Author Topic: what I have learned today.  (Read 847233 times)

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3075 on: 08 January, 2019, 07:31:28 pm »

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3076 on: 08 January, 2019, 07:36:04 pm »

Pingu

  • Put away those fiery biscuits!
  • Mrs Pingu's domestique
    • the Igloo
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3077 on: 08 January, 2019, 08:04:41 pm »

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3078 on: 10 January, 2019, 10:29:30 am »
That besides the Flat Earth Society, there is also a Flat Earth International Conference. Splitters!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3079 on: 10 January, 2019, 10:50:55 am »
Courtesy of some browsing prompted by reading Karla's blog (recommended reading, BTW), that Google streetview put cameras on boats over in that there Japan

London too: https://goo.gl/maps/hwm3EwJ9QdH2
"Yes please" said Squirrel "biscuits are our favourite things."

yorkie

  • On top of the Galibier
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3080 on: 10 January, 2019, 03:10:06 pm »
Courtesy of some browsing prompted by reading Karla's blog (recommended reading, BTW), that Google streetview put cameras on boats over in that there Japan

London too: https://goo.gl/maps/hwm3EwJ9QdH2

Some (mainly) Swiss mountain railways have sent a Street View camera up the line on a flat wagon at the front of a train.
Born to ride my bike, forced to work! ;)

British Cycling Regional A Track Commissaire
British Cycling Regional A Circuit Commissaire
Cycling Attendant, York Sport Village Cycle Circuit and Velodrome

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3081 on: 10 January, 2019, 04:08:08 pm »
A new unit for me - atomic bomb per second  :thumbsup:

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/jan/07/global-warming-of-oceans-equivalent-to-an-atomic-bomb-per-second

What's that in 1-bar electric fires?
Is that a 240V electric fire or a 110V electric fire?

We need a standard, godammit!
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3082 on: 10 January, 2019, 05:15:56 pm »
I assume at 110V they're more of a PVC and carpet fire...

Salvatore

  • Джон Спунър
    • Pics
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3083 on: 10 January, 2019, 06:43:10 pm »
That my father's half-cousin's sponge bag is in the Imperial War Museum

https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/30080632
Quote
et avec John, excellent lecteur de road-book, on s'en est sortis sans erreur

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3084 on: 11 January, 2019, 03:59:07 pm »
That Terry Hall of The Specials had an affair with Jane Wiedlin.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Andrij

  • Андрій
  • Ερασιτεχνικός μισάνθρωπος
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3085 on: 13 January, 2019, 12:14:30 pm »
A barn is a unit of measurement.
;D  Andrij.  I pronounce you Complete and Utter GIT   :thumbsup:

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3086 on: 13 January, 2019, 02:02:29 pm »
How many kilometres do you ride per barn-megaparsec of sugar?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3087 on: 14 January, 2019, 12:39:31 pm »
That mosquitoes are considered GBH in Ireland.
Quote
“Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 sets out the offence of assault and refers to the application of force. Noise is expressly included as being one of the types of force to which section 2 of the Act applies.”

Concerns
The Minister said Garda management has instructed members about the illegality of the devices and directed that any complaints should be “fully investigated with a view to seeking the directions of the Director of Public Prosecutions”.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/anti-teenager-alarms-a-form-of-assault-says-minister-1.3484649
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3088 on: 14 January, 2019, 12:45:02 pm »
That mosquitoes are considered GBH in Ireland.
Quote
“Section 2 of the Non-Fatal Offences Against the Person Act 1997 sets out the offence of assault and refers to the application of force. Noise is expressly included as being one of the types of force to which section 2 of the Act applies.”

Concerns
The Minister said Garda management has instructed members about the illegality of the devices and directed that any complaints should be “fully investigated with a view to seeking the directions of the Director of Public Prosecutions”.
https://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/anti-teenager-alarms-a-form-of-assault-says-minister-1.3484649


Interesting...

Quote
2.—(1) A person shall be guilty of the offence of assault who, without lawful excuse, intentionally or recklessly—

(a) directly or indirectly applies force to or causes an impact on the body of another, or

(b) causes another to believe on reasonable grounds that he or she is likely immediately to be subjected to any such force or impact,

without the consent of the other.

(2) In subsection (1) (a), “force” includes—

(a) application of heat, light, electric current, noise or any other form of energy, and

(b) application of matter in solid liquid or gaseous form.

(3) No such offence is committed if the force or impact, not being intended or likely to cause injury, is in the circumstances such as is generally acceptable in the ordinary conduct of daily life and the defendant does not know or believe that it is in fact unacceptable to the other person.

(4) A person guilty of an offence under this section shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding £1,500 or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 6 months or to both.

So it covers Mosquitos, but not, eg. CRT displays with noisy flyback transformers or shitty LED lighting that strobes at 100Hz, because they're not intended to cause injury and the defendant is likely oblivious to their impact.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3089 on: 14 January, 2019, 01:14:15 pm »
So it covers Mosquitos, but not, eg. CRT displays with noisy flyback transformers or shitty LED lighting that strobes at 100Hz, because they're not intended to cause injury and the defendant is likely oblivious to their impact.
That sounds pretty reasonable as a definition of assault, as opposed to eg health and safety legislation.

More on mosquito devices (in UK) here.
Quote
Baroness Chakrabarti, who directed Liberty for many years, said: “What type of society uses a low-level sonic weapon on its children?”
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3090 on: 14 January, 2019, 02:01:30 pm »
So it covers Mosquitos, but not, eg. CRT displays with noisy flyback transformers or shitty LED lighting that strobes at 100Hz, because they're not intended to cause injury and the defendant is likely oblivious to their impact.
That sounds pretty reasonable as a definition of assault, as opposed to eg health and safety legislation.

Agreed.

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3091 on: 14 January, 2019, 03:19:04 pm »
I do wonder if the Irish legislation grew out of the use of "white noise" torture of IRA suspects.

And then there's this...

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2019/01/11/robbie-williams-blasted-black-sabbath-music-torment-jimmy-page/
We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3092 on: 14 January, 2019, 04:29:56 pm »
Well if Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and Deep Purple are the "arch-rivals" of Led Zeppelin, then presumably any form of music at all should annoy Robbie Williams.  :demon:
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3093 on: 14 January, 2019, 05:55:59 pm »
hmmm, Floyd vs Zep, i'm not sure they're going for the same audience.
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3094 on: 14 January, 2019, 07:20:35 pm »
That our living room and bathroom lightbulbs (and the unused spare of the same type) start to ripple when the mains voltage drops below about 224V.

Barakta's ability to see what I can only detect with test equipment is uncanny.

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3095 on: 16 January, 2019, 04:25:19 pm »
Two things I have learnt today:

1. The effect on productivity of days taken off work sick is measured using the Bradford Factor, which applies the principle that taking one day off many times is more detrimental than a single extended absence. I currently have a Bradford Factor of 0.0.

2. How to use Excel's SUMIF formula. Very satisfying. I knew about COUNTIF already but rather than the number of non-blank cells in one column, I wanted to use that information to add up the related values in a different column.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

ian

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3096 on: 16 January, 2019, 04:29:46 pm »
I presume it's supposed to catch out people who habitually pull sickies (legitimately or otherwise).

Delight yourself further in Excel with SUMIFS (the same thing with multiple criteria). Only then will you be ready to contemplate SUMPRODUCT arrays.

Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3097 on: 16 January, 2019, 04:40:12 pm »
I also learned about the Bradford factor fairly recently; it's not entirely uncontroversial, especially as it's often used as a blunt tool against absenteeism. I suppose I've been lucky enough to work in environments where people being absent for the odd day doesn't actually have that much effect (unless loads of people from the same team or project suddenly start dropping at once...)

citoyen

  • Occasionally rides a bike
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3098 on: 16 January, 2019, 04:46:16 pm »
Only then will you be ready to contemplate SUMPRODUCT arrays.

Ooh, I'm going giddy at the mere thought of it.
"The future's all yours, you lousy bicycles."

Kim

  • Timelord
    • Fediverse
Re: what I have learned today.
« Reply #3099 on: 16 January, 2019, 04:46:58 pm »
Two things I have learnt today:

1. The effect on productivity of days taken off work sick is measured using the Bradford Factor, which applies the principle that taking one day off many times is more detrimental than a single extended absence. I currently have a Bradford Factor of 0.0.

Standard HR-centric nonsense that works on the principle that it's better to have a colleague suddenly off work for weeks with, say, stress or a broken pelvis, rather than something really nasty like multi-stage dental treatment.  And that's before you consider the impact on disabled people, which barakta can rant about far more eloquently than I ever could.  (She nearly lost her job over a former boss's fanatical devotion to the Bradford Index, in spite of being one of the most productive members of the team.)

I think HR like it because it measures how much paperwork they have to do...