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Here is a uuencoder:-

begin 644 uuencode.pl
M(R$O=7-R+V)I;B]P97)L("U7"@HC(%5516YC;V1E<@HC("A#*3(P,38@5&AE
M($-O;G-O<G1I=6TN"B,*(R`R,#$V,#4R-"!F:6YI<V@*"B1H=&UL/3`["B1T
M=#TP.PHD<')E/3`["B1B;&]C:STP.PHD;F%M93TG)SL*"G=H:6QE*&1E9FEN
M960H)'!A<F%M/7-H:69T($!!4D=6*2D@>PH@(&EF*"1P87)A;2!E<2`G+6@G
M*2!["B`@("`D:'1M;#TQ.PH@('T@96QS:68H)'!A<F%M(&5Q("<M="<I('L*
M("`@("1T=#TQ.PH@("`@)'!R93TP.PH@('T@96QS:68H)'!A<F%M(&5Q("<M
M<"<I('L*("`@("1P<F4],3L*("`@("1T=#TP.PH@('T@96QS:68H)'!A<F%M
M(&5Q("<M8B<I('L*("`@("1B;&]C:STQ.PH@('T@96QS:68H)'!A<F%M/7XO
M7EPM+RD@>PH@("`@<')I;G0@4U1$15)2("(D,#H@97)R;W(Z('5N:VYO=VX@
M<&%R86UE=&5R("<D<&%R86TG+EQN(CL*("`@(&5X:70@,'@Q,3L*("!](&5L
M<V4@>PH@("`@)&YA;64]:F]I;B@G("<L)'!A<F%M+$!!4D=6*3L*("`@($!!
M4D=6/2@I.PH@('T*?0H*)"\])R<["@IW:&EL92AD969I;F5D*"1L:6YE/3Q3
M5$1)3CXI*2!["B`@)&9I;&4N/21L:6YE.PI]"@HD9FEL93TB8F5G:6X@-C0T
M("1N86UE7&XB+G!A8VLH)W4G+"1F:6QE*2XB8%QN96YD(CL*"FEF*"1H=&UL
M*2!["B`@)&9I;&4]?G,O7"8O)B,S.#LO9SL*("`D9FEL93U^<R\\+R8C-C`[
M+V<["B`@)&9I;&4]?G,O/B\F(S8R.R]G.PH@("1F:6QE/7YS+R`O)B,Q-C`[
M+V<["B`@:68H)'!R92D@>PH@("`@)&9I;&4](CQP<F4^)&9I;&4\+W!R93Y<
M;B(["B`@?2!E;'-E('L*("`@("1F:6QE/7YS+UQN+SQB<B!<+SY<;B]G<SL*
M("!]"B`@:68H)'1T*2!["B`@("`D9FEL93TB/'1T/B1F:6QE/"]T=#Y<;B([
M"B`@?0H@(&EF*"1B;&]C:RD@>PH@("`@)&9I;&4](CQB;&]C:W%U;W1E/B1F
M:6QE/"]B;&]C:W%U;W1E/B(["B`@?0I]"@IP<FEN="`D9FEL92PB7&XB.PH*
`
end

Here is a list of URLs which can decode it:-

• http://www.silisoftware.com/tools/uudecode.php
• http://sqa.fyicenter.com/Online_Test_Tools/UUdecode_Converter.php
• https://quickhash.com/extra-uu-decode-online
• http://decode.urih.com/
• http://uuencode.online-domain-tools.com/

Takata Airbag recall http://www.safercar.gov/rs/takata/takatalist.html

Why not just provide optimally cut pieces of kevlar that can be placed over the bag, (but under the steering wheel covers or dashboard plastic). The kevlar would not be attached to anything, and would not prevent or delay deployment. It would be sized to simply snag the shrapnel and slow it enough to prevent penetration. It might be easier to retrofit this change than it would be to replace every airbag in every vehicle.

If you were lucky, you started out in this business writing code because you thought it was fun. You sat down with your first computer ecstatic with all of the possibilities, all of the cool things you could do by programming a computer. It was something to learn and something to master, and you thought, "Wow, this is fun. I can make a great career if I get very good a this."

-- Michael C. Feathers, Working Effectively With Legacy Code, Prentice Hall, 2013.

I suppose they call it a career because you career from disaster to disaster...

I've been in my current job for about a year and a half now, and it looks like I need to have a plan B. Things may improve, but it's unclear how and when they might.

It's about two and a half years since I started to look for the current job I have now. One thing I've noticed since then is the decline in the quality of recruitment agencies and consultants. In my previous role I was involved in recruiting, and so had to deal with them from the other end.

I registered with some agencies back then that never removed me from their database despite having been asked and during all that time I get daily spam for completely inappropriate jobs in completely inappropriate locations. The most absurd was for someone to operate an industrial furnace. I'm a software engineer (of sorts).

What is most incredible now is that I received a completely unsolicited email, out of the blue from someone I don't recall ever talking to inviting me to apply for a position, in the wrong location, with a major American company. He didn't hide the company name or the job details. He just emailed me the company name, location and job specs uninvited! I don't suppose that this supplier of very expensive printer ink would be too happy if they knew.

I did not furnish him with a reply.

There was a functionally-illiterate email a couple of days ago from an agency I registered with over five years ago. Spelling? Punctuation? Grammar? A sentence? Look and see.

Hi
Im looking for a couple of Software Engineers to work within a leading edge R&D organisation in Cambridge on long term contract. Im seeking experience of build, make file, GNU tools and C.
I was interested to know if you could be interested , please let me know

So I replied and he blurted out the name of the company, and would you believe I know people who have just run away from there screaming.

It's a small world, and shrinking.

Discuss. (25 marks)

The raving, foaming-at-the-mouth, ideologically-driven Conservatives, having all but ruined the state education system, virtually rendered social housing impotent, all but made access to lawyers impossible for everyone except the rich, gone back on their environmental commitments, gerrymandering the electoral constituencies (in their favour), ridden roughshod over the House of Lords, sent sick and dying people to work for large, rich corporations for free, are now about to eviscerate the National Health Service.

Stewart Lee has a very insightful column in the Guardian.

He gets in the Noam Chomsky one, "Defund, make sure things don’t work, people get angry, you hand it over to private capital.

Why should money be used to do good for people? Money should only ever be used to make more money!

If the sick needed treating, the Market would see to their treatment. This is just the Market's way of ridding decent, honest, hard-working people of the dead wood who are just holding us back!

Is that clear?

Give him a blast. Make that hair fly.

This topic has, perhaps, been discussed ad infinitum, ad nauseam. But I won't let that stop me. :)

I do understand that online forums aren't going to bastions of quality argument and rhetoric, especially given the temptation to go all GIFT when folks can be anonymous (or even pseudonymous). I've been guilty of that myself, from time to time.

One of the positives I've seen with Soylent (as compared with other places) is that, as a group, we tend to reward (via positive moderation) those who provide cogent, clear arguments and back them up with data to support those arguments.

AFAICT, there are a variety of motivations for submitting stories and posting comments:
An interest in discussing the topic;
An opportunity to promote their personal political bent/beliefs;
An opportunity to say things one wouldn't say in a meat-space conversation;
An opportunity to share one's sense of humor (such as it might be);
An excuse to troll (in the classical sense);
and many other motivations as well.

My focus is on the first two motivations I list. Making rational, fact-based arguments to support (or elucidate) a point of view often makes for interesting discussions which can illuminate a topic and create a positive environment for exploring a particular subject.

What's more, I suspect that expanding the pool of those who express arguments clearly and cogently could reduce the level of personal attacks and nastiness, at least among those who actually wish to engage with others.

One of the issues I've noticed with those engaged in this sort of discussion are arguments which rely upon faulty data, irrational arguments, unclear prose and poor rhetorical style.

Often, moderation causes the best arguments to rise to the top, which can elevate the discussion considerably. However, that can minimize the voices of those with useful and/or interesting things to say simply because they lack the skills to express those things effectively.

I wonder if a section on the site which contains articles, book references, discussions and other resources can help those with poor logic, writing and/or rhetorical skills to up their game?

It seems to me that while we likely wouldn't create any new Pulitzer Prize winners, we may be able to encourage those with a sincere desire to engage others in more cogent, coherent fashion.

I'm all for freewheeling discussion and am certainly not above poking fun at just about anything. At the same time, I believe it might enhance the level of discourse here by helping people to be better writers.

Am I just pissing in the wind here, or does any of this make sense to the rest of you Soylentils?

Millions of Americans may be drinking water that is contaminated with dangerous doses of lead. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) knows it; state governments know it; local utilities know it. The only people who usually don’t know it are those who are actually drinking the toxic water.

The problem stems from a common practice in which water utilities replace sections of deteriorating lead service lines rather than the entire lines, commonly known as partial pipe replacements. It is a course of action that can do more harm than good.

“It’s scary and the magnitude of this problem is huge,” said Dr. Jeffrey K. Griffiths, a Tufts University professor of medicine and public health, who recently chaired an expert panel advising the EPA on the problem. “I didn’t realize how extensive the lead exposure still remained. … EPA is really deeply concerned about this …. This was not something they expected.”

There's also a relevant quote to an issue I was concerned about in the Flint story, namely, how does a household have lead concentration levels far above that measured elsewhere in the city?

When water leaves a treatment plant, it is usually lead-free. From the plant, water flows into large pipes, called mains, which are usually made of cast-iron or concrete and run under streets. From the main, water flows through a smaller pipe called a service line, which carries it to the customer’s tap. That service line is where contamination can begin. Lead service lines are found in many states, but are especially common in older neighborhoods in the Midwest and Northeast. Most water systems stopped installing them in the first half of the last century. And there is generally less lead in water now than in years past.

But, if the service line is made of lead, as are between 3.3 and 6.4 million, according to a recent report from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, fragments of corroded lead can chip off and be swept into tap water. Additional lead can also get in as the water runs across lead-soldered joints or comes into contact with brass or bronze fixtures. Until recently, such hardware was allowed to be advertised as “lead-free,” even if it contained up to 8 percent lead. A federal law reducing the acceptable amount of lead in these plumbing fixtures to .25 percent will take effect in 2014, although Vermont and California have already adopted such rules.

Partial pipe replacements can physically shake loose lead fragments that have built up and laid dormant inside the pipe, pushing them into the homeowners’ water, and spiking the lead levels, even where they previously were not high. In addition, the type of partial replacement that joins old lead pipes to new copper ones, using brass fittings, “spurs galvanic corrosion that can dramatically increase the amount of lead released into drinking water supplies,” according to research from Washington University. Similar findings have been published by researchers at the Virginia Tech and elsewhere.

In other words, if a lead fragment from upstream pipe chipped off, it could create elevated lead levels in a single home for a period of time without affecting neighboring homes.

Now, despite all this, I'm still not sold on the claim that elevated lead exposure is due solely to the actions of Governor Snyder and his appointed subordinate in Flint. There are other mechanisms and ways to screw up that can cause elevated lead levels.

The Flint story mentioned the Walters family who had their water tested with concentrations reaching 400 ppb (parts per billion) at one point. That could be due to mechanisms that had nothing to do with changing the water supply (though making the water supply more acidic probably would have made the problem somewhat worse).

The Guardian reports that the Royal Bank of Scotland has advised its clients to:

“Sell everything except high quality bonds. This is about return of capital, not return on capital. In a crowded hall, exit doors are small.”

There is a warning that the current situation is strongly reminiscent of 2008 just before the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

In another report, there are more prophecies of doom.

What's going on?