Limits
It is important to realize the limits of our capabilities. Here are two examples:
I decided I needed to move the shelves next to my desk in order to have a cupboard installed. I measured the uprights that are screwed to the wall and set out to buy a third one so that I would not have to unscrew them and then make holes in the wall again and re-install them. I went to two stores that sell this sort of thing and bought what I thought would be suitable parts that matched the style of the shelf holders. But, when I compared them with the ones on the wall I realized that both sources were mis-matched, and then I realized it was because the original that I have on the wall are based on the British inch-foot system of length while the ones in the stores here are metric. As a consequence the holes to support the shelves do not match. So I had to return the parts to the stores and was faced with the job of unscrewing and taking down the uprights and then drilling numerous holes in the wall again. I gave up, I decided it was too big a job for me to do and I'll leave it for the carpenter who will be here to install the cupboard.
I own a Nook Color e-book reader, that is nice because it not only allows reading books like a Kindle, but also has full internet access as well as being a video and music player. I decided to add some extra memory to the Nook in order to expand its capabilities, but then I found that that new memory was not integrated into the Nook, but formed a separate memory and one could switch between the two. In order to combine them I needed to do a process called "rooting" in which the Nook is transformed into a fully Android system, like a smartphone. I could find no way to conveniently do this, until my son pointed out to me that now there are several commercial sources of memory chips and programs to do just this. So I purchased one on-line called N2A (get it, Nook to Android). Since I already had the memory chip installed I did not need to buy that, but only download the program into the memory chip inside the Nook. So I connected the Nook to my comnputer and proceeded with the process. Then it asked me what was the size of the memory chip I had, but I couldn't remember that so I guessed 32 gb. I was apparently wrong because as soon as I had downloaded the program and went to install it, I got an error message, "not enough memory." So I did what I should have done before, I opened up the Nook and took out the memory chip (a fiddly process) and it was 8 gb. So I wrote a note to the company telling them that I had made a mistake and downloaded the wrong size program, and all was well, having paid for the first version, they sent me the correct version free. I downloaded it, installed it and then disconnected the Nook, turned it off and then on again, et voila, it is now a fully Android tablet. So it was successful, but it teaches not to cut corners and make assumptions.
I decided I needed to move the shelves next to my desk in order to have a cupboard installed. I measured the uprights that are screwed to the wall and set out to buy a third one so that I would not have to unscrew them and then make holes in the wall again and re-install them. I went to two stores that sell this sort of thing and bought what I thought would be suitable parts that matched the style of the shelf holders. But, when I compared them with the ones on the wall I realized that both sources were mis-matched, and then I realized it was because the original that I have on the wall are based on the British inch-foot system of length while the ones in the stores here are metric. As a consequence the holes to support the shelves do not match. So I had to return the parts to the stores and was faced with the job of unscrewing and taking down the uprights and then drilling numerous holes in the wall again. I gave up, I decided it was too big a job for me to do and I'll leave it for the carpenter who will be here to install the cupboard.
I own a Nook Color e-book reader, that is nice because it not only allows reading books like a Kindle, but also has full internet access as well as being a video and music player. I decided to add some extra memory to the Nook in order to expand its capabilities, but then I found that that new memory was not integrated into the Nook, but formed a separate memory and one could switch between the two. In order to combine them I needed to do a process called "rooting" in which the Nook is transformed into a fully Android system, like a smartphone. I could find no way to conveniently do this, until my son pointed out to me that now there are several commercial sources of memory chips and programs to do just this. So I purchased one on-line called N2A (get it, Nook to Android). Since I already had the memory chip installed I did not need to buy that, but only download the program into the memory chip inside the Nook. So I connected the Nook to my comnputer and proceeded with the process. Then it asked me what was the size of the memory chip I had, but I couldn't remember that so I guessed 32 gb. I was apparently wrong because as soon as I had downloaded the program and went to install it, I got an error message, "not enough memory." So I did what I should have done before, I opened up the Nook and took out the memory chip (a fiddly process) and it was 8 gb. So I wrote a note to the company telling them that I had made a mistake and downloaded the wrong size program, and all was well, having paid for the first version, they sent me the correct version free. I downloaded it, installed it and then disconnected the Nook, turned it off and then on again, et voila, it is now a fully Android tablet. So it was successful, but it teaches not to cut corners and make assumptions.
posted by Jack Cohen at 7:39 PM
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