The RANT thread (often contains fruity language)

[Jaded]

Contact planning at District and ask them for advice...

[citoyen]

Contact planning at District and ask them for advice...

Contact planning, he says... like it's that easy. They don't like to be contacted!

Have submitted a report online though. If I don't hear back from them soon, I'll make a bit more effort to contact them directly. Might need a bit of persistence.

[Regulator]

Contact planning at District and ask them for advice...

Contact planning, he says... like it's that easy. They don't like to be contacted!

Have submitted a report online though. If I don't hear back from them soon, I'll make a bit more effort to contact them directly. Might need a bit of persistence.

I have to say our local district council planners are easy to contact.  You can phone or email them... or use an online form.

They're a busy team.  I can appreciate that sometime you might need to leave a message as they'll be doing other things.  That's the nature of public sector work.

[citoyen]

That's the nature of public sector work.

What, thankless? Yeah, I sympathise.

[citoyen]

Follow-up: turns out the person having the work done is the new owner of the property. I knew it was on the market but didn't realise it had already been sold. He came round today to introduce himself. Turns out the new access point is so he can carry out maintenance work, including planting some new apple trees in the orchard to replace the old dead ones - not because he's building a new house in his grounds. So after all that it may not be of interest to Planning anyway.

The previous owners were miserable gits so I wouldn't have minded falling out with them.

[SoreTween]

How can you tell if the simple to follow instructions written by a software engineer are wrong?
If the ink electrons are dry...

How can you tell if the software project you are trying to follow/build/use is going to fail due to dependency breakage, change of terms, change of fashion, change of wind direction in the towering inferno of toolkits upon toolkits or other form of bit rot?
Stupid question, of course it's going to fail.

How can you know that the software project beginners walk through you are following on youtube will look different and produce different results at every step to what you see on your screen?
Is there a y in the day?
(I know the reason for this one: software engineers never, ever, ever, ever think to reset their environment to fresh install status when they start recording.  All the extra options & buttons they use without a thought come from years of building their environment)

Today's significant examples:
- 'VSCodium is exactly the same as VSCode but without the Microsoft telemetry built in.'  No it isn't, they use different extension suppostitories.
- 'All you need is VSCode and PlatformIO IDE from these links ....'.  You missed out git, you utter git.
- 'Download and run NodeMCU_pyflasher, there's versions for Winblows, Mac & Linux.'  Oh no there isn't!  Oh yes ther- oh bollox.
[ETA]
- 'Don't worry if you don't have git installed, you can simply download the complete source tree from github, open it up & build.'  Except that the libraries you've used won't build unless you have git installed so that their dependencies can be automatically pulled.  Git.
[/ETA]

Fuckers.  First against the wall come the revolution.  (After the lawyers & politicians obviously)

[Beardy]

If a piece of software requires instructions I’d argue that the UI designer hasn’t done a very good job.

[mrcharly-YHT]

How can you tell if the simple to follow instructions written by a software engineer are wrong?
If the ink electrons are dry...

How can you tell if the software project you are trying to follow/build/use is going to fail due to dependency breakage, change of terms, change of fashion, change of wind direction in the towering inferno of toolkits upon toolkits or other form of bit rot?
Stupid question, of course it's going to fail.

How can you know that the software project beginners walk through you are following on youtube will look different and produce different results at every step to what you see on your screen?
Is there a y in the day?
(I know the reason for this one: software engineers never, ever, ever, ever think to reset their environment to fresh install status when they start recording.  All the extra options & buttons they use without a thought come from years of building their environment)

Today's significant examples:
- 'VSCodium is exactly the same as VSCode but without the Microsoft telemetry built in.'  No it isn't, they use different extension suppostitories.
- 'All you need is VSCode and PlatformIO IDE from these links ....'.  You missed out git, you utter git.
- 'Download and run NodeMCU_pyflasher, there's versions for Winblows, Mac & Linux.'  Oh no there isn't!  Oh yes ther- oh bollox.
[ETA]
- 'Don't worry if you don't have git installed, you can simply download the complete source tree from github, open it up & build.'  Except that the libraries you've used won't build unless you have git installed so that their dependencies can be automatically pulled.  Git.
[/ETA]

Fuckers.  First against the wall come the revolution.  (After the lawyers & politicians obviously)

I used to produce tutorials for development board bring-up and debug, with worked examples.

My boss railed and complained about how much time it took to update and maintain these. The time explained by the need to reset environments (linux and windows), walk through tutorial, then repeat with 'dirty' environment . . .

He wanted to 'just do it', assuming that the debug software and hardware would be the same from version to version.

[T42]

I used to produce tutorials for development board bring-up and debug, with worked examples.

My boss railed and complained about how much time it took to update and maintain these. The time explained by the need to reset environments (linux and windows), walk through tutorial, then repeat with 'dirty' environment . . .

He wanted to 'just do it', assuming that the debug software and hardware would be the same from version to version.

I was in charge of a project to write a text-processing package on the scale of Word in the 1980s.  Marketing were perpetually on my back for a "pre-alpha-test version just so that they could play with it in the office", then as indignant as hell when the bugs crawled out "at the dealer's site". Underhand dining-on-lobster bastards.

[ian]

I used to produce tutorials for development board bring-up and debug, with worked examples.

My boss railed and complained about how much time it took to update and maintain these. The time explained by the need to reset environments (linux and windows), walk through tutorial, then repeat with 'dirty' environment . . .

He wanted to 'just do it', assuming that the debug software and hardware would be the same from version to version.

I was in charge of a project to write a text-processing package on the scale of Word in the 1980s.  Marketing were perpetually on my back for a "pre-alpha-test version just so that they could play with it in the office", then as indignant as hell when the bugs crawled out "at the dealer's site". Underhand dining-on-lobster bastards.

I just looked in the mirror and that was me. I miss those days.

[citoyen]

Follow-up: turns out the person having the work done is the new owner of the property. I knew it was on the market but didn't realise it had already been sold. He came round today to introduce himself. Turns out the new access point is so he can carry out maintenance work, including planting some new apple trees in the orchard to replace the old dead ones - not because he's building a new house in his grounds. So after all that it may not be of interest to Planning anyway.

Further follow-up: I assumed all the work on the road was related to the neighbour's property, but in fact it turns out the council are installing a footway, which will run from our neighbour's property (where the current footway ends) past our house and right up to the dangerous corner. About bloody time! Must have missed the notification that this was happening, but it's cause for much celebration.

[Jaded]

You can set up an alert on the District Council's Planning Portal so you are emailed when there are planning applications near you.

[citoyen]

You can set up an alert on the District Council's Planning Portal so you are emailed when there are planning applications near you.

I think my wife has already done that - she always seems to know about local planning applications before me.

I presume the footway is being installed as part of the wider road safety improvement works that were started last Autumn, but I was under the impression those works were completed and I don't recall the footway being mentioned as part of the plans. But I'm certainly not complaining that they're doing it - apparently, the road we live on (A290) is one of the top 50 accident blackspots in Britain, and we've been desperate for a footway for years.
https://www.kent.gov.uk/about-the-council/strategies-and-policies/transport-and-highways-policies/transport-and-highways-funding/safer-roads-fund#tab-2

Of course, there's an ontological question about whether it's actually the road that's not safe or the people driving on it. I wonder if we're going to get speed cameras at long last too...

[rogerzilla]

Who decided Windows 10 would no longer say "please"?  You're my computer, you rude bastard.

[TheLurker]

Who decided Windows 10 would no longer say "please"?  You're my computer, you rude bastard.

And this is one reason why as of Dec. last year I use now a *nix machine.  It's not noticeably better nor is it noticeably worse, but it is *mine*.

[Kim]

Who decided Windows 10 would no longer say "please"?  You're my computer, you rude bastard.

And this is one reason why as of Dec. last year I use now a *nix machine.  It's not noticeably better nor is it noticeably worse, but it is *mine*.

Not that *nix says please either.  The closest equivalent would be 'sudo'.

[Tim Hall]

Ob. xkcd:

[Beardy]

I always thought of sudo as pulling rank rather than being polite

[citoyen]

tl;dr: Hermes

You want to know more? OK, I've got an order with Wiggle. Had a message from Hermes this morning to say my parcel was out for delivery, due to arrive between 11am and 1pm. This is great, because I'm going out at 1pm and the contents of the package will be useful for my outing.

Come 1pm, it's still not here, so I hang on a bit longer. Still no sign of it by 20 past, so I give up and go out anyway. Never mind, I can manage another day without.

Get home and find another message to say the delivery was unsuccessful because "your courier has had an issue with getting to the delivery address". Really? Srsly? OK, I kind of get why you might have problems getting to our house right now... but only if you're a complete and utter Hermes courier. Thing is, we've got roadworks going on outside, and for 100m or so either side of our house, the road is reduced to a single carriageway with traffic lights in operation. But, crucially, our driveway is still very much accessible - and in fact we had visits from two other couriers today, so it's clearly not that hard to work out.

The message stated that they would attempt delivery up to three times before returning the package, but since the roadworks are due to go on for several more days, that's not going to end well, is it? So then I had to go through the rigmarole of trying to contact Hermes to make other arrangements... and frankly, I have now lost the will to live.

Absolute shower of useless motherfuckers.

[citoyen]

FFS. Hermes! What's the fucking point of having a nice app that sends me messages to let me know when I can expect delivery of my parcel if you're not actually going to bother? Once would be bad enough, but that's now FOUR delivery slots that have come and gone without any sign of your courier.

I don't care if your courier is 'friendly', I'm not looking for a lasting relationship with them. I just want them to actually turn up. I'd be fine with them being surly and miserable if they'd only deliver my fucking parcel.

Also, Wiggle, if you continue to use these cretins, I simply won't buy from you any more.

[MattH]

It would be nice if companies gave you an option (if at a nominal cost) to choose your preferred courier, or say "definitely not that one".
Local knowledge of how well a particular courier delivers to you doesn't replicate at national scale; you may hate Hermes and find DPD to be perfect, in another town it may be the exact opposite. So if a site was to offer "our standard delivery is Courier A, but you can have Courier B at no additional charge or Courier C at an additional charge of X" it would help the company with pushing people towards the company's preferred one (for volume/cost reasons), but allow those who have poor service from a particular courier to avoid them.

Sort of like some companies will let you choose Royal Mail / Royal Mail SD / Next Day Courier.

[Jaded]

SSE

It would be difficult to be more incompetent if you had a Senior Team working for Incompetence.

[Wombat]

SSE

It would be difficult to be more incompetent if you had a Senior Team working for Incompetence.

They have!  at least that is my experience in the last 4 years.  Before that, they were OK, and I also had a good professional relationship with them (AKA I managed to blag several million in ECO funding from them).

Absolutely staggeringly incompetent.  They've been hassling my 94 year old blind mother (they know she's ancient and blind) to give her meter readings to them, and sending increasingly stroppy letters to her.  Her meter boxes are outside, where they can read them without risk of catching Covid from her, and always have been.

They've also sent me stroppy letters demanding I send them meter readings, because my smart meter is allegedly not sending readings.  Yes it is, just bloody read them, will you?  Anyway if it really was busted, just come and fix it, its yours, and its also in an external meter box (although you do have to come indoors to isolate the solar PV as you insist you won't let me do it for you).

[citoyen]

It would be nice if companies gave you an option (if at a nominal cost) to choose your preferred courier, or say "definitely not that one".
Local knowledge of how well a particular courier delivers to you doesn't replicate at national scale; you may hate Hermes and find DPD to be perfect, in another town it may be the exact opposite.

Very good point. Although Hermes do seem to be universally shit.

[Jaded]

SSE

It would be difficult to be more incompetent if you had a Senior Team working for Incompetence.

They have!  at least that is my experience in the last 4 years.  Before that, they were OK, and I also had a good professional relationship with them (AKA I managed to blag several million in ECO funding from them).

Absolutely staggeringly incompetent.  They've been hassling my 94 year old blind mother (they know she's ancient and blind) to give her meter readings to them, and sending increasingly stroppy letters to her.  Her meter boxes are outside, where they can read them without risk of catching Covid from her, and always have been.

They've also sent me stroppy letters demanding I send them meter readings, because my smart meter is allegedly not sending readings.  Yes it is, just bloody read them, will you?  Anyway if it really was busted, just come and fix it, its yours, and its also in an external meter box (although you do have to come indoors to isolate the solar PV as you insist you won't let me do it for you).

So, after an hour on the phone with someone, (and half an hour before that not no-one) I think I've made some progress...