The Very-Many-Questions-Not-Worth-Their-Own-Thread Thread XL

[Synobun]

I don't know if I'd call it noticeably. It's within six or seven inches of my eyes, so it's not a problem I really encounter in day-to-day life. I stumbled upon it by accident. But I reckon it might be something that'll get gradually worse, and I don't want that.

Edit: Okay, I'm suffering from the male measurement effect here. It's actually four to five inches.

 

[Arakhor]

Well, don't try to read toothpaste packets then!

(In my case, I can barely read them at all now, since they're really tiny writing that I've only ever been able to read by holding them under my nose and I'm now of an age where I'm in a similar situation to yourself.)

 

[CKS]

I've never had to make small talk with the optometrist when they were dilating my eyes, as they'd just ask me to sit outside the examining room for 15-20 minutes whilst they saw someone else.

I didn't mean to imply that I had to talk to the optometrist while waiting for my eyes to dilate, as I've also just sat around in the waiting room (or sat there while one of my kids' eyes were examined). The talking happens while they are doing paperwork and getting set up for things. I'm not good at small talk (or any other size of talk), and my kids are even worse right now, so I have to talk during their exams, too.

 

[Birdjaguar]

What is an eye exam like? I've only ever done the dinky little faux exam they do for your driver's written test. But if you go to an optometrist, what's that like? Does eye dilation hurt if you have sensitive eyes?

I go to my ophthalmologist three times a year. I go for pressure checks each time. High internal eye pressure leads to glaucoma and optic nerve damage. This is done with the "blue glowing triangle on a large device gets put up next to your eyes." noted by CKS above. I get dilated once a year. The doc does that so he can take a good look at the optic nerve and all the other stuff in your eye. In the US I'm not sure if an optometrist can do those or if it takes an MD. Both are essentially painless. And during the looking, you can't do much talking.

Optometrists fit glasses and ophthalmologists treat ailments. Usually, an ophthalmologist will have someone in his/her office to also fit glasses. Once you hit 40, it's best to get your eye pressure checked for a baseline reading and to see if you have any trouble brewing.

 

[Takhisis]

What is an eye exam like? I've only ever done the dinky little faux exam they do for your driver's written test. But if you go to an optometrist, what's that like? Does eye dilation hurt if you have sensitive eyes?

Pupil dilation has had the effec ton me of a) dilating my pupils as if I were on hard drugs and b) making me see all light sources as big blur so if I hadn't had somebody with me I'd probably have been arrested on suspicion of consuming said inexistent hard drugs.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I once had my pupils dilated to check for retinal detachment. I remember being able to see all the tiny little veins in my eyes when they flashed a big light there.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I have a book. Some idiot covered up the ISBN on the back with a price sticker and I'd rather not tear things up trying to get it off. The copyright page doesn't list the ISBN, but there is a Library of Congress number. Is there a way to get the ISBN from that?

 

[Synobun]

I have a book. Some idiot covered up the ISBN on the back with a price sticker and I'd rather not tear things up trying to get it off. The copyright page doesn't list the ISBN, but there is a Library of Congress number. Is there a way to get the ISBN from that?

I mean, you can just google the ISBN number.

[book title] isbn

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

....I looked the book up on GoodReads and was able to find the right edition. I don't know why I didn't think of that.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

Since I can't seem to find the right combination of keywords to make Google understand what I'm looking for:

When did they start standing computer towers up on end? A lot of early computer cases were on their side, allowing the monitor to sit on top of it. What was the first computer to turn it sideways?

 

[cardgame]

That's a good question. Might have something to do with heat dissipation and noise. You don't want that right next to you, so maybe put it on the floor.

 

[Takhisis]

Well, I'm going on a wiki-walk but apparently horizontal cases are still made and sold somewhere out there.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

They're still around, though a lot of them I've seen are weird little cube cases.

 

[Takhisis]

In passing (this is for cardgame really) it helps with the retro feel to be listening to contemporary italodance, but even though I haven't found out anything concrete much yet about the computer cases I already thank you for the wikiwalk, aimee.

 

[cardgame]

I mean you could absolutely put my pretty standard case horizontal. But you're blocking airflow or you're hanging the motherboard upside down, which causes a lot of physical strain for the CPU and CPU cooler. Also it's harder to access its various ports and jacks than just having it on the floor.

 

[Takhisis]

@aimeeandbeatles I asked around in fiftychat:

<Takhisis> Hey, Mars, do you know when the shift happened from horizontal computer cases with the screen on top to vertical cases with the screen on the side? It's come up on CFC-OT.
<Mars>: Not really sure. Timeline coincided with ATX standard in 1995 but not sure for reason.

I think that's a good starting point. I might check it myself tomorrow because I'm now actively interested in this.

 

[aimeeandbeatles]

I didn't even know fiftychat still exist.

 

[Takhisis]

IRC 4evah. It's from the '80s so it never dies.

 

[r16]

now ı imagine they were vertical in the computer classes at the university but when was the year for that ? So ı will claim 1990 . So that they could have become standart in maybe 5 years .

 

[Birdjaguar]

As I recall, all of my home computers have been vertical boxes except the one portable I owned back in the 80s. So that would put vertical boxes available by 1990.