h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The icon for the 'Cut' command on word processing software is generally a pair of scissors.

Now scissors are still with us, of course. We use them for hair, scotch tape, ceremonial ribbons etc, but when did you last amend a document by physically cutting it up?

In this I'm not counting David Bowie, for whom cutting up documents is an established songwriting technique.

I think the only cogs in hard-drives or DVD drives are the draw mechanisms on the DVD. The rest of the moving hardware is direct drive from the motors.

I prefer to think it is "cog" short for "cognition". It's to show that the computer is thinking about your problem (beverage, etc).

Where do people see cogs? There are no cogs visible on my computer. Other than these ones:

I suggested that the 'wheel of death' implied cogs turning in a mechanism.

...and I'm still unconvinced about the ratios involved in the h2g2 smiley cogs

Gnomon, when I first boot up my computer, a small blue vortex appears next to the mouse pointer. maybe it's supposed to represent the turning of a clock's hands, or maybe the turning of the earth. Perhaps not every computer represents booting up in that way. It doesn't *have* to be a cog. But the Earth turns. It even gets represented in the icon for Internet Explorer. Doesn't mean that the Earth is actually in the computer, just that time passes while the computer is getting ready for its work.

My Samsung Galaxy tablet uses a cog as the symbol for "Settings".

It appears on almost every page. And goes to a list of possible
settings changes depending on the page content.

I never thought about it too much - just thought that it was as close
to a generic image of an old fashioned rotary dial knob as they had.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/62/Knobs-for-climate-control.jpg


~jwf~

Help! I don't get the David Bowie reference.

Bowie would randomise lyrics by writing them down, then cutting them into pieces, then rearranging the phrases until it looked suitably artistic. I believe 'Life on Mars' is a good example.

Try to catch the BBC documentary 'Cracked Actor' which shows the process in action.

I've just realised that our is soon to be a thing of the past.

There's a highway sign seen all over North Am
involving a dinner plate, a knife and a fork.

Since most travelers go through drive thrus and
get a hand-held snack I wonder how long it will
be before proper sit-down-at-a-table-and-eat-a-meal
dining rooms are no longer available en route and
children will not recognise a place setting.



Happily, the old phone symbol, the kind that rests in a
cradle when not in use, is still used in many modern
cars with Bluetooth connectivity. There's two symbols
on the steering wheel. In two postures - the upright one
means make a call and the horizontal one means hang up.
These represent the overall pick up and hung up positions
of the old fashioned desk-top cradle phones.

~jwf~

"Since most travelers go through drive thrus and get a hand-held snack I wonder how long it will be before proper sit-down-at-a-table-and-eat-a-meal dining rooms are no longer available en route and
children will not recognise a place setting." [jwf]

But there are different ways to travel -- not just in cars. If you fly in an airplane that still serves meals, there will be knives, forks, and spoons. If you have coffee or tea, chances are hey will be served in real cups or mugs. And family trips by car may not be all that common. If there are children who don't recognize place settings, that has more to do with what gets served [and how, and when] in their homes.

The word "place setting" can refer to a set of plates bowls, and cups, or to a set of spoons, forks, and knives. There was a time when the first type of place setting consisted of five pieces: dinner plate, salad plate, bowl [or, alternatively, bread plate], tea cup, and saucer. Far fewer people seem to use cups and saucers, though, so
four-piece place settings have become more common, with a mug used instead of tea cup and saucer. Sets of silverware sometimes contain just the basic four pieces [fork, knife, teaspoon, tablespoon], or can be expanded to include salad fork, butter knife, and other pieces used at really formal dinners.

I, for one, don't keep salad forks and smaller knives on hand, as I haven't served any formal dinners since the early 1980s.

"I've just realised that our is soon to be a thing of the past.' [TC]

But things very much like it will be used. A tungsten light bulb and a fluorescent light bulb are similar enough to be recognizable in pictograms.

>>desk-top cradle phones<< Usually they weren't handy on the desk top or the coffee table, at least, not in private homes. They were out on the hall table where, as a rule, it was cold and very public and very uncomfortable.

Perhaps this was UK centric. It was a way of keeping calls short and, therefore, bills lower. I was astounded when I got to Hong Kong and found local calls were free. So there were free landlines in most department stores and cafes. It also meant that IT and TV run off the phone line was very, very cheap.
It also explained how American teenagers could talk on the phone for hours, even having their own lines. My father would have blown a gasket