Notices by Thor, the Norseman has moved! (thor@snabeltann.no), page 3

All this aging vs computers stuff is making me think about (what should have been) my career (if my job history wasn't so bumpy). The vast majority of developers I encounter are in their twenties. I kind of want to work somewhere that has adults in it, and that doesn't jump the latest trends.

3) I wonder how long it'll be until I'm the one who balks at unfamiliar software because I have to learn a few basics before I can use it, and that won't do, because I'm too old to remember things anymore.

What is it like to be a really old computer expert? As far as I can tell, you just begin to lose your touch after a certain age, because things have changed too much.

2) The best I've been able to offer him is FileZilla. In my opinion, this is a fine FTP client. In his opinion, it's confusing. Too many panels with too many things going on, he says, and why does it need a local file browser at all when he can just use Windows Explorer for that. The complaints never end. This has become a common theme with just about anything I try to set up on his computer these days. If he has to learn anything at all, he'll forget it very soon, he says.

The older my dad gets, the harder he is to please when it comes to computer software. He wants to back up his video files to an FTP server I have and refuses to be happy with anything that doesn't resemble a Windows Explorer or Finder folder that he can drag and drop files into. Everything I have found has various show stopper flaws: confusing user interface, intermittent error dialogues, Unicode bugs. He essentially wants Softworks Fetch for Windows and it simply doesn't exist.

2) He has rejected smartphones. They are useless to him. He continues to use a camcorder and a DSLR when he wants to document special occasions, but not for reasons of technical quality. He owns expensive gear but has lost the level of interest that would warrant it. The simple point and shoot interface of a smartphone would be more than sufficient for him.

Dad is 65 and I'm 35. Every year I come to visit my parents, dad seems to know less about how computers work. He has used MS-DOS, Norton Utilities and every Windows version since Windows 3.0, yet here I am, explaining to him how a tree view in a file browser works. Such a tree view existed in the File Manager in Windows 3.x, in Norton Commander and in TREE.EXE for MS-DOS, but he has forgotten about them all, together with what he did or said 15 minutes ago. It feels like he's aging fast.

@dvn Depends entirely on how it's made. There is ground beef with as little as 5% fat. A McDonald's burger patty contains 6% fat. Heinz Burger Sauce is 37% fat. It and any cheese you add are contributing most of the fat. There are some horribly greasy patties out there, but I personally find those a bit disgusting to eat.

@viciousviscosity Are these places you want to live in, or just cool pictures?

Visiting my parents for two weeks. When mom makes fish, it's always with bones. She's not particularly bothered by them. Meanwhile, I won't touch fish unless it's been fileted. In an emergency (like today) I resort to picking every piece of fish apart on the plate before I eat it, in case there's a bone in it. It kind of takes the enjoyment out of eating. She also likes to boil potatoes with the skin still on, which means burning your thumb as you peel them.

@Gargron "broadcast messages" comes across a bit strong. "decentralised platform" will mean very little to many readers. What's important to the user experience?

For reasons that aren't clear, Bitcoin follows the law of compound interest if you only look at long term minimum exchange rates to the US dollar.

The interest rate has been approximately 185% since 2012. More precisely, take the price at October 29th, 2012, multiply it by 2.8487820603197542 every 365.2425 days, and you will have the current expected minimum exchange rate.

We are about 69% above the minimum price right now, which is nothing compared to the 2017 bubble.

@welshgeekboy None of the reasons for using decimal make any sense if the world started with a blank slate today.

Key dozenal (duodecimal) fractions.

@Dereckson @mkwadee http://www.dozenal.org/drupal/sites_bck/default/files/db4b224_0.pdf

@mkwadee @Dereckson 60 is just 12 times 5 and would be 50 in duodecimal. There's no need for 60 distinct digit symbols and it would be very hard to learn. 12 is just enough to accommodate the most common fractions. Also, it's handy for calculating time. A day has 20 hours, for example. 2/3 is exactly 0.8 instead of ~0.66 and 3/4 is 0.9 instead of 0.75. It just behaves better in every way.