I notice a lot more followers of the geek cult in IT than in software development or engineering. Kinda interesting how the people who live a much 'geekier' life tend to downplay it, while the people managing the Outlook server feel the need to profess their geek cred every chance they get..
I've noticed this phenomenon in most areas of life. Those who talk big (i.e. brag) tend to do small. It's the quiet ones who tend to accomplish the great things.
Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, but it's not a bad yardstick.
I would simply support what's there with only a break-fix policy, and immediately start documenting all aspects of it's functionality to rebuild it from the bottom up. The very fact that this code would have so many styles would mean most of it would have to be re-written and documented anyway.
Do you have a PhD in chemistry and 20 years' experience in the application's domain? If not, then you are unqualified rewrite or even test this application.
That's the problem. There's 20 years' worth of knowledge locked up in those 200k lines of code. Scrapping it would be a royally bad idea. Chipping away at it a bit at a time is a much better plan.
I also found it funny, because my assistance by chat was ALWAYS several times better than phone support. Try for example dictate your full name or an email address by telephone.
I've found that it's also a lot easier to deal with foreign CSRs via chat than it is via phone. I think most Indians are better at reading/writing English than in speaking. Also, there is little concern over trying to understand each other's accents.
I've never actually been on the "support staff" of a live chat feature, but at my client, their live chat support thingy collects all kinds of important information about the user (browser/OS/cookies/login/session/IP/godknowswhatelse). Saves the user from having to type all that in and saves the support tech from having to explain where to find it all.
On the customer end, I really like the live chat support because then I can continue what I was doing while the CSR researches whatever it is that needs researching and I don't have a phone glued to my ear.
You should look more closely at the various state to state subsidy plans. Even in the Seattle area where I am, clouds all the time, with the in state subsidies and solar loan programs it's already cheaper to install solar. Most people just haven't done the math on it
Here in Virginia, we have no state subsidy. Thank you, coal industry.
That, combined with not-the-greatest sunlight make solar uneconomical in VA.
The worst part is that they smother everything with "human interest" stories to the point where you're not sure if you're watching the Olympics or some daytime talk show
That is what Tivo is for. That, and Ryan Seacrest's blathering about social media.
I don't really care about the conversions because I can't hear the difference between the bitrates. What kind of bugs me is that Amazon took away any type of meaningful free option.
Alas, most of you don't have the benefit of a union and now no longer have pensions, paid vacations, and have to work more than 40 hours a week without overtime pay. It's sad.
I don't have paid vacations, but I also don't have to work unpaid overtime. Seems fair to me.
But God, I'll be glad when I'm out of this place! I'd retire today if I could live on just the pension, but I only have 2 years before I'm eligible for SS.
We have Outlook/Exchange at my client, too. It crashes a lot. Not sure why. But that's basically irrelevant. I don't think there's much, if any, connection between Outlook desktop software and outlook.com. A buddy of mine works on webmail at MS, so I suppose I could ask him if I really gave a fuck, which I do not.
Regarding outlook.com, I did have a quick look at it. Seems decent enough. Interface is less busy than hotmail. I didn't get to test it much because I'm on my work computer, and I only use hotmail for fetlife-related emails. Not, in the strictest sense, workplace-appropriate.
Actually, your link is from 2 years ago. The correct current link is here.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In an effort to prevent children from suffering further harm, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff filed an administrative complaint today against Maxfield & Oberton Holdings LLC, of New York, N.Y., alleging that Buckyballs and Buckycubes contain a defect in the design, packaging, warnings, and instructions, which pose a substantial risk of injury to the public. The Commission voted 3-1 to approve the filing of the complaint, which seeks, among other things, an order that the firm stops selling Buckyballs and Buckycubes, notify the public of the defect, and offer consumers a full refund.
So no, this is not a labeling issue. They already corrected the labeling issue. This is about stopping all sales of Buckyballs. Headline is correct. Posting to undo my upmod of your comment because it turns out you are wrong.
As far as exit interviews go, if you do want to say something negative, it's good- as with any other time in the business world - to never say anything negative about an individual. You can usually get your point across without it.
And if you are going to offer constructive criticism, it's best to offer it up along with potential solutions, just like you would if you still worked there. Otherwise, you just sound like a whiny bitch.
Have you seen that movie "Swordfish"? Turns out you can get a blowjob and hack stuff at the same time!
I suppose anything's possible, but given the brazen technical errors that creep into movies, I'm inclined to be a bit skeptical of this hacking/blowjob thing.
Just use the cheap, disposable plastic restraints that don't have keys or locks and need to be cut off. No need to muck around with $150 handcuffs.
That being said, hinged cuffs behind the back, locks facing up (hands facing down), is beyond the ability of most people to escape, even if they have the key.
So far I have yet to meet any happily married males (or females for that matter). Even the ones who CLAIM to be happy fill their conversations with backstabbing comments about their spouse. Who needs that?
I think a high percentage of married males with children long, from time to time, for the old days before we had all these responsibilities. I know I do. But that doesn't mean I'm unhappy, in general.
I mean, if it sucks that badly, you can always leave.
Did your girlfriend stop you hacking, or did something else stop your hacking and the increased social interaction landed you the girlfriend?
In my case, she didn't do anything specific to stop my hacking, beyond existing. We have only a finite amount of time. Given the choice between hacking (it was called "cracking" back then, but whatever) or fucking a hot girl, I chose fucking.
But isn't it just that way with us? The little head always overriding the big one?
Could be. HE attributed the paranoia to the pot. When he eased off, he said it went away.
Interesting. I can't say I'm totally surprised, given my experience with high-THC marijuana. It was some pretty intense stuff.
If it's abused, it can be addictive, and can cause problems in your work and personal lives.
Interesting story: I was contacted about 5 years ago by a former college roommate. He had been off of weed for about 18 months after having hit rock bottom. He lost his job, his girlfriend, and I forget what else. He reached out to tell me that through is ordeal with drug abuse, a particular offhand comment that I once made had stuck with him through it all.
Apparently (I don't remember saying this, but it is definitely something I would picture myself saying), after witnessing him smoke up just to fall asleep ("wake and bake" was already a longstanding habit for him, as with smoking every other time of the day), I said, "Man. And they tell me this shit's not addictive." And hell, maybe it's not, by the same mechanism that, say, alcohol and tobacco are addictive. But it sure lends itself to compulsive use in certain individuals, and it can cause devastating effects.
Many people have difficulty believing this, because they themselves smoked weed and never had a problem with it. Indeed, I never had a problem with it. But I've seen it destroy people, and even though it's not obvious to me why, I still have to respect that it can.
To this day, this guy is still sober. He went back to school and has a good job, a wife, and kids. No doubt in anybody's mind that it was the weed that caused his problems.
I tutored a guy who developed reasonably severe paranoia after heavy marijuana use.
Is there any reason to believe that the paranoia was caused by marijuana use? I ask, because mental illness presenting in the teenage years is very common. It might be coincidental to the marijuana use, as opposed to being caused by it.
But I do find it interesting how the drug has changed over time. When I was a kid, the THC levels in marijuana were significantly lower than they are today. I am not a regular marijuana user by any stretch of the imagination, but I did try some recently to get a sense of what the difference is from when I was growing up. The difference was enormous, which may have been partly caused by changes in my own body over the decades since last using it, but I have little doubt that the higher THC levels played the biggest role.
The low-THC stuff made me feel relaxed, contented, and hungry. Like nothing bad really mattered. Like I could just sit in my easy chair and eat 3812 pretzels and all would be well with the world.
The high-THC stuff made me feel very agitated. Not paranoia, just busy. My mind raced. I felt mildly aggressive, and not very hungry. The experience was interesting, and not necessarily bad, but I haven't repeated it and most likely will not repeat it.
Everyday life can trigger psychotic episodes in mentally ill people. So can odd noises, squirrels, religion and the voices that only they hear.
I have a close family member who suffers from mental illness, and I have to say that you are absolutely correct. He struggles constantly with things that he knows should be no big deal, yet evoke a debilitating paranoiac reaction, anyway.
Over the years, he's gotten a lot better at recognizing the early warning signals that a panic attack is coming, and changing his environment to hopefully avoid losing control. But man, is it ever a constant struggle for him, and his immediate family (he's a first cousin of mine, so close, but no day-to-day contact).
Slashdot Mirror
I notice a lot more followers of the geek cult in IT than in software development or engineering. Kinda interesting how the people who live a much 'geekier' life tend to downplay it, while the people managing the Outlook server feel the need to profess their geek cred every chance they get..
I've noticed this phenomenon in most areas of life. Those who talk big (i.e. brag) tend to do small. It's the quiet ones who tend to accomplish the great things.
Obviously there are exceptions to this rule, but it's not a bad yardstick.
I just use generated passwords for the question answers, and store the answers in Lastpass.
Any idiot can figure out where I went to high school in about 20 seconds of googling, and that's over a slow connection.
I would simply support what's there with only a break-fix policy, and immediately start documenting all aspects of it's functionality to rebuild it from the bottom up. The very fact that this code would have so many styles would mean most of it would have to be re-written and documented anyway.
Do you have a PhD in chemistry and 20 years' experience in the application's domain? If not, then you are unqualified rewrite or even test this application.
That's the problem. There's 20 years' worth of knowledge locked up in those 200k lines of code. Scrapping it would be a royally bad idea. Chipping away at it a bit at a time is a much better plan.
I was asking a serious question; I don't need a bunch of snark.
You must be new here.
My time is valuable and when I need to spend an hour on the phone to get something like that done it is really a waste of time and energy.
Dude, you're commenting on slashdot. Nobody believes that your time is valuable!
I also found it funny, because my assistance by chat was ALWAYS several times better than phone support. Try for example dictate your full name or an email address by telephone.
I've found that it's also a lot easier to deal with foreign CSRs via chat than it is via phone. I think most Indians are better at reading/writing English than in speaking. Also, there is little concern over trying to understand each other's accents.
Definitely a big fan of the "live chat".
I've never actually been on the "support staff" of a live chat feature, but at my client, their live chat support thingy collects all kinds of important information about the user (browser/OS/cookies/login/session/IP/godknowswhatelse). Saves the user from having to type all that in and saves the support tech from having to explain where to find it all.
On the customer end, I really like the live chat support because then I can continue what I was doing while the CSR researches whatever it is that needs researching and I don't have a phone glued to my ear.
Yeah, I just ran the numbers in VA. With no state subsidy, it just ain't worth it.
I'll jump when the break-even point is 5 years or so. Not willing to wait 30 years for break-even on a system that's only warranted for 25!
You should look more closely at the various state to state subsidy plans. Even in the Seattle area where I am, clouds all the time, with the in state subsidies and solar loan programs it's already cheaper to install solar. Most people just haven't done the math on it
Here in Virginia, we have no state subsidy. Thank you, coal industry.
That, combined with not-the-greatest sunlight make solar uneconomical in VA.
The worst part is that they smother everything with "human interest" stories to the point where you're not sure if you're watching the Olympics or some daytime talk show
That is what Tivo is for. That, and Ryan Seacrest's blathering about social media.
Wait, you can get into European streams just by changing DNS servers? No proxy/VPN needed?
I don't really care about the conversions because I can't hear the difference between the bitrates. What kind of bugs me is that Amazon took away any type of meaningful free option.
Looking at Google Play right now.
Alas, most of you don't have the benefit of a union and now no longer have pensions, paid vacations, and have to work more than 40 hours a week without overtime pay. It's sad.
I don't have paid vacations, but I also don't have to work unpaid overtime. Seems fair to me.
But God, I'll be glad when I'm out of this place! I'd retire today if I could live on just the pension, but I only have 2 years before I'm eligible for SS.
Pension? What's a pension?
We have Outlook/Exchange at my client, too. It crashes a lot. Not sure why. But that's basically irrelevant. I don't think there's much, if any, connection between Outlook desktop software and outlook.com. A buddy of mine works on webmail at MS, so I suppose I could ask him if I really gave a fuck, which I do not.
Regarding outlook.com, I did have a quick look at it. Seems decent enough. Interface is less busy than hotmail. I didn't get to test it much because I'm on my work computer, and I only use hotmail for fetlife-related emails. Not, in the strictest sense, workplace-appropriate.
Actually, your link is from 2 years ago. The correct current link is here.
WASHINGTON, D.C. - In an effort to prevent children from suffering further harm, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) staff filed an administrative complaint today against Maxfield & Oberton Holdings LLC, of New York, N.Y., alleging that Buckyballs and Buckycubes contain a defect in the design, packaging, warnings, and instructions, which pose a substantial risk of injury to the public. The Commission voted 3-1 to approve the filing of the complaint, which seeks, among other things, an order that the firm stops selling Buckyballs and Buckycubes, notify the public of the defect, and offer consumers a full refund.
So no, this is not a labeling issue. They already corrected the labeling issue. This is about stopping all sales of Buckyballs. Headline is correct. Posting to undo my upmod of your comment because it turns out you are wrong.
Advice is not free.
Dude, they're still paying your salary during the exit interview.
As far as exit interviews go, if you do want to say something negative, it's good- as with any other time in the business world - to never say anything negative about an individual. You can usually get your point across without it.
And if you are going to offer constructive criticism, it's best to offer it up along with potential solutions, just like you would if you still worked there. Otherwise, you just sound like a whiny bitch.
Have you seen that movie "Swordfish"? Turns out you can get a blowjob and hack stuff at the same time!
I suppose anything's possible, but given the brazen technical errors that creep into movies, I'm inclined to be a bit skeptical of this hacking/blowjob thing.
Just use the cheap, disposable plastic restraints that don't have keys or locks and need to be cut off. No need to muck around with $150 handcuffs.
That being said, hinged cuffs behind the back, locks facing up (hands facing down), is beyond the ability of most people to escape, even if they have the key.
So far I have yet to meet any happily married males (or females for that matter). Even the ones who CLAIM to be happy fill their conversations with backstabbing comments about their spouse. Who needs that?
I think a high percentage of married males with children long, from time to time, for the old days before we had all these responsibilities. I know I do. But that doesn't mean I'm unhappy, in general.
I mean, if it sucks that badly, you can always leave.
Did your girlfriend stop you hacking, or did something else stop your hacking and the increased social interaction landed you the girlfriend?
In my case, she didn't do anything specific to stop my hacking, beyond existing. We have only a finite amount of time. Given the choice between hacking (it was called "cracking" back then, but whatever) or fucking a hot girl, I chose fucking.
But isn't it just that way with us? The little head always overriding the big one?
Could be. HE attributed the paranoia to the pot. When he eased off, he said it went away.
Interesting. I can't say I'm totally surprised, given my experience with high-THC marijuana. It was some pretty intense stuff.
If it's abused, it can be addictive, and can cause problems in your work and personal lives.
Interesting story: I was contacted about 5 years ago by a former college roommate. He had been off of weed for about 18 months after having hit rock bottom. He lost his job, his girlfriend, and I forget what else. He reached out to tell me that through is ordeal with drug abuse, a particular offhand comment that I once made had stuck with him through it all.
Apparently (I don't remember saying this, but it is definitely something I would picture myself saying), after witnessing him smoke up just to fall asleep ("wake and bake" was already a longstanding habit for him, as with smoking every other time of the day), I said, "Man. And they tell me this shit's not addictive." And hell, maybe it's not, by the same mechanism that, say, alcohol and tobacco are addictive. But it sure lends itself to compulsive use in certain individuals, and it can cause devastating effects.
Many people have difficulty believing this, because they themselves smoked weed and never had a problem with it. Indeed, I never had a problem with it. But I've seen it destroy people, and even though it's not obvious to me why, I still have to respect that it can.
To this day, this guy is still sober. He went back to school and has a good job, a wife, and kids. No doubt in anybody's mind that it was the weed that caused his problems.
I tutored a guy who developed reasonably severe paranoia after heavy marijuana use.
Is there any reason to believe that the paranoia was caused by marijuana use? I ask, because mental illness presenting in the teenage years is very common. It might be coincidental to the marijuana use, as opposed to being caused by it.
But I do find it interesting how the drug has changed over time. When I was a kid, the THC levels in marijuana were significantly lower than they are today. I am not a regular marijuana user by any stretch of the imagination, but I did try some recently to get a sense of what the difference is from when I was growing up. The difference was enormous, which may have been partly caused by changes in my own body over the decades since last using it, but I have little doubt that the higher THC levels played the biggest role.
The low-THC stuff made me feel relaxed, contented, and hungry. Like nothing bad really mattered. Like I could just sit in my easy chair and eat 3812 pretzels and all would be well with the world.
The high-THC stuff made me feel very agitated. Not paranoia, just busy. My mind raced. I felt mildly aggressive, and not very hungry. The experience was interesting, and not necessarily bad, but I haven't repeated it and most likely will not repeat it.
Everyday life can trigger psychotic episodes in mentally ill people.
So can odd noises, squirrels, religion and the voices that only they hear.
I have a close family member who suffers from mental illness, and I have to say that you are absolutely correct. He struggles constantly with things that he knows should be no big deal, yet evoke a debilitating paranoiac reaction, anyway.
Over the years, he's gotten a lot better at recognizing the early warning signals that a panic attack is coming, and changing his environment to hopefully avoid losing control. But man, is it ever a constant struggle for him, and his immediate family (he's a first cousin of mine, so close, but no day-to-day contact).