Posts by Doctor Syntax

Re: 'Best choice'

The rationale was probably along the lines of "She ran some other techie thing somewhere or other. She's the only one of us who did. She must be right for this one.".

Re: Queen of Carnage

So that's why trolleys end up in canals.

Re: NHS Test & Trace??

"cos that's attacking nurses"

And that's the government's job, financially speaking.

Re: Private Eye covered this in their "Number crunching" section

Ah, yes. Continuous improvement.

The powers that be decided on TQM - mantra "Get it right first time every time." (They, the top team, spectacularly failed at that one ballsing up a projected relocation.)

Then they decided we had to move up a gear to ISO9000 - mantra "Continuous improvement.".

Nobody explained why, if we were getting it right first time every time there was scope for any improvement, let alone continuous improvement.

Re: Inept Targets

It's the seductive lure of numbers. They are the rocks on which the unwary will dash themselves to pieces. Reducing something to numbers is irresistible. The easier the better and best of all if the numbers turn up on a display without you having to have the skill to operate some device to get them. Numbers become and end in themselves. They're much easier to deal with than the messy business which is the reality they represent. Management by numbers, therefore, becomes management by the numbers which are easiest to collect.

Re: The crucial number ...

"I would be interested to hear from other Register readers of their experiences of Test and Trace."

I can only cite my daughter's experience. Returning from Spain she had the option of taking a test (back at the airport). After ringing several times for the delayed result she decided to drive back to the test centre and was half way there when they rung back.

I haven't read of the PAC getting into this aspect of T&T but maybe they should: schoolchildren failing a lateral flow test can have a PCR test to overrule it. A test taken at school has no such option. The essence of a a quick test known to return a proportion of false positives is that it's treated as a presumptive test whose positives you should follow up with a definitive test. It's almost as if T&T and/or DoE don't know what they're doing.

I think it was the other way round. It was the scientists who knew her and tagged her for the job although I suppose her connections avoided her getting passed over.

"It's beyond comprehension that Dildo was the best choice to run the Test and Trace programme."

Best choice? It's beyond comprehension that she was even considered a possible choice at all.

You seem to be under the misapprehension that there's nothing personal in this. Of course there is. It's her personal record that leads to this, hence the recursive acronym: DIDO In Disaster Out.

Or an active one?

Explained in the article - money made by passing leads onto an Avon "rep" who's really self-employed. What Avon could do would be to take them (directors personally and company) to court for defamation (it reflects badly on their reputation) and the trademark related offence of passing off.

Re: Proposal to strike off

I doubt extra legislation is needed. It would just require that they draw Companies House's attention to the situation.

"they opened them again"

Self selecting for basic internet security training.

Re: I hate to say it, as I don't like the way they work...

In resisting interface changes I think your wife has it right. The rationale for interfaces in computing is that the interface can stay stable whilst the implementation changes; it avoids the need for everything that uses the interface to change in step. The interface should only change if there's a specific need for it to do so. A change of chair-warmers in the crayon department does not amount to a specific need.

Re: "But I hardly use it."

Missing component. I need to get a round tuit.

Re: So many tales

Bad move. Either you get a hit taken out on you or you'll be inundated with requests to get tickets fixed.

Re: When you say "pants",

M&S sourcing them from overseas was when it all started to go wrong. "All" has a fairly wide definition there.

Re: Cognitive decline

Cognitive decline will be when you can't see a reason why you shouldn't use the same password everywhere because it's easier.

In the meantime, there's Keepass.

Maybe you should gently suggest that back when you were that unemployed 18 year old that money meant so much to you that now you're really doing it out of gratitude for the help they gave you then and not now for the money.

Re: One thing people tend to forget about FOSS.

"IBM is doomed to die, eventually."

The amazing thing is that it's still going.

Re: Old kit

More memory & maybe less S/W cruft might help.

Re: So why isn't IT kit like Jet Engines ........

The answer to that would be along the lines of:

How much did you charge for a jet engine N years ago and how much to you charge for one of the same power now?

How much did you pay for a computer N years ago and how much would you pay for one of the same power now?

Re: "But I hardly use it."

"but nothing jumped out at me"

Probably just as well.

I've got several towers. Sentiment forbids getting rid of them even though one of then is my only SCO box & won't run because it needs a new AT PSU.

Re: When you say "pants",

"My oldest machine still in regular use (ok, as a radio / media player, mpdroid is a wonderful thing!) is a netbook bought ca. 2010."

I still have a netbook of that vintage. I'm not sure of the age but it was in the days of W7. It used to get used a fair bit to take on holiday to check email or as a compact work machine when on Grandad's Taxi duty but the latter service has been suspended for a year or so. It still runs Linux just fine, of course but I did fire it up yesterday to see how the Signal download page looked when viewed in Windows.

Come the holiday season again (if it ever does) it'll probably get used again as the current laptop is a bit bigger than the previous one.

Re: Important message from British Airways

It seems to me to be a good example of using somebody else's panic (you can almost hear the sigh of relief "wow, we dodged that one") to encourage their customers to do something sensible - use a unique password. And if their password isn't unique then the only way to make it so is to change it.

Re: Anti-Jam

"Problem is the blocking doesn't originate in the affected country."

Read it again and not the words "responsible for".

Re: Anti-Jam

What they can do, as a body, is to refuse to fly in or out of any country found to be responsible for the blocking. Once a few countries find themselves without any air service for a few days the message will get through - act like a pillock and you become a pariah.

Re: Meetings

Seems a reasonable assumption.

Re: Learns?

I suppose a medical system does have some objective feedback - patient lives vs patient dies. It's the training that's too expensive.

"Have none of them ever heard of GDPR?"

Yes. This is what it's all about.

Simple solution is for the clients to take the attitude You want the gig? Here's the terms. If you can't meet them don't apply. Come back when you can.

If US suppliers can't or won't meet the terms it opens up an opportunity for European suppliers. If there are no alternative suppliers keep it in house until there are.