desmondbrennan - Slashdot User

Comment Be honest about technical debt (Score 2) 210

by desmondbrennan on Saturday January 02, 2016 @09:33PM (#51228743) Attached to: The Sad Graph of Software Death

I like to think of technical debt in the ratio A:B ... A is always 1, perfect. B is what you achieve. So a ratio of 1:2 might not be that bad for a core enterprise system. 1:50 could be fine for a quick and dirty proof of concept. When designing a new system, module, or major upgrade...a frank discussion is needed with the requisitioner on what A:B ratio is being aimed for. Model it out, with risks, attaching notional monetary values to the cost of poor quality. Then...your job is done, the informed choice is theirs

Submission + - DUI Charges Dismissed Against Woman Whose Body Brews Alcohol

Submitted by Anonymous Coward on Saturday January 02, 2016 @07:32PM

An anonymous reader writes: HughPickens.com writes

CNN reports that a judge dismissed DUI charges against a woman in upstate New York after being presented with evidence the woman suffers from "auto-brewery syndrome" even though she blew a blood alcohol level more than four times the legal limit. "I had never heard of auto-brewery syndrome before this case," says attorney Joseph Marusak. "But I knew something was amiss when the hospital police took the woman to wanted to release her immediately because she wasn't exhibiting any symptoms." Also known as gut-fermentation syndrome, this rare medical condition can occur when abnormal amounts of gastrointestinal yeast convert common food carbohydrates into ethanol. The process is believed to take place in the small bowel, and is vastly different from the normal gut fermentation in the large bowel that gives our bodies energy. Murusak says his client consumed "four drinks between noon and 6 p.m." or, "less than one drink an hour. We hired a local pharmacologist who said that a woman of her size and weight having four drinks in that period of time should be between 0.01 and 0.05 blood alcohol levels." That would be beneath the legally impaired level of 0.08 BAC in New York state." Even though the Hamburg judge dismissed the case against his client, Marusak says it's not over yet. "I've heard the DA's office says they plan to appeal. I'll know more by the middle of January."

Slashdot Top Deals