I would like to apologise to all Danes for spilling the beans on this but

Jeans are referred to as "cowboybukser" (cowboy pants) in Danish

By extension, all denim clothes are cowboy-whatever in Danish

As a result of this, my partner's washing machine has a setting that's only labelled "Cowboy"

Ms 11 invented a game where she and I insult each other using #bird names. "Go do your homework, you meadow pipit!" "I already finished it, you red winged blackbird!" "Hey, American wigeon, dinner's on the table" "Listen up, you scarlet tanager, you kinglet, you roseate spoonbill!" And so on. It's the best.

Today I caught her doing research on ebird.org 😂

It is time for me to re-do my old thread about the origins of "80 columns" and how it can very well be related to pretty ancient stuff, not dissimilar to "space shuttle and horse's rear end".

As you know, the default mode on IBM PCs is text 80x25. The limitation of 80 columns per line, also known as "80 column rule" is still widespread; for example, that's the rule for Linux kernel. But why 80? Why not 70 or 90?

The answer to that is usually "IBM punch cards are 80 characters wide", but things are more interesting than that!

First, the commonly accepted column width was supposed to be 72. American typewriters used to have just 72 columns, earlier DEC terminals supported only 72 columns, and even IBM punch cards had only 72 columns for text.

Second, yes, IBM punch cards were 80 characters wide, but why?

When I was a smartass computer nerd in the 80s and 90s, an eternal theme was friends and family sheepishly asking me for tech support help, and me slowly, patiently explaining to them that computers aren't scary, they're actually predictable, they won't explode or erase your data (unless you really make an effort), and they operate by simple (if somewhat arcane) rules. Edit > Cut, then click, then Edit > Paste. Save As. Use tabs, not spaces. Stuff like that. Maybe not easy, but simple, or at least consistent and learnable.

But that's not true anymore.

User interfaces lag. Text lies. Buttons don't click. Buttons don't even look like buttons! Panels pop up and obscure your workspace and you can't move or remove them -- a tiny floating x and a few horizontal lines is all you get. Mobile and web apps lose your draft text, refresh at whim, silently swallow errors, mysteriously move shit around when you're not looking, hide menus, bury options, don't respect or don't remember your chosen settings. Doing the same thing gives different results. The carefully researched PARC principles of human-computer interaction -- feedback, discoverabilty, affordances, consistency, personalization -- all that fundamental Don Norman shit -- have been completely discarded.

My tech support calls now are about me sadly explaining there's nothing I can do. Computers suck now. They run on superstition, not science. It's a real tragedy for humanity and I have no idea how to fix it.

#HCI #UX #UI #okdoomer

We are only seven days away, so DESERT BUS DONATIONS ARE OPEN & PRIZES ARE NOW LIVE!

Every dollar goes directly to Child's Play Charity, improving the lives of kids in children's hospitals all around the world. The bus starts rolling Saturday Nov 11th @ 2PM Pacific!

https://desertbus.org/donate

Game I workshopped with a 6yo:

❇️❤️🐦BIRD COMPLIMENTER🐦❤️❇️

(For 1 or more players)

== Rules ==

- Spot a bird
- Tell the bird why it's a good bird

== Optional Rules ==

- If you can't spot a bird, you can name a bird you haven't seen yet
- (Challenge mode) You can name/spot a bird for the other player(s) to compliment

== Winning ==

"It isn't about winning or losing, it's about helping birds feel good about themselves."