Sierra Mountain Times

Note to Steve Jobs – Quit Wearing Black

The Internet news aggregators were busy over the past few days repeating endlessly how the Wall Street Journal reported that Steve Jobs, co-founder and guiding light behind Apple Computer, had undergone a liver  transplant a couple of months ago.

I watched as the news trickled in – still at this writing unsubstantiated by anyone officially connected with Apple – about Jobs’ alleged transplant, and noted that Apple’s stock didn’t take the nose dive that some would assume it should on such news, given the close connection in some folks’ minds with the company’s current success and Jobs’ leadership.

Pundits have weighed in on the question of whether Apple would succeed without Jobs, noting that the company’s stock tanked back in January after Jobs announced he had a “hormonal imbalance” that was “relatively simple” to resolve. That story changed in less than two weeks to news that Jobs would be taking a 6-month medical leave of absence in order to focus on his health. A rumor also circulated that he was, in fact, dead.

The Securities and Exchange Commission, who while absent in several other recent instances – can anyone say “he Madoff with the money” – have apparently been watching for signs of share price manipulation, but were apparently satisfied with the Apple board of directors’ statements over time of Jobs that “he deserves our complete and unwavering support during his recuperation. He most certainly has that from Apple and its Board.”

Others say that the timing of the most recent news about Jobs’ health is at least oddly timed, coming as it did on the same day as news that the Apple had sold more than a million of their newest iPhones. The news was announced in a press release that quoted Jobs for the first time since January of this year saying, “customers are voting and the iPhone is winning,” a ploy some claim was meant to balance out the tendency of investors to tank Apple’s stock on Jobs’ health news.

What does it all mean for the many Macheads out there? Who knows – my crystal ball remains in the mechanic’s shop in Big Oak Flat, waiting on mystery parts apparently made out of unobtainium.

I’ve said previously that I believe the team leading Apple, a team of which Jobs is just one member, has more depth than some imagine, and even if Jobs had actually suffered the heart attack that supposedly happened last year, the makers behind the iPhenom will keep the hits coming for the foreseeable future. I think they’ve got the “what would Steve do” thing down.

Now, about that tip to stop wearing black all the time – I have from time to time suffered noticeable health-related weight loss. I was at a meeting recently and had for whatever reason pulled all black clothes out of the closet – a costume that Steve Jobs would be entirely comfortable in. I was surprised at the response from several ladies at the meeting, all of whom were certain I looked like I’d lost a lot of weight, which I hadn’t. Therefore, the advice – Steve, there are other colors for clothes, try some that don’t make you look worse than you are.

Quitting crashed Mac programs: Because, after all, even a Mac is still a computer composed of unequal parts hardware and software (plus whatever you’ve managed to cram onto its hard drive), even a Mac user will experience the agony of a crashed program. You’re working or playing away when suddenly the program just freezes. What just happened?

According to an article at Wikipedia, a program crash happens when it “stops performing its function and also stops responding to other parts of the system.” The article then goes on to describe a variety of causes for program or system crashing, all of which are written in an unintelligible style that brings to mind an overseas “help desk” conversation.

For example: “It is quite common for the processor to attempt to execute data or random memory values. Since all data values are possible but only some values are valid instructions, this often results in an illegal instruction exception. By chance such data or random values could be valid (though unplanned) instructions. If while successfully executing such instructions the processor happens onto a branch instruction that moves the program counter back a few bytes it would simply repeat those few instructions over and over, being stuck in an endless loop. One might say that the original bug that upset the program counter ‘caused’ the crash, but the actual fault was an illegal instruction or endless loop some time later.” tinyurl.com/7by7ly

I note that the article is flagged as “confusing or unclear to readers” to which I want to add, “do you think?”

Our point however isn’t to point out the need for more editors on the Internet, it’s to talk about how to quit a crashed program on your computer, other than picking it up and throwing it off the deck, which I consider perfectly reasonable under some circumstances. If you’re not quite ready for that, you’ll want to be able to get your computer’s attention in a less hostile manner, and fortunately there is one that doesn’t involve pulling the power cord from the wall, something I’ve had more than one person tell me they’ve done repeatedly. That’s not a good thing to do, either.

When your computer stops doing what it’s supposed to, the first thing you need to do is pause and think, which I know annoys some people to no end. Is it possible the computer is just busy for a moment or two, maybe because you’ve set your antivirus program to scan the entire computer every thirty seconds? Or is the computer busy downloading and installing stuff in the background? Or are there a billion programs running at one time? Any of these could lead your computer to slow down. 

If none of those fit the bill, then it is possible you need to force the program that is “not responding” to quit. On a Windows computer, you use the well-known keystroke combination of Alt+Ctrl+Del, by which I mean press all three of those keys at once. 

In Windows XP, the Task Manager will appear, and you’ll have the opportunity to quit the offending program, reboot the machine, or several other options. In Windows Vista, you’ll get a menu that offers the opportunity to switch users, lock the computer, change a password, or go to the Task Manager, which then operates as it does in XP.

With a Mac, you’ll use a keyboard combination, as well, but this time it’s the Apple (or propeller) key, plus the Alt (or option) key plus the Esc (Escape) key. Press them all at once, and the Force Quit Application window appears, with a list of program running on your Mac. Select the one giving you a problem, and click Force Quit.

Email questions to Marv at: marv.dealy@throck.com.

Marv Dealy founded Throckmorten Enterprises in San Francisco in 1988 and moved the company to Big Oak Flat in 1996. Open Monday through Friday, 9-ish to 5-ish. 209-962-7308. The company provides technical support for HP’s webinars, professional website design, computer repairs, and has recently begun providing wireless ISP services. The company also publishes the Yosemite Gazette.