
Re: ""Don't you know who I am?"
Best delivered in a Scottish accent. Maybe "Scotty" would have been a better pseudonym for this weeks hero.
1131 posts • joined 18 May 2007
> Deloitte itself found that its performance management process consumed close to 2 million hours - In 2015, Deloitte had 225,000 employees worldwide.
10 hours a year per employee seems quite reasonable to collect and review evidence to justify promotions and pay rises worth thousands.
I normally don't put much effort in to playing the game myself, as I'm happy at my current level (and it doesn't make much difference anyway).
Another reason would be to avoid having to label them "On" and "Off" in every language in the world. Or at least have different marking for different markets.
I must spend too much time with Lusers - as soon as "O" mode was mentioned, I knew where that was going.
- I get the idea of an AI that can interpret general commands to fit its current situation.
- I get that using COTS products could be a massive cost saving over developing your own AI and comms protocols.
But this is such a massive kludge. Why not, say, send an email and cut out the loudspeaker->microphone diversion? (which wouldn't work in a vacuum anyway)
But let's hope they preserve these classics:
Downvoted not for your factual statement of how it is at your org, but for your org itself.
My anecdotal experience is that even Unix greybeards are capable of using a web or GUI interface, or taking appropriate care when using an unfamiliar editor such as edlin on MS-DOS.
all because people "don't want to seem rude."
Citation needed. I find this incredibly unlikely. "I'm going to steal your money, are you OK with that?" "Well, you've been so patient talking me through logging in to my bank account and setting up a new payee, you deserve some reward" ?!
Possibly we're all kinder and more trusting in the "COVID war" spirit. Possibly being forced online for everything has changed the demographic. Possibly the growth in the numbers and skills of fraudsters has overwhelmed the publics gradual awareness of security.
I don't think either the for or against arguments focused on the main use case, children with internet access but poor self discipline (most of them, IMHO!). So neither argument swayed my opinion.
- Offline work packs or self-paced learning won't work with most kids unless they're supervised. They're a poor stopgap until the student can get connected.
- The anecdote about some (highly motivated) Masters students finding online classrooms better than face-to-face was interesting, but probably doesn't map to younger students and larger classes.
I think the education system has done the best it could in the pandemic. Most Teachers have adapted amazingly well to be key workers & childminders and deliver multiple lesson formats. Let's applaud and reward them for that, while recognising the lasting damage COVID-19 has had on all sectors.
> It was hot enough that half the servers in the server room had overheated and turned off...
One night I got a call that some of my HP servers were reporting over temperatures and would automatically shut down at some point. From my knowledge of the DC layout, I could tell the Ops over the phone exactly which AC unit had failed and which server would report overheating next.
Of course, they didn't believe me and had to send someone to check. In the meantime, I was shutting down non-Production servers.
IIRC, the Sun boxes hit their limit and shut down without warning. The IBM boxes just kept running...
Maybe they use the same supplier as Kia.
Possibly because the music is turned down when the phone integration or traffic alerts want your attention. And that becomes the default, with no override possible.
On the other hand, my previous car (a Peugeot) could do that, remember my preferred settings, match output volume on any source AND turn the music up when the engine/road noise increased.
> ...difference between a miner and an investor...
Fair question. If you had a gold mine in your back yard*, or created a work of art, you've invested in that but you're not taxed on it until you sell it at whatever the value is at the time of sale.
An "investor" in this context is someone who is buying; They're only taxed on their profits when they sell.
* Assuming you own the mineral rights.
...found the three ways out blocked by lines of police cars...
- Not a problem for a tank!
...cop, with his gun out and pointed at the tank...
- Not a problem for a tank!
If you're going to try to assert your authoriteh, have the big guns ready and visible. Or, you could just try signalling the tank driver to stop, and escalate appropriately if needed.
One place I worked, the Unix sysadmins were required to act as porters and receive all deliveries.
Apparently the facilities guy, Windows admins and software developers weren't trusted to read a label on a box of bog rolls, or tell it from a keyboard.
I presented a costed analysis on the waste of our time, which fell on deaf ears.
> ...provided under the duress...
There's a social contract for living in a society. Obey their laws, pay taxes etc. And now, follow their COVID rules for the benefit of all.
There are good reasons for this. Unfortunately there are also "bad actors" such as the WA police who will take advantage unless they're reined in.
I'm delighted that Sir Tim has taken advantage of a current fad to do something truly worthwhile, raising money for charity. Though I wouldn't have begrudged him keeping the money for himself, in recognition of his earlier gift to humanity.
Creating a commemorative package was a nice touch.
Hancock got off lightly - a slap on the wrist for "breaking COVID rules" by kissing someone. Apparently Cabinet Ministers acting immorally, e.g. by having affairs, isn't a concern. And it does mean that he won't be held to account for the COVID mismanagement.
Trebles all round!
So would you be OK with a teacher swearing in front of a class?
The "contract" was about cheerleaders promoting high moral standards; The "punishment" for infraction was being dropped as a cheerleading "ambassador", nothing that would affect her education.
In mitigation, it was meant to be a private message, but someone snitched.
Free speech does not mean freedom from the consequences of your words.
What do you call a person who just scrapes through medical school? Doctor.
Not "God". Although some consultants, politicians and celebrities think that their expertise in one field somehow qualifies them in other fields as well.
On the other hand, Socrates, PhDs and most Techies know that the more you learn, the more you realise there is to learn, even within your own speciality.
Dunning–Kruger strikes again.
> the WA police use was legal...
I'm curious about how it was deemed to be legal under Australian law.
- At one extreme you can liken it to CCTV installed for the purposes of preventing or detecting crime. I wouldn't expect police to need a warrant to view or take a copy of the recordings under that purpose.
- At the other extreme, it's data collected for medical purposes and so is subject to doctor-patient confidentiality.
- At least, a judge should have been required to issue a "warrant" for the data grab and repurposing.
I'm in favour of consumer devices being sold with pre-installed antimalware protection that just needs activation, plus autorenewals of subscriptions. We don't want home PCs to be easily compromised and end up in botnets, do we?
- If a vendor feels an annual subscription of, say, £50 is a reasonable return for their R&D + costs, and it's competitive, good luck to them.
- If a vendor is willing to give introductory offers to savvy consumers, even better. They've never tried to stop me re-using that trick each year. No "discounts only available to new subscribers" BS that insurance/mobile phone companies/ISPs use.
Subscription renewals have to be clearly communicated, and can't set a new minimum term contract. But antivirus companies are far from the worst offenders over subscription renewals.
There have been cases of technicians finding illegal materials, e.g. child porn, and reporting it - as you would expect IF they found something.
Though it was not clear if the illegal materials were found accidentally, or if the technicians routinely went looking (for themselves, or a fishing operation for law enforcement).
Cameras and/or managers overlooking the repair benches might deter snooping. That might seem intrusive and degrading to professionals - but I'd rather have proof I did no wrong than the unverifiable suspicion that I'd erred
S'funny, but it sounds rational when anyone other than Trump says it. But then, even a broken clock is right twice a day, so Trump got one thing right regarding China (and many things wrong - Best buddies, greatest trade deals, protectionist tariffs to protect uncompetitive US industries).
S'also funny how many Biden detractors have to come up with childish nicknames to try to tarnish the current President. It's almost like they can't come up with a coherent argument either.
My company won't class me as "home based" as they would then have to pay me expenses to travel to the office.
(In fact I think travel costs should be claimable against tax, but that's another argument).
As a Hybrid employee, I have a notional office base and I'll be there when needed. As my boss, most of my team and most of my work is in other countries, I doubt the need will arise often.
To be honest, I was mainly WFH for about 2 years before the pandemic, in return for working flexible hours. And my performance evaluations have been stellar ;-)
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