Posts by Doctor Syntax

Re: The Joys of Departure

More than likely there'd be times when yu were nominated by whoever actually dealt with it in the past.

Re: I don't support the barrier sorry

"It was your assumptions that got your PC into this mess. Don't make them.

Re: Execu-barge

Back in the day my boss had a VW Karman Ghia. It turned out it didn't laugh at speed bumps. We met in the ferry car park at Stranraer. He hadn't seen a set of them in time on the way into the town and said he bounced off the roof.

Re: Had a call...

Minimum 2 hours.

Re: Had a call...

"Had a phone call the night before the last day offering me a new job at 50% more dosh, start immediately."

What a pity it wasn't in writing, then you could have waved it in their faces.

No, the soon-to-be-ex-employee worth his BOFH certification will taken out the repository first, along with its backups. If a jbo's worth doing it's worth doing right.

Re: Execu-barge

A long time ago I had an MGB, an early one before they installed a suspension that made them look as if they were on stilts. Driving over a "sleeping policeman" (speed hump) outside North Queen St police station in Belfast it grounded amid ships. I had to get out to get more clearance to push it forwards.

I've never liked speed humps. I'm sure the accumulated wear & tear on suspension components must contribute to accidents but, as they're not happening at the actual places they were caused, they reasons go undetected. Rumble strips are a different matter; if yu take them fast enough the suspension filters them out.

Re: Execu-barge

Hoist by his own bollard!

Re: Had a call...

"No."

Quite right. You had no right to do that. The security company should have known that.

"as well with subsequent bankruptcy."

In his case it's just SoP.

Re: Never mind the quality, just look at the cost

Nevertheless it's an interesting experiment in just how long a company can circle the drain before actually going in.

Re: Open YouTube

Ruthenium still scores fairly low. We used it to catalyse reduction of CO2 to methane in the carbon dating lab back in the day.

And by "public service" we thought that meant keeping out of the way.

Re: Boris north of the wall

It appears that you've flushed out a Boris fan. Awaiting the downvote to complete the set.

Re: Not fit for purpose

Sort of. It gets the occasional member promoted for actual expertise. What would really be an improvement would be to make senior members of professions (say presidents of the Royal Society, Royal College of $MedicalProffession etc) ex officio members.

However, the HoC is very reluctant to having an elected second chamber as it would be more of a challenge to them so having a second chamber appointed on the basis of actually knowing what they were talking about would really be an anathema.

Re: Test and Trace actuality

Her name is a recursive acronym: Dido In, Disaster Out.

"That must have taken 1 day max to implement."

Unfortunately. They should have taken longer to get it right.

Re: Those consultants

I thought it was the MS users - Sequel Server. ("Swivel" and "Snivel" are acceptable alternative. "Squirrel" is far too cute.)

Re: Those consultants

"Every country that made such apps available has quietly dropped the whole idea. etc"

Yup. But that wasn't here.

Re: Those consultants

"Every country that made such apps available has quietly dropped the whole idea."

Except one.

Re: Classic drivel, top notch!

I wonder if Google and Apple know about that.

Probably Along the lines of "Is she still saying that?".

Re: Classic drivel, top notch!

Was Boris' presence the reason it was abandoned?

Re: Catch 22

I didn't notice this - just booked the two. But...

SWMBO g ot a call from the GP on Tuesday a couple of weeks ago to go to their centre in the local cottage hospital behind their surgery. Just after the call was hung up there was a second one from them which dropped straight through to on-hold and eventually picked up by a receptionist who didn't know the call originated with them or what for - "If it's important they'll call back." Was it a fumbled call for my appointment or an artefact of their ACD - who knows?

Next day I got my letter & went online. The closest centre was in the middle of a town where I wasn't sure about the parking & didn't fancy the two bus journeys each way to go by public transport. I booked tor the centre at Manchester City football ground instead on the basis that it should be straightforward to find somewhere with more than adequate car parking. It turned out that the car park for this wasn't the obvious one on the map or that the SatNav database knew about. In fact I couldn't find a list of centres and coordinates online at all. That would be a very obvious benefit given that people are going to have to go to centres in unfamiliar locations.

The organisation at the Manchester centre was impressive. Kudos to whoever put all that together on that scale. The local centre - a pity it coincided with the surgery having builders in, blocking one car park and entrance so they couldn't work a one-way traffic flow but SWMBO says the organisation of the vaccination centre was fine.

But they day after I got my vaccination I got a text from the GP inviting me to make an appointment there. When I rung them they said they could see my vaccination record so would cancel. Then I got a second text telling me the appointment that I hadn't actually made woas cancelled and to get in touch for another.

Re: Catch 22

"Maybe we could swap Dido for her South Korean counterpart?"

Or make a free gift of her to N Korea.

Re: 60HZ+-+- " 220V on which South Korea operates"

A) How much should g be off?

B) One of the important things about making measurements is to understand what your reference sources are and how good (or not) they might be.

Re: Opps

I heard of a Telex machine seized in a police raid. Somebody testing it decided that the telephone leads were the obvious connection for the mains power.

Re: When <i>something</i> goes bang

It's not just your white cables that can go short like that. At the beginning of December (just post-lockdown start) the cable 100metres or so down the roa did that. Standing on the road surface you could feel the pulsing under your feet. It also damaged the adjacent gas pipe, fortunately not as bad as it might have done.

I haven't used a kettle lead in years. We've had the upright, jug-like things with the lead hard-wired to the base and the kettle plugs into a coaxial connector on the base. First an old, well-respected brand and then, after its cheap and nasty clip closing the lid failed so the steam detector couln't work (if you've had the same brand you'll recognise the problem) and than an Amazon Basics, cheaper than the well-known brand, not quite so well balanced to handle but just works.

Re: the South African, the Spanish, the Denmark, the Brazilian, the Nigerian, etc. strains

Bats.

Re: And the EU still can't understand why the UK left.

The word you are looking for is "surplus".

Also the collective noun for accountants. An accountant once told me "This business has a surplus of accountants".

Re: Null and void

"As an EU citizen, data security is not about keeping the government's data secret from the voters."

As an EU citizen maybe you're not aware of the reasoning of Sir Humphrey. Keeping stuff secret from the voters is the sole reason for an government security.

Re: confidentiality clause

At least they won't have to worry about vaccine safety.

Re: someone hasn't read the contract

Thanks. Now it makes sense. It would have made even more sense if, instead of the garbage about for these purposes UK is part of the EU they'd just have talked about manufacture in the EU and UK. I suppose, however, if AZ had ramped up production outside both and they were still having problems in the EU plants the reservations would have dried up PDQ.

Re: Yeah well

"But anti-vaxxers are numerous enough to undermine the attempt to reach herd immunity."

It's still not established whether the vaccine stops transmission. If the virus is able to survive in the upper respiratory tract out of reach of the immune system then someone can have a symptomless infection and spread virus although they're protected against any major symptoms. That means that the anti-vaxers would-be parasites can still be infected by those who've been vaccinated.

It also means that we still can't get rid of the virus. Let's hope that situation doesn't happen.