[ale] Time for this Grey Beard to stir up some stuff

[Brian Stanaland]

You are very right about new cars and stupidly set up computer systems. For
a while some models required the radio head unit. Oh, you could put a new
unit in the dashboard but the factory unit still had to be plugged in
somewhere. A lot of new cars have the dashboards built so that you just
can't replace them at all.

--Brian

On Thu, Jul 22, 2021 at 1:26 PM Steve Litt via Ale <ale at ale.org> wrote:

> And when the user's stuff breaks, as complex stuff always does, he or
> she begins the desperate search for somebody with the knowledge to fix
> the entangled monolith. Meanwhile, the Geek uses something simple and
> easy to fix.
>
> I've owned and driven cars with carburetors and points. Recent models
> reasonably cared for "just worked". For the person not willing to gap
> plugs or adjust timing, professional help was fairly inexpensive.
>
> I'll admit that in today's era of 32 to 60 MPG, computers are a must for
> gas mileage and minimal pollution. But they're misused: Almost every
> system goes through computers. I remember my father in law's computer
> equipped van's alarm went off at nights. I figured "heck, I'll just cut
> the power to the alarm". Ummm, no, a microprocessor decided when the
> alarm system needed to blare the horn. And don't get me started on speed
> sensitive steering and suspension. What could *possibly* go wrong?
>
> SteveT
> --
> Steve Litt
> Spring 2021 featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful
> Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques
>
> Dow Hurst via Ale said on Wed, 21 Jul 2021 17:31:17 -0400
>
> >Solomon,
> >You have defined the essential difference between a geek and a user.
> >Dow
> >
> >On Thu, May 27, 2021 at 9:21 AM Solomon Peachy via Ale <ale at ale.org>
> >wrote:
> >
> >> On Thu, May 27, 2021 at 08:52:51AM -0400, Jerald Sheets via Ale
> >> wrote:
> >> > What exactly is happening to the discipline, and how can we “do
> >> > better” as a discipline?
> >>
> >> The "solution" is make things crappier.  Seriously.
> >>
> >> You know as much as you do because you spent decades working on/with
> >> stuff that would break if you looked at it sideways, and that's after
> >> sacrificing untold quantities guatamelan poultry to get it going to
> >> begin with.
> >>
> >> Today, thanks in part to the efforts of folks like you and I, the
> >> base stuff generally JustWorks(tm)... so KidsTheseDays(tm) spend
> >> their time working on (and thus, building expertise on) other things.
> >>
> >> ObAnalogy: Do you miss carburated cars?  Having to check and adjust
> >> ignition points?  Hard starts in particularly hot, cold, humid,
> >> and/or dry days?  A pinhole leak in half a mile of vacuum hoses
> >> causning stumbling under load, the inability to hold idle, or simply
> >> not being able to start at all?
> >>
> >> Or do you prefer to get in the car, turn the key, and expect it to
> >> JustWork(tm) every time, regardless of environmental condtitions or
> >> where you live, so you can spend your time and energy on something
> >> you actually care about?
> >>
> >>  - Solomon
> >> --
> >> Solomon Peachy                        pizza at shaftnet dot org
> >> (email&xmpp)
> >>                                       @pizza:shaftnet dot org
> >> (matrix) High Springs, FL                      speachy (freenode)
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-- 
"Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new." -Albert
Einstein
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