A cautionary tale - and an unaccountable omission

[ffutures]

I seem to have caught some sort of lurgi at the convention - felt pretty sick yesterday, a bit better but still a bit of an upset stomach today. Which reminds me to mention another bug, of the computer variety, that I ran into at the con.



One of the more annoying things that happened at Eastercon was a weird problem with my USB memory stick, which led to me being unable to use visual aids in my Forgotten Futures talk. This was a strange chapter of accidents, while I haven't heard of it happening to anyone else it's possible that describing it may save others from problems.

The first step was simple - I forgot to pack the VGA cable adaptor for my iBook. The second step was an unaccountable omission - for some reason I never seem to have used my memory stick (purchased a couple of months ago) with the iBook.

So about a day into the con I wanted to work on a document on the memory stick - and found that the iBook couldn't read it and wanted to initialise it. Got someone else to try it on another Mac and it was fine, so I began to worry that my USB ports were screwed.

To cut a long story short, someone let me store my files on their Macbook's hard disk for a few minutes while I initialised the stick, and after that both Macs could read and write to it. Problem solved... until it was time for the presentation and I realised that the cable was missing. Nobody had one handy, so someone suggested that I put my files onto a memory stick and use one of the con committee's PC compatible laptops instead.

So I transferred the files and got back to the room - to find that the laptop couldn't read the memory stick. Swearing and a slightly truncated presentation ensued. When I got home my own PCs couldn't read it either. Eventually I reformatted the stick on a PC, and after that everything (including the iBook) was able to read and write to it.

Not sure what caused this, but I think that the starting point must have been that the stick was never formatted properly when I first used it. Why initialising it with the iBook didn't fix the problem is a mystery. The moral, I think, is that if you're going to use a memory stick on multiple environments make bloody sure that everything works before life screws you over.



Finally, am I really the only person on my flist to notice the Marx Brothers reference in The Shakespeare Code? I know that others have spotted it, because it's already made it to Wikipedia, but nobody I know has mentioned it.

Comments

[robertprior.livejournal.com]

I'll guess when you formatted it you somehow picked a Mac format. (Maybe you didn't have a choice -- I think you can pick the format with Disk Utility, but haven't verified that.)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Sounds likely - what I don't understand is why the mac couldn't initially read the stick.

[frandowdsofa.livejournal.com]

I KNEW it sounded familiar, but I sort of tagged it as one of Shakespeare's own mythical countries. I find after watching Dr Who at conventions I always have to go away and watch it privately, to get the smaller (but better) jokes that get laughed over, and think about the content rather than the fun of the group experience. And I haven't got around to that yet. I pride myself on being one of the few people on my f-list to get the reference to Florizel Street in the Coronation episode.

There has definitely been a 24-hour vomiting bug that a lot of people have gone down with, we are satisfied it is a bug not food poisoning, but You Were Not Alone.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

One of the things I did when I got home on Tuesday was verify that my hard disk recorder had saved the episode and transfer it to DVD. Almost inevitably this ended with me watching the program, which is why I spotted it.

[sadbhyl.livejournal.com]

I'm ashamed to say I actually had to look that one up. I knew it was a reference to *something*, and knew my WS well enough to know it wasn't his, but I just couldn't place it. I think this ep sealed Tennant as the Pop Culture Doctor... ;)

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Definitely - but I really want to see a "Doctor meets the Marx Brothers episode now...

[paratti.livejournal.com]

Get well soon, pet.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling a lot better already - think it's more or less cleared up, apart from a slight remnant of the tummy bug.

[gonzo21.livejournal.com]

I always wondered what FASA stood for.

Are memory sticks fairly reliable, cautionary tale notwithstanding. I was thinking about getting one of the bigger ones that are starting to come out now for backing up data onto. Seemed better than the CDs I use currently.

Also, hope you're feeling better soon.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

On my experience they're less reliable than CDs - I've had two die on me. But I think a lot depends on the robustness of the package, which is the first thing that gets skimped by the cheaper manufacturers.

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

am I really the only person on my flist to notice the Marx Brothers reference in The Shakespeare Code

No. When it happened I turned to Eddie and we exchanged smiles of recognition. *I* found it very funny and those that didn't spot it would have thought it was just a fun name for a fake place (or some might have thought it was a real place, but we can pity them can't we? (grin!))

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Should have guessed you'd spot it.

[pete-darby.livejournal.com]

There's a lot of it at work, lot of it at home, so I'm guessing, you got the North west Flu....

I got hit for saying "marx brothers" when they mentioned Freedonia. No-one appreciates me...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

There's a lot of it at work, lot of it at home, so I'm guessing, you got the North west Flu....

Great...

I got hit for saying "marx brothers" when they mentioned Freedonia. No-one appreciates me...

Hope the bruises fade soon.

[karohemd.livejournal.com]

D'oh, something kept clicking in my brain whenever Freedonia was mentioned but I didn't know why...

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Consider yourself enlightened...

[armb.livejournal.com]

I vaguely wondered if it was a reference (tried to remember if Shakespeare had later used it and didn't think so), but didn't get it or bother to look it up.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

And now I've saved you the trouble.

[whl.livejournal.com]

I noticed it.

Recently, I watched all the Tom Baker episodes, and was startled to notice the amount of quoting from literature and such that was there. "I am just going out. I may be some time," for example, which is famously what Lawrence Oates said, when going off to die of frostbite on Scott's expedition of 1910.

While no other examples spring immediately to mind, I've noticed a few in passing in 2005-2006 episodes.

Was the bit in The Christmas Invasion about wanting to be ginger a quote?

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Not sure. Except that "ginger" is sometimes rhyming slang for "gay", which could be relevant given some of the behaviour in season 2.