Posts by Rick Byers 18 publicly visible posts • joined 24 May 2007
It does sound out of proportion to me.
I am part of a team that runs a large SAN environement holding sensitive data.
Given that there are 'only' 13,000 records, the amount of disk they could be spread over cannot be that great! Even taking into account replicated site and backups, it can't be that hard.
When we store backs and archived data, we store in destruction data order, then we just need to pull out the container with todays date on it, and follow process.
Simples!!
There are 2 issues I have with standard class (which I travel by quite a bit up the West Coast Main line), the first is that my company supplied laptop is too big to use in standard class, without a table seat, and even then if the person opposite (and the trains are so rammed there is allways a person opposite) has a laptop I am snookered.
Secondly, I often find that 1st class seats, esp travelling away from London, are most imes cheaper than standard. Add to that free wi-fi (paid for in cattle class), and inclusive lounge access and meals and drinks, a slightly more expensive 1st class ticket works out cheaper overall anyway!
As someone who travels from the North West to London several times a month, it's ALLWAYs cheaper to fly. Not green but cheaper and more pleasent!
Joined up transport strategy? Go figure.
They are not customers, except in PC gov speak land.
In the same way that pupils are not customers and criminals are not service users.
A customer is someone who gives you money in return for services. These are folks who we (Tax payers) give money to in return for no services.
When I had the misfortune to be unemplyed for a shot while (after years of paying 6 figures a year in tax and NI) I got the square root of f* all, off the tax payer.
Makes my blood boil!!!
When my 17" Dell Dimension went back to IT for fixing, I had to use my Acer Aspire One for 2 weeks.
it's 8.9", 1.5GB RAM Windows 7 and Office 2007, so I thought I'd giv it a bit of a thrashing.
Plugged into external Keyboard, Mouse and Monitor, in the office, and as it is on the road, I was massively surprised.
Yeah, it ran our of steam when you have more than 2 Office 2007 Apps open (what PC doesn't???), but other than that it was fantastice, and my backed loved me on long trips lugging my laptop case around.
These little machines were never a replacement for a full sized laptop, they are what they say they are Netbooks. Surf the web, look at emails, and a bit of office work.
I think Mr Dell is a little hacked off as the profit margins are lower than on the beast machines, that's all.
Sour grapes?
To use all that lovely US ammo!!!
As a Brit, ex service man, who can no longer shoot anything in the UK (my father is an ex Olympic shooter - you know the sport where the UK actually win stuff!!), I took an opportunity to go shooting with a colleague from our US office when I was over.
He even let me buy ammo in Walmart. I must of have through a good few hundred rounds of varius calibres (9mm, 5.56, .45 7.62) and enjoyed my self more than I had in years.
It's a very sad inditement of the UK that we cannot enjoy the use of weapons anymore, and (IMHO) our gun laws (and self defence laws) are counter productive and dangerous to the public at large.
Having said that I saw a lot of shocking (lack of) gun knowledge/control whilst I was in the US, and it's not wonder that most of the time gun owners hurt themselves/their loved ones.
The one thing the US has and the UK needs back is being responsible for one's own actions and safety. If a burglar breaks into a house in the US and is shot (or bashed on the head), it's tough on the burglar as they shouldn't have been there in the first place. In the UK the first thing the Police do is arrest and proescute the householder. To me this is far worse than the alternative.
Fail: because that's what the UK gun/self defence laws are doing.
A touch screen keyboard - keep those screen wipes handy!!! No SD slot, poor battery life. It's a fail.
Having said that I picked up my Acer Aspire One for £160, and put the final eval of Windows 7 on it, and it runs like a dream.
Not sure what you lose with entry edition though, but full Windows 7 on am atom processor and 1.5GB Ram seem sgood, and I can even run Office 2008 on it, even though I hate the product!!!
From what I understand the card readers are expensive and hard to come by, which means that for most everyday puposes fake cards only need to look like the real thing and not act like it.
Instant fail! Of course chip and pin couldn't be broken (except when it has been) either, but they found a way. The problem is the criminals can afford to pay for better minds than the government (which TBH isn't that hard).
Having seen, first hand, how talented most big consultancy staff are, I am not surprised we keep getting substandard systems and poor projects.
As has already been said there is no compelling reason to move from DVD, and no compelling reason to move to Blu Ray (or any other format at the moment).
I own a Blu Ray player, and still only own a handful of titles on Blu Ray. OF those 1/2 are the freebies I got with the player. I have a large DVD collection, and it's good enough.
The upscaling on the Blu Ray player is why I bought it, and that wipes out nearly all practical differences between the formats.
Add to that the cost of Blu Ray titles, the poor choice of titles, speed of loading etc, then it's a bit of a pig in a poke.
Slash media costs and you might get some movement on uptake, until then, it's a minority format.
If I worked for an organisation that stated I would be laid off first, mainly due to my gender, I would quit and claim constructive dismissal. Don't even need to be laid off first!!
Highest paid workers tend to be the most productive and knowledgeable in the workplace.
Great business model to get rid of your good workers first and keep the ass kissers!!
Sounds like the civil service to me!
pass⋅port
/ˈpæspɔrt, -poʊrt, ˈpɑs-/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [pas-pawrt, -pohrt, pahs-] Show IPA Pronunciation
–noun
1. an official document issued by the government of a country to one of its citizens and, varying from country to country, authorizing travel to foreign countries and authenticating the bearer's identity, citizenship, right to protection while abroad, and right to reenter his or her native country.
Courtesy dictionary.com
Nowhere in here does it say a passport is a state controlled database for keeping tabs on it's citizens, esp just to have internally.
A government's duty is to ensure that a passport accurately depicts the identity of the person it is issued to, not to maintain (in perpetuity) a comprehensive background database on this person for any other purpose they see fit.
Paris, 'cause we'll need an ID card to travel there soon.
I just know what's going to happen here................................ Government agress that the criminalising of loss of data is a good idea, but should not apply to government due to reasons X, Y and Z.
The rest of us end up with onerus legal requirements, that the government ignores (like it does now anyway), and we pay for their 'learning oppertunities'.
Where I work we moved to blades several years ago, choosing Dell.
We then built our new server room, and now we are moving a good few racks of kit to a co-location facility.
This is where the kicker comes. As most hosting facilities were built some time ago their power and (more importantly cooling) they are not setup for racks of blades.
In the facility we are moving into we have ahd to pay for twice as much floor space and power as we would have done for 'normal' rack servers.
Baldes are very useful and you do save on space, but be aware of the hidden costs.
There is still no such thing as something for nothing!
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