kgwilson

I was a dyed in the wool DEC VMS man and didn't embrace Unix for quite some time. I began with VMS on DEC PDP 8s then 11s and then the VAX series and finally the DEC ALPHA. When our company built a new head office in the 80s the ground floor had a purpose built computer room with duplicate air conditioning systems, false floor with a large glass front so you could see all the disk stacks, processors, comms racks, printers, UPS etc & all the flashing LEDs. It looked very space age at the time. Prior to this the company had used a bureau and we did own some of the machines there but most were owned and managed by the bureau. The big VAX installed (can't remember the model No) was huge and had a massive 2 mb of memory. DEC pioneered Ethernet and Decnet networking so we had company wide email albeit character based from the beginning of the 80s. DEC also created hardware clustering and RAID which everyone takes for granted now. DECs space was being quickly eroded by the rise of microcomputer technology and Unix. The final foray with the Alphaserver & its 64bit RISC architecture and VMS operating system was quickly eroded by the rise and rise of Unix open source. The Alphaserver running OpenVMS, Gembase with Oracle & SQLServer databases with Renaissance CS ERP is still operating today more than 15 years after I took the redundancy path.

So was Blackpool originally called Dublin & renamed so there wouldn't be any confusion?

The Washington Post has been keeping a tallly of Trumps lies. As at 9 July the total stands at 20,055 in 1267 days an average of 15.8 a day but over the pat 14 months the average has been 23 a day. The one he has made the most is the US economy being the best in history (360 times) & No 2 that the border wall is being built (261 times). Doesn't faze his supporters though. Ask any one of them & they'll say it is true. The media though have largely failed to call him out in interviews. If they try he usually accuses them of being "False News" or he walks out. The 2 exceptions are recently on Fox News (his favourite TV channel that he now has discarded) and the Australian journalist Jonathan Swann when he had Whitehouse cherry picked charts that he did not understand & was unable to counter when called out by the interviewer

The marketers of SAP have probably done the best snow jobs of any software organisation in the world over the last 20 years or so. I would imagine that there have been numerous kickbacks and bribes to gain access to governments and large corporations around the world and once they have the contracts signed and implementation is underway any thought of extrication and going back or elsewhere is so convoluted and incredibly expensive that the only way is to cotininue. In the 90s the company I worked for committed to Oracle as its RDBMS. These were relatively early days of "Relational Database Management Systems" and Oracle was at the forefront with Larry Ellison the CEO being one of the wealthiest people in the world at the time. The concept of RDBMS is like your brain where everything is linked to everything else except that retrieval should be instant . The problem is that there are things that are not perfect and when a curve ball is thrown there are roadblocks. These generally don't occur in the RDBMS core or kernal but in the application software written on top and in the user access software written for access via web based systems. In the 90s very few web based systems existed so it was Oracle applications where the user access was. It kept scores of anaysts and programmers busy with a well managed implementation and user acceptance process. The company was a $US8 billion enterprise with 10,000 employees. I left to take over the IS/IT role at a company with 1200 employees with largely manual pocesses and basic financial systems on a mini computer with green screen access. After mergers and takeovers & the company expanding to 20,000 employees with $US15 billion revenue the company I left made the SAP decision. I never did find out who got the kickbacks but had my suspicions. In the meantime I had a free reign to fully integrate an organisation from scratch. We created a network with fibre optics & PCs, worked with integrating SCADA systems with the ERP solution we chose, set up factory, QA, Laboratory & warehouse management with bar code RF systems and long range scanners and computers on forklifts etc & created interfaces with our suppliers & customers to eventually eliminate manual data entry from ordering to despatch. Siemens & Allen Bradley our PLC suppliers could not believe how we had been able to manage this. Our business expanded from revenues of around $US30 million to $US500 million & in 2004 the company I'd left bought us. They were going to convert everything to run under the SAP umbrella. I was offered a role with the 20,000 but took redundancy & provided 6 months consultancy for the handover. By the time I left my wife had been living in our Noosa appartment for 4 months while I was in a bedsit in Hamilton NZ. In this 6 months no progess to SAP had been made at all and the decision was made to continue with the companies systems as they were for another few months until they could work it all out. 5 years later no progress had been made except that most of the manufacturing was moved to China & the NZ company downsized. 15 years later and the same systems are still operating. The integration into SAP was just too hard. For years I was a member of DECUS, the Digital Equipment Corporation Users Society and at every annual conference there would be a bunch of new industry proverbs listed. One very simple and true one I've never forgotten is "Technology is dominated by those who manage what they do not understand"

Centrelink and other Government departments have the worst web sites and on-line systems you can possibly have. The Public Service bought into one of the most expensive and inflexible ERP solutions (SAP) available. It is a German system and things must be done in a very structured way so customisations just don't work well if at all. The the Public Service employs IT people who can't get a job anywhere else to create on-line front end processes that end up being so flaky they rarely work all the time. I have MyGov with links to Centrelink, Medicare & Myhealth record. Each individual system is full of flaky software that fails often. The same comments apply to other systems I access such as the SES and Service NSW. All poorly structured & with plenty of bugs. I was an IT professional for over 25 years and would have been sacked if I'd ever came up with anything like these State and Federal Government systems. I don't think they have ever heard of "User Acceptance Testing".

A friend of mine had a Mach 4 and although it had similar performance it was all done with far better torque at lower RPM and a much wider power band all round due to the extra 250ccs more refined carburation and tuning. The frame was also stiffer. The Mach 3 was supposed to have the quickest standing 1/4 mile time of any bike in the world at the time at 12.4 seconds. 0 to 100k was 4 seconds. I had mine up to 125 mph (200kmh) on the beach at low tide. I was pretty hard on it & the first chain and rear sprocket wore out in 5000km. I replaced the chain with a good Reynolds chain & new sprocket & that lasted till I sold it to my younger brother.

The Mach 3 was pretty lethal but I survived. The power came on at around 4000rpm & was neck snapping up to about 6000. I had no fear then. I used to pull ot to pass a car doing about 90 kmh, drop 2 cogs & scream past on the back wheel leaving a huge bue smokescreen in my wake. Until I got leather pants I would slide back to the hump at the rear of the seat fully outstretched so I couldn't turn the throttle down but always regained control as the revs went past red line. It had awful handling with a frame that flexed like a rubber band but I eventually mastered it & could out ride most of my mates on winding hill climbs. I took the centre stand off as I kept digging that into the road on corners. My flatmate had a Norton Commando 750 which was a beautiful bike to ride. We swapped bikes for a ride one day & I lost him & had to go back. After an expletive filled tirade about my bike he got his Commando back & we never swapped again. Mine was the blue one, the last with drum front brakes which worked well...Once.

In 1971 I bought a new Kawasaki Mach 3. I was 21 and bullet proof. I used to love tearing down the road on the back wheel. One Friday after a few beers everyone left the pub & went back to my flat. They were all standing around when I came up the drive so decided to treat them to a wheelstand. It was pretty good too but I didn't get the front wheel down quick enough to brake before I hit the concrete block wall of the flat. The front wheel rim was pushed flat up to the hub, the front staunchions resembled bananas & my head contacted the wall which smashed the helmet. I got away with it with concussion & a sore body. In 2007 I was riding my mountain bike down a cul de sac in Mudjimba & pulled the front wheel up to jump the kerb & head down to the beach. I pulled it up too soon & the wheel came down right in the jaw of the kerb & I sailed over the handle bars & whacked my helmeted head on the concrete footpath. Result was dented pride, broken helmet & a sore body. Wear a helmet. Works for me.

Trump has often complained about vote rigging especially postal voting although all the evidence is to the contrary. Many think this is one of his strategies to refuse to leave office if he loses the election. If he loses most of his supporters in the white house will likely fade away and the men in white coats will come and take him away. When asked about this some months ago Biden said the appropriate authorities will remove him with "Great Dispatch". He is slowly losing his marbles & he didn't have many to begin with. It is very interesting to watch from the sidelines. The disintegration of the wordls biggest economy. China is laughing all the way to the bank.

The Pandemic was the best thing to happen to ScoMo. He was reeling from failures during the bushfire crisis and the Sports Rort among many things. Covid has allowed this at least for now to be put to the back of peoples minds so now he is supposedly doing a good job. Trying to get States and territories to cooperate though is like herding cats but that is just a product of our system. Generating the biggest debt we have ever had with no end in sight due to the latest 2nd wave isn't doing a very good job in my estimation. A focus on elimination rather than suppression would have had far less impact on the economy in the long run though ScoMo keeps denying this. Other Island nations have done it. Taiwan & NZ are 2 notable examples. NZ exports are now higher than they were pre covid & life is back to normal there (except tourism and border control). Australian Governments have had this incessant fear of going in to recession though Covid has provided an excuse now. We were one of the few countries not to go into recession during the GFC when Kevin07 gave us all $900.00 but we have never been out of deficit since. NZ went into recession but was back in the black in 2 years & now after Covis still only has a 20% debt to GDP ratio. Ours is now over 40% and climbing rapidly. We also have the highest household debt in the world. No not a good job in my opinion.

Biden may be old and a bit doddery but at least he has empathy and when he does make a statement it is delivered with reasonable intellect. He has hardly been seen but has led the polls by between 10 and 15 points for months and the elction campaign hasn't started yet. Trump continues to rage and cry woe is me with the latest "I am the greatest" claim being passing a simple cognitive test aimed at establishing the early onset on dementia. He has continued to bragg about it even after being told it is a simple test saying the last 5 questions are hard. One of the last 5 questions is deduct 7 from 100. I can believe that would be hard for Trump. His neice summed him up well. He is a malignant nacissist, a mysoginist, a racist, a comulsive liar, a con man, theif and a 6 times bankrupt. Who could be better qualified to run the disunited states of America.

It is hard the believe that there are so many who still think Covid is a hoax. Just after the start of the 2nd wave in Victoria it was reported that 10,000 people refused to take the test. The most common reason given that the virus is a hoax. But then these are people who only watch sky news, read nothing but sensational BS on facebook and think Trump is a genius because he said so.

You could always put the roof on first so if it rains you won't get wet when building the frame and the deck. All you need is a skyhook to hold it up.

And all this fantastic development during the 20th century and consolidation into 3 major companies has now been undone by corporate and individual greed of the capitalist system so now all the best manufactured stuff comes out of Asia & GM, Ford & Chrysler are shadows of their former selves with Boeing heading down the same path.

We might have. The current catch cry is If it's "Boeing I ain't going"

Murdoch has had politicians in his pocket for years here and especially the US but his empire is rapidly declining and even his great American right wing media giant Fox news (replicated here as Sky News) has begun to lose favour when even the super right redneck mob are getting stung with Covid-19 while his commander in chief mouthpiece is in self destruct stage. The ABC has a far more balanced coverage of news than any of the commercial offerings. We are lucky to have such an organisation as government funded media in most countries is the mouthpiece for that government.

Flu vaccines only work for the strain they were created for & even then the success rate is only around 55%. It was only about 20% successful a couple of years ago due to the mutating virus becoming resistant to that years vaccine. It remains to be seen how SARS-Cov2 mutates over time & what success they have with the multitude of vaccines and remedies being tested right now.

Plenty of mistakes made in Melbourne but they were made elsewhere as well. They just weren't concentrated so much. 10,000 refusing to take the test, people trying to sneak over the border, changing the address on their drivers licence etc are all things authorities have to deal with let alone thousands of people in high rise slums, many whom struggle with or don't speak English. If we lived in an authoritarian regime residents would be locked into their houses & not be allowed to go anywhere as they did in Wuhan. It was easier there though as 90% lived in Apartments with only one external access. Short of martial law there is not a lot more the local authorities can do. They are trying their best & that seems not enough for some and a waste of time to those who don't care. All of Melbourne is now going in to lockdown. Time will tell if they can make it work. The US is a perfect example of total chaos with a racist, narcissist leader who is in constant denial, fanning the flames and the first wave is gaining strength with deaths approaching 133,000, many State hospitals at breaking point & people even holding Covid parties to see if they can catch it. The only good thing that may come out of it is that Trump may not even stand in the upcoming election.

Albert Einstein said " I don't know how WW3 will be fought but WW4 will be fought with sticks and stones". The Global hysteria of creating ever more powerful weapons and armed forces is supposed to be a deterrent to ever actually using them. Now with Nuclear weapons in the hands of a lot of countries eventually some nutter despot will get hold of one and decide to have a go. I hope I am not around to see it. If Tumps Military advisors were as stupid as he is it probably would have already happened. Crikey he even wanted to Nuke Hurricanes!

Who is he trying to kid that buying billions worth of missiles, subs, jets etc will cut it. If we were attacked, they'd all be gone in the first day or 2. When the perceived adversary is also our largest customer & supplier with military might a hundred times our size and a population over 50 times ours how will anything like this make the slightest difference. I agree that only economic and intellectual property warfare will happen even while large nations continue to posture with ever more destructive weapons.

I haven't had a cheque book since 2005. Electronic banking has been around for a lot longer than that as well. I got my first bank card for withdrawals only in prescribed amounts when I was living in London in 1974.

Whale oil beef hooked.

A bloke I know said his wife had a battleship tattooed on her chest but when he first met her it was only a rowing boat. You know you are old because everything hurts and what doesn't hurt doesn't work & your get up & go got up & went.

I use my credit card for everything possible, even a cup of coffee. It has no fees and no rewards & I pay it off on the due date every month. As it is on line is it a very easy way to manage and monitor expenditure. I pay it off fully every month but one month somehow got the cents back to front so instead of 54 cents I entered 45 cents. The total bill was 3 and a half thousand. The next bill had a late payment interest fee of $125.00. I rang & was originally told "Tough that is the way it is". When I explained & asked them to look at my payments history they agreed to look at it. The next month it got worse & this time I got a bit more agro in my stance & told them "How did they think this would look given their current roasting at the Royal commission. I got passed on to a Supervisor who immediately waived the initial charges and the next charges on top of the original charges. The next month the credits were there but there were more charges that had accrued between the phone calls so I got in touch again saying this time that unless it was fully resolved they could stick their CC up their fundamental you know what unless it was finally fixed. It took another month and another charge reversal to come right. They have all these great systems set up to automatically do everything in their favour but when it comes to a mistake there is no process to reverse or fix it. What a pathetic process for a 9 cent underpayment.

The yanks need to get someone from a younger generation into the hot seat. Look at the change in Canada & NZ with young level headed PMs that have real leadership qualities combined with empathy and kindness not seen in most other countries of the world. Biden is at least literate and informed. Trump is poorly educated and a malignant narcissist. Pence is a total sycophant & a fool for his continued brown nosing. No question, out of the 3 Biden wins by a country mile. But then it's the American system that is totally fu@#!d up. A lot didn't like Hillary but she still got 3 million more votes than Trump & still lost.