Posts by Marina

BOFH: The current value of our IT ASSets? Minus eleventy-seven...

Re: Sharon T. Pokeworthy...

Someone once performed some tests on the US Army's personnel database, and in that occasion entered a "Private (E1) Donald Duck. After a couple months, they found this fake record had been updated. Among other events, Donald Duck had been promoted to Private First Class (E3), transferred to a different base and was having pay deposited to a real bank account.

Fearing fraud, the IT guys called the base in question and demanded an explanation. After some confusion, they got it. There really was a soldier by the name Donald Duck, so of course the Army paid him.

They decided in the future to do their testing with names like "AAA X. QQQQQ". Even with US naming habits, that should be safe for a while.

Ada Lovelace Day: Meet the 6 women who gave you the 'computer'

Re: Gender parity == hogwash.

I think you are onto something there, because that is a very common way for men to treat female engineers (no matter why they are hired); ignore them.

While I once had a job where my male colleagues and managers did listen to me and take me serious, my experience is that in most companies they don't. At my current job I have often tried to suggest a change or bring up a problem, but it has no effect. A few months later, a male colleague suggests the same change or brings up the same problem, and the bosses immediately takes action.

On a couple occasions it was the customer who found the problem, which proved kind of embarrassing, but even after I pointed out to my bosses (including old emails, etc) that I brought up the issue a long time ago they don't change their ways. I'm seen as the nag (traditional female stereotype, right?) but I would have nothing to nag about if they tried taking me serious.

Needless to say, I'm looking for a different job...

And if a young woman asks me how it is working as a software engineer, I'm afraid I do warn them about the gender bias in many workplaces. I don't want to lie and strand a young woman with an education she isn't able to use.

Ever get the impression a telesales op was being held prisoner?

Re: Rehabilitation my arse.

And as mentioned above somewhere, as soon as companies have a tax-payer funded workforce available to them for pennies an hour, they go for it like vultures eying a dead pig, resulting in layoffs and higher unemployment. And then, to be sure people are steered in the "right" direction, make sure there is no unemployment benefits available to them, and no funding for job training or anything else that might help the unemployed survive until better times without robbing grannies of their pensions or stealing food.

Yup! It's a trap!

Apple's next OS X said to be targeted at 'power users'

Re: People moaning about the cost of Apple hardware

I've still got my early 2004 12" PowerBook G4 running fine. Only problem I've ever had with it has been the harddisks keep getting too small so I have to change them out with bigger ones.

Though I can't install the latest Mac OS on it (it runs Tiger; which nicely matches my ginger tabby) it is still kind of supported by Apple with the occasional software update.

UK.Gov passes Instagram Act: All your pics belong to everyone now

Re: Excuse me @Andrew Moore

I tried a tineye search on one of my images which have been distributed by a photo agency, and which also has been widely distributed on the internet via less honest means.

On the positive side, tineye indicated the agency as the source of the image, but listed multiple sites which are using it in violation of copyright law before Flickr, which is the original source of the image. I even found the image on the website of Los Angeles based celebutard-photo agency <a href="http://www.beimages.net/set/787249">BEImages</a>! Why they want a photo of a fat squirrel I don't know, but I guess it means he's a celebrity now!

Re: Excuse me

And when have people stopped downloading images from Flickr, removing metadata, and uploading to other sites?

Hitchhiker shot while researching 'Kindness of America'

Re: for our Euro friends

No matter how one measure it, gun crime is high in the US. Unfortunately for those who live there, fortunately for those who have nothing better to do than rant about crazy Americans.

Re: Nice strereotype.

Don't insult neanderthal by comparing them to the neo-cons! Neanderthals were big, friendly tool-using guys who cooperated with each other, helped out the sick, injured and weak members of their tribe, and were nice to doggies.

Re: @Cucumber

No, and yes.

Hitting the hithchiker with the pickup truck would be unlikely to do serious damage to the truck. This is probably the reason for cars being the most commonly used murder weapon in the US. As you mentioned; one can say it was just an accident. So long as one isn't drunk while killing somebody with a car in the US (and in Montana I doubt being drunk would make a difference) one will almost certainly get off with at the most a small fine. Doesn't matter how obvious it is that the deed was done on purpose.

Citrix drops Rush Limbaugh over 'slutgate' slurs

Re: What's surprising me...

Society paid for Rush's addiction to pain killers, so why not pay for Ms. Fluke's birth control?

French bloke fined for failing to shag missus

Yes, but No

I think the idea here is that if you don't want to have sex with a woman, don't marry her!

Same for those marrying men, of course.

BOFH: Beer, shinies, death by fire, rats IN THAT ORDER

Do you have to ask?

Orc, no doubt. Remember she married a beancounter.

BOFH: Ready for the Judgment Day

Remember that one...

Got the same question for the woman who "spreads warmth" at the office. Of course I gave her high marks. She cuddles with all the guys, regardless of origins!

Texas cinema texter becomes foul-mouthed movie star

The challenge now...

... is to lure the management of that movie theatre into taking jobs as traffic cops in Los Angeles...

Plague of US preachers falsely claim to be Navy SEALs

ANG wasn't the problem

I don't think anybody in the US has a problem with Bush being just a National Guard pilot. What some people see as a problem is that he got that position to avoid going to war, and was able to do so because his father had the power and money to pretty much buy it for him, and that he later has pretended he was some kind of military hero, which he most definitely wasn't.

In short, people have a problem with him because he's full of sh*t.

Oz pedestrians fall to 'Death by iPod'

iPod, or iPhone?

I live in LA, not Oz, and while I haven't observed an increase in pedestrian roadkill the last year, I have observed an increase in pedestrians entering the roadway without any sign of concern for their own safety while clutching a phone to their face during the last year.

I assume this is a natural development now that phone-clutching is practically universal among the car-driving set.

I've become quite the expert at dodging these idiots (both the four-wheeled and two-legged variety) on my motorbike, but have to admit I consider a switch from my nice and quiet Suzuki to a Harley Davidson with custom exhaust and an air horn so I at least have a chance at disturbing their conversation, though ideally the noise would make the suicide candidates smarten up and stay on the pavement till a dump truck or other suitable vehicle comes along.

Wrists playing up? You're shagging too much

Didn't I know it!

None of my colleagues (male every one of them) has CTS. Now I finally know why!

Well, I don't know if they are not doing it, or not doing it in missionary position, but for simplicity I'll assume the first. Sounds likely to me!

Mouse nest found in London copper's paperwork

No, you are paying for the mouse-house!

It is possible the papers (really three years worth of junk mail) were building up on the guy's desk because he was out on the beat and didn't have time to sort it out and chuck it in the round file. So the tax-payers are paying for the desk to sit there functioning as a home for the mousies.

In addition to paying the exterminator, of course!

BOFH: The stupidity criticality

Thanks for the definition!

Type C. Got plenty of 'em out here in SoCal!

Now, if somebody knows of a very discreet firm that will install an airtight conference room with leaky generator exhaust in the vicinity of Los Angeles, let me know. We got BS^3 out here and need something done ASAP!

Governator in acrostic 'f**k you' outrage

Not impressed.

I expect the governator's staff spent several days, at taxpayer's expense, to come up with that one. I really wish my fellow residents here in Bankruptistan would develop the intestinal fortitude to send the governator a big "FU" and replace him with somebody a bit less aligned with the rich minority up there in the hills.

Italian Job sat nav driver cops £900 fine

Just wanna know...

... why was there a fence at the edge of the cliff?

Microsoft pimps bogus Windows 7 'launch parties'

Not very hopeful...

"One Deck of Playing Cards with Windows 7 Desktop Design" - Just in case the Windoze 7 version of solitaire doesn't run properly on your machine!

Spanish boy racer cuffed for snapping self on mobe

@John Dougald McCallum

It is called a Suzuki Hayabusa. Fastest production bike alive, I've been told. A friend of mine has one, but when I asked him about the top speed he merely said: "Fast enough."

Didn't want to incriminate himself, I assume.

Illinois bright spark sparks car inferno

Was she an alien?

If the woman had any experience pumping gas from US gas pumps she ought to know they have an automatic shut-off when the fuel level reaches the pump. So no need to see, nor light matches to see better. Just put can on ground, shove pump into opening in can (open cap first!) and pump till it shuts off, hang up, pay, put can in car and leave. Ought to be idiot proof, but apparently idiots have evolved since this feature was invented.

On a side note, I have to say this auto-shut-off leaves my motorbike with about half a tank if used indiscriminately since the filler neck of a car's gas tank is much longer than on a bike and the pumps reach too far into the tank.

Instead I have to carefully place the end of the pump about 1 cm. below the filler neck on the tank, then hold it still while pumping until it shuts off, check that the tank indeed is full (so I don't have to fill up too often) and at the same time make sure I don't fill over the filler neck since that can cause vacuum in the tank and problems with the fuel feed.

Despite these issues with filling up my bike I manage every time, even at night, to do it without the use of matches, torches, or lighters. Even though the bike is black.

Cat awarded online high school diploma

She could have paid with a credit card and had a money back guarantee!

A guy I worked with in Seattle, WA, about 15 years ago got his cat a credit card after his wife got turned down for one because of some meaningless detail. The dog's application went through without a hitch, despite the doggie being only 6 years old, while one has to be 18 to legally have credit in the US.

When the credit card arrived, the dog of course headed straight to the local pet store for a large supply of his favourite food, and paid with his new credit card. The clerk was a bit skeptical to a paw print for a signature, but admitted this was the best a dog could do.

I imagine a cat's paw would have fit the signature line better?

IT grad sues school over failed job hunt

I feel for her, but...

My university promised me help finding a job too, but after I graduated (read: stopped paying tuition) they didn't exactly offer any. That didn't stop me from finding one, even though I graduated in a time and place where unemployment was even higher than today. I just had to put in a bit effort, all while still working in the camera shop that paid for my ramen noodles and beer through uni, and then move to a different state to actually take this job.

I can mention that where I am now there's actually a shortage of many IT-related professionals, but of course I'm far away from where this girlie is currently living.

And about today's grads; my previous company employed a few. They spent most their working day telling the rest of us that they knew they were better than others, which was quite amusing since they did nothing to prove it.

And they all thought they were grossly underpaid even though they made pretty good wages compared to what the newly educated had to accept back in my days...

Yeah, yeah, I know I'm over 40, but at least when I was young we didn't think ourselves so darned special just because we were born, and we didn't expect a starring role in our first job. Today's youngsters need to realize the Earth would continue rotating without them, and experience and skill still counts for something.

And judges can be quite mean when dismissing ridiculous lawsuits.

And while I'm at it...

I just remembered this joke my granny told me when I was a kid:

Boss to new hire: Go sweep the yard, will you?

New hire: What? Did you forget I just graduated from university?

Boss: Oh, that's right. Here, hand me the broom; I'll show you how it is done!

BOFH: Grand Theft Auto

Looking forward to the next episode...

Because then the Boss is just bound to get what he has coming!

Whatever that is.

'Miracle' plane crash was no miracle

This was just what we ought to expect in such a situation

Yup; about time somebody give credit to the engineers who designed the plane, and the pilots who flew it.

Not to say generations of aviation engineers, pilots, and others concerned with aviation safety who have created requirements and training standards which not only made this potential disaster into a mere media event.

BOFH: The paperless cafeteria

I should know better by now

But I just had to wear mascara on Bastard-day, otherwise known as "Friday"...

Good thing my office hasn't gone completely paperless yet!