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Comment Not all companies are horrible (Score 1) 513

I was working for a Houston-based Halliburton in 2009 when my wife passed away suddenly at the age of 34.

We buried her next to family in Chattanooga. When I got to the funeral home, three divisions of Halliburton - not just the one I worked for - sent huge six-foot-tall flower arrangements. They'd not contacted me or anybody who was helping me out with things that I knew of, so I don't know how they got the info of where to send things.

I went back to work two weeks later (and even after that, had to work my way up gradually to doing a full day over the course of a week). The official company policy was that we got three days of bereavement leave. I asked what to do about the extra time I'd taken off, and a division VP (2-3 org chart positions above my direct manager) said "Put down that you were gone for three days, and don't worry about it."

Other than the coworker (who was from a different country and grew up in a different culture) that walked into my office two weeks later and said "She's dead, get over it", I couldn't have asked for a more supportive company to work for during such a tragedy.

Comment Re:First SpaceX Missions To Mars: 'Dangerous and P (Score 1) 412

a lot like Mars

Not remotely close. In the worst of conditions in Iceland, I could walk around for minutes totally naked in the worst conditions, go back inside, dink some hot cocoa and be ready to do it again in a few hours. Mars, you'll be unconscious in 12 seconds if you space suit springs a leak and dead in 4 minutes. Iceland wait a few hours until the storm goes away, put on a heavy coat and spend a day out ice fishing. Mars, pour some hot water onto you freeze dried lasagna while looking out the window.

The trip to Iceland back then was as risky as it goes. Navigation was difficult, a storm could sink the ship, disease could not be cured. No steel boats, just wood and sail.

Plus you never knew what happened to the other crews. Did they survive or not? They could have a happy life, but no communication back to the motherland. Missing Iceland and ending up in Greenland without knowing it - totally possible.

Comment You would (or wouldn't) be surprised... (Score 4, Interesting) 147

I used to run a pair hobbyist/enthusiast sites for fans of DEC's VAX and PDP-11 series of machines.

Shortly after 9/11, I got a phone call from someone at the Pentagon who was looking for certain parts so they could repair an older VAX that had been damaged in the attack. I was able to get them in touch with a third-party reseller who still had those bits in the back of a dusty warehouse.

It was surprising that they hadn't upgraded to Alpha (which had been out almost ten years) then; the telco where I worked had one big system that had gone through three company changes (DEC -> Compaq -> HP) and had been upgraded in-chassis from VAX to Alpha.

I think all large systems sold to the federal government are required to have service/support available for something like 5 to 10 years after final sale availability; can't find concrete details via Google.

Comment Re:Close the loop (Score 1) 108

If I were a manufacturer with a 20% return rate on my products, I'd do the following:

1. Put an immediate message out that "We have our best people working feverishly on the issue."

2. Force my engineering and channel sales experts to conference call each and every customer until they learn enough about the issue to fix the reason the product was returned.

3. Perhaps the products are not defective (such as RAM) but that the purchase process does not identify the correct RAM needed. I'd have my software team write code to detect the correct RAM needed (for example).

4. I'd tie the design team's bonus structure directly to return rates.

5. Lastly, I'd also close the loop with distributors - any product where return rates started to climb would be pulled.

(When you are getting a 20% return rate, you're not making profit anyway.)

You forget:

0. Check the sales numbers. If the product is sold only five times, there's nothing to worry yet about the return rate, but marketing should get their act together.

Comment Re:5GB + Unlimited Spotify (Score 2) 204

I have 5GB data + unlimited Spotify. As this is not legal anymore because of net neutrality, Spotify data will fall under the 5GB in the near future. I use about 2GB normal data per month, and about 6-12 GB for Spotify. I'm thinking about ending my Spotify subscription alltogether when the unlimited option is gone.

Where are you where zero-rating is illegal? In the US, T-mobile still zero-rates music, so you must not live here...

I live in the Netherlands, and I believe we have the strongest laws about net neutrality in the EU.

Comment 5GB + Unlimited Spotify (Score 1) 204

I have 5GB data + unlimited Spotify. As this is not legal anymore because of net neutrality, Spotify data will fall under the 5GB in the near future. I use about 2GB normal data per month, and about 6-12 GB for Spotify. I'm thinking about ending my Spotify subscription alltogether when the unlimited option is gone.

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