OT "The definition of insanity"

E K ekg_ab-FFYn/CNdgSA at public.gmane.org
Tue Jan 29 18:33:13 UTC 2008


--- Christopher Browne <cbbrowne-Re5JQEeQqe8AvxtiuMwx3w at public.gmane.org> wrote:

> On Jan 29, 2008 4:37 PM, E K <ekg_ab-FFYn/CNdgSA at public.gmane.org> wrote:
> >
> >
> > > "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and
> over
> > > and
> > > expecting different results."  -- assortedly attributed to
> Albert
> > > Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Rita Mae Brown, and Rudyard
> Kipling
> > > --
> > > The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings:
> http://gtalug.org/
> > > TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80
> columns
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> >
> > This is true only in a world composed of memoryless systems only.
> > Even a simple finite state machine produces different output for
> the
> > same input depending on its internal state.
> 
> Unfortunately, people often lack useful memory, and this is
> frequently
> true for computer systems.
> 
> My N800 fell into a regrettable cycle, yesterday, that was very
> much
> of this sort.
> 
> - For some reason, the battery ran out of power :-(.
> 
> - I plugged it into a charger, at work, but it fell into an insane
> cycle:
> 
>  - It would start charging
>  - As soon as it got a little charged, it would power up the screen
>  - This would chew up what charge had been achieved
>  - It would then repeat the cycle.
> 
> There's some problem with that charger; it's got a somewhat
> intermittent connection, which was what prevented the charger from
> BOTH charging the battery and powering the screen.
> 
> Nonetheless, for a whole working day, I watched the device run
> through
> a "cycle of insanity."  That the N800 has memory aboard did not
> prevent it from falling into its cycle.
> 
> I had a better charger at home, which permitted it to charge up
> properly last night, thus breaking the cycle.  But I had to change
> something to stop it from doing the same stupid thing over and over
> and over...

Interesting. 

This reminded me of a joke.

A guy was studying the behaivor of a fly. He caught a fly and plucked
one of its leg and clapped at it, off went the fly. He caught another
fly, plucked two of its legs and clapped at it, off went the fly. He
caught yet another fly and plucked its three legs and clapped and
clapped. But, the fly didn't fly. Seeing that, the would be scientist
concluded that a fly is not able to hear if three of its legs are
cut.

Cheers,
EK

> -- 
> http://linuxfinances.info/info/linuxdistributions.html
> "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over
> and
> expecting different results."  -- assortedly attributed to Albert
> Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Rita Mae Brown, and Rudyard Kipling
> --
> The Toronto Linux Users Group.      Meetings: http://gtalug.org/
> TLUG requests: Linux topics, No HTML, wrap text below 80 columns
> How to UNSUBSCRIBE: http://gtalug.org/wiki/Mailing_lists
> 



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