Posts by BenWilson
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Heh, I'm worried about when I identify with Homer's Dad.
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Across my life the issue of insourcing and outsourcing of the faceless paper shuffling bureaucrats of the various special needs agencies has always had a strange feel, because for my entire life my father has worked in those agencies.
I distinctly remember the first discussion I had with a friend when the Psych Service was being killed back in the 80s- him talking about the faceless needless bureaucrats, and me seeing my father's face, and thinking of the hundreds of dinner table conversations we'd had where he talked about the help he'd provided to this or that family with problem kids (or parents!).
Dad's been basically working for the government the entire time, just under a different name for every government that comes along, with more or less frustrating access to the resources and support he needs to provide the kind of help that really counts. The amount of paper he's had to shuffle has increased no matter what government it's been. That's in the nature of systems as they increase in complexity.
That's never been what gets on his goat when management changes (as it seems to do every 3 years or so). Nor is it any sense of job insecurity - he knows that his work is valued by anyone who understands it at all. What shits him off, is that the inevitable restructuring is almost always just reinventing the same paperwork, or going backwards, and it's almost always done for ideological reasons. So not only do you have to put up with it, you're also expected to like it, and to believe in it. You can only do that so many times before you stop believing in any of it.
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I had a big stack in Amsterdam on a bike too, and no, I wasn't high. Goddamned tram tracks. Doesn't matter how safe you make the city, bikes are still dangerous. But great fun.
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linger, that's OK though, because it's a cartoon strip. Every noticed that Homer Simpson is a complete bastard in pretty much every way? But he makes us laugh at him.
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Heh, nice Daleaway. I feel the encroachment of all you say lapping at my feet like a rising tide.
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Well yes -- I'd imagine it was quite traumatic for her, realising her beloved grandson was in fact Beelzebub.
Begone with your black sorcery!Sure looked that way. But I think it was more of a case of just feeling frightened and small in the face of the vast and implacable march of technology. A whole Encyclopedia Brittanica set was actually an object of educational value not that long ago. Now it's just a collector's item, or kindling.
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International Observer, my apologies for the misquote. It was Rich of Observationz I was quoting.
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I've stopped talking to my Grandma about technology altogether. I sense that it upsets her. The moment that clinched it was when I was talking about Wikipedia, and I could tell she wasn't getting it (since she didn't really get what the internet is), so I showed her on my PDA. I pointed out that her glorious Encyclopedia Brittanica set from 1985 contained much less data, which was much more out of date, and then I popped out the SD card on which it was stored and put it next to the letter E on the cover of the first volume just to bring the point home. When I also said that the same card also had a few hundred photos (and showed her) and about 5 hours of music (I played it), I noticed her eyes had gone watery and she was looking down and trembling slightly.
I think opposition to technology is deeply personal for a lot of people because it reminds them of when they were young and deeply into their new gadgets, whatever they were, and now they don't even get what the current ones do. It just tells people how old and out of touch they are, and that hurts.
That's why men won't read manuals. It's like going right back to the beginning, but without the bonus of also being young.
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Mono wheel? I think balancing is the biggest issue, followed by steering...I'm in awe of those who can do it.
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Kyle, true...Wiki tells me the origin of the word is entirely from bikes without pedals that you did indeed push along. So probably pedal bikes is more accurate.
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