Baron David Ward

[Hercule Parrot]

Or maybe it's because there's an election underway, therefore the purdah convention applies and civil servants are restrained from promotional activity?

[notorial dissent]

Or he's just making it up as he goes along.

[TheNewSaint]

Again, Mr. Computer Genius is befuddled by the basic functionality of a modern website: Facebook news feed customization. Your feed can be as free of "propergander" as you want, depending on how you apply the "like" and "show me more/less like this" options. But a like/don't like algorithm isn't going to understand the nuances of a diseased mind; it's just going to lower the probability of that type of story, and try to find something different. As aggressively as Mr. Ward blocks anything he doesn't like, it's amazing he gets any news at all.

[He Who Knows]

I wonder if Baron von Buttsniff will be taking a break from installing Windows XP and Vista to help out his mate, BNP candidate Chrisy Morris this week. Chrisy's on trial in Manchester today and tomorrow and needs a sofa to surf. Not sure if the Salvation Army hostel allows overnight guests, but maybe the Baron's bought himself his longed for 7.5 tonner which will suffice as long as it's parked in a wifi spot.

[letissier14]

The Baron has passed on his amazing knowledge

[Wozzle]

How long do you think before we get Natty's eviction thread?

[Hercule Parrot]

Oooh, I like riddles -



Is the answer "TrampBeard owning a house".... ?

[Wakeman52]

Going back to the detail on BvT's CV, it looks to me more than likely that he was a freelancer/contractor in the later stages of his brief IT career; the short engagement times are typical. If so, he probably came up against the same problems I had in the mid-to-late 2000s. These included a shrinking market as the recession kicked in, an unwillingness to employ those now in their middle age and an increasingly hostile HMRC. Instead of using experienced freelancers or engaging them as employees, many companies took on graduates - they were cheaper!

All his now very OOD skllls were acquired during his stay at ICL (taken over by Fujitsu around 2002 IIRC) - Beaumont was their training facility. He probably couldn't afford to keep them up-to-date. I survived the recession by adapting - working in whatever job I could find - & am now about to retire, with mortgage paid off and a pension - albeit smaller than anticipated, in addition to the state provided one. Our 'hero' took a different path.

I have a small modicum of sympathy for his current situation, but only small.

[notorial dissent]

My susposing is that unless Baron Boring had a full personality transplant that has since worn off, that even for an IT drone, he was unemployable. I have worked for companies whose existence depended on their IT people, and while eccentric was tolerated, and for the most part expected, there were limits, and I have a feeling that unless he was markedly more pleasant and well nice/civil come to it, that he wouldn't have lasted anywhere for more than a very short time, and that depending on his actually being able to do what they wanted, which is problematic. Some people mellow with age, most don't, I rather suspect he's a didn't.

[noblepa]

My susposing is that unless Baron Boring had a full personality transplant that has since worn off, that even for an IT drone, he was unemployable. I have worked for companies whose existence depended on their IT people, and while eccentric was tolerated, and for the most part expected, there were limits, and I have a feeling that unless he was markedly more pleasant and well nice/civil come to it, that he wouldn't have lasted anywhere for more than a very short time, and that depending on his actually being able to do what they wanted, which is problematic. Some people mellow with age, most don't, I rather suspect he's a didn't.

As the old joke goes, "Some people age like fine wine. He aged like milk".

[The Observer]

As the old joke goes, "Some people age like fine wine. He aged like milk".

Keyboard warnings please. I just spit my sip from my cup of Earl Gray all over my screen.

[notorial dissent]

My susposing is that unless Baron Boring had a full personality transplant that has since worn off, that even for an IT drone, he was unemployable. I have worked for companies whose existence depended on their IT people, and while eccentric was tolerated, and for the most part expected, there were limits, and I have a feeling that unless he was markedly more pleasant and well nice/civil come to it, that he wouldn't have lasted anywhere for more than a very short time, and that depending on his actually being able to do what they wanted, which is problematic. Some people mellow with age, most don't, I rather suspect he's a didn't.

As the old joke goes, "Some people age like fine wine. He aged like milk".

VERY old milk, but yeah. I will have to remember that one.

[rogfulton]

My susposing is that unless Baron Boring had a full personality transplant that has since worn off, that even for an IT drone, he was unemployable. I have worked for companies whose existence depended on their IT people, and while eccentric was tolerated, and for the most part expected, there were limits, and I have a feeling that unless he was markedly more pleasant and well nice/civil come to it, that he wouldn't have lasted anywhere for more than a very short time, and that depending on his actually being able to do what they wanted, which is problematic. Some people mellow with age, most don't, I rather suspect he's a didn't.

As the old joke goes, "Some people age like fine wine. He aged like milk".

VERY old milk, but yeah. I will have to remember that one.

Need a like button, now more than ever.

[letissier14]

[JimUk1]

Thanks, I just spilt my tea everywhere!

Comedy gold!

[notorial dissent]

The more I read of Baron Boring the less I am inclined to extend to him the accolade of geekdom. I know some true geeks, many in fact, and ALL would laugh at his claims and be appalled to be considered even the same species as he. I make no excuses at my claim of being a neo-luddite, but even I, who have never used faceplant other than to occasionally end up there by accident apparently know more about what it does or doesn't do than he. There has to be an appropriate and accurate accolade for Baron Boring, but GEEK ain't among them.

[TheNewSaint]

If he was really a geek, he could write a browser plug-in or API request that would compile that information automatically.

Poseur.

[Hercule Parrot]

The more I read of Baron Boring the less I am inclined to extend to him the accolade of geekdom.

No, he certainly isn't any sort of geek. Perhaps he once had the mental capacity for focused and creative analytical curiousity, but there's no evidence of that now. Perhaps he isn't aware of how his mind has declined, a tragedy which will come to most of us eventually in our later years.

His present behaviour is entirely un-geek'ish. He relies on blind repetition of dogma, he is excited by transient anecdotal information but shows no interest in actual, reliable data. He fails to follow any thought or project to a coherent solution. He shows no mental flexibility, stamina or concentration. He quickly resorts to emotive and personalised distraction abuse when challenged. Most of all, he lacks any ability to understand "how the system works" - a hallmark geek characteristic.

BvT is a little bit above "homeless mental who shouts at cars in the High Street", and probably qualifies as a "Facebook Gobshite". Geek is beyond his reach forever, because of his child-like mental capacity.

[Hercule Parrot]

Well, any opportunity for reflection and change seems to have passed. TrampBeard's new line (adapted from the mythical supremacy of the US Sheriff?) is that Parish Councils have total authority....



You can abolish what you want. Bedroom Tax, Council Tax. You can Ban the police from the Parish. The local Parish Council is the most powerfull of all. You can reforendone anything at all. You can do a declaration of indipendent Jurisdiction and scrub

De register all the cars from the DVLA.... There is no limit to what you can do.

If you can get that done... Every Parish around will do the same and it will cascade across the country.

Westminster will collaps. 174 Countries in the commonwelth will be free.

Print your own cash.

[Firthy2002]

Modern parish/town councils (basically the same thing) have very little powers and oversight.

They are a fairly easy "in" for aspiring politicians.