Do you authors/writers weave stories inspired from songs?
I'm just randomly listening songs from youtube and came upon an obscure one, i can imagine a story inspired by this song, or is it just me?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54U2crrIyPM
Do you authors/writers weave stories inspired from songs?
I'm just randomly listening songs from youtube and came upon an obscure one, i can imagine a story inspired by this song, or is it just me?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54U2crrIyPM
I'll just clarify this, i'm not an author or a writer, if i could i would be, to be honest i've got alot of stories in my head but i just cant put them into words or write them down into words.
If i tried to write my own story, i'd be stuck on how to even start the writing story.
I could try, once upon a time, but that's too cliche.
i'd be stuck on how to even start the writing story
If you would like some advice, send me an email.
I could try, once upon a time, but that's too cliche.
You're right. 'It was a dark and stormy night' is much better. It even gets Snoopy's seal of approval :)
AJ
graybyrd ummm ... "Amazing Grace" ... ?
When I was young I had to write a story about an AMAZING woman called GRACE in a school entry exam.
(Google Grace Darling)
When I was young I had to write a story about an AMAZING woman called GRACE in a school entry exam.
And does she get out of the slave trade after finding God or just have humongous tits?
@sejintenej
When I was young I had to write a story about an AMAZING woman called GRACE in a school entry exam.
And does she get out of the slave trade after finding God or just have humongous tits?
From the pictures she had no discernible tits and she did find God (or rather he summoned her) a few years after she became famous
I don't know about her having discernable tits, but she had bigger balls than most men could dream of.
An incredible woman who honestly earned the title of heroine.
Albeit I live just down the coast from the Farne islands, my vote would be with Grace Hopper
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Hopper
my vote would be with Grace Hopper
The mother of computer programing and the computer industry.
The mother of computer programing and the computer industry.
And the mother of computer bugs, since she 'delivered' the very first one.
And the mother of computer bugs, since she 'delivered' the very first one.
didn't deliver the first one, just located and named the first one.
@Crumbly Writer
And the mother of computer bugs, since she 'delivered' the very first one.
didn't deliver the first one, just located and named the first one.
It doesn't matter who caused the first computer programming bug. I remember reading over 20 years ago that there will never be a bug free program or operating system. Something will always create a problem (bug).
I remember reading over 20 years ago that there will never be a bug free program or operating system.
two big reasons for that:
1. all software is written by people, and they can't do anything perfectly right - other than being perfect arseholes.
2. even the best software will be written to the best practices and bug-free as the current state of knowledge, but that doesn't mean future hardware and software changes won't cause them to become outdated and vulnerable in 6 months, or more, time. There have been many examples of this happening in the past few years.
NB: arseholes has the spell checker suggesting I change it to armholes, lol
1. all software is written by people, and they can't do anything perfectly right - other than being perfect arseholes.
I can not remember the book, but the example he used to illustrate the problem was a man's name. His name included the little letters "void". Big city garbage collector and couldn't get paid because the computer writing paychecks canceled any check with those letters in one group. Solution was to add a special field to check instead of entire record. Took almost a year to find the error.
His name included the little letters "void". Big city garbage collector and couldn't get paid because the computer writing paychecks canceled any check with those letters in one group.
That was due to poor programming of the section to 'void' a transaction. Having written such code in the past, I know how simple it is to write code to see that doesn't happen. There are three ways to do this.
1. Transaction types are set with a field of there own and only activate with the correct type entry. Simple If matching statements will do this.
2. Do not have the search check the name field at all.
3. Set the search parameters for a void transaction to only work when the whole string includes a blank space before and after the letters void and it looks for them all to be in the same case.
The computer code for V is not the same as that for v and the same is true for all letters. So it can easily be set to run on void but not Void.
2. Do not have the search check the name field at all.
In that example the search checked the entire record. The solution was to add that field you mentioned and have the program only check it.
But the point was before that incident it was not seen as a bug, only after the fact. Simple fix but a good example of why according to that book: "There will never be a bug free program." There is always at least one undiscovered and unfixed bug.
But the point was before that incident it was not seen as a bug,
True, but it was bad programming to begin with. A good programmer sets out ways to check the data entered is of the correct type before it's accepted and stored, limits search functions to only what is relevant, and spends a hell of a lot of time thinking about what can go wrong and then writing ways to see they don't. the last wasn't well done in the case you mention.
It doesn't matter who caused the first computer programming bug. I remember reading over 20 years ago that there will never be a bug free program or operating system. Something will always create a problem (bug).
But at least the odds of a program failing to run due a bug literally crawling in between a pair of vacuum tubes and zapping itself is somewhere between "slim" and "none" these days.
But at least the odds of a program failing to run due a bug literally crawling in between a pair of vacuum tubes and zapping itself is somewhere between "slim" and "none" these days.
It wasn't even vacuum tubes. The moth incident was with very early computers being developed by the US military and British military for breaking German codes and doing ballistic plots for naval artillery targeting during WWII. The specific machine involved operated by the toggling of mechanical relay switches and the moth got caught in one of those switches.
ETA: I think the relay switches were the computer's memory, but I am not sure and don't feel like looking the story up at the moment.
It is very possible it was a physical switch, before they went to tubes the (immediately) earlier computers were (electro-)mechanical in nature, and involved purpose built systems of interconnected gears, switches, knobs, and relays.
Up to and including "targeting/firing computers" on many of the Naval Battleships at the time. Turn one dial to set estimated range, another for bearing, and so on and so forth.
zapping itself is somewhere between "slim" and "none" these days.
With cost cutting manufacturing, I can see the circuit board's conformal coating being left off. Bug stands on ground plane and tries to snack on high current output of a power supply module.
With cost cutting manufacturing, I can see the circuit board's conformal coating being left off. Bug stands on ground plane and tries to snack on high current output of a power supply module.
Yes, but the insect would be hard pressed to find a Vacuum Tube being used in a piece of modern electronics. Even High Powered RADAR systems and other radio communications systems have mostly gone Solid State at this point. ;)
When I referred to a power module I was thinking solid state power module, not tube.
Yes, but my quote that you partially quoted was specific to vacuum tubes. :)
Yes, but my quote that you partially quoted was specific to vacuum tubes.
Yes. However, when you said -- "slim" and "none" these days, it sounded as if you were saying it could not happen with today's technology (i.e. solid state). I tend to agree with you that it is highly unlikely, but . . . :)
With cost cutting manufacturing, I can see the circuit board's conformal coating being left off. Bug stands on ground plane and tries to snack on high current output of a power supply module.
Talking about "buggy hardware", I've long had an issue with the boxes the local cable company provides, as they generate a lot of heat, and thus serve as the 'go-to' location for all the local spiders. Twice a year, I'll get a batch of new baby spiders and I'll spend several days swatting everything, but I'm always nervous spraying bug repellent into live electronics. The warmest equipment, my internet cable box and the cable-telephone box, tend to break periodically, no doubt from an accumulation of spider webs/dead spider bodies.
Why the hell can't these companies invest in low-power resource, since they're so prevalent in the smartphone market. Certainly they could 'borrow' some of the technology to lower the wasted energy distributed over hundreds-of-thousands of homes! But, as the old adage dictates, if it ain't broke, don't invest in it!
Why the hell can't these companies invest in low-power resource
They don't have to pay your electric bill, so why go to the extra effort and cost.
One of my pet peeves is the electronic devices that have an instant on feature. I pay the electricity to keep it warmed up even if I don't plan to use it in the near future. Same thing for AC adapters. They draw power even if nothing is connected to them.
One of my pet peeves is the electronic devices that have an instant on feature. I pay the electricity to keep it warmed up even if I don't plan to use it in the near future. Same thing for AC adapters. They draw power even if nothing is connected to them.
Use a power strips or have a wall switches installed for the outlets, then you can turn everything all the way off if that's what you want.
Thanks for the suggestion DS. I have a setup like you suggested, and it works great when one of us doesn't want to use any device.
The problem is I may have 3-5 devices plugged in but only want to use say the cable box and TV. That means I have to plug and unplug devices that I don't want to use while I'm using the other devices.
Oh well, I've drifted off topic for long enough so I think I end this little rant about one of my pet peeves.
didn't deliver the first one, just located and named the first one.
Technically, since the first 'computer bug' was actually a fried insect (a small beetle, if i remember correctly), I maintain she 'delivered it' to the programming world and invented a modern day programming meme. Besides, that image better fits the original claim that she's the "mother" of modern programming.
fried insect
It was a moth - photo of the 'bug' and the log entry of the problem.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:H96566k.jpg
The mother of computer programing
...I'd have said Ada Lovelace deserves that title
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ada_Lovelace
@docholladay
It doesn't matter who caused the first computer programming bug
I think EB/CW are alluding to the discovery of a moth caught between relay contacts which was interfereing with the logic.
there will never be a bug free program or operating system.
well...mostly. There are formal methods (such as 'Z') which use mathematically provable transforms to go from a set of postconditions to an executable algorithm, but even then there's still the problem of specifying the correct postconditions, it executes on real hardware which may have errors (unless designed using similar methods), and the very resource intensive tedium of choosing the transforms and generating the proofs. The modern 'Agile' development method is pretty much the antethesis of this: build something, have the customer (internal or external) comment on what should change to meet their desires, rinse and repeat. These two approaches are the two sides of verification and validation: building the thing right (formal methods) and building the right thing (Agile et al)
link edit.
my vote would be with Grace Hopper
The mother of computer programing and the computer industry.
I knew her slightly and listened to her more than that. While she looked like Whistler's Mother in an admiral's uniform, she was both one of the most charismatic leaders whom I've ever met -- and, in the best sense, a juvenile delinquent.
There are lots of stories, but I think my favorite centers around the clocks she had had built for her offices, to teach the lesson of challenging "but we've always done things that way." They were analog clocks, which, at first glance, looked like ordinary office clocks. At second glance, you learned that they ran counterclockwise.
*snif* I miss her. There are times I stop and ask myself "What would Amazing Grace do?"
ummm ... "Amazing Grace" ... ?
Amazing Grace is the landscape artist who designs and creates those hedge mazes you see in the big estates.
Jake Rivers has several open universes inspired by songs among other nice themes. I have read many stories over the years included in one or more of those universes. The link for his universes is:
https://storiesonline.net/a/Jake_Rivers/universes
Of course his is probably not the only one, just the one I recalled.
Inspirations come in all forms, not least of which is "I can write a better story than this!!!". Anyway inspiration is delivered, grab onto it with both hands and run with it. If the story works, no one will question how it originated. If it doesn't work, at least you got it out of your system, and hopefully with a little work, and can manipulate it into something that does work.
As far as "not being able to write", don't write yourself off yet. I held that position for years, until I reached the point mentioned about, thinking I could write a much better story than the ones I was reading. It's often about what motivates you to write, and your hitting just the proper motivation to drive you headlong into a story.
If you want to discuss story development, you've got a lot of support here. Once you get an idea, though, the story will often unfold naturally for you. Beyond that, your editors will help you craft and refine it.
Do you authors/writers weave stories inspired from songs?
I have found situations where I found a song was very applicable to the plot of I story I was planning and adjusted it to tie the song in more closely.
My story "Last Kiss" is based on the song with the same name by J Frank Wilson and the Cavaliers.
There's a paragraph in there that was taken from the song almost word for word (the part with the "bustin' glass and words I heard last") and the funny thing is I can't read that part without singing the words in my head.
Apologies for hijacking this thread but I have a vaguely related question to which music and song lovers may know the answer.
What's the name for the component of headphones which fits over an ear? Earpad, earpiece, earcup?
Thanks,
AJ
headphones which fits over an ear
In the past I've heard people call it just a headphone, and people spoke of just holding one earphone to the head when they want the other free. My son says his generation call it an ear-cup. I do know the padding around the ear is called the pad or ear-pad, but it's seen as a separate part to the unit containing the speaker. Wikipedia doesn't say much about it, either.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Headphones
Headphones are also known as earspeakers, earphones or cans.
In the past I've heard people call it just a headphone, and people spoke of just holding one earphone to the head when they want the other free. My son says his generation call it an ear-cup. I do know the padding around the ear is called the pad or ear-pad, but it's seen as a separate part to the unit containing the speaker. Wikipedia doesn't say much about it, either.
How about "nerd muffs"? Or the singular, "nerd muffin"?
Thanks.
I'll use ear-cup (prefer the hyphen) for now because I just found it on a manufacturer site. But I'm mildly worried that readers might be like me, and have to stop and think when they come across the term.
AJ
have to stop and think when they come across the term.
I expect a lot of the older readers may have to. I never heard of the term ear-cup in regards to headphones until tonight. If the speakers had no ear-pads you had cans, and if they were padded they were headphones. A single ear unit that clipped to the ear and was the precursor to the ear-buds were an ear piece - you usually got one with a pocket transistor radio when you bought it. Later we had headsets because they had a microphone as well, and were used by telephonists, and many only had one headphone so you had one ear free for local hearing.
I expect a lot of the older readers may have to. I never heard of the term ear-cup in regards to headphones until tonight. If the speakers had no ear-pads you had cans, and if they were padded they were headphones. A single ear unit that clipped to the ear and was the precursor to the ear-buds were an ear piece - you usually got one with a pocket transistor radio when you bought it.
I prefer the technical term: "ear thingy". :-D
I prefer the technical term: "ear thingy". :-D
Sorry, too technical for the President of the USA, since he wouldn't understand that, you can't use it.
Getting technical, headphones are made up of 4 major parts:
1. electrical cable with the signals,
2. connecting bar - be it over the head or around the neck,
3. speaker/s (depending on it being s single ear type or dual ear and a multi-speaker unit),
4. ear pads between the speakers and the head.
In the past I've heard people call it just a headphone, and people spoke of just holding one earphone to the head when they want the other free. My son says his generation call it an ear-cup.
earpiece covers the tiny bit used with a radio or phone as well as the mighty ones used for high quality reception
earpiece
earpiece is the name applied to the precursor to the earbud that sat in your ear and had a plastic clip to go around the ear to hold it in place. In every set of headphones I've seen or bought the speaker section was flat and rested against or near the ear and the earpad was what kept it off the head, be it a single ear headphone or a pair of headphones.
The Oxford dictionary has one, and only one suitable word: earpiece.
I will hate you if you invent a new word such as either either earcup, or ear-cup. :-)
The Oxford dictionary has one, and only one suitable word: earpiece.
I will hate you if you invent a new word such as either either earcup, or ear-cup.
Sorry, but "earpiece" is so non-specific it's little better than my "ear thingy"! An earpiece is anything worn on the ear, and is more commonly associated (now) with USB ear buds, whereas the 'earcup' describes a specific device, the part of the earphone which slips over each or either ear.
Sorry, but "earpiece" is so non-specific it's little better than my "ear thingy"! An earpiece is anything worn on the ear, and is more commonly associated (now) with USB ear buds, whereas the 'earcup' describes a specific device, the part of the earphone which slips over each or either ear.
In current usage, that position is somewhat correct. See previous response.
The term does have an origin that is known, and knowledge of said origin makes its application rather evident to those who know. But as with many other words and terms of expression, the number of people who understand where it came from and why vs the number of the people using the term are different things.
We could also get into a discussion about what events are about to "transpire" which more likely than not has nothing to do with photosynthesis.
While I enjoy inventing the occasional new word, this time I can't claim the credit. I found it on a headphone manufacturer's site.
AJ
While I enjoy inventing the occasional new word, this time I can't claim the credit. I found it on a headphone manufacturer's site.
Yeah, "earcups" or "ear cups" are headsets where the ear is placed inside a "cup" and has existed as Jargon at the least for a very long time.
"Earpiece" has almost always referred to a (very) low profile headphone that goes directly into the ear so as to be nearly unnoticed by the casual observer. Which was part of why it was referred to as a "piece" (of a larger system). Initially used by plain clothes security types(and Secret Service), and the the deaf/hard of hearing as part of larger hearing aides. Wide scale use of "earphones" (headphones that are comprised only of ear buds and wire) has made usage of the term a lot more broad, as the earlier "earpiece" usage had a direct application there.
Ear-pads are another matter entirely, although that one should be pretty self evident. That would be the protective cushioning between the listening device and the human end user's ear/head. :)