Althouse: Just before it died, my computer started writing everything in italics.

September 20, 2010

Just before it died, my computer started writing everything in italics.

Like it was screaming for help, and I heard it not.

21 comments:

Clyde said...: Kind of like the story I saw recently about the British woman who had a stroke and started talking in a French accent. Brains and CPUs are tricky things.; 9/20/10, 9:09 AM
jungatheart said...: Your computer's use of italics seems terribly polite. A subtle insistence that something was wrong, but it didn't want to make a scene.; 9/20/10, 9:24 AM
madAsHell said...: How old was/is your MacBook??; 9/20/10, 9:40 AM
traditionalguy said...: One can only hope that Christine O'Donnell was not angry at your computer.; 9/20/10, 9:53 AM
Ann Althouse said...: "How old was/is your MacBook??"

It's my desktop iMac, which I got in spring 2010. I do use it a lot, but it's been hinky for most of its short life. Under warranty. I guess I'll drag it into the Apple Store.; 9/20/10, 10:00 AM
Ann Althouse said...: My MacBook is a year old and doing fine.

My Air lasted about a year before the hinges failed.; 9/20/10, 10:01 AM
Ann Althouse said...: Basically, Apple has so much of my money, it's absurd.; 9/20/10, 10:01 AM
Michael said...: Thank God it didn't go all caps indicating liberal derangement.; 9/20/10, 10:05 AM
sonicfrog said...: Basically, Apple has so much of my money, it's absurd.

Well "Duh"! Apple = crack for nerds!!!

ver word: waybitym; 9/20/10, 10:05 AM
Sprezzatura said...: They probably programmed it to blow up, so this can catch your eye when you're at the Apple store.

Imagine the picture Althouse could post on the blog!!! Not just a table with macbooks (been there), not just a table w/ macbooks and an imac (done that), but a table w/ macbooks, an imac, and that new display!

And, the various generations of the iphone, the ipad, and the ipods should probably included in the photo fun.

Then, sit back and wait for Jobs to stop by to personally thank you.; 9/20/10, 10:43 AM
Unknown said...: Oh, no!! I've always used you to get The Blonde to understand technology and estrogen can peacefully co-exist.

She had a similar experience the first time she took a computer course. They were using PS2s and, when she booted up, it crashed - displaying a human eye, a heart, and a U (PS2s used icons for system messages).

When the instructor asked what happened, my one and only told him, "It said 'I love you' and died".; 9/20/10, 10:46 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: That sucks- hope you did regular backups of your files.; 9/20/10, 11:24 AM
Chris said...: All italics...weird. Never heard of that happening before. Still, better than all caps, which would have meant that your computer was possessed by the spirit of a deceased Youtube commenter.; 9/20/10, 11:27 AM
Opus One Media said...: I suspect, but I have no confirmation, that each laptop has a shelflife of so many keystrokes. Abuse seems to mean nothing. Subject matter even less...just how many times you "mash the keys".

If you are from or have lived in the south, you understand the term "mash".; 9/20/10, 11:39 AM
sonicfrog said...: One time, when I was in college. I had a programing class. It was pascal... yes, I know, I'm old. Anyway, I was supposed to write a pascal program that would tabulate the batting averages of the 86 San Diego Padres, and when it got to the third on the list, Jack Clark, the program would suddenly start spewing out random symbols and letters and numbers, and you could only stop it by turning off the computer. My instructor could not find any errors in my code. At the time, I blamed the Devil....

I now realize, I should have blamed Christine O'Donnel and her witchcraft!; 9/20/10, 11:47 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Jack Clark? Maybe the program got confused because he has two first names? I am sorta kidding.; 9/20/10, 11:55 AM
Jasmina Boulanger said...: "Basically, Apple has so much of my money, it's absurd."

And, Apple can keep getting more of my money since my gains in their stock more than offset my purchases. It closed at a new high today at $283.23.; 9/20/10, 4:14 PM
Phil 314 said...: Well if you had purchased the iPhone 4 and the latest Ipod nano this wouldn't have happened to you.

The Apple beast MUST BE FED

(PS Jedi Master Jobs speaks); 9/20/10, 5:03 PM
Issob Morocco said...: How bold of it. And you had nothing to do with it, eh?; 9/20/10, 7:00 PM
Becky Jo said...: Sonicfrog, O'Donnell was not yet an embryo when you learned Pascal.; 9/21/10, 2:45 AM
sonicfrog said...: Yeah Becky.... That's the scary thing! She's more powerful than we thought!!!!; 9/21/10, 9:41 AM