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Messages - whisky

Pages: [1] 2 3 ... 9
1
Words / Re: 21st July Schnitzel game
« on: July 22, 2023, 12:53:18 PM »
Yes it can be a bit tricky.

I always smile when I hear someone order a snitchel.

2
Word Games / Re: 7 by many club
« on: May 17, 2023, 04:54:28 PM »
It will be interesting to note how many of the Australian contingent tried chookhouse as a potential seed word…

Guilty.

Luckily I did not have to wait too long for a reprieve.
Today was luckier.

3
Words / Re: It's nice
« on: February 14, 2023, 07:20:09 PM »
47 words ( Best was 41 )
CHALLENGER
Erlang solo count of 1 ( a measure of telephony traffic ).

100% hit rate too.

I may have a wee dram.

Michael


4
Words / It's nice
« on: February 13, 2023, 08:48:11 PM »
It's nice when I get:
  • BEST word count
  • The big word
  • One word where the count is low ( ideally 1 ).
Today is such a day.

Michael
www.dgbint.com

5
Words / Re: Saturday 28 January 7-by-many BANISHES/SHABBINESS puzzle
« on: January 30, 2023, 02:52:00 PM »
At least she's not a hasbeen.

Better to be a hasbeen, than a neverwas.

6
Whatever / Re: More or Les (was Bloody Plurals)
« on: January 07, 2023, 11:31:49 AM »


I shall be intrigued to find out where Tuvalu is  ;)


An interesting bit of trivia about Tuvalu ...
All countries have a web domain suffix ( Australia is .au for example )
Tuvalu is .TV
This became of great commercial value, for companies like Disney ( they could obtain a web address like Disney.tv )

Michael

7
Words / Re: A Personal Best
« on: August 20, 2022, 11:07:27 AM »
Pen,
These days, it is more about quality than quantity !

Yes, just 1, but a nice one.

Michael

8
Words / A Personal Best
« on: August 19, 2022, 06:32:58 PM »
I am always intrigued to see if I can find a word, when it has a count of 1, just me.

Of course, it doesn't count until I have at least the 'Best Count' + the big word.

This evening I managed 3 unity count words.
I may treat myself to a wee dram.

Michael

9
Whatever / Re: More or Les (was Bloody Plurals)
« on: July 15, 2022, 03:11:17 PM »
Some of these wildlife stories remind me of:

There was a homeless guy, shabbily dressed, and a bit smelly, sitting on the train station platform, eating his fish and chips.
He was amusing himself by tossing the odd chip to the circling sea gulls.

Everybody avoided him.

A train pulled up.
Doors opened and passengers entered and left.

Just as the door started to close, he tossed a handful of chips in to the train carriage.
A dozen gulls flew in.
The door closed.


Cheers
Michael

10
Whatever / Re: New PM
« on: May 30, 2022, 04:02:02 PM »
Hi Jack.

Thanks for your kind words.

As they say, every dark cloud has a silver lining.
That Segway Tour operator in Canberra is/was a customer of mine.

The short story is; the bane of Segway is their battery system.
Unless very well looked after, batteries will fail, and factory guidance was to replace the batteries ( at a cost of then about $3,000 a set ).

One day I received a call from that Canberra operator.
Several batteries failed on the one day.

Coincidences are very rare, in my experience.
There had to be a reason.
We discussed it, discovered the problem, and using my electronics background I developed a solution.

Since then, we have manufactured and sold over a hundred units across the globe.

Kind regards
Michael
www.dgbint.com

11
Whatever / Re: New PM
« on: May 29, 2022, 10:20:57 AM »
Howdy Jack

You should have an email.
I included a brief selection of info, but still a bit lengthy.

I hope you find time to read it one day, perhaps on a rainy day.

Cheers
Michael

12
Whatever / Re: New PM
« on: May 27, 2022, 04:55:18 PM »
Hi Jack

I am happy to dig out the paperwork.

My outgoing stuff is easily located on my computer system ( even though it nearing 20 years ago ).
Incoming stuff was never scanned, but remained as hard copy, so it is a bit harder for me to find.

My point with banks was:

1
The CEO ultimately bears responsibility for both his own actions, and for the actions of the team under him.
A CEO should rightfully be held to ( appropriate ) account for shortcomings in either sphere.
I guess that very few would argue with that.
"The buck stops here" analogy.

2
How do those principles compare to a government department.
A similarly large organisation.
Most would argue ( I do ) that similar principles ( perhaps even to to higher standards ) should apply.

13
Whatever / Re: New PM
« on: May 27, 2022, 07:25:05 AM »


That would be most unusual.  One of the Minister's secretary's responsibilities in ok-ing the reply is to ensure that the reply does not lose a vote.  Politicians take the view that every vote counts.



Indeed that is a sad but accurate observation.

My post was in response to 'what do we think of our new PM ?'
My info is sadly my true thoughts.

It gets worse, if you want to delve deeper.

Briefly, a Federal Department of Transport meeting was held to ( in part ) discuss the topic of interest.
As a commercial stakeholder I was neither allowed to participate, nor make a written submission.
Only Feds and State seconded staff were permitted.

I was able through FOI to obtain the minutes of the meeting.
Outright falsehoods were presented.

I subsequently challenged the Chair of the meeting, in writing, as to whether he was happy for minutes of a meeting he chaired to include falsehoods.

His stunning response was 'the minutes truly reflect what was said, whether or not what was said is accurate is none of his business'.
Furthermore, submissions from external stakeholders ( commercial businesses ) were of no concern.

All this in the name of the then-Minister.
So my opinion remains what it is.

Again I ask, what would be said if the CEO of a large organisation ( say a bank ) acted in such a manner ( whether personally, or simply on his watch ) ?

Michael

14
Whatever / Re: New PM
« on: May 26, 2022, 08:04:01 AM »
However, I am familiar with the handling of Ministerial correspondence by the Minister's Offices of both persuasions.  Only a small percentage of the incoming correspondence goes into the minister's in-tray - personal letters and matters of high policy.   The rest gets shuffled out to the relevant department for a reply drafted by a mid to lower level clerk. The draft is vetted by a Section and Branch head for accuracy and tone and sent to the Minister's Office.  One of his private Secretaries will vet it for political correctness and the Minister's signature is put on the reply electronically and dispatched.

People unfamiliar with parliamentary offices that watch Yes, Minister laugh and think it couldn't really be like that.  It is.

Yes, I understand.
There was a series of polite, brief and precise letters ( from me ).
There was a series of dismissive and impolite ( if not downright rude ) replies.

Notwithstanding the mechanisms of large organisations ( public and private ), can you imagine the outcry if a serious letter about a serious matter was sent to the CEO of a large organisation, and was 'trashed' by lower level staff.
When called to account, if a CEO responded with, 'our processes meant I didn't even get to see it" he/she would be hounded and quite properly so.

Should our government departments be held to a lower, similar or higher standard than ( large ) private organisations like say a bank ??
I would hope that we expect our government to be towards the highest standards.
If not, they properly should be shamed ( regardless of their political leanings ).

Cheers
Michael

15
Whatever / Re: New PM
« on: May 24, 2022, 08:22:44 AM »
There will be those who sit on either side of the fence.
So whatever is said will upset about half the audience.
C'est la vie.

From personal experience:
I previously ran a transport related business.
I wrote to the then-Minister for Transport ( Albanese ).

His answer was brief, glib and whilst sounding warm and fuzzy, was totally inappropriate.
After several tries, we decided that the then Government were not at all interested in green initiatives, except to make nice sounding headlines.

In summary, I have a very low level of respect, and I have not seen anything to alter my perception.

Apologies if I upset anybody.

Michael

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