"Senior Linux" is over. For the most part. Its replacement is, "The Western."
Yes, the orange antimacassar is back.
Between the last diary of Senior Linux and the first diary (this) of The Western there were some events. 2014 - for one. Microsoft 10 Pro Technical Preview Evaluation Copy Build 9841 was released. PortableApps took over one of my USB doo-dads. LinuxAV went from 6.0.3 to 6.0.4. My social life went as flat as a second-hand tire. So did my vocabulary.
So borrowing a vocabulary seemed a good move.
That's because I had a stroke. Aphasia. And not even one of those strokes with a German name. Mine took place between two of the mapped areas of brain named after two different German Doctors. But at least mine is pretty well described in wikipedia. And it uses German names:
For example, when prompted to repeat "Rosenkranz", a German-speaking patient may respond with, "rosenbrau... rosenbrauch... rosengrau... bro... grosenbrau... grossenlau, rosenkranz,... kranz... rosenkranz"
And while an easy name might be useful for me as a stroke survivor, that particular situation is NOT for "The Western."
"The Western" is a part of my personal vocabulary for the "Internet of Things" or "IoT."
You may prefer some other kind of movie. Or TV re-runs. Or books. Whatever you choose, though, as long as the vocabulary is rich enough, and old enough, it can be a part of your personal vocabulary. For now, I'll stick with The Western. And IoT is not the only sort of thing for 'borrowed vocabularies.' But here The Western as the diary series on dkos, is mainly about IoT aka Internet of Things.
The Cattle Drive.
Talking about one old (TV) western series, wikipedia says:
Set in the 1860s, Rawhide portrays the challenges faced by the drovers of a cattle drive. There are 20–25 riders looking after 3,000 head of cattle, the maximum manageable herd.
and wikipedia continues
The herd is estimated to be worth about $50,000–60,000 (about 1.3 million in 2010 dollars...) if sold at market and represents a pool of cattle from approximately 200 owners. The trail boss carries a considerable sum of cash for all necessities and all possible emergencies. The drovers' pay was a dollar a day and "all you can eat". Riding drag was often a punishment since it was behind the herd, so a rider would pick up all of the herd's dust. Drives had a remuda, a pool of extra horses. If something happened to a man's horse, he would be useless without an instant replacement.
The numbers for a cattle drive and the numbers for an IoT group are similar. So the first homework assignment for "The Western" is the following: What is the name of a group of drovers, cows (and steers) and horses on The Cattle Drive.