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Author Topic:   Quick Questions, Short Answers - No Debate
dwise1
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Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 455 of 653 (810716)
06-01-2017 1:47 AM
Reply to: Message 454 by Minnemooseus
05-29-2017 5:57 PM


Re: What Kind of Stone Is This?
It sounds about right, but doesn't look quite right in that link. Two things really struck me:
  1. The stone in both Cdiz, Spain, and Salzburg, Austria, appear virtually identical to my eye, as far as my memory can serve me.
  2. That stone was used as a primary building material in both locales at some point in the past. In both locales, it is ubiquitous. That means it had to have been plentiful and available.
I'll try following that lead, but the question might still be open.

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dwise1
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Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 460 of 653 (812853)
06-20-2017 2:35 PM


Problem Using iPhone Nav App with Honda Accord
A friend just got a Honda Accord, same year as mine, so I've been helping her learn how to use the electronics. That includes pairing her iPhone to the car via Bluetooth for hands-free use.
She depends on her phone's navigation app, especially the voice prompts. The problem is that it doesn't work now that the phone is paired with the car.
Since my car has navigation built in, I have no experience with this problem. Has anybody here encountered this problem and have any suggestions?

Replies to this message:
 Message 461 by DrJones*, posted 06-20-2017 2:47 PM dwise1 has replied

  
dwise1
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Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 462 of 653 (812879)
06-20-2017 11:25 PM
Reply to: Message 461 by DrJones*
06-20-2017 2:47 PM


Re: Problem Using iPhone Nav App with Honda Accord
Thanks. I searched and found a few different suggestions. I gravitated towards one similar to yours and had passed it on. I won't be able to follow up with her until tomorrow night to see whether she tried it or not.
It's at https://ios.gadgethacks.com/...-when-listening-radio-0160397. It says that in the iPhone navigation app there's an audio icon next to a Bluetooth symbol in the lower right-hand corner. audio and Bluetooth. If you press the audio icon, a Navigation Voice settings screen should display. On the bottom of that screen is a switch for "Allow HFP Prompts" (Hands-Free Profile). If you turn that on, then you should be able to hear the phone's prompts over the car's audio. Since I don't use an iPhone, I can't test that. If it works, it might help your father.
Thanks again.

ABE Follow-up:
Couldn't get it to work. Couldn't find the settings screen. Too many variables (different versions, maybe a different app) to try to figure it out within a few minutes, especially since I have near-zero experience with iPhones (I've always found Apple software to be very unfriendly).
She needs to take it in to a dealer for warranty work anyway, so she's going to get them to figure it out.
Edited by dwise1, : ABE follow-up

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dwise1
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Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 466 of 653 (813224)
06-24-2017 12:47 PM
Reply to: Message 455 by dwise1
06-01-2017 1:47 AM


Re: What Kind of Stone Is This?
I showed the photo around work (again, remember that it's rotated):
A co-worker suggested travertine, which is a form of limestone. Travertine is a very common building material. The difference is that travertine is formed from mineral springs, whereas our guide in Cadiz said it was sea-floor depositations. Of course, she could have been mistaken.
This is very likely what I saw.

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dwise1
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Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 476 of 653 (847594)
01-24-2019 1:19 AM
Reply to: Message 473 by coffee_addict
01-24-2019 12:06 AM


Re: Please name this fallacy
We also encountered the Week1024 Bug on 22 August 1999 affecting GPS.
GPS time is kept as the number of weeks since the beginning of GPS time, 06 Jan 1980, and the number of seconds since the start of the week. The problem was that the original designers didn't think the system would be in use for very long, so they only assigned 10 bits to the week number, which made for only 1024 weeks which would only last 19 years and 8 months (minus about a week). So at the end of week 1023, the week number would wrap back around to week zero (called "week number rollover") and on 22 Aug 1999 you'd suddenly find yourself back in 06 Jan 1980. The solution was to invent the idea of GPS epochs and to program the GPS receivers to realize what epoch it was in. It worked, but we had to test it to make sure.
BTW, the next week number rollover will happen this year at the start of 07 April 2019, starting the third GPS epoch.
Coming up is the Y2038 Problem (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Year_2038_problem).
UNIX time is defined as the number of seconds since the midnight which started 01 Jan 1070. That time value (data type time_t) is defined as a 32-bit signed integer. At 03:14:07 UTC on Tuesday, 19 January 2038, that time value will reach its maximum value and the next second will be 13 December 1901 20:45:52 UTC.
One solution to this problem would be to redefine time_t as a signed 64-bit, which would value introduces a new wraparound date that is over twenty times greater than the estimated age of the universe.
A similar problem will hit the Network Time Protocol (NTP) in 2036, since its start date was 1 January 1900.
Edited by dwise1, : Y2038 Problem

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dwise1
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Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 483 of 653 (857365)
07-08-2019 3:45 AM


Brits: "Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, ... "
This is a question specific to British culture/popular culture from decades ago.
We all know the Monty Python routine from the early 70's of ""Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, say no more, know what I mean, know what I mean?" In case you need a reminder, here is one version on Youtube:
One of the offerings on Netflix is a British spy miniseries, Traitors, in which a young British woman is recruited by a rogue US intelligence agent at the end of WWII to ferret out communist infiltrators in the British government. Just as a reminder, these events are supposed to be immediately after WWII, in the second half of the 1940's.
The scene in question is where the US agent makes a statement to the effect of, "Or as you Brits say, 'Nudge, nudge, wink, wink.'." Again, I remind you that that scene is supposed to have taken place in 1945 or 1946 or 1947.
My question, directed mainly at our British members, is how far back does that expression go? Americans simply assume that Monty Python had come up with it entirely on their own, but there's also the possibility that they had themselves simply borrowed from a pre-existing expression in a British parallel universe not shared by Americans.
A friend, a fellow USAF veteran who had been stationed in the UK, has stated that it does indeed pre-date Monty Python, but not as far back as the late 1940's. What do you all say?

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dwise1
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Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 484 of 653 (857366)
07-08-2019 3:56 AM
Reply to: Message 482 by Percy
01-24-2019 4:41 PM


Re: Please name this fallacy
I'm surprised to hear that many people don't think we need bridge structural engineers. We need more, not less, for both design and inspection.
A few years ago on Wikipedia, I read about then-Major Eisenhower's 1919 cross-country military convoy. I can no longer find a link to that, but this is what's on his page at https://en.wikipedia.org/...isenhower#In_service_of_generals:
quote:
After the war, Eisenhower reverted to his regular rank of captain and a few days later was promoted to major, a rank he held for 16 years. The major was assigned in 1919 to a transcontinental Army convoy to test vehicles and dramatize the need for improved roads in the nation. Indeed, the convoy averaged only 5 mph from Washington, D.C., to San Francisco; later the improvement of highways became a signature issue for Eisenhower as President.
From my memory of that previous article that I can no longer find, several times the convoy's progress was impeded by structurally unsound bridges that they had to rebuild before they could cross. And indeed, the creation of our interstate highway system was a signature issue for the Eisenhower administration. A system that is falling into disrepair.

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dwise1
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Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


(1)
Message 488 of 653 (857431)
07-08-2019 12:48 PM
Reply to: Message 487 by ringo
07-08-2019 12:23 PM


Re: Brits: "Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, ... "
When in doubt, Shakespeare wrote it down first - and he probably heard it in the streets.
But then we'd have to refer back to the original German: Anstoen, anstoen, zwinkern, zwinkern, ...
I won't even begin to attempt the original Klingon ("?, ?, vIIojmoHDI', vIIojmoHDI' ... ", but not properly conjugated).

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dwise1
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Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 491 of 653 (857436)
07-08-2019 1:22 PM
Reply to: Message 485 by vimesey
07-08-2019 5:38 AM


Re: Brits: "Nudge, nudge, wink, wink, ... "
Totally agree about Monty Python's role. That sketch and the miniseries I just cited are the only references I've encountered.
I will look into that Roger's Profanisaurus.
ADDENDUM:
I'd like to thank everybody who has responded.
Edited by dwise1, : addendum to all

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dwise1
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Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 496 of 653 (860643)
08-09-2019 11:57 AM


Need Smartphone Recommendation
I've had a Windows Phone for the past four years and have been very happy with it. However, a couple years ago Microsoft discontinued that product and since then third party support has been disappearing. For example, I used to use Facebook on my phone, but then Facebook dropped support. Uber and Lyft both used to support Windows phones but no longer do.
As the time approaches for me to get a new phone, I need to know what's available. For example, I really like the iPhone 10's Liquid Retina display. My friend got one just before we went to Italy and while I couldn't see the map app even in the shade, we could see hers clearly even in direct sunlight (as I recall, or maybe we were just in regular shade). That is a feature that I would really want, but getting an iPhone is out of the question.
Does anybody know which phones have that display technology?

Replies to this message:
 Message 498 by Tanypteryx, posted 08-09-2019 10:32 PM dwise1 has replied
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dwise1
Member
Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 499 of 653 (860696)
08-10-2019 4:47 AM
Reply to: Message 498 by Tanypteryx
08-09-2019 10:32 PM


Re: Need Smartphone Recommendation
Of course, my main concerns are two-fold: 1) A display that I can read in the sunlight, like on the iPhone 10, and 2) a phone that I can actually use (which basically requires being able to copy files between the phone and my computer, something the Apple Store genius assured me cannot be done outside their update software (trying to use iTunes already too traumatic; I even only used the similar HTC program only once with my first smartphone because it was out of control).
So does anybody know of a smartphone whose display can be read in sunlight and does not run Apple software?
Edited by dwise1, : slight mod to final paragraph

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Replies to this message:
 Message 501 by Chiroptera, posted 08-10-2019 9:17 AM dwise1 has replied
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dwise1
Member
Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 503 of 653 (860717)
08-10-2019 3:08 PM
Reply to: Message 502 by NosyNed
08-10-2019 10:06 AM


Re: Files from Phone
I've had two smartphones, the first an HTC android and the second and current an HTC Windows phone.
What you describe is exactly how I've been transferring files between my phone and my computer. Hook up the USB cable, the phone opens in the File Explorer as an external device, copy-and-paste, etc. Easy-peasy.
My first phone came with a file manager program for my computer. I only used it once, because that shtupid thing went through my hard disk and downloaded all kinds of files to my phone, including my iPod Nano's music files. I had no control over what it did nor did it tell me anything about what directories were involved. iPhones have a similar app for your Windows computer that, as far as I can tell, does the exact-same thing, so using that app is most definitely not an option and since it's the only direct way then that's a big mark against the iPhone. The terribly frustrating experience of using iTunes doesn't help their case much either; my standard explanation for my very short haircut is so that I can't tear my hair out when trying to use iTunes.
I'm a retired software engineer and during the last 31 years of my 36-year career I worked with MS-DOS and Windows systems plus some Linux. During that time helping family members, I had only one OK experience with Macs and that was only because I knew some TCP/IP and UNIX and could set the eMac up as an FTP server (he had overwritten his new printer drivers with the old OS9 drivers, so I downloaded the new driver from hP, but it was too big for USB drives at the time and the only way to get it into his eMac was via FTP) and all the others were horrific. Engineers I was working with whose spouses had insisted on a Mac at home had similar horror stories of trying to help her with her Mac. Our consensus was that Apples are meant for people who don't know how to use computers and not for people who do.
I found a YouTube video, Why I don't use Apple products, which describes it better. On it, Louis Rossmann describes his experiences with Apple products (which he repairs for a living) in which the simplest things that every computer professional has known how to do for years (eg, file transfer) Apple makes either extremely difficult or impossible to do.
Basically, the purpose of a tool is to be able to use it. A tool that you have to find ways to work around is a very poor tool to have.
The non standard cable for apple is one reason I won't buy one.
Hadn't thought about that. Thanks.

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dwise1
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Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 504 of 653 (860718)
08-10-2019 3:08 PM
Reply to: Message 501 by Chiroptera
08-10-2019 9:17 AM


Re: Need Smartphone Recommendation
Is a cloud synching service like Dropbox not an option?
Not an option.

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dwise1
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Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


Message 505 of 653 (860719)
08-10-2019 3:11 PM
Reply to: Message 500 by PaulK
08-10-2019 6:05 AM


Re: Need Smartphone Recommendation
Liquid Retina is LCD technology. Apple only have it on the (less expensive) iPhone XR - the others iPhone X versions are all OLED. OLED displays are easier to find- most high-end Smartphones and even the mid-range use OLED displays. If OLED works for you it shouldn’t be too hard to find an Android phone which suits.
So then the secret to those displays is OLED?
I'll know to ask about that. Thanks.

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dwise1
Member
Posts: 5930
Joined: 05-02-2006
Member Rating: 5.8


(1)
Message 510 of 653 (860737)
08-10-2019 11:49 PM
Reply to: Message 509 by Hyroglyphx
08-10-2019 7:01 PM


Re: Need Smartphone Recommendation
Never had that with a single Apple product. Reliable, every time, and there is a meticulous nature about the company that I find attractive.
If you had watched that video, Why I don't use Apple products, then you would have known better than to claim that:
He repairs Apple hardware for a living, so he has seen bad engineering by Apple up close. For example, do you remember which iPhone it was that if you held it like everyone holds a smartphone to make a call, it wouldn't work because your hand was shorting out its antenna? "Reliable, every time,"? Look again.
But the main reason I had linked to that video was because he had stated the situation much better than I and my engineering colleagues had. We would say that Apple products are for people who don't know how to use a computer, and horrible for people who do know. In that video, he described the situation as Apple taking the simplest most common tasks that everybody having experience with computers know how to do and making those tasks extremely difficult if not impossible. Like in my case (and he cites his own experience as well), copying a file from one device to another. Perhaps the simplest operation you could ever want to perform, but on an Apple product it is virtually impossible and achievable only though a kludge that you might be able to put together.
I think if you go with iPhone you won't disappointed.
No, I am quite certain that I would be very disappointed. My past experiences with Apple products have almost all be very bad (except for using my iPod Nano, but then in order to delete a video file I had to Google for a third-party manual because Apple won't tell you a thing about how to use their products). When I DJ for my dance teacher whose music is on her iPhone, a shtupid read dialog will often pop up preventing me from hitting pause and with no apparent way to get rid of it. Apple products are most definitely not user-friendly.
Let's face it, if the only way you can get a product to work is by coming up with kludges that are needed to work around the product, then that product has big problems. When I buy a smartphone, it's because I want to use it. I would not be able to use an iPhone, so why buy one in order to have an overpriced paperweight?

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