RBOC: Or, It's Been How Long?

So. I'm not doing such a great job at the regular blog posting.

• I've decided that one form of hell is called 'User Acceptance Testing'. It's a peculiar form of torture in which the "user" (only rarely known as the "customer") tests the application and gets that special joy of reporting that the written requirements have not been met and knowing that the schedule is so tight that the requirements will never be met.


• This week I learned that a snake is the least effective means of clearing a clogged drain. Boiling water, baking soda, and vinegar can make tiny improvements. The real solution though is an angry woman with a plunger.


• I also learned that disgusting things moulder away in bathroom sink drains. How exactly do toothpaste, hair, and spit turn into such foul gunk?


• Reading has slowed to a crawl. Graphic novels/comics are getting some play (Wimbledon Green and Kabuki Dreams). The dragons in the Napoleonic War series has been finished. The overall effect has diminished by the let's-make-this-into-a-fat-trilogy phenomenon. Still pecking away at the Communist histories.


• While I haven't located a copy of Crow Shooting which I wrote about back in November, I did find a copy of Man's Friend: The Crow at McGahern's. It's a 1937 pamphlet issued by the Emergency Conservation Committee of New York. Its reference section has made me add "You Can't Duck the Crow Question" (Field and Stream, 1934) to my want list.

Heather

Comments

[Alan]

"...the "user" (only rarely known as the "customer") tests the application and gets that special joy of reporting that the written requirements have not been met and knowing that the schedule is so tight that the requirements will never be met..."

Being the customer in situations like this, the only consolation I can give you is "yes." And home brewing cleaning and sterilization compounds flushed on a regular basis do wonders for drains, including - potentially - those I have worked on quietly when visiting.