sane

[Steven Vollom]

On Friday 14 August 2009 06:08:50 pm Donn wrote:
> Steven,
>
> > One of the reasons I started using a computer is because I am unable to
> > do what you recommend.
>
> That's a contradiction right there -- you can't keep a notebook in sight
> somewhere but you can substitute it for a complex thing like a computer?

It is not an explainable thing.  But if you can't believe what I say, I cannot 
reply.  An this is pretty normal.  When I can't do something that is easy for 
others, they won't accept it.  Who else on the list is like me?  Do you think 
I wouldn't change if I could?
>
> If you can buy the machine, install an OS, setup the desktop then you are
> certainly brainy enough to just have some discipline and make notes about a
> small set of things that WE ARE FIXING FOR YOU OVER AND OVER AGAIN.
> Not yelling, emphasizing.

I am just now figuring out solutions for the problem.  And they are not your 
solutions, because when it comes to my problem, you haven't a clue.  If you 
just believed what I say, then you could help me in a manner that reduces or 
eliminated the problem in the preceding paragraph.

I just learned in an email today, that I can do the thing I need and what to 
do in kmail.  I can't remember who, now, but someone told me, from the list, 
that I should not do the thing I want to do, because it would affect the kmail 
application.  Because of that, I have been struggling with suggestions like 
yours that just don't work for me.

Do you really believe I haven't tried the notebook thing.  More than a hundred 
times, I am sure.

Someone else told me that I can search within emails if I keep them all.  This 
would be even better than my idea, if I can figure out how to do it.

He said open kmail and type 's' and then what I want and it would locate what 
I need from my email records.  That would be great if I knew where in the 
kmail application I type the command in.  First I thought he meant to type 
kmail in the shell then type in s and the topic, but when I typed kmail in the 
CLI, it opened Kmail GUI.

When I typed in the word 's kdesudo' in the search line and pressed enter, 
your email came up.  I was expecting to see an email that contained the word 
kdesudo.  I know there are some in my saved emails.  That is an example of how 
I would like to use the search bar.  Can it be set up to do as I prefer?
>
> For example: write down what a directory is. What a path is. What a file
> is. Write down examples of each. Write down how to use cd, ls, cat and
> apt-get and the other handful of commands you often use.
> Sit down and figure out a metaphor that works for you -- so that you can
> navigate a filesystem in your own way. Think of directories as countries,
> or paintings, or brushes, or colours. Find a way to understand how to
> travel from one to the other -- who lives where and within whom. Once you
> do that you are literally 90% of the way. All the rest is pretty much
> random detail that happens rarely.
>
> Put simply: You can either find a way to cut-down the repeat questions *or*
> simply stop using computers -- they may be too much for you. I don't
> believe that, but you seem to make it so.

Answer this question please?  Using the last paragraph that I typed above, can 
it be done?

It is almost humiliating that I can say something over and over and over to a 
left-brain thinker and almost all simply ignore what I say and respond with 
their own idea, but never do they try to help me in a way I can assimilate the 
information.

I just gave you a way to help me solve my problem.  I told you something you 
were unwilling to believe, and you, like a badger, dug right back in and told 
me that I could do something I cannot do.  You can't believe how frustrating 
that is to me.

But if you know how to help me do what I would like to do, it will save me 
hundreds of hours of preparation, because the other way to serve my needs is 
to make a folder for every problem I have and have a solution for.  That was 
my plan before I got an email that said I could search within my emails.

I was told to not do it my way and to do it another person's way, which 
consisted of making a folder for each name of a person who helped and simply 
transfer the emails into their named folder.  The only problem is that my 
memory is then required to know which person gave me help on a certain 
problem.  And when I can't remember who it was that gave me the advice, I have 
to start reading emails from the first to the last just to find the one that 
saves me repeating my problem.

I no longer have a memory that will retain a new subject.  I have to 
experience it over and over and over to finally make it a permanent memory.  
This is an age related problem, because it did not used to be that way, but it 
is something I have to live with.

To give you an idea how unfair what you are asking of me is, I have had many 
people in the past who have had the ability to help me, but because I would 
not do what I COULD NOT DO, they were unwilling to help me further.  That has 
happened repeatedly for the past 60 years.  The dumb old steve thing works the 
best, but left-brained thinkers are nothing at all if not stubborn.  And even 
if you are unwilling to help me the way I need help, I still am grateful for 
your attempts doing it your way.  Eventually I get it, your way too, it just 
takes a lot longer with a lot of repetition.  In reality, if you bang on a 
square peg enough times, eventually the corners will come off and it will fit in 
a round hole.

Is the search I need a boulean (sp) search.  I heard that was the google 
browser search type?

Well as long as you don't believe me, I find myself writing books trying to 
explain, what apparently is unexplainable.  I still consider you a great 
friend.

Steven
>
> \d