Posts by mechgru2

Founder of Indian ride-share biz Ola calls for 70-hour work week

In India there is 200% tax relief on capital investment, so there's a good chance the government is paying him. It's actually 'costing' less than zero. Mind you from his other pronouncements it sounds like he is drinking the BJP kool-aid, so the government are getting good value.

I told Halle Berry where to go during a programming gig in LA

Re: 5 *

I remember that hotel! I used to go to the chippie down the road for a fish supper. Yes, they did deep fried Mars bars and sold single ciggies to kids.

Scarier than the rats was the safety briefing at the dockyard, but it was covered by the Official Secrets act, so I can't say any more.

Proprietary neural tech you had surgically implanted? Parts shortage

Re: Mia Culpa

We had a grey import Honda CR-X for evaluation at work, many years ago. In Japan by law all cars have to emit a warning noise when the speed limit of 100 km/h is exceeded. We spent most of the time seeing who could keep the 'bong' going the longest.

Orders wrong, resellers receiving wrong items? Must be a programming error and certainly not a rushing techie

Re: Data input described as "cards" in modern applications

Almost all Finite Element programs refer to each line of the input file as a 'card', which is a hangover from NASTRAN. The input text file is referred to as the 'deck'.

Without a trace: Baroness Dido Harding to step down as chair of NHS Improvement

Re: Hear the cheering

I think that the cheers from Daily Telegraph readers will be louder, she's not exactly done the Tory party an favours.

Tech spec experts seek allies to tear down ISO standards paywall

Indian Standards

In India a high court ruling means that Indian Standards are free - it's known as the 'Disclosure to Promote the Right To Information' clause. It's only meant to be free for educational purposes, but the practical effect is that all standards are free to all. If you know the Indian equivalent to the ISO, then they are also free.

Punchy Italian kartist gets 15-year ban for trackside rampage... and other stories

Mustang Silly

Given the high price of petrol (gasoline) relative to earnings in India it's not surprising that the engine has not been changed. Also the traffic in places like Delhi and Bangalore make it almost impossible to go at more than 40 km/h, why have a gas guzzler? For info, last time I was in India (pre-covid) fuel was about £1.00/ litre, but a typical IT graduate salary was about £6-7k p.a.

Former Senator and one-time astronaut Bill Nelson named as NASA's new administrator

Re: Wait! Bill Nelson? There's only one Bill Nelson

But will it be a Honeymoon on Mars or Down on Terminal Street for NASA?

This Brit biz's seven-screen laptop is something to behold

Re: Required accessories

I once had to design some auxiliary equipment for a main battle tank engine. By far the most arduous requirement was the 'sqaddie test', basically as close to a destructive test as you can get! No wonder they weigh over 70 tonnes.

Oh, no one knows what goes on behind locked doors... so don't leave your UPS in there

Kettle

My other half used to work in the returns department for a large retailer. Once someone tried to obtain a refund on a kettle that had stopped working. Upon opening the lid, it became apparent why it had stopped working - it was half full of mouldy soup!

After 84 years, Japan's Olympus shutters its camera biz, flogs it to private equity – smartphones are just too good

Re: Sorry to see them go...

And of course when Olympus sponsored Lotus 79 - one of the most innovative F1 cars ever.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lotus_79