Odd 'n ends...
The other day, one of the Russians I was supporting tried to get a file from his thumb drive, but after inserting it in an in-house machine, clicking on the drive brought up a "Can't find the application" dialog box, and all attempts to bypass the application and open the drive met with failure.
I had run across this the last time I was in Baikonur. I had lent my thumb drive to someone, who transferred a needed file from his machine to the device, whereupon inserting it into my VAIO elicited the same behavior. In that case, however, right-clicking on the drive would let you select "Explore" so you could get at the contents.
When I got around to wondering why this behavior was occurring, I discovered that some kind of malware had transferred itself to the thumb drive, and it was easily neutralized. The one I saw the other day was quite a bit more persistent.
More disturbing, the drive's owner didn't seem too concerned about the situation, even after being informed that malware was almost certainly to blame.
* * * I got a call and email yesterday from a client asking if I could take 5500 source words for tomorrow. It turns out the end client had suddenly decided on Sunday that some huge number of files had to be translated by Tuesday.
I was prepared for a long slog today, but fortunately, I'm already almost halfway through the thing (the subject is very familiar and the text is straightforward), so I may actually be able to rest a bit and take my time to think about the stuff I need to take with me to New York.
* * * One of the colleagues I will undoubtedly meet in New York has, for just about as long as I've known him, included the quote "War doesn't determine who's right, only who's left" in his email signature.
It occurred to me, just a few minutes ago, as I was thinking of him and of the World War II novel Beach Red in which I found pretty much the same sentiment, that the belittling intent of "only who's left" in that line actually misses just how hugely important it is to be among "who's left" (I mean, when you consider the alternative).
Further deponent philosophiseth not, at least not this week.
Cheers...
I had run across this the last time I was in Baikonur. I had lent my thumb drive to someone, who transferred a needed file from his machine to the device, whereupon inserting it into my VAIO elicited the same behavior. In that case, however, right-clicking on the drive would let you select "Explore" so you could get at the contents.
When I got around to wondering why this behavior was occurring, I discovered that some kind of malware had transferred itself to the thumb drive, and it was easily neutralized. The one I saw the other day was quite a bit more persistent.
More disturbing, the drive's owner didn't seem too concerned about the situation, even after being informed that malware was almost certainly to blame.
I was prepared for a long slog today, but fortunately, I'm already almost halfway through the thing (the subject is very familiar and the text is straightforward), so I may actually be able to rest a bit and take my time to think about the stuff I need to take with me to New York.
It occurred to me, just a few minutes ago, as I was thinking of him and of the World War II novel Beach Red in which I found pretty much the same sentiment, that the belittling intent of "only who's left" in that line actually misses just how hugely important it is to be among "who's left" (I mean, when you consider the alternative).
Further deponent philosophiseth not, at least not this week.
Cheers...