Special Treatment for Former Members of the Armed Services?

 General, Politics  No Responses »
Dec 212014
 

Yes.

But why? Apparently there is something special about serving in the armed forces – special enough for the mythical (it has no legal basis and so is in fact not a covenant at all) Military Covenant to be a popular phrase. And even a factor in determining government policy.

But why does someone who has served 20 years in the Army catering corp deserve more and/or better services than an NHS nurse who has “fought in the trenches” (including volunteering for work in the Ebola-stricken countries in West Africa)? And who is most likely to suffer from PTSD? A nurse up to his arms in blood and gore? Or an Army cook who is up to her arms in spuds?

And when you come down to it, anyone who suffers PTSD – even a banker who has smashed up his Ferrari – needs special treatment.

Perhaps those who have been in the armed services should be first in the queue for specialist treatments but those programmes should be open to all who need them.

And perhaps the “Military Covenant” should be extended into a “Public Services Covenant” to include those other public servants whose jobs put them in harm’s way – the police, fireman, ambulance drivers, nurses, etc.

Muting Smartphones

 Computing, General, iPhone  No Responses »
Dec 182014
 

Today I happened to come across a story about a priest who uses a signal blocker to stop phones from shrieking, bleeping, or blurting during church services. Very possibly illegal, although it’s quite understandable.

After all a church service is just like a theatrical performance and the distraction of phones is likely to put people off. We need more quiet at times – such as in the theatre, church, the quiet carriage in a train, or even a meeting room.

But a signal blocker is going too far – if there is an emergency, we need to be able to use our phones. And asking people does not work – there are always a few people who won’t bother to silence their phones. Not necessarily because they don’t care, but sometimes simply because they don’t think of it.

Rather than blocking phones, we need to tell phones to silent themselves automatically.

And it could be quite easy to do. In quiet zones, simply broadcast a well accepted SSID (“QUIETPLACE” perhaps?) and configure phones to automatically mute themselves when they see such an SSID. It would require support from phone manufacturers as most of us wouldn’t bother if we have to set something up – or even just install an App to do it, but it’s certainly possible.

Robin Knox Johnston: He’s Old. So What?

 General, Media  No Responses »
Dec 142014
 

Recently, Robin Knox Johnston took part in a sailing race, and the BBC spent some time interviewing him and highlighting his progress throughout the race.

Fair enough, but why was it necessary to keep banging on about how old he is? Yes he’s old enough – after all he completed his around the world voyage in the year I was born – but it’s probably the least interesting thing about him and what he was doing.

(Image obtained from http://www.robinknox-johnston.co.uk/)

In practically every interview with him the BBC did, his age came up … and many times it came up more than once. Anyone would think the BBC is under the impression that old people should be sitting in a rocking chair with a blanket on their knees drooling gently.

 

NATS Software Failure: Old Code or Buggy Code?

 Computing, General, Media  No Responses »
Dec 142014
 

Anyone watching mainstream media for news about the software failure at NATS can be forgiven for thinking that old software is responsible for the problem that occurred recently causing many flight delays. The mainstream media seems to have clung onto the idea that the code is old and decided to blame that for the problems. You do have to wonder where they got these ideas from given that most journalists have the technology qualifications of a gnat. Perhaps from industry insiders who have a vested interest in selling new products perhaps?

Anyone who has written code can tell you that it is not old code that is responsible for software failures, but buggy code. Old code can be buggy, but so can new code. In fact as there has been less time to spend debugging it, new code is likely to have many more problems than old code.

That sounds like a recipe for leaving old code well alone. But it isn’t really. Old code needs to be updated and refreshed on a continual basis but not replaced in a “big bang” approach just because it is old.

Small changes and not big changes. Small changes are easier to do, quicker to do, and it’s feasible during testing to say that the small change is rubbish and to throw it away.

The more important a system is, the more important it is to evolve it towards the future rather than simply replace it with something newer and shinier.

And letting mainstream journalists dictate your IT strategy is always a mistake.

It’s Just Weather, Not The End Of The World

 General  No Responses »
Nov 052014
 

Moaning about the weather? You’re just making the world a little bit less happy and surprisingly often making yourself look ridiculous.

It’s fine to whinge a little bit when there are solid lumps coming out of the sky and the lumps are being driven horizontal in the wind, but complaining about normal weather is just a bit ridiculous.

Today for example, everyone is screaming about how cold it is. It’s actually a pretty normal temperature for the time of year, and as a bonus it was pretty sunny today. Every cloud has a silver lining.

As for the people who kept complaining that last week was cold … please! The warmest Halloween on record and you were complaining about the cold!

Now the following looks cold :-

(Stolen from Wikipedia).

There’s no bad weather; just the wrong clothes.

 

 

 Older Entries  Newer Entries