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Civilian = "not a developer"
After getting my new Kodi Pi setup, I came to the realization that several of the movies were not showing up in Kodi, and there were also some duplicates. My media server has six drives in it, and I have over 1000 movies, so you might image that locating/resolving issues was somewhat tedious.
My solution, write a little WPF app that allows me to see all the media files, filter them, and search the file names for specific text. I can then double-click the file in the list, and either edit the name (because TMDB.ORG is real picky about name resolution, and Kodi doesn't provide a way to do it in the app), or delete it (maybe one day, I'll add the ability to move files). I started Friday at about 4pm, and was done by 2pm yesterday.
Non-developers have to find something that they can make work, but devs can write something that works exactly the way they want.
Life is good when you're the king.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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#realJSOP wrote: Non-developers have to find something that they can make work, but devs can write something that works exactly the way they want.
And the corollary - customer can tell developers what they want, but developers can write what the customer actually needs. 
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Normal home computer users don't have a dev contact, and don't know where to ask for something to be written for them, nor the money to pay for the service.
".45 ACP - because shooting twice is just silly" - JSOP, 2010
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You can never have too much ammo - unless you're swimming, or on fire. - JSOP, 2010
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When you pry the gun from my cold dead hands, be careful - the barrel will be very hot. - JSOP, 2013
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Marc Clifton wrote: but some developers can write what the customer actually needs.
Anyone want to guess a percentage?
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horribly enough, that's why I went iPhone
a) 'better' font/sizes than what I was using (and I think way back then I had a work BlackBerry)
b) I was already supporting an iPhone app, so I knew the development environment - anything I couldnt get, I could write (guess how many personal apps I've actually written  )
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I found this on Amazon (checking for comments from another seller that doesn't yet have any):
Quote: >The Tayama Personal Blender designed for your active, fast-paced lifestyle.The 20 ounce BPA-free plastic Sport Bottle comes complete with a carry hook and lid storage when put away. A powerful 300-watt motor turns ice and frozen fruit into your favorite smoothies, health shakes, and diet drinks. The Blender base is small enough to keep on your counter every day or take on the go.
and immediately below it:
Quote: Helpful Hint: This appliance may only be used for a maximum 3 minutes of continuous use.
Allow to cool down between uses. This appliance is not intended to crush ice or frozen food. Use only for liquid and cut soft fruit.
Let me add the finishing touch: the above was taken from their own photo-enriched add extolling their product.
I guess the manufacturers and their agents assume we're all jackasses - and if their even 1% correct they make a fortune.
| Ravings en masse^ |
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| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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A powerful 300-watt motor turns ice and frozen fruit into your favorite smoothies, health shakes, and diet drinks.
Technically, this does't specifically say that their blender can do this. It just says that a 300-watt motor can do it.
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Exactly.
Recently I've been looking at radiation meters. They all seem to begin by describing different common types of radiation -- Alpha, Beta, Gamma, X-rays -- yet when you read the specifications, none detect Alpha and few detect Beta. (I need an Alpha detector.)
I imagine someone might also begin a car ad with something along the lines of "Mercedes Benz traces it's roots to 1883 and has been synonymous with high-quality European automobiles for more than a century, this Yugo is also a European automobile..."
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by telling you that it can do it, and then telling you that it cannot do it, they cover most scenarios for law suits. I am guessing.
This product is safe for all surfaces, but don't use it on metal, wood, glass, or plastic as permanent damage may occur.
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OK - so here's a pop-quiz (rhetorical, if you like):
Tayama is a Japanese company, companies who, for years, had set the standards for quality control.
Quiz: Are they now back to making "Jap Crap" (as it used to be called) in Japan or are they whoring their name for goods made in China?
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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W∴ Balboos, GHB wrote: whoring their name for goods made in China
I put my money on this one for sure. 
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Just as an aside - I used to purchase the Kodak Easy-Share cameras in the (what is now called) super telephoto class - really bridges between SLR's and point-an-shoot. When Kodak was going bankrupt I upgraded to the latest and greatest, a Z990 (30x Schneider lens that is just amazing). I got it for $150, new, just after they announced bankruptcy and stores were dumping inventory. Not long after, you would have to pay full list $300 to get one in new condition, sometimes more. One other thing I loved about this series is that it used four AA batteries. Easy to keep spares; cheap, too, even for the best NiMH slow discharge. I've gotten over 200 shots one set and it wasn't used up. Alas, I dwell,
Finally, the point:
Well - they were in bad financial shape and licensed their name to some China based company and now called PixPro. They are now, basically, junk.
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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I think quality sucks because we still buy the things.
For example, these cheap 2 in 1 Chopper from Kmart[^], they're actually terrible quality, but they're so useful that I find my self recommending to people that they buy a few, because they don't last much longer than 6 months before the plastic starts to break down and fall apart.
In conclusion, I'm definitely a part of the problem.
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My primary example of the absolute loss of quality control is HDD's. Especially for more than 1TB, they often arrive inoperable (making DOA a common term in computer parlance). Or, they start making noise and crash in a week or so. This is happening a lot. The reason is rather simple - it is cheaper to skip QC and just replace the drive than to actually make sure they're working. QC is now your job and not only aren't you paid but often you need to pay shipping for the return of the junk.
Prices for HDD's are amazingly low per TB - mainly you are paying for rest of the hardware, except the very latest models.
And, consider trusting your data to an unreliable HDD. They effort in transferring data, possible setup time if it's a bootable drive. Loss of data when it crashes. It is from there that I coined my phrase: "An unreliable Hard Drive is overpriced at free".
| Ravings en masse^ |
|---|
| "The difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits." - Albert Einstein | | "If you are searching for perfection in others, then you seek disappointment. If you seek perfection in yourself, then you will find failure." - Balboos HaGadol Mar 2010 |
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The "powerful 300-watt motor" ...
With a top end of 750 to 1500 watts for a blender, it's not surprising that they'll burn out after 3 minutes. Got to know your limits. (and your watts and calories)
It was only in wine that he laid down no limit for himself, but he did not allow himself to be confused by it.
― Confucian Analects: Rules of Confucius about his food
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I am currently in the process of setting up Azure DevOps for the first time, which will be self hosted on one of our dev servers. (I have never used TFS before either... well, aside from a failed attempt in setting it up a few years back).
Any of you lot have any experience with it? Particular any obvious "gotchas" that I am likely to hit that you could pre-warn me about?
Currently we use Mercurial for source code, so that will be a conversion job over to Git at some point.
Thanks in advance for any advice. I also welcome your input if you just want to laugh at my impending doom.
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Do not use TFS - go with Git from the beginning... in any case Microsoft made it the default for new project...
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
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Yep I will use Git.
My TFS comment was just because I know DevOps is just TFS renamed and wanted to highlight the whole thing is new to me, rather than just being new to the latest stuff.
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It started as online-hosted TFS, but got renamed when started to expend and now TFS is only a part of it... and actually unnecessary...
"The only place where Success comes before Work is in the dictionary." Vidal Sassoon, 1928 - 2012
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If project and team is small and server must be in-house, you can consider Azure DevOps Express. Free for 5 member teams and runs on single machine. However, hosted Azure DevOps would be my choice. When you consider hardware, configuration, maintenance, updates , backups , TCO is cheap.
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Sauron's foot soldier caught in a tree like a pig. (7)
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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porcine
Sauron's foot soldier: orc
caught in a tree: p ine
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Yay! You are up tomorrow!
"I have no idea what I did, but I'm taking full credit for it." - ThisOldTony
AntiTwitter: @DalekDave is now a follower!
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You should have seen what happened when I put the United States in a sage bush.
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Sausage ?
"We can't stop here - this is bat country" - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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