Comments on: Distractions https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/ Tue, 07 Oct 2025 23:46:50 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 By: pzatchok https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623552 Tue, 07 Oct 2025 23:46:50 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623552 That would have ben good.

]]> By: Blair Ivey https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623519 Tue, 07 Oct 2025 06:21:57 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623519 “My cat was the spawn of satin.”

Was it named ‘Rayon’?

]]> By: pzatchok https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623496 Mon, 06 Oct 2025 18:59:50 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623496 My cat was the spawn of satin.
Oh he was fine until he wanted to play, then it was all claws out and the sneak attack was his preferred method of gathering my blood fresh.
Doctors even asked me the wounds when i went in for check ups.

I miss him sometimes.
Maybe i will replace him with a puma, it would be safer.

]]> By: Spectrum Shift https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623488 Mon, 06 Oct 2025 13:51:40 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623488 Wait until Jazz walks across your keyboard and scrubs two hours of typing. You got to love her!

]]> By: pzatchok https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623446 Sat, 04 Oct 2025 00:58:05 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623446 I remember hand programming our schools new TRS-80 to play pong in 1983. They were our computer labs first PC’s

Our county was donated hundreds of HP terminals and the local server was installed at our University. We were on the internet long before it was called the internet.

We actually programed one of our TSR-80’s to sequentially dial local phone numbers and try to connect, Every computer and fax machine that answered was recorded.
This was so early that passwords were not even universal for banks. Our teacher locked up all the HP programming manuals(just one set per school) so we just ordered a replacement set.
Boy did we have fun in school.

]]> By: Richard M https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623441 Fri, 03 Oct 2025 21:03:32 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623441 The Trash-80 Model III was my very first PC!

Fond memories (sort of) as a 9 year old of trying to write BASIC programs on it, and running out of memory when I’d merely filled the screen with commands.

When I was allowed to upgrade to an Apple II a few years later, it felt like I’d died and gone to heaven. So much memory to work with, LOL

Congrats on the new kitty, Bob.

]]> By: Robert Zimmerman https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623438 Fri, 03 Oct 2025 17:48:26 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623438 In reply to Tregonsee314.

Tregonsee314: My first computer was that Radio Shack Model III. Its keyboard layout was brilliantly designed for touch typists, with the arrow keys close by (up/down on the left and left/right on the right). The control key was also right there, rather than to the sides.

When I switched to a Windows machine I used a word processor Xywrite that allowed me to reconfigure the keyboard to this setup. But I couldn’t change the rest of Windows. For that reason in 2006 (among others) I switched to Linux. Been very happy since.

Note that I have probably typed a million words in my life, and have no carpel tunnel or any other wrist or hand issues. This layout I think helps.

]]> By: Patrick Underwood https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623437 Fri, 03 Oct 2025 17:45:50 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623437 RIP Misty. Hello Jazz!

]]> By: Tregonsee314 https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623433 Fri, 03 Oct 2025 16:34:22 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623433 On keyboards:
Could be worse you could be trying to find something that matched an old VT100 (though why you would want that I don’t know, the VT100 keyboard was the bane of programmers and the joy of orthopedic surgeons due to the induced carpal tunnel syndrome)
On cats:
As for Jazz she looks like a lovely brown tabby. And yes Blair Kittens/ youthful cats do seem to grow into their outsize ears. We’ve twice had a pair of bonded males where one cat passed and we got a pair of new kittens (10-12 year old cats REALLY don’t want to play at the level a kitten does). Lots of hissing at first, within 2-3 months they’ll be piled together in the sun with the elder cat thinking “I don’t remember having a kitten… oh well it is warm and nice.”

]]> By: wayne https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623431 Fri, 03 Oct 2025 15:17:26 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623431 “The Naming of Cats”
T.S. Eliot
https://youtu.be/TXkLgtusza4
(1:53)

]]> By: Diane Wilson https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623428 Fri, 03 Oct 2025 14:45:00 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623428 Hello, Jazz! You have your job assignment: Create as much chaos as possible. Be so cute that Bob and Diane are compelled to love you anyway.

]]> By: Blair Ivey https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623425 Fri, 03 Oct 2025 04:28:36 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623425 “My Grandma, what big ears you have!” “The better to hear the can-opener, my dear.”

]]> By: James Street https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623423 Fri, 03 Oct 2025 03:20:07 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623423 C.S. Lewis said people who own pets fill in a hole in the universe.

]]> By: Robert Zimmerman https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623422 Fri, 03 Oct 2025 03:03:54 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623422 In reply to mkent.

mkent: Saw it and decided in this case it was better to leave it whole. Sometimes it is important to shine the light of truth on evil so the world can know.

]]> By: mkent https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623421 Fri, 03 Oct 2025 02:50:39 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623421 A cute little girl, and I love the name. I hope she brings you as much joy as Misty did, even as Misty is never forgotten.

By the way, while you were gone, a comment appeared on the Michael Mann thread on Oct 1st at 5:03 pm that you might be interested in.

]]> By: Phill O https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623419 Fri, 03 Oct 2025 01:50:29 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623419 Cute kitty!

]]> By: Shallow Minded Reader https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623418 Fri, 03 Oct 2025 00:59:13 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623418 Bob said “keyboard that matches the old RadioShack TRS-80”

Could find any teletypes to use?

]]> By: Joe https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/distractions/#comment-1623415 Thu, 02 Oct 2025 23:57:53 +0000 https://behindtheblack.com/?p=117811#comment-1623415 Congrats on the new family member. Kids are such a challenge.

As for Linux…https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPRvc2UMeMI

]]>