Skip to main content
Catching up on old business....

Gotta laugh:

"I don't think that I can summarize those," Allchin said. "I'm not an attorney."


That's Jim Allchin, Microsoft vice president and the man in charge of their Windows section, admitting that Microsoft broke laws. He just wouldn't specify which laws, which is fair since it's not his job to point out to anyone what MS did or might have done. Still, it's amusing, almost as amusing as....

"I couldn't do what you've got here [remove Internet Explorer from the Windows operating system]," said Allchin, suffering from a severe cold. "Forget about any business thing. Technically I just couldn't do it."


And in the next sentence of the story, Allchin admits that the company "has done no studies to see if it could be done." He also conveniently forgets that the DOJ demonstrated that IE can successfully be removed from Windows.



Good grief!

A 5ft 1in firewoman who is too short to carry out some of her duties yesterday claimed sex discrimination after she was taken off active duty.


The story recounts how she can't handle much of the fire equipment, and that the East Sussex Fire Authority "failed to accomodate her height when designing equipment in the operation of fire appliances." Some of the "equipment" includes the emergency keys in lifts (elevators, that is), which meant she was unable to respond to any emergencies involving lifts.



Sorry, but the physical inability to do somethings does not constitute discrimination, period. And if you can't work the key and can't handle a standard emergency, you can't do the job.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

I (Briefly) Try a Mac

 I Bought a Mac. My first computer was an Atari 800, fully loaded with 48k of RAM. And I mean the original, beige model, not its low-slung, fancy successor. My friend went for an Apple IIe, which cost a relative fortune. Eventually, I’d step up to an Atari 1040ST, while he’d get a IIgs. And even more eventually, we both ended up with IBM PC compatibles. MSDOS was my friend, Unix an ally. It was with great reluctance that I transition from a command-line interface (CLI) to a Graphic User Interface (GUI), always on a PC platform and never a Mac. I never bought into the hype and never experienced all the horrid things that allegedly befell anyone using a PC. For me, they just worked. Yet here I am, these many decades later, typing this on a brand-new MacBook Air M4. How things change... Initially, there was little regret but a mounting list of frustrations. Adjusting to the keyboard isn’t too hard, it’s just a matter of experimentation. Learning how to scale the display wasn’t awful, ...

Dune Part 2 (2024)

I have come not to praise Dune but to bury it. I am in a distinct minority. So be it. To explain why, there will be some minor spoilers ahead; sorry. The short version is #NotMyDune. Summary: Picking up where Dune Part 1 left off, we find the young Paul Atreides (Timothée Chalamet) hanging out with the Fremen. Plots to overthrow rival houses and empires ensue. Go here to see what I thought about Dune Part 1 (2021) . Overall, I found it to be technically brilliant, but lacking a human heart, an exercise in frenetic slow motion. D2 is more of the same, though with far more action. Acting-wise, everyone is doing a fine, more than adequate job. Absolutely no one or nothing stands out. The way the characters are written (adapted, actually), their back and forths and interactions, are all weak and unengaging. I generally hate when they speak. I've read the novel a ridiculous number of times, and these films are prompting me to read it again. I understand that trying to translate the n...

Rogan

The entire Joe Rogan controversy is an example of the kids being left in charge and the adults refusing to teach them any better. I’m not a regular consumer of podcasts. There are a couple I listen to from time to time, but nothing on a regular basis. While I’ve caught a few minutes of the Joe Rogan Experience on YouTube, I’ve never listened to his podcast. One of the primary reasons for that is that you have to subscribe to Spotify to do so, and I prefer Qobuz, Tidal, or even Amazon Music. Rogan is behind Spotify’s paywall and that’s that. But the nature of the fight is about more than who does or does not listen to Rogan. This fight goes to the very nature of the First Amendment and the fundamental concept of the United States. And yes, I understand that cuts both ways. What’s his name and Joni Mitchell are free to yank their creations from Spotify, no ifs, ands, or buts. I’m not denying their right, I’m questioning their reasons. Rogan talks to people. He does so largely unfiltered....