Comments | polyfrog: Carn(iv)al Knowledge

polyfrog

Carn(iv)al Knowledge

Feb 26, 2007 11:13

I am now the cotton candy maven at the rink. When there is cotton candy to be made, I am the man.

I also am now more-or-less in charge of the Metal-Typer (ours is like the one on the far right of the picture, with the angled yellow sign). I know how it works and am in charge of fixing it when it stops doing so ( Read more... )

gadgets, work

Comments 18

polyfrog February 26 2007, 17:26:10 UTC

And now that I think about it, there was a kid having trouble with the Metal-Typer on Saturday. I should check it out when I go in to the rink this afternoon.

bugshaw February 26 2007, 18:05:58 UTC

It does make a marvellous change to have a job (or hobby, come to that) which doesn't involve sitting in front of a computer all day.

polyfrog February 26 2007, 18:12:24 UTC

Indeed yes.
Although my day job also is theoretically a go out and do things with hands on sort of job as well. It's just that there is very little work right now, so there's a lot of sitting around waiting. Which sitting occurs in front of a computer.

divalibby76 February 26 2007, 18:10:47 UTC

COTTON CANDY!!!!!

I want some!

polyfrog February 26 2007, 18:13:58 UTC

See that's exactly how I got this task: I asked why we don't have cotton candy anymore, and was told it was because no one wanted to deal with the machine...and I said "I'll deal with it! I love cotton candy!"

And like magic, cotton candy is Erik's Thing.

divalibby76 February 26 2007, 18:23:55 UTC

YAY!!!!!

cotton candy is awesome!!!

(The comment has been removed)

polyfrog February 26 2007, 18:26:26 UTC

A Metal-Typer is likely to be found in the same sorts of habitats as a squished-penny machine.

Basically, it's an aluminum disk about the size of a 50-cent piece:

( ... )

(The comment has been removed)

polyfrog February 27 2007, 05:48:04 UTC

32 spaces fill the ring. But if you use them all your message abuts itself head to tail.

daev February 26 2007, 19:51:17 UTC

As I recall, you have also had jobs programming a mainframe computer (PLATO) and running a Linotype.

Erik Wessing, riding the trailing edge of technology!

polyfrog February 26 2007, 20:11:33 UTC

I prefer to think of it as "riding the long tail of progress."

And while you are basically correct, the machine that I used, which was a Ludlow Type Caster, was not as advanced as the Linotype.

daev February 26 2007, 20:24:53 UTC

Good point. Riding an edge is kind of like sliding down the razor blade of life.

polyfrog February 26 2007, 21:19:13 UTC

We shall ne'er forget thee, thou golden college days....