Progress



  • After the recent blizzard in the northeast (US), they plowed the streets, and in one case, created a 2.5 story high mountain of snow in the middle of the street. It's a week later and they block off the street at both ends (2 2-man patrols), got three bull dozers and one of those big snow melting machines (basically a big bucket with a heating element, and a hole in the bottom that's supposed to be over an open manhole). Only they didn't open the manhole cover. So they dumped bucket after bucket into this thing, and a small rain storm was going on underneath it. The temp was just below freezing. The falling water splashed everywhere and quickly formed a small glacier. So big that when the snow was gone, they couldn't move the melting-unit because its supports were mostly submerged in solid ice.

    I finally get into the office only to be greeted by a BSOD on my laptop - the disk died. I give it to the PC support folks and go back to my desk to read the paper (we don't have desktop systems, just the laptops). A few hours later, the pc guy comes looking for me: I need additional info, why didn't you answer my email? Erm, because you have my F'g laptop?

    All before 9AM on the first workday of 2011.

    Happy New Year!



  • You're posting this from a production server in the server room I guess? ;)


  • Considered Harmful

    @snoofle said:

    why didn't you answer my email? Erm, because you have my F'g laptop?

    You don't have a smartphone?

    Where I work, lack of computer access isn't an accepted excuse for missing emails.



  • @joe.edwards said:

    @snoofle said:
    why didn't you answer my email? Erm, because you have my F'g laptop?

    You don't have a smartphone?

    Where I work, lack of computer access isn't an accepted excuse for missing emails.

    I'm glad I don't work there as I don't even own a regular cellphone



  • @serguey123 said:

    I'm glad I don't work there as I don't even own a regular cellphone
    Do you own an irregular or extraordinary cellphone?

    PS: I can't/won't read email elsewhere either.



  • @b-redeker said:

    You're posting this from a production server in the server room I guess? ;)

    Actually, after some cajoling, I was able to post it from my Blackberry, but that was more an act of sheer will than technology cooperating.


  •  We've got a snow melter here in the Midwest, too. We call it "the sun".



  • @SQLDave said:

     We've got a snow melter here in the Midwest, too. We call it "the sun".

    That doesn't fly when you can have >50000 people/ sq. mile.



  • @frits said:

    @SQLDave said:

     We've got a snow melter here in the Midwest, too. We call it "the sun".

    That doesn't fly when you can have >50000 people/ sq. mile.

    It's not the midwest's fault you guys all decided to crowd together like cockroaches hiding behind a fridge. Spread out a little, it's a huge, empty, country. I mean, hell, it's been a state for like a century now, and there's still nothing worthwhile in Utah.



  • Most technology is held together with string and tape.

    Most cross-system web development (hey, let's make this system talk to that system using a [web]service), is when you have two of such string-and-tape balls, and glue them together with a five year old Pritt stick.



  • @snoofle said:

    @b-redeker said:

    You're posting this from a production server in the server room I guess? ;)

    Actually, after some cajoling, I was able to post it from my Blackberry, but that was more an act of sheer will than technology cooperating.

    Indeed. I've tried a couple times, but I gave up when the login form simply didn't post. So how did you make it work?



  • @b-redeker said:

    @snoofle said:

    ...Actually, after some cajoling, I was able to post it from my Blackberry, but that was more an act of sheer will than technology cooperating.

    Indeed. I've tried a couple times, but I gave up when the login form simply didn't post. So how did you make it work?

    I'm not really sure; I just kept hitting the button until it worked. And yes, I get the stupidity of it, but I was just *that* bored.



  • @Zecc said:

    @serguey123 said:

    I'm glad I don't work there as I don't even own a regular cellphone
    Do you own an irregular or extraordinary cellphone?.

    Err, no, I don't own a cellphone at all, never liked them.  Besides computers I don't own anything tech related.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    @frits said:

    @SQLDave said:

     We've got a snow melter here in the Midwest, too. We call it "the sun".

    That doesn't fly when you can have >50000 people/ sq. mile.

    It's not the midwest's fault you guys all decided to crowd together like cockroaches hiding behind a fridge. Spread out a little, it's a huge, empty, country. I mean, hell, it's been a state for like a century now, and there's *still* nothing worthwhile in Utah.

    Like all successful cockroaches, we know where the food is.

     



  • I don't understand how in New England, where we get multiple 10+ inch snowstorms a year (pretty much every year) that the first time it happens every year it's OMG WTF TEH WORLD IS ENDING!!1

    I drove to work this last storm we had, the one where the news was all "CATASTROPHE!" about (when aren't they like that though?). I drive an economy hatchback with front-wheel-drive, not some big 4x4 or anything. It was great, I had the road and office to myself. 

    dataz (in terrible format, but that's all I could find):

    http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/snow-info2.shtml

    It's not like the south where the first flake that falls, everybody slides off the road and there's no equipment to plow. It's NE, there's like a hundred thousand plow trucks and such, giant piles of salt/sand on the side of the road to be spread, snow tires, etc. We're equipped to handle it without an issue, and people seem to forget that every winter.



  • @EJ_ said:

    I don't understand how in New England, where we get multiple 10+ inch snowstorms a year (pretty much every year) that the first time it happens every year it's OMG WTF TEH WORLD IS ENDING!!1

    I drove to work this last storm we had, the one where the news was all "CATASTROPHE!" about (when aren't they like that though?). I drive an economy hatchback with front-wheel-drive, not some big 4x4 or anything. It was great, I had the road and office to myself. 

    dataz (in terrible format, but that's all I could find):

    http://www.erh.noaa.gov/box/snow-info2.shtml

    It's not like the south where the first flake that falls, everybody slides off the road and there's no equipment to plow. It's NE, there's like a hundred thousand plow trucks and such, giant piles of salt/sand on the side of the road to be spread, snow tires, etc. We're equipped to handle it without an issue, and people seem to forget that every winter.

    More importantly, were you fully stocked on bread and milk?

     



  • @EJ_ said:

    I don't understand how in New England, where we get multiple 10+ inch snowstorms a year (pretty much every year) that the first time it happens every year it's OMG WTF TEH WORLD IS ENDING!!1
    This seems to be universal.  I live in an area that's not quite as bad as New England, but we still get lots of snow every year.  And every year, when the first big snow hits, the people in charge of plowing the roads act like "OMG WTF WE DIDN'T KNOW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!!  WE DIDN"T BUY ENOUGH ROAD SALT!!"

     

     



  • @serguey123 said:

    @Zecc said:

    @serguey123 said:

    I'm glad I don't work there as I don't even own a regular cellphone
    Do you own an irregular or extraordinary cellphone?.

    Err, no, I don't own a cellphone at all, never liked them.  Besides computers I don't own anything tech related.

    Ah! A Slashdot reader.



  • @El_Heffe said:

    @EJ_ said:

    I don't understand how in New England, where we get multiple 10+ inch snowstorms a year (pretty much every year) that the first time it happens every year it's OMG WTF TEH WORLD IS ENDING!!1
    This seems to be universal.  I live in an area that's not quite as bad as New England, but we still get lots of snow every year.  And every year, when the first big snow hits, the people in charge of plowing the roads act like "OMG WTF WE DIDN'T KNOW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!!  WE DIDN"T BUY ENOUGH ROAD SALT!!"

     

     

    Here in Western Washington, it's because we only get decent snow every 5 years or so, and in the 5 year period between this snow and the last one, 20-25% of our population has been replaced by fucking Californians who keep fucking moving up here and ruining everything. (And seemingly 100% of the local news crews, who like to create huge banners reading "SNOWSTORM '10!" with cute animated backgrounds. As if snowing is an actual event.) Fucking Californians.

    Of course, when it *does* snow, we shut down. Which other states make fun of, except they don't have hills like we do-- we're actually better off shutting down during a snow than attempting to plow and sand roads, considering it only happens for a few days every 5 or so years.


  • Discourse touched me in a no-no place

    @frits said:

    More importantly, were you fully stocked on bread and milk?
    This always puzzles me - why, when they fear not being able to go to the shops for an extended length of time (anything longer than 24hrs seems to work for most sheeple,) do people stock up on perishables that take up far too much space? Wouldn't stocking up on stuff that, for example, just "add water to" make more sense (dried milk if you really want milk e.g.)? Or tinned stuff?



    Why are the bread isle and the milk fridge the first things to get emptied in such situations? Either:

    1. It'll go off before you reach the shops again (should the fears be confirmed) or
    2. It'll go off before you finish consuming it (should they not) or
    3. It takes up valuable space that could be used for other more nutritious stuff in your freezer, and you'll be eating 6 month old bread in a few months.


  • @blakeyrat said:

    @serguey123 said:

    @Zecc said:

    @serguey123 said:

    I'm glad I don't work there as I don't even own a regular cellphone
    Do you own an irregular or extraordinary cellphone?.

    Err, no, I don't own a cellphone at all, never liked them.  Besides computers I don't own anything tech related.

    Ah! A Slashdot reader.
    Why? I haven't actually been there, I'm subscribed to Linux Magazine but I also do a lot of stuff Microsoft related, even participate in their C# dev forums so I don't consider myself heavily biased toward anything.


  • @PJH said:

    @frits said:
    More importantly, were you fully stocked on bread and milk?
    This always puzzles me - why, when they fear not being able to go to the shops for an extended length of time (anything longer than 24hrs seems to work for most sheeple,) do people stock up on perishables that take up far too much space? Wouldn't stocking up on stuff that, for example, just "add water to" make more sense (dried milk if you really want milk e.g.)? Or tinned stuff?
    Nostalgic tradition, really.



  •  

    20-25% of our population has been replaced by fucking Californians who keep fucking moving up here and ruining everything.

     We have that same problem here in Phoenix.



  • @EJ_ said:

    It's not like the south where the first flake that falls, everybody slides off the road and there's no equipment to plow.
     

    Oh don't get me started on these idiots in the south, even the slightest winter-ish conditions and everyone loses it.  I understand that a few days/weeks a year isn't much time to gain experience dealing with the conditions but still.



  • @locallunatic said:

    @EJ_ said:

    It's not like the south where the first flake that falls, everybody slides off the road and there's no equipment to plow.
     

    Oh don't get me started on these idiots in the south, even the slightest winter-ish conditions and everyone loses it.  I understand that a few days/weeks a year isn't much time to gain experience dealing with the conditions but still.

     

    One of my coworkers was recently traveling down south-US-ish and encountered someone who had gotten their car stuck in 1/2 inch of snow, and couldn't get it out. 



  • @locallunatic said:

    @EJ_ said:

    It's not like the south where the first flake that falls, everybody slides off the road and there's no equipment to plow.
     

    Oh don't get me started on these idiots in the south, even the slightest winter-ish conditions and everyone loses it.  I understand that a few days/weeks a year isn't much time to gain experience dealing with the conditions but still.

    Even here in Canada, every first day of snow it looks like a lot of people never drive in it and go at such a slow pace that walking to work could be faster. And I live in a city that receive more then 125 in of snow every year.



  • @EJ_ said:

    @locallunatic said:

    @EJ_ said:

    It's not like the south where the first flake that falls, everybody slides off the road and there's no equipment to plow.
     

    Oh don't get me started on these idiots in the south, even the slightest winter-ish conditions and everyone loses it.  I understand that a few days/weeks a year isn't much time to gain experience dealing with the conditions but still.

     

    One of my coworkers was recently traveling down south-US-ish and encountered someone who had gotten their car stuck in 1/2 inch of snow, and couldn't get it out. 

     

    There are also the people that think any amount of snow means that all streets convert from being two lanes each way to one and don't leave space to go around them.



  • @serguey123 said:

    Why? I haven't actually been there, I'm subscribed to Linux Magazine but I also do a lot of stuff Microsoft related, even participate in their C# dev forums so I don't consider myself heavily biased toward anything.

    I don't necessarily hate Slashdot, I just find it hilarious that it's a tech forum full of people who hate (or at best never use) tech. They also have a Games section, full of people who haven't actually played any video games since the original Starcraft. It's the weirdest forum around because of these things.



  • @serguey123 said:

    @Zecc said:

    @serguey123 said:

    I'm glad I don't work there as I don't even own a regular cellphone
    Do you own an irregular or extraordinary cellphone?.

    Err, no, I don't own a cellphone at all, never liked them.  Besides computers I don't own anything tech related.

    I don't own a computer. 

    I do have a cell phone though.  I use it for making phone calls and knowing what time it is.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    @El_Heffe said:

    @EJ_ said:

    I don't understand how in New England, where we get multiple 10+ inch snowstorms a year (pretty much every year) that the first time it happens every year it's OMG WTF TEH WORLD IS ENDING!!1
    This seems to be universal.  I live in an area that's not quite as bad as New England, but we still get lots of snow every year.  And every year, when the first big snow hits, the people in charge of plowing the roads act like "OMG WTF WE DIDN'T KNOW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!!  WE DIDN"T BUY ENOUGH ROAD SALT!!"

    Here in Western Washington, it's because we only get decent snow every 5 years or so, and in the 5 year period between this snow and the last one, 20-25% of our population has been replaced by fucking Californians who keep fucking moving up here and ruining everything. (And seemingly 100% of the local news crews, who like to create huge banners reading "SNOWSTORM '10!" with cute animated backgrounds. As if snowing is an actual event.) Fucking Californians.

    Of course, when it *does* snow, we shut down. Which other states make fun of, except they don't have hills like we do-- we're actually better off shutting down during a snow than attempting to plow and sand roads, considering it only happens for a few days every 5 or so years.

     

    You've somehow managed to make it actually sound better than it is, Blakeyrat.  Even when we don't get any serious amount of snow, we usually get a little every winter, and every winter people around here go all stupid, like they've never seen it happen before.  Like last Wednesday, we got less than two inches, and everything got all paralyzed.  I couldn't get in to work because I ride the bus and the bus company declared "hazardous driving conditions" and wouldn't go anywhere near where I work.  My manager, who drives, couldn't get in either because of road conditions.  (Though he at least has a semi-decent excuse; he's from Georgia.)

    I swear, one snowflake hits the asphalt anywhere in the Puget Sound region, and 30% of drivers instantly lose 30 points of IQ



  • @HighlyPaidContractor said:

    @serguey123 said:

    @Zecc said:

    @serguey123 said:

    I'm glad I don't work there as I don't even own a regular cellphone
    Do you own an irregular or extraordinary cellphone?.

    Err, no, I don't own a cellphone at all, never liked them.  Besides computers I don't own anything tech related.

    I don't own a computer. 

    I do have a cell phone though.  I use it for making phone calls and knowing what time it is.

    I get that they are useful, but for me the cons outweigh the cons, if you want to reach me, email me or phone me (I have a landline) and to tell time you can either ask random person or use a wristwatch.<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" /><o:p></o:p>

    If I'm not in front of a computer with internet access or in a place without phones (outside for example), leave a message.  I actually like not being reachable all the time.  This is my very biased opinion and I guess that I'm a flawed, socially awkward person but hey.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    And seemingly 100% of the local news crews, who like to create huge banners reading "SNOWSTORM '10!" with cute animated backgrounds. As if snowing is an actual event.) Fucking Californians.
     

    "I even heard one guy on CNN talk about a "rain event". I swear to God, he said, "Louisiana is expecting a rain event." And I thought, "Holy shit, I hope I can get tickets to that!""  - George Carlin



  • @b-redeker said:

    You're posting this from a production server in the server room I guess? ;)

    No, the Email PC.


  • @Mason Wheeler said:

    You've somehow managed to make it actually sound better than it is, Blakeyrat.  Even when we don't get any serious amount of snow, we usually get a little every winter, and every winter people around here go all stupid, like they've never seen it happen before.  Like last Wednesday, we got less than two inches, and everything got all paralyzed.  I couldn't get in to work because I ride the bus and the bus company declared "hazardous driving conditions" and wouldn't go anywhere near where I work.  My manager, who drives, couldn't get in either because of road conditions.  (Though he at least has a semi-decent excuse; he's from Georgia.)

    I swear, one snowflake hits the asphalt anywhere in the Puget Sound region, and 30% of drivers instantly lose 30 points of IQ

    Well, maybe, but you're still not taking into-account the "fucking Californians keep flooding in here like a plague" factor that I think is really behind it all.

    The local news here totally spazzes-out over snow, true... but local news everywhere spazzes out about everything-- in fact, the less newsworthy it is, the more they seem to spazz-out.

    As for shutting down in snow, again, considering it doesn't happen all that often, I don't have a problem with this at all.



  • @amischiefr said:

    "I even heard one guy on CNN talk about a "rain event". I swear to God, he said, "Louisiana is expecting a rain event." And I thought, "Holy shit, I hope I can get tickets to that!""  - George Carlin

    Very good rant. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DagVklB4VHQ Including a classic at 2:12.



  •  



  • @PSWorx said:

    Image

    The best part of that picture is the header: Progress



  • @serguey123 said:

    I actually like not being reachable all the time.  This is my very biased opinion and I guess that I'm a flawed, socially awkward person but hey.

    I actually like having a cell, not because I like being reachable all the time, but because I like to be able to call my buddy if I happen to be at his end of town with some free time. (Rather than just popping in and finding out he's not home / interrupting something)

    Also, I can send updated pictures of my genitals from anywhere.



  • @El_Heffe said:

    @EJ_ said:

    I don't understand how in New England, where we get multiple 10+ inch snowstorms a year (pretty much every year) that the first time it happens every year it's OMG WTF TEH WORLD IS ENDING!!1
    This seems to be universal.  I live in an area that's not quite as bad as New England, but we still get lots of snow every year.  And every year, when the first big snow hits, the people in charge of plowing the roads act like "OMG WTF WE DIDN'T KNOW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!!  WE DIDN"T BUY ENOUGH ALREADY SPENT ALL THE MONEY THAT WAS FOR THE ROAD SALT!!"

     

    FTFY



  • @operagost said:

    @El_Heffe said:
    WE DIDN"T BUY ENOUGH ALREADY SPENT ALL THE MONEY THAT WAS FOR THE ROAD SALT!!"
    FTFY
    Oh, I see you must be from Pennsylvania, too. You city slickers should be lucky that PennDOT even recognizes the existence of your roads.



  • @HighlyPaidContractor said:

    @serguey123 said:

    I actually like not being reachable all the time.  This is my very biased opinion and I guess that I'm a flawed, socially awkward person but hey.

    I actually like having a cell, not because I like being reachable all the time, but because I like to be able to call my buddy if I happen to be at his end of town with some free time. (Rather than just popping in and finding out he's not home / interrupting something)

    Also, I can send updated pictures of my genitals from anywhere.

    That doesn't happen to me, when I visit somebody, I plan ahead and go at a pre-arranged date (I'm not impulsive).  Also I don't have/need a genital watch nor I pretend to enter some Xbox clan (I hear that is the going rate nowadays).



  • @operagost said:

    @El_Heffe said:

    @EJ_ said:

    I don't understand how in New England, where we get multiple 10+ inch snowstorms a year (pretty much every year) that the first time it happens every year it's OMG WTF TEH WORLD IS ENDING!!1
    This seems to be universal.  I live in an area that's not quite as bad as New England, but we still get lots of snow every year.  And every year, when the first big snow hits, the people in charge of plowing the roads act like "OMG WTF WE DIDN'T KNOW THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN!!  WE DIDN"T BUY ENOUGH ALREADY SPENT ALL THE MONEY THAT WAS FOR THE ROAD SALT!!"

     

    FTFY

    Where I live, we have no snow, but we have torrential rains in september-december. This means that july-august would probably be a good time to clean gutters, right? Instead, every year in september, they go: "erm, did we clean the gutters?"

    It's good to know this anti-pattern happens everywhere.



  • @Mason Wheeler said:

    Like last Wednesday, we got less than two inches, and everything got all paralyzed. I couldn't get in to work because I ride the bus and the bus company declared "hazardous driving conditions" and wouldn't go anywhere near where I work. 
     

    What the hell ass balls? The buses weren't running in two inches of snow?

    Maybe learning to drive buses in western Massachusetts has spoiled me, but that's just sad.



  • @serguey123 said:

    @HighlyPaidContractor said:

    @serguey123 said:

    I actually like not being reachable all the time.  This is my very biased opinion and I guess that I'm a flawed, socially awkward person but hey.

    I actually like having a cell, not because I like being reachable all the time, but because I like to be able to call my buddy if I happen to be at his end of town with some free time. (Rather than just popping in and finding out he's not home / interrupting something)

    Also, I can send updated pictures of my genitals from anywhere.

    That doesn't happen to me, when I visit somebody, I plan ahead and go at a pre-arranged date (I'm not impulsive).  Also I don't have/need a genital watch nor I pretend to enter some Xbox clan (I hear that is the going rate nowadays).

    My genitals have their own fan club.  You need to give the people what they want.

    ...ever have one of those moments when you're happy you're posting under an alias?



  • @HighlyPaidContractor said:

    My genitals have their own fan club.  You need to give the people what they want.

    ...ever have one of those moments when you're happy you're posting under an alias?

    So what kind of highly paid contracts do you do exactly.... are those of the 1-hour/"bring-your-own-hotel-room" variety?



  • @HighlyPaidContractor said:

    ...ever have one of those moments when you're happy you're posting under an alias?

    Not really, but I assume you are having one right now.  You should be careful as some of the alias here are not good enough protection

    @b-redeker said:

    So what kind of highly paid contracts do you do exactly.... are those of the 1-hour/"bring-your-own-hotel-room" variety?

    In this economy who can blame him/her/it?  Everybody needs extra cash and a side bussiness is not out of the question.  Also good hookers get better work condition than most IT people so...



  • @serguey123 said:

    @HighlyPaidContractor said:

    ...ever have one of those moments when you're happy you're posting under an alias?

    Not really, but I assume you are having one right now.  You should be careful as some of the alias here are not good enough protection

    I'm really more concerned about what comes up when you google my name (as I have discussed previously).  If you care enough to dig deeper, you're probably already a member of my member's fan club.

    @serguey123 said:

    @b-redeker said:

    So what kind of highly paid contracts do you do exactly.... are those of the 1-hour/"bring-your-own-hotel-room" variety?

    In this economy who can blame him/her/it?  Everybody needs extra cash and a side bussiness is not out of the question.  Also good hookers get better work condition than most IT people so...

    I write custom software for insurance companies mostly.  Other small projects on the side.  Also anal.



  • @blakeyrat said:

    I just find it hilarious that it's a tech forum full of people who hate (or at best never use) tech. They also have a Games section, full of people who haven't actually played any video games since the original Starcraft.
    From that perspective... why do you visit this forum?



  • @Zecc said:

    @blakeyrat said:

    I just find it hilarious that it's a tech forum full of people who hate (or at best never use) tech. They also have a Games section, full of people who haven't actually played any video games since the original Starcraft.
    From that perspective... why do you visit this forum?

    Fallout 3 is much newer than Starcraft.



  • I find that I suddenly kill rather quickly with the Xuanlong rifle, from standing. Dunno how that happened.

    I'm also working on the map. The in-game one is really quite messed up.


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