The Vent and Rant Thread

[wannabee]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

Here's my rant:

When employers, and this includes the federal government, learn that employees are also humans, and need rest, regular breaks, and humane scheduling, maybe this sort of thing will stop.

Here in Australia we have regulations a plenty. Yet somehow, workers, truck drivers, emergency ward interns and registrars just like air traffic controllers are asked to work stupid hours to meed unrealistic deadlines and when the preverbial hits the fan some beedin' heart sticks their head up and asks "why?" did that truck crash . . . . how come another women had a miscarriage in the hospital bathroom while yelling for assistance?

If it's against the law to drive a truck on a public road for more than 12 hours then why is it OK for a registrar to diagnose sick and injured in the energency ward without adequate sleep or rest for over 24 hours?

[wyndslash]

we're all just cattle to them big wigs

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Excuse me whilst I swear a few times, kick over the odd mushroom growing in the corner and swear a few more times.

Major PC crash with Win7 looping through repair and not finding anything to repair, but refusing to proceed beyond the windows startup window.

Win7 refuses to recognise any of the disk images that I create each month. So I am forced to do a clean install from installation discs.

Daily backups haven't backed up everything they should do, or restore them to their original locations - luckily windows.old was created by the Win7 installation process and seems more reliable though needs a manual transfer - but at least it works !

I'm slowly coming back to where I should be though some programs need re-downloading with no doubt a few chosen words along the way. At least photos and Calibre Library are intact.

Logon records via NIS Security have gone awol - some vital !!!!

Still one hell of a way to waste 5 hours of a night to get a 'clean' system ..... !!!!!!!

Oh GAWD! I hate that! Hope you get it recovered.

I had mine (win7 64) just crash in the middle of typing a couple of days ago and proceed to do a crashdump. First time I've had that happen with Win7.

it did come back after restarting (and choosing restart normally).

I immediately made sure things were backed up to three different backups.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by wyndslash

we're all just cattle to them big wigs

Big Wig Cattle:

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by phenomshel

... snip ...

The url about says it all, apparently Ray LaHood is "embarrassed" by cases of air traffic controllers sleeping on the job ... Snip ...

Originally Posted by wannabee

... snip ... air traffic controllers are asked to work stupid hours to meed unrealistic deadlines and when the preverbial hits the fan some beedin' heart sticks their head up and asks "why?" did that truck crash ... snip ... hours?

Why oh why is air traffic not controlled by computers? Sure, I know the rhetoric, no computer can equal the human brain, blah blah blah. But I think it far exceeds a sleeping human brain.

BTW, I may be the only person ever to be disowned by her church for disagreeing with the air traffic controller strike in the 1980's. True story!

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

..
BTW, I may be the only person ever to be disowned by her church for disagreeing with the air traffic controller strike in the 1980's. True story!

You're just trying to get me going, aren't you?

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by GeoffC

Excuse me whilst I swear a few times, kick over the odd mushroom growing in the corner and swear a few more times.

Major PC crash with Win7 looping through repair and not finding anything to repair, but refusing to proceed beyond the windows startup window.

Win7 refuses to recognise any of the disk images that I create each month. So I am forced to do a clean install from installation discs.

Daily backups haven't backed up everything they should do, or restore them to their original locations - luckily windows.old was created by the Win7 installation process and seems more reliable though needs a manual transfer - but at least it works !

I'm slowly coming back to where I should be though some programs need re-downloading with no doubt a few chosen words along the way. At least photos and Calibre Library are intact.

Logon records via NIS Security have gone awol - some vital !!!!

Still one hell of a way to waste 5 hours of a night to get a 'clean' system ..... !!!!!!!

Wow Geoff, I feel your pain, I've not had it happen to me, my XP laptop is still perfectly adequate for me.

[poohbear_nc]

Why oh why is air traffic not controlled by computers? Sure, I know the rhetoric, no computer can equal the human brain, blah blah blah. But I think it far exceeds a sleeping human brain.

I learned some interesting trivia on this question - during the strike when everyone was asking "Why not just replace them with computers?"
Apparently air traffic towers run quite sophisticated computer programs, but if you visit one, you will see the screen covered with Post-It notes, with flight numbers scribbled on them, which the people move around the screen as they direct the planes. It seems that this is a more effective (and hence more safe) procedure for people to use - the visual presence of the Post-It notes is a better stimulant for human thinking and decision making than looking at blinking/glowing numbers or blips on a screen.
[I then looked at all the Post-It notes stuck on the margin of my monitor and understood what they meant.]

[wyndslash]

the more i buy ebooks, the cheaper i get...at least, i think so

[DixieGal]

Originally Posted by kennyc

You're just trying to get me going, aren't you?

No, i'm not kidding! I happened to express my concern for the travelling public during the strike. Turns out that the preacher's son was a controller. I was asked to leave the church where I grew up, was baptized in, and was located 1 house down from my parents' house. That was the first church that I got kicked out of. Baptists just don't approve of strong-willed, independent-thinking women who refuse to subjugate themselves to the male hierarchy for some reason. I figure that I'll barely get into heaven even without their approval.

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I learned some interesting trivia on this question - during the strike when everyone was asking "Why not just replace them with computers?"
Apparently air traffic towers run quite sophisticated computer programs, but if you visit one, you will see the screen covered with Post-It notes, with flight numbers scribbled on them, which the people move around the screen as they direct the planes. It seems that this is a more effective (and hence more safe) procedure for people to use - the visual presence of the Post-It notes is a better stimulant for human thinking and decision making than looking at blinking/glowing numbers or blips on a screen.
[I then looked at all the Post-It notes stuck on the margin of my monitor and understood what they meant.]

unless they are asleep. Or watching a good movie.

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

I learned some interesting trivia on this question - during the strike when everyone was asking "Why not just replace them with computers?"
Apparently air traffic towers run quite sophisticated computer programs, but if you visit one, you will see the screen covered with Post-It notes, with flight numbers scribbled on them, which the people move around the screen as they direct the planes. It seems that this is a more effective (and hence more safe) procedure for people to use - the visual presence of the Post-It notes is a better stimulant for human thinking and decision making than looking at blinking/glowing numbers or blips on a screen.
[I then looked at all the Post-It notes stuck on the margin of my monitor and understood what they meant.]

Another aspect about ATC is that they are talking to pilots, these guys don't want some computer talking to them, their lives and everyone onboard their planes depend on the transfer of information in the most efficient method possible. There was a comment in the Fact? Or Urban Legend thread about someone thinking cruse control would control the steering as well as the speed, anyway, the point is that we wouldn't trust these computers to "Drive" for us anymore than the highly trained and skilled pilots flying the planes would trust a computer to tell them where to fly and if it was safe to land. There are just to many variables involved.

This is one of the reasons GPS isn't allowed as the only source of spacial information in the cockpits, the pilots still rely on other instruments and the most important, the human senses. I'd rather trust my life to a 60 year old pilot than a computer any day!

[DixieGal]

But just for amoment, suppose that our current technology had existed back in olden days. I think we would have insisted that the job be handled by computers. But we are conditioned to believe that human input is better.

[desertblues]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

No, i'm not kidding! I happened to express my concern for the travelling public during the strike. Turns out that the preacher's son was a controller. I was asked to leave the church where I grew up, was baptized in, and was located 1 house down from my parents' house. That was the first church that I got kicked out of. Baptists just don't approve of strong-willed, independent-thinking women who refuse to subjugate themselves to the male hierarchy for some reason. I figure that I'll barely get into heaven even without their approval.

THAT'S MY GIRL

[Mortis]

Originally Posted by DixieGal

But just for amoment, suppose that our current technology had existed back in olden days. I think we would have insisted that the job be handled by computers. But we are conditioned to believe that human input is better.

Like everything, as the computers evolve there will be more computerized controls but there will always be a person overseeing it. Would you like to have a computer remove your appendix, they would have a smoother hand and more precision control, right?

I'll never trust my life to a computer alone, there has to be human input, as long as the person in question is awake and not hopped up on meth to stay awake.

[dsvick]

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Apparently air traffic towers run quite sophisticated computer programs, but if you visit one, you will see the screen covered with Post-It notes, with flight numbers scribbled on them, which the people move around the screen as they direct the planes. It seems that this is a more effective (and hence more safe) procedure for people to use - the visual presence of the Post-It notes is a better stimulant for human thinking and decision making than looking at blinking/glowing numbers or blips on a screen.

Which is all well and good until one of the post it notes covers up a plane that doesn't have its own not yet.

Originally Posted by Mortis

I'll never trust my life to a computer alone ...

I bet we already do it more often than we know. Maybe not to a computer completely but certainly to a large extent.