Posts by Phil O'Sophical 7402 publicly visible posts • joined 28 Oct 2011
BBC Droitwich transmitter was built to a custom design in the 1930s, the current Marconi one dates from the mid-80s. IIRC it uses a matched pair of valves which can handle the 500kW output and have not been made for many years and the BBC now has the whole remaining stock. The only practical approach to keeping it running would be a whole new transmitter, which is of dubious value considering how little interest there is in analogue LW (198kHz) these days.
panting into the receiver
I remember one conference call where the remote manager had been quiet for a while, then we heard the unmistakable sound of gentle snoring.
Much hilarity ensued in the conference room, but we liked him so I don't think anyone ever said anything.
The UDR wasn't a reserve regiment, it was a normal infantry regiment. It originally recruited from both communities in NI, and had a substantial Catholic presence in the early days, until the IRA threatened to kill any Catholic who joined.
For most of its life there was no distinct NI government, since Stormont was prorogued in 1972 just after the UDR was formed, and the NI assembly didn't reappear until 1998, years after the UDR was disbanded.
In my experience, every software org has a few people who much prefer to work in their corner as loner, not talk to anyone, and just get on with what they see as their work. They love WFH because it has no disruptions. They're completely unaware that they are being cursed up and down by the rest of the team for never coming to meetings, not sharing status and generally not being a team player.
If they really are as good as they think they are (most aren't) a good manager may be able to handle them and use their skills. Poor managers can't cope, so ignore them until either the project dies, the rest of the team look elsewhere, or somebody senior steps in.
WFH can be great for the right person in the right role, but not in all situations.
I know many people who love WFH and would hate to lose it. It lets them look after the kids and the dog, go shopping when they want, get up late and not shave, finish that bit of DIY they never had time to do.
Actually doing work is way down the list. They seem to think that nobody will notice, but they're wrong...
That's not really related to the USO, though, since everyone gets the same universally-poor service. USO says that the Telco must provide largely the same service, at the same price, to everyone who asks. There have always been some exceptions in very remote areas, but by and large it is still honoured.
Wow, that must be some UK-specific set-up. In the US a residential POTS line is a single circuit (loop) with "loop start". There is no separate "ring circuit" and "speech circuit". It's two wires
I think you misunderstood my comment. The UK system is the same, for a non-party line the ring voltage was sent on the 2 wires of the pair just as you describe, but for a party line two separate ring circuits were created, one from the A-leg and earth, the other from B-leg and earth. There was a single pair shared by the two subscribers, but each could be rung separately.
Not a myth at all. I well remember my father trying to call in his sales figures in an evening, except whenever he picked up the phone he could hear the neighbour's daughter talking to her boyfriend on the shared line.
These lines shared a speech circuit, but with independent ringing for each house by sending ring current between one leg and earth.
Eventually replaced by a multiplex system (WB4000?) where one speech circuit was modulated onto a carrier. Worked for speech, but not for data beyond 300 bps.
UK rail unions have no interest in fair pay, they want excessive pay whilst refusing to give up outmoded and overmanned working practices which predate the Beeching era.
If they accepted fair pay and conditions there would be more money available to run more and better services, but union greed and a Labour government is always a failing combination.
And meanwhile Harrods is selling Fukushima peaches, at £27 a throw.
And if needs be, drilling a 1.5cm hole isn't that hard.
I take it you've never worked in a building with strict fire codes, where even drilling a 0.5cm hole needs an asbestos survey, firewall evaluation, weeks of paperwork, and then can only be cabled with appropriate fire-resistant cable and sealant, by suitably certified facilities staff?
the technology has the capacity to radically improve the responsiveness and effectiveness of public services and "turbocharge" economic growth.
Sadly it will be run by government and the civil service, so the chances of that capability being realised are somewhere around zero, although vast sums of our money will no doubt be spent trying.
But where do you draw the line? Can you hold the owner of a phone company responsible for what someone says in a phone call? The owner of the Post Office for the contents of a letter it carries? What about the situation where the 'owner' of a publicly-traded platform is its shareholders?
So this could be one of those 4-D chess things where Ukraine has been baited into a trap.
Or it could just be a major propaganda win, where the Ukrainians can withdraw in good order leaving Putin embarrassed and mad, and probably executing his own commanders for their failure (which will work wonders for lowering morale in his army). Meanwhile the Ukrainians get a morale boost, a laugh, and can cheer their guys on. Where's the downside?
We always had problems getting business visitors for their first trip to Belfast, but after they'd been once and discovered the hospitable pubs we couldn't keep them away. It got annoying around Christmas when we wanted meetings in London for Christmas shopping, but they insisted on having them in Belfast because it was more fun.
Unearthed 'scopes were often used when working on live-chassis equipment like TVs. Clipping an earthed scope probe onto the chassis of such a device could have spectacularly expensive results.
The correct solution was to feed the equipment under test via an isolating transformer, but they cost money...
Sorry, maybe I'm missing something, but I just opened (in LO 7.6) a presentation I wote 15+ years ago, selected the "Notes" view, and got a page with the slide at the top and the notes frame underneath it. As I step from slide to slide I get that dual view for each one. AFAIK it's always been like that, it certainly was when I wrote any presentations over the past 10+ years with versions well before LO7.6. Trying to write notes when you can't see the slide as well would be a pain.
The outage commenced mid-morning and persisted until around 3:00 PM local time, sparking a predictable outpouring of grumpiness on social media as users were unable to access documents stored in Kingsoft's cloud.
So, giving people the full Microsoft-compatible experience and they still complain?
Part of doing proper internationalization is allowing for that on your screens and reports. If you've crammed everything up as tightly as you can you'll have problems even localizing to a language like German, where many terms tend to be longer than their English equivalents (not to mention accessibility issues).
It's the same mentality that results in every council having different recycling rules. They all think they're special, and need to justify their existence by creating a custom solution for their particular needs. They scream if central government tries to impose a standard, while also complaining when it cuts funding for their custom local fun and games.
Most local government isn't fit for purpose, and that's not a problem limited to the UK.
Not just local government, in my experience most software customers think like that. Few software companies or consultants will stand up to them, because the customers just find some other supplier who'll agree. By the time the shit hits the fan the supplier is too deeply embedded to easily change.
Initiatives that have added generative AI into customer service apps have been generating returns for the companies that have done so, he said.
No doubt, but have they asked their customers if they appreciate it? In my experience it provides far worse customer "service", though no doubt it allows the companies to save money on all the people they fired. I have a feeling this will be like the offshored call centres, which all had to be dragged back onshore as customers complained and voted with their wallets.
