Reply to: Monday Links from the Sickbed vol. CXXXVII

[OwlHoot]

Microsoft is particularly bad though, in that its "normal" x 100.

The whole 1-5 bucket rubbish would kill anyones Enthusiasm, its just a matter of time.

This is the killer for most ex - I think this lass is the same . Knowing that in a team of 5, 1 of you has to be rated 1 (best) , 1 has to be rated 2 (second), 1 rated 3 (safe) , 1 rated 4 (time to leave, you're going in 5 next year) , 1 rated 5 (no raise and leave now huh?)

There are people in every team who are just completely useless, but they are there because the rest of the team tolerates them as they know they are filling that 5 spot next year... This is very silly, but totally understandable.

Good point - It seems actually a perverse incentive for teams to hold on to duffers as long as possible as useful cover or "cannon fodder" for the rest.

Conversely, the more competent someone is the more of a threat they must be to others so the more chance they'll be hampered and stitched up or even hounded out.

So the management are presumably perpetually shuffling teams around, to try and prevent these inevitable outcomes from developing.

No wonder the muppets take years and years to produce softare of even adequate quality.

[NickFitz]

Get well soon NF

Get well soon.

Anyway, get well soon Nick. Hope it's only a summer cold and not the ticker again.

Thanks all. I popped down to London at the weekend (nothing to do with the Olympics) and reckon I've picked up some bug off all those people on the Tube

Worst I've ever felt (much worse than the heart attack, which was only ever discomfort) and the first time I've missed a day's invoicing due to illness

I'm still running a temperature and have a stinking headache, but no longer shivering uncontrollably and sweating buckets, so hopefully I can get back to the magic money fountain ClientCo tomorrow.

[Scoobos]

None of the things she mentions are unique to Microsoft; I've experienced most of them at a variety of companies although luckily as a contractor I can avoid a lot of it. (

Microsoft is particularly bad though, in that its "normal" x 100.

The whole 1-5 bucket rubbish would kill anyones Enthusiasm, its just a matter of time.

This is the killer for most ex - I think this lass is the same . Knowing that in a team of 5, 1 of you has to be rated 1 (best) , 1 has to be rated 2 (second), 1 rated 3 (safe) , 1 rated 4 (time to leave, you're going in 5 next year) , 1 rated 5 (no raise and leave now huh?)

There are people in every team who are just completely useless, but they are there because the rest of the team tolerates them as they know they are filling that 5 spot next year... This is very silly, but totally understandable.

[OwlHoot]

The Unavoidable Golden Ratio

I think that link is OK, but I'm currently unable to check on account of to my IP address being temporarily banned from the site by their "rampaging robot" detector (for downloading too many papers in a short time, presumably) ..

Hmm ...

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[OwlHoot]

Interesting. Having tried to watch Terry and June recently the guy just came out as a loser, and I think that applied to various other comedies of the time. The author is right on the button there by saying our expectations have changed.

On his choices of Classics I have to disagree on Only Fools and Horses. It has been repeated so many times I got sick of it. Fawlty Towers suffers here as well.

I'd put The Good Life way ahead of George and Mildred. To be honest I always found them cringeworthy.

I think a lot of the datedness boils down to people being less deferential to authority figures and conformity, of one sort or another, and thus not finding it so funny when this is poked fun at (usually in a very gentle way).

[Sysman]

• Standing the test of time: the 'classic' British sitcom - "BCG reader David Allan offers some thoughts on why some comedies stand the test of time better than others." Or, just why does Terry & June seem so dated?

Interesting. Having tried to watch Terry and June recently the guy just came out as a loser, and I think that applied to various other comedies of the time. The author is right on the button there by saying our expectations have changed.

On his choices of Classics I have to disagree on Only Fools and Horses. It has been repeated so many times I got sick of it. Fawlty Towers suffers here as well.

I'd put The Good Life way ahead of George and Mildred. To be honest I always found them cringeworthy.

[OwlHoot]

[*]Golden Ratio in logo designs - "Beauty and aesthetics have been praised from time immemorial. But little did people know that the most effective, perfectly balanced, and visually compelling creations followed the tid-bits of mathematics. At least not until 1860, when German physicist and psychologist Gustav Theodor Fechner proposed that a simple ratio, an irrational number defines the balance in nature." Saikat Banerjee takes a look at the ratio as it appears behind the scenes of some famous logos. ..

Another paper on the Golden Ratio was published only today on the ArXiv, although I haven't looked at it yet:

The Unavoidable Golden Ratio

I think that link is OK, but I'm currently unable to check on account of to my IP address being temporarily banned from the site by their "rampaging robot" detector (for downloading too many papers in a short time, presumably)

Anyway, get well soon Nick. Hope it's only a summer cold and not the ticker again.

[SupremeSpod]

If there's a bug going round, the music has stopped and it's sat on me Just going to post these and then see about an early night:

• The Making Of: Jet Set Willy - Matthew Smith, the creator of the classic Spectrum game, explains how it came to be, in great detail: "We wonder how pirouetting rabbits, wobbling jellies and the entire cast of inanimate objects brought disturbingly to life fitted into Smith’s everyday existence. 'That may have been the mushrooms,' he offers, helpfully."

Happy invoicing!

Reminds me of when we used the "Tatung Einstein" for cross assembly at Ocean.

I think that's what got me involved in embedded development...

Get well soon.

[SupremeSpod]

So what about me then? Exception to the rule?

You're just "different".

[BrilloPad]

Well known fact that pedantry leads to catching more common colds and bad health.

So what about me then? Exception to the rule?

[ctdctd]

Bonus linky while it's still topical: Mo Farah Running Away From Things

You have way too much time on your hands

[MarillionFan]

Get well soon NF

Also try more exercise, vitamin c and echinacea...

Well known fact that pedantry leads to catching more common colds and bad health.

[NickFitz]

Bonus linky while it's still topical: Mo Farah Running Away From Things

[EternalOptimist]

Can I have your slippers

[BrilloPad]

Get well soon NF

Also try more exercise, vitamin c and echinacea...