"I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you just said."

Close call! I just had to tell my officemate (/subordinate) about Dress A Day, forgetting that she always wants to know how, exactly, I know people. I went back to my old standby, "Oh, friend of a friend, that kind of thing...."

Heh. Aren't you guys friends with my agent, who is Erin's sister? At some point, how you met is irrelevant, righteo? (This is my new thing, I will add "eo" to the ends of words with great whimsy.)

Seriously, I never get why people ask, "how did you meet?" It never occurs to me.

I came home last night to find an automated political telephone ad that tried to negotiate with my answering machine.

It continued with "I'm sorry, I do not understand your request. To replay this ad, press one. To learn more about blah blah blah, press two." silence. "This is a very close election. To learn more about blah blah blah, ..."

It kept repeating until my answering machine cut it off.

"I'm sorry, I didn't understand what you just said."

"Okay! I can help you with that."

NO, YOU CAN'T. GIVE ME A PERSON.

"The latest information is available on our website. Are you sure you want to speak to a customer service representative?"

DANA SMASH.

I never get why people ask, "how did you meet?"

Like two ships that pass in the night....

Make me feel just like a schoolboy, girl

Thanks a lot, Jesse. I wasn't infected by msbelle.

Hey, you can test that theory that if you start yelling obscenities, some route you to a person!

Manual Calculation: Using a Slide Rule (part 1)

I know a lot of people think that the idea of learning to use something like a slide rule is insane in an age of computers and calculators, and that this is a silly thing to post about. But I really love slide rules, and not just because I'm a geek. Slide rules make math tactile. Using a slide rule makes you understand how certain kinds of math work; and not just a theoretical understanding, but an understanding on a very concrete, physical level.

...

There are a couple of things to be said about slide rules up front. They're beautiful things, and the guy who invented them is an incredible genius. But they're not a tool for the weak-of-heart. Using a slide rule isn't like using an electronic calculator. You actually need to do an approximation of the calculation in your head, because the slide rule doesn't do powers of ten; you need to do that by yourself!

Now I totally want a nice old sliderule....

Aren't you guys friends with my agent, who is Erin's sister? At some point, how you met is irrelevant, righteo?

Yeah, that's what I think, really. I think it's because the coworker is young, so basically everyone she knows is either from high school, college, or work. She hasn't accumulated random friends from god-knows-where yet.

Now I totally want a nice old sliderule....

Saw an old scifi movie last week, the scientist said, "Bring me some paper, a pencil, and a sliderule!" And he was sitting there working the sliderule and scribbling. It was lovely.

Though I dreaded high school math because it was going to involve me using a sliderule. Fortunately calculators became available. My big Christmas present my Freshman year was a Texas Instruments calculator--it even did square roots!