Things that don't deserve their own thread

[Niegs]

I know it sounds crazy, but I want to see this as a live comedy sketch. (Read the back cover.)

[Grandpa]

I know it sounds crazy, but I want to see this as a live comedy sketch. (Read the back cover.)

That's just not right...

[Niegs]

I know it sounds crazy, but I want to see this as a live comedy sketch. (Read the back cover.)

That's just not right...

The account is really good at these cover edits.

Pretty sure this was one of their early ones:

[fishfoodie]

The US Navy detected sounds "consistent with an implosion" shortly after OceanGate's Titan submersible lost contact, a navy official has said.

Five people were aboard the vessel when it went missing during a dive to the Titanic wreck on Sunday.

The loss of the sub was confirmed on Thursday after a huge search mission.

The official told CBS News their information about the "acoustic anomaly" had been used by the US Coast Guard to narrow the search area.

...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65994405

[Uncle fester]

The US Navy detected sounds "consistent with an implosion" shortly after OceanGate's Titan submersible lost contact, a navy official has said.

Five people were aboard the vessel when it went missing during a dive to the Titanic wreck on Sunday.

The loss of the sub was confirmed on Thursday after a huge search mission.

The official told CBS News their information about the "acoustic anomaly" had been used by the US Coast Guard to narrow the search area.

...

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-65994405

Had a feeling that your "conspiracy theory" wasn't too far off.

[mat the expat]

It’s such a momentous piece of news that I’m surprised we haven’t seen more of it over here.

I feel for the BiL, it wouldn't be a nice place to be right now. I had a mate years back who worked for MacQuarie... he put in huge hours, spent weeks away from the family working on 'projects' that can't have sat well with our free radical beers and sport social habits. It ended up costing him the marriage. Soul destroying corporations are a real thing.

It is a huge story and I wonder just how far it will run. Political will to effect change is lacking in Australia... I don't think it'll blow over but it might not end up a nuclear catastrophe.

The latest is very concerning - the ex Chief of Police becomes a partner with PWC and then rings his mate, the head of the AFP - $750K contract awarded with no tender process.

TBH, whilst I'm sure your mate BiL is a top guy, they pay for the risk.

I recently did a contract at a major Rescue agency that had millions donated. KPMG and Deloitte had arrived like Vultures (Interestingly, as a senior member had ties to them).

Zero delivery over a year, and none to expected in the 6 months remaining on their contract

They should be broken up

[tabascoboy]

Stockton Rush RIP

...tourist subs, which could once be skippered by anyone with a U.S. Coast Guard captain’s license, were regulated by the Passenger Vessel Safety Act of 1993, which imposed rigorous new manufacturing and inspection requirements and prohibited dives below 150 feet. The law was well-meaning, Rush says, but he believes it needlessly prioritized passenger safety over commercial innovation (a position a less adventurous submariner might find open to debate). “There hasn’t been an injury in the commercial sub industry in over 35 years. It’s obscenely safe, because they have all these regulations. But it also hasn’t innovated or grown—because they have all these regulations.”

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovati ... 180972179/


There was reportedly a waiver with 3 seperate clauses in the T&C for passengers relating to "in the event of death"

[sockwithaticket]

Wish I could say this was a surprise, but it certainly fits in with arrogant CEO stereotypes being borne out by other bits of information around the event.

It comes after a former employee of the missing Titan submersible operator has revealed he had raised "safety concerns" over the vessel but was reportedly "met with hostility" before later being sacked, according to court documents.

OceanGate's former director of marine operations, David Lochridge, had raised concerns over "safety and quality control issues regarding the Titan to OceanGate executive management", according to the filings.

In the August 2018 court document, it claims chief executive and founder of OceanGate Expeditions Stockton Rush, asked Mr Lochridge to conduct a "quality inspection" report on the vessel following the "issues of quality control".

Mr Lochridge "identified numerous issues that posed serious safety concerns" but he was reportedly "met with hostility and denial of access" to necessary documents.
d.

The court filing claims he was worried about a "lack of non-destructive testing performed on the hull of the Titan", and that he "stressed the potential danger to passengers of the Titan as the submersible reached extreme depths".

Mr Lochridge was later fired from the company, wrongfully he claims.

[Hal Jordan]

And already social media is blaming wokeness because the owner preferred to hire young, white dudes with less experience rather than older white dudes with more experience..

Or maybe he was just a cavalier idiot who preferred a workforce that wouldn't tell him no, since he fired the bloke who said it wasn't up to scratch.

[tabascoboy]

There was reportedly a waiver with 3 seperate clauses in the T&C for passengers relating to "in the event of death"

Waivers may not shield OceanGate from lawsuits - legal experts
Liability waivers signed by the five men on board the Titan may not shield OceanGate from potential lawsuits by their families, US legal experts tell Reuters news agency.

"If there were aspects of the design or construction of this vessel that were kept from the passengers or it was knowingly operated despite information that it was not suitable for this dive, that would absolutely go against the validity of the waiver," personal injury lawyer and maritime law expert Matthew Shaffer says.

Joseph Low, a personal injury lawyer from California, says: "There are so many different examples of what families might still have claims for despite the waivers, but until we know the cause we can't determine whether the waivers apply."

David Pogue, a reporter from CBS News, the BBC's partner in the US, made the trip with OceanGate last year and reported that the waiver he signed mentioned the possibility of death three times on the first page.

OceanGate could argue it was not grossly negligent and that the waivers apply because they fully described the inherent dangers of the dive, Reuters reports.

The degree of any potential negligence and how that might impact the applicability of the waivers will depend on the causes of the disaster, which are still under investigation.

The BBC has been looking into the legal claims and we are hoping to bring you more later.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/world-u ... a-65967464

[Raggs]

Yeah, just because you've signed a contract doesn't necessarily mean anything. From uncovered aspects, to it simply not being legal, a contract is not a full and final thing.

[TB63]

[S/Lt_Phillips]

I see the tories and their press are continuing its campaign against the terrible modern woke scourge of working from home - last week it was causing hosepipe bans, this week it's adding to benefit bills because people have joint pain from sitting at uncomfortable desks.

No mention of course that the claims of reduced productivity from WFH have been debunked.

[sockwithaticket]

I see the tories and their press are continuing its campaign against the terrible modern woke scourge of working from home - last week it was causing hosepipe bans, this week it's adding to benefit bills because people have joint pain from sitting at uncomfortable desks.

No mention of course that the claims of reduced productivity from WFH have been debunked.

Ah yes because all in office work stations are perfectly calibrated to the physical requirements of their user and have no contribution to joint pain whatsoever

[inactionman]

I see the tories and their press are continuing its campaign against the terrible modern woke scourge of working from home - last week it was causing hosepipe bans, this week it's adding to benefit bills because people have joint pain from sitting at uncomfortable desks.

No mention of course that the claims of reduced productivity from WFH have been debunked.

I've not much to comment on the broader WFH arguments, but I would say I've had a load more back pain and eyesight issues since working at home became more or less permanent.

That's more a problem of hosting multiple, consecutive meetings via zoom than of physical locale or environment. There are days where I won't get up from my desk for three hours, or look further than my monitor - at least in an office I'd have had to get my lazy arse up to walk to the meeting room.

I think it's worth considering that working from home may not actually be that good for your health.

[sockwithaticket]

I see the tories and their press are continuing its campaign against the terrible modern woke scourge of working from home - last week it was causing hosepipe bans, this week it's adding to benefit bills because people have joint pain from sitting at uncomfortable desks.

No mention of course that the claims of reduced productivity from WFH have been debunked.

I've not much to comment on the broader WFH arguments, but I would say I've had a load more back pain and eyesight issues since working at home became more or less permanent.

That's more a problem of hosting multiple, consecutive meetings via zoom than of physical locale or environment. There are days where I won't get up from my desk for three hours, or look further than my monitor - at least in an office I'd have had to get my lazy arse up to walk to the meeting room.

I think it's worth considering that working from home may not actually be that good for your health.

Counter - time sat down in a car or on a train on the way in plus at a desk in the office is just as great as time sat down when working from home, only in the latter scenario I get a couple of hours back from not having to commute that can be put into doing exercise to mitigate how sedentary far too many 'office' workers are (regardless of where their work station is).

Unless a company is very good at co-ordinating when in office days are, a lot of the time people end up doing meetings sat at their desk on Teams rather than moving to a meeting room anyway, which makes it functionally no different to being at home.

[Raggs]

I see the tories and their press are continuing its campaign against the terrible modern woke scourge of working from home - last week it was causing hosepipe bans, this week it's adding to benefit bills because people have joint pain from sitting at uncomfortable desks.

No mention of course that the claims of reduced productivity from WFH have been debunked.

I've not much to comment on the broader WFH arguments, but I would say I've had a load more back pain and eyesight issues since working at home became more or less permanent.

That's more a problem of hosting multiple, consecutive meetings via zoom than of physical locale or environment. There are days where I won't get up from my desk for three hours, or look further than my monitor - at least in an office I'd have had to get my lazy arse up to walk to the meeting room.

I think it's worth considering that working from home may not actually be that good for your health.

This all sounds like things that could have easily been avoided by you though, and not everyone in an office has meetings etc to get them up.

[fishfoodie]

I see the tories and their press are continuing its campaign against the terrible modern woke scourge of working from home - last week it was causing hosepipe bans, this week it's adding to benefit bills because people have joint pain from sitting at uncomfortable desks.

No mention of course that the claims of reduced productivity from WFH have been debunked.

I've not much to comment on the broader WFH arguments, but I would say I've had a load more back pain and eyesight issues since working at home became more or less permanent.

That's more a problem of hosting multiple, consecutive meetings via zoom than of physical locale or environment. There are days where I won't get up from my desk for three hours, or look further than my monitor - at least in an office I'd have had to get my lazy arse up to walk to the meeting room.

I think it's worth considering that working from home may not actually be that good for your health.

Micro-Breaks !

You probably used to get them naturally in office, by someone dropping by & asking a question, or getting up to get a cuppa or whatever. At home you need to introduce them yourself, like one an hour, so you aren't just stuck in the same position.

I get up & put on the washing, or hang it out, or do some prep for the next meal etc.

I wasn't sold on the 50 min meeting, but its a good idea when you have that 3hr block of them with the US, or where ever.

[sockwithaticket]

I see the tories and their press are continuing its campaign against the terrible modern woke scourge of working from home - last week it was causing hosepipe bans, this week it's adding to benefit bills because people have joint pain from sitting at uncomfortable desks.

No mention of course that the claims of reduced productivity from WFH have been debunked.

I've not much to comment on the broader WFH arguments, but I would say I've had a load more back pain and eyesight issues since working at home became more or less permanent.

That's more a problem of hosting multiple, consecutive meetings via zoom than of physical locale or environment. There are days where I won't get up from my desk for three hours, or look further than my monitor - at least in an office I'd have had to get my lazy arse up to walk to the meeting room.

I think it's worth considering that working from home may not actually be that good for your health.

Micro-Breaks !

You probably used to get them naturally in office, by someone dropping by & asking a question, or getting up to get a cuppa or whatever. At home you need to introduce them yourself, like one an hour, so you aren't just stuck in the same position.

I get up & put on the washing, or hang it out, or do some prep for the next meal etc.

I wasn't sold on the 50 min meeting, but its a good idea when you have that 3hr block of them with the US, or where ever.

Tbf have seen it with my bosses where their calendar is just booked solid for meetings (most of which are probably entirely unnecessary) and they're all full hours rather than 50 minute ones that provide the opportunity to get up and stretch legs. However, that needs some feedback up the chain to whoever, possibly even HR or whoever's responsible for your office/company health and safety stuff, that it's happening and that meeting times need to be amended to ensure that people aren't sat down in the same position for hour after hour.

[inactionman]

I see the tories and their press are continuing its campaign against the terrible modern woke scourge of working from home - last week it was causing hosepipe bans, this week it's adding to benefit bills because people have joint pain from sitting at uncomfortable desks.

No mention of course that the claims of reduced productivity from WFH have been debunked.

I've not much to comment on the broader WFH arguments, but I would say I've had a load more back pain and eyesight issues since working at home became more or less permanent.

That's more a problem of hosting multiple, consecutive meetings via zoom than of physical locale or environment. There are days where I won't get up from my desk for three hours, or look further than my monitor - at least in an office I'd have had to get my lazy arse up to walk to the meeting room.

I think it's worth considering that working from home may not actually be that good for your health.

This all sounds like things that could have easily been avoided by you though, and not everyone in an office has meetings etc to get them up.

If I could ban all my zooms meetings, I would. In the blink of an eye.


There's a book to be written about changes to office working during and after covid. My biggest issue with zoom is that it encourages people to book 30 minute slots for something that would have been a 5-minute desk-side chat, and the old truism that work expands to fill the available time is best demonstrated in zoom meets. It doesn't take to many of those to block-book out a diary.

[inactionman]

I see the tories and their press are continuing its campaign against the terrible modern woke scourge of working from home - last week it was causing hosepipe bans, this week it's adding to benefit bills because people have joint pain from sitting at uncomfortable desks.

No mention of course that the claims of reduced productivity from WFH have been debunked.

I've not much to comment on the broader WFH arguments, but I would say I've had a load more back pain and eyesight issues since working at home became more or less permanent.

That's more a problem of hosting multiple, consecutive meetings via zoom than of physical locale or environment. There are days where I won't get up from my desk for three hours, or look further than my monitor - at least in an office I'd have had to get my lazy arse up to walk to the meeting room.

I think it's worth considering that working from home may not actually be that good for your health.

Micro-Breaks !

You probably used to get them naturally in office, by someone dropping by & asking a question, or getting up to get a cuppa or whatever. At home you need to introduce them yourself, like one an hour, so you aren't just stuck in the same position.

I get up & put on the washing, or hang it out, or do some prep for the next meal etc.

I wasn't sold on the 50 min meeting, but its a good idea when you have that 3hr block of them with the US, or where ever.

Exactly this. I make sure I get up and move, however on many days some sods will in-fill my diary and I literally cannot leave my screen for 3 hours (happily not all the time, as otherwise I'd ever post to NPR). It's a culture thing, encouraged and enabled by zoom, and I think it's damaging. Just because I have 30 minutes unaccounted for in my diary doesn't mean I really have time to talk to you about something of no direct relevance to me.

On this note, I used to be on-site at Rolls-Royce a lot in a previous role, and they published a meeting etiquette guide as even face-to-face meets were getting silly.
It went something like this:
All scheduled one hour meets start at least 5 mins past and must finish by ten mins to the hour latest. (people need to get to and form rooms, and will have small tasks to do in between meets)
agenda must be published and a note-taker designated (i.e. if there's no real point to the meet, don't hold the meet, and if you do hold the emet, have everyone contributing and not face-down ion a computer/notebook.

[SaintK]

I see the tories and their press are continuing its campaign against the terrible modern woke scourge of working from home - last week it was causing hosepipe bans, this week it's adding to benefit bills because people have joint pain from sitting at uncomfortable desks.

No mention of course that the claims of reduced productivity from WFH have been debunked.

I've not much to comment on the broader WFH arguments, but I would say I've had a load more back pain and eyesight issues since working at home became more or less permanent.

That's more a problem of hosting multiple, consecutive meetings via zoom than of physical locale or environment. There are days where I won't get up from my desk for three hours, or look further than my monitor - at least in an office I'd have had to get my lazy arse up to walk to the meeting room.

I think it's worth considering that working from home may not actually be that good for your health.

I worked from home for over 40 years though in a customer facing, field based role.Far better work/life balance despite the occassional stiff neck and sciatica twinge froim sitting in front of a PC. Got the same from averaging 35,000 miles per year in a car!

[inactionman]

I see the tories and their press are continuing its campaign against the terrible modern woke scourge of working from home - last week it was causing hosepipe bans, this week it's adding to benefit bills because people have joint pain from sitting at uncomfortable desks.

No mention of course that the claims of reduced productivity from WFH have been debunked.

I've not much to comment on the broader WFH arguments, but I would say I've had a load more back pain and eyesight issues since working at home became more or less permanent.

That's more a problem of hosting multiple, consecutive meetings via zoom than of physical locale or environment. There are days where I won't get up from my desk for three hours, or look further than my monitor - at least in an office I'd have had to get my lazy arse up to walk to the meeting room.

I think it's worth considering that working from home may not actually be that good for your health.

Counter - time sat down in a car or on a train on the way in plus at a desk in the office is just as great as time sat down when working from home, only in the latter scenario I get a couple of hours back from not having to commute that can be put into doing exercise to mitigate how sedentary far too many 'office' workers are (regardless of where their work station is).

Unless a company is very good at co-ordinating when in office days are, a lot of the time people end up doing meetings sat at their desk on Teams rather than moving to a meeting room anyway, which makes it functionally no different to being at home.

It's just where I am in life, but my kids are of the age where I don't get 5 minutes for exercise when at home, and it's only on the days I get into the office that I can easily get to the gym.

I note that, if I'm selective about what day I head into office, the traffic, parking etc is a load easier than in years past - but on certain days it does seem back to the bad old days. Having the option of working at home to avoid traffic is definitely a real quality-of-life improver.

[tabascoboy]

[Tichtheid]

That's cool.

I liked the high five from her fellow athlete.

[Uncle fester]

Pet hates with meetings.
1. The disorganized guy who leaves a meeting request till the last minute and puts it at lunchtime on the same day because "that's the only slot that was available in people's calendars".
2. Setting up annual leave on outlook-good. Marking the entire distribution list as also on leave-not so good.
3. Customer audits, booking a meeting room but not bothering to check for availability or getting an acceptance response from the meeting room. We had one audit that we had to hold in a broom closet because this dope didn't understand how outlook worked.

All 3 above are the same person.

[Uncle fester]

Can't imagine they are in good condition.

BBC News - Human remains thought to be found in Titan sub debris
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-66049789

[Grandpa]

Pet hates with meetings.
1. The disorganized guy who leaves a meeting request till the last minute and puts it at lunchtime on the same day because "that's the only slot that was available in people's calendars".
2. Setting up annual leave on outlook-good. Marking the entire distribution list as also on leave-not so good.
3. Customer audits, booking a meeting room but not bothering to check for availability or getting an acceptance response from the meeting room. We had one audit that we had to hold in a broom closet because this dope didn't understand how outlook worked.

All 3 above are the same person.

It's ok if it was you... we're all friends here...

[Grandpa]

I love that... also makes you appreciate the speed of the other athletes!

[Sandstorm]

I love that... also makes you appreciate the speed of the other athletes!

Ika would hit that.

[Jim Lahey]

The French rioting again and Macron making a cock of himself.

[Guy Smiley]

Ika would hit that.

I'd forgotten about Ika. Another of those posters where you're....



I had a flashback the other day about some of the old days on PR... posters like Mad Suppet and Chins. Genuinely funny fuckers.

[mat the expat]

I've not much to comment on the broader WFH arguments, but I would say I've had a load more back pain and eyesight issues since working at home became more or less permanent.

That's more a problem of hosting multiple, consecutive meetings via zoom than of physical locale or environment. There are days where I won't get up from my desk for three hours, or look further than my monitor - at least in an office I'd have had to get my lazy arse up to walk to the meeting room.

I think it's worth considering that working from home may not actually be that good for your health.

This all sounds like things that could have easily been avoided by you though, and not everyone in an office has meetings etc to get them up.

If I could ban all my zooms meetings, I would. In the blink of an eye.


There's a book to be written about changes to office working during and after covid. My biggest issue with zoom is that it encourages people to book 30 minute slots for something that would have been a 5-minute desk-side chat, and the old truism that work expands to fill the available time is best demonstrated in zoom meets. It doesn't take to many of those to block-book out a diary.

Again, a You problem.

Also, we're over 3 years in from Covid - if you're office didn't make sure your home setup was good......

Them and You problem

[inactionman]

This all sounds like things that could have easily been avoided by you though, and not everyone in an office has meetings etc to get them up.

If I could ban all my zooms meetings, I would. In the blink of an eye.


There's a book to be written about changes to office working during and after covid. My biggest issue with zoom is that it encourages people to book 30 minute slots for something that would have been a 5-minute desk-side chat, and the old truism that work expands to fill the available time is best demonstrated in zoom meets. It doesn't take to many of those to block-book out a diary.

Again, a You problem.

Also, we're over 3 years in from Covid - if you're office didn't make sure your home setup was good......

Them and You problem

I see. Just not attend meets called by various programme and function directors, it's an interesting idea. Not one that's likely to keep me in a job for long, but at least I'll be free to get up from my desk whenever I want.

I'm fascinated as to how zoom/teams has impacted working and culture now that it - in many organisations - has almost completely replaced physical meets. My current employer has always had an 'interruptible' culture where people are encouraged to contact those who can help and for those who can help to respond. This has the unfortunate side effect of random zoom meets being dropped into diaries, to the point that many now have to actually block a meeting over their lunchtime - previously where co-located you'd stop by desk and if they're free you'd talk, if they weren't free you'd come back later. The issue with the zoom invite is that an empty slot in a diary does not mean free or not busy, or that it's convenient. On top of this, most diaries work in 30 minute chunks, so my day rapidly becomes a set of 30 minute meets back-to-back.

I could, of course just decline meets, but all the meets are to at least some degree relevant. All that's really needed is an etiquette to check with people before booking them into meets, which is simply basic courtesy but frequently gets missed.

In terms of physical environment, my office set-up is pretty decent, I've been a contractor for a decade so I've always bought my own kit and - given tax breaks - I generally buy decent stuff. I got a Herman Millar chair from an office outlet (which I'd heartily recommend) and have the 32" 4k screen and all the gubbins. Despite all this, the fact remains that sitting at a workstation and staring at a screen for extended periods is simply not good for you. At all.

[Sandstorm]

Setting a Zoom Meeting in a diary "for a quick chat with someone about something...." is stupid. Just call that person direct.

[inactionman]

Setting a Zoom Meeting in a diary "for a quick chat with someone about something...." is stupid. Just call that person direct.

zoom and similar has replaced landlines in many places, and I'm not issued a work phone or obliged to provide my personal mobile (which I'm glad about as don't fancy out of hours hassle).

There is the option of skype or other instant messaging, but that implies effort to precis the actual ask - it seems it's easier just to drop a meet into diary.

[Sandstorm]

Setting a Zoom Meeting in a diary "for a quick chat with someone about something...." is stupid. Just call that person direct.

zoom and similar has replaced landlines in many places, and I'm not issued a work phone or obliged to provide my personal mobile (which I'm glad about as don't fancy out of hours hassle).

There is the option of skype or other instant messaging, but that implies effort to precis the actual ask - it seems it's easier just to drop a meet into diary.

I'm not a regular Zoom user, but surely you can make a person to person Voicecall using the App??

[inactionman]

Setting a Zoom Meeting in a diary "for a quick chat with someone about something...." is stupid. Just call that person direct.

zoom and similar has replaced landlines in many places, and I'm not issued a work phone or obliged to provide my personal mobile (which I'm glad about as don't fancy out of hours hassle).

There is the option of skype or other instant messaging, but that implies effort to precis the actual ask - it seems it's easier just to drop a meet into diary.

I'm not a regular Zoom user, but surely you can make a person to person Voicecall using the App??

Yep, you can dial them, and although they won't receive call if the ap isn't open, most people have it running in the background.

To be honest, I'm a bit surprised that there isn't more made of the ad-hoc calls, rather than seizing half an hour of someone's time - it's such a weird cultural thing.

[Sandstorm]

To be honest, I'm a bit surprised that there isn't more made of the ad-hoc calls, rather than seizing half an hour of someone's time - it's such a weird cultural thing.

It comes from people working at home pre-Covid and wanting to ensure the bosses know they're actually working. Send pointless emails at 17:30 to everyone in the group, etc ......your lot are making tons of Zoom appointments to prove how busy they are!!

[sockwithaticket]

If I need to quickly ask someone something and it's more time sensitive than waiting for an email response, I'll just drop an IM 'have you got 5 minutes?' Occasionally you'll be ignored or end up just missing each other's availability, but the vast majority of the time it works. A lot of the time the query can be dealt with just via Teams chat and we'll escalate to a call if something's not being.

I'll only schedule an actual Zoom meeting with people if I'm pretty certain we'll need more than 20 minutes to go over whatever it is.

The tools are definitely there if people want to use them properly, but it can be difficult to try and set boundaries with superiors who don't like or want to engage with said tools or to go against a workplace culture of meeting setting. All you can do is push back via your immediate managers. I found it helps to frame it as being better for the business by improving efficiency or some such waffle - they could have me in a meeting paying attention or have me doing useful work and most of the time the latter is a better use of my time and their money.