[sf-lug] SF-LUG meeting notes for Monday 18 March 2019

[Rick Moen]

Quoting aaronco36 (aaronco36 at SDF.ORG):

> What's a Catch-22 situation, for the one or two people reading this
> who don't already know what a Catch-22 is or may have conveniently
> forgotten??

Yossarian is trying to figure out how to not get killed on a mission,
and is talking to Doc Daneeka:

  “Can’t you ground someone who’s crazy?”

  “Oh, sure. I have to. There’s a rule saying I have to ground anyone
  who’s crazy.”

  “Then why don’t you ground me? I’m crazy. Ask Clevinger.”

  “Clevinger? Where is Clevinger? You find Clevinger and I’ll ask him.”

  “Then ask any of the others. They’ll tell you how crazy I am.”

  “They’re crazy.”

  “Then why don’t you ground them?”

  “Why don’t they ask me to ground them?”

  “Because they’re crazy, that’s why.”

  “Of course they’re crazy,” Doc Daneeka replied. “I just told you they’re
  crazy, didn’t I? And you can’t let crazy people decide whether you’re
  crazy or not, can you?”

  Yossarian looked at him soberly and tried another approach. “Is Orr
  crazy?”

  “He sure is,” Doc Daneeka said.

  “Can you ground him?”

  “I sure can. But first he has to ask me to. That’s part of the rule.”
  “Then why doesn’t he ask you to?”

  “Because he’s crazy,” Doc Daneeka said. “He has to be crazy to keep
  flying combat missions after all the close calls he’s had. Sure, I can
  ground Orr. But first he has to ask me to.”

  “That’s all he has to do to be grounded?”

  “That’s all. Let him ask me.”

  “And then you can ground him?” Yossarian asked.

  “No. Then I can’t ground him.”

  “You mean there’s a catch?”

  “Sure there’s a catch,” Doc Daneeka replied. “Catch-22. Anyone who wants
  to get out of combat duty isn’t really crazy.”

  There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a
  concern for one’s own safety in the face of dangers that were real and
  immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be
  grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no
  longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be
  crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn’t, but if he was sane he
  had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn’t have to; but if
  he didn’t want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very
  deeply by the absolute simplicity of this clause of Catch-22 and let out
  a respectful whistle.

  “That’s some catch, that Catch-22,” he observed.

  “It’s the best there is,” Doc Daneeka agreed.

I always felt a little kinship to Yossarian, not least because Dad 
(like the fictional Captain John Yossarian) flew for the US Army Air
Corps in Italy during WWII.  (He said the Amalfi Coast is a great deal
easier to enjoy when nobody's shooting at you.)



> So in brief, the comparable Catch-22 situation here may very well be
> that Bobbie S was simply _unable_ to go online to download and seek
> the very "information" that would have allowed her to go online in
> the first place.

That's some catch, that Catch-22.

Fortunately, (1) she could (and should) have saved diagnostic
information to a USB flash drive and rebooted to a known distribution
that _can_ get online, or (2) have used the help of the numerous other
people at the meeting to comment online.  (And you helpfully point some
of this out, so thanks, Aaron.)

And, yes, Knoppix is excellent for tactical uses exactly as you
describe.