Will’s View

I had another run in with a lift today, in the same building that has ethereal pings, and it got me to thinking.

While in an elevator I like to try and do something constructive, like read something, or check my diary, or write a text message. And today was like any other: I stepped into the elevator - once I had figured out which one was actually on my floor - and then proceeded to do something vaguely useful. I heard the ‘ping’ and the undecipherable announcement as to which floor I was on, and walked out. Only to find that I was on the first floor, and not the third. Thankfully the person walking into the elevator called out after me, otherwise I would have had to do something horrible like wait for longer, or maybe even walk!

The main reason I didn’t really click that I was on the wrong floor was that every single floor in that building looks exactly the same. Getting out of the lifts you could be on any floor in the building. It’s not until you find the floor number until you realise your error. Only problem is that the floor number is brushed aluminium, and mounted on a stucco wall painted grey. How the heck am I meant to see that before the doors close on me for ever?

I realise that architects and the like have trouble with designing buildings. Hell, as far as I’m concerned I’ll leave it to them! But you’d think the interior designer (do they have interior designers for office blocks? Or do they just use lots of brushed aluminium and glass, and fill the rest with grey paint?), or someone with sense would say “Hey, this number is hard to read, maybe we should backlight it, or make it white, or some other damned sensible thing.”

With all these Occupational Health and Safety requirements around these days (half of them superfluous I reckon), surely there’s one for “well presented/lighted floor numbers”? Or maybe I need to start paying attention whilst in elevators…

--> I had another run in with a lift today, in the same building that has ethereal pings, and it got me to thinking. While in an elevator I like to try and do something constructive, like read something, or check my diary, or write a text message. And today was like any other: I stepped into the elevator - once I had figured out which one was actually on my floor - and then proceeded to do something (More...)

I have never really been a fan of Windows. I have always found that, as a user interface to launch user interfaces, it pales when compared to Mac OS. There are videos around of Windows even crashing whilst being demonstrated to technical professionals. Nice one Microsoft.

Anyway, I was on a machine running windows (no, not one of the new macs!!) yesterday, and was amazed by the Desktop clutter this person had accumulated. I am probably considered a Desktop Minimalist, because an untidy desktop just detracts from the lovely photo you spent ages finding on the internet that you’re using for a background.

And this, I can only assume, is why Microsoft invented the Desktop Cleanup Wizard. Great, something that will unclutter my Desktop every 60 days! But, in it’s great glory, where do you think the Wizard puts the icons it cleaned up? In a folder right back on the Desktop!!! Imagine the developer meetings:

Designer 1: I think people are sick of having messy Desktops.
Designer 2: You’re right! I don’t use half the icons on my Desktop.
Designer 1: Yeah! Well why don’t we build in a handy feature to clean it up every 60 days?
Designer 2: Brilliant idea, but where are we going to put the links? We can’t just delete them…
Designer 1: How about we put them in a folder …ummm… on the Desktop! So people know where they are?
Designer 2: Umm, isn’t there a more logical place, like My Computer, considering we’re taking things off the Desktop?
Project Manager: No, I think people will like Designer 1’s idea, let’s run with it.

There are many other “features” in Windows that I don’t like, but maybe I’ll save them until next time. I have to go and tidy my room by putting everything in one box in the corner.

--> I have never really been a fan of Windows. I have always found that, as a user interface to launch user interfaces, it pales when compared to Mac OS. There are videos around of Windows even crashing whilst being demonstrated to technical professionals. Nice one Microsoft. Anyway, I was on a machine running windows (no, not one of the new macs!!) yesterday, and was amazed by the Desktop clutter this person had accumulated. I am probably considered a (More...)

Hi Will, This is a friendly reminder.

Join me on WAYN so we can share our contact links, keep track of each others whereabouts and meet over 3 million people from all around the world!

Accept my invitation - join me on WAYN and see what I’ve been up to? Reject my invitation - you will not receive any more reminders from me.

Doesn’t it make you feel so special when you get a mass-produced invitation to join someone’s friend network?

Come join my network at hi5!

I now have over 459 friends in my network! You can meet all of them, plus more than 12 million other Hi5 members! Once you join, you will immediately be connected to all the people in my circle of friends.

Hi5 is an online service that lets you meet new people, view photos, browse profiles, and chat with your friends.

I’ll see you inside,

I’m so very flattered that I get to be one of your 459 friends, and have a chance of meeting over 12 million other people. But who the hell needs 12 million friends?

The invitations are the things that really get me. You can tell that someone has imported their MSN/Hotmail/Myspace address book, complete with people they haven’t seen since primary school. Are these people even around anymore? More importantly, do they really care? Most importantly, will they seek vengence for spamming them repeatedly? These questions should be asked before importing address books!

If - by some cruel twist of Fate - you are suitably bored, then comes the matter of trying to join. This isn’t the simple matter of an email address; your usual password that you always use for online sign-ups; and a reasonably undecipherable alias. They want to know the whole deal: name; address; date of birth; gender; email; and what you had for breakfast. Okay, so I may have made that last one up, but the point is there: it’s an exhausting ordeal just to join!

Do these sites actually fulfill their desired function? Actually, scrap that, what the heck is their function? I can use it to see where my friends are, woohoo. I can do that by sending them an email, if they don’t reply then they don’t want to talk to me. Simple as that. For me it just goes on the end of the list of things to do on the internet when I’m bored beyond the stage of watching Big Brother or Dancing with the Stars.

--> Hi Will, This is a friendly reminder. Join me on WAYN so we can share our contact links, keep track of each others whereabouts and meet over 3 million people from all around the world! Accept my invitation - join me on WAYN and see what I’ve been up to? Reject my invitation - you will not receive any more reminders from me. Doesn’t it make you feel so special when you get a mass-produced invitation to (More...)

I haven’t been reading the news all that much recently, but a recent email referenced something about a reluctance to fly on planes. So I started reading about these chilling yet ingenious attacks that were planned on trans-Atlantic flights from the UK to the US, reportedly aiming to detonate around 10 planes in the air, virtually simultaneously.

Hunting around the Internet for news articles, I found a plethora of opinions, and many of the same ‘facts’ repeated. The thing that immediately caught my attention was George Bush’s response to the threat:

The recent arrests that our fellow citizens are now learning about are a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation.
-George W. Bush

This statement worries me somewhat. I have always been critical to some extent of George W. Bush’s “War on Terrorism” tag line, the way the public react to wars has severely changed ever since the Vietnam War, but I still don’t think a conflict of interests counts as a war unless staged on some common or disputed ground. The problem here is that the disputed ground is purely moralistic, and it is widely known that neither side is going to ‘give in’ any time soon. Isn’t more like a tug-o-war, or a stalemate than a ‘real’ war?

Semantics aside, the bias against people of Islamic origin goes deeper. I found a prestigious news provider saying that the people whose accounts had been frozen by the Bank of England “appeared to be of Muslim origin…”. There is already enough bias against Muslims without saying that people “appear” to be Muslim, just by their photos and names. And what if they are Muslim? That doesn’t automatically mean that they belong to Al-Qaeda. I know this is all old material, but I figure it needs to be brought up every now and then. Because what happens when we don’t notice people being pigeon-holed? That’s more worrying in my opinion.

The reactions of the people that I have had chance to talk with have been vaired and interesting. The primary reaction is that of the chilling reality of these planned bombings. They were only “days away” from a “dry run”,and would have resulted in the deaths of at least a thousand people. Accounts differ as to how many planes they planned to detonate, and when they planned to do it, but it has apparently surfaced that leads from the bombing in London’s Underground helped MI5 unearth the plan. Did the underground bombers think that far ahead?

The next reaction is one of curiosity as to the ingenuity of creating a bomb from such ordinary items as a drink bottle and a disposable flash camera. While some people may think it abhorrent to be fascinated by this, I do think that ‘terrorists’ are becoming more resourceful as the authorities of various nations struggle to keep up. I don’t mean to be demeaning, I realise that governments have many things to think about and action at any one time, and even though several nations have apparently known about the use of liquid explosives for some time, it takes time to design, build and test machines that can detect them.

Then comes the sympathy for those whose flights were delayed/cancelled, and who are just too scared to continue. Having just travelled overseas, I wouldn’t wish extra delays on anyone. With people being asked to be at their check-in desks 3 or more hours before their planes leave, and many flights only allowing passengers essential items on the planes with them, airports must be hell at the moment. There are further ramifications also, with airlines forcing people’s carry-on baggage into the hold, surely that reduces their freight carrying ability also.

I would never proclaim to know the answer. But I do tend to be skeptical from time to time (and in fact I just found a reporter whose opinion is very similar to mine, scary). I can’t help but wonder why the US and the UK have put their alert levels up if they have “busted” this ring, and “captured the main players”. If they knew what was going to happen, and they have now foiled it, then surely there is - if anything - less of a threat now than before.

So why all the totalitarian measures? To ensure that the public realises what sort of “grave danger” it is in, and to foster belief and faith in our governments? It is all very convenient to constantly be at “war” with someone, it helps the government control The People better you see. George Orwell wrote a tale about that once I seem to recall.

--> I haven’t been reading the news all that much recently, but a recent email referenced something about a reluctance to fly on planes. So I started reading about these chilling yet ingenious attacks that were planned on trans-Atlantic flights from the UK to the US, reportedly aiming to detonate around 10 planes in the air, virtually simultaneously. Hunting around the Internet for news articles, I found a plethora of opinions, and many of the same ‘facts’ repeated. The (More...)

Yes, it’s that time of year again: Time to apply for every engineering vacation work programme you can find, and send off some pleas to all the companies you can find that you want to work for.

I realise that über-companies like Shell and BP have an incontinently large number of applicants for a limited number of vacation work placements. But the online system for signing up is somewhat troublesome. First you have to give them your email address and make a password - which is the same as every other password you use - that you can use to access your application. Then it’s on to uploading your résumé (only Word or PDF thank you, and not larger than 1MB). Who has a résumé larger than 1MB? Is it possible to even make a résumé bigger than 1MB without including all your holiday snaps from last summer up at the lake? Mine’s only a measly 80KB!

After struggling with the little applet to upload your résumé, it’s on to filling in your personal details. This part is usually the least painful, with a well laid-out form and not too much typing. Even though my details are on my résumé. Next, on to the history of results - even though it’s in my résumé too - where you either have to upload a copy of your results (not too difficult really), or add each subject and result one-by-one until you fill all the little boxes. Oh what joy once the boxes are finally filled and you realise that you’ve forgotten a subject somewhere.

So after struggling through that, you think it’s the home straight. Oh no my friend, it’s on to the personality and teamwork questions for you! The reason these questions are so hard is that they are ever so slightly different for each employer. They pose a challenge that means a good half hour testing your responses in Word or Pages to make sure that they make grammatical sense, and yet actually answer the question. And to make sure that the person reading them won’t think you’re a complete bumbling fool.

Finally you’re on the downhill side of the application. Sort of. You now have to try and recall all those jobs you’ve had, who the manager was, and what your ‘Main Responsibilities’ were. I directed traffic. What else do you want from me? Should I say I was a “vehicle flow co-ordinator, responsible for the timely redirection of vehicles for their own and others safety”?

And after doing all of this, nine times out of ten the sever crashes and you have to repeat from the second paragraph. Fun.

Back to the job grindstone for me.

--> Yes, it’s that time of year again: Time to apply for every engineering vacation work programme you can find, and send off some pleas to all the companies you can find that you want to work for. I realise that über-companies like Shell and BP have an incontinently large number of applicants for a limited number of vacation work placements. But the online system for signing up is somewhat troublesome. First you have to give them your email (More...)