Random Thoughts 7

[Borg]

I am getting a large number of phone calls from "Name Unavailable" lately. Both at home and also at work now. I'm sure that it's just Microsoft calling to tell me that I've got a virus on my computer that they can fix remotely.

 

[WWGD]

Let's see when I finally absorb that hitting on the X, won't close a tab, dialog box from...X.

 

[WWGD]

I am getting a large number of phone calls from "Name Unavailable" lately. Both at home and also at work now. I'm sure that it's just Microsoft calling to tell me that I've got a virus on my computer that they can fix remotely.

An opportunity to be creative if you fail to avoid them. I stuttered at a rate of around a word per minute when I failed to filter one.

 

[Rive]

To avoid the confusion of any 'measurement by vote' you just better not have more than one of these kind of ... devices...

 

[pinball1970]

Wonder if there's an actual connection with Physics from this British band " Dead or Alive". Specially re their hit " You Spin me right round".' Dead or Alive' , re Schrodinger, then ' Spin' . Just a coincidence? Did a bit of reading on it, couldn't confirm nor deny.

I think it just means this person has a big effect on the other. That's the way i read it.

 

[WWGD]

I think it just means this person has a big effect on the other. That's the way i read it.

Thank you, I agree, but I thought also about the name " Dead or Alive", which I thought may be referring to Schrodinger's Cat.

 

[pinball1970]

Thank you, I agree, but I thought also about the name " Dead or Alive", which I thought may be referring to Schrodinger's Cat.

A quick google - They went through a few name changes before settling on Dead or Alive, it could be a reference to physics but my bet is it is based part of the saying, "wanted dead or alive."
That seems the simpler explanation.
Not my sort of music as a rule but I actually like that one.

 

[WWGD]

A quick google - They went through a few name changes before settling on Dead or Alive, it could be a reference to physics but my bet is it is based part of the saying, "wanted dead or alive."
That seems the simpler explanation.
Not my sort of music as a rule but I actually like that one.

Makes sense. And, yes, me too, I liked it, but not their music overall. It somehow popped into my YouTube feed.

 

[Borg]

I've been using a web site for years that lets me select and display various news feeds. Today, my Chrome browser suddenly alerted me that the website is dangerous and initially blocked me from it. It eventually allowed me to access it but it now has a prominent red "Dangerous" label on the URL. Of course there's no way to turn it off even though the 'dangerous' content is probably scripted links that I personally added to some of the links.

 

[Astronuc]

Bridge Collapses After Just 10 Years Because Designers Were Too Focused On Looks​

https://news.yahoo.com/bridge-collapses-just-10-years-134500502.html

“The investigation has shown that inadequate caution was exercised in the planning, design, inspection and approval of Tretten Bridge, with respect to the risk factors linked to its unconventional design,” the report said.

What’s more, the reports found that the bridge should have undergone strengthening and support work in 2016 that could have saved it from collapse. This came after the Perkolo Bridge fell into a river when a heavy goods vehicle attempted to cross.

Similarities were spotted between the designs of the two bridges, which the New Civil Engineer called “inherent vulnerabilities in its design.”

One additional factor that could have weakened the design of the Tretten Bridge even further came as a result of the time frame in which it was constructed. During the bridge’s design and build process, Norway was transitioning from its own, older building regulations to new European rules governing bridge design.

 

[WWGD]

Bridge Collapses After Just 10 Years Because Designers Were Too Focused On Looks​

https://news.yahoo.com/bridge-collapses-just-10-years-134500502.html

https://www.physicsforums.com/threa...after-ship-strike.1061229/page-5#post-7076390

 

[WWGD]

Reminds me of those news reports where I thought I heard the word " moron" so often.

It turns out they were using the phrase " More on", e.g., " More on this after commercials ".

 

[Borg]

My day today:
Spend months writing a software library for the company.
Share the code with others in the company.
Someone doesn't read the docs but instead creates their own, bastardized version because they couldn't figure out what they didn't read and didn't bother to ask questions.
Person then shares their code with others in the company.
Start getting emails about how the bastardized, undocumented version works.
Scream silently...

 

[Bystander]

My day today:
Spend months writing a software library for the company.
Share the code with others in the company.
Someone doesn't read the docs but instead creates their own, bastardized version because they couldn't figure out what they didn't read and didn't bother to ask questions.
Person then shares their code with others in the company.
Start getting emails about how the bastardized, undocumented version works.
Scream silently...

No good deed/job performance goes un-punished.

 

[Tom.G]

My day today:
Spend months writing a software library for the company.
Share the code with others in the company.
Someone doesn't read the docs but instead creates their own, bastardized version because they couldn't figure out what they didn't read and didn't bother to ask questions.
Person then shares their code with others in the company.
Start getting emails about how the bastardized, undocumented version works.
Scream silently...

Send all emails to the one above said persons supervisor.

 

[Borg]

Send all emails to the one above said persons supervisor.

I have been working on putting out the fires on that one. I'm hopeful that I've stopped it but there's really nothing stopping others from doing the same in the future.

 

[WWGD]

Wow, I was impressed by someone using " grafitto" as a singular form of " Graffitti".

 

[WWGD]

Just FYI, desktop Outlook does not have any of those problems, so they KNOW how to get it right but it's probably a Windows vs Android thing.

Excellent, thanks, that worked out perfectly. I opened up Outlook in Chrome, and no rendering issues whatsoever. It likely saved me a few hours I would need to figure out how to modify rendering settings back in Firefox.

 

[Borg]

I've been using a web site for years that lets me select and display various news feeds. Today, my Chrome browser suddenly alerted me that the website is dangerous and initially blocked me from it. It eventually allowed me to access it but it now has a prominent red "Dangerous" label on the URL. Of course there's no way to turn it off even though the 'dangerous' content is probably scripted links that I personally added to some of the links.

The alert had the opportunity to reply that the site wasn't dangerous and supply comments. I did avail myself of that and stated that it was primarily RSS feeds that I created. I just noticed today that it isn't marked as dangerous anymore. Interesting.

 

[pinball1970]

I gave a recommendation last week to a supplier.
This was verbally communicated to a colleague, who then sent an e-mail to the supplier did not follow the instruction.
So, this time I suggested my colleague contact them via mail again and state, “as per my previous instruction you need to…”

Only this time instead of using the one key word regarding what they were supposed to do, I used that word plus three other similar words thesaurus style.

My attempt at humour, which was not picked up.
My colleague did as I suggested, to the letter. She wrote down exactly what I said, sent it on and CCd me.

It did not read so well, snarky in fact. I will see what they come back with.

Not the worst lost in translation at work.
Reminded me of my lab days late 90s, we had a new admin about 40, older than me so I thought was wiser/ clued up in technical communications, that was her job after all.

We had some feedback on a development from an important customer via this new admin, the customer wanted adjustments that were not viable, the attempt to adjust would have created a lot of effort for little return.

I must have been busy between the lab and office, tetchy when she forwarded the request to me via e-mail, I replied to her something along the lines of, “look, I don’t have time, just tell them it’s the best we can do, if we try what they say it could end costing significantly more and they wont even be able to tell.”

So….making a mail of what I said tactfully and passing that on would have been the smart thing to do.
She opted for simply forwarding my mail wholesale back to the customer, no edits.

 

[Borg]

So….making a mail of what I said tactfully and passing that on would have been the smart thing to do.
She opted for simply forwarding my mail wholesale back to the customer, no edits.

Been there, seen that.

I was on a project with several companies working for a customer. I sent out an email asking why a certain feature built by one company wasn't working correctly. The lead developer meant to just reply to one of his developers by doing a ReplyAll and removing everyone else (he forgot the second part). His email was quite disparaging of myself and went out to all of the customer's management who were not thrilled to say the least. Yes, there was a bug that I had found and no, he wasn't allowed to interact with the customer anymore.

Also, while I was initially upset with the 'response', I saw all of the people that he replied to and figured that I would just let that one play itself out. I did have the last laugh on that one.

 

[pinball1970]

he wasn't allowed to interact with the customer anymore.

I have learned the hard way on mail boo boos. Dealing with a lot of foreign guys, suppliers and customers I double (triple) check I have the right person in the CC.

There was one other incident that stood out (same admin person)


The office manager went through all the systems and procedures including our reference system as part of the induction training for admin staff.

If a job came in from company A, lets call them Apple (we never dealt with Apple) the reference would be Apple with a number after it, the number for the number of jobs that year.

All explained….fully.

So, I had a query about a job, APPLE123 and I came in the office and asked for the file and background as it tied into some previous work.

Me, “Yeah, can I have the supporting mail and file on APPLE123 please?”

Her. “Which company is that?”

Me. “Apple.”

Cannot remember if I ever got that file or if I had to retrieve it myself.

If that preceded the mail incident, then it was my own stupid fault trusting her with anything more complicated than making coffee.

It sounds mean but she was a bit snarky too, like things not happening were other people’s fault.
I really make efforts with training these days, especially with younger people.

I want to be sure if they keep messing up it is them, not lack of support from me/others.

 

[WWGD]

I have learned the hard way on mail boo boos. Dealing with a lot of foreign guys, suppliers and customers I double (triple) check I have the right person in the CC.

There was one other incident that stood out (same admin person)


The office manager went through all the systems and procedures including our reference system as part of the induction training for admin staff.

If a job came in from company A, lets call them Apple (we never dealt with Apple) the reference would be Apple with a number after it, the number for the number of jobs that year.

All explained….fully.

So, I had a query about a job, APPLE123 and I came in the office and asked for the file and background as it tied into some previous work.

Me, “Yeah, can I have the supporting mail and file on APPLE123 please?”

Her. “Which company is that?”

Me. “Apple.”

Cannot remember if I ever got that file or if I had to retrieve it myself.

If that preceded the mail incident, then it was my own stupid fault trusting her with anything more complicated than making coffee.

It sounds mean but she was a bit snarky too, like things not happening were other people’s fault.
I really make efforts with training these days, especially with younger people.

I want to be sure if they keep messing up it is them, not lack of support from me/others.

I remember our Math Dept staff and their display of cultural sensitivity during the December holidays:
" Merry Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hannukah, or whatever it is you celebrate ". Ah, the warmth.

 

[pinball1970]

I remember our Math Dept staff and their display of cultural sensitivity during the December holidays:
" Merry Christmas, Kwanzaa, Hannukah, or whatever it is you celebrate ". Ah, the warmth.

We celebrate, Chinese NY, EID and Christmas to cater for our team members. We all bring food in to suit the particular holiday and eat too much it's great.
Other departments have got wind of it and are trying to get a look in.
Sorry chaps our meeting room ain't big enough!

 

[WWGD]

Ok, so I can back and restore in the other PC outside of my LAN or I can script it and send it the resulting script. But what do I do with the permissions, the login-user mapping? Can I script it too?

 

[Borg]

When all of your corporate email is auto-labeled EXTERNAL in the subject, it kind of loses its usefulness.

 

[WWGD]

When I'm talking with someone and I start pressing my thumb against my hand , as if to like something they said, I tell myself it's time to go out and take a break from the Internet.

 

[BillTre]

Here is a reason its fulfilling to improve people's eyesight:

 

[pinball1970]

Here is a reason its fulfilling to improve people's eyesight:

That was beautiful.

 

[Astronuc]

This is disappointing, but not surprising. I see some of that happening today.

 

[pinball1970]

This is disappointing, but not surprising. I see some of that happening today.

This gives some context. I think this is sincere.

 

[WWGD]

This gives some context. I think this is sincere.

Well, maybe, but she's raking it in in her YouTube channel. Talking about just about every topic you can think of.

 

[WWGD]

Ouch, 404 errors I'm used to. Not so much for 403s.

 

[collinsmark]

Here is a reason its fulfilling to improve people's eyesight:

That was beautiful.

Although I was about 10 years old, that was my reaction when I first got glasses.

 

[Borg]

Archiving and cleaning up the pictures on a woman's phone is not fun.