I saw the knob on mine yesterday from a distance and thought "WTF that?" Investigated... "Oh yes, that".With that, and the early morning greeting, (https://yacf.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=111100.0) have you considered deploying corrective lenses? :P
I only bought the thing a month ago. :facepalm"
I bought a couple of 'ripe and ready' avocados for lunch yesterday but they felt a bit firm so I didn't dare cut into either.
Took the chance on one for today's lunch, and it was absolutely perfect - neither too firm nor too soft.
Fingers crossed the second won't be past edible by tomorrow...
Yeah...I'm at that age too.What I really can’t fathom is why I ever bought a bottom bracket I obviously didn’t need.
Yeah...I'm at that age too.What I really can’t fathom is why I ever bought a bottom bracket I obviously didn’t need.
Well, it was doing fine until I removed the crank for routine maintenance and the bearings came out with it.Yeah...I'm at that age too.What I really can’t fathom is why I ever bought a bottom bracket I obviously didn’t need.
How's the one on your cross bike doing? (just a hunch)
I broke my pipe cutter a few years ago, but I had to search the Cupboard Of Doom for some strimmer line last week, which turned into a full-scale tidying up and cull of dead bicycle tyres and assorted car stuff (haven't owned a car since 2007) I expect will become really handy some time next month.
Halfway through this operation, the strimmer line was found!
Doesn't preflight pick that one up?
RGB to CMYK always stuffs up pure black and white.
I believe everyone in the publishing world has made the same mistake previously, mostly because you expect computers to figure that shit out and really they're just reporting back to their AI overlords and then having a big laugh at our expense. Stupid humans.
If I recall there's an option in the standard InDesign preflight to set a custom max ink coverage
It doesn't help that the person who does a lot of our presentations sounds like she's just run 10 city blocks, necked an industrial canister of Red Bull, and taken a lungful of helium before she starts. Her first two dozen words come out simultaneously and the rest then flutter around like startled birds.Wonderful image! :D
Your marketing department sounds scarily similar to ours.
- No appreciation that design is a skilled job.
- No appreciation that our designer is employed to produce our content, and excuse me but there are implications if you're giving her extra jobs to do, especially when she barely has time to do the stuff she is actually paid for out of our budget. But if she says no, she's deemed to be being 'difficult'. >:(
Ask them to set standards and they were a complete Dido (as in Dido Harding). Digression; we should flood the net with content using that term; "He made a complete and utter Dido of it." "Less useful than a Dido." etc
Well, like any job, the people doing it aren't equal. I'd suggest that if they can't follow their own guidelines, they're just crap.
We used to have a great team then they got replaced with a shit team. Well, they were mostly new graduates from one of those courses that keep minor higher education institutions in business. No experience or eye for design, and like all people that age they wanted to be working on exciting publications and the web and not dull business documents. Of course, everyone thinking they were shit made the business decision to outsource design all the easier*, no one was going to fight to keep them.
There's also the tyranny of web designers who aren't designers, they just know about web pages, CMS, document models, and CSS etc. Which are useful skills, but aren't design. Five minutes on the internet should remind anyone of this.
*this is how it works, isn't it? Downsize or remove the team of good, experienced people, replace them with someone cheaper who does a crap job, and declare a fait accompli.
Setting a 'company standard font' that isn't available on Windows PCs.
every kind of Calibri
Setting a 'company standard font' that isn't available on Windows PCs.
Eh? Do you mean not included in the default windows set? This is easily overcome by purchasing a licence to use the fonts in question.
They specified a specific version of Helvetica; at that time only available via licensing and special drivers.
Helvetica is not very different to Arial (yes I am aware of differences).
So this designer decided it would be a sensible use of corporate funds to force purchasing fonts for every single computer and printer in the company (thousands of computers) rather than choose a font that was available for free.
In ancient times, Helvetica would have been a Adobe Type 1 font, which required wrangling to work on Windows (was it Adobe Type Kit, or somesuch, there's nothing Adobe couldn't make more complicated).
Properly thought out style guides will have a standard, readily available font, given that you can't guarantee to have a font available elsewhere, so that great Powerpoint presentation looks even worse (you can embed a font, if the licence allows, and if you remember the technical incantations to make it happen, it's never the bloody default).
Type 1 (and 3) were Postscript fonts, so could be sent directly to Postscript RIPs (and Macs could process them for screen display natively – as vector outlines, they have to be rasterized and anti-aliased, Windows initially couldn't without appropriate software). But they were proprietary tech for Adobe, so you (and Apple/Microsoft) had to pay them for the tools. Apple created the initial TTF spec to get around this, and that gain cross-platform support, but licensing deals meant that for a long time, some key fonts were only available as type 1/3.
There you go, publishing nerddom.
Certain University Press still has a nice collection of ye olde printing machinery.
Sadly, my first job in publishing involved Framemaker+SGML, QuarkXpress, and 3B2. Years of therapy mean I can now write the names of all three products in the same sentence without having an episode.
I had a summer job the year I completed my O levels, so '77, sweeping up at a print shop. There was a hot metal clever thing, with a pot of molten lead, that produced lines of type and noise. A dark room with huge negatives, touched up with what looked like red paint. A machine powered by witchcraft that did litho printing. A bunch of Scary Women doing folding and finishing and Lewd Remarks.
the customer was Clays of Bungay
Certain University Press still has a nice collection of ye olde printing machinery.
Sadly, my first job in publishing involved Framemaker+SGML, QuarkXpress, and 3B2. Years of therapy mean I can now write the names of all three products in the same sentence without having an episode.
I remember how expensive 3B2's were when they first came out, children they only had 100mb disk drives. 100mb - you wouldn't put a phone in your pocket with such a small amount of storage.
I had a summer job the year I completed my O levels, so '77, sweeping up at a print shop. There was a hot metal clever thing, with a pot of molten lead, that produced lines of type and noise. A dark room with huge negatives, touched up with what looked like red paint. A machine powered by witchcraft that did litho printing. A bunch of Scary Women doing folding and finishing and Lewd Remarks.
The metal pot and lines of type thing would have either been a Linotype or Intertype machine - where I worked we had 4 of them and the operators used to warm meat pies for their lunch on the edge of the molten lead pot!
Your description sums it all up for me - working in the printing industry from 1963 until about 1982 - even in that time there were massive changes in technologies - and working practices, but that's whole different scenario.
I find it of general interest that automatic gearboxes for cars contained, and to some extent modern ones still do contain, what is in effect a double sided printed circuit board for hydraulic valves and the pipes that join them.I had a summer job the year I completed my O levels, so '77, sweeping up at a print shop. There was a hot metal clever thing, with a pot of molten lead, that produced lines of type and noise. A dark room with huge negatives, touched up with what looked like red paint. A machine powered by witchcraft that did litho printing. A bunch of Scary Women doing folding and finishing and Lewd Remarks.
The metal pot and lines of type thing would have either been a Linotype or Intertype machine - where I worked we had 4 of them and the operators used to warm meat pies for their lunch on the edge of the molten lead pot!
Your description sums it all up for me - working in the printing industry from 1963 until about 1982 - even in that time there were massive changes in technologies - and working practices, but that's whole different scenario.
Having recently watched - with a general sense of awe - a video about how those things actually worked (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzilaRwoMus), I reckon they were perhaps the pinnacle of fiendish and complex mechanical engineering to bodge around the fact that nobody had invented proper computers yet.
The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there...
Clearly Clay's has a long tradition of hospitality - sadly I moved jobs before I got invited along for one of the works tours, though my book production colleagues went every so often (they probably placed £hundreds of thousands in print orders a year, so fair enough...)
Apparently they were there when Clay's were printing the final Harry Potter book - the security precautions were apparently incredibly severe, though there were then tabloid journos offering to buy my colleagues drinks, having somehow figured out they'd been on site that day, so perhaps they were the right side of paranoid...
Work mostly do things in google drive or markdown, so not as an everyday thing.
Now I'm wondering if I'm the only one round these parts still using LaTeX for writing stuff. Much nicer quality output than anything made with Word et al.
Anyone else a fan of LaTeX ?
J
Two minor wins today -
First, had to call up about changing payment details on my car insurance and ended up with a revised cheaper quote. Not a lot cheaper, but still counts as a victory.
Second, I had a notification the other day about my Dart charge account being closed due to inactivity (not had much call to cross the river this year for some reason). Called them up and got a refund of the £18 they're holding in my account. Only problem is I now have to remember that my account is closed next time I do make the crossing so I don't end up with a hefty fine.
Clays of BungayBungay is one of those real names that sounds fictitious, like Sheepy Parva.
Anyone else a fan of LaTeX ?No, we're into erudite smut not inner tube fetish!
Two minor wins today -
First, had to call up about changing payment details on my car insurance and ended up with a revised cheaper quote. Not a lot cheaper, but still counts as a victory.
Second, I had a notification the other day about my Dart charge account being closed due to inactivity (not had much call to cross the river this year for some reason). Called them up and got a refund of the £18 they're holding in my account. Only problem is I now have to remember that my account is closed next time I do make the crossing so I don't end up with a hefty fine.
I'll have to keep an eye out for that. I haven't been over the water in almost a year...
Clays of BungayBungay is one of those real names that sounds fictitious, like Sheepy Parva.
Hey presto, £52 knocked off just like that - what you might call the "because you can be bothered to phone us" discount.
(and doubly weird that they're incentivising calling them up, because most companies' dream is that their customers never ever phone them)
Hey presto, £52 knocked off just like that - what you might call the "because you can be bothered to phone us" discount.
These kind of things must be systematically discriminatory against people who hate making phonecalls. I wonder if that's a protected characteristic?
(and doubly weird that they're incentivising calling them up, because most companies' dream is that their customers never ever phone them)
I hate making phone calls, but I hate being fleeced more. I guess their business model is very much predicated on the majority of customers accepting the renewal without querying it.
Also there was a note on the covering letter saying "we're very busy because of covid so please don't call us unless it's really, really, really important". Luckily, I only had to hold a couple of minutes before getting through to a human being.
The other thing they bank on is you not bothering to look for better quotes, but I did that too, so was forearmed with some cold, hard numbers. In the end, I decided to renew rather than move because no other offer was so much better as to be worth the hassle of moving - I don't mind paying a couple of quid extra for that convenience.
It might be a small victory, or it might indeed be the apogee, the zenith of my career.
I have successfully introduced the phrase "Cloud Readiness Assessment Program" into common usage at work.
It might be a small victory, or it might indeed be the apogee, the zenith of my career.;D
I have successfully introduced the phrase "Cloud Readiness Assessment Program" into common usage at work.
You need a Performance Improvement Support Strategy backed up by Super High Intensity Training.
It might be a small victory, or it might indeed be the apogee, the zenith of my career.
I have successfully introduced the phrase "Cloud Readiness Assessment Program" into common usage at work.
That was my experience this year, other quotes were very similarly priced as my renewal notice with all rising some 20% or so. Strange given lockdown and most people being home all day.
That was my experience this year, other quotes were very similarly priced as my renewal notice with all rising some 20% or so. Strange given lockdown and most people being home all day.
I saw a report recently that some police forces (Northamptonshire is one of them) are claiming the credit for reduced burglaries over the past two years. Not even a mention that this might have been helped by all those people now working from home.
I wonder how they will spin the inevitable increases once the sheeple herd back into town and city centres en masse.?
Landmines.
Or a specially-trained wol.
Landmines.
Or a specially-trained wol.
Professor Larrington tells of $SEASIDE_TOWN which employed a Big Ferce Raptor to deal with ASBO-ignoring seagulls. Unfortunately said birb went native and started joining in with the “Mugging Tourists For Chips” racket :facepalm:
Landmines.
Or a specially-trained wol.
Professor Larrington tells of $SEASIDE_TOWN which employed a Big Ferce Raptor to deal with ASBO-ignoring seagulls. Unfortunately said birb went native and started joining in with the “Mugging Tourists For Chips” racket :facepalm:
Seems a reasonable choice to me - presumably neither tourists nor their chips offer as much resistance as your average seagull.
Landmines.
Or a specially-trained wol.
Professor Larrington tells of $SEASIDE_TOWN which employed a Big Ferce Raptor to deal with ASBO-ignoring seagulls. Unfortunately said birb went native and started joining in with the “Mugging Tourists For Chips” racket :facepalm:
Seems a reasonable choice to me - presumably neither tourists nor their chips offer as much resistance as your average seagull.
The ledges of our offices are kept low pigeon by a contractor who comes around with a trained Harris Hawk.
Although I read in my latest RSPB magazine that feral pigeon numbers are reducing
20k, blimey! Makes my 2k look very amateurish!
20k, blimey! Makes my 2k look very amateurish!
I still have nearly 7k unread, but that’s because I got bored eventually - gmail only lets you mark a maximum of 100 at a time.
I still have nearly 7k unread, but that’s because I got bored eventually - gmail only lets you mark a maximum of 100 at a time.
Not so. Use search, then check the box on the top left of the message listing, you will be asked if you want to select all that match the search. Then, delete applies to all (and gives you another warning)
I'm terribly old-fashioned: When I subscribe to a mailing list, I create a folder and filter rules for it, so the messages can be safely ignored in future without interfering with my inbox. None of this use-the-search google rubbish.
I'm terribly old-fashioned: When I subscribe to a mailing list, I create a folder and filter rules for it, so the messages can be safely ignored in future without interfering with my inbox. None of this use-the-search google rubbish.
I expect you use a desktop mail client too, right? I just use the Gmail web client, which doesn't have folders. You can filter stuff into categories with tags, but it doesn't actually move it from the inbox.
It works fine for me on the whole because I treat emails as ephemeral, not something to be archived.
I'm terribly old-fashioned: When I subscribe to a mailing list, I create a folder and filter rules for it, so the messages can be safely ignored in future without interfering with my inbox. None of this use-the-search google rubbish.
I expect you use a desktop mail client too, right? I just use the Gmail web client, which doesn't have folders. You can filter stuff into categories with tags, but it doesn't actually move it from the inbox.
The folders and filtering are server-side,
We use Google Mail on the mothership and it mostly sucks (you’d this might have a good search option, right?). That said it probably sucks just as much as any other email system. Oh to the good old days.
| Us: | This $SOFTWARE_PRODUCT which you have forced upon us is complete and utter shite*! |
| The Mgt: | It's saving us MONEY! |
| Us: | It's still shite! |