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User: DaveAtWorkAnnoyingly

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  1. Why would you not want to be useful? on The First Rule of Microsoft Excel -- Don't Tell Anyone You're Good at It (wsj.com) · · Score: 1

    I'm the local "Excel Guy" at my place. My job is completely different (training nuclear reactor operators and we can't easily have other software installed on our machines except Office due to the sensitivity of the network) and I landed a permanent job at the company due to using VB to automate data processing and essentially make a couple of people redundant (don't panic! They're still with us, doing more interesting stuff). I'm always getting requests for help, and I enjoy doing this stuff. Most of the world still uses only the basic functions and adopt a completely manual process so automating stuff really helps them and they appreciate it, gives you reward if you enjoy the work (I do), and it increases your profile in the company as a "useful person" which can really only be good for you.

    If it's getting in the way of your real job, then you need to improve your time management. Or speak to your boss and have more time assigned to the excel stuff, if that's what you want to do. There is an awful lot of value to be added there.

    If you don't enjoy it/don't want to do it, just say no, that is ok! If you simply don't like helping people, then you should probably keep that to yourself, as you're not the kind of employee most companies like.

  2. I actually got degree credits for this exact thing for a module in virtual reality! I built a level for Counterstrike for my hall of residence...

  3. Quite. More people have died in gun related mass murder crimes in the US in the past year (domestic terrorism, not international terrorism) than have died worldwide in nuclear accidents in the past 20 years.

    But people are more scared of nuclear power than public ownership of guns, because some people two hundred years ago said it was ok to own guns...

  4. Re:Not really plausible, bad with numbers? on One Bitcoin Transaction Now Uses As Much Energy As Your House In a Week (vice.com) · · Score: 1

    Yes, you're right, I went straight from k to G. So, 77 GWh, which is total power for the UK for 1.5 hours. That's still a mammoth amount of power, per day, just for Bitcoin...

  5. Re:Not really plausible, bad with numbers? on One Bitcoin Transaction Now Uses As Much Energy As Your House In a Week (vice.com) · · Score: 0

    Mmm, yeah, 220kWh * 350k transactions per day is 77,000 GWh. That's about two months of the total UK energy consumption (currently around 50GW). Something doesn't add up (and it could be my maths?).

  6. Seems pretty obvious... on Developer Accidentally Deletes Production Database On Their First Day On The Job (qz.com) · · Score: 1

    They gave an employee a procedure that deleted their database. The only mistake the employee made was following the procedure and not using his own credentials, instead using the credentials in the procedure. That was a standard human error, no big deal. Humans make mistakes, it's all of our's jobs to reduce the probability of this, with good quality procedures, questioning attitudes etc. To provide an employee with a procedure that contains credentials to the production database is ridiculous, this was going to happen at some point with a procedure as poor as that. To then blame that employee immediately and fire him is knee jerk and immature. To be fair, the guy is probably better off not working for that company anyway.

    Not having backups etc, well, that's the companies fault. All the employee has done is to uncover a poor working culture within that company, and expose a bad CTO. This is not the failing of the employee, it's clearly a failing of the company. They deserve what they got.

    The person fired can make many positives from this. This is an excellent case study about business culture, procedures, strong catastrophe planning and testing, threat and error management, how to treat fellow humans. Your experience in this can be valuable to other companies, and the good ones will recognise this. Use this to your advantage, let that company fail, it was going to happen at some point, you were simply unlucky...

    To give a personal experience, I work in a nuclear power station, in the control room. One shift I made a mistake, I rushed a job. I followed my procedure to the letter, I didn't make any mistakes, but because I chose to complete a certain activity early before an additional check was performed I broke our operating rules (the law effectively). I owned up to it as soon as I was conscious of it, and the investigation started. My authorisation was pulled and I went for drugs testing etc.

    The first thing that occurred once management found out was that I received a phone call. It was the Operations Manager calling for me, and he called me to thank me for raising this report and owning up to it. He understood that without this honest reporting, the problem couldn't get fixed, and would happen again in the future. It has probably already occurred in the past too. My authorisation was recovered that same shift, and I carried on. There was no detriment to my career (quite the opposite infact) and life goes on, but now with better procedures...

  7. Re:Wind cheaper than coal, solar than nuke/oil on UK's Newest Tokamak Fusion Reactor Has Created Its First Plasma (futurism.com) · · Score: 1

    What exactly are the subsidies applied to nuclear power in the UK? Unless you mean the government support in case of emergency, there are no government subsidies applied to the MWs generated by nuclear power stations. We (disclosure, I work for a nuclear power company) simply sell to the open market and get the market price.

  8. Re:Is this news going to bring them more business on How The FBI Used Geek Squad To Increase Secret Public Surveillance (ocweekly.com) · · Score: 1

    If you have nothing to hide, why should it matter either way?

    There is so much wrong with this statement. The easiest way I use to explain to friends and family about the importance of privacy is the fact that every day, all of us does a totally legal act, which you wouldn't like broadcast to anyone. When someone publishes a video of you taking a dump, or having sex, please revisit your quote.

  9. Re:So what is the practical application? on Google Can Now Recognize Objects in Videos Using Machine Learning (theverge.com) · · Score: 1

    Where'd you get the 8 petabytes from? That's interesting as that much storage only costs £234k to buy for a year's worth of Youtube (I know there are bandwidth costs, electricity etc etc...).

  10. Re:How is that Traffic Calming working out? on UK: New Drivers Caught Using a Phone Will Lose Their License (bbc.com) · · Score: 2

    I wonder if the jay walking laws need to have words like "or using a phone" added in the right places.

    There are no jay walking laws in the UK. We're trusted to be able to cross the roads by ourselves.

  11. Re:Status was NOT divulged, only email identities on UK Health Clinic Accidentally Publishes HIV Status of 800 Patients · · Score: 4, Insightful

    This strongly implies there's some medical issue with all the recipients of this e-mail newsletter. After all, why would someone be subscribed to this who is not HIV positive or has some other affliction?

    And in one sentence you've proven how personal information can lead to completely the wrong conclusions. This is why privacy is no joke and needs to be taken seriously...

  12. Re:Crazy! on Iran Has Signed a Nuclear Accord · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Indeed. I agree, past Iranian presidents have been pretty immature, and quite frankly stupid in publicly encouraging nuclear enrichment, in return for crippling sanctions that hurt most of its citizens. They couldn't see the big picture and simply wanted to look hard. This is school boy bully behaviour and didn't help the country long term at all.

    The current Iranian president seems a lot more sensible. He wants to talk, he wants to be part of the worldwide conversation, and over and above his predecessors immature behaviour, he is focussing on his people's well being. That's leadership. We need to keep talking with Iran, we need to listen to them and they listen to us. This surely is the best way for long term peace? If someone doesn't take the high ground and give in, we'll just be in a silly stalemate for another 200 years because of some issue that is in the past, between people that aren't included in the conversation any more.

    Iran has stood and given ground, we (the west) have also given ground. This is sensible negotiation. If we continue to drag up past arguments and events, blame each other for whatever has happened before and refuse to help them because of statements made by past presidents, then we're no better than boys in a school playground. We need leaders who are prepared to talk, negotiate, and give in sometimes, rather than just puffing out your chest and wielding power. Obama in my view is one of these people (and no, I'm not American and don't live in America).

  13. Re: About right on In Florida, Secrecy Around Stingray Leads To Plea Bargain For a Robber · · Score: 1

    Robbery with a banana in your pocket is still armed robbery, and imo, this is right. It's the effect that the action has on the victim that should determine the sentence. Otherwise, anyone could get a short sentence even with the most aggressive body destroying weapon, so long as he doesn't pull the trigger...

  14. Re:4 ruined kickstarter projects on Apple Patent Could Have "Broad Ramifications" For VR Headsets · · Score: 1

    Seems to be a non-starter then for Apple unless the flip phone difference makes all the difference.

  15. Eight thousand years ago, a spherical earth was forbidden by contemporary understanding. Five hundred years ago, the earth NOT being the centre of the universe was forbidden by contemporary understanding. 98 years ago, observed time slowing down was forbidden by contemporary understanding and we didn't even know about neutrons until sooner than that.

    Who knows what we'll know in another hundred years. One thing is for certain, those that close their minds and believe we know all we can ever know, will not be the ones to find it out.

  16. Re:4 ruined kickstarter projects on Apple Patent Could Have "Broad Ramifications" For VR Headsets · · Score: 1

    But what patents do Samsung and Google have in this regard? Surely they didn't go to market without IP protection and therefore the prior art argument?

  17. Re:Shame it's not open source on Crowdfunded Linux Voice Magazine Releases Second Issue CC-BY-SA · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There are so many holes with this post I'm going to have to only pick the top couple. This is of course, irrelevant if the post is sarcasm which I really hope it is. However, being British, I'm pretty good at identifying sarcasm. I can only assume therefore that the post was made by a particularly immature teenager or younger who hasn't get got a clue on how the world works.

    Actually, I've changed my mind. Most of the readers of this will already be rolling their eyes, I'm not going to waste my time stating the obvious... The AC can come back and ask for more if he/she requires...

    I'm going to go and continue breathing the free air I have, and drinking the water of which I pay for...

  18. Re: BT? Sky? on BT Blocking Private Torrent Sites? · · Score: 1

    You may never have heard of them but if you are in America, you are probably using code that both those companies developed in the late 90s since BT and Sky sent engineers to California to develop a lot of your set top box menu software and on demand services. Problem for you guys is that your still using it. Next time you're over here, have a look at the way Sky software works and you'll be insanely jealous. Far far more advanced than what I've seen in America and Canada.

  19. Re:Heysham on Gas Cooled Reactors Shut Down In UK · · Score: 1

    It's not meant to be "impressive", it's simply meant to be honest. All the sites do it, and anyway, three years (~999 days) without an industrial accident leading to time off work is impressive for any large industrial site that employs about 600 full time staff and another 300 odd contractors.

  20. Re:EIGHT weeks??? Nukes need to be more modular. on Gas Cooled Reactors Shut Down In UK · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Correct. Sizewell B can load follow, but we (I work there) haven't done this for years. It is however getting more likely due to the increasingly unstable nature of the National Grid, partly due to lots of smaller generators of which the grid has no control over coming online (windfarms). I believe the AGRs can also load follow. The nukes generate at baseload, full output, whenever they're on. Our frequency control is maintained by the coal and gas generators.

  21. Re:not big in UK on Gas Cooled Reactors Shut Down In UK · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ground isn't broken and the company hasn't even committed to building them yet. (I work for EDF Energy)

  22. Re:"Lower quality"? on Economist: File Sharing's Impact On Movies Is Modest At Most · · Score: 2

    they have all the unskippable bullshit stripped out.

    EXACTLY! Exact"fcuking"ly!

    I'm in the UK and whenever we go to the cinema and one of those really annoying FACT warnings appears, she tells me to "sssh!" because she knows I'm about to start a rant. "I've already paid for the fcuking film! Stop bugging me with all this crap!". Murderers get less time time than potentially available for copywrite infringers.

    The only people that don't have to watch those bloody annoying warnings that are unskippable at the start of DVDs are the people who have bloody pirated it!

    None of my friends seem to notice this, and look at me funny when I have a rant about it. "But Dave, it's to stop pirates...." ... "yes, do you think the pirates watch this?! You're the only schmucks that watch it..."

    This is well known to you lot, I know this, but this really gets up my goat, so apologies for the rant...

  23. Re: Their logo on Australian Police Deploy 3D Crime Scene Scanner · · Score: 1

    Oh ya, I get the Australia pattern. I'm sure the Cisco logo "inspired" them.

  24. Their logo on Australian Police Deploy 3D Crime Scene Scanner · · Score: 1

    Am I the only one who thinks Csiro's logo is extremely similar to Cisco's?!

  25. Re:Remember TEMPEST? on Scientists Extract RSA Key From GnuPG Using Sound of CPU · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm not a computer scientist by trade, I'm an engineer (nukes), and this sounds dubious. Perhaps I'm way behind the curve on acoustic engineering, but being able to pull a 4096 bit key from noise that not only is pretty polluted, but also, surely depending on what the PC is doing, could be dependent of lots of other things?

    Also, it's Bruce Perens. Hi!