Who is that handsome young man?

[JimB]

After many years, JimB has posted an avatar.

For the record, yes it is me.
However the photo was taken around 1986, so I have aged about 30 years since then.
The pic was taken at work on an oil production platform in the North Sea. I was in the middle of the morning "walk around" to visually check the various parts of the system for which I was responsible. Basically I was just there on a baby sitting exercise as the platform had just been commissioned and one or two things about "my" system were not quite as reliable as they could have been. (The smilies accurately represent the look on my face from time to time.)

JimB

 

[Tony Stewart]

Reminds me of my 1st SCADA design in the 70's with a robot that walked upside down under an array of 1/2" steel/zirc. tubes and an arc welder on the far side of the aircraft hanger caused a glitch on the SCADA coax. link to be executed into "release left leg collet" ( when that was the only leg left grabbing to inside of tube. ) Oops for Robbie the Robot, (million dollar man) .. slight redness for the plant mgr, my boss the section head of Ontario Hydro, CRNL, oops... what me worry? Within 3 days, 5 redundant fixes were employed on the prototype and later shipped as 1st Automated Eddy Current scanner for CANDU.

 

[tvtech]

BRILLIANT !!!!

Now I know you are actually human

All the best,
tv

 

[cowboybob]

Pleeeeease put the old avatar back up!

Just kidding. Was there a BP back then?

 

[tvtech]

On a side note when I was much younger...I also was drawn to the whole off shore oil rig experience. Mega bucks.
Sadly, I was not accepted.

However there is a guy I know that does saturation diving in or around the North Sea. From here in SA and is flat out coining it. Fair enough he is maybe 20 Years younger than me....but still...

Saturation Diving here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturation_diving

Regards,
tv

 

[Overclocked]

BRILLIANT !!!!

Now I know you are actually human

All the best,
tv

Still doesnt prove he's human. Could be a robot posting a photo of a human. Clearly he must take the turing test. I am a robot posting from inside a human body posing as a human, so I can be trusted. I know these things.

 

[Inquisitive]

Ah, yes. The pransome hince.

 

[James Marsh]

I think you Mr. JimB is the most handsome young man in this forum society...........

 

[Willen]

BRILLIANT !!!!

Now I know you are actually human

All the best,
tv

Hi, Be sure, I am not a cartoon boy ('Russel' of UP movie).

 

[strantor]

What's that you're fingering? is it an old Siemens Simatic I/O rack?

 

[JimB]

What's that you're fingering? is it an old Siemens Simatic I/O rack?

Thankfully, no.

My (limited) experience of Siemens equipment has scarred me for life!

It is part of a Fire and Gas system made by my another division of one of my former employers (Ferranti), which also scarred me for life!

JimB

 

[strantor]

Thankfully, no.

My (limited) experience of Siemens equipment has scarred me for life!

Me too! I hate Siemens. Dam'd Germans; they just don't think intuitively. Neither to the Japanese; It took me forever to get the hang of working with Omron stuff.

 

[tvtech]

Jim is not as pretty as me.....I don't go anywhere near any flames or anything dangerous. Gotta protect my porcelain skin...

LOL.

tv

 

[atferrari]

they just don't think intuitively.

What does it mean precisely, Strantor?

 

[strantor]

What does it mean precisely, Strantor?

It defies precise meaning.

All the clarification I can provide is a theoretical example. This is a made up example, not an actual example from Siemens. It's been too long since I used Siemens to have an actual, current gripe about it.

You're using German software (ex: Siemens) and you want to change a setting. Your default location to look is under the "tools" tab, like most software, there would a "tools>preferences" option. But this is German software, so there isn't such a menu option. You give up ever finding the preferences page and go on for months with your software not configured properly until one day you accidentally click a little seemingly ornamental green dot in the bottom right corner, and up pops a preferences window with an abundance of options that are anything but self explanatory. A help file would have been helpful but no dice. A German wouldn't have needed a help file to tell him that, as a German he would instinctively look in the bottom right for preferences while the rest of the world would look to the toolbar.

 

[atferrari]

Strantor, I understand your example. Isn't maybe that that German isn't simply used to that particular software?

When I bought my Samsung tablet I found it absurdly organized. I got finally used to where to look at for things, so now, I do not care. If not intuitive, it is known (enough) to me albeit I still prefer a boring but informative menu with a long list that you can deploy whenever the need arises. Fancy? leave it for Lady Gaga shows.

 

[strantor]

Strantor, I understand your example. Isn't maybe that that German isn't simply used to that particular software?

When I bought my Samsung tablet I found it absurdly organized. I got finally used to where to look at for things, so now, I do not care. If not intuitive, it is known (enough) to me albeit I still prefer a boring but informative menu with a long list that you can deploy whenever the need arises. Fancy? leave it for Lady Gaga shows.

I understand. Yes, once you learn your way around, things are navigable. But my point is, things in general coming from Germany are not intuitive to me, as an American. This is not just an opinion based on one-time experience with a given software suite. I have come to this opinion based on a wide array of experiences, particularly in dealing with technical documentation. For example schematics, software, machine design, technical descriptions, etc. Every time I go to work on a machine which hails from Germany, I get a small sinking feeling in my stomach because I have been conditioned through experience to dread these things. I know what I'm in for:

• electrical schematics which look absolutely nonsensical at first, second, third, and usually fourth glance. If there are any comments on the drawings, they are probably in German. If they are in English, or if I translate them to English, they almost make the things harder to understand.
• If software is required to interface with the machine, it is guaranteed to be extremely hard to acquire, and once acquired, extremely hard to navigate.
• If parts are required to fix the machine, they only come from Germany, they are unreasonably expensive, and it is assumed you can wait around a couple of months for them to arrive.
• Even if the drawings and software were 100% intuitive, free, and easily obtained, and spares were already on-site: just understanding how/why the machine works, why they designed things the way they designed them, and identifying what the machine should be doing if working correctly, involves a series of guesses and thought exercises that break down the cranial muscle faster than push-ups.

I've surmised that the reason is that their brains are just configured differently than most people's. I don't think it's to do with the language itself, probably more of a cultural/societal thing. It's like reading something from left to right, when the person who wrote it was conveying ideas from right to left.

 

[large_ghostman]

Such shameless self promotion!

 

[tvtech]

I am so beautiful I don't do appearances anymore. Of course I am not vain. But facts speak for themselves.

* strokes legs and looks in the mirror...ah better now* I must stop this.

This beautiful person in my Avvy is acually a wonderful person.

Best representative we have had in MANY years. Sorry babe. But you know me. And my crazy ways.

Time to put Arnie back. And hide my Avvy.

Sigh

 

[tvtech]

Cant find Arnies avvy. I am getting old

Crazy world this. XP has me confused

Stay well folks,

tv