Computer Corner

[briantrumpet]

Urgh, trying to get MS Authenticator back up and running on a different phone after the hydration therapy on my principle phone caused system failure. One of the affected sites is back up and running by the human administrator simply manually removing the 2FA requirement so I could log in again and reinstate 2FA with a QR code. Not sure that the university one is going to be quite as easy.

 

[icowden]

Urgh, trying to get MS Authenticator back up and running on a different phone after the hydration therapy on my principle phone caused system failure. One of the affected sites is back up and running by the human administrator simply manually removing the 2FA requirement so I could log in again and reinstate 2FA with a QR code. Not sure that the university one is going to be quite as easy.

it's literally the worst pain the arse. I have 5 different accounts to do. I've done ONE.

 

[briantrumpet]

it's literally the worst pain the arse. I have 5 different accounts to do. I've done ONE.

I'm not sure you're using Authenticator as intended if that's literally true 😉

 

[PurplePenguin]

I'm not sure you're using Authenticator as intended if that's literally true 😉

I think that's just about one notch up from a less/fewer gag, but still some way below acceptable.

 

[briantrumpet]

I think that's just about one notch up from a less/fewer gag, but still some way below acceptable.

It's one of the few things I am actually pedantic about, as 99% of the time, 'literally' is misused, and often the imagery is, by itself, funny. "The puck was literally glued to the hockey stick" was one I remember from sports commentary. So, apologies for my poor taste.

The basic rule is never to use the word 'literally'. Unless you really are gluing pucks to hockey sticks (which I think is cheating).

 

[PurplePenguin]

It's one of the few things I am actually pedantic about, as 99% of the time, 'literally' is misused, and often the imagery is, by itself, funny. "The puck was literally glued to the hockey stick" was one I remember from sports commentary. So, apologies for my poor taste.

The basic rule is never to use the word 'literally'. Unless you really are gluing pucks to hockey sticks (which I think is cheating).

But you know it is used as an intensifier and that language changes. Similarly, in the US they say things like a "grown ass man" which has no literal meaning as far as I can work out, but you just need to accept that ass is an intensifier. See also a lot of swearing - no it is not covered in blood and having sex.

 

[briantrumpet]

But you know it is used as an intensifier and that language changes. Similarly, in the US they say things like a "grown ass man" which has no literal meaning as far as I can work out, but you just need to accept that ass is an intensifier. See also a lot of swearing - no it is not covered in blood and having sex.

There are other intensifiers that don't have useful specific meanings. 'Literally' literally does.

Of course I know that words change meanings - that's 'baked in' (SWIDT?) - but it doesn't mean that one should never care when it appears that useful words with precise meanings are in danger of disappearing into the mire of semantic shift. Sometimes the loss is really not worth more than a few seconds' concern (e.g. the sense of 'beg' in the phrase 'to beg the question'), other times it is worth making at least a bit of an effort.

And, as I say, misuse of 'literally' does give the option of cheap jokes, even if they aren't worthy of funky penguins.

 

[PurplePenguin]

There are other intensifiers that don't have useful specific meanings. 'Literally' literally does.

Of course I know that words change meanings - that's 'baked in' (SWIDT?) - but it doesn't mean that one should never care when it appears that useful words with precise meanings are in danger of disappearing into the mire of semantic shift. Sometimes the loss is really not worth more than a few seconds' concern (e.g. the sense of 'beg' in the phrase 'to beg the question'), other times it is worth making at least a bit of an effort.

And, as I say, misuse of 'literally' does give the option of cheap jokes, even if they aren't worthy of funky penguins.

And your misuse of litigate? I'm sensing double standards.

 

[briantrumpet]

And your misuse of litigate? I'm sensing double standards.

I might concede that one if you get me drunk.

 

[briantrumpet]

it's literally the worst pain the arse. I have 5 different accounts to do. I've done ONE.

Phew, thanks to the patience and knowledge of a real person at the university on the IT helpline, I'm back into my uni account... took several goes, but got there eventually, and have now added my phone number as an additional MFA 'vector'. I think I've only got one more account to add. I have such an exciting life.

 

[farfromtheland]

I might concede that one if you get me drunk.

 

[briantrumpet]

Spoke to another real person, and that's the last of my MS Authenticator log-ons sorted. Phew. There's a definite advantage of inertia and staying with the same make of phone (Samsung in my case), as it makes the job of transferring settings and everything across a doddle. So I'm back to two phones, one for the UK SIM, and one for the French SIM, which gets left off most of the time when I'm here, but having two phones when abroad is a useful insurance policy, when all travel relies on access to a phone.

 

[briantrumpet]

Hahahaha. Me idiot.

Just wondered how much battery life was now-dried-out phone. I'd not charged it since its hydration therapy, as that apparently is a good way to fry a wet phone. Well, I plugged it in, and it turns out it had 0% charge. It's now on charge and turns on without problem.

It's now a spare phone without a SIM card.