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ajsadauskas

@ajsadauskas@aus.social

Australian urban planning, public transport, politics, retrocomputing, and tech nerd. Recovering journo. Cat parent. Part-time miserable grump.

Cities for people, not cars! Tech for people, not investors!

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ajsadauskas ,
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@Seagoon_ @Alamutjones Stephen King or RL Stine?

ajsadauskas ,
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@Seagoon_ Maybe Paul Jennings?

Some supernatural event happens to a kid, that causes the grown ups around them to be covered in snot is the most Paul Jennings plot he's never written.

You could even call it something like Unblocked...

ajsadauskas ,
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@Pilk @melbourne_wanderer Wifey had COVID about a month ago. It was really bad for a week, including intense migraines, but then cleared up.

About a week after most of her symptoms cleared, she began regaining her sense of taste.

A couple of weeks after that, we were in a queue outdoors and she complained: "Ugh I can't stand the smell of cigarettes. Wait — I can smell the smokers! This is amazing! I CAN SMELL THE SMOKERS!"

Your mileage may vary, but for her it was mostly back within a month.

ajsadauskas ,
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@Duenan @Taleya "A mother says a man armed with a knife told her to 'just stop crying' as he forced her to drive and buy laptops in Melbourne's south-east while her six-month-old daughter sat in the back seat.

...

"Police say the victim was getting out of her car at the Stud Park Shopping Centre [in Rowville] last Friday night when she was confronted by a man who threatened her with a knife and forced her back into the driver's seat of her Suzuki S Cross."

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-05-17/woman-child-abducted-melbourne-shopping-centre-laptops-police/103859562

There was a thread on here about someone considering moving to Rowville?

Yeah, here's a good example of why that's a bad idea...

ajsadauskas ,
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@Seagoon_ @StudChud UGH! Of course that's when they'd come!

And then instead of one long relaxing shower, you end up with two half showers 😔

Seriously, it's the kind of thing that would make me a grump all day.

I hope it was at least someone or something important at the door.

(If it's just some salesman who's promising to cut your power bills, in the circumstances you're completely justified in chasing him off with a cricket bat.)

ajsadauskas ,
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@melbourne_wanderer @Seagoon_ That's awful 😞

Hope you have a full and speedy recovery.

ajsadauskas ,
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@Seagoon_ I just stopped by the shops quickly, and while I was there, picked up a freshly-made cinnamon donut.

Nom Nom Nom.

ajsadauskas , to Linux
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

I'm thinking seriously about getting Google out of my life, and trying NextCloud.

Looking to get a personal account through a managed provider.

Does anyone have any experience with it?

How does it compare to ownCloud?

Any hosts I should look at or avoid?

Any apps I should get for it, or avoid?

Any issues I should be aware of before I switch?

@asklemmy

ajsadauskas OP ,
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@denshirenji @asklemmy On photos, does NextCloud Photos or Memories play nice with Digikam or any other desktop photo gallery applications? And what about Immich?

ajsadauskas OP ,
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@geillescas @jajabor @asklemmy That, and also making files/emails/calendar events synced across your computer and your phone.

ajsadauskas ,
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@Seagoon_ @TinyBreak Totally.

Honestly, I feel icky just thinking about KFC food, it's just so greasy.

Unless you have a specific craving for the greasiest thing imaginable because you're pregnant/emotionally eating/have cramps/have a hangover/are really drunk/are six-years-old, I don't know why anyone would want it?

ajsadauskas ,
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@msdropbear42 @TinyBreak @Seagoon_ Greasy lukewarm dead bird in a cardboard bucket, as a friend used to call it.

ajsadauskas ,
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@Ilandar @TinyBreak Is there a good Korean or Asian grocery near your house? It's worth looking up on Google Maps.

Assuming there is, stop by and pick up some Korean rice cakes, gochujang, and daishi stock.

(I have seen gochujang in Coles, fish stock can work as a substitute for daishi.)

If you can track down these three main ingredients, you can make yourself tteokbokki:

https://mykoreankitchen.com/tteokbokki-spicy-rice-cakes/

ajsadauskas ,
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@Baku Another really great video by @philip 😊

He's done a number of interesting videos on the history of Melbourne — definitely recommend subscribing to his channel on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/3THrXcrST6E?si=ZwHfg1imoD5SS1Sp

ajsadauskas ,
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@Seagoon_ ICYMI, the 7:30 Report had a story about why Melbourne's Star Observation Wheel failed.

I mean, aside from the breathtaking views of Coode Island and the Docklands car parks, the fact it was barely ever working probably didn't help...

https://youtu.be/Sc14bgfp9_o?si=-vxV7Llu6b4MKI4O

ajsadauskas , (edited )
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@calhoon2005 @Seagoon_ Sort of.

Basically, when the first 4G and 4G LTE networks were first being rolled out, the technology to make voice calls over 4G networks wasn't quite ready yet. So the earliest 4G phones dropped back to 3G for calls, but used faster 4G networks for internet and data.

Eventually, the telcos rolled out a technology upgrade that allowed calls to be made on 4G LTE mobile networks, called VoLTE (voice over LTE).

But it only worked on newer 4G/4G LTE phones that supported VoLTE for calls. Older models still dropped back to 3G for voice calls

Sounds to me like your MIL has an older 4G LTE phone that still falls back to 3G for calls, instead of making them over the 4G LTE network.

If that's the case, she'll no longer be able to make calls with that phone once Optus 3G shuts down.

Time for an upgrade.

ajsadauskas ,
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@StudChud @Seagoon_ Congratulations! 😊

Many years ago I worked in a call centre and it was utterly soul destroying.

You'll feel so much better once you're out of that toxic environment.

ajsadauskas ,
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@Gibsonisafluffybutt @Seagoon_ Lovely post-modern art piece by Gibson 😸

ajsadauskas ,
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@Seagoon_ Overheard in the office...

Colleague one: "As you are aware, we've decided to postpone <event> until August or September. Can you change the dates on the website please?"

Colleague two: "No, I was not aware, thanks for letting me know. When was the decision made? I'll update the website."

Colleague one: "I am very sorry, I thought you were aware."

The "Manager" strikes again.

ajsadauskas ,
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@tombruzzo @SituationCake The other thing is to keep in mind is that it's not necessarily IT that is the "business owner" of the website.

Sure, IT might be responsible for keeping it online. But the main decisions about it, and the responsibility for maintaining the content, belong to a different person/team/department.

Depending on where I've worked, that's been operations, content, comms/PR, and marketing.

Even in small orgs, it's often the CEO rather than IT who has the final say.

And sometimes different parts of the website are managed by different people/teams/departments.

The second thing to be mindful of is it's not just about whether you have the WordPress skills.

There's often a lot of office politics in many organisations.

People quite rightly don't enjoy feeling like their jobs or responsibilities are being undermined.

And they don't want changes made in an area they're ultimately responsible for without them knowing.

That's where business processes and procedures come into play.

It might be as simple as emailing a particular person to get their sign off on you making a particular update, or notifying them afterwards.

You also need to think about what the benefits to them are of granting you this access. Perhaps it frees up their resources for more meaningful tasks?

And the third thing to be prepared for is if you get the admin privileges you want, suddenly other people might ask you to make changes as a shortcut around IT. You might want to push back against that.

If I were in your position, I'd plan out the case for:

  • What the problem you want to solve is.
  • Your proposed solution. That's not just gaining access, but also the approvals or notifications around it.
  • Restrictions and safeguards. You are only to have this level of privileges and make updates in situations x, y, and z. This helps you push back if someone else wants you to make other changes — I'm not authorised to do that.
  • The benefits to the business, including improved productivity, or customer experience.

I'd have a chat with your boss to get them on board.

I'd find out who the business owner(s) of the website are.

I'd organise either an informal chat (maybe buy them coffee one day?) or a meeting to talk through the case with them.

And finally, I'd be prepared for the answer to be a no. That's ultimately their call. If that's the case, your decision is whether you stick with your current job, or find a different one that makes better use of your skills.

ajsadauskas ,
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@Nath @StudChud Nath, it's great you had a good job experience.

But not all call centre jobs are like that.

Many call centres are micro-micromanaged.

Adherence to work hours. Conformance to schedule. Call handling time. Calls per worked hour.

There's often caller feedback forms, and those irrational or malicious customers basically decide if you keep your job.

The calls are recorded, and your team leader or dedicated contact centre staff listen in randomly.

In many commercial organisations, there's a mandate to upsell or cross-sell, even if it's an angry customer who wants to close their accounts.

In those cases, you also get judged on the average value of products you sell, and the percentage of calls you upsell on.

You have already angry people who have just been on hold for up to an hour, and have been transferred across different departments and teams.

And there are some men who are either creepy or misogynistic when dealing with women over the phone. And yes, clearly it's a small minority of men. But that small minority exists, and they're shitty.

ajsadauskas ,
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@StudChud @Seagoon_ Nawww

Sweet little Mickey is soooo cute 😻

ajsadauskas ,
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@tombruzzo Out of curiosity, roughly how large is this organisation? Is it closer to 10 staff, 50 staff, or 1000?

Also, you mentioned something I found interesting.

You said the business wants everything done now, but also everyone needs to give their input and approval.

Is that an issue just with the website? Or is it across the board in your business?

ajsadauskas ,
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@Seagoon_ Feeling really annoyed at an acting middle manager at our workplace right now.

He's terrible at communicating. He refuses to listen to people. He makes decisions and orders people to do stuff without asking anyone if the thing he wants to do is even possible.

There's a whole string of bad decisions as a result, and everyone else is left to clean up his mess afterwards.

For example, there's an event that was scheduled on a particular date. An email was sent out to the people (outside the organisation) who are likely to attend.

Before that email was sent, he decided to postpone it. Just he didn't let anyone know until after the emails were sent.

Another example. One of my colleagues was told she had to drop everything to find leads for a new product that he decided to launch in two weeks. He then blamed her for not coming up with enough leads.

He's decided the IT team needs to roll out a new automated reporting system right now. The IT department has already said it's not adding any features to that system because they're getting rid of it in the next year or so. They don't answer to him, and will just refuse to do it. So there's a whole series of meetings now planned because he's insisting that it has to happen.

There's also a whole marketing campaign that the marketing team thinks is a stupid idea that won't work, because they tried it last year and it didn't work. He's insisting they do it anyway.

And there's a whole string of decisions like this.

The thing is, I'm not sure he's aware at just how demotivating his unique management style is to those around him.

Sorry for the rant, I'm just feeling really frustrated right now.

ajsadauskas ,
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@Gibsonisafluffybutt @imoldgreeeg Yay! Congratulations Simon 👏

ajsadauskas , (edited )
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@StudChud Even though I'm not directly in his department (thankfully!), I am affected by his decisions.

I mentioned to a colleague today: "Have you noticed <manager> has a habit of springing decisions on people, and not taking things into consideration even if they have been explained to him?"

She said yes, and gave me some of her own examples.

So it has been noticed by people — although unfortunately the people who he answers up to are new in the role as well.

Earlier today, I was in a meeting with <Manager> and some people from the business sales team.

Marketing had wanted to run an end of financial year promotion for business customers.

<Manager> overruled them and decided that they should instead run a discount campaign aimed at consumers. (It's a small team that doesn't have the resources to do both.)

(This despite the fact that he said himself a couple of months ago that he wanted to focus more on business sales.)

(<Manager's> idea is the stupid campaign they don't want to do.)

I explained to the sales team that because the consumer discount campaign was happening — the one marketing doesn't want to do — there wouldn't be a promotional campaign for business.

This apparently hadn't occurred to <Manager>, even though it was clearly explained to him. (I was in the meeting when it happened.)

"Well, ummmm, maybe we can do both?"

And then this afternoon I had a meeting with a colleague. One of <Manager's> brilliant ideas is for her to cross-promote a product from <Manager's> division with a product from another division.

"Okay, well before you go too deep into this, you might just want to be aware that the IT systems in <Manager's division> aren't integrated with the systems from the other division."

She gives me a mildly horrified look. What do you mean not integrated, she asks?

"Many years ago, <Manager's division> used to be a completely separate organisation. So it has its own separate IT systems. That means its own customer database, its own accounting package, its own content management system. Many of the platforms are different to the ones the rest of the organisation uses.

"Nothing is integrated.

"IT is planning to eventually move everything across to the same systems, but in the meantime any data that you want to move from one system to the other has to be done manually.

Her face dropped as she realised her workload was now at least triple what she had expected. Why didn't <Manager> tell me any of this?

And that's a very good question...

ajsadauskas , (edited )
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@Thornburywitch @bacon To all whom this may concern,

I am writing to express my strong and sincere recommendation for Mr. Simon Fluffybutt as a candidate for this position.

In his previous role, Simon unlocked substantial value, leading both directly and indirectly to a strengthening of the sales pipeline, while leveraging and fully capitalising on synergistic new opportunities for revenue growth.

In a dynamic, fast-paced, lean, and agile environment, Simon demonstrates a natural flair for delivering outcomes while expertly liaising across multiple internal and external stakeholder groups with divergent expectations, while diligently managing competing priorities.

He is both a dynamic self-starter who thrives when taking ownership of projects to drive strategic results, as well as a collaborative team player who works efficiently towards shared goals and KPIs.

I have full confidence in Simon's extensive expertise, knowledge, and skillset, which will contribute meaningfully and substantively to the long-term growth of your organisation going forward.

If you have any questions in regards to this letter, please don't hesitate to reach out.

Kindest regards,

AJ

ajsadauskas ,
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@Seagoon_ @msdropbear42 I think she's saying she woke up this morning and listened to Radio National. PK is Patricia Karvelas, FK is Fran Kelly, and...

I don't listen to Radio National so I have no clue who SS is?

ajsadauskas ,
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@CEOofmyhouse56 @ajsadauskas You were correct.

Poor Mimi 😿

ajsadauskas ,
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@CEOofmyhouse56 She was so brave when I took her down to see Dr Paul though.

Sat still while Dr Paul weighed her, did the eye drops, and gave her an injection.

He was very impressed.

No way would I be that brave in the same circumstances 😂

ajsadauskas ,
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@Seagoon_ @ajsadauskas Thank you 😊

The good news is that she got home and had dinner and a bit of a play. Hopefully, after a couple of days of eye drops, she makes a full recovery 😸

ajsadauskas ,
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@RustyRaven @Seagoon_ I used to live near Blackburn when I was growing up.

It's a very, very, very quiet suburb.

I'm not sure how it would count as a highlight?

ajsadauskas ,
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@Seagoon_ Not the weekend I was planning for.

I was planning on seeing an art exhibition that a friend recommended.

Unfortunately, this morning we discovered Miss Mimi seems to have conjunctivitis, which set wifey off on an anxiety attack.

So we didn't end up seeing the art exhibition.

(Miss Mimi will need to visit the vet tomorrow.)

On the upside, I have started packing for my trip in two weeks.

A restful weekend seems to have helped with the flu I've been nursing for the past week.

ajsadauskas ,
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@Seagoon_ So recently, I've been thinking about possibly getting a buzzcut.

I don't think I'd be brave enough to go for a full buzzcut, plus I like having long hair.

But maybe a half-shaved head? Or an undercut?

Has anyone else here had one? If so, what was the reaction?

ajsadauskas ,
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@dumblederp Really good point 😊

My hair is starting to get a bit too long at the moment — it's well-past shoulder length. It's regularly getting quite knotty and the split ends are getting bad. So I'll need a cut soon.

Maybe just get it trimmed or cut shorter this time and leave the big buzz for when it gets warmer?

ajsadauskas ,
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@Taleya I just did a quick Google search — great suggestion 😊

ajsadauskas ,
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@StudChud My three big concerns with getting a full shave are how it will look, how work will react, and random dickheads. That, and it's getting a bit chilly this time of the year.

How did people at your work react to the shave?

And did you get many randos making comments about it?

ajsadauskas , (edited )
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@StudChud That's really reassuring 😊

Yeah, I think I'll wait until the start of Summer, and then potentially go for a big shave 🪒

ajsadauskas ,
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@just_kitten I'd imagine that'd be one of the big downsides with a half-shaved head: The awkward grow-out phase afterwards 🫤

ajsadauskas ,
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@Seagoon_ Great suggestion — maybe a short bob cut? Or even a pixie cut?

ajsadauskas ,
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@maniacalmanicmania I think it's become a lot longer over time.

Back in the '80s and '90s, one computer year was maybe 30 years if you were lucky.

If you bought a 486 with VGA and Windows 3.1 in 1992, by 1995 it was completely obsolete. Time to get a new Pentium with Windows 95.

And by 1998, that shiny new Pentium would be far too slow to run many of the programs you want.

Now? It's probably around eight years to one human year. If you got a laptop in 2015, you'd just about be getting to the point you'd probably want to upgrade it now.

ajsadauskas , (edited )
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@Mittens_meow That's pretty horrendous. In a previous life, I was doing around 2.5- to 3-hours commute each day, and that was bad enough!

How are you enjoying the role otherwise? Are there any other issues?

ajsadauskas ,
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@Eagle @ajsadauskas He's a very spunky 'lil fella 😸

ajsadauskas ,
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@Catfish @ajsadauskas Nawww 😻

Really, our babies deserve all the boxes to play in I say! 📦😸

ajsadauskas ,
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@PeelerSheila @wscholermann What really annoys me is some places that don't tell you they have a surcharge for cards until you pay.

As in, the first you find out is when you get the receipt and see they've bumped up your $6 purchase to $6.12 without telling you.

Probably illegal, but there are places that do it.

And more broadly, I'd rather they add the 2% or whatever to their prices, instead of letting you know at the counter.

(And while we're on the subject, instead of 10 cents extra for a little packet of tomato sauce when you buy a pie, they should just add the 10 cents to the price!)

ajsadauskas ,
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@Eagle @StudChud That looks beautiful!

ajsadauskas , (edited )
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@franksting @paulwallbank @unionagainstdhmo @firstdogonthemoon @stilgherrian @mpesce Grundle is still around, and still writing for Crikey: https://www.crikey.com.au/author/guy-rundle/

ajsadauskas , (edited )
@ajsadauskas@aus.social avatar

@paulwallbank @franksting @unionagainstdhmo @firstdogonthemoon @stilgherrian @mpesce Crikey/Private Media really could (and probably should) be a much bigger company than it is, just it's been really horrendously managed.

Hopefully Will Hayward is doing a better job, because many of his predecessors have left a lot to be desired.

For most of its life, Private Media barely turned a profit, and that's been with Crikey subscriptions and SmartCompany basically carrying the various other websites that have come and gone over the years.

Many talented young journos have worked there, only to move on to the Nine newspapers or the ABC after a year or two.

You had the former CEO who one day was running cables through the ceiling of the old offices next to the Immigration Museum.

You had the other former CEO who loaded the organisation up with sales staff, only for them all to be made redundant within six months.

You had ideas that could have made money (spin out Patrick Stafford's SmartCompany tech newsletter into its own small business tech publication) knocked back, while vanity projects with no business model (remember Paul Barry's Power Index?) got the green light.

At one stage, Crikey used a heavily hacked WordPress as its content management system. SmartCompany and LeadingCompany used Joomla!, and StartupSmart used FlexiContent. All self-hosted out of a Port Melbourne data centre.

Despite owning a digital media company, the people in charge at the time didn't know enough about digital tech to know what a massive resource black hole this was.

(Eric Beecher had to bring in consultants to tell him!)

I could go on...

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