the mysteries of the electronic

I thought for sure that "my father's axe" computer needed a new sound card because I couldn't get sound out of any device whatsoever. Then I plugged the speakers back in so I could run through all the steps I had run through before and discuss the deal with Frank.

And the sound works perfectly.

Nothing different from before: just the passage of time between tries.

Frank says if your technology is distinguishable from magic it's insufficiently advanced that is, the inverse of Clarke's Law). I spose this behavior on the part of my computer is a demonstration of sufficiently advanced technology.

Meanwhile, we watched a movie called "Swing" -- I think Emma bought it because there's swing dancing in it. It was terrible. There was some good swing dancing in it, and some good music, and a nice plot bunny, but the plot was a betrayal of the bunny, and the protagonist's dilemma was dumb (every musician needs a day job for a while: why couldn't he and his father work that out and just give him the day shifts at the grocery store???) and the music the protagonist was so devoted to was tuneless, lackluster, whiny, and annoying. And the unsuitable lover was portrayed as a clown in a pomo wig.

I did like the lesbian roommate and Jonathan Winters as an old guy with some unfortunate dialog.