What's Going On?

Oswego John · Post by **Oswego John** » Feb 28th, '11, 17:20

Can someone tell me whats going on lately? When I read articles and ads on the PC monitor, I notice that many times I see the letter "a" with circumflex followed by the euro symbol. Sometimes the letter "A" is upper case and sometimes it is lower case "a". Is there a reason for this difference?

I noticed the symbols again in the post that Cathy made this afternoon concerning webinars.

Is it just my computer that does this, or does it happen to others, also?

In analyzing the occasion for the use of this sign, it seems to be a substitute for the use of an apostrophe in the possessive form.

Is there a numerical number scheme on the keyboard to produce this set of symbols?

Why the change? The apostrophe never let me down after all these past years. - What's going on?

O J

Duncan · Post by **Duncan** » Feb 28th, '11, 20:33

I don't see this problem in the post, when I'm using the Firefox browser, which makes me think that it might be your internet browser that's responsible?

Sea Hunt · Post by **Sea Hunt** » Feb 28th, '11, 21:41

OJ:

I have, I think, Microsoft Internet Explorer. I was able to read Cathy's most recent post without any funny "a" letters or other strange symbols.

I assume she is now a Junior or Senior in college but perhaps you could ask your blonde "computer tutor" to look at your problem.

Oswego John · Post by **Oswego John** » Mar 1st, '11, 00:04

Hi Duncan and Robert,

Thanks for your input. I have been using AOL for a long while and I'm not too thrilled with what they are offering now. BTW: they have recently increased their rates, again. Maybe it's time for me to look around for a new provider. Maybe tell them to take a hike.

The following is an idea of what I am receiving, an "a circumflex" with the euro symbol. I erred when I mentioned that it is used instead of a possessive apostrophe. It also replaces a two word contraction apostrophe.

Anyhoo, here's a sample of what I have to live with. Clean your glasses.

O J

<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_QRoM ... er0033.JPG" target="_blank"><img width="600" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/_QRoM ... 3.JPG"></a>

CDSOA Webmaster wrote:Size of image restricted by webmaster.

-Cathy

wmbwalker · Post by **wmbwalker** » Mar 1st, '11, 00:10

OJ, I don't know how you did that, but I think it's great! When you figure it out let us know so we can change our set up to receive similarly!

Cathy Monaghan · Post by **Cathy Monaghan** » Mar 1st, '11, 01:27

Hi OJ,

Since I can't reproduce the problem you describe, I don't think I can help you. When was the last time you rebooted your computer? Sometimes that's all that's needed to set a computer straight. Or how about the last time you did a WHOLE SYSTEM SCAN of your computer with your antivirus program? Run a whole system scan, not just a quick scan, and make sure your virus definitions are up-to-date.?

Good luck and I hope you can figure it out.

Cathy
Webmaster - CDSOA, Inc.
CD32 Realization, #3
Rahway, NJ
Raritan Bay

Oswego John · Post by **Oswego John** » Mar 1st, '11, 01:46

Sea Hunt wrote:OJ:

I assume she is now a Junior or Senior in college but perhaps you could ask your blonde "computer tutor" to look at your problem.

Hi Robert,

Good thinking, brother.

I have access to two local student computer whiz kids to help me. Bruno is a 280 pound nose tackle on the college foorball team. Mimi is an energetic, cute, dynamite, smiling, ball of fire of a cheerleader. I could ask either if they would tutor me. Who do you think that I will ask for help?

Let me just add, "My mother didn't raise any dummies"

O J

M. R. Bober · Post by **M. R. Bober** » Mar 1st, '11, 07:43

Oswego John wrote:
Sea Hunt wrote:OJ:

I assume she is now a Junior or Senior in college but perhaps you could ask your blonde "computer tutor" to look at your problem.
Hi Robert,

Good thinking, brother.

I have access to two local student computer whiz kids to help me. Bruno is a 280 pound nose tackle on the college foorball team. Mimi is an energetic, cute, dynamite, smiling, ball of fire of a cheerleader. I could ask either if they would tutor me. Who do you think that I will ask for help?

Let me just add, "My mother didn't raise any dummies"

O J

O J,
Often the garbled characters that you describe are caused by data transmission errors. Check your cables and connectors. Have you relocated any high voltage or motor driven equipment near your computer or data lines? Problems of this type used to be fairly common on dial-up connections.

In any case, you aren't crazy, it's all in your head.

Mitchell Bober
Sunny Lancaster, (where most of our problems are caused by poor communications and the rest are caused by GOOD communications) VA

David van den Burgh · Post by **David van den Burgh** » Mar 1st, '11, 07:46

OJ,

I ain't no expert, but I suspect there are two issues:

1) The Seven Seas info was cut and pasted from a word processor and contained "smart" apostrophes (or other punctuation) that aren't standard for web pages.

2) Your browser might not be the most up-to-date. Some browsers are better at displaying information than others. Cathy's message displays fine on my Firefox, for example.

John Vigor · Post by **John Vigor** » Mar 1st, '11, 11:01

OJ, if it's any consolation I, too, get the same characters in messages from time to time. After I figured out what they represented, I didn't worry about it any more. I always attributed it to the fact that they came from a Mac, whereas I'm working with a PC. But what would I know?

Cheers,

John V.

Larry DeMers · Post by **Larry DeMers** » Mar 1st, '11, 13:47

Hi Oj,

How's your winter going? It's long, cold and boring up here..but that is about to change...

Those goofy characters ..did you try reloading that page, and did you get a good copy then? Or were the errors repeated identically?

If reloading fixed the errors, then it was a transmission error most probably. However, if the errors remained after reloading, then there is a decoding error going on at those bad locations.

Check your decoder for the correct settings. (In I.E., it is 'VIEW', 'ENCODING'. I have "Auto Select" and "Western European" checked on my computers.

I assumed that you using a dial-up conn., correct? Maybe a modem problem is also to blame. Also, something as simple as a bad phone jack connection can raise heck on the data stream, so that could be a point of inquiry, no?

Larry DeMers
s/v DeLaMer
CD30c Sailing Lake Superior

Joe Myerson · Post by **Joe Myerson** » Mar 1st, '11, 16:06

OJ,

Like John V., I sometimes open files that have strange characters instead of quotation marks and apostrophes.

It's usually because my encoding is wrong--or at least not compatible with the sent file.

And, like John V., I often suspect that the incompatible encoding came from one of those Apple thingamajigs.

--Joe

Oswego John · Post by **Oswego John** » Mar 1st, '11, 17:35

Hmmm,

Could it be said that Apple : PC :: Brand X : CD?

Jes kiddin'
O J

Neil Gordon · Post by **Neil Gordon** » Mar 1st, '11, 20:57

Joe Myerson wrote:... I sometimes open files that have strange characters ...

Hey, haven't we all been to various CDSOA events with strange characters?

The Cape Dory Board

What's Going On?

What's Going On?

Maybe your browser?

What's Going On?

"a circumflex"

It aint us....

Weird Characters

Mac scribblings

Goofy Characters

I think Larry's on to something

FUNNY HIEROGLYPHICS

Re: I think Larry's on to something