Funny Pictures Thread. It begins again

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Staff member
Man, I'd love to be able to take time off.

I can't though. The radio station never stops broadcasting, and if I don't do what I do every day... we kinda pretty much don't get paid.

I'm trying to train up someone who can cover for me for vacations, but it's slow going because the system we use is balls and there are 9+ exceptions for every rule... and lots of crap you "just have to know" by virtue of having done it for so long. This salesperson never does this thing right, you just have to expect it. This agency always does this one wierd thing, you just have to know to adjust for it. These commercials come from this one left-field website nobody else uses but their traffic instructions still come via the mainstream delivery website. 10 second billboards are live except on this station during these hours during which time they have to be recorded so you have to set up nesting rotation rules yadda yadda yadda yadda.

I AM THE ENTRENCHED BUREAUCRACY.

The problem is the trench is now so deep I can't climb out of it to go visit relatives.
If it makes you feel any better, we have exactly this problem, too. Our timing isn't quite as critical, though. We have had to bring back in former employees at our expense before because they took the knowledge of how to do something with them. We are trying to change that, though. I've pushed for an internal Wiki, and management is pushing pretty hard to get people to use it. Wiki software is actually perfect for this.

It was the same when I was a prof. Grad students leave, and give you the virtual finger. They give you a half-assed thesis and turn in a disc with some badly organized, undocumented code and you never hear from them until they want a job reference.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
If it makes you feel any better, we have exactly this problem, too. Our timing isn't quite as critical, though. We have had to bring back in former employees at our expense before because they took the knowledge of how to do something with them. We are trying to change that, though. I've pushed for an internal Wiki, and management is pushing pretty hard to get people to use it. Wiki software is actually perfect for this.

It was the same when I was a prof. Grad students leave, and give you the virtual finger. They give you a half-assed thesis and turn in a disc with some badly organized, undocumented code and you never hear from them until they want a job reference.
Similar feels here. We do have an internal wiki, but even though it helps, there's just so much stuff you have to just "know" and recognize when you see it. The wiki doesn't have memory resident active contextual scanners, unfortunately. ;)
 

GasBandit

Staff member
The Bus Factor is why I am training a monkey in the first place, yeah. Last time I got sick the place damn near burned down.
 
1. Set up one of your computers so you can control it remotely (remote desktop, etc).
2. Train someone to be your monkey. Give them enough hands-on training that they can understand your phone and written instructions for tasks you can't use your computer for.
3. Start taking one day vacations once or twice a month. On those days, set up as much as you can in advance, then use the computer and the monkey via phone when needed for exceptions. Every time you have to call them, write down the instructions and store them in a binder.
4. Start taking longer vacations. Teach your boss about the Bus Factor and why these vacations are in his best interest.
5. Train a second monkey.

Eventually you'll be able to leave for a week at a time and while you'll still have to do stuff while on the road, you should at least be able to lengthen the shackles.
It's like a genetic programming algorithm.

--Patrick
 

GasBandit

Staff member

Above here is an edited version of the photo Russell Wilson added to his "favorites" tab on twitter. The tweet has since been removed, but not before it was captured for internet posterity.

Hopefully that divorce isn't going too hard on Wilson.
 
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I had to explain "The Gift of the Magi" to Mr. Z a week ago. His reaction? "That's just stupid!" I guess he forgets a time before couples communicated and Amazon wishlists.
MAD (or Cracked, I don't remember) Magazine did a version with the old Ron Perlman/Linda Hamilton TV show "Beauty and the Beast," once.

--Patrick
 
I remember flipping through the TV guide back in the early 90s (man I miss TV guide), and it said that Beauty and the Beast would be on soon, and I was all like, "Oh cool, the Disney movie's out on TV already?" And so I waited in eager anticipation for that particular time slot in that particular day, and then when I turned on the TV I was desperately disappointed to find it was a TV show, with a not particularly beautiful beauty and a not particularly beastly beast.

It is through these small disappointments that we grow up to become men.
 
Hey, that's Sarah Connor and Hellboy you're talking about!
I'm sorry, but while Linda Hamilton is far from an ugly woman, I do not find her beautiful.

And Ron Perlman's beast looked like a human with minor makeup and a David Bowie wig. He did not look particularly beasty.
 
I'm sorry, but while Linda Hamilton is far from an ugly woman, I do not find her beautiful.

And Ron Perlman's beast looked like a human with minor makeup and a David Bowie wig. He did not look particularly beasty.
But it was the last thing GRR Martin did before he started on Game of Thrones.
 
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