The Hobbit Hole XIII - Let them pass! Let them pass!

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[HairOfTheDog]

Welcome to The Hobbit Hole!

...Let them pass! Let them pass!
(Note to dwarves, this is only meant figuratively)

• First thread: New Zealander builds Hobbit hole
• Second thread: The New Hobbit Hole
• Third thread: The Hobbit Hole III - Journey to the Cross-roads! (Congratulations, we filled it up!)
• Fourth Thread: The Hobbit Hole IV - The Road Goes Ever On...
• Fifth Thread: The Hobbit Hole V - Where Many Paths and Errands Meet...
• Sixth Thread: The Hobbit Hole VI - And Whither Then? I Cannot Say...
• Seventh Thread: The Hobbit Hole VII - But not yet weary are our feet...
• Eighth Thread: The Hobbit Hole VIII - Still round the corner we may meet...
• Ninth Thread: The Hobbit Hole IX - A sudden tree or standing stone
• Tenth Thread: The Hobbit Hole X - That none have seen but we alone.
      Eleventh Thread: Wedding Edition: The Hobbit Hole XI - No One Admitted Except on Wedding Business!
• Twelfth Thread: The Hobbit Hole XII - Tree and flower and leaf and grass

New verse:

Upon the hearth the fire is red, Beneath the roof there is a bed; But not yet weary are our feet, Still round the corner we may meet A sudden tree or standing stone That none have seen but we alone. Tree and flower and leaf and grass, Let them pass! Let them pass! Hill and water under sky, Pass them by! Pass them by!

Still round the corner there may wait A new road or a secret gate, And though we pass them by today, Tomorrow we may come this way And take the hidden paths that run Towards the Moon or to the Sun. Apple, thorn, and nut and sloe, Let them go! Let them go! Sand and stone and pool and dell, Fare you well! Fare you well!

Home is behind, the world ahead, And there are many paths to tread Through shadows to the edge of night, Until the stars are all alight. Then world behind and home ahead, We’ll wander back to home and bed. Mist and twilight, cloud and shade, Away shall fade! Away shall fade! Fire and lamp, and meat and bread, And then to bed! And then to bed!

See also: http://freeper.the-hobbit-hole.net

Web page for our moot reports and troop support information!

[300winmag]

This is happening now. People (executives) want good solid root-cause analysis of things that are simply not knowable, like the cause of an Exchange Server to suddenly and inexplicably zoom the CPU to 100% utilization.

I tend to disagree. It's mainly a matter of economics that you can't keep a geek on staff to do nothing but research whatever strikes his fancy. The systems are complex and expensive enough that "get it up and running" is the best that can be hoped for. There is no research being done on production computer systems to compare with research (medicine) being done on production human beings.

Perhaps I should say "paid research". I know that somewhere within Microsoft, there's a junior coder who knows all the quirks of Windows XP, and how to fix them. He's not paid to do it, because the company would not pay anyone to "waste company resources" to comprehend how these complex systems really operate.

I experienced this with IBM, where I've had seemingly insoluble "weird" problems that could not be fixed by the official method. But due to friends, I got the name of someone who knew someone who had a phone number of someone who might help. In both cases, they were junior-level programmers in some obscure IBM department that had too little meaningful work to do, but plenty of time to poke around in the source code, and figure out how things work.

I had to swear on all my ancestors' souls that I would never breathe a word of their existence, and would proclaim total ignorance of how my problems were solved. But they had the answers, and they were simple fixes. But they were not part of the official support organization, and therefore did not exist. Besides, IBM does not have room for free thinkers outside a few scientists in their labs. Everything is "plan your work, and work your plan".

I think there are geeks out there that would love to gain a greater comprehension of these systems. (I know I would, if I could get paid a decent wage to do it.) But the beancounters and pointy-haired bosses are more concerned about "managing" those measurables that they get reviewed on. As the PHB in Delibert once said, "if I can't understand it, it must not be important".

Yep, the systems are getting more complex. But I think the human mind can comprehend its own creations, given the proper incentives.

[JenB]

(I had a dream last night where everyone was speaking Japanese. Didn't understand a word of it)

Dubs are just wrong, no matter how well done. It's not an American story, it shouldn't be phrased in English. What annoys me most in a sub is when they translate the honorifics - c'mon, if you're watching, you know what "san" means - and reverse the names to western format. It's just silly. I like fansubs because they're more likely to try to explain a joke or cultural reference than change it to an English near-equivalent.

[TalonDJ]

A bit of both. To me he comes off as the most sane one around. To the people in the show.. also a bit of both. Watch it! I am laughing to myself just remembering the show.

More 'macho'? hmmm if a guy finds any girl to be more macho than him then he needs to take a good look at his masculinity factor. My sister is a marine and I would never say she is more 'macho' than me. I do know women that like watching football more than me (any at all) but I don't count that for much. I think I would apply the 'character' side of that by asking something like "Am I more nurturing and caring than she is." I have used that as a disqualifying factor before.

[TalonDJ]

I totally agree. Even subbed, if they translated the pun into an english one I am left wondering, 'what did they really say?' They usually totally screw things up if a character is regularly calling another one something like nee-chan or senpai.

[TalonDJ]

Proper incentives and a management framework that supports that activity. I work with avionics software requirements where there is no such thing as a 'known bug' that had no 'known solution'. There are only 'unfunded changed memos'.

[JenB]

And it's more fun to pick up on the words like "nee-chan", isn't it? It gives you insights into character relationships. I noticed that particularly in Fruits Basket.

I like people who blow things up in anime. I think I'll be hooked on FMP... sigh, wish I could find the video store that rents anime. But I've just moved in and haven't located it yet.

Er, it looks like the second series of FMP is unlicensed and fairly unrelated to the first. Would it be terribly confusing to watch that first? Only I could download that without moral dilemnas, if it's not licensed...

[HairOfTheDog]

Hey all! Almost time to watch the Corin Vacation Cam!

I'm expecting his call in about 10 minutes....

[JenB]

Cool! Thanks for the reminder!

[HairOfTheDog]

It's on a really slow autorefresh, but you can refresh the image manually.

[JenB]

Ah, finally got it to refresh... is there a trick to it? Just hitting the refresh button didn't work.

[TalonDJ]

I had heard the second one was licensed. It is not really unrelated... It is like the took the manga and removed some stuff to make season one, and then they made season too by taking the left over non-plot related bits and adding more. Season 2 basically takes place after the season one and fits just fine in the continuity but does not have an over arching plot line like season one. I am not sure what they are going to do with season three. But there are a number of things I can think of that would be very good. So season two is basically much less serous and much more funny than season one but it still builds on the character development for season one. If you like people that blow things up in anime you will want to marry Sagura-san. ^.^

[HairOfTheDog]

Refresh button works for me!

[JenB]

At this rate I'll just have to make him part of my anime-haram. Er... whatever it would be with guys instead of girls. Funny, drawn characters shouldn't do that to you!

Next time I'm at B&N, I'll look through the manga, too. They have a limited selection but I know they have FMP, I saw it when I was finding out if there was a Fullmetal Alchemist manga (there is, not licensed). I like comparing the manga to the anime.

[Lil'freeper]

Did I miss him?

[HairOfTheDog]

Nope.... he's late ;~D.

[Lil'freeper]

I see.

[TalonDJ]

Me too. I buy a lot of manga but I don't find time to draw as much as I use to. I like checking out differences in art styles. They are much wider in manga than anime...

er... so what are we watching on this cam?

[HairOfTheDog]

I think it only takes a new pic every five minutes

[Lil'freeper]

How often does it update? I hit refresh, but the time stamp still says 7:07 pm. :(

[Lil'freeper]

Yup. Five minute update.