Stereodude
Not really a
Sorry we're letting you down. :rofl:
Something Random
- Thread starter ddrueding
- Start date
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
Yep... I've been off sick for a day due to some dodgy Subway, but otherwise just dealing with Telstra due to ongoing mobile phone issues. Both current handsets have been sent away again, (telstra have given me 2x loan handsets and will waive all repair fees).
The manager of the store I'm dealing through did however give some nice insights on what phones to avoid and what ones currently have very low return rates. Basically most top end Nokia's have issues of some sort, LG are do not touch, some Sony Ericsson models are having very high return rates (due to battery performance - what a shock), HTC are good but don't expect decent battery life from them (especially on the WinMobile ones), and Samsung are so and so. (some are good, some are crap).
ddrueding
Fixture
time
Storage? I am Storage!
Hmmm, my daughter succumbed just the other day to the same source ...
In my experience and in what I've read, that sounds about right. That's very true about Samsung, but in addition I feel their designs are not as polished as other major brands. Nokia is infamous for releasing the hardware well before they've sorted the firmware, but in contrast to Samsung, at least they keep working on it.
Not sure you'd call them high-end, but the two Nokia smartphones (5800 & E63) we have here have had zero hardware problems (touch wood), except for a dodgy microSD card. But despite being released in 2008, the 5800 firmware only matured at the start of 2010. To be fair, it was Nokia's first Symbian touch-screen.
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
The sad thing is, who are you left with?
Blackberry? Too expensive and not geared towards for non-business user.
Apple iPhone?
LG? Never been a fan of them.
Nokia? Just discussed. Best thing to do is to buy a model just about to be superseded, do a firmware update on it and hope.
Samsung? Flip a coin and see if you get a good one.
Sony Ericsson? Not any more.
Motorola? Anyone still use them?
HTC? Focused on smart phones. To have known battery performance issues with select models.
All I want is a phone, that has a camera, can do video calling, has alarm/calendar/task list and sync to PC. (SyncML client preferred).
Chewy509
Wotty wot wot.
Oh, and another thing I hate about SE at the moment. While their PC Sync software always you to back up your phone and restore it. The backup/restore function will only let you extract any media (mp3's and pics) from the backup file, and not any contact data if you do not have a phone connected at the time when running the software.
To extract the contacts from a backup file, you must connect a phone and perform a full restore to the phone to get your contacts back!!! WTF?
Unofficial method, the backup file *.dbk is just a ZIP file, so use WinRAR to open it, and hunt for the *.vcard file(s). These are the contacts from the phone/SIM card.
To extract the contacts from a backup file, you must connect a phone and perform a full restore to the phone to get your contacts back!!! WTF?
Unofficial method, the backup file *.dbk is just a ZIP file, so use WinRAR to open it, and hunt for the *.vcard file(s). These are the contacts from the phone/SIM card.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I taught what will probably be my last-ever kid class today.
I hate teaching 18 year olds. I hate kids. I don't relate to them.
Today I had one who was trying to talk over me all morning. Eventually I told him "Shut up, and by shut up I mean that I want to smell your burning flesh before I hear you scream if you happen to be on fire."
This did not go over very well. Apparently we do not say these things to disruptive shitheads who won't stop talking about how awesome their Mac is and how it is a travesty that the free computer they are being given is not an Apple product.
It's not like I said I was actually going to light him on fire or anything.
Oh well.
I hate teaching 18 year olds. I hate kids. I don't relate to them.
Today I had one who was trying to talk over me all morning. Eventually I told him "Shut up, and by shut up I mean that I want to smell your burning flesh before I hear you scream if you happen to be on fire."
This did not go over very well. Apparently we do not say these things to disruptive shitheads who won't stop talking about how awesome their Mac is and how it is a travesty that the free computer they are being given is not an Apple product.
It's not like I said I was actually going to light him on fire or anything.
Oh well.
ddrueding
Fixture
What can I say, Merc. You are gifted with words...
That you spoke to the kid in a way that they will understand should be commended.
That you spoke to the kid in a way that they will understand should be commended.
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I'm a trainer, not a teacher. "Teacher" implies some sort of background in education and all the things that go with that, like developmental psychology and not wanting to murder the deliberately obnoxious.
ddrueding
Fixture
I no longer train or teach. It isn't that I don't like helping people, but I hate stupid people.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
If I were in the same situation as Merc was, it would have taken all my self-control to not to use that kid for a little bonus lesson. "Hey class, we're going to have an impromptu physics demonstration on the concepts of acceleration and momentum. First we accelerate Mr. Wiseguy up to a good fast speed. See, F=mA. Now carefully watch as he continues in motion as his head hits the door. Here the loud bang? That's kinetic energy turning into sound energy. Class dismissed!"
I used to have a lot more patience for stupid and/or ignorant people. Sadly, I've encountered so many in life that the patience has just run out.
I used to have a lot more patience for stupid and/or ignorant people. Sadly, I've encountered so many in life that the patience has just run out.
Will Rickards
Storage Is My Life
Mercutio
Fatwah on Western Digital
I'm not given the authority to do that. Or any disciplinary authority at all. Which is part of the reason I hate teaching kids. They're bribed to be in these classes. They're given a computer.
I'm asked to present complex information; taking their laptop apart, using a backup program and internet security. The other instructor involved just shows them some crap with Word and PowerPoint that they already learned in high school and lets them do "internet research" which basically translates to hours of unsupervised Facebook time.
What will happen to you if you actually remove the kid from the room and tell him/her to sit outside the class door for 20 minutes? Can you ask for the authority to do this basic action?
Their disruption hurts everyone, so it seems like a valid case to take your own action by removing them from the class. That will give you some self satisfaction and you're doing the right thing vs letting them get to you so you get so angry you snap.
Their disruption hurts everyone, so it seems like a valid case to take your own action by removing them from the class. That will give you some self satisfaction and you're doing the right thing vs letting them get to you so you get so angry you snap.
time
Storage? I am Storage!
As you may have heard, a 16-year old American girl was attempting to sail solo around the world (not the Australian one that recently finished). It all went pear-shaped in the middle of the Indian Ocean, about half way between Africa and Australia, 3700km from landfall.
That has to be one of the most remote places on Earth (my wife suggested the middle of Antarctica in winter as another). Indian Ocean conditions can get really rough in winter; a previous solo sailor described facing waves the height of a 4-story building - and that was at the end of the season.
Anyway, she hit bad weather - 60 knot winds and a 20-25ft swell - her boat was 'knocked down' (mast hit the water) three times and her radar was ripped off. She was talking to her dad by satellite phone when it went dead, and not long afterwards, two of her three distress beacons activated.
Before distress beacons became commonplace, she would most likely have just disappeared without trace. But one included a GPS receiver and was able to broadcast her position (at the time of activation).
Apart from loss of communications, her boat was dismasted and the rigging dragged over the side to trail in the water. Without rescue, she would definitely be toast.
So how do you rescue someone in the middle of nowhere, in bad weather, when you don't even know if their boat is still afloat? Just finding them proved enough of a challenge - it would have been impossible without knowing the initial position.
Normal military aircraft don't have anywhere near that kind of range, so they chartered an Airbus A330. With 11 observers and two sets of crew, it took 4 hours just to reach the search area and 5 to return, leaving just 2 hours for low-altitude (2000ft) searching.
It took about one hour 15 minutes before they spotted the boat. They were able to talk to her with short-range radio, before recording her position and heading back. Deep-sea fishing boats are heading for that position and should get there late tomorrow afternoon (after a 40-hour journey). Hopefully, she'll still be in the vicinity - and afloat.
Perhaps I have a vivid imagination, but the whole episode seems like the sort of nightmare you have as a kid, where you wake up screaming.
She's one very, very lucky girl. Personally, I'd take the hint and stick to dry land in future.
That has to be one of the most remote places on Earth (my wife suggested the middle of Antarctica in winter as another). Indian Ocean conditions can get really rough in winter; a previous solo sailor described facing waves the height of a 4-story building - and that was at the end of the season.
Anyway, she hit bad weather - 60 knot winds and a 20-25ft swell - her boat was 'knocked down' (mast hit the water) three times and her radar was ripped off. She was talking to her dad by satellite phone when it went dead, and not long afterwards, two of her three distress beacons activated.
Before distress beacons became commonplace, she would most likely have just disappeared without trace. But one included a GPS receiver and was able to broadcast her position (at the time of activation).
Apart from loss of communications, her boat was dismasted and the rigging dragged over the side to trail in the water. Without rescue, she would definitely be toast.
So how do you rescue someone in the middle of nowhere, in bad weather, when you don't even know if their boat is still afloat? Just finding them proved enough of a challenge - it would have been impossible without knowing the initial position.
Normal military aircraft don't have anywhere near that kind of range, so they chartered an Airbus A330. With 11 observers and two sets of crew, it took 4 hours just to reach the search area and 5 to return, leaving just 2 hours for low-altitude (2000ft) searching.
It took about one hour 15 minutes before they spotted the boat. They were able to talk to her with short-range radio, before recording her position and heading back. Deep-sea fishing boats are heading for that position and should get there late tomorrow afternoon (after a 40-hour journey). Hopefully, she'll still be in the vicinity - and afloat.
Perhaps I have a vivid imagination, but the whole episode seems like the sort of nightmare you have as a kid, where you wake up screaming.
She's one very, very lucky girl. Personally, I'd take the hint and stick to dry land in future.
ddrueding
Fixture
That is pretty wild. I've never done anything that crazy, but I have single handed offshore in rough conditions (and been knocked down), and I've lost my rig over the side (as captain, but with crew). Hers is pretty much a worst-case scenario.
Best wishes to her and her family, but there is a reason we keep doing these things, and it isn't because it is perfectly safe.
Best wishes to her and her family, but there is a reason we keep doing these things, and it isn't because it is perfectly safe.
I was following the story on NPR and I have some mixed feelings about the entire situation. She's very courageous for trying to circle the planet at her age and also being alone. I also agree that she's very lucky to have been found and no doubt aided by some modern technology on both her boat and also in search and rescue.
However, she took a great risk and challenge, but now there is a large effort of people who are also potentially risking their life and large resources to go rescue her. I feel like it's a bit selfish for her to want to beat her brother's record by being the youngest is now causing a lot of people to come to her aid.
I'm glad they located her. When I read the original story I assumed she wouldn't be found, but this was a happier ending.
However, she took a great risk and challenge, but now there is a large effort of people who are also potentially risking their life and large resources to go rescue her. I feel like it's a bit selfish for her to want to beat her brother's record by being the youngest is now causing a lot of people to come to her aid.
I'm glad they located her. When I read the original story I assumed she wouldn't be found, but this was a happier ending.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
So you would be ok with it if she did it many years from now?
I think its awesome. Like David said, "there is a reason we keep doing these things, and it isn't because it is perfectly safe." Taking risks is what life is all about.
Bozo
Storage? I am Storage!
The story I read said the boat was equiped with a device that sent out signals if it sank. It never went off.
She lost her cell phone connections when the mast broke as the antenna was on top of it.
She also has two weeks of food left.
At least she was well prepared.
She lost her cell phone connections when the mast broke as the antenna was on top of it.
She also has two weeks of food left.
At least she was well prepared.
May be gradually more, but not in a binary way for reasons of improved experience and mental discipline. Her doing this is awesome, courageous, and very challenging. I'm equally expressing that now other people are taking their time and possible endangering their lives to help rescue her.
I could also flip the argument slightly and say I want to be courageous and try driving my car on the highway at it's limit of 170MPH. Some would say that's idiotic and maybe many other negative things. You could say it's selfish to endanger other people's lives. The risk for me is not as great as the risk this girl took. The endangerment of lives is also slightly different, but present. however, I'd be doing one of those "things" you quoted from David and it isn't perfectly safe...it would be taking a risk.
I could also flip the argument slightly and say I want to be courageous and try driving my car on the highway at it's limit of 170MPH. Some would say that's idiotic and maybe many other negative things. You could say it's selfish to endanger other people's lives. The risk for me is not as great as the risk this girl took. The endangerment of lives is also slightly different, but present. however, I'd be doing one of those "things" you quoted from David and it isn't perfectly safe...it would be taking a risk.
ddrueding
Fixture
Handruin,
The only two differences are that the risks others are exposed to are voluntary and skill-dependent in her case and not in the 170MPH case (at least not dependent on their skill).
No one else on the freeway? Sounds like a good way to spend 30 minutes
The only two differences are that the risks others are exposed to are voluntary and skill-dependent in her case and not in the 170MPH case (at least not dependent on their skill).
No one else on the freeway? Sounds like a good way to spend 30 minutes
ddrueding
Fixture
Requiring rescue insurance isn't a bad idea, but would the world really refuse to rescue someone without it?
timwhit
Hairy Aussie
If I smoked in bed and started my house on fire it's endangering people's lives also. Should this be disallowed?
Stereodude
Not really a
You can draw the same parallels about medical treatment for people who smoke, or medical treatment for people who have risky professions.
ddrueding
Fixture
...and I have. But you get back to the basic point. Someone will be helped regardless if they need it.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Here's how I look at it. There is a very small subset of the population willing and able to engage in the sort of things which like this which might require an extensive rescue effort. In the grand scheme of things, on a per person basis, sending needed help isn't bankrupting anyone. Besides, isn't that what these rescue units exist for? We could just as easily do away with them by not only prohibiting activities like this, but also basically prohibiting anything which might remotely require any rescue effort at all, whether it's sailing, hiking, even shipping containers from China ( which is subject to piracy on occasion ). Would anyone really want to live in a safe, but mind numbingly boring world like that? Even if I might never do something like this, it's inspiring to watch. I personally have pretty low limits for my own risk tolerance, albeit likely higher than those of the average person ( the riskiest thing I've done to date probably was hitting 65 mph on my Raleigh once ). If I drove, I'd probably regularly max out my car when conditions permitted. But even that's a relatively safe activity compared to something like sailing thousands of miles from help. That I know I would never do. If I'm on an ocean, then it better be in something the size of ocean liner, with plenty of trained crew around. But stuff like this, or astronauts on the moon when I was a kid, that kind of stuff really touches something deep in the human psyche. I think we're built to explore, to take risks. If you can't do it personally, it's nearly as good watching someone else do it. Sadly, as a society in many ways we've now become too risk averse. It's nice to see exceptions to that from time to time.
BingBangBop
Storage is cool
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2009
- Messages
- 667
I'm sorry, but I believe that high risk endeavors should be an adults only activity. Parents should do their utmost to protect their children from such experiences. It is my understanding that one of the last portions of a child's brain that develops is that which deals with risk and consequences. children (in this it would include anyone under 21) are very poor judges of risk and consequences. It is one of the main reasons why teenagers are #1 in accidents and automobile fatalities. So it is the parents job to protect them and making very high risk activities possible and encouraging children to pursue such is a form of child abuse.
jtr1962
Storage? I am Storage!
Well, you're probably right that she was too young to do this, although I'm honestly of two minds here. On the one hand, yes, parents should protect their children against adult things which they are incapable of dealing with. On the other hand, children must be allowed to make mistakes, and yes, occasionally get hurt, in order to grow. I see too many trends where parents and society are overprotective. For example, I see 6-year olds riding their bicycles with helmets and wrapped up looking like they're ready to go into war. Yet my generation got along fine without helmets, knee pads, antibacterial wipes. etc. We rode bicycles without helmets, played in parks alone, I even started going on the subway alone at 13. There's a fine line between perhaps exposing a kid to more than they can deal with, and not exposing them to enough. You only learn to properly weight risks if there are consequences when you screw up. Take away those consequences by, for example requiring children to wear cycling helmets, and they might never learn safe and unsafe behavoir. A skinned knee or even a broken bone is a great learning tool. A scuffed helmet really isn't. I blame a lot of the lack of judgement I see in the younger generation ( those roughly 20 and under ) on the risk averse parenting which became popular starting about 2 decades ago. Perhaps the parents of this girl went too far in the other direction, letting her expose herself to more risk than she could handle. Regardless, it's refreshing to see in light of constant exposure to parents who act like a cut finger is a life or death situation.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
So it would be acceptable for some grown up with 1/2 or 1/4 of her experience to attempt it? What experiences should she have been protected from?
While it is true that the critical question is whether or not she has the capability to make appropriate decisions this is not a question of age.
Experience is the teacher. Age alone never helped the great explorers. Knowledge and experience did.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
I don't know. Her family is very experienced in sailing. Her brother did this same trip recently and arrived just fine. There is only so much preparing for the unpredictable you can do. Once you reach a certain level of knowledge there is no more preparing you can do.
As expensive as the rescue operation will turn out to be, I think the risk insurance is a good idea but I don't think it should be mandatory.
Howell
Storage? I am Storage!
We spend a lot of time,money and effort keeping people alive as long as possible no matter what risky behavior they have engaged in in their lives. Young or old it doesn't seem to matter.
BingBangBop
Storage is cool
- Joined
- Nov 15, 2009
- Messages
- 667
Sorry, experience isn't the issue here. For a 16 year old, The brain is not developed enough to appropriately understand risk and consequences. A child does not have the impulse control that an adult has. Regardless of the experience level, bad decisions will be made because the brain has not developed the wiring to inhibit actions without thinking about those actions. It's what causes teenagers to make very bad driving decisions regardless of their experience level of driving.
Haven't you seen those videos showing teenagers lighting fire crackers after placing them up their butt-cheeks. Or, face planting after trying to ride a skateboard down a handrail. Or putting on makeup while driving. It is not their experience level or their intelligence that is the problem. It is that their brains can't stop the impulsive behavior and can't appreciate the risk they are actually putting themselves through from such an action. The result is bad judgement from otherwise fine children. They will grow out of it eventually and not because they've learned better but because the brain finishes growing.
Parents that put their child in life and death situations and let them run solo are doing the child, themselves and the world a disservice.
Haven't you seen those videos showing teenagers lighting fire crackers after placing them up their butt-cheeks. Or, face planting after trying to ride a skateboard down a handrail. Or putting on makeup while driving. It is not their experience level or their intelligence that is the problem. It is that their brains can't stop the impulsive behavior and can't appreciate the risk they are actually putting themselves through from such an action. The result is bad judgement from otherwise fine children. They will grow out of it eventually and not because they've learned better but because the brain finishes growing.
Parents that put their child in life and death situations and let them run solo are doing the child, themselves and the world a disservice.
Can you eject the person from the class? That is what I did in a lecture.
Sometimes it is difficult for me to determine whether a woman is pregnant. I was so sure this time, but apparently she had just gained weight in the abdomen. Is it just me? Perhaps I should not have said anything in a public setting.
Stereodude
Not really a
You're just now figuring this out? wneddnce:
wneddnce:
ddrueding
Fixture
Sometimes it is difficult for me to determine whether a woman is pregnant. I was so sure this time, but apparently she had just gained weight in the abdomen. Is it just me? Perhaps I should not have said anything in a public setting.
Regardless of how good or bad a woman looks, I never say anything. Guys too, actually. With the exception of my wife, who is always beautiful and has always "done something" successfully.
Pradeep
Storage? I am Storage!
Sometimes it is difficult for me to determine whether a woman is pregnant. I was so sure this time, but apparently she had just gained weight in the abdomen. Is it just me? Perhaps I should not have said anything in a public setting.
http://www.ehow.com/i/#article_2305521
I was amazed by this:
http://www.watoday.com.au/world/riv...leeping-campers-30-missing-20100612-y4n3.html
Certainly one should go with the old adage of not camping near a river, but going from 1m to 7m in a couple of hours, that's far beyond anything I would have anticipated.