In Computers We Trust

At a recent computer software engineering course, the participants were given an awkward question to answer:

“If you had just boarded an airliner and discovered that your team of programmers had been responsible for the flight control software, how many of you would disembark immediately?”

Among the ensuing forest of raised hands only one man sat motionless. When asked what he would do, he replied that he would be quite content to stay aboard.

With his team’s software, he said, the plane was unlikely to even taxi as far as the runway, let alone take off.

Girlfriend And Wife 1.0

Last year a friend of mine upgraded GirlFriend 1.0 to Wife 1.0 and found that it’s a memory hog leaving very little system resources for other applications. He is only now noticing that Wife 1.0 also is spawning Child-Processes which are further consuming valuable resources. No mention of this particular phenomena was included in the product brochure or the documentation, though other users have informed him that this is to be expected due to the nature of the application. Not only that, Wife 1.0 installs itself such that it is always launched at system initialization where it can monitor all other system activity. He’s finding that some applications such as PokerNight 10.3, BeerBash 2.5, and PubNight 7.0 are no longer able to run in the system at all, crashing the system when selected (even though they always worked fine before).

At installation, Wife 1.0 provides no option as to the installation of undesired Plug-Ins such as MotherInLaw 55.8 and BrotherInLaw Beta release. Also, system performance seems to diminish with each passing day.

The features he’d like to see in the upcoming Wife 2.0 include:

- A”Don’t remind me again” button
- Minimize button
- An install shield feature that allows Wife 2.0 to be installed with the option to uninstall at anytime without the loss of cache and other system resources.
An option to run the network driver in promiscuous mode which would allow the systems hardware
probe feature to be much more useful.

I myself decided to avoid all of the headaches associated with Wife 1.0 by sticking with Girlfriend 2.0. Even here, however, I found many problems. Apparently you cannot install Girlfriend 2.0 on top of Girlfriend 1.0. You must uninstall Girlfriend 1.0 first. Other users say this is a long standing bug which I should have been aware of. Apparently the versions of Girlfriend have conflicts over shared use of the I/O port. You think they would have fixed such a stupid bug by now. To make matters worse, The uninstall program for Girlfriend 1.0 doesn’t work very well leaving undesirable
traces of the application in the system.

Another thing that sucks — all versions of Girlfriend continually pop-up little annoying messages about the advantages of upgrading to Wife 1.0

BUG WARNING

Wife 1.0 has an undocumented bug. If you try to install Mistress 1.1 before uninstalling Wife 1.0, Wife 1.0 will delete MSMoney files before doing the uninstall itself. Then Mistress 1.1 will refuse to install, claiming insufficient resources.

BUG WORK-AROUNDS
To avoid the above bug, try installing Mistress 1.1 on a different system and never run any file transfer applications such as LapLink 6.0. Also, beware of similar shareware applications that have been known to carry viruses that may affect Wife 1.0.

Another solution would be to run Mistress 1.0 via a UseNet provider under an anonymous name. Here again, beware of the viruses which can accidentally be downloaded from the UseNet.

ARE YOU A NETWORK ENGINEER?

You Might Be An Network Engineer if…

- At Christmas, it goes without saying that you will be the one
to find the burned out bulb in the string of Christmas lights.

- Choosing to buy flowers for your girlfriend or to spend the
money to upgrade your RAM is a moral dilemma.

- Everyone else on the Alaskan Cruise is on deck gazing at the
scenery, and you are still on a personal tour of the engine
room.

- In college, you thought Spring Break was metal fatigue
failure.

- The salespeople at the local computer store can’t answer any
of your questions.

- You are at an air show and know how fast the skydivers are
falling.

- You bought your wife a new CD ROM drive for her birthday.

- You can quote scenes from any Monty Python movie.

- You can type 70 words per minute but can’t read your own
handwriting.

- You comment to your wife that her straight hair is nice and
parallel.

- You go on the rides at Disneyland and sit backwards in the
chairs to see how they do the special effects.

- You have saved every power cord from all your broken
appliances.

- You have more friends on the internet than in real life.

- You know what http:// stands for.

- You look forward to Christmas only to put together the kids’
toys.

- You see a good design and still have to change it.

- You spent more on your calculator than you did on your wedding
ring.

- You still own a slide rule and you know how to use it.

- You think that when people around you yawn, it’s because they
didn’t get enough sleep.

- You window shop at Radio Shack.

- You’re both in the backseat of your car, she’s looking
wistfully at the moon, and you’re trying to locate a
geosynchronous satellite.

- Your laptop computer costs more than your car.

- Your wife hasn’t the foggiest idea of what you do at work.

- You’ve already calculated how much you make per second.

- You’ve have tried to repair a $5 radio.

MICROSOFT ADVERTISEMENT

Where do you want to go today?

Straight to hell, apparently.

The other day I saw another Microsoft commercial on TV: sublime choral
music drifts through the background as the unseen user surfs through the
Internet and various Microsoft content using Internet Explorer. The
commercial closes with the Microsoft slogan “Where do you want to go
today?” and a final, furious blast of music. It’s a very cool effect. But
if you dig a little deeper…

As it turns out, the background music is the Dies Irae of Mozart’s Requiem
Mass. And the words of the final blast of music which accompanies “Where
do you want to go today?” are actually “confutatis maledictis, flammis
acribus addictis…” In English: “When the damned are confounded, and
consigned to sharp flames…”; which describes exactly where I want to go
today.

Unfortunately, while Explorer will take you to hell for free, the upgrade
to purgatory is pretty steep.

KIDS AND SCIENCE

THE FOLLOWING ARE ALL QUOTES FROM 11 YEAR OLDS’ SCIENCE EXAMS:

“Water is composed of two gins, Oxygin and Hydrogin. Oxygin is
pure gin. Hydrogin is gin and water.”

“When you breathe, you inspire. When you do not breathe, you
expire.”

“H20 is hot water, and CO2 is cold water.”

“To collect fumes of sulphur, hold down a deacon over a flame in
a test tube”

“When you smell an odourless gas, it is probably carbon
monoxide”

“Nitrogen is not found in Ireland because it is not found in a
free
state”

“Three kinds of blood vessels are arteries, vanes, and
caterpillars.”

“Blood flows down one leg and up the other.”

“Respiration is composed of two acts, first inspiration, and
then
expectoration.”

” The moon is a planet just like the earth, only it is even
deader

“Artificial insemination is when the farmer does it to the cow
instead of the bull.”

“Dew is formed on leaves when the sun shines down on them
and makes them perspire.”

“A super-saturated solution is one that holds more than it can
hold.”

“Mushrooms always grow in damp places and so they look like
umbrellas.”

“The body consists of three parts - the brainium, the borax and
the
abominable cavity. The brainium contains the brain, the borax
contains the heart and lungs, and the abominable cavity contains
the bowels, of which there are five - a, e, I, o and u.”

“Momentum: What you give a person when they are going away.”

“Planet: A body of earth surrounded by sky.”

“Rhubarb: a kind of celery gone bloodshot.”

“Vacuum: A large, empty space where the pope lives.”

“Before giving a blood transfusion, find out if the blood is
affirmative or negative.”

“To remove dust from the eye, pull the eye down over the nose.”

“For a nosebleed: put the nose much lower than the body until
the
heart stops.”

“For drowning: climb on top of the person and move up and down
to make Artificial Perspiration.”

“For Fainting: Rub the person’s chest or, if a lady, rub her arm
above the hand instead. Or put the head between the knees of
the
nearest medical doctor.”

“For dog bite: put the dog away for several days. If he has not
recovered, then kill it.”

“For asphyxiation: Apply artificial respiration until the
patient is
dead.”

“To prevent contraception: wear a condominium.”

“For head cold: use an agonizer to spray the nose until it drops
in
your throat.”

“To keep milk from turning sour: keep it in the cow.”

“The pistol of a flower is its only protection against insects.”

“The alimentary canal is located in the northern part of
Indiana.”

“The skeleton is what is left after the insides have been taken
out
and the outsides have been taken off. The purpose of the
skeleton
is something to hitch meat to.”

“A permanent set of teeth consists of eight canines, eight
cuspids,
two molars,and eight cuspidors.”

“The tides are a fight between the Earth and Moon. All water
tends
towards the moon, because there is no water in the moon, and
nature abhors a vacuum. I forget where the sun joins in this
fight.”

“A fossil is an extinct animal. The older it is, the more
extinct it
is.”

“Equator: A managerie lion running around the Earth through
Africa.”

“Germinate: To become a naturalized German.”

“Liter: A nest of young puppies.”

“Magnet: Something you find crawling all over a dead cat.”

Worlds Smartest Man

A pilot, Michael Jordon, Bill Gates, the Pope, and a pizza delivery man were all in a plane together traveling through stormy conditions.

Suddenly, the pilot ran back to the passengers and announced that lightning had hit the plane, and they were going to crash in a matter of minutes. “There are only enough parachutes for four of the five of us,” he announced. “Since I’m the pilot, I get one!” After saying this, the pilot grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the plane.

“I’m the world’s greatest athlete,” proclaimed Michael Jordon. “This world needs great athletes, so I must live.” Michael Jordon then grabbed a parachute and leaped out of the plane.

“I’m the smartest man in the world,” bragged Bill Gates. “The world needs smart men, so I must also live!” Bill Gates grabbed a parachute and jumped out of the plane.

At this point, the Pope began to speak to the Pizza delivery boy. “I have lived a long life compared to you, and you may take the last parachute. I will go down with the plane.”

“You don’t have to do that, replied the pizza delivery guy. Bill Gates just jumped out with my backpack!”

Surfing the Internet

Surfin’ the NetSo I think I’m in the clearthe boss is no where in sightI logon to the web and start to surfand then my hair stands up with frightthe footsteps coming down the hallare quickening in pacethere is no time to exitno way to save my faceso I press the power buttonand relax just a bitthere is no way he can tellexactly what I hitI act all surpriseddon’t know why my machine died”simply unpredictable thesecomputers are!” I cried”So we’ll get you a new onea computer that won’t crash” he exclaimsDo you think he’ll wonderwhen the new one acts the same?

Customer support logs

|Actual dialog of a former Customer Support employee: Support: “Ridge Hall computer assistant; may I help you?” Customer: “Yes, well, I’m having trouble with WordPerfect.” Support: “What sort of trouble?” Customer: “Well, I was just typing along, and all of a sudden the words went away.”, Support: “Went away?” Customer:”They disappeared.” Support: “Hmm. So what does your screen look like now?” Customer: “Nothing.” Support: “Nothing?” Customer: “It’s blank; it won’t accept anything when I type.” Support: “Are you still in WordPerfect, or did you get out?” Customer: “How do I tell?” Support: “Can you see the C: prompt on the screen?” Customer: “What’s a sea-prompt?” Support: “Never mind. Can you move the cursor around on the screen?” Customer: “There isn’t any cursor: I told you, it won’t accept anything I type.” Support: “Does your monitor have a power indicator?” Customer: “What’s a monitor?” Support: “It’s the thing with the screen on it that looks like a TV. Does it have a little light that tells you when it’s on?” Customer: “I don’t know.” Support: “Well, then look on the back of the monitor and find where the power cord goes into it. Can you see that?” Customer: ……”Yes, I think so.” Support: “Great! Follow the cord to the plug, and tell me if it’s plugged into the wall.” Customer: ……”Yes, it is.” Support: “When you were behind the monitor, did you notice that there were two cables plugged into the back of it, not just one?” Customer: “No.” Support: “Well, there are. I need you to look back there again and find the other cable.” Customer: ……”Okay, here it is.” Support: “Follow it for me, and tell me if it’s plugged securely into the back of your computer.” Customer: “I can’t reach.” Support: “Uh huh. Well, can you see if it is?” Customer: “No.” Support: “Even if you maybe put your knee on something and lean way over?” Customer:”Oh, it’s not because I don’t have the right angle-it’s because it’s dark.” Support: “Dark? Customer: “Yes-the office light is off, and the only light I have is coming in from the window.” Support: “Well, turn on the office light then.” Customer:”I can’t.” Support: “No? Why not?” Customer: “Because there’s a power outage.” Support: “A power… A power outage? Aha! Okay, we’ve got it licked now. Do you still have the boxes and manuals and packing stuff your computer came in?” Customer: “Well, yes, I keep them in the closet.” Support: “Good! Go get them, and unplug your system and pack it up just like it was when you got it. Then take it back to the store you bought it from.” Customer: “Really? Is it that bad?” Support: “Yes, I’m afraid it is.” Customer: “Well, all right then, I suppose. What do I tell them?” Support: “Tell them you’re too stupid to own a computer.”

Fixing broken computers

An office technician got a call from a user. The user told the tech that her computer was not working. She described the problem and the tech concluded that the computer needed to be brought in and serviced.He told her to “Unplug the power cord and bring it up here and I will fix it.”About fifteen minutes later she shows up at his door with the power cord in her hand.

Microsoft renames itself

NewsflashMicrosoft today announced that it will be changing its name to “Moft” — which will clear up space on user’s hard disks. It is estimated that a typical Windows 95 installation contains about 2,800,000 copies of the word “Microsoft”, in copyright notices, end-user licence agreements, ‘About’ screens, etc. So, after the change, a user will have about 14 MBytes more disk space. Stock prices of hard-disk manufacturers dipped slightly after the announcement. “Well, the programs will take up less space on the user’s disk,” said Bill Gates, CEO of Moft. “But we have never cared about that. The change will allow us to ship Windows 95 on 13 disks instead of 14, thus saving about $50 million a year in media costs. We are also looking at shortening the names of some of our software products; for instance ‘The Microsoft Exchange’ may be changed to ‘The Moft Pit’. Gates added that the junior programmer who discovered the potential savings has been rewarded with a free copy of ‘Moft Off for Moft Win 95′. E-mail this joke to your friends!