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Monday, February 26, 2007
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Monday, February 26, 2007
February 2007
Monkey Junkies
Wednesday Author Interview: Hal Duncan
If You're Spending This Much on a Brownie, You're Officially Insane
Which Month Has 28 Days?
As Long As the Computers Don't Start Writing For Us, I'm Fine
Fun With Alternate History
I hate My Job, And My Coffee Break Isn't Notably Satisfying, Either
Now to Work on My Maniacal Monster Laugh! Bwa Ha Ha Ha Hah!
How Is This Even Possible?
Your Monday Photo Shoot: Fridge Magnets!
Catastrophic Tales of Computer Crankery!
Teaching the Kids About money
A New Look at Mars
On the Oscars
This is My Excuse For Sleeping 12 Hours a Day
More Fun Than the Oscars Will Be
The Coolest Rainbow Picture You'll See Today
Fun With Tape
From the "Watch before the Cease and Desist Notice Arrives" File
Your Friday Game: Virus 2
The Quest for Autumn
Another Entry for the "When You Have More More Money Than Sense" File
Ahhh, MUCH Better
Weekend Assignment #153: When Computers Attack
Friends in High Places
Deliciously Diggtastic
More Fog and Ice
The Perils of Group Think
Why You Want to Date a Geek
Hey, Want Some Fog?
My Name is Джон Скальци.
The Dark Side of Internet Fame
Perhaps the Best Summation as to Why Stress is Different for Humans
Free Pancakes!
You're a Liar
Your Monday Photo Shoot: Such Great Heights
Cats, Dogs, Captions
My Airline Bill of Rights Would Include All the Honey-Roasted Peanuts I Could Eat!
Kid Monsters, All Grown Up
A Tradition, Belated
Audio entry
Nuts
Audio entry
"Loyal" Pets
Weekend Assignment #152: Caption This Photo!
Phoning it In
I Can't Wait to Get the Millard Fillmore Dollar Coin!
Travel Day
Congratulations Heather and Jason!
How Much Snow We Got Last Night
Wednesday Author Interview: Joe Hill
The Man Who Fell To Earth... and Lived
Happy Valentine's Day
Snow Update
Clever Kid
Cubicle Spouses
Just the Advice You Need
This One Goes Out to All You Geeks in Love
Snow Day
Because a Cat's the Only Cat That Knows Where It's At
Your Monday Photo Shoot: On the Phone
The Truth About Valentine's Day
Awesome Buildings, According To You
When Hip Web Sites Try Too Hard
Two Absolutely, Totally Unrelated Things
Exotic Laptoppery
A Story To Cure You Forever of the Desire to Swim in the Amazon
In the Future, Your House Might Be Made of Poo
The Very Latest in Law School Grading Techniques
Definitely the Strangest Damn Thing You'll See Today
Dude, I'll Be Here Until April
Out of Africa
"Of course, what we really need is a vaccine against zombies."
Donny Osmond's Street Cred Has Just Gone Up With the Kids
Weekend Assignment #151: Valentine's Day -- Fun or Forced?
In Your Eyes
The Sweet, Sweet Sound of Cashing In
Note: The Driving 900 Miles in a Diaper Thing? Not as Crazy as it Sounds
Mothra, Now. Mothra is ENTIRELY Plausible.
How Marriage Proposals Get Done, 2007
Of Course, Now The Robbers Will Just Start Cruising the Kid's Room
The Logical End of The Web
You Can Live On It, But It's Not Fun
Snow and Sick Kid Update
Please Note, However, That Stamps Are Not Hard to Come By
The Super Bowl in Three Minutes
Listen to What I Write: An Audio Book From Me
Three Links Which For Some Reason Seem Like They Ought To Be Placed Near Each Other
Sick Kid Alert
Your Monday Photo Shoot: The Eyes Have It!
Hike!
Night Lights
The Only Reason to Watch the Super Bowl if You Weren't From the Midwest
That Would Explain It
I Still Want A Mustang
Just Out of Curiosity...
The Microwave: Not Just For Exploding Eggs Anymore
The Coolest Picture of a Wave You'll See Today
Zeus is Back, and He's Annoyed You've Been Ignoring Him
Gahhhh
The Girl Gave Me Some Fish Sticks and Suddenly Here I Am in Niagra Falls
Now We Know Why Punxsutawney Phil Called For an Early Spring
And Now A Long-Term Forecast From The Most Reliable Rodent Weatherman Ever!
Weekend Assignment #150 (or, CL): Your First Super Bowl
Light Shows
Playing With Vista
Finally, You Can Blame it On Something Other Than Your Propensity to Eat a Case of Twinkies a Day
In Prison, You're Not Supposed to Drink the Soap Either
« February 2007 Archive
Monday, February 26, 2007
3:38:00 PM EST
Hearing Nothing at the moment

Catastrophic Tales of Computer Crankery!


For the Weekend Assignment I asked folks to share their tales of computer disaster. They did not disappoint:

When computers choke on coursework.

Oh noes! The computer doesn't react well to being poked around in!

Third time's the charm with the computer? Let's hope so.

"I broke my daughter's computer."

"I have no dramatic stories for you tonight of a computer's animosity..." One of the lucky ones speaks.

"I jokingly refer to her as 'Megan,' as in 'this computer is making me crazy,'"

"It's cracked at the power source."

"I try never to upgrade when I'm in the middle of a big project, but that's not always possible - not when the hard drive starts making noises like a ratchet wrench or the printer goes belly-up in the middle of a huge run."

"I cannot remember any specific horror stories to relate ... I just remember that I learned (like you learn not to touch a hot stove) not EVER to utter the phrase, 'I wonder what would happen IF....'"

When computers work for some people and not others.

Not so much a computer problem as a support complaint.

"The third bit of the 1653rd byte of the Screen Display was intermittent."

"I spent the next 72 hours, stopping only for necessities like coffee, bathroom breaks and ten-minute power naps every so often, reconstructing the document from previous printed drafts at home on my own machine."

Makes you really, really, really want to back up all your stuff, it does.

Thanks everyone -- this was good stuff.


Written by johnmscalzi Blog about this entry
This entry has 4 comments: (Add your own)
  • #4 Comment from marciepooh1976 
    2/27/07 11:32 AM Permalink
    I didn't see anyone who managed to have a computer go as dead, and yet still turn on, as my family did.  When I was in school we had a computer that started freexing up more and more often.  Eventually it would sometimes freeze up with only one program running.  Slowly it died.  The last few times it was turned on the only thing that came up was a large cartoon of a disk being put in the drive.  Dad figured it had been hit with an electrical surge that had also, slowly, taken out a VCR.
    I've never hit a computer but it's a good thing I didn't have my rock hammer in the computer labs!  SGIs are expensive I hear.
  • #3 Comment from monponsett 
    2/27/07 8:40 AM Permalink
    It would have been funny if you got all these links gathered... then the computer cut out, and you had to do it all over again.

    "Funny" like "ironic," not "ha-ha."
  • #2 Comment from mavarin 
    2/26/07 5:02 PM Permalink
    Hey!  You edited my sniglet into the root word!  The term is inanimosity: the apparent animosity displayed by inanimate objects.  I would have thought you'd have caught that, even if I did fail to explain it this time.
  • #1 Comment from princesssaurora 
    2/26/07 4:38 PM Permalink
    Hammers are good...

    lol

    be well,
    Dawn
    http://journals.aol.com/princesssaurora/CarpeDiem/