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Started by Quirkafleeg, 27 February, 2006, 03:03:14 PM

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Funt Solo

Ahhh ... copypasta.

Copy & paste (& cut) are, of course, wonderful. They also result in this sort of common coding error:


for(int r=0; r<rows; r++)
{
   for(int c=0; r<cols; c++)
   {
      a[r][c] = 0;
   }
}


Which I call copypasta. Or copyghetti.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Tjm86

Simon Warr of "That'll Teach Them" and St George's (Whacko School). 
On one level I feel for him as some of the things he was accused of were unfounded.  He was no Singer or Slade.  That said, he didn't have to do much in the way of acting for the reality show he 'starred' in.  Quite possibly others will be feeling quite ambivalent about the news.

Funt Solo

'Mad' Mike Hughes dies after crash-landing homemade rocket.

The oddly named "Science Channel" were apparently promoting this successful suicide effort. Perhaps they should rename themselves the "Shithead Channel".
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Gary James

Quote from: Funt Solo on 23 February, 2020, 09:02:11 PM
'Mad' Mike Hughes dies after crash-landing homemade rocket.
While it is tragic for his family, and extremely cynical of the Science Channel to have boasting rights in any of this event, there really aren't enough people on the planet willing to do things that are scary. Good on him for following a dream, however badly it actually ended up...

And before anyone says anything: no - I'm not allowed to play with rockets.

Richard

Quotethere really aren't enough people on the planet willing to do things that are scary.

But there are plenty who are willing to do things that are stupid.

Gary James

Quote from: Richard on 23 February, 2020, 11:18:25 PM
Quotethere really aren't enough people on the planet willing to do things that are scary.

But there are plenty who are willing to do things that are stupid.
There's a very thin line.  ;) Those willing to chase their dreams - however misguided - should be applauded.

I'll grant you, the whole flat Earth thing is just... mind-boggling. I'm not sure why I'm impressed with him having the nerve to do that, but I am.

Funt Solo

Quote from: Gary James on 23 February, 2020, 11:45:29 PM
Those willing to chase their dreams - however misguided - should be applauded.

So we should applaud Hitler? *

* Invoking Godwin's law
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Gary James

Quote from: Funt Solo on 24 February, 2020, 03:15:32 AM
So we should applaud Hitler? *
Eww. My first thought was Franky Zapata, but things like Elon Musk putting a car into space also counts - there are no logical reasons for either of their activities, but the fact they they have fulfilled a dream, and pushed what people can do a little farther on, is proof that there's still room for big ideas to thrive. 'Mad' Mike Hughes belongs, arguably, in the same category as Larry Walters and his balloon-powered flight on a chair, if not right up alongside people who free-run around the roofs of skyscrapers filming themselves.

For the past thirty years it seemed as if health and safety legislation1 had curbed people's ability to think in these terms, but the refusal of a few to bend to this over-protective sensibility is refreshing. I'm also impressed by chainsaw juggling at the Jim Rose Circus, so take my wide-eyed awe and envy in that context2.

1. It's really Legislation Against Innovation, curbing any impulse the populace of afflicted countries might have at doing things which, while dangerous, might also change the way we - as a culture - might think. Free-running went from underground to mainstream (with Casino Royale) in almost no time at all due to, I would argue, a dissatisfaction with the nannying trend around.
2. I'm not allowed to touch chainsaws. The last time I held an axe (I think I was 14), I ended up with a gash along my right arm, so a chanisaw in my hands is a very bad idea.

sheridan

Quote from: Gary James on 24 February, 2020, 09:08:23 AM
For the past thirty years it seemed as if health and safety legislation1 had curbed people's ability to think in these terms, but the refusal of a few to bend to this over-protective sensibility is refreshing.

1. It's really Legislation Against Innovation, curbing any impulse the populace of afflicted countries might have at doing things which, while dangerous, might also change the way we - as a culture - might think.

No it isn't.  It's legislation against employers exploiting their employees with no thoughts for their health and well-being - or do you think it's fine that people die of asbestosis because their employers couldn't be bothered to give them adequate equipment?

Gary James

Quote from: sheridan on 24 February, 2020, 11:37:46 AM
...do you think it's fine that people die of asbestosis because their employers couldn't be bothered to give them adequate equipment?
That is slightly different from all the warnings plastered everywhere about not going certain places, or doing certain things, that were - until astonishingly recently - not only considered perfectly safe, but pose very little actual danger. I'm all for things that keep people from actual harm, but there's a complete overreaction by authorities and organizations to even the remotest and unlikeliest occurence of a hazard.

People seem to overlook how utterly nerfed what they purchase now actually is - we are paying more, in real terms, for equipment which is less robust, less powerful, and less effective, than we were as little as ten or fifteen years ago. Humanity's most technologically advanced plane is now mothballed (with nothing to compare to Concorde being considered), and even our roads - something which can easily, if expensively, be made magnitudes safer - are being maintained at a state which has decades-old technology at its core.

I'm not arguing that there isn't a need for people to be protected, but the government(s, as this is a thing which goes back years) isn't actually doing us any favors by stifling what can be done.

TordelBack

I think there are some good reasons that Concorde is mothballed, and none of them are 'health and safety gorn mad".

I work in construction environments most days - my experience of witnessing ghastly and preventable accidents ocer 30 years means im happy to say that HS&W legislation and policing doesn't go nearly far enough. Heath & Safety Theatre, ie obsessive documentation and random constraints that exist only to enforce the employer/contractor's whim or enhance their score on public tenders, that's another thing entirely. A H&S authority with resources, personnel and legal teeth, bring it on.

And *none* of it stops you doing stupid things to yourself if you so desire, rather it kicks in when that stupidity puts others at risk.


Jim_Campbell

Quote from: Gary James on 24 February, 2020, 12:02:08 PM
That is slightly different from all the warnings plastered everywhere about not going certain places, or doing certain things, that were - until astonishingly recently - not only considered perfectly safe, but pose very little actual danger.

I think it's worth noting that a great many things that you'll see prohibited by signage and the like as a "health and safety" issue are nothing to do with Health & Safety legislation — often it's just because some overly-twitchy middle manager of a publicly accessible space has identified a potential scenario where someone could take legal action against them, so they slap a notice up and claim it's "health and safety" because people just shrug and accept that it's another example of "health and safety gone mad" when it's nothing of the sort.
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Proudhuff

Quote from: Jim_Campbell on 24 February, 2020, 12:47:12 PM
Quote from: Gary James on 24 February, 2020, 12:02:08 PM
That is slightly different from all the warnings plastered everywhere about not going certain places, or doing certain things, that were - until astonishingly recently - not only considered perfectly safe, but pose very little actual danger.

I think it's worth noting that a great many things that you'll see prohibited by signage and the like as a "health and safety" issue are nothing to do with Health & Safety legislation — often it's just because some overly-twitchy middle manager of a publicly accessible space has identified a potential scenario where someone could take legal action against them, so they slap a notice up and claim it's "health and safety" because people just shrug and accept that it's another example of "health and safety gone mad" when it's nothing of the sort.

This ^^^ so true.
DDT did a job on me

Funt Solo

Stewart Lee hasn't died, but he did do a bit that drives political correctness into health and safety.
++ A-Z ++  coma ++

Gary James

I'll happily admit to utter frustration at the middle managers and safety-conscious killjoys being my main bugbear, but there's a lot of things intrinsically tied to the notion which makes it impossible to simply dismiss as being factors instituted at a lower level. Now, I don't want to seem dismissive - at all, in any way - of the good which has arisen from protective measures for employees (which is a slightly different thing to what I'm getting at), but I've had a growing feeling that the reams of paperwork (waivers and consent forms), plus awful safety literature1 has gotten out of hand.

It took six hours of reading, signing paperwork, and then having what I had just read repeated to me, merely to go look-see inside an old mill. From merely a visual inspection, the building appeared to be remarkably well-maintained, nothing moved a jot while I was inside, and there was no equipment which I could possibly catch myself on (despite this being a big part of the propaganda warning leaflets).

Now, I know I'm not meant to admire urban explorers, and I completely understand why what they do is illegal (aside from the trespassing, there's the possibility of vandalism), but I can't help but feel that the reason such activity exists in the first place is due to the over-protective nature of going through the correct channels. The sense of being horrifically mollycoddled has meant that I haven't bothered with invitations, to go see places which require all the fuss, in a long time.

And it isn't merely "stupid stuff" (which, admittedly, a great many things can be considered to be), as things like swimming in streams is now deemed irresponsible and dangerous - despite the fact that an experienced swimmer ought not to have any trouble doing so. There are now what seems to be dozens of signs peppering the side of a stream I like forbidding the practise.

And I really didn't mean to turn this into a debate, as interesting as it has been. Rockets are cool. I like rockets. People strapping themselves to rockets are - likely thanks to seeing too many old film serials - somehow far more intriguing to me than should rightfully be the case.

1. I've offered, for free, to rewrite some of these to make them less difficult to get through, and even offered to include illustrations to highlight points which are better made that way - nobody seems interested in making the literature less dull or uninvolving, and the take-away is that it is merely the ticking of boxes that people seem interested in.

Quote from: Funt Solo on 24 February, 2020, 03:54:13 PM
Stewart Lee hasn't died, but he did do a bit that drives political correctness into health and safety.
"The kind of person who's awake at five in the morning..."
He can see me through the television camera?  :o

I'll always love him for his spin on Lear's Owl and the Pussycat, even if he is watching me somehow...