February 24, 2008
Posted by Anya in : spontaneous degeneration , trackbackPost from yesterday:Â (It was posted on my xanga :))
Foreward ho:Â Strange experience today.
Dad had bought Mom a computer version of Mah Jongg the other day. She tried loading it yesterday night, but it wasn’t working, so today she mentioned it to me and asked if I could load it up. I figured that it wouldn’t be a big problem, that I’d just have to go into “My Computer” and actually tell the stubborn thing to run. Well… I tried that. Not only did that not work, the computer failed to even recognize that there was a disk in that slot! Uggggh. It repeatedly refused to recognize it. So I tried the disk in the other tray. That was better… but it still wasn’t auto-running it. Tried the “My Computer” trick again. It opened a folder of things. Hello? I’m just trying to open Mah Jongg… don’t need the SAT prep… or the ACT prep… or any of the other junk on this CD… and where’d these other programs come from, anyway? By this point I was fervently hoping that it wasn’t some sort of virus-laden disk. And then I saw the file called “Mah Jongg”. That, you will admit, sounded promising.
Click.
This will install Mah Jongg. Would you like to continue?
Of course I’d like to. Click.
Please enter the password.
Password? Uh… *tries leaving it blank*
The password was incorrect.Â
No fake.
At this point, I was feeling less than happy with the programmer.
Back to the general ol’ folder of programs… looking for anything which seemed remotely connected with a password… aha. A Word document call “Password” or something of the sort.
Click.
If this program came packaged in a jewel case (ours did) the password is in the front cover of the paper insert.
The paper insert, I noted, did not actually have a front cover. It’s just a little square. But I looked at it dutifully. Nope. Nothing saying, “PASSWORD is _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ” or anything of the sort. *sigh* I looked at it several more times. There was still nothing. I tried going on their website (www.starshinesoftware.com) and searching “Mah Jongg password” and such. Nothing of any use whatsoever. Grr.
Eventually, I decided to just start clicking virtually every file in the folder which looked as if it could possibly have anything to do with getting the game to launch. (Had that not worked, I would have gone to the files which looked unlikely.)
Success at last. The one file informed me, that if the program was purchased in a jewel case, the password was on the insert. Really. First word, fourth line of the ”program description”.
*takes a deep breath*
It worked, too. It worked fine.
Simple, wasn’t that?
It brought to mind a passage from The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy:
Mr. Prosser said, “You were quite entitled to make any suggestions or protests at the appropriate time, you know.”
“Appropriate time?” hooted Arthur. “Appropriate time? The first I knew about it was when a workman arrived at my home yesterday. I asked if he’d come to come to clean to [sic] windows and he said no, he’d come to demolish the house. He didn’t tell me straight away of course. Oh no. First he wiped a couple of windows and charged me a fiver. Then he told me.”
“But Mr. Dent, the plans have been available in the local planning office for the last nine months.”
“Oh yes, well, as soon as I heard I went straight over to see them, yesterday afternoon. You hadn’t exactly gone out of your way to call attention to them, had you? I mean, like actually telling anybody or anything.”
“But the plans were on display…”
“On display? I eventually had to go down to the cellar to find them.”
“That’s the display department.”
“With a flashlight.”
“Ah, well, the lights had probably gone.”
“So had the stairs.”
“But look, you found the notice, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” said Arthur, “yes I did. It was on display in the bottom of a locked filing cabinet stuck in a disused lavatory with a sign on the door saying ‘Beware of the Leopard’.”
That summed it up pretty well, I thought. The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide does that to a lot of things (at least, non-theological things). It was incredible how many other quotes I thought of, from that book (or five books and one story, if you want to label it that way) while I was writing this post!
Goodnight, and wonderful Sunday to you. 
Comments»
Haha, that event sounds familiar…
I haven’t read any of the Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, but I would like to do that some time, mostly because of all of the excerpts you’ve quoted:) Douglas Adams seems to be a pretty clever writer, as is shown in quotes like: “That young girl is one of the most unintelligent organic life forms it has been my prfound lack of pleasure not to be able to avoid meeting.” (it was something like that:)
I was also wondering if you’ve seen National Treasure. We watched it last week for my birthday and really liked it and somehow I thought you would like it as well…it’s got lots of great, quotable lines. Of course, we haven’t seen the second one yet. Hopefully when it comes out on DVD we’ll get it…
Seize The Day!
-StrongJoy