KeithMacdonald Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 On 07/02/2021 at 22:02, figworthy said: WhatsApp is a part of the Facebook empire, and so is firmly in that mess that is antisocial media. Adrian I've gone way past being surprised by people I meet who still don't know that Facebook owns WhatsApp. Or that Facebook originally promised to keep the personal data seperate. Or that Facebook has now quietly announced it will "aggregate" data from the two systems. Quote WhatsApp co-founder tells everyone to delete Facebook Facebook bought his app for $16 billion https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/20/17145200/brian-acton-delete-facebook-whatsapp Quote "WhatsApp users are receiving an in-app notice today regarding the service’s new terms and privacy policy. The notice ... talks about three key updates that affect how WhatsApp processes your data, how businesses can use Facebook hosted services to store and manage their WhatsApp chats, and how WhatsApp will soon partner with Facebook to offer deeper integrations across all of the latter’s products." ... in 2016, WhatsApp began to share data with Facebook, but allowed users to opt out of this program. Now, it's a condition of use. https://www.distractify.com/p/whatsapp-facebook-data-sharing 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted February 9, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 9, 2021 5 hours ago, rocor said: I read this as the garter hype curve, for which the peak of inflated expectations and the trough of disillusionment really seemed appropriate. I don't like that remark, because it more neatly says what I wanted to say, but didn't. 4 hours ago, Compound2632 said: ... and the slope of enlightenment and plateau of productivity? It all sounds like the end of "Clue": "I see from the Gartner hype-curve that we have fallen from the peak of inflated expectations into the trough of disillusionment, and it's the end of the show..." Although this strikes me as an alternative idea: 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 When I came across the "hype curve", I was astounded at the chutzpah of an organisation that could make a living from hyping things, and then hype a trite graphic illustrating the perils of hype, and the open-mouthed un-criticality of the IT-crowd, who lapped up both at the same time. Serious, and as yet not fully reconciled, clash of cultures between The Engineering Crowd and The IT Crowd as the technologies used by both have converged. Its as if wary scepticism (about everything) is a prime qualification for engineers, while starry-eyed worship of novelty is the qualification in the other camp. Or, looked at the other way round, its as if engineers are a grumpy bunch of nit-pickers, who only move forward if dragged, while IT-bods are refreshingly open-minded and progressive. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted February 9, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 9, 2021 7 minutes ago, Nearholmer said: Or, looked at the other way round, its as if engineers are a grumpy bunch of nit-pickers, who only move forward if dragged, while IT-bods are refreshingly open-minded and progressive. I'm sure you've achieved the happy middle ground of open-minded nit-picking. It has to be remembered that nit-picking is the foundation of social interaction among the higher primates. 1 1 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 I tried to be grumpily progressive, but actually became progressively grumpier, and was quite relieved to move away from working at the IT/Engineering interface. Slightly concerning news is that I've recently agreed to undertake a short commission at exactly that place again - not really sure I should have said "yes"! 8 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted February 9, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 9, 2021 3 hours ago, Nearholmer said: Or, looked at the other way round, its as if engineers are a grumpy bunch of nit-pickers, who only move forward if dragged, while IT-bods are refreshingly open-minded and progressive. Well, engineers are sometimes referred - unfairly - to as "knuckle draggers", but I think they "suffer" from over-indulgence of "it ain't broke, why are we fixing it?" On the other hand, some IT-bods are not so much open-minded as empty-minded and driven by novelty rather than the question both could be asking: what can we do to make things work better, and more easily. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 (edited) 11 hours ago, Nearholmer said: I'm trained as an electrical engineer, but I still get a warm glow when someone compliments me for my ability to wire-up a three-pin plug. Positive feedback and all that ......... in the colloquial, rather than engineering sense. As a refreshingly open-minded and progressive IT engineer working on large Unix systems I am now finally used to random people I meet not believing it when I say "No I don't have any idea why your home printer can't connect to your phone" and similar when they find out what I do for a living. Edited February 9, 2021 by monkeysarefun 3 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted February 9, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 9, 2021 I use computers, a lot. Most of the time for work and quite a bit for leisure. For some reason, I get the same questions as you mention. Thankfully (or not, depending on your own views/tastes) I generally use Apple’s overpriced products (although the “overpriced” iMac I bought in Jan 2008 was only discarded last April, so pretty cheap, really) and as most people use Windoze, I quickly evade further discussion. RTM is always good advice - surprising how few people do that. (Even Apple products, which tend to be “switch on and use it”, benefit from finding out about the more advanced options.) 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 (edited) I remember the period when European standards were starting to be adopted by UK Engineering companies. One of my colleagues recognised this change from British Standards as likely to cost money to our company and that adopting the EU standards gave the Engineers an opportunity to gain an advantage over the Accountants. (The need to invest to meet the new standards) There were always battles of this kind in industry! What happened after Brexit to the EU Standards in common use? After 20 years of retirement I am pleased to report that I no longer remember the Euronorm Standard numbers which were on my desk. Edited February 9, 2021 by DonB extra text 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caley Jim Posted February 9, 2021 Share Posted February 9, 2021 26 minutes ago, Regularity said: RTM is always good advice -... The acronym I heard that computer help desk operators used had an 'F' in there! I leave you to work out where it went! Jim 1 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
monkeysarefun Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 I posted this before somewhere but I can't remember where, apologies if I am being repetetive, but I think its a brilliant piece of H0 imagineering and maybe someone here will enjoy it. For anyone with a H P Lovecraft interest combined with Edwardian railways US style.... http://www.ottgalleries.com/WelcometoArkham.html 10 2 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 All the Lovecraft references going wooshing over my head, but the modelling is superb. 1 4 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 11 hours ago, Caley Jim said: The acronym I heard that computer help desk operators used had an 'F' in there! I leave you to work out where it went! Jim In polite society, the "F" in RTFM can be rendered as "flippin" without discommoding ladies and, of course, disturbing the horses... 8 hours ago, monkeysarefun said: I posted this before somewhere but I can't remember where, apologies if I am being repetetive, but I think its a brilliant piece of H0 imagineering and maybe someone here will enjoy it. For anyone with a H P Lovecraft interest combined with Edwardian railways US style.... http://www.ottgalleries.com/WelcometoArkham.html A really well visualised interpretation of Arkham. Around the time of "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward", I suspect. 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Anyone who like US "pre-grouping" modelling is advised to look out for the magazine 'Narrow Gauge & Shortlines Gazette', which features a lot of very well researched, beautifully executed models set pre-WW1. One of the many things I don't understand about about US popular culture is this whole Gothicky thing, which seems to cross-over into Steampunk, based around ghoulies and ghosties in late-Victorian settings. Its very pervasive, think Scooby Doo and plenty of other children's TV, and endless Halloween movies. Did Lovecraft start the whole carry on? 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted February 10, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 10, 2021 35 minutes ago, Nearholmer said: Did Lovecraft start the whole carry on? Surely Edgar Allan Poe is the locus classicus for American Gothic? 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nearholmer Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 Ah, true, and a bit of googling suggests that Lovecraft was influenced by Poe, among others. Wonder why its become such a strong theme in the US? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted February 10, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 10, 2021 8 minutes ago, Nearholmer said: Wonder why its become such a strong theme in the US? I suspect that has to do with the way that, in New England, popular Protestantism developed from its Puritan origins. 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wagonman Posted February 10, 2021 Share Posted February 10, 2021 (edited) 17 hours ago, Caley Jim said: The acronym I heard that computer help desk operators used had an 'F' in there! I leave you to work out where it went! Jim The problem these days is that there rarely is an effing manual to read... Edited February 10, 2021 by wagonman 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Regularity Posted February 10, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted February 10, 2021 3 hours ago, Hroth said: In polite society, the "F" in RTFM can be rendered as "flippin" without discommoding ladies and, of course, disturbing the horses... Also, “Fine”. In a previous line of work, rather than use the published manuals, everyone was recommended to read a “Beginner’s Guide” written by a really nice guy called Michael Friendly. Without knowing this, a noob on a discussion list suggested that (with a due sense of irony) that maybe it stood for “read the friendly manual”. Michael immediately posted back with “Hey, I wrote that!” We didn’t have pictures on the internet back then, just plain text (as a friend remarked, 300 baud on a modem was faster than anyone could type); we had to get our fun where we could... 2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium ianathompson Posted February 10, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 10, 2021 All this reference to DOS systems and baud rates! Takes me back to my Post Grad days when my thesis analysis was done using such systems. I made so many mistakes in using the computer that I was almost regarded as an expert in the "Error message numbers". "Ask Tommo, he's bound to have made it!" Another mate, now a Professor, advised me that my analytical technique was, "Like kicking a TV to mend it." As an aside DOS systems are very robust. Network Rail still uses them, or it was doing when I retired a few years ago. The DOS interfaced with Microsoft software to give the feel of a modern computer. Obviously the minions in the signalboxes were not allowed near such things and had to make do with a 1980s screen operated by macro commands. Signalmen would not know a "macro command" from Adam but they did kniow that entering TRJA with a train ID pulled up the schedule for a given train. It also gave the actual running times and showed where it had been delayed and for how long. Always handy if you had delayed it to see how long it would take TDA to ring up wanting an explanatiion. You knew how long you had to think of something credible. Unfortunately somebody, somewhere, got hold of command OHQP (from memeory). This gave access to the control logs. You could then see what the TDA clerk was entering on the logs as opposed to what you told them. There followed anumber of acrimonious phone calls to this clerk, towards the end of the shift, suggesting that he rewrote his reports to get his facts right. I just used to enquire as to whether it was Enid Blyton or JKRowlings on Jackanory duty on the few occasions that I could be bothered. Of course being a DOS system they could not easily change the command to stop the practice. Ian T 4 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 In the news ... Official UK Government advisory regarding summer holidays .... 1 5 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Compound2632 Posted February 11, 2021 RMweb Premium Share Posted February 11, 2021 If one is indecisive for long enough one can avoid taking responsibility for the consequences of a decision - it's much more difficult to be held to account for the consequences of indecision. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Edwardian Posted February 11, 2021 Share Posted February 11, 2021 12 minutes ago, Compound2632 said: If one is indecisive for long enough one can avoid taking responsibility for the consequences of a decision - it's much more difficult to be held to account for the consequences of indecision. Curses, you've found me out! 1 3 3 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rocor Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 21 hours ago, Edwardian said: Curses, you've found me out! It appears that Boris's model making enthusiasms have moved on, from buses to excavators. 6 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hroth Posted February 12, 2021 Share Posted February 12, 2021 22 hours ago, Edwardian said: In the news ... Official UK Government advisory regarding summer holidays .... Whilst completely ignoring guidance about taking selfies on railway lines. 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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