Eccentric Flower talk:200907/Arks and More

Columbina:

Department of Very Interesting: No one apparently knows exactly what "gopher wood" was supposed to be. Several theories here. I like the pitch theory near the end.

-- 17:36, 2 July 2009 (BST)

Bunny42:

I've been away all day, and I discovered that, if I wanted to login to this location, I would have to request a... login... from that other computer. That'd be silly, so I thought it could wait.

What's a cubit? 8-)

I saw way too much of that promotion crap when I worked for the gummint. It's known as rising to your level of incompetence. It is just naturally assumed that, if you're good at something, you'll probably be good at something else, too. Everybody deserves the opportunity to fail, right? This is why, the further up the food chain you explore, the fewer competent managers you find. I much prefer specialization. Let people get really good at what they do--and that may very well not be managing!--and leave 'em alone to do their jobs. In my branch of service, U.S. Customs, there is no better example of this debacle than the establishment of the Department of Homeland Security, which merged, among other branches, Customs, Agriculture and Immigration & Naturalization. Managers from one branch are now in charge of officers whose duties they have no idea how to manage. All the Aggies want to do, for example, is deal with their bugs and pests and protecting us against unsafe meat products, that sort of thing, which they all got degrees to be able to do; now, they are expected to go out and learn about immigration law and copyrights and cargo security. It's a whole other field. And the reverse is true, as well. Immigration guys know jack about insect infestation, and care even less. Employee morale is at an all time low, productivity has been seriously hampered and folks are retiring in droves, which means... there go the experienced professionals. Pretty much all that's left are the newbies, who regard these as entry-level jobs, not careers, anymore. I despair.

Finally, it would appear that, in your present situation, greatness has been thrust upon you, whether you want it or not. Here's hoping there's a light at the end of that particular tunnel.

(I fear I'm over-using commas, these days. I'd go back and count, but my sanity means more to me than my comma count.)

-- 00:49, 3 July 2009 (BST)

Jette:

"I feel the skill sets for writer and editor only overlap by happenstance."

Well, maybe. I'm a really good editor but I'm a good writer too, so I'd hate to agree with you.

-- 03:50, 3 July 2009 (BST)

Columbina:

Your login to this wiki, as already established, should work from any web browser in the universe. You don't need to ask for a login again. Not sure what the problem was.

-- 03:58, 3 July 2009 (BST)

Bunny42:

Okay, so the problem was that I forgot it. I never have to use it on my laptop. I might have it written down here, somewhere, or maybe I can get Mozilla to cough it up.

(Ah, I believe I remember. Good thing, too, because Sean says it depends how you have passwords stored, whether you would be able to recover it and send it to me. Or, I guess you can reset it, but no need. Thanks.)

-- 05:28, 3 July 2009 (BST)

Columbina:

Glad you remembered your password. As Sean surmised, I cannot obtain it, I can merely reset it.

-- 16:17, 3 July 2009 (BST)

Lisa:

Man. It took me about 10 clicks to figure out how to comment.

Are you still steadfast against Facebook? I get the immediacy of contact with Someone when I need it over there.

I find it easy enough to filter who sees what and it's quite easy to hide in plain sight from people who you don't want contact with.

-- 16:07, 6 July 2009 (BST)

Columbina:

Facebook makes me itchy, for reasons I can't quite clarify or understand myself. It just does.

-- 17:26, 6 July 2009 (BST)

Settsimaksimin:

...and i'd just managed to repress the memory of having read that much Alan Dean Foster in my formative years. <sigh> i do remember finding all of the extra background interesting and wondering if he'd come up with it, or if it came from O'Bannon or Scott.

-- 22:37, 7 July 2009 (BST)

Columbina:

Alan Dean Foster: one of the only people who wrote novelizations I'd bother to read.

The genesis of Alien was so very odd - much of the dialogue improvised, Scott tinkering with it, two sets of scriptwriters, etc - that god only knows who came up with the explanation of the Nostromo.

-- 23:05, 7 July 2009 (BST)