FoxTrot Classics by Bill Amend for November 21, 2020

I’m with Jason on this one. For crying out loud, Roger.

I think the “-For Idiots” line is more apt for Roger.

I bought “Internet for Idiots” in the early 90’s, but the Internet has changed a lot since then.

Today humanities degrees seem enlightened compared to the bogus degrees they have now at three times the price

My dad bought Windows 95 for Dummies. The thing was absolutely useless. Every time it got to something he needed to know, it said “Ooh, that’s a toughie. Better talk to a computer Guru for that.”

I had a Karmann Ghia that had a Volkswagon engine.

The engine finally bit the dust, so I bought the book “Volkswagons for dummies” I bought some oversized pistons and used the book to meticulously take the engine apart, and put it back together!

I never thought it would work but it fired up the first time and ran so much better that before. Best engineering book I ever had.

I worked at the Dean and Director’s office at the Med Center in Rochester and we got the honor from IBM to learn how to use their computer and the two programs, Microsoft Word and Wordperfect. Guess who got to do that in addition to phone answering, and the list goes on. Yeah me…..at the time not happy. Later years when we moved as the Dean was retiring and my hubby was done with his research. Best thing in the world when we got to CA and I went to temp agencies.

I never had problems using computers. I guess because I love gadgets. I even build my own which can be daunting when they don’t boot. Usually they do. The nice part is no crapware on them.

How about “For beginners?”

When I bought my first PC, it came with a DOS manual as thick as a phone book. (DOS 3.0 if you want to know how old I am…) I READ it. If I had a problem, I figured it out. That was even before the internet! Anyone else remember autexec.bat and config.sys? Base memory and extended memory? Boot disks? When you only had 640K of base memory, and you had to get your system to boot with 607K left to run a specific game? Good times… good times.

Actually, there WAS a “Computers For Artsies” book back in the mid-90s. It was pretty funny.

I wish I could experience using early PCs and how they differ from today’s.

I bought a computer that was supposed to have a DOS manual as part of the package. The shop was out of manuals, so they substituted the “for Dummies” book. I already knew DOS, so I went a long time without cracking the book. When I finally needed something, the book said “never try to adjust that, that is for advanced users only”. Totally worthless book.

sigh. That was me (ok, that was I). Classical Greek major, humanities minor. I did okay though. I guess if you’ve got what it takes to learn Greek, you can learn computers on your own. I switched from Greek to geek.

Anyone know or remember why Bill Amend drew a series of consecutive one-panel strips like these this week?

You’re embarrassing Jason!

A great ending to this week of single panel strips.

Do they still make those books? I haven’t been in a book store since 2009 when my local Walden Books closed.

Some 20 years ago, the Barnes & Nobel store had two rows of computer related books. I used to go there when I wanted a computer book. But, I learned if I shopped online, I would likely find a better fit than what B&N offered. Last time I was in B&N, years ago, the computer books section was very small — maybe less than 3 feet long, IIRC.

I remember back at the start of my career … The Cukoo’s Egg by Stollman. A great read and actually provided me with good guidance on system security.

The thing of it is…. I wrote my first program in 1965; I was 16. I ended up as a professional programmer. Right now, I’m teaching myself SwiftUI.

But I managed to get a second job as an opera singer, and I’ve also edited and annotated editions of “Double Falshood; or, The Distrest Lovers” (1727, but suspected to be based on the now-lost 1613 play, “Cardenio”, co-written by Shakespeare) and “André: A Tragedy in Five Acts” (1798).

“The Two Cultures”, anyone?

When I was learning computers the public library had computer books filed under “science fiction.”

People who wanted to buy those books also used the CD rom drive as a cup holder.