Posts by riparian zone

IT staffers on ragged edge of burnout and cynicism

so, no one seems to disagree, only point and wave at smaples...

I did nearly 3 years in a front line support role which nearly broke my mind...I came to the conclusion (after getting it put right) that managers are generally managers through being good at their own jobs, not necessarily being a good manager (or having IT skills). The whole learning shebang, yup, I'd agree about the process of learning, but whilst adult learning is still about pedagogy (leading children) there will be an ongoing issue...and yes we are all getting older, and business is using IT to reduce people input, but people make decisions - I know why the Unabomber wanted to destroy all computers. So be nicer to your IT guys people who *believe* in gnomes in the box making it all happen, because they SHOULD get off their collective arses and join a union, get their rights collectively. You contractors have it sorted.

New dole system is 'digital by default', like it or not

there are those that won't, those that can't and those that can't and won't

After training in the community for UK*nline for nearly 7 years, I think I've seen how the demographic lies. A lot of people are going to be screwed.

No one talks about being able to read, never mind using a freaking computer...?!

How can family sysadmins make a safe internet playground for kids?

Dynamics of ownership...

This is a situation I found as a community trainer all of the time - especially my generation ( who grew up in the 80's) with offspring. Computer in home, dominated by the tech savvy kids brought up on it, whilst the adults stumble around with a mouse, they were lucky to get a computer class, for the nerdy math kids like me.

I had to remind parents often that they PAID for the electronics, phone line and access, they have every right to impose sanctions and rules. Good relations with the kids was to be the starting point, and a shared/open approach to the internet with a good dose of sense and communication. It was always the the 'nagers downloading the ring tones and games which caused the problems. Kiddy catcher - because we're only kids once.

Kidzui/FF for the young ones, whilst I'm here.

Met to push rape warnings over Wi-Fi to Xmas partygoers

Not much of a life, checking internet whilst razzling it...

hard to believe that beer goggles and an ability to 'tune in' to the 'peace' keepers can mix.

Even tuned in, then how much notice would xmas munters take? Shouldn't it be about reminding bars, pubs and clubs to offer a service of the overly munted, have food around, be civilised like.

Mine's a whisky mac with a squeeze of lime. No, not that kind of squeeze.

ICO smacks Welsh council with record £130k fine

too right, no one cares.

an interesting parallel to corporate identity that these institutionalised morons seem to project is that of being able to try to save face as an organisation - beloved officers and other made up management never seem to be accountable in an organisation which is publicly accountable.

Demon Currys iPad showered kids with HARD-CORE smut

Asbolutely, and then let them record our time on the toilet too...

...all that productive energy just wasted as waste! Terrible. I'm sure there's statistics on the cost to the country which relate to this sad state of affairs.

Keep the utopians out of my fridge

er, smart meters?

UK.gov threatens to 'pull plug' on smart meter rollout

card meters anyone...?

It seems that everyone has forgotten that 'poor people' have their own method of monitoring their gas and 'leccy usage through those beloved card based readers - why would they want another machine to bring it home further that they pay over the odds? Indeed you do when you have one. Even now when the costs have risen, per monthly bills have not exceeded what I was paying on those devil's armpits. Not quite the same is it I know, that the machines are *only* dumb enough to mug you in your home, but again, why?

We should also look at the Ewgeco which is Scottish, made in the UK.

http://www.ewgeco.com/

MySociety marshals griping commuters to fix UK transport

utopian ideals, sh*tty transport, bad politiks

...leave us with FB end users who would have been AOL/Compuserve's salvation and don't try too hard to do anything worthwhile. The web's connectivity has just brought more trite shite to fill heads with inanity as TV was becoming a stale and cold medium in a speeding up world.

Yup, I love MySociety's non partisan attitude as they know that the will to be transparent, efficient and serving appropriate need to a connected society is not there beyond tokenism. Sick of moaning about buses with moody drivers - I'll be getting their fracking driver numbers and see what happens. Don't knock it just yet peeps, I know that councils HATE fixmystreet because it makes them work and (heaven forfend) be accountable to the people that pay their wages.

Councils look for 'good enough' IT solutions

People make problems, IT only highlights them - reflection is soo 18th century.

Before I was made redundant by a London borough council, monies were already being taken away. The council website was built on a old and clunky MS CMS, the intranet was basically a cludge of web pages made in Word. The guy in charge of all of this was so up his own arse you could hear the echo of his intestines when he talked - he was convinced of his technical know how, and so sure of his position. People with an agenda that isn't public service: the big problem, not the lack of IT and money. Another reason why any council 'officers' earning 50k+ should be taken outside and kicked up the arse back to their home(which is likely to be in another borough) by every passer by. After getting the push, of course.

scratching the same backs..

that big gov use, maybe...the 'trusted vendors' that charge huuuge amounts, exceed deadlines, then fail with a capital F...think Fujistsu, IBM.

Samsung E60 e-book reader

200 quid and the rest...

for the books?

novels and easy reading like magz should be micro managed, google know this with their small ads. Reference books should be cheaper than their hardback equivalents, with educational licenses for short form books - getting updates is a paid for service, y'know?

oh dear..£

too much for too little.

gonks as I need one on me desk.

Easy-peasy science GCSEs binned

hmm, Pelesh you talk (write) well for a young'un..

But you will notice the old'uns have mentioned a number of teachers that deal with GCSE level science, and a number of old 'uns mentioning differential equations and calculus. the truth of the matter may seem subjective for a comparative analysis, but in 1982 the school took away our log books and gave us calculators. Now using logs is 'old hat' but can perform maths with large numbers easily, without having to use any tools other that old favourite combo, the brain and book.

Think about how many bored checkout people you see now, and when I was your age, I saw checkout people working out the total before the till had done its job quite often.

Science? don't talk to me about science.

Tories declare students a burden on us all

Why bother? grrr.

As a man who never went to uni, I understand that education is important (for opportunities in getting laid mainly;-) but also in an economic sense. I recall a story told to me about Finalnd struggling financially when Russia imploded, but they put their money where their mouth is and have a strong science driven education apparently. Oh yes, Nokia is not just a company, its a place.

It is galling I'm sure for young'uns to put in those years and to come out with a stupid amount of money owing before they've even started earning, more so when their less ambitious 'peers' can do a year or so in a bleedin' college after and start making some decent money quite early on....witness plumbers, sparkies, other tradesmen in demand.

They took away any financial assistance for the poor kids, and now blame them. bastards.

p.s. I come from a place where the unemployment has never improved since the 80's.

Apple adds 'make the web go away' button to Safari 5

@Giles Jones

yup, the idea is ok for screen readers as you say, but the tool for the job is webbie, which incorporates viewing a page with and without links, and a shortcut straight to google search...can't get much better than that..http://webbie.org.uk/

Women face 'glass cliff' after breaking glass ceiling

ahem, management?

In my experience, women managers (of which there are many) are not necessarily worth working with, for many many reasons. It may be different in politics, but the old boy network would just be changed into an old girl network if the rules changed... I tend to prefer the fact that when it comes to gender wars, we never make peace over the strengths each gender is endowed with.

where's the IT angle?