This is a challenging option in a corporate environment when you need to hire someone to support said framework after you have left the company unexpectedly.
Exactly. This situation means we have some software that no-one dared to change, because the framework is undocumented and incomplete. Since it only does what's necessary, it doesn't leave much room for future improvements. (We have since changed it, but only the two better developers are willing to work on it.)
I'll take a 10% loss of performance in return for telling a new developer "this is written using X, Y, and Z. Use W to add the new feature. If you get stuck, search StackOverflow first".
Our thoughts around this are: - Pick something open source, so it's possible (within our available resources) to fix small bugs if the software goes out of fashion - Pick things used in big industries, who should keep them running for far longer than software only used by start-ups etc. - Pick things maintained by reliable projects like Apache and GNU, where that's an option.
I've been to London, it ain't better than NYC. The gaps between the car and station are gigantic, hence "mind the gap" warnings.
Yep, that's one of those "oldest in the world" problems that would be incredibly expensive to fix (the other is the narrow tunnels). Also that some platforms are used by trains with a different height -- I don't know if they'll ever fix that either.
The escalators are super speedy and steep, and when it rains very slick. Try going from Heathrow with some luggage and you start notice that London Underground is a death trap.
I don't find this to be a problem. Maybe because I rarely wear leather soled shoes? The escalators are the normal speed for Europe -- I find ones in the US to be slow.
When did you last use London Underground? I think it's generally clean -- they employ a lot of cleaning staff. Urine smell is practically unheard of. It's at least very brightly lit, and has tiled (reflective) walls, which make it feel safe.
Beijing and Shanghai's systems are showing their age in places, compared to their newer lines and other Chinese cities, but they're modernising them. I found them easy to navigate, there are English signs in most places. They're the same as London for cleanliness and escalator speed, and also have the random staircases where a really new system would have put a slope or escalator. The trains were timed to the second in some cities, but that didn't mean they were fast -- they were slow to set off once the doors had shut. I don't think they trust their Chinese signalling systems yet.
Here, it's not unusual to see ten car BART trains at peak hours and only four car trains when there is less demand. It saves on energy and wear and tear.
I doubt the effort to shorten the trains would be worthwhile in NYC. Isn't it always going to be busy enough that it's worth running the whole train?
(It's certainly the case in London. Some of the oldest (1970s) trains have driving cabs in the middle, i.e. are two trains coupled together. It's a long, long time since they ran trains with less than the maximum number of carriages. I'm not sure they ever were -- I can't find a reference.)
without the conductor there to yell at people to get the hell in or out of the car, the trains would never, ever leave the station. There will always be that one last person trying to get in.
In London they have someone standing on the platform to do that (shout at people). They are in a much better position: they can see the whole train, and can walk along the platform if necessary.
Also, they're only at busier stations, and only when it's busy.
any failure along the 8 (I'm assuming it's 8 in nyc) would send the entire train to the maintenance yard.
That's going to happen anyway -- where else on a city metro system would you take apart a train?
But anyway, I don't think that's how trains are maintained any more. The carriages are unlikely to be uncoupled except in very rare circumstances (fire/accident, or infrequent maintenance). This article shows a small part of a lifting machine that is "able to raise a complete eight-car trainset" for London Underground. This The manufacturer has some better pictures, including whole high-speed trains (much longer).
No one would want to sit on the articulated section anyways. The suspension between the two and the floor moving near where you're sitting would probably be unnerving to some.
Every articulated train (and tram for that matter) that I've seen has only standing room in the articulated sections. There's usually a semicircular joint where the floor moves -- just don't stand on both sides of it:-)
If it cost the same it would be a no-brainer... increased capacity for nothing. The key question is does it cost more, and if so is that the optimal way of increasing capacity for the money? If the same money would allow them to run an extra train each hour then that would be the best option.
Articulated trains is probably really cheap compared to the other options, assuming the easy things have been done (like lengthening the train where all the platforms are long enough).
Anyway, they should last 50 years, so it's a good investment.
(I've not used the NYC Metro for 15 years, but if it's anything like the overcrowded London Underground they'll be increasing capacity wherever they can. I was told off by a public announcement last week "would the man running down the escalator please be aware that now the upgrade work is completed, trains run every two minutes" [on the Victoria Line].)
The Underground trains in London that don't yet have articulated carriages simply have a red danger sign telling people not to use them -- except in an emergency. It's very rare to see someone using them, as the danger is pretty obvious (adjacent carriages can bounce around quite a bit, relative to each other).
How do you define a country's cuisine? South & South East Asian cuisine was very different before European traders took chillies and tomatoes. Potato is common in Europe, but also comes from South America.
Curry made in Britain is different to what's known in India (see here). Wikipedia suggests curry was here before fish and chips.
"Sunday Roast", as cooked by most people, is crap. Not so much because of the meat, but because most people serve it with boiled vegetables. I put up with this for 18 years, as my dad insisted on cooking on Sundays, and that's all he would cook. Sometimes my mum would make leeks in cheese sauce as a side dish, which is a good improvement to an otherwise bland meal.
I think if I had to make something particularly British, it should be a meat or fish pie, maybe something like this chicken and leek pie (I like leeks). There's plenty of opportunity for flavour.
I don't know what "nasty pudding" is. "Hocky pucks" sound Canadian. I've not heard of "fruitcake cocktail" either. Dundee cake is good -- although very heavy. If you have space, make it in autumn, leave it in the kitchen, and pour a spoonful of brandy over it every time you walk past. Serve at Christmas. If iced with marzipan and royal icing it's called a Christmas cake. Trifle is the other good opportunity to get all the children tipsy.
I looked up clotted cream biscuits -- they're not very common, they look like the kind of thing sold in an airport. Shortbread is much more common: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortbread
As an American, I'm going to have to agree with you... That "processed cheese spread" stuff is pretty vile stuff, but it keeps without refrigeration.
But your country is famous for having gargantuan refrigerators!
I tried a lot of different stuff when on a trip to Manchester and while some of it was not appealing to me, I did find much to like in my week's stay.
Britain is the most challenging European country to find good food in as a visitor, especially in the larger cities. I despair slightly when I walk through the more touristy parts of central London early in the evening -- there are several huge, expensive franchise restaurants selling average to poor steak for the price of very good steak. They're always busy, they look "safe", wasn't it in the guide book...? Wetherspoons is a cheap example -- most of what they sell are microwave meals! Here is a company that does wholesale ready meals (microwave meals) for pubs etc.
So, I think you did quite well to find some decent places.
I've only had it once, since I live in Britain (whose cheap chocolate is made by Cadbury, but with standards maintained by what the rest of the EU is willing to label "chocolate"*). Someone brought some back from a work trip to the US, and -- unusually for chocolate -- it hung around for weeks. This prompted us to work out why no-one really liked it. We decided it was an acquired taste that most Americans learn when they're children.
* I looked this up. British/Irish "milk chocolate" must be labelled "family milk chocolate" in the rest of the EU, as it's not good enough.
I don't think it's particularly extreme for vegans to avoid those that are straightforward to avoid. I've easily met 10 people who have chosen one beer over another because it isn't filtered with isinglass (fish bladder extract). So far, no one has made a big deal about it.
I don't have a debit card - and never will. They're evil, and unnecessary/stupid for people that have a CC and pay it off every month...
The merchant's fees for a debit card tend to be fixed, but for a credit card they're a percentage (I think this is the same in the US as it is here). There's also no limit beyond the amount in the account, and it's much more difficult to reverse the transaction, i.e. more trusted by the merchant.
If I were buying a car, I'd use a debit card (my credit limit is £3000, though they'd probably increase it if I asked). I paid the deposit to rent this flat using a debit card. Airlines usually charge a fee for paying by credit card, which they don't charge if paying by debit card.
My bicycle has hydraulic disc brakes -- until just now I thought they were nothing too fancy, as they came with the bike, but they seem to cost about £150 new.
They're fantastic, and I highly recommend them. The braking power is hardly affected when it's wet, it's very easy to control the braking force, and takes very little effort to brake (I could use just my little finger) so it's comfortable.
The British police run Immobilise.com: https://www.immobilise.com/ which takes serial numbers of anything, including bicycles.
They say they check it when they find stolen property -- it helps them, as it's extra evidence that everything in the garage is stolen, not just the single item the thief was carrying when he was followed.
I've only seen the gold-coloured $1 coin. It was too easy to mistake for a quarter.
Quarter: Mass 5.670 g Diameter 24.26 mm Thickness 1.75 mm
Dollar: Mass 8.100 g Diameter 26.5 mm Thickness 2.00 mm
Only 2mm wider, and 0.25mm thicker? No other currency I've used has such similarly-sized coins (unless the shape is changed, e.g. Britain's 20p is heptagonal).
(Although, no other currency I've used has such easily-confused banknotes... they're all the same size too!)
We have summer time in the UK too, although the changing dates aren't the same (all of Europe changes on the same day, and some other countries, but not the US).
It's 14:46 right now in London, +0100 (i.e. it's 13:46 UTC).
No, it's because the developers are idiots that used jQuery in the first place.
jQuery has a place, and that is in creating things like word processors and painting programs in javascript. It does not belong in a form that I just have to put some data in and hit submit.
I'm not building anything as serious as that health insurance site, and there's good reasons not to optimise before it's necessary. But anyway, I've used Zepto instead of jQuery: http://zeptojs.com/ which is 9kB, gzipped.
What you wrote against (a) and (b) is contradictory.
Also, what people think of as "small" speeding offences can be quite dangerous -- you will probably kill someone if you hit them at 40mph, but they'll probably survive at 30mph, and you probably won't hit them at all if you're sticking to a 20mph limit.
On a motorway, if the gap in front is just enough for you to stop from 70mph, but you're going at 80mph, you'll crash into the hazard at 40mph.
In America I think you have elected police chiefs,
You think wrong, then.
Sheriffs are elected, police chiefs are almost never elected. I won't say never, though I can't think of anywhere that police chiefs are elected, but it's a big country.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheriff#United_States isn't very clear on the difference in practise -- it sounds like there's a lot of overlap, at least outside big cities, and a huge variation across the USA.
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This is a challenging option in a corporate environment when you need to hire someone to support said framework after you have left the company unexpectedly.
Exactly. This situation means we have some software that no-one dared to change, because the framework is undocumented and incomplete. Since it only does what's necessary, it doesn't leave much room for future improvements. (We have since changed it, but only the two better developers are willing to work on it.)
I'll take a 10% loss of performance in return for telling a new developer "this is written using X, Y, and Z. Use W to add the new feature. If you get stuck, search StackOverflow first".
Our thoughts around this are:
- Pick something open source, so it's possible (within our available resources) to fix small bugs if the software goes out of fashion
- Pick things used in big industries, who should keep them running for far longer than software only used by start-ups etc.
- Pick things maintained by reliable projects like Apache and GNU, where that's an option.
I've been to London, it ain't better than NYC. The gaps between the car and station are gigantic, hence "mind the gap" warnings.
Yep, that's one of those "oldest in the world" problems that would be incredibly expensive to fix (the other is the narrow tunnels). Also that some platforms are used by trains with a different height -- I don't know if they'll ever fix that either.
The escalators are super speedy and steep, and when it rains very slick. Try going from Heathrow with some luggage and you start notice that London Underground is a death trap.
I don't find this to be a problem. Maybe because I rarely wear leather soled shoes? The escalators are the normal speed for Europe -- I find ones in the US to be slow.
When did you last use London Underground? I think it's generally clean -- they employ a lot of cleaning staff. Urine smell is practically unheard of. It's at least very brightly lit, and has tiled (reflective) walls, which make it feel safe.
Beijing and Shanghai's systems are showing their age in places, compared to their newer lines and other Chinese cities, but they're modernising them. I found them easy to navigate, there are English signs in most places. They're the same as London for cleanliness and escalator speed, and also have the random staircases where a really new system would have put a slope or escalator. The trains were timed to the second in some cities, but that didn't mean they were fast -- they were slow to set off once the doors had shut. I don't think they trust their Chinese signalling systems yet.
Here, it's not unusual to see ten car BART trains at peak hours and only four car trains when there is less demand. It saves on energy and wear and tear.
I doubt the effort to shorten the trains would be worthwhile in NYC. Isn't it always going to be busy enough that it's worth running the whole train?
(It's certainly the case in London. Some of the oldest (1970s) trains have driving cabs in the middle, i.e. are two trains coupled together. It's a long, long time since they ran trains with less than the maximum number of carriages. I'm not sure they ever were -- I can't find a reference.)
without the conductor there to yell at people to get the hell in or out of the car, the trains would never, ever leave the station. There will always be that one last person trying to get in.
In London they have someone standing on the platform to do that (shout at people). They are in a much better position: they can see the whole train, and can walk along the platform if necessary.
Also, they're only at busier stations, and only when it's busy.
any failure along the 8 (I'm assuming it's 8 in nyc) would send the entire train to the maintenance yard.
That's going to happen anyway -- where else on a city metro system would you take apart a train?
But anyway, I don't think that's how trains are maintained any more. The carriages are unlikely to be uncoupled except in very rare circumstances (fire/accident, or infrequent maintenance). This article shows a small part of a lifting machine that is "able to raise a complete eight-car trainset" for London Underground. This The manufacturer has some better pictures, including whole high-speed trains (much longer).
No one would want to sit on the articulated section anyways. The suspension between the two and the floor moving near where you're sitting would probably be unnerving to some.
Every articulated train (and tram for that matter) that I've seen has only standing room in the articulated sections. There's usually a semicircular joint where the floor moves -- just don't stand on both sides of it :-)
If it cost the same it would be a no-brainer ... increased capacity for nothing. The key question is does it cost more, and if so is that the optimal way of increasing capacity for the money? If the same money would allow them to run an extra train each hour then that would be the best option.
Articulated trains is probably really cheap compared to the other options, assuming the easy things have been done (like lengthening the train where all the platforms are long enough).
Anyway, they should last 50 years, so it's a good investment.
(I've not used the NYC Metro for 15 years, but if it's anything like the overcrowded London Underground they'll be increasing capacity wherever they can. I was told off by a public announcement last week "would the man running down the escalator please be aware that now the upgrade work is completed, trains run every two minutes" [on the Victoria Line].)
Is it possible to open the doors in an emergency?
The Underground trains in London that don't yet have articulated carriages simply have a red danger sign telling people not to use them -- except in an emergency. It's very rare to see someone using them, as the danger is pretty obvious (adjacent carriages can bounce around quite a bit, relative to each other).
How do you define a country's cuisine? South & South East Asian cuisine was very different before European traders took chillies and tomatoes. Potato is common in Europe, but also comes from South America.
Curry made in Britain is different to what's known in India (see here). Wikipedia suggests curry was here before fish and chips.
"Sunday Roast", as cooked by most people, is crap. Not so much because of the meat, but because most people serve it with boiled vegetables. I put up with this for 18 years, as my dad insisted on cooking on Sundays, and that's all he would cook. Sometimes my mum would make leeks in cheese sauce as a side dish, which is a good improvement to an otherwise bland meal.
I think if I had to make something particularly British, it should be a meat or fish pie, maybe something like this chicken and leek pie (I like leeks). There's plenty of opportunity for flavour.
I don't know what "nasty pudding" is. "Hocky pucks" sound Canadian. I've not heard of "fruitcake cocktail" either.
Dundee cake is good -- although very heavy. If you have space, make it in autumn, leave it in the kitchen, and pour a spoonful of brandy over it every time you walk past. Serve at Christmas. If iced with marzipan and royal icing it's called a Christmas cake. Trifle is the other good opportunity to get all the children tipsy.
Remember Europe has crap chocolate too -- but it's clearly not worth exporting.
(America's crap chocolate is still worse than Europe's crap chocolate.)
I looked up clotted cream biscuits -- they're not very common, they look like the kind of thing sold in an airport. Shortbread is much more common: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shortbread
The most common use for clotted cream is on a scone: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scone
(I'm not sure if the point was my country was healthier or unhealthier, tastier or not -- you decide!)
Making shortbread is one of my earliest memories from school, I must have been about 5. It can't be too difficult:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/shortbread_1290
http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4622/classic-scones-with-jam-and-clotted-cream
As an American, I'm going to have to agree with you... That "processed cheese spread" stuff is pretty vile stuff, but it keeps without refrigeration.
But your country is famous for having gargantuan refrigerators!
I tried a lot of different stuff when on a trip to Manchester and while some of it was not appealing to me, I did find much to like in my week's stay.
Britain is the most challenging European country to find good food in as a visitor, especially in the larger cities. I despair slightly when I walk through the more touristy parts of central London early in the evening -- there are several huge, expensive franchise restaurants selling average to poor steak for the price of very good steak. They're always busy, they look "safe", wasn't it in the guide book...? Wetherspoons is a cheap example -- most of what they sell are microwave meals! Here is a company that does wholesale ready meals (microwave meals) for pubs etc.
So, I think you did quite well to find some decent places.
I've only had it once, since I live in Britain (whose cheap chocolate is made by Cadbury, but with standards maintained by what the rest of the EU is willing to label "chocolate"*). Someone brought some back from a work trip to the US, and -- unusually for chocolate -- it hung around for weeks. This prompted us to work out why no-one really liked it. We decided it was an acquired taste that most Americans learn when they're children.
* I looked this up. British/Irish "milk chocolate" must be labelled "family milk chocolate" in the rest of the EU, as it's not good enough.
Many things use animal parts in the production process. In this case, bone char is used to whiten the sugar: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bone_char
I don't think it's particularly extreme for vegans to avoid those that are straightforward to avoid. I've easily met 10 people who have chosen one beer over another because it isn't filtered with isinglass (fish bladder extract). So far, no one has made a big deal about it.
worse was a Hershey bar, which seemed like eating solidified excrement mixed with sand.
That's unfair.
Hershey's chocolate tastes of sick, not shit, because the milk is lipolyzed, producing butyric acid -- also found in vomit.
I don't have a debit card - and never will. They're evil, and unnecessary/stupid for people that have a CC and pay it off every month...
The merchant's fees for a debit card tend to be fixed, but for a credit card they're a percentage (I think this is the same in the US as it is here). There's also no limit beyond the amount in the account, and it's much more difficult to reverse the transaction, i.e. more trusted by the merchant.
If I were buying a car, I'd use a debit card (my credit limit is £3000, though they'd probably increase it if I asked). I paid the deposit to rent this flat using a debit card. Airlines usually charge a fee for paying by credit card, which they don't charge if paying by debit card.
If it's a problem for you, why not put a dab of white paint on one side of the plug?
My bicycle has hydraulic disc brakes -- until just now I thought they were nothing too fancy, as they came with the bike, but they seem to cost about £150 new.
They're fantastic, and I highly recommend them. The braking power is hardly affected when it's wet, it's very easy to control the braking force, and takes very little effort to brake (I could use just my little finger) so it's comfortable.
The British police run Immobilise.com: https://www.immobilise.com/ which takes serial numbers of anything, including bicycles.
They say they check it when they find stolen property -- it helps them, as it's extra evidence that everything in the garage is stolen, not just the single item the thief was carrying when he was followed.
It's an improvement, but just compare http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euro_banknotes#Specification or http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Renminbi_banknotes.JPG (or pretty much any other country).
I've only seen the gold-coloured $1 coin. It was too easy to mistake for a quarter.
Quarter: Mass 5.670 g
Diameter 24.26 mm
Thickness 1.75 mm
Dollar: Mass 8.100 g
Diameter 26.5 mm
Thickness 2.00 mm
Only 2mm wider, and 0.25mm thicker? No other currency I've used has such similarly-sized coins (unless the shape is changed, e.g. Britain's 20p is heptagonal).
(Although, no other currency I've used has such easily-confused banknotes... they're all the same size too!)
We have summer time in the UK too, although the changing dates aren't the same (all of Europe changes on the same day, and some other countries, but not the US).
It's 14:46 right now in London, +0100 (i.e. it's 13:46 UTC).
No, it's because the developers are idiots that used jQuery in the first place.
jQuery has a place, and that is in creating things like word processors and painting programs in javascript. It does not belong in a form that I just have to put some data in and hit submit.
I'm not building anything as serious as that health insurance site, and there's good reasons not to optimise before it's necessary. But anyway, I've used Zepto instead of jQuery: http://zeptojs.com/ which is 9kB, gzipped.
What you wrote against (a) and (b) is contradictory.
Also, what people think of as "small" speeding offences can be quite dangerous -- you will probably kill someone if you hit them at 40mph, but they'll probably survive at 30mph, and you probably won't hit them at all if you're sticking to a 20mph limit.
On a motorway, if the gap in front is just enough for you to stop from 70mph, but you're going at 80mph, you'll crash into the hazard at 40mph.
You think wrong, then.
Sheriffs are elected, police chiefs are almost never elected. I won't say never, though I can't think of anywhere that police chiefs are elected, but it's a big country.
You'll have to forgive me on that one, since to me, "sheriff" means a man in a silly costume who waves at the queen if she visits a city. Like this guy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sheriff_of_Oxford_2008.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheriff#United_States isn't very clear on the difference in practise -- it sounds like there's a lot of overlap, at least outside big cities, and a huge variation across the USA.