is non-existence damaging?

First real problem with the Amazon dispute resolution process; they are usually very quick to refund after a bogus seller tries something on.  However, this time the seller used a bogus UPS tracking number, and claimed item was delivered.  Fortunately, we have CCTV evidence to show that it wasn’t.  However, when trying to submit a claim through Amazon, the “item not delivered” option is “helpfully” greyed out, because of the “evidence” of delivery.  (Note to software developers – greyed out options are always frustrating when they are the one you actually want/need!  Since this is a claims process, there are bound to be weird side cases.)  I had to submit a claim saying the item was “damaged” (is non-existence damaging?)  Let’s see what happens next…

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Update: 72 hours later, a message from Amazon says I’ve been reimbursed – so that worked nicely despite my having to use an inappropriate option!

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The what?

This article almost makes the misery worth it:

The Book of Jeremy Corbin

And it came to pass, in the land of Britain, that the High Priestess went unto the people and said, Behold, I bring ye tidings of great joy. For on the eighth day of the sixth month there shall be a general election. 

And the people said, Not another one. 

And they waxed wroth against the High Priestess and said, Didst thou not sware, even unto seven times, that thou wouldst not call a snap election? 

And the High Priestess said, I know, I know. But Brexit is come upon us, and I must go into battle against the tribes of France, Germany, and sundry other holiday destinations. And I must put on the armor of a strong majority in the people’s house. Therefore go ye out and vote.
...

And the elders rose up and said to the young people, If ye choose Jeremy, he will bring distress in your toils and wailing upon your streets. Do ye not remember the nineteen-seventies?

And the young people said, The what?
...

Read the whole thing; it's delicious.

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oncoming train

Oh, wait.  The Tories are getting in bed with the DUP to cling on desperately to power.

May to form 'government of certainty' with DUP backing

Cancel my comment about the glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel.  It was an oncoming train.

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Nicola Sturgeon nails it again

Sturgeon: 'Reckless' Tories put party ahead of country 

The damage the Tories have done to the stability and reputation of the UK cannot be overstated. In less than a year, they have caused chaos on an industrial scale. 

They recklessly forced through an EU referendum, they then embarked on a disastrous Brexit strategy, deciding to remove Scotland and the UK from the single market with no idea and no plan for what would come next. 

They were so arrogant they thought they could do anything and get away with it... They have consistently put the interests of the Tory party ahead of the interests of the country

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hung Parliament

The headline says "hung Parliament". Best news I've seen in the long year since last June's referendum.

Although it might not be hung enough to oust the hard Brexiteers...

But, it might be hung enough to mean we have to do it all over again in a few months!

Hung Parliament: Q&A guide to what happens when no-one wins the election

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there should be fail-safes in place

no longer the go-to advice to computer users

British Airways says IT chaos was caused by human error 

an engineer disconnected a power supply, with the major damage caused by a surge when it was reconnected.

but the commentators are sceptical:

an email leaked to the media last week suggested that a contractor doing maintenance work inadvertently switched off the power supply. 

The email said: "This resulted in the total immediate loss of power to the facility, bypassing the backup generators and batteries... After a few minutes of this shutdown, it was turned back on in an unplanned and uncontrolled fashion, which created physical damage to the systems and significantly exacerbated the problem." 

But the BBC's transport correspondent, Richard Westcott, has spoken to IT experts who are sceptical that a power surge could wreak such havoc on the data centres. 

BA has two data centres about a kilometre apart. There are question marks over whether a power surge could hit both. Also, there should be fail-safes in place, our correspondent said.

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book review: Weinberg on Writing

Gerald M. Weinberg.
Weinberg on Writing: the fieldstone method.
Dorset House. 2006

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In this slim book, Weinberg delivers his advice to aspiring technical writers, based on the metaphor of building a dry stone wall from “fieldstones”:

• Write only on what you are passionate about.
• Gather relevant pieces (the fieldstones) all the time, piled up ready for later use.
• When you want to write on a topic, select relevant fieldstones from your collection.
• Assemble them into the right order to make an essay, a report, or a book.
• Avoid writer’s block by controlling the number of fieldstones you are considering together.

This is all very sensible advice, and pithily delivered. Possibly the most interesting part of the book is where it goes all meta, as he demonstrates how to assemble the fieldstones into a sensible order by doing just that to assemble the description.

The fieldstone method is a pragmatic process for writing: you are doing it all the time, from gathering small snippets, to writing entire books. It won’t work for those times when you just have to write on a topic that you are not passionate about. Weinberg is privileged enough that this has not been a problem for him: he “cheated” at college to be allowed to write on his own topics, then in industry he was lucky enough that his boss took his first somewhat off topic report seriously, and now as a consultant he can write what pleases him. However, even in a non-voluntary scenario, if you have the stones, you can probably pull off an acceptable piece of work using this approach.

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