xkcd 538
Posts by AceRimmer1980
338 publicly visible posts • joined 22 Jun 2009
UK Home Office silent on alleged Apple backdoor order
BASIC co-creator Thomas Kurtz hits END at 96
Yes, your network is down – you annoyed us so much we crashed it
Red team hacker on how she 'breaks into buildings and pretends to be the bad guy'
The mystery of the rogue HP calculator: 12C or not 12C? That is the question
Crack coder wasn't allowed to meet clients due to his other talent: Blisteringly inappropriate insults
Saturday 21st September 2024 13:16 GMT 
Worked at a place where the boss was a bit weird. Abrupt, strange, no people skills, but he was at least enthusiastic, and a razor sharp businessman. He'd grown the company from nothing to a multimillion empire, still going strong.
His sons. Ah yes. Recruited straight from school, they had inherited their Dad's personality, but not his brains. They were initially on customer support, but later on, only answered phones when there was no other option. They made screwup after screwup, but..we had to treat them with kid gloves because..bosses sons. They were put where they could do least harm so, nothing customer facing or technical. AFAIK they were still just rearranging boxes, into their 30s. They were only there because they'd be unemployable anywhere else, including McD's.
AI firms propose 'personhood credentials' … to fight AI
HPE to pursue $4B claim against estate of Mike Lynch over Autonomy acquisition
Bargain-hunting boss saw his bonus go up in a puff of self-inflicted smoke
Missing scissors cause 36 flight cancellations in Japan
Raspberry Pi Pico 2 lands with (drum roll) RISC-V cores
For the record: You just ordered me to cause a very expensive outage
Monday 1st July 2024 11:32 GMT
Re: Have you walked away from a rude or abusive boss?
In all the gigs I've had, this is the norm, rather than the exception.
Giving you an unrealistic workload such that you can't possibly do it in regular hours. There goes your social life.
One boss literally reduced one employee to tears in front of the whole company, giving it the whole 'You can't stand the pace, I'll get somebody who can' schtick.
You know in your contract where it says 'you may be required to work additional unpaid hours' ? One boss decided that the dev team would now do technical support, on the weekends. For no additional money. If you don't like it, there's the door. (after being personally out of pocket to relocate to where the job is)
You know in your contract where it says 'Leave may be cancelled at any time', and then dumping work on you the day before you leave for a holiday, 'If it's not finished, you're not going' All legal under UK law.
When I handed in my notice at one place, I was repeatedly summoned to irrelevant meetings, and I just sat there, unable to do my work. And then of course it's 'You behind on your work? you'll have to stay late to keep up'. And other meetings, where the boss talks about staff benefits, he said to me "Oh you won't be getting any of this", deliberately trying to humiliate me.
Of course, all these bosses have a whiter than white public image, and are eager to get their beaming mugs in the paper, earning awards at the Director of the Month club or whatever.
Oh yeah, it's also in your contract 'any company communication and operations are confidential, if you reveal anything to a 3rd party we'll sue', which makes it difficult to warn others.
The saying that people don't leave jobs, they leave managers? mostly true, in most cases the work itself was interesting.
Research finds electric cars are silent but violent for pedestrians
Thursday 23rd May 2024 16:57 GMT
Re: GOOD
The problem: Pedestrians don't hear EV's, so step out into the road without looking.
Best solution: Train people to check the road before they step off the pavement, or use crossings properly.
What the UK did: Pass a law so that if a pedestrian steps in front of your car, that's your fault.
We are heading further into Idiocracy.
Microsoft, OpenAI may be dreaming of $100B 5GW AI 'Stargate' supercomputer
Developer's default setting created turbulence in the flight simulator
Please stop pouring the wrong radioactive water into the sea, Fukushima operator told
Boeing-backed air taxi upstart Wisk plans to fly you across town at UberX prices by 2030
CERN seeks €20B to build a bigger, faster, particle accelerator
Mozilla slams Microsoft for using dark patterns to drive Windows users toward Edge
Scientists don thinking caps in wearable tech breakthrough
That runaway datacenter power grab is the best news for net zero this century
Last rites for the UK's Online Safety Bill, an idea too stupid to notice it's dead
AI on AI action: Googler uses GPT-4 chatbot to defeat image classifier's guardian
Google's claims of super-human AI chip layout back under the microscope
Monday 27th March 2023 13:07 GMT 
What a dull name.
"I speak of none other than the computer that is to come after me," intoned Deep Thought, his voice regaining its accustomed declamatory tones. "A computer whose merest operational parameters I am not worthy to calculate - and yet I will design it for you. A computer which can calculate the Question to the Ultimate Answer, a computer of such infinite and subtle complexity that organic life itself shall form part of its operational matrix. And you yourselves shall take on new forms and go down into the computer to navigate its ten-million-year program! Yes! I shall design this computer for you. And I shall name it also unto you. And it shall be called ... The Earth."
Prepare to be shocked: Employees hate this One Weird Clause
Saturday 4th February 2023 16:16 GMT 
This is from one particular employer:
"Everything you write is the property of the company, including that done in your own time, on your own equipment, at home"
"You may be required to work additional unpaid hours." Now this is pretty standard, but this guy really took the piss. He decided that the tech team would now, in addition to their normal 9-5.30 work hours, do tech support and testing on the weekends. Of course for no additional money.
In normal work hours, the boss would:
-Read all email, including that not addressed to him
-Open all post, including that not addressed to him
-Randomly monitor phone calls, and sometimes cut in.
-Had remote desktop viewer installed on all the PC's, so he could watch people work.
His attitude was always "If you don't like it, there's the door", and many *did* leave.
He was a bit like a toddler, always pushing to see what he could get away with.
In a time before calculators, going the extra mile at work sometimes didn't add up
GitHub Copilot may be perfect for cheating CompSci programming exercises
NASA builds for keeps: Voyager mission still going after 45 years
FYI: BMW puts heated seats, other features behind paywall
Wednesday 13th July 2022 15:05 GMT
Run seat heater from power outlet?
Fine, until:
BMW notice this, and OTA update: your ciggie lighter 12v socket is now £25/month
(runs power outlet straight from battery)
"Engine management warning, detected unknown power drain, now in limp mode, please go directly to dealer, do not pass go, do not stop for lube"
Dell's rugged Latitude 5430 laptop is quick and pretty – but also bulky and heavy
Monday 23rd May 2022 12:37 GMT
Re: You're whinging about a 6.5 pound laptop?
We're definitely past peak laptop.
Remember when portables had things like removable batteries, multiple USB and other ports, could accommodate at least 2 internal drives, and was still robust enough for everyday use? My 12" HP Elitebook can do all this.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
