsgroups that have *no* off-topic content; just people sharing knowledge back and forth. You wouldn't believe the difference if I explained it.

Bill.

[Mark Hopkins]

[Dave Hinz]

No, it's been the Usenet standard for well over a decade. Perhaps you weren't around when it was hashed out originally, that's too bad. Maybe you could have brought fresh insite to the discussion.

Assumptions like this are nearly always wrong.

Only if you're too ignorant and/or lazy to set up a filter. If AOL doesn't give you the ability to filter and/or killfile by sender, or by keyword, or by subject, or by number of groups a message is crossposted to, or any other number of things, then your complaint should be against the crappy newsreader you're using, rather than the people following a convention which was agreed upon LONG before you showed up.

We are. We're posting it in a thread with OT in the subject line. Your newsreader does let you at least see the subject lines, doesn't it? I know, it's more fun to complain than to actually take the effort of looking at the subject, is that it?

I've been on usenet since 1992, Bill, so your condescending tone doesn't impress me. In any group of friends, you'll have side-discussions, arguments, vaguely relevant conversations, and just plain silliness from time to time. This forum is no different than a bunch of people who work together - not all the talk will be all work, all the time.

It is what it is, Bill. It's not going to change because someone complains about something that they could control for themselves if they'd expend a minimum of effort to do so.

[Doug Winterburn]

I kind of miss the IBM 7074 with 32K oil warmed (50 gallons of oil) memory (36 bit words). Had to turn on the oil heater a day or two ahead of booting.

-Doug

[Doug Winterburn]

Oops, 7094.

[Fred the Red Shirt]

I suggest that the expedient thing to do is to put Bill Rogers in a killfile, though that doesn;t deal with the follow-ups, like this one.

[Bill Rogers]

Well, I was right about the no-brainer.

Bill.

[Bill Rogers]

I've been there much longer than that [bulletin boards preceded the widespread interest in the internet, which was originated by physicists to share their information around the world], and working with computers since the 60s, so it's you trying to be condescending. I also know that (i) a Hell of a lot more people would be here contributing if it wasn't clogged with such crap, and (ii) a lot of decent newsgroups have gone belly up because their entire focus changed by either SPAM or OT discussions.

I have no intention of trying to impress you. The argument about getting a filter [I know how and much more] is like you wanting to smoke at a party and telling the non-smokers to wear a mask, or leave if they don't like it. It's the same stupid selfish attitude. For those who can't read, this is a "woodworking" forum. You said you know about the subject. Putting OT in the subject line doesn't make it a legitimate contribution to this forum for discussion about woodworking. It just says, "Screw you, I can say anything I want anytime because I'm in control." As I said, it's just a childish excuse to fill space and to Hell with anyone else, a freaky control mechanism.

So, what do you have to say about woodworking in general? Any neat techniques you'd like to share? Or are you really more interested in the other crap.

Bill.

[Trent©]

But its not gonna change if someone doesn't COMPLAIN, either.

Bill made a very good point...you might at least take it to heart...instead of arguing with him.

Although he doesn't need to download any off-topic messages, its kinda difficult not to see the rest of the subject header. For you, its just another off-topic subject. But, to Bill, its much more meaningful.

He probably came here to get away from his problems...not to have somebody amplify his condition with a reminder.

Just my 2¢...

Have a nice week...

Trent©

What do you call a smart blonde? A golden retriever.

[JLucas ILS]

Bill, Point well taken. Woodworkingis great medicine for ill people and canacer victims

[Norman D. Crow]

No, I missed that one. Most of the stuff I knew about was NCR proprietary. I apprenticed on the NCR304 in 1960, IIRC had 40K memory of 60 bit words(10 characters), used Ampex tape drives with NO inter-record gap. Printer was a

200LPM drum using 340VDC for hammers, firing a charged capacitior through a thyratron.

[Dave Hinz]

Might as well complain that we drive on the right side of the road. Too little, too late, not gonna change. It's not like clearly-labeled OT posts on Usenet are even in the top million list of problems of modern society.

The solution is simple - subject lines with OT in them are that way because they're simple to filter out if one choses. He choses not to exercise that option so he can whine about it, I am chosing to point out that his snivelling about something he could so easily deal with effectively, is annoying.

I can't imagine why.

So he can filter by subject, or by senders, or both. Can't mention death because someone may have a disease? Are we not to say "old" in reference to tools because someone might be elderly? May we not say "neander" because someone might have a sloping forhead?

Always do.

[Dave Hinz]

Amazing, then, that with all that experience you never noticed this particular convention before.

Both of which are easy to filter out, Bill. Why do you complain about something that you refuse to help yourself with?

Bullshit, Bill. It's like you going into a clearly-marked smoking section and complaining that people are smoking there.

No, it's a way of saying "These are people I hang out with, and we're having a side discussion that you can come in and listen to if you want."

There's a freaky control mechanism being attempted here, Bill, but it's not by the people putting OT in their headers.

I quite honestly don't find much interest in sharing any insights with you, as you don't strike me as the kind of person whose company I enjoy.

[Dave Balderstone]

Good for you, Bill. Why don't you go back to them?

[Mark Hopkins]

Well good then. I am glad you are taking the advice and getting your prescriptions refilled and taking some time to review Mr. Rogers Neighborhood programs again. I know you'll learn something from them as Fred has a way of teaching the lessons so that even the very young ones can understand him.

Good for you Bill!

[Larry Blanchard]

I never saw anyone quite as irritable as an IBM CE who had to replace a bad core doughnut on our 7094. They're little, and they're very slippery when covered with oil.

We all tiptoed around him until he was done :-).

[Larry Blanchard]

If you looked at the coding on those cards, they actually represented two rows of paper tape, 45 columns each.

And I also remember Univac had 90 column cards even earlier, but I don't recall the coding on those.

[charlie b]

Kurta?

charlie b

[Renata]

to borrow from an old saying, it's better to be thought an insensitive a$$hole then open one's mouth and prove it.

You shoulda taken note of the "OT" and shuddup, dearie.

R

[Joe Gorman]

He had to rewire a single core into the stack? Joe