One of the more interesting jobs I've had was working as the dispatcher-in-all-but-name for a corporate flight department operating a fleet of Cessna twins out of a suburban Atlanta airport.
I'd sit in my office off the hangar and do my paperwork and coordinate couriers and suchlike until my second-to-last flight had landed at around 0100. (My last guy would already be homeward-bound from MSY by then, but even with a tailwind he wouldn't be on the ground at LZU 'til 0migod30...) Then I'd roll my motorcycle out of the hangar, lock the place up, and head home. Good times, good times...
But it'd get pretty lonely late nights at the airport, waiting for my last flight to get in on the far side of the Witching Hour. The FBO was all closed for the night and there wasn't a soul for a quarter mile in any direction except for the coyotes who lived out between the taxiways. And we had just had MS Office installed on the new PC.
As a consequence, I am probably the only person on the planet who has fond memories of Clippy the Annoying Anthropomorphic Paperclip. It was either him to keep me company, or the droids on the Weather Channel, and they weren't as lifelike...
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Sometimes company is just company.
Speaking of which, some pret' good articles littering the site this past coupla days.
. . . and of course you knew that Clippy was a secret Karl Rove operative?
BoxStock Racer
...Clippy the Annoying Anthropomorphic Paperclip...
Oh, god. About whom, the less said the better. Die, Clippy! Die!
I am glad someone still understands FBO. Even fewer understand "Taylorcraft," "Ercoupe," "Johnson," "Navion," or how to pronounce "Waco." But a few have heard of Stearman.
Stranger
I always thought it was cute that he turned into a bicycle and rolled away. Other than that, I literally had no use for him.
Of course, the first thing I do on a new computer is turn off all but five AutoComplete functions, so I may be a little more anal than most.
Nope, pretty well standard to turn off clippy and all the other crap.
The reason clippy was so detested though, was that even when you thought you'd turned him off in every possible way he'd suddenly reappear some quiet afternoon in reponse to some deep seated hook / obscure key stroke combo in the OS.
It was like one of those horror movies where the dead won't stay dead.
Yeah-harder to permanently kill than a house full of cockroaches.
His "birth" was the death of any foolishly kind feelings I ever held for Bill Gates and company...a final step towards Bill's trivilization of intelligent users.
There was a time when I'd have long conversation with Dr. Sbatso
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dr._Sbaitso
It was also a great way to proof-read my term papers, as syntax errors or awkward text would stand out like a sore thumb when read aloud.
I've more than a few times found my hand beginning the twitch of a drawstroke while muttering through clenched teeth "This one's for you, Elvis," as Clippy interrupted whatever I was doing.
So far, I've just managed to control the urge.
I preferred the paper kitty.
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