Posts by Magister
240 posts • joined Wednesday 4th July 2012 15:29 GMT
Larf
>> The report found that the average salary for Linux professionals was $90,853 (£58,654). T<<
Hahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahahahaha hahahahahahaha
Re: Time for copypasta
I haven't seen a flame that good in quite a while!
Re: ooohh 200million clubcard vouchers stolen !
>>yep, murdered by a plastic spoon...<<
Now that IS funny
Re: A confused old fart writes....
>> In the US, these firms maintain(ed) very tight traceability on their supply chains. >>
That's been true over here for the last couple of decades. The amount of paperwork involved is extremely high. (I know this having worked in a slaughterhouse for 5 years, some 12 years ago; one that supplied about 20% of the beef to the burger processing plant for McDonalds). The beef all came from UK and Eire; none came from outside of the UK.
They knew which animals went into the production facility, what food they had during their lives, what medical treatment, where they had been and when they had travelled between farms. They knew their dams and sires going back over 30 generations; and although the DB was a bit antiquated by todays standards, they could still analyse it to see if there were any medical abnormalities in related animals.
Re: ooohh 200million clubcard vouchers stolen !
>>200m vouchers buys you a plastic spoon<<
Did you you check or did you just assume?
1 point is worth one penny; 200 million points would be worth £2 million. Add to that, if they were able to convert to the "Rewards" scheme it increases the value by 4 times. (not that 200 million points were taken; the article doesn't specify the amount.)
Zombies!
I caught part of a recording of a live debate by the Canadian Parliament concerning a potential Zombie invasion from the south (Zombies don't recognise borders!)
http://newsfeed.time.com/2013/02/15/watch-canadian-parliament-debates-zombie-invasion/
Perhaps if all politicians spent more time on these things, they'd have less time to screw up the planning for other more important issues?
Re: Police don't prevent crime any more, just a half arsed attempt to clean up after
>> trace the reg number of the van <<
Assuming that the address is actually valid
A while ago, the DVLA admitted that they don't have the correct details for about 1 vehicle in 10 - that's over 3 million of them out there.
>> police officer had no idea what road he was on <<
Many years ago, the policeman would have a beat and would probably only be responsible for a very small area. These days, they cover an enormous patch; talking to one copper a few years ago on a Sunday, there was just him and two other plods to cover 100 sq miles - population approx. 0.7 million people
They have a shitty job and very little thanks for doing it.
Re: Should be 5 years at least, ideally 10?
>>Cost per prisoner £41,000. 2 prisoners x 10 years = £820,000<<
Any idea what the cost was to all the people that lost their connections? ( I haven't, but when we lost connections due to a fire in the ground damaging cables, the loss of business over 3 days was about £100,000 for the one company)
>>A 3 year 7pm - 7am curfew and long term (5 year) community service sentence would be a better option.<<
Assuming that they would actually abide by the terms of the service order. Based upon how effective these things normally are, it probably won't stop them for more than the time it takes them to realise that they have no milk / beer / curry / fags etc. Once they see that there is no penalty, they'll be straight back to nicking copper cable.
>>Like cleaning dog piss and graffiti off green cabinets, for example.<<
That I could definitely support; let the buggers out for parts of the day and earn their keep for a change.
Funny
That looks just like one of my DIY jobs!
Posted in El Reg contemplates the ultimate cuppa
Location, location, location
The real problem here is that the water used will affect the taste of the tea.
Different parts of the country have different water sources; they will pass through chalk, limestone, granite, clay etc. etc. This changes the quality of the water. You can use the same tea in two different locations and you will get two completely different tastes. This is why many of the brands are more popular in one area rather than another.
For example, living in East Scotland, the only tea worth drinking was Tetley - but the same tea blend in the South West tastes truly vile. The only thing worth having there is PG Tips; but that will produce a very indifferent brew north of the border.
Anyway: hot, in a mug, 1 sugar, splash of milk. Don't rinse, repeat!
Posted in Paper computers: Not mere pulp fiction
Re: The paperless office.....
You mean that you don't know how to use the three seashells....?
Re: Are they all different jobs?
Have to agree. Most jobs seem to be advertised on multiple job boards (not always the same recruiter either), so you have to be a bit careful about just how many distinct jobs are actually being advertised. (I've also noticed that the same vacancy might get re-posted several times on the same job board as well.)
Add to that, there are still a number of recruiters out there that are placing adverts to get a load of c.v.s that they then pimp out to all of the employers that they know. In many cases, these "vacancies" exist only in the minds of the recruiter. It's a bit frustrating to put it mildly.
However, looking at it from another angle; my landlady is doing some temp HR work for an engineering firm and they are currently recruiting graduates. She has been surprised by the lack of applicants and the quality of those that do apply is not good. The wage offered compares favourably and they are offering additional training options that make it quite an attractive provision, but they are still struggling to find sufficient warm bodies to even fill all of the interview slots. Add to that, a number of the applicants didn't even bother to show up (which I find appalling).
I also spoke to an engineering director (or another company) yesterday; they have closed their production faciltiy in this country. I suggested that it was due to costs, but he said not; the biggest problem they faced was getting sufficient people to actually work in their factory to maintain production levels to fill booked orders. After having worked on it for the last five years, they finally gave up last August and moved it all further East.
Re: re: all replies
>>If you oppose the bill, then you're clearly for child pornography! <<
Universal affirmatives can only be partially converted. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zrzMhU_4m-g
Unfortunately, this is exactly the same twisted thought process that has lead to every evil the human race has ever committed and the same logic is still being used today.
@Eagle One
As you only registered this account today and have made only one post. I'm tempted to believe that you are someone hoping to "talk up" this rather poor situation. Have to say that it smacks a bit of a marketing droid type communication!
>>The people that remain are still 100% committed to providing the best level of service to customers, <<
I'm sure that they are really good people and only want to do the very best for the customer; but the fact is, their jobs are going one way only and every single one of them will be doing everything that they can to quickly find another position. This is only human nature. Pretending otherwise does no-one any favours.
>>The "S.S. 2e2" may not sail again, but she won't leave those who depend on her high and dry.<<
Until the plug is finally pulled - at which point, anyone that is reliant on them is well and truly up the creek. Hence any of those that are using 2e2 systems that take their responsibilties seriously will be making plans now to reduce any impact. If they aren't they are totaly derelict in their duty to their organisation.
Really?
>>Anything that keeps me and my children safe from terrorists and pedophiles is a good thing<<
Not sure if if that was a bit tongue in cheek or not; still too early in the morning.
"I have a magic stone; it keeps me safe from tigers. How do I know that? Because I've never been attacked by a tiger."
The reality is that most people still cannot accurately define a level of risk for many events; the more common the event, they will underestimate its likelihood, the rarer they will over estimate. You and your children are at greater risk of being struck by lightning than being killed by a terrorist. They are at far greater risk of being killed by you than they are by a stranger (peadophile or not).
The current obsession with introducing new snooping laws is about one thing only; political power. There are groups of people that want to be able to control certain aspects of everyone's lives, without they themselves being subject to the same kind of scrutiny. Anyone that supports that should be viewed with the utmost suspicion.
Re: Open source death star?
>>Still, that's probably why I ended up in IT while Luke shagged a princess<<
Sister, SISTER
Or are you thinking of Anakin
Mine's the long flowing black cloak and the matching black helmet
Churn
>>the company said that it had added 122,000 broadband customers during the quarter <<
No indication of the churn rate though, which is actually a more important indication of the way things are going. It's inevitable that they will lose customers due to company movements, closures etc; but they should also be looking in more depth at where and why they lose out.
Is it just people taking advantages of new deals, or is it more a case that people move because of poor service? (as in my case) It costs a lot more to get a new customer than it does to retain an existing customer; this is an old adage, but still very true. I supoose that being very cynical, I shouldn't be surprised that marketing people seem to forget this, but I do still find it astonishing.
>>If you join a decent ISP you will get a constant speed 24/7. <<
Unfortunately, most ISPs are still going to be running over the same copper that is managed by BT OpenReach. They can be the best ISP in the world, but if the cable is 50 years old and BT won't replace it, then the odds are you will still get a fairly poor service. 6.3 Mbps? They couldn't provide me with 0.63 Mbps!
As for the cost, I was paying £200 a quarter for a (combined phone / internet) connection at home and they still couldn't give me a service that had any level of stability.
It's still very much about the location; if you are in the right area, you will stand a chance of getting a good service. If you are in an area where they haven't managed the cable work, then you are pretty much stuffed.
Indeed..
<< Nothing wrong with software in theory, just in practice its out-sourced to muppets to do for cheapness and speed (yes, right!)>>
You beat me to it.
I really didn't realise just how bad it can be until I started on my latest contract; I have had to deal with out sourced programming work before and was fairly non-plussed by the quality and speed of their work, but these people take it to a whole new level below the basement car park.
When you look at it, the company really have not saved anything; the inefficiencies of the current system are costing them serious amounts of money. Getting the right people in house, even at a realistic wage for the UK would cost a bit more, but the work would be done properly and within the right time frame and this would save a great deal of time and effort (i.e. money!) across the whole business.
But it won't happen - why? Because the senior management only look at the single figure of cost and despite the fact that they are supposed to be taking a strategic view are so myopic that they make Mr. Magoo look like Hawkeye.
Re: Please
I used to work for a company that supplied the meat to McDonalds. It's composed of two grades; 75VL & 85VL (VL = "Visually Lean")
This meat was all from the forequarter of the beef animal; flank, clod, shin. These are the cheaper cuts of meat as people prefer the hindquarters, but it is still very good meat (I really like a nice piece of brisket). All of the farms where the animals were raised had to reach really high standards; and they keep an astonishing amount of data on them. They are able to track each of the animals back through their ancestry for many generations; they know what they have been fed and what medical treatment they have received and this information is kept for years.
They take the two grades of meat and then mix them together in what is effectively a giant mincer to produce an homogenised product; so each burger should taste the same. BTW, the flavour comes from the fat, not from the flesh. Personally, I would rather eat the meat before they mash it all up; along with some vegetables and gravy. But that's just my personal preference.
(BTW, I'm not the one that downnvoted you; I do have a sense of humour; warped perhaps, but I don't see why you should be downvoted for making a joke)
Hypocitical
The MPs can bitch and posture all they like; but they are the ones that passed the various Acts that define the tax rules; the companies are simply using the rules to their advantage.
Worse, the MPs are among the very first ones to make use of any loopholes in the tax laws.
When they finally do something about the mess that they (or their predecessors) have created, then I might have some interest in their views; until then, they can winge all they like and I still won't care.
Re: What about the plot?
>>would David Lean's Lawrence of Arabia be the same film if it had no regard for went into the camera?<<
Funny you should mention that particular film; number 2 on my all time list (2001: A Space Odyssey being number 1).
What is impressive is that the original film became quite badly degraded and was digitally remastered a number of years ago. The end result is visually quite superb; but if the film's plot had been rubbish, would anyone have bothered?
What about the plot?
I accept that I may be in the minority, but for me the biggest draw of a film is not the special effects. It will always be far more about the actual story.
SFX can make a difference; but if the storyline is a pile of festering guano, then all the hard work to make it look better will be for nothing.
But I suppose it keeps people busy for a while
Re: "The cable needed to be replaced, but BT wouldn't do this"
>>Did no one think of ripping the cable up (or tearing it down)<<
Rather a lot of cable to tear down, but the thought had occurred to several people; but being law abiding, and such activity being viewed as criminal damage it was of course seen as inappropriate. (I couldn't possibly comment on what happened when a couple of trees fell over during some poor weather a while ago.)
BT simply patched the missing cable with older cable that they had recovered from somewhere else.
I have every sympathy with Drew. There were times when I was getting less than 0.1 Mbps; and note that I was paying BT for "Business Broadband service" so I was paying a lot more than most people.
In my case, the situation was quite simple; I was in an area served by an older exchange and the cable from there to where I lived was over 50 years old. The BT engineers knew (and had highlighted many times to the relevant people) that more than half of the cores were dead.
The cable needed to be replaced, but BT wouldn't do this; they were planning to replace the exchange, only didn't know when they would do that. The original date of 2009 was pushed back to 2010, then 2011 ...... As for fibre; yeah right, maybe one day when pigs fly. Changing to a different supplier won't make the slightest difference if the cable to the local exchange is so poor.
All of the local businesses are having problems because of this. Local phones are noisy as hell and sometimes, conversations of more than a few minutes are just not possible. It's got progressively worse and I spent part of 20011 and the first half of 2012 arguing with BT support, who insisted that there was "nothing wrong" with the connection and would insist on sending engineers out to check the wall socket / internal equipment; only for the engineer to point out each single time that it was the line. This is actually the same problem as for a lot of other areas.
It still hasn't been fixed; but I've moved out of the area. Several of the local businesses are also considering their future in their current location.
The cup that cheers, but does not inebriate
Tea. Big mug, splash of milk, two digestive biscuits.
If I can't have tea, then I would much rather have a cup of hot Bovril.
Coffee is a very poor substitute
Theory is OK
But until we actually get out there and start exploring other star systems to confirm the existence of these planets, most of this information is just guesswork; an expert guess perhaps, but still just a guess.
(whilst typing the above, I somehow mistyped "exploring" as "exploiting" - or perhaps it wasn't such a mistype after all?)
I have to partly agree with what JD has said; the government are just too focussed on developing the one area of London rather than take a longer term view for the whole country. But part of the issue comes back to the mandarins of the uncivil service; they take the view that "we don't do manufacturing in the UK" and therefore absolutely bugger all thought goes into any planning for manufacturing or development. (I've seen a number of cases where they actively oppose any such work, unless they personally get something out of it)
As many others have pointed out, Dyson outsourced their manufacturing; they are not the only ones. This is because as everyone knows, it is cheaper. Except that it more often isn't; numerous examples exist that show the savings are less, costs are higher, productivity and quality are a lot lower when the work is outsourced.
But hey, whilst we have policy being made by people that clearly haven't a clue, then we can't expect anything different.
Don't read whilst eating
I provided a microlab with tech support for a few years; they used to do regular testing for various things on people's hands and clothing. The lab manager told me that the biggest single cause of transmission of bugs comes from people not washing their hands correctly; particularly after using the toilet.
Many of the contaminents could very easily be passed along from what people were touching with their hands for even the briefest of contact; door handles, stair rails, telephone handsets etc. I got her to test a couple of mice and keyboards; they were absolutely covered in nasties; some of the mice she checked had almost the same bacterial counts as the inside of a toilet bowl. Even after we used some cleaning wipes, we found a high level of contamination.
Flames because that is one way of getting rid of the bugs!
Re: Monster?
from the article
>>The site was set up by recruitment firm Monster, which is being paid $16.7m for its services<<
Related enough for you?
Monster?
I haven't used Monster in quite a while as I thought it was a load of pish the last time that I did. Decided to give it a shot; just entered "IT Manager", my location, and up to 20 miles from there.
Of 23 adverts (first page) 1 was for an IT Support person and the rest were for sales, general management or driving jobs.
Can't see me using them any time soon...
Posted in Do users have enough power?
Re: Whatever.
Wish I could upvote your comment a couple of times.
In the past few months, I've seen the problems from the other side and although I don't like to criticise too harshly, I'm really stunned by what I see here in terms of the paucity of IT delivery. Your comments are just a snapshot of some of the problems that users here face on a daily basis and the amount of wasted time and money every year runs into seriously large (telephone number) amounts. Add to that the frustration that I hear from the users and it's easy to understand why some IT departments and personnel are treated with such contempt.
Have a drink on me
As the coach Yogi Berra is supposed to have said "In theory, there is no difference between theory and practice. In practice, there is."
At my previous place, I undertook a test of using a cloud based offering to see just how it would wokr for the business. The theory is that cloud provision should be easier to scale up / down as required, that it will cost less and be easier to manage.
What we found was that although the scaling up was reasonably easy, scaling down took a lot more work. Almost all administration took more effort and actually a lot more time and there were a number of problems as a result.
It was suggested that dept heads would be able to manage much of the work; in reality, IT staff spent more time fixing their issues and the dept heads simply didn't want to know where they were going wrong. The cost certainly appeared to be cheaper, but once we started double checking, the actual costs were a lot closer than the vendor had portrayed during the sales pitch (understated their charges, over estimated our costs).
But without question the biggest issue was trust. Senior managers were happy that if anything went wrong on site, they could come through and see us working on the problem; sometimes it would only take a few minutes. But when dealing with an outside supplier, you are reliant upon their help desk. Having called 3 times in one hour and still no fix, the CEO insisted on standing by me whilst I phoned again (to the upset of their helpdesk person).
That company are still very reluctant to go any further down the route of cloud provisioning; and I can't blame them. I'm betting a lot of other smaller firms take the same view.
Re: Arithmetic fail
No problem.
I did have the wrong figures anyway; blame it on my advanced age and general grumpyoldfartness.
He will still (probably) do quite well out of his generosity (if my understanding is correct); not complaining, just highlighting the benefits.
Re: Taxation
Interesting; the original post is still there.
I'm not decrying his actions or his motives; just pointing it out that this is a way to benefit from being charitable.
I think that I should refrain from using the alcohol icon (hic); clearly doesn't agree with me!
Re: Arithmetic fail
Yeah I put the wrong figures - so sue me. I've with drawn the post, but the principle still stands; He would make a nice little earner from his generosity.
Taxation
My understanding (please correct me if I am wrong) is that he will be able to put on his tax return, in the next year or two that he has given these shares away to charity. However, the IRS don't calculate his splendiferousness based on the price at the time they were given away, but at the time they do the calculations.
So if he gives them away today at $27, but when he declares the gift (in say 2 years time), the IRS will take the price then (for example $35) and then he gets tax relief based upon that figure. So instead of 30 million at $27 = $810 million, he will be allowed to claim 30 million at $35 = $1,050 million as a donation. He gets 240 million extra allowance.
That will buy a few drinks for Christmas!
Re: Finally going out to find out what's going on. Fines *not* the answer.
More importantly, how much would you need to take on a job where you could go to jail for the actions of one of the other staff? (Such as someone that you don't even know or have even met losing a USB stick)
In the private sector, many companies would sack the member of staff straight away; I'm not sure if that is the case in the public sector, but it seems not (although I would be happy to be proven wrong). I would rather see a financial penalty being appllied to the user responsible for a first offence, then increasing in severity until third offence at which they get the boot.
I think that the ICO are right in what they are trying to do; I hope that they help reduce the apparent flood of lost data. I suspect that it won't make a huge difference (but then I am very cynical!).
Posted in Vodafone India appoints SECRET SNITCHES
Uhhh... (Zombie alert)
>>"I'd rather have a live ex-colleague than a dead current-colleague."<<
If the colleague is dead, then it would be a dead former-colleague; unless Vodafone India are a bit more relaxed about employing the differently aware!
Just a thought
It's all very well collating the data, but do they intend to do anything about it?
(Probably not; after all, that would almsot certainly require a completely new government department.)
The beginning of wisdom...
Qualifications are extremely valuable (not just for the extra money that they might earn you). Undertaking a recognised course with an examination should show that you have been tested to prove your skills and that you can demonstrate the ability to look at a situation and offer a sensible solution to a given problem. It should also show that you have the ability to think critically about your own work; and confirm if what you think you know is correct.
Experience is what you gain as you work in a given area; and it can be highly valuable. However, experience does not always mean that someone is working to the most practical or efficient method. All too often, people find a way that works and then they use that same method whatever the situation. It can be very effective; I've seen experts look at an issue and quickly identify the problem. But equally, I've seen people leap into fixing a problem and just make it worse because they thought that they knew what the issue was without actually bothering to check all of the facts (because they "knew better than anyone else").
Personally, I would be happy to listen to anyone based upon both experience and qualification. But I would still reserve judgement until I was happy that what they said was proven to be accurate. I'm probably biased; I have some qualifications and many years experience; but that doesn't mean that I think I'm always right.
There is an old saying; "The beginning of wisdom is the statement 'I do not know'"
Re: The OS is irrelevent
>>the user would be told, "Allowing this app to have this access is rated as having a high level of risk."<<
And then the malware writer changes the text so that it reads "Apple has confirmed that installing this app will have no adverse effect" - and people click on the link because they trust it.
If you have 10 "experts" telling someone "you should not do this" and 1 "expert" saying that it's OK, they will listen to the 1; because he / she is telling them what they want to hear. That's just the way that people are.
Posted in Cassini spots Titan ‘mini-Nile’
A "Grand Jeté" - to be followed by a "Grand Guignol" if you don't quite make it!
Filing
A couple of years ago, I found out that a lot of the staff were deleting emails, but leaving them in the "Deleted Items" folder.
We had set-up a GPO to force Outlook to clear the contents of the deleted items when closing Outlook; it caused a major shit storm when people started complaining. They actually thought that this was sensible way to save emails.
Users; don't you just love them!
MPs = Hypocrites
>>"Tax is something that is a legal obligation that you should pay. <<
This is true; but no-one is under any legal or moral obligation to arrange their tax affairs for the benefit of the taxman or to pay one penny more than the law requires.
The tax laws are an omnishambles; they have become so complex that most people (including MPs) simply cannot be aware of every single possible scenario. In fact, most MPs now emply specialist advisors who tell them how to avoid paying more tax than the law requires. In particular, most of those on the committee are themselves taking advantage of some of the particular arrangements used by these large businesses to reduce their own tax bill.
Pot = kettle?
Posted in Australian State launches IBM probe
I worked with SAP systems for five years; I think that the product design is out dated, processes are bureaucratic and not easy to learn; and the implementation process is generally very cumbersome. But if it is correctly configured and managed it does actually work.
Unfortunately, IBM have a record of promising the customer that they will manage and deliver a working system, but then buy in the cheapest people that they can find to work on the project (whilst charging the client an arm and a leg). These contractors often have limited experience or knowledge of SAP or its implementation; the result is inevitable.
As for the costs; I tried to find out what would be involved in that figure of $AU1.2 billion but there don't seem to be any hard figures. If it includes new hardware, a complete redesign, transfer of data, internal staff costs etc, then I would expect it to be around a tenth of that for the size of operation. It could be that they are asking for compensation for all the trouble caused; good luck on that!
SAP will probably stay at arms length from this (as they do with most other failures). The Queensland government has a contract with IBM so they have to sue them. If they try to get at SAP, their lawyers will simply show that the software works elesewhere and it is down to the implementation. IBM will probably try to off load blame onto the contractors, staff, managers; everyone they can (and yes I've been at the receiving end of something like this)
I feel sorry for the residents of Queensland; they are the ones that will end up paying for this cockup.
agreed
I grew up in Pompey; there were whole areas where houses had been destroyed, those around them damaged and then all pulled down because they were unsafe. Whole blocks of open space where people had lived. The problem was that for a long time after the war, there was not the money to re-build these houses.
There was an estimate that about 10% of explosive bombs didn't explode on contact with the ground. (There were a very large number of smaller incendiaries which people often forget about.) In some cases, this was because they were rigged with devices to blow up later, often when the UXB squad were trying to make them safe. I was talking to an ex-army captain a few years ago that told me they estimate there are still many hundreds of bombs (possibly even over a thousand) that are still buried somewhere inside the M25 circle.
Re: That's "Hoist with" That's "Hoist by" ... (was: Hoist with own petard)
Actually, you are probably correct.
The "Petard" was an early explosive device; after the fuse had been lit, one of the peasants would be instructed to carry it to a position at the base of a castle wall (by a doorway or or other potential weak spot) and then to get the hell away as quickly as possible before it went off. Not always easy; those inside the castle treated attackers with various interesting ways of inflicting pain or death which could make retreat very difficult. The fuses in those days were exceptionally unpredictable and often went off before they were due to.
So the peasant (or what was left of him) would be thrown into the air by the device. However, as the remains of the petard would be heading skyward with him, both could be said to be grammatically correct; although I doubt that the poor peasant would be overly concerned about the niceties of grammar in this case!
