| July, 2002 Diablo Blue Page 11 |
| I know its a long URL, but that’s the way it was given to me. You can also find a link to this page at www.yil.com under Feature stories from the latest issue. - - - - - - - - - - - - I am presently reading a new paperback book (8” x 10”) called How Computers Work, Sixth Edition, by Ron White. This book has about 500 pages of excellent material on how and why a PC computer works. It covers everything – boot-up, software, hardware, microchips, data processing and storage, I/O devices, multimedia, etc. It is written by a very knowledgeable geek in everyperson’s language. The sixth edition has just been released so this book covers up through Windows 2000 and XP. It’s available from www.amazon.com for $24.49 and this includes a CD that includes a virtual reality walk-around tour inside your computer with the author as your guide. - - - - - - - - - - - - Its easy to get into a rut with your computer utilization. Same old apps; same old websites. Do at least one thing new this month. |
| A language teacher was explaining to her class that in French nouns, unlike their English counterparts, are grammatically designated as masculine or feminine A puzzled student asked, "What is the gender of a computer?" The teacher did not know, and the word was not in her French dictionary, so for fun she split the class in two groups — appropriately enough, by gender — and asked them to decide whether “computer” should be a masculine or a feminine noun. Both groups were required to give four reasons for their recommendation. The boy's group decided that "computer" should definitely be of the feminine gender because: 1. No one but their creator understands their internal logic; 2. The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else; 3. Even he smallest mistakes are stored in long term memory for possible later retrieval; and 4. As soon as you make a commitment to one, you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it. The girl's group concluded that computers should be masculine because: 1. In order to do anything with them, you have to turn them on; 2. They have a lot of data but still can't think for themselves; 3. They are supposed to help you solve problems, but half the time they ARE the problem; and As soon as you commit to one, you realize that if you had waited a little longer, you could have gotten a better model. [Are you just a little bit disappointed? You really thought this article (by DVPC’s Official Curmudgeon) was going to be something naughty based on its title, didn’t you? Tsk, tsk! — Editor] |