Re: The Six Million Dollar Man
Next time you won't skimp on the insurance premium.
Posts by Rich 11
4141 posts • joined 8 Jul 2009
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As we stand on the precipice of science fiction into science fact, people say: Hell yeah, I want to augment my eyesight!
Amazon Lex can now speak British English... or simply 'English' if you're British
We want weaponised urban drones flying through your house, says UK defence ministry as it waves a fistful of banknotes
Thursday 17th September 2020 05:33 GMT 
Re: Oooooh! I think know the answer to this one, is it...
come up with a way of making explosive using only items readily available in a Middle Eastern supermarket
In the markets of Peshawar these items are commonly known as 'explosives'. You can find them on the shelves just behind the gun racks.
Brexit border-line issues: Would you want to still be 'testing' software designed to stop Kent becoming a massive lorry park come 31 December?
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away... a pair of black holes coalesced resulting in largest gravitational wave we've seen
Wednesday 2nd September 2020 15:46 GMT
Re: Not a "Fwoop"
When the details of the first LIGO merger detection was published I sat down and worked out what the wavelength of the gravitational wave would have been at a distance of one light year from the merger. It was something on the order of a metre.
I still can't visualise the effect a space-time compression wave would have on objects at that scale (eg a human body), when it would pass through in just three nanoseconds. Would it be enough to overcome molecular bonds? Probably not. Could it shatter bones or turn flesh to jelly? I really don't know. Would the shear waves dump heat into the object? Quite possibly. Would I want to observe the event from that distance? No.
Funny, that: Handy script for wiping directories is capable of wreaking havoc beyond a miscreant's wildest dreams
Norfolk's second-greatest cultural export set for return with 3-metre monument in honour of the Turkey Twizzler
UK govt reboots A Level exam results after computer-driven fiasco: Now teacher-predicted grades will be used after all
Sun welcomes vampire dating website company: Arrgh! No! It burns! It buuurrrrnsss!
Shocking no one, not enough foreigners applied for H-1B visas this year so US govt ran a second lottery
You weren't hacked because you lacked space-age network defenses. Nor because cyber-gurus picked on you. It's far simpler than that
Thursday 13th August 2020 20:56 GMT
Re: Too hard, too frequent, too unreliable
you should have your systems configured for High Availability
Remember when you forcefully recommended that right at the beginning of the design phase, but it got nixed by the beancounters, and the project manager said there was no way the extra time could be allocated because the business-critical deadline had already been decided, and your boss said there was no chance he could clear someone from another project to help with QA, and the consultant said the guy at his office who was the HA expert had just that morning resigned after calling their boss a lying shitbiscuit? So of course it's your fault for not being able to provide the expected uptime.
Uncle Sam says it's perfecting autonomous AI-powered drone, vehicle swarms to 'dominate' battlefields
Brit bank Barclays probed amid claims bosses used high-tech to spy on staff, measure productivity
Tuesday 11th August 2020 08:06 GMT
Symptom of a deeper malaise
Any employer feeling the need to monitor their employees to such a degree is at best only papering over the cracks and not recognising a deeper problem. Most people are good and fair-minded, and show loyalty when treated as adults trusted to do their jobs. Treat people well, with flexibility and understanding of their circumstances, and they will respond well on those occasions when the employer needs a few extra hours at short notice. Treat people with mistrust and hold them to every minute of the day, especially when overworked and under-resourced, and many -- if not most over time -- will effectively end up working to rule and be less inclined to be creative and constructive.
Good managers will be able to identify any slackers taking advantage of trust and goodwill, not least because the slacker's colleagues will soon make it clear they are not willing to put up with parasitic behaviour. Poor managers, on the other hand, are more likely to micromanage and look to a bureaucratic and/or intrusive performance improvement process because deep down they know they don't have the ability to turn a bad situation around by providing good leadership and showing trust.
Well, that's my experience anyway.
First alligators, then dogs, now Basil Fawlty is trying to standardise social distancing measures
Days after President Trump suggests pausing election over security, US House passes $500m for states to shore up election security
Leaky AWS S3 buckets are so common, they're being found by the thousands now – with lots of buried secrets
An irritating itch down the back of your neck? Searing midsummer heat? Of course, it can only be SysAdmin Day
'I'm telling you, I haven't got an iPad!' – Sent from my iPad
Google extends homeworking until this time next year – as Microsoft finds WFH is terrific... for Microsoft
Tuesday 28th July 2020 14:28 GMT
Re: WFH is also good
This is why I used to disappear from the office three or four times a day when things were hectic, to take a ten-minute walk around the block, look at the trees, listen to the birds, etc. Usually something useful would have popped into my mind by the time I got back to my desk, or at the very least I'd be less likely to tell the next [redacted] who popped his head around the door to redact away off.
Two large flightless birds walk into a bar... The pub's owner was not emused *ba-dum tsh*
UK.gov admits it has not performed legally required data protection checks for COVID-19 tracing system
Monday 20th July 2020 17:16 GMT
Re: History Repeats Itself...
I can't say that I've done any decent research, but my initial thought would be that a person who demonstrates that they are capable of backstabbing or brown-tonguing their way to the top of a greasy pole hasn't necessarily demonstrated an ability to lead or to manage any form of organisation, to assess any set of complex issues even with expert help, or to implement any form of solution which would meet broad public approval.
The Devil's in the details: Church of Satan forced to clarify that no unholy rituals taking place in SoCal forest
Cornish drinkers catch a different kind of buzz as pub installs electric fence at bar
Tuesday 14th July 2020 11:05 GMT
Re: what happens to the drunk
One of my mates lived in a terraced house right next to a pub, in Manchester back in the late 70s. Up until then he'd enjoyed the convenience of highly-adjacent beer and crisps, but his fiancee had just moved in with him and they were looking to cut back on expenses with the intent of starting a family, so the drinking had to be paused. Once he was no longer a regular in the pub and didn't meet any of the new intake of students into the area, some of them got into the habit of staggering out of the pub at closing time and relieving themselves in his porch. He caught one or two and gave them a bollocking, but that soon became tedious. He thought about it and came up with a simple answer: two sheets of chicken wire fixed to the porch and the lower third of the door, wired up to a car battery inside. Problem solved.
