Dear Users… (A thread for Sysadmin, Technical Support, and Help Desk people) Part 10 - Page 62

TragicMonkey · 31st May 2023, 12:33 PM

Originally Posted by quadraginta

Certainly there must be some underhanded way to sabotage their selection.

Check with TM. He has a natural talent for that sort of thing.

No way. My take on corporate ladder-climbing is don't do it! The ideal is to attain and occupy a specialize niche, becoming a guru of something important enough that they'll never not need you yet not so vital that they pay too much attention to you. Just sit there quietly, being an expert (aka "the [something] guy") for your subject, making no waves and keeping your actual work shrouded in mystery, producing results when needed but never, ever revealing precisely how you get them or how long it really takes to do so. Your title will never change but they'll throw money at you periodically to keep you around. Coast comfortably for twenty or thirty years, then retire. You won't attain glory and honor but you will live comfortably without --this the critical part-- having to work too hard.

Basically my ideal is to be the wizard who the protagonists visit once or twice for advice, not the wizard who goes along with them on the journey. Elrond sat on his butt for centuries in his comfortable house, wealthy and well-fed! Gandalf had to tramp around the countryside and fight things and fall down chasms. And they both got exactly the same comfortable retirement package so you tell me which was smarter.

gnome · 31st May 2023, 12:37 PM

"You should have clarified." is an obvious deflection from a person who expects you to read their mind.

catsmate · 31st May 2023, 12:42 PM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

No way. My take on corporate ladder-climbing is don't do it! The ideal is to attain and occupy a specialize niche, becoming a guru of something important enough that they'll never not need you yet not so vital that they pay too much attention to you. Just sit there quietly, being an expert (aka "the [something] guy") for your subject, making no waves and keeping your actual work shrouded in mystery, producing results when needed but never, ever revealing precisely how you get them or how long it really takes to do so. Your title will never change but they'll throw money at you periodically to keep you around. Coast comfortably for twenty or thirty years, then retire. You won't attain glory and honor but you will live comfortably without --this the critical part-- having to work too hard.

Basically my ideal is to be the wizard who the protagonists visit once or twice for advice, not the wizard who goes along with them on the journey. Elrond sat on his butt for centuries in his comfortable house, wealthy and well-fed! Gandalf had to tramp around the countryside and fight things and fall down chasms. And they both got exactly the same comfortable retirement package so you tell me which was smarter.

I would also suggest cultivating a reputation for potential homicidal violence, e.g. a detailed knowledge of toxicology that you insert in conversations on occasion.
I admit these days there might be objections to keeping a case in your desk containing a range of poisons but it served me well on one job.

Wudang · 31st May 2023, 12:59 PM

Originally Posted by catsmate

I would also suggest cultivating a reputation for potential homicidal violence, e.g. a detailed knowledge of toxicology that you insert in conversations on occasion.
I admit these days there might be objections to keeping a case in your desk containing a range of poisons but it served me well on one job.

I found giving reviews of action movies criticising garrotting techniques and such helped.

The Man · 31st May 2023, 05:10 PM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

No way. My take on corporate ladder-climbing is don't do it! The ideal is to attain and occupy a specialize niche, becoming a guru of something important enough that they'll never not need you yet not so vital that they pay too much attention to you. Just sit there quietly, being an expert (aka "the [something] guy") for your subject, making no waves and keeping your actual work shrouded in mystery, producing results when needed but never, ever revealing precisely how you get them or how long it really takes to do so. Your title will never change but they'll throw money at you periodically to keep you around. Coast comfortably for twenty or thirty years, then retire. You won't attain glory and honor but you will live comfortably without --this the critical part-- having to work too hard.

Basically my ideal is to be the wizard who the protagonists visit once or twice for advice, not the wizard who goes along with them on the journey. Elrond sat on his butt for centuries in his comfortable house, wealthy and well-fed! Gandalf had to tramp around the countryside and fight things and fall down chasms. And they both got exactly the same comfortable retirement package so you tell me which was smarter.

Likewise, after spending over a decade in one career and almost that in another, just to have both the companies sold. One I would have had to have moved and was basically told I’d be at my upper echelon, as a product designer, unless I went back to school to get a bachelor’s degree. The other they just eliminated the mechanical engineering I was doing and that company had expected us (the engineering department) to sell for them.

Now I’m in it just for the job. Plant has been sold twice now, I’m still here. Thought before about just going for my PE license, had the five years of engineering experience needed for sans a BS degree (at least at that time). However, I’ve done contract engineering work and never much liked it. All the traveling and such, heck one company had forgotten what I had reported to them, that they couldn’t do what they wanted with what they had and what they would have needed. They wanted me to come back out some 10 years later, so I sent them a copy of my original report from my own files. They paid for it after all and that was the freak’n company that wanted me to move and get a BS degree to advance. Then contracted me for the original engineering services (vibration testing of transmission line dampers) 5 years after I had rejected their offer to be moved, heck they didn’t even know what a spectrum analyzer was. I prefer having at least some corporation, other than just myself, around me but not quite so full of engineering A’holes.

arthwollipot · 31st May 2023, 06:59 PM

Originally Posted by Gord_in_Toronto

Possibly some advice I got when I joined the civil service might apply. I was told to apply for every position I was at least minimally qualified for because, maybe no one else would.

Definitely doesn't apply here. Most Australian Public Service positions get literally hundreds of applicants - particularly here in Canberra.

Originally Posted by catsmate

I would also suggest cultivating a reputation for potential homicidal violence, e.g. a detailed knowledge of toxicology that you insert in conversations on occasion.
I admit these days there might be objections to keeping a case in your desk containing a range of poisons but it served me well on one job.

Well, most people know that I am proficient with swords...

The Man · 31st May 2023, 10:51 PM

Well, I don’t expect the Australian government to be sold. Though, I think, if it was, sword training would be handy.

catsmate · 1st June 2023, 03:04 AM

Originally Posted by Wudang

I found giving reviews of action movies criticising garrotting techniques and such helped.

With discussions of the desired characteristics of materials? Wire versus cord?
Excellent.

catsmate · 1st June 2023, 03:05 AM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

Definitely doesn't apply here. Most Australian Public Service positions get literally hundreds of applicants - particularly here in Canberra.

Well, most people know that I am proficient with swords...

Do you have one mounted over your desk?

Wudang · 1st June 2023, 05:35 AM

Originally Posted by catsmate

With discussions of the desired characteristics of materials? Wire versus cord?
Excellent.

Crossing the garrote to ensure a seal, turning your back and lifting them, why cheese wire too messy etc. Yes.

JoeMorgue · 1st June 2023, 08:23 AM

"My email looks different!"
"Okay... how did it look before?"
"I just looked different! This part here, it looked different."
"I can't help if I don't know how it looked before."
"I can't explain it, but it looked different."

Gord_in_Toronto · 1st June 2023, 08:36 AM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

Definitely doesn't apply here. Most Australian Public Service positions get literally hundreds of applicants - particularly here in Canberra.

Different strokes for different folks.

My area of expertise was meteorology -- the "MS" classification. I estimate there were a max of 200 of us in the entire country.

catsmate · 1st June 2023, 01:28 PM

Originally Posted by Wudang

Crossing the garrote to ensure a seal, turning your back and lifting them, why cheese wire too messy etc. Yes.

And the proper employment of a string file....

quadraginta · 1st June 2023, 01:51 PM

Originally Posted by catsmate

Originally Posted by Wudang

Crossing the garrote to ensure a seal, turning your back and lifting them, why cheese wire too messy etc. Yes.

And the proper employment of a string file....

You can garotte someone with a string file?

Kool. Today I Learned ...

Wudang · 1st June 2023, 04:05 PM

"Well as my notes from that Close Quarter Battle course said...."

novaphile · 1st June 2023, 05:08 PM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

Definitely doesn't apply here. Most Australian Public Service positions get literally hundreds of applicants - particularly here in Canberra.

Well, most people know that I am proficient with swords...

You've reminded me of a tiny little notice that I once saw on the notice board in an ABC studio meal room (I won't tell you which one):

THINGS ARE SO
CONFUSED AROUND HERE
THE MANAGERS ARE RUNNING
AROUND STABBING EACH OTHER
IN THE FRONT.

novaphile · 1st June 2023, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by quadraginta

You can garotte someone with a string file?

Kool. Today I Learned ...

Bike chains work pretty well too.

arthwollipot · 1st June 2023, 06:07 PM

Originally Posted by catsmate

Do you have one mounted over your desk?

It's an open plan office. All I have is low dividers.

arthwollipot · 1st June 2023, 10:26 PM

Want to hear something pretty crazy?

We now have a system (Cyberark) that automatically manages all of our elevated accounts - our admin passwords, local admin passwords, god-tier passwords and so forth. It automatically changes the passwords on a weekly basis, and when you launch an application from within Cyberark, autofills the password and logs you on. But there's a problem.

Not all of the applications that we use our admin passwords with can be launched from within Cyberark at this time. For example, I need to have a Chrome window open with admin credentials. Okay, Cyberark allows us to Copy the password and Paste it into the relevant login window. Except...

There is one legacy system that we use where the Paste function is disabled. Worse, this particular legacy system times out after 15 minutes and requires that the password be reentered. This means that I have to have my secure 14-random-character administrator password in clear text in a Notepad window so that I can type it in manually.

Crazy. Absolutely bonkers. And did I mention annoying?

BowlOfRed · 2nd June 2023, 02:15 AM

Originally Posted by JoeMorgue

"My email looks different!"
"Okay... how did it look before?"
"I just looked different! This part here, it looked different."
"I can't help if I don't know how it looked before."
"I can't explain it, but it looked different."

Al Jaffee time:

* Yeah, your computer probably is infected with a virus. It'll do that.

* New directive from the execs. They're idiots to change the email that way, but what can you do?

* Sounds like your monitor is getting old. You should put in a request for a new one.

Wudang · 2nd June 2023, 05:42 AM

Originally Posted by arthwollipot

There is one legacy system that we use where the Paste function is disabled. Worse, this particular legacy system times out after 15 minutes and requires that the password be reentered. This means that I have to have my secure 14-random-character administrator password in clear text in a Notepad window so that I can type it in manually.

Crazy. Absolutely bonkers. And did I mention annoying?

If it's web based can you raise this as an issue with IT security and suggest they get a browser extension installed that blocks "no paste"?

TragicMonkey · 2nd June 2023, 09:35 AM

Clementus Slidewhistle: Can you make [Thing] for me?
Me: No, what you want can only be built in [Tools I Don't Have]. Nanvirelle Flufflefart is the one who can build things in [Tools I Don't Have].
Me: Nanvirelle, can you assist Clementus with [Thing]?

from then on:
Nanvirelle to me only: Is [Version 1] okay? Check it out and let me know.
Clementus to me only: Where is [Thing]? Is [Thing] done yet?

How many damn times am I going to get replies to ME ONLY and just forward them before they realize I'm contributing nothing here as a middleman? They're even taking each other OUT of emails when I reply to both! I can't even SEE [Thing], much less assess whether it meets Clementus's needs. Why isn't he talking to Nanvirelle? Why does Nanvirelle think I have any insight into Clementus's mind? My only contribution to [Thing] is that I slow down progress because of the wasted time in relaying their emails to each other!

Dr. Keith · 2nd June 2023, 10:41 AM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

Clementus Slidewhistle: Can you make [Thing] for me?
Me: No, what you want can only be built in [Tools I Don't Have]. Nanvirelle Flufflefart is the one who can build things in [Tools I Don't Have].
Me: Nanvirelle, can you assist Clementus with [Thing]?

from then on:
Nanvirelle to me only: Is [Version 1] okay? Check it out and let me know.
Clementus to me only: Where is [Thing]? Is [Thing] done yet?

How many damn times am I going to get replies to ME ONLY and just forward them before they realize I'm contributing nothing here as a middleman? They're even taking each other OUT of emails when I reply to both! I can't even SEE [Thing], much less assess whether it meets Clementus's needs. Why isn't he talking to Nanvirelle? Why does Nanvirelle think I have any insight into Clementus's mind? My only contribution to [Thing] is that I slow down progress because of the wasted time in relaying their emails to each other!

Being the middleman in such conversations is 75% of my job. I love it.

TragicMonkey · 2nd June 2023, 11:22 AM

Originally Posted by Dr. Keith

Being the middleman in such conversations is 75% of my job. I love it.

If I extracted any benefit from it that would be another matter, but I don't. Credit for the work will go only to Nanvirelle for doing it and Clementus for thinking to ask for it, there will be no financial benefit flowing my way as a result of it, and every minute I spend on forwarding messages is a minute behind in my actual work getting done, for which I do get judged. I'm not paid by the hour so the time is simply wasted.

catsmate · 2nd June 2023, 11:55 AM

Originally Posted by quadraginta

You can garotte someone with a string file?

Kool. Today I Learned ...

Yeah, though it gets messy. Very handy for decapitation though.

TragicMonkey · 2nd June 2023, 12:04 PM

Originally Posted by catsmate

Yeah, though it gets messy. Very handy for decapitation though.

When I took a pottery class one of the tools was a thick, sharp metal wire with wooden handles on each end. It's allegedly meant for slicing through clay, but damned if half the class didn't instantly see it as a murder weapon. This was pre-internet so I wasn't able to do any quick research on strangulation/decapitation murders among pottery students but I'm pretty sure that somewhere out there there are a lot of nearly-decapitated bodies of people who unwisely criticized amateur pottery.

catsmate · Yesterday, 03:59 AM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

When I took a pottery class one of the tools was a thick, sharp metal wire with wooden handles on each end. It's allegedly meant for slicing through clay, but damned if half the class didn't instantly see it as a murder weapon. This was pre-internet so I wasn't able to do any quick research on strangulation/decapitation murders among pottery students but I'm pretty sure that somewhere out there there are a lot of nearly-decapitated bodies of people who unwisely criticized amateur pottery.

I've seen them.

Though the strong file/wire saw has a serrated edge, really good for sawing through the neck. But very messy.
Poisons are generally easier.

Gord_in_Toronto · Yesterday, 12:29 PM

Originally Posted by catsmate

I've seen them.

Though the strong file/wire saw has a serrated edge, really good for sawing through the neck. But very messy.
Poisons are generally easier.

I'm imagining a police procedural show (most likely from the BBC) where the forensic examiner records traces of clay in a wound.

TragicMonkey · Yesterday, 12:52 PM

Originally Posted by Gord_in_Toronto

I'm imagining a police procedural show (most likely from the BBC) where the forensic examiner records traces of clay in a wound.

"Clearly the culprit was a golem!"

quadraginta · Yesterday, 05:56 PM

Originally Posted by Gord_in_Toronto

I'm imagining a police procedural show (most likely from the BBC) where the forensic examiner records traces of clay in a wound.

"Bones" would have picked that up in a heartbeat. And figured out where the clay came from in the next two.

a_unique_person · Today, 04:55 AM

Originally Posted by TragicMonkey

Clementus Slidewhistle: Can you make [Thing] for me?
Me: No, what you want can only be built in [Tools I Don't Have]. Nanvirelle Flufflefart is the one who can build things in [Tools I Don't Have].
Me: Nanvirelle, can you assist Clementus with [Thing]?

from then on:
Nanvirelle to me only: Is [Version 1] okay? Check it out and let me know.
Clementus to me only: Where is [Thing]? Is [Thing] done yet?

How many damn times am I going to get replies to ME ONLY and just forward them before they realize I'm contributing nothing here as a middleman? They're even taking each other OUT of emails when I reply to both! I can't even SEE [Thing], much less assess whether it meets Clementus's needs. Why isn't he talking to Nanvirelle? Why does Nanvirelle think I have any insight into Clementus's mind? My only contribution to [Thing] is that I slow down progress because of the wasted time in relaying their emails to each other!

I hate to tell you this but perhaps you are seen as the most competent, rational IT person there.

Mashuna · Today, 06:44 AM

Originally Posted by Wudang

"Well as my notes from that Close Quarter Battle course said...."

I used to work with an ex-military gentleman who had a poster up over his desk. It showed a sniper in a ghillie suit, with the caption,

"If I lived every day as if it were my last, the body count would be enormous."

31st May 2023, 12:33 PM	#2441
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 66,006	Originally Posted by quadraginta Certainly there must be some underhanded way to sabotage their selection. Check with TM. He has a natural talent for that sort of thing. No way. My take on corporate ladder-climbing is don't do it! The ideal is to attain and occupy a specialize niche, becoming a guru of something important enough that they'll never not need you yet not so vital that they pay too much attention to you. Just sit there quietly, being an expert (aka "the [something] guy") for your subject, making no waves and keeping your actual work shrouded in mystery, producing results when needed but never, ever revealing precisely how you get them or how long it really takes to do so. Your title will never change but they'll throw money at you periodically to keep you around. Coast comfortably for twenty or thirty years, then retire. You won't attain glory and honor but you will live comfortably without --this the critical part-- having to work too hard. Basically my ideal is to be the wizard who the protagonists visit once or twice for advice, not the wizard who goes along with them on the journey. Elrond sat on his butt for centuries in his comfortable house, wealthy and well-fed! Gandalf had to tramp around the countryside and fight things and fall down chasms. And they both got exactly the same comfortable retirement package so you tell me which was smarter.
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

31st May 2023, 12:37 PM	#2442
gnome Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Aug 2001 Posts: 13,743	"You should have clarified." is an obvious deflection from a person who expects you to read their mind.
	__________________

31st May 2023, 12:42 PM	#2443
catsmate No longer the 1 Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 28,603	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey No way. My take on corporate ladder-climbing is don't do it! The ideal is to attain and occupy a specialize niche, becoming a guru of something important enough that they'll never not need you yet not so vital that they pay too much attention to you. Just sit there quietly, being an expert (aka "the [something] guy") for your subject, making no waves and keeping your actual work shrouded in mystery, producing results when needed but never, ever revealing precisely how you get them or how long it really takes to do so. Your title will never change but they'll throw money at you periodically to keep you around. Coast comfortably for twenty or thirty years, then retire. You won't attain glory and honor but you will live comfortably without --this the critical part-- having to work too hard. Basically my ideal is to be the wizard who the protagonists visit once or twice for advice, not the wizard who goes along with them on the journey. Elrond sat on his butt for centuries in his comfortable house, wealthy and well-fed! Gandalf had to tramp around the countryside and fight things and fall down chasms. And they both got exactly the same comfortable retirement package so you tell me which was smarter. I would also suggest cultivating a reputation for potential homicidal violence, e.g. a detailed knowledge of toxicology that you insert in conversations on occasion. I admit these days there might be objections to keeping a case in your desk containing a range of poisons but it served me well on one job.
	__________________ As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves.

31st May 2023, 12:59 PM	#2444
Wudang BOFH Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: People's Republic of South Yorkshire Posts: 15,451	Originally Posted by catsmate I would also suggest cultivating a reputation for potential homicidal violence, e.g. a detailed knowledge of toxicology that you insert in conversations on occasion. I admit these days there might be objections to keeping a case in your desk containing a range of poisons but it served me well on one job. I found giving reviews of action movies criticising garrotting techniques and such helped.
	__________________ "Your deepest pools, like your deepest politicians and philosophers, often turn out more shallow than expected." Walter Scott.

31st May 2023, 05:10 PM	#2445
The Man Unbanned zombie poster Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Poughkeepsie, NY Posts: 17,507	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey No way. My take on corporate ladder-climbing is don't do it! The ideal is to attain and occupy a specialize niche, becoming a guru of something important enough that they'll never not need you yet not so vital that they pay too much attention to you. Just sit there quietly, being an expert (aka "the [something] guy") for your subject, making no waves and keeping your actual work shrouded in mystery, producing results when needed but never, ever revealing precisely how you get them or how long it really takes to do so. Your title will never change but they'll throw money at you periodically to keep you around. Coast comfortably for twenty or thirty years, then retire. You won't attain glory and honor but you will live comfortably without --this the critical part-- having to work too hard. Basically my ideal is to be the wizard who the protagonists visit once or twice for advice, not the wizard who goes along with them on the journey. Elrond sat on his butt for centuries in his comfortable house, wealthy and well-fed! Gandalf had to tramp around the countryside and fight things and fall down chasms. And they both got exactly the same comfortable retirement package so you tell me which was smarter. Likewise, after spending over a decade in one career and almost that in another, just to have both the companies sold. One I would have had to have moved and was basically told I’d be at my upper echelon, as a product designer, unless I went back to school to get a bachelor’s degree. The other they just eliminated the mechanical engineering I was doing and that company had expected us (the engineering department) to sell for them. Now I’m in it just for the job. Plant has been sold twice now, I’m still here. Thought before about just going for my PE license, had the five years of engineering experience needed for sans a BS degree (at least at that time). However, I’ve done contract engineering work and never much liked it. All the traveling and such, heck one company had forgotten what I had reported to them, that they couldn’t do what they wanted with what they had and what they would have needed. They wanted me to come back out some 10 years later, so I sent them a copy of my original report from my own files. They paid for it after all and that was the freak’n company that wanted me to move and get a BS degree to advance. Then contracted me for the original engineering services (vibration testing of transmission line dampers) 5 years after I had rejected their offer to be moved, heck they didn’t even know what a spectrum analyzer was. I prefer having at least some corporation, other than just myself, around me but not quite so full of engineering A’holes.
	__________________ BRAINZZZZZZZZ

31st May 2023, 06:59 PM	#2446
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 82,019	Originally Posted by Gord_in_Toronto Possibly some advice I got when I joined the civil service might apply. I was told to apply for every position I was at least minimally qualified for because, maybe no one else would. Definitely doesn't apply here. Most Australian Public Service positions get literally hundreds of applicants - particularly here in Canberra. Originally Posted by catsmate I would also suggest cultivating a reputation for potential homicidal violence, e.g. a detailed knowledge of toxicology that you insert in conversations on occasion. I admit these days there might be objections to keeping a case in your desk containing a range of poisons but it served me well on one job. Well, most people know that I am proficient with swords...
	__________________ Слава Україні! Героям Слава! 20220224 - 20230224

31st May 2023, 10:51 PM	#2447
The Man Unbanned zombie poster Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Poughkeepsie, NY Posts: 17,507	Well, I don’t expect the Australian government to be sold. Though, I think, if it was, sword training would be handy.
	__________________ BRAINZZZZZZZZ

1st June 2023, 03:04 AM	#2448
catsmate No longer the 1 Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 28,603	Originally Posted by Wudang I found giving reviews of action movies criticising garrotting techniques and such helped. With discussions of the desired characteristics of materials? Wire versus cord? Excellent.
	__________________ As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves.

1st June 2023, 03:05 AM	#2449
catsmate No longer the 1 Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 28,603	Originally Posted by arthwollipot Definitely doesn't apply here. Most Australian Public Service positions get literally hundreds of applicants - particularly here in Canberra. Well, most people know that I am proficient with swords... Do you have one mounted over your desk?
	__________________ As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves.

1st June 2023, 05:35 AM	#2450
Wudang BOFH Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: People's Republic of South Yorkshire Posts: 15,451	Originally Posted by catsmate With discussions of the desired characteristics of materials? Wire versus cord? Excellent. Crossing the garrote to ensure a seal, turning your back and lifting them, why cheese wire too messy etc. Yes.
	__________________ "Your deepest pools, like your deepest politicians and philosophers, often turn out more shallow than expected." Walter Scott.

1st June 2023, 08:23 AM	#2451
JoeMorgue Self Employed Remittance Man Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Florida Posts: 44,081	"My email looks different!" "Okay... how did it look before?" "I just looked different! This part here, it looked different." "I can't help if I don't know how it looked before." "I can't explain it, but it looked different."
	__________________ "If everyone in the room says water is wet and I say it's dry that makes me smart because at least I'm thinking for myself!" - The Proudly Wrong.

1st June 2023, 08:36 AM	#2452
Gord_in_Toronto Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 23,694	Originally Posted by arthwollipot Definitely doesn't apply here. Most Australian Public Service positions get literally hundreds of applicants - particularly here in Canberra. Different strokes for different folks. My area of expertise was meteorology -- the "MS" classification. I estimate there were a max of 200 of us in the entire country.
	__________________ "Reality is what's left when you cease to believe." Philip K. Dick

1st June 2023, 01:28 PM	#2453
catsmate No longer the 1 Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 28,603	Originally Posted by Wudang Crossing the garrote to ensure a seal, turning your back and lifting them, why cheese wire too messy etc. Yes. And the proper employment of a string file....
	__________________ As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves.

1st June 2023, 01:51 PM	#2454
quadraginta Becoming Beth Join Date: May 2009 Location: Central Vale of Humility (USA, sort of) Posts: 26,850	Originally Posted by catsmate Originally Posted by Wudang Crossing the garrote to ensure a seal, turning your back and lifting them, why cheese wire too messy etc. Yes. And the proper employment of a string file.... You can garotte someone with a string file? Kool. Today I Learned ...
	__________________ "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep." "Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation."

1st June 2023, 04:05 PM	#2455
Wudang BOFH Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: People's Republic of South Yorkshire Posts: 15,451	"Well as my notes from that Close Quarter Battle course said...."
	__________________ "Your deepest pools, like your deepest politicians and philosophers, often turn out more shallow than expected." Walter Scott.

1st June 2023, 05:08 PM	#2456
novaphile Quester of Doglets Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Sunny South Australia Posts: 4,933	Originally Posted by arthwollipot Definitely doesn't apply here. Most Australian Public Service positions get literally hundreds of applicants - particularly here in Canberra. Well, most people know that I am proficient with swords... You've reminded me of a tiny little notice that I once saw on the notice board in an ABC studio meal room (I won't tell you which one): THINGS ARE SO CONFUSED AROUND HERE THE MANAGERS ARE RUNNING AROUND STABBING EACH OTHER IN THE FRONT.
	__________________ We would be better, and braver, to engage in enquiry, rather than indulge in the idle fancy, that we already know -- Plato.

1st June 2023, 05:09 PM	#2457
novaphile Quester of Doglets Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: Sunny South Australia Posts: 4,933	Originally Posted by quadraginta You can garotte someone with a string file? Kool. Today I Learned ... Bike chains work pretty well too.
	__________________ We would be better, and braver, to engage in enquiry, rather than indulge in the idle fancy, that we already know -- Plato.

1st June 2023, 06:07 PM	#2458
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 82,019	Originally Posted by catsmate Do you have one mounted over your desk? It's an open plan office. All I have is low dividers.
	__________________ Слава Україні! Героям Слава! 20220224 - 20230224

1st June 2023, 10:26 PM	#2459
arthwollipot Observer of Phenomena Pronouns: he/him Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Ngunnawal Country Posts: 82,019	Want to hear something pretty crazy? We now have a system (Cyberark) that automatically manages all of our elevated accounts - our admin passwords, local admin passwords, god-tier passwords and so forth. It automatically changes the passwords on a weekly basis, and when you launch an application from within Cyberark, autofills the password and logs you on. But there's a problem. Not all of the applications that we use our admin passwords with can be launched from within Cyberark at this time. For example, I need to have a Chrome window open with admin credentials. Okay, Cyberark allows us to Copy the password and Paste it into the relevant login window. Except... There is one legacy system that we use where the Paste function is disabled. Worse, this particular legacy system times out after 15 minutes and requires that the password be reentered. This means that I have to have my secure 14-random-character administrator password in clear text in a Notepad window so that I can type it in manually. Crazy. Absolutely bonkers. And did I mention annoying?
	__________________ Слава Україні! Героям Слава! 20220224 - 20230224

2nd June 2023, 02:15 AM	#2460
BowlOfRed Master Poster Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Silicon Valley Posts: 2,334	Originally Posted by JoeMorgue "My email looks different!" "Okay... how did it look before?" "I just looked different! This part here, it looked different." "I can't help if I don't know how it looked before." "I can't explain it, but it looked different." Al Jaffee time: * Yeah, your computer probably is infected with a virus. It'll do that. * New directive from the execs. They're idiots to change the email that way, but what can you do? * Sounds like your monitor is getting old. You should put in a request for a new one.

2nd June 2023, 05:42 AM	#2461
Wudang BOFH Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: People's Republic of South Yorkshire Posts: 15,451	Originally Posted by arthwollipot There is one legacy system that we use where the Paste function is disabled. Worse, this particular legacy system times out after 15 minutes and requires that the password be reentered. This means that I have to have my secure 14-random-character administrator password in clear text in a Notepad window so that I can type it in manually. Crazy. Absolutely bonkers. And did I mention annoying? If it's web based can you raise this as an issue with IT security and suggest they get a browser extension installed that blocks "no paste"?
	__________________ "Your deepest pools, like your deepest politicians and philosophers, often turn out more shallow than expected." Walter Scott.

2nd June 2023, 09:35 AM	#2462
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 66,006	Clementus Slidewhistle: Can you make [Thing] for me? Me: No, what you want can only be built in [Tools I Don't Have]. Nanvirelle Flufflefart is the one who can build things in [Tools I Don't Have]. Me: Nanvirelle, can you assist Clementus with [Thing]? from then on: Nanvirelle to me only: Is [Version 1] okay? Check it out and let me know. Clementus to me only: Where is [Thing]? Is [Thing] done yet? How many damn times am I going to get replies to ME ONLY and just forward them before they realize I'm contributing nothing here as a middleman? They're even taking each other OUT of emails when I reply to both! I can't even SEE [Thing], much less assess whether it meets Clementus's needs. Why isn't he talking to Nanvirelle? Why does Nanvirelle think I have any insight into Clementus's mind? My only contribution to [Thing] is that I slow down progress because of the wasted time in relaying their emails to each other!
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara. Last edited by TragicMonkey; 2nd June 2023 at 09:37 AM.

2nd June 2023, 10:41 AM	#2463
Dr. Keith Not a doctor. Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Texas Posts: 25,587	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey Clementus Slidewhistle: Can you make [Thing] for me? Me: No, what you want can only be built in [Tools I Don't Have]. Nanvirelle Flufflefart is the one who can build things in [Tools I Don't Have]. Me: Nanvirelle, can you assist Clementus with [Thing]? from then on: Nanvirelle to me only: Is [Version 1] okay? Check it out and let me know. Clementus to me only: Where is [Thing]? Is [Thing] done yet? How many damn times am I going to get replies to ME ONLY and just forward them before they realize I'm contributing nothing here as a middleman? They're even taking each other OUT of emails when I reply to both! I can't even SEE [Thing], much less assess whether it meets Clementus's needs. Why isn't he talking to Nanvirelle? Why does Nanvirelle think I have any insight into Clementus's mind? My only contribution to [Thing] is that I slow down progress because of the wasted time in relaying their emails to each other! Being the middleman in such conversations is 75% of my job. I love it.
	__________________ Suffering is not a punishment not a fruit of sin, it is a gift of God. He allows us to share in His suffering and to make up for the sins of the world. -Mother Teresa If I had a pet panda I would name it Snowflake.

2nd June 2023, 11:22 AM	#2464
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 66,006	Originally Posted by Dr. Keith Being the middleman in such conversations is 75% of my job. I love it. If I extracted any benefit from it that would be another matter, but I don't. Credit for the work will go only to Nanvirelle for doing it and Clementus for thinking to ask for it, there will be no financial benefit flowing my way as a result of it, and every minute I spend on forwarding messages is a minute behind in my actual work getting done, for which I do get judged. I'm not paid by the hour so the time is simply wasted.
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

2nd June 2023, 11:55 AM	#2465
catsmate No longer the 1 Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 28,603	Originally Posted by quadraginta You can garotte someone with a string file? Kool. Today I Learned ... Yeah, though it gets messy. Very handy for decapitation though.
	__________________ As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves.

2nd June 2023, 12:04 PM	#2466
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 66,006	Originally Posted by catsmate Yeah, though it gets messy. Very handy for decapitation though. When I took a pottery class one of the tools was a thick, sharp metal wire with wooden handles on each end. It's allegedly meant for slicing through clay, but damned if half the class didn't instantly see it as a murder weapon. This was pre-internet so I wasn't able to do any quick research on strangulation/decapitation murders among pottery students but I'm pretty sure that somewhere out there there are a lot of nearly-decapitated bodies of people who unwisely criticized amateur pottery.
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

Yesterday, 03:59 AM	#2467
catsmate No longer the 1 Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 28,603	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey When I took a pottery class one of the tools was a thick, sharp metal wire with wooden handles on each end. It's allegedly meant for slicing through clay, but damned if half the class didn't instantly see it as a murder weapon. This was pre-internet so I wasn't able to do any quick research on strangulation/decapitation murders among pottery students but I'm pretty sure that somewhere out there there are a lot of nearly-decapitated bodies of people who unwisely criticized amateur pottery. I've seen them. Though the strong file/wire saw has a serrated edge, really good for sawing through the neck. But very messy. Poisons are generally easier.
	__________________ As human right is always something given, it always in reality reduces to the right which men give, "concede," to each other. If the right to existence is conceded to new-born children, then they have the right; if it is not conceded to them, as was the case among the Spartans and ancient Romans, then they do not have it. For only society can give or concede it to them; they themselves cannot take it, or give it to themselves.

Yesterday, 12:29 PM	#2468
Gord_in_Toronto Penultimate Amazing Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 23,694	Originally Posted by catsmate I've seen them. Though the strong file/wire saw has a serrated edge, really good for sawing through the neck. But very messy. Poisons are generally easier. I'm imagining a police procedural show (most likely from the BBC) where the forensic examiner records traces of clay in a wound.
	__________________ "Reality is what's left when you cease to believe." Philip K. Dick

Yesterday, 12:52 PM	#2469
TragicMonkey Poisoned Waffles Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: Monkey Posts: 66,006	Originally Posted by Gord_in_Toronto I'm imagining a police procedural show (most likely from the BBC) where the forensic examiner records traces of clay in a wound. "Clearly the culprit was a golem!"
	__________________ You added nothing to that conversation, Barbara.

Yesterday, 05:56 PM	#2470
quadraginta Becoming Beth Join Date: May 2009 Location: Central Vale of Humility (USA, sort of) Posts: 26,850	Originally Posted by Gord_in_Toronto I'm imagining a police procedural show (most likely from the BBC) where the forensic examiner records traces of clay in a wound. "Bones" would have picked that up in a heartbeat. And figured out where the clay came from in the next two.
	__________________ "A great deal of intelligence can be invested in ignorance when the need for illusion is deep." "Ninety percent of the politicians give the other ten percent a bad reputation."

Today, 04:55 AM	#2471
a_unique_person Director of Hatcheries and Conditioning Join Date: Jul 2002 Location: Waiting for the pod bay door to open. Posts: 45,251	Originally Posted by TragicMonkey Clementus Slidewhistle: Can you make [Thing] for me? Me: No, what you want can only be built in [Tools I Don't Have]. Nanvirelle Flufflefart is the one who can build things in [Tools I Don't Have]. Me: Nanvirelle, can you assist Clementus with [Thing]? from then on: Nanvirelle to me only: Is [Version 1] okay? Check it out and let me know. Clementus to me only: Where is [Thing]? Is [Thing] done yet? How many damn times am I going to get replies to ME ONLY and just forward them before they realize I'm contributing nothing here as a middleman? They're even taking each other OUT of emails when I reply to both! I can't even SEE [Thing], much less assess whether it meets Clementus's needs. Why isn't he talking to Nanvirelle? Why does Nanvirelle think I have any insight into Clementus's mind? My only contribution to [Thing] is that I slow down progress because of the wasted time in relaying their emails to each other! I hate to tell you this but perhaps you are seen as the most competent, rational IT person there.
	__________________ *Continually pushing the boundaries of mediocrity.* Everything is possible, but not everything is probable. “Perception is real, but the truth is not.” - Imelda Marcos

Today, 06:44 AM	#2472
Mashuna Ovis ex Machina Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Sir Ddinbych Posts: 6,959	Originally Posted by Wudang "Well as my notes from that Close Quarter Battle course said...." I used to work with an ex-military gentleman who had a poster up over his desk. It showed a sniper in a ghillie suit, with the caption, "If I lived every day as if it were my last, the body count would be enormous."
	__________________ I’d rather be a rising ape than a falling angel. - Sir Terry Pratchett