Slashdot Mirror
Computers Top BBC List of Stress Producers
twitter writes "The BBC is reporting results of a poll by UK charity Developing Patient Partnerships that shows crashing computers to be one of the most common stresses and that it's actually killing people by driving them to drink and smoke. The quoted list has: 1. IT problems - 30%, 2. Change in financial status/personal injury - 24%, 3. Commuting - 20%. I've seen people take a smoke break when their computer pops a window and they lose an hour or two of work and admins taking their break straight from the bottle."
"Ah, my computer's crashed. Time to nip off to the pub..."
Dog is my co-pilot.
... and I put alcohol in my cereal I eat before going to work.
(And yes, I'm quite serious.)
1. IT problems
3. Commuting
What about telecommuting?
sigfault. core dumped.
Surgeon General's warning: This product is an unstable, insecure piece of shit and will most likely drive you to suicide in sheer frustration.
"[Regarding the 'cloud,'] ownership was what made America different than Russia." -- Woz
kidding right? because sometimes when I am stressed, porn on my comp is a great stress reliever
what is the frustration level of mac, linux, and microsoft users of all computer users.
And guess that the 27% of men and 23% of women who would "light up in such a situation" roughly coorelates to the percentage of smokers in England.
The BBC is reporting results of a poll by UK charity Developing Patient Partnerships that shows crashing computers to be one of the most common stresses
The study also shows smashing computers to be one of the most common stress-relievers.
Mother, do you think they'll like this sig?
From the article: "1. IT problems - 30% ... 2. Change in financial status/personal injury - 24%" Then later: "Over two thirds thought stress was simply having a 'bad day', 63% said it was dealing with difficult people and 58% saw stress as having too much to do." Okay, so which is it? 30% said IT problems were the top problem, but 63% said dealing with difficult people? Maybe the IT problems are caused by difficult people...?
Elsewhere: Considering that most people - 79% - believe they have been stressed in the last year.... ONLY 79%?! Who are these 21% of people who haven't felt stressed in the last 365 days?
$nice = $webHosting + $domainNames + $sslCerts
My wife called me today to try to recover a couple of hours work she lost when her computer crashed. It gave no warning, just rebooted. I tried walking her through finding any temp files that might have her work, but to no avail.
"Sorry," I said, "that's just Windows. It crashes. That's why I don't like it." I looked up the uptime on the Sun workstation where I was: 121 days. RHEL4 Server: 122 days. Oh yeah, I did patch those last summer, around Labor Day.
Computers don't crash: Windows does.
If admins were honest with their users and didn't try to defend Windows or say that all operating systems crash just as much, the world would be a better place.
Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
to see the obvious.
It was not the GPL or being able to Use the Source that led me to Linux; it was Windows' misbehavior. I learned to love those other things later, after I found Linux to be much better behaved.
I would much, much rather spend time learning and configuring Linux to my liking -- a positive feeling of success and pride -- than put up with Windows' flaws -- a feeling of failure and helplessness.
Frankly, I didn't care whether I used BeOS (which I was considering at the time) BSD or Linux as long as it didn't crash all the time or get viruses (boot sector trojans were popular then.) As chance had it, my local computer store had a 5-linux-distro boxed set for sale for $20 USD, so Linux it was.
I have been an enthusiastic Linux user and contributer ever since.
Leela: Bender? My God, you're a mess! ... what I don't do is none of your business.
Bender: Leave me alone.
Leela: Look at the 5:00 rust. You've been up all night not drinking, haven't you?
Bender: Hey
Leela: Please, Bender, have some malt liquor. If not for yourself, then for the people who love you.
What did you possibly do to your Mac to get it to kernel panic?
... you should submit a bug report to the developer. That shouldn't be happening with production code.
I've been using OS X since the public beta, and I haven't had one do the old black-scrolling-text-screen-of-death in years now. And when it did happen back a while ago, it was mostly because I was using some (at the time) very shady drivers.
Whatever software you were running
"Ladies and gentlemen, my killbot features Lotus Notes and a machine gun. It is the finest available."
The logic distilled:
When you're stressed, do you smoke or drink? [read: do you smoke or drink? This is an awful question for establishing a link. Possible alternate question: "do you like a massage when you're stressed?"]
What stresses you? Do crashing computers stress you? ["Yeah." Of course they do.]
Therefore, computers drive people to drink.
Nowhere have they established a causal link between the group that is stressed and the group that drinks, aside from what you'd expect from pretty random overlap. This has the smell of a bad study and results blown up to sound outrageous. The article reads like a bunch of observations about overlapping groups concluding with inflammatory statements about two of the groups which are only vaguely linked in the actual data.
Another analogy: IT problems lead to sex. Well, IT problems lead to stress, stressed people are more likely to get massages, and a nontrivial number of massage parlors offer sex services. IT problems lead to prostitution! Please give us more funding.
xkcd.com - a webcomic of mathematics, love, and language.
Les Barker's spoken word poem seems to fit this story:
I bought a new computer.
It cost a thousand pound,
But every time I switch it on
It keeps on falling down.
I used to think it was my friend,
But now it drives me 'round the bend.
You'd be surprised the time I spend:
REINSTALLING WINDOZE.
I switch it on -
What is this?
Something wrong with CONFIG SYS
This isn't my idea of bliss:
REINSTALLING WINDOZE.
I want to share my printers and
I want to share my files.
I want to share my anger
'Cause it drives me blooming wild.
My songs, they say, are sublime;
I've conquered cadence, mastered rhyme.
But now-a-days I spend my time:
REINSTALLING WINDOZE.
Reinstall - oh what fun!
It says it helps you get things done.
Every day now, everyone's
REINSTALLING WINDOZE.
Look again. It will say
All you do is plug and play.
How do I spend every day?
REINSTALLING WINDOZE.
It can't find my printer and
It can't locate my mouse.
The other day it drove me
Right out of the bloomin' house.
Still unplugged, still unplayed,
I e-mailed God in search of aid.
He's far to busy, I'm afraid...
REINSTALLING WINDOZE.
Up at dawn for one more try
Will it work? - Can pigs fly?
How do I expect to die?
REINSTALLING WINDOZE.
I used to like a drink or three.
No time now - don't call for me.
How will I spend eternity?
REINSTALLING WINDOZE.
SJW: a person who perceives an injustice, and while correcting it, commits a greater injustice.
What is with the fixation on trying to pin everything on MS? The things that stress average people out are not platform specific. Average people can barely SAVE A FILE or install a program. These are the stresses that would apply. No matter what platform you're on people will have a stressfull time doing anything.
You need a new job, son. Maybe something in the french fry delivery category.
And your boss needs a new worker.
There's a second box along the side of that page, showing one how to avoid stress. Cool! Let's take a look:
...Have a nice evening.
H HHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!
1. Live a healthy lifestyle
Well, duh. OK, maybe someone under stress needs the bleeding obvious told to them. Whatever.
2. Don't take too much on
Too much what? Stress?
3. Decide what causes you stress and change it
OS9 causes my stress. The Accounting Dept. says I can't change it either.
4. Avoid unnecessary conflict
So, one should just smile at that luser and say "Yes, you're right - it's a virus I let in through the firewall. Your kids music collection acquired through Kaaza - on our corporate laptop - has _nothing_ to do with all those strange pop-ups. No sir. I'll have it all fixed up in a jiffy."? OK.
5. Manage your time better
Good. Hang on, cell phone ringing again...
6. Practice saying "no" without feeling guilty
Me: Hullo?
Them: Hey - the server's down
Me: *checks with ssh* Odd - it was runnig like a top when I left for home.
Them: Well, with the construction going on in here, the electricians kinda shut the power to the server room off.
Me: Ummmm... The server is on UPS. Why's it dead?
Them: They shut it off a 5. It's now 8. The drill they plugged into the UPS didn't help either. Can you come in and fix it?
Me: NO. Get them to fix it - it's thier fault! And nothing you say will make me feel guilty enough to come in.
Them: Suuuure. Get your ass in here or your fired! The CIO golfs at my country club, you know.
Me: Yeahyeahyeah. Be there ASAP. As soon as I explain to my wife why I'm going to work during her birthday celebration.
Yup, no stress there....
7. Take time out to "recharge your batteries"
Me: Yup, the batteries aren't charging. You guys fried the my UPS batteries with your drill. You've trashed my DB and destroyed a 3000VA UPS. I need to see the foreman now - you guys owe us for all this.
FatAssSparky: Fuck you.
8. Talk about problems so they do not get out of proportion
Me: I'd like to talk to you about your workers killing power to my server room, and...
Foreman: Sorry 'bout that, buddy. Now, we want we should take 4 days to finish up here, or an extra week with similar 'mishaps', if you wanna start sqwaking about our little boo-boo dis evenin'?
Me: *WINCE*
9. Make time to see friends
Friend: Soko, if your just going to bitch about your day, I'm leaving. I hate that geeky stuff. Oh, and you pay the tab.
10. Do not use alcohol, nicotine or caffeine to cope with stress
Are they FUCKING KIDDING?? WHO ARE THESE MORONS?? I'll FUCKING SHOW THEM STRESS. WITH A SNOWSHOVEL CAVING IN THIER FUCKING SKULL!!!
AAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGGGGGGGGGGGGGH
Soko
"Depression is merely anger without enthusiasm." - Anonymous
I also made my life a lot less stressful by switching from Windows to Mac.
and I had similar results by switching from a car to a motorbike.
this "computers cause stress" is the same inaccuracy as "computers affected by viruses" - it's not *computers*, it's just Windows.
Here is the real mac parody site.
http://www.happynowhere.net/mac_parody.php
Star Trek, there maybe hope.
Software crashes. A stable operating system doesn't mean that the applications that run on it will never crash. It does mean that, generally speaking, you can force-quit the application and reopen it without it hosing your entire system and forcing a computer restart.
MS-Word crashes on my mac nearly as often as it does on my PC, but the difference is that I can generally open it right back up and keep working on my Mac, whereas it takes a huge dump in memory on my PC and slows everything else down.
When Argumentum ad Hominem falls short, try Argumentum ad Matrem
I would say that the people I support get stressed by their lack of understanding of typical software flow. Want to change a default behavior 90% of the time thats in Tools->Options. Though recent trends are leaning into Edit->Preferences. Hell just mouseover all the things at the top and look for something that says Options or Preferences under it. Just as long as (true story) they dont set both the font and background colors to white and masterfully save this as normal.dot How they figured out this feat of ingorance is beyond me. First, that is STUPID. Second, how the hell with that level of brain seepage did they manage to replace their normal.dot? Its almost like they knew what they were doing and just wanted some attention from someone...anyone...IT will do.
There's something to be said about MS lock-in due to vendor lock-in and the vendors are writing their apps...or I should say bought the company that wrote their apps.. and adding features that break 10 others. I shit you not, the latest version of one application we must use and pay gobs of cash / year for runs on a 16 bit subsystem and is a VB App as far as I can tell. It meshes a combination of Access 97 databases and a homebrew TCP widget that's about 5% reliable with a butt ugly UI. If the access databases haven't soiled themselves due to a lockup of the VB...likely related to an indefinate wait on the TCP widget...then the GD license file LIKE ANYONE WOULD STEAL THIS SHIT is corrupted and their data goes to who knows where without the slightest notice to users or admins. Atomicity for these guys has something to do with Hiroshima as far as they know. Something else thats cute? That server has reissued over 50 times the number of seats we have, not because we're thieves, because it doesn't even keep track and every crash and burn requires a reinstall. THAT CAUSES STRESS.
So don't shove this off on Windows, sure it's not the best OS, but without all of the applications and hack drivers it's really a good OS. I bet the above poster's wife forgot to mention the sudden boot of the system roughly coincided with her trying to print it on that brand new laser printer she plugged into the UPS.
...Captain Obvious has been named President of the BBC.
Find environmentally and socially responsible products on http://buy-right.net
Well, okay, I indulged in a fairly typical Slashdottian bit of gratuitous MS-bashing and got a 0, Redundant only 8 posts in for my troubles. Still, I'd be quite honestly curious to see if there are any platform-based statistical correlations in the data.
The frustrations that my family exhibit (and bring to me to fix) are almost always spyware, worm, or other malware-related, followed in close second with registry issues caused by legitimate software. Both these things are almost solely found on Windows. Thing is 'computer' means 'windows box' the way 'kleenex' means 'tissue' these days, so it's hard to get a sense of what the study is really showing here.
(Well, anyway, that's my attempt at being reasonable and salvaging karma from my admittedly knee-jerk attempt at getting a first post.)
Can't you see it? She wants you bad
:)
What are you listening to? (http://megamanic.blogetery.com/)
I remember that. Or, more accurately, I remember reading about that. I never managed to keep a Windows 9x machine alive for the requisite span of time.
That's not entirely true. A well-designed power supply which provides a maximum of 12 volts DC can work with an input of just a bit more than than 12 volts RMS. A power supply could actually be designed with step-up capability such that, so long as the source will provide adequate current, the required ouput voltage can be maintained with any input voltage.
This is a bit beside the point, however, as power supplies for computers are not designed with such silliness in mind. Enter the line conditioner. This handy (albeit usually expensive) device will provide a stable AC output voltage for a wide range of input voltages, and also acts as the mother of all surge suppressors. You plug it into the wall and plug your equipment into the line conditioner. I have one inline with my UPS. When power drops out altogether, my UPS covers me. When the voltage drops far too low to safely run my equipment, my conditioner protects me. The better UPSes actually have integrated line conditioning, so read the specs before dismissing that horribly expensive UPS. Me? I'm a cheap bastid, so my setup is a bit goofy.
Not all amps are created equal. Your 60 amp oven is drawing 14.4 kilowatts of power (Electric ovens operate on 240 volts RMS here in USAnia, times the stated 60 amps, times an assumed power factor of 1 since ovens are a resistive load). The two twelve volt, 38 amp power rails combined can supply 912 watts of power to a load. On the source side, that ammounts to only 7 amps of current (the 912 watts, divided by 120 volts RMS, divided by a power factor of 1 just to make the math easier). This is not nearly so significant.
Batou: Hey, Major... You ever hear of "human rights"? Major: I understand the concept, but I've never seen it in action
You had one kernel panic so you're reinstalling? What, do you think you're running Windows? ;)
The network hasn't been the same since.
"The likes of Facebook and WhatsApp are free to those whose privacy is of zero value."