When we moved into Carolina Meadows four years ago the IT specialist was a man named Phil Binkley. I very quickly learned that Phil did not have a clue when it came to IT and had apparently gotten the job because of his seniority in some totally non-tech related area. His assistant, who clearly should have gotten the job, was a bright, cheerful, enormously competent young man named Art Diorio. Eventually, Phil blotted his copybook in some manner or other and was let go and Art got the job he wanted and deserved.
Shortly before Christmas my ancient printer gave out and I
bought another one, an HP 9015e. When it
came, I took it out of its box, plugged it in, managed to figure out how to
install the ink cartridges, and tried to print some random page just to test
things. Blotto! I fussed and fumed and
fidgeted and came to the conclusion that there was some small failure of
communication between my computer and this brand-new wireless printer but I was
completely unable to figure out how to make the little problem go away. Once the dead air time of Christmas and New
Year’s was over I called Hewlett-Packard’s support line and tried to find out
how I could solve the problem. Good luck to that!
At some point during that dead time, I had left a message on
Art Diorio’s phone and while I was fussing with Hewlett-Packard uselessly Art
called. He said he was driving by and
would stop in and about two minutes later he did. He said hello, played for
moment with our new cat, and in just about 45 seconds solved the problem and
got my printer up and working.
It all made me think of those Native American rain dances in
which, if you do every step exactly correctly it rains but if you make one
small mistake it does not rain and you cannot figure out what you did wrong.
That more generally is my experience with technology these days.
Now, it is getting chilly and I think I will start a fire.
Where did I leave my two pieces of flint…
Flint and steel, as I recall from my very limited time in the Boy Scouts.
ReplyDelete^^^ Much more reliable than Clinton and Steele, it turns out
ReplyDeleteOn a positive note, some technology has made our lives easier. Do you guys remember the "blinking 12 problem"?
ReplyDeleteThe blinking twelve problem is a term used in software design. It usually refers to features in software or computer systems which are rendered unusable to most users by the complexity of the interface to them.
The usage emanates from the 'clock' feature provided on many VCRs manufactured in the late 1980s or early 1990s. The clock could be set by using a combination of buttons provided on the VCR in a specific sequence that was found complicated by most users. As a result, VCR users were known to seldom set the time on the VCR clock. This resulted in the default time of '12:00' blinking on the VCR display at all times of the day, which is the origin of this term. —Wikipedia
Anyway, now we just bring up the TV guide on the set-top box, click one button and if you see a red dot beside the name, it means it will record. No messing around with start times, end times, etc. like we used to do before with VCR tapes.
Urban Dictionary has this:
flashing 12
A “Flashing 12” is a person with no technical inclinations' inept in all things technological. The name comes from the fact that when you walk into their house their VCR is Flashing 12:00, because they can not figure out how to program it.
For future reference, I have always had a good experience with Brother laser printers. I have found ink cartridge printers to be expensive; the colors do not get used uniformly and you keep having to buy refills. I believe color laser printers are available, if color is important for you.
ReplyDeleteI just checked. The site below lists the 10 best rated color laser printers, with Brother leading the pack. Brother has several models available, ranging in price from $419 to $291.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.bestreviews.guide/Color-Laser-Printers?origin=google&google_params[matchtype]=e&google_params[network]=g&google_params[device]=
Just a small picky gripe: I so hate the term "let go." What is almost invariably being talked about is someone being thrown out of their job and deprived of their source of income, like as not. Whether the pseudo-tech specialist deserved to be dismissed is beside the point I'm trying to make. Thanks.
ReplyDeleteRe the flashing 12, etc., I think there's been a parabolic function over time of problem-solving knowledge. As much as we go on -- especially in academia -- about how the kids are "digital natives" these days, they are actually relatively helpless (on the average) with technology compared to somewhat older folks when something goes wrong. So perhaps the oldest folks are often less knowledgeable about how to work with tech, but younger folks increasingly are, too. For them, stuff is supposed to "just work."
ReplyDeleteCrackpot hypothesis: the devices are now TOO easy to use and reliable. When I was gaming in the 90s and early aughts, I would frequently have to crack open my desktop case to change a jumper on my sound card or graphics card to move it to a different interrupt, because a game would only let the sound card operate on IRQ 5 or 7, say. Early versions of Windows broke a lot more, too, and if you didn't want to shell out money and time to get help with it, you just had to learn how to fix registry settings, add settings to CONFIG.SYS, etc. Not everybody did, but for those who did it fostered a comfort with and habit of DIY with respect to technology. So when my students today have a problem with technology, they not only don't know what to do but on top of that have little practice or comfort in figuring out what to do, even though Google is right there.
David Y.'s comment is bringing back memories of water-cooling.
ReplyDeleteI see Another Anonymous beat me to it. I'm a big fan of Brother laser printers. Much more reliable than ink jet and cheaper to boot. We have two, with the smaller one snuck onto shelf in the pantry so I can print out recipes, etc. without schlepping over to the study.
ReplyDeleteWell, I am pleased to say that recent prosecutions have demonstrated that the criminal justice system, generally, works well. Derek Chauvin, guilty; Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan, guilty; Kimberly Potter, guilty; Ghislaine Maxwell, guilty; Elizabeth Holmes, guilty. Bill Cosby’s conviction overturned for violation of his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. I expect that the convictions will be affirmed on appeal.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately one guy got off with an acquittal based on a fatuous claim of self-defense.
But 4 out of 5 ain’t bad.
But how many innocent people were wrongly convicted? Hard to say. According to The Innocence Project, at least 60 since 1978, whose convictions have been overturned.
Oh, brother.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.cnn.com/videos/business/2022/01/03/trump-supporters-on-january-6-one-year-later-orig-jm.cnn/video/playlists/business-news/