Train tickets to Cambridge

Due to my own stupidity, I managed to not realise I was double booked on the weekend of la_marquise_de's party in Cambridge (with a family gathering that I thought was the following weekend).

In any case, I have a pair of train tickets, going down on Saturday 19th and back on the Sunday. If anyone fancies a trip then give me a shout. One of the tickets is Young Person, the other is Full Fare.

Delicious LiveJournal Links for 7-11-2008

• In praise of the nanny state
  A new scheme to help deprived parents has led to improved prenatal health of mother and baby, fewer childhood injuries, fewer subsequent pregnancies and longer breaks between births, increased maternal employment and greater readiness for school. Nice!
  (tags: parenting children society culture politics)
• Michael Bay's Rejected "The Dark Knight" Script
  It's funny because it's true. Well, not actually true. But metaphorically true. Which is to say, a lie. But still funny.
  (tags: batman funny screenplay parody michaelbay)
• Super Mario
  A complete level in one image. Very nicely done
  (tags: games Mario image)
• Trapped in an Elevator
  Timelapse video of a man trapped in an elevator for 41 hours over a weekend.
  (tags: elevator trapped film)

When bureaucracies go wrong

This is a perfect example of how bureaucracies go wrong.  And it's because people don't understand systems and their limitations.

At some point, someone has set up the rule "If an escort is travelling to school with a child then they must have passed police checks."  Which is, I think you'll agree, a good rule.

However, they've failed to provide the exception "Unless they are the person's parent."  Which is clearly a vital exception.  But it seems the council _doesn't have an exception making system_.  Once a rule is set up, nobody is able to make changes to the system once it's in place, in order to finesse it.  This is deadly.

I work in a large company.  We have huge, complex systems.  And whenever we build a new one, we make damn sure that we have ways of creating exceptions.  In fact there tend to be two types of exceptions - ones where a senior person can say "That rule doesn't apply in this exceptional circumstance, override it." and ones where a senior person can say "This doesn't fit any of the normal exceptions, we need to go in and do things completely differently."  These equate to flexible rules in the system (overridable warnings) and direct database modification.  The latter clearly requires all sorts of sign-off - but the _underlying system_ allows it to be done, because we know that any system has exceptions we've thought of, and exceptions we haven't.

Clearly, what the council needs is a way of dealing with these two exceptions - someone reaosnably senior should have a "temporary escort waiver for a parent/guardian" form, which can be used while someone is being checked by the police, and someone more senior than that should be able to step in and say "This rule doesn't apply in this situation - person X is exempt." (either temporarily or permanently).

This applies to _any_ system, whether it's financial, bureaucratic, legal, political, etc.  If you don't have a way of dealing with exceptional circumstances, both expected and unexpected, you're fucked.

Happiness

I have a sleeping Julie by my side, garlic bread with cheese by my other side, the first Order Of The Stick TPB at my feet, and a laptop on my lap.  Life could be a _lot_ worse.

World of Is-Not-Well

Julie: Do we have any red pills over there?
Andy: *looks* No, we only have blue ones.