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  • Re: C structure portability, naughty Python

    From Niklas Karlsson@3:633/10 to All on Wed Jan 7 20:55:50 2026
    On 2026-01-07, John Ames <commodorejohn@gmail.com> wrote:

    Many's the time I've had to resort to the NATO phonetic alphabet when
    trying to get a customer to type something in over the phone.

    I use it habitually, if I'm speaking English. But with a slight
    modification: "S for sugar". I found that no matter how much I
    emphasized siERRa, they nonetheless put Z for zero.

    Niklas
    --
    [It] contains "vegetable stabilizer" which sounds ominous. How unstable are vegetables?
    -- Jeff Zahn

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Charlie Gibbs@3:633/10 to All on Thu Jan 8 04:57:24 2026
    On 2026-01-07, rbowman <bowman@montana.com> wrote:

    On Wed, 7 Jan 2026 09:48:29 +0000, The Natural Philosopher wrote:

    On 06/01/2026 18:57, Charlie Gibbs wrote:

    remember the "baud" vs "bps" confusion.

    IIRC the are not , strictly, the same thing...

    My point exactly.

    They usually were back in the 1200 baud days. Then things got
    complicated.

    Not even then. When I got my first 1200-bps modem, my .sig
    block said, "600 baud and proud of it!" When I moved up to
    a 2400-bps modem, that statement still applied.

    --
    /~\ Charlie Gibbs | Growth for the sake of
    \ / <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> | growth is the ideology
    X I'm really at ac.dekanfrus | of the cancer cell.
    / \ if you read it the right way. | -- Edward Abbey

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)
  • From Carlos E.R.@3:633/10 to All on Thu Jan 8 14:01:45 2026
    On 2026-01-07 18:23, Chris Ahlstrom wrote:
    John Ames wrote this post by blinking in Morse code:

    On Wed, 07 Jan 2026 06:33:45 GMT
    Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote:

    Seems plausible - may also have to do with phone-tree systems and
    how intelligible "hash" is or isn't over a muffled line, vs. a word
    that begins and ends with hard consonants.

    I hadn't thought of that angle. Indeed, aeronautical radio
    phraseology has evolved to deal with just that sort of problem.

    Many's the time I've had to resort to the NATO phonetic alphabet when
    trying to get a customer to type something in over the phone.

    Like "It all went tango uniform"? A real "charlie foxtrot"?


    I tried to use that over the years several times here, but nobody
    understands it, unless they are HAMs or aviators. I have to use a local variant based in the name of the provinces of Spain.

    --
    Cheers, Carlos.
    ES??, EU??;

    --- PyGate Linux v1.5.2
    * Origin: Dragon's Lair, PyGate NNTP<>Fido Gate (3:633/10)