Posts by A.P. Veening

Overzealous n00b takes out point-of-sale terminals across the UK on a Saturday afternoon

Re: UPS batteries dont last forever

The only problem is that upper manglement trusts the beancounters for their bonuses. The rest of us are just cannon fodder for them to use to get said bonuses. In a perfect world, the brass would bow to the computer services that generate the profit and not to the clown car that counts it.

No problem whatsoever, just have a nice, friendly chat with the auditors and let them point out in their report that the bean counters are a large risk to the continued existence of the company, figures attached as evidence. The real problem here is that most people are afraid of auditors or (mostly in IT) actively dislike them. Once you overcome that problem, auditors are just another tool for anybody with the proper xxFH¹⁾ certification.

¹⁾ xx From Hell, most famous for the Bastard Operator, but I like my Senior Programmer From Hell certificate just fine.

Re: When was the last time your over-zealous attempt to fix a problem back-fired heavily?

Where will the dice land?

Probably on one of their eight points.

Re: UPS batteries dont last forever

Caution. Beancounters might just have something to do with your payroll.

They do, but I never encountered one smart enough to read an article on this site, leave alone the comments. And even if one did, it wouldn't understand the term "bean counter" or that it applied to it.

Re: AS/400 UPS

I wouldn't blame this one on Murphy as it was completely predictable, especially with bean counters screaming about the invoice for the diesel.

Re: UPS batteries dont last forever

We do regular tests though. But not by choice. Power fails at least once a month because of lightning strikes at the local substation, or just because of shoddy infrastructure problems.

That isn't testing, that is real life helping a hand. Just keep the figures at hand that bean counters cost more money than they save (unexpected down time vs timely replaced batteries in your case). Hit them with the figures after the fact. And suggest the next cost cutting should be an overly redundant bean counter.

Re: Falling from a window

I have a story from a usually reliable source about an AS/400 falling from a window and not only surviving, but also keep running without any problems.

It was a small model AS/400, parked in the window sill of an open window for a while because the cooling of the server room was down. One clumsy technician bumped the AS/400 from the window sill and it dropped outside. That technician was rather fortunate as it was a ground floor window and the AS/400 landed on top of some shrubbery. With the soft landing and the cables not being yanked out, it could keep running. The manager witnessing it didn't though, he had a heart attack (proving he had a heart after all ;) ).

Re: UPS batteries dont last forever

Has it come to the point that accountants can make engineering decisions now?

That has been going on for way too long already, those two recent Boeing 737 MAX crashes were just the most noticeable demonstration of the problem so far.

Re: UPS batteries dont last forever

We should have replaced them last year but finance said they could wait... We were lucky that we didnt have to put them into use....

I'd call that unlucky, never waste a chance to get rid of some otherwise useless bean counters.

Re: bearings ceased

The bearings ceased to bear. In other words, they froze.

Re: AS/400 UPS

Always nice if you can apply the 500 pound/dollar/euro hammer tap correctly ;)

Re: AS/400 UPS

Kudos to that manager.

I once was witness to something even more stupid. Also an AS/400 and also a UPS, but no problem whatsoever with the UPS. The problem was, that the UPS and the AS/400 were separated by a fuse which blew. The resulting silence was deafening.

Re: You should have been sacked

But the optimisation was done by competent programmers, optimising compilers didn't have enough memory available yet to do a proper job.

Re: When was the last time your over-zealous attempt to fix a problem back-fired heavily?

Giving access to the orchard supervised by an incompetent underling was the first mistake.

FTFY, also the first recorded case of child abuse.

Re: When was the last time your over-zealous attempt to fix a problem back-fired heavily?

In his defense, he didn't drink himself into a stupor, but was encouraged by those same kids to drink more than he should.

The loyal opposition who does not break contracts ;)

Re: You should have been sacked

"Also, isn't AS/400 able to provide some pretty fine grained permissions? Fine grained enough that a trainee left alone on the weekend couldn't enter such a "global" command that reset everything rather than just the one connection he intended?"

At that time, the authorizations structure of the AS/400 wasn't that fine grained yet. Besides that, it was most likely the same command and he just forgot to replace the default "*ALL" in one parameter, something no authorization structure can fix. Been there and done that as an AS/400 programmer since 1993.

Microsoft buffs its rings, emits Code and goes global with Kaizala

Re: Skip ahead?

Just what are Microsoft smoking these days?

I don't know and I don't care, I just want a sufficient supply of it.

Brit rocket boffins Reaction Engines notch up first supersonic precooler test

Re: It's not going to work out well....

That third item is worthy of an upvote.

Lox can be cheap, but getting oxygen from the air you are passing through is cheaper and this way you don't have to lift it either.

This jet engine isn't optimized for cruise, but for acceleration.

Re: So much potential

That said, dropping them all into the middle of the Atlantic might work!

That is an environmentally unsound policy. Besides, you would create an artificial island where they can breed even more of them.

All's fair in love and war when tech treats you like an infant

Re: Why has it been made so difficult?

Just run amok on social media, you'll be amazed how quickly they can respond.

Re: Unexpected minion in arrivals area...

For some reason both options result in the purchase of the same software (the purchasing agent's friend already knows the other bids before entering his own).

Re: Poptarts & Hot Pockets: food of the gods.

Nothing can get rid of Jehova's Witnesses.

The best way to get rid of Jehova's Witnesses is to ask them what they are supposed to do when somebody tries to convert them. The answer isn't really relevant, just ask them why they even think your religion would prescribe something different. They will leave you completely flabbergasted and, if they gave a truthful answer to the first question, in fear for their lifes.

Re: Unexpected minion in arrivals area...

Just get out while you still can, it is going from worst to total insanity right now. Yes, the stages of bad and worse are already long in the past.

Rat killer

Please tell me he wasn't "helped", good rat killers are way too rare and should be encouraged to breed.

Re: Why has it been made so difficult?

Easier still would be to use the phone as the scanner and have a supermarket app that tots up the total as you go along.

I strongly suggest you read it again. To make it a bit easier on you, I quoted the relevant part below.

If you have sold your soul to Google, or given in to Apples overpriced stuff you can also install an app and do the scanning from there. If you choose the last option you can also pay directly from your cellphone.

Fake Google robocallers hit with $3.4m fine – but it turns out that the joke's on you

Better to cut their budget with double the uncollected fines. As things currently are, those organisations will immediately have a negative budget.

Re: Appropriate punishment

I want them punished permanently - a baseball bat to the back of the head should suffice.

Too quick, hanged, drawn and quartered seems about right to me.

Trend Micro antivirus fails to stop measles carrier rubbing against firm's Ottawa offices

Re: If you are infectious - stay away from work

If you go that route, just make sure your corpse is delivered to your place of work every day between dying and the actual funeral.

Re: What a pile of poo

It can be both. Deafness because of measles is one of the more common complications at about 5%. Deafness because of congenital rubella is also not uncommon, though eye problems are more prevalent (and far more visible).

Re: If you are infectious - stay away from work

Ask to see HR to explain the situation. When you get there explain that you've only come in to see them as a special favour to them. "My doctor told me I shouldn't have come here. I'm actually putting you at serious risk of catching it.".

Make sure you infect everybody in HR before telling them you are putting them at risk. And make sure somebody outside of HR keeps a registry of their sick leave. And while you are at the office, make sure to say hello to your manager and the rest of your work group, preferably before seeing HR.

Re: i don't understand the "raw water" comments

Also, have had two sets of shots to try to minimize shingles, but never heard it was contagious. Yes, i had chicken pox as a kid and the virus is always with you after that.

If you have an active outbreak of shingles, you are contagious. Luckily, most people are already immune for chicken pox because they had it as a child, but it can be quite severe for any adult who managed to miss it as a child and people with a weakened or compromised immune system (like people suffering from measles).

Re: My Parents were unsure...

Is Rubella as big a problem as measles - you don't hear much about it ?

Rubella itself isn't, congenital rubella is at least as big a problem.

Nature is pretty effective at popping up new ones of those.

True, I limited myself to the known ones. However, the latest nasty to come out of Africa (HIV) is already pretty much under control with proper medication and some common sense.

Re: @A. Coatsworth

And my native language is Dutch.

Re: If you are infectious - stay away from work

Bizarrely, and for what most people agree are political reasons, NHS staff in the UK are also strongly pressured to come into work regardless of whether or not they are ill, including with infectious diseases.

I sincerely hope they infect their managers (and the political idiots above those) with serious illnesses.

@A. Coatsworth

A pox on all of these poxes

For that alone you already deserve an upvote.

And translations can be frustrating, just makes me curious about your mother tongue though.

Re: MMR OK

Show me ONE single safety study (not efficacy study) for MMR that isn't contaminated by manufacturer money or vested interest and I'll go quiet and read it. Just one will do.

If you can read Dutch, I suggest you read this.

Re: My Parents were unsure...

Good for them. I hope some of them do take their parents to court when they get infected.

Re: @Jim-234

Are you really serious about small pox or are you confusing it with chicken pox? Any single case of small pox would be world wide breaking news head lines as the last case world wide (including some laboratory researchers who got careless) was a good bit more than those 11 years ago. I just checked and the last known natural case was in Somalia in 1977.

The last known natural case was in Somalia in 1977. Since then, the only known cases were caused by a laboratory accident in 1978 in Birmingham, England, which killed one person and caused a limited outbreak. Smallpox was officially declared eradicated in 1979.

Measles were eradicated in the USA, Canada and Western Europe and the only people to get ill when it is brought in from abroad are those who weren't vaccinated. It is a crying shame that number is rising again to such levels there epidemics in regions that used to be clear of it. Measles does mutate, but not quickly enough to avoid eradication with proper vaccination. And the same goes for the other two in that combination. Influenza and the various immuno viruses (not only HIV, but also FIV, SIV and EIV) do have a tendency to slip trough the cracks of vaccination. However, the immuno viruses can be suppressed with modern medicine to such a level they aren't infectious anymore, so are also good candidates for eradication. The remaining nasties will be influenza and other zoonotic viruses like Ebola and Marburg.

EDIT: Upvote for being (mostly) correct and proper argumentation.

Re: Jenny McCarthy

In that case they clearly don't. If too many parents do that, that same herd immunity is soon gone as evidenced by those epidemics.

Re: My Parents were unsure...

Congratulations on not developing more severe complications like encephalitis (1-3 in 1,000).

Re: What a pile of poo

The problem of common sense is, that sense never ain't common - Lazarus Long

Not considered "first world" countries

As I wrote in another comment (on another subject, where the USA was called a third world country):

Only if you feel magnanimous. The USA is the first country in the world to have reached Fourth World status.

I don't buy that argument as small pox is eradicated. All three in the MMR vaccination could already have been eradicated as well by now.

Boeing nowhere fast: Starliner space taxi schedule slips once again to August

Re: BS

Much as I think Boeing is likely to be found at fault with the 737s, I don't think the problems are related. The space programme work is entirely separate not least because it's for the government.

But both problems are provably related, both are bean counter driven. The problems will be solved very quickly once the bean counters are replaced by competent engineers. Of course Boeing will first have to hire a lot of competent engineers as those already left in disgust of the bean counter culture.

It's time to reset the 'Days without a Facebook data loss' sign after 500 million records left exposed on AWS

He is right to be terrified of GDPR as Facebook is in serious breach. And GDPR has global reach, as long as data about even one single EU or EEA citizen or resident is involved.

And "where". I imagine they'll just shift operations to somewhere that suits them better.

That won't help, GDPR doesn't care about location, just about data over/from EU and EEA citizens and residents and its protection. And the equivalent Californian legislation isn't concerned about location of the data either.

Re: Facebook wouldn't know privacy if it got slapped round the face with a GDPR

No, on reflection I'll go with your observation that they have evil intents. It is a sensible default assumption as far as dealings with Facebook are concerned.

I am sorry, but I have to disagree with you. In other cases it would be a sensible default assumption. In the case of Facebook, it is already a proven fact.

Re: Facebook wouldn't know privacy if it got slapped round the face with a GDPR

Asking your password means only one thing: they have evil intents. In fact, no one with honest intents will ever ask you for your password. Ever. No where. Never. It could be your ISP hotline, it could be... Never. Ever.

Well, that is except US border cops, but's that's another topic.

US border cops aren't excepted, that is the brotherhood of truly evil persons whose parents weren't introduced to each other.

GDPR

Given this is US and Mexico based companies and users, GDPR doesn't directly apply.

It does if there is information about even one EU or EEA citizen or resident in that cache. Given the numbers involved, I'd say it is a certainty GDPR applies unless Facebook can show a very careful selection, in which case it probably is worthless for its intended purposes as it isn't representative.