Soundbytes: Meteors, Cookies and Hospital Parking
A weekly roundup of the best in Nextgov comments. All comments are presented in their original, unedited form.
A weekly roundup of the best in Nextgov comments. All comments are presented in their original, unedited form.
On It Was War of the Worlds Again
Welles wasn't the only one to do this. Up to 10 distinct panic radio broadcasts have occured because of "War of the Worlds" radio dramas, and recently we've had several fake events that have got the internet buzzing, including an attempt to hoax a meteor impact. You have to wonder if one day someone will go too far and really cause some serious mischief. From John Gosling
Overpaid? In the 7 years since I retired, I have made more than DOUBLE what I made TOTAL in over 30 years, the last half as an SES. Did I say that I supervise nobody! From Will
On Top Dollar IT Certifications
"Certifications" to a large degree are a training racket!! Experience PLUS Certification = >$ Certification MINUS Experience = $0 From Mike
Uncle Sam is not going to let his workers have too much IM. We have Jabber. What a joke. No one can download it and make it work correctly. We have Sharepoint...totally useless. Facebook? Are you serious? Uncle Sam (at least in DoD) will not allow that. We can't get to forum sites about gov and employees without the big warning banner. I can get to govexec, but I can't get to Fed Soup...go figure. (BTW,, I am on leave today) We are still using Office 2003...and IE 6, and WindowsXP. Thumb drives are a big no-no. CD's don't hold alot and just to purchase software for stand-alone computers takes an Act of Congress. We are encouraged to use the FSS vs. the govcc for low threshold purchases. FSS still uses appature (sp) cards..and the one thing we did order was "lost" in shipmentnt. DTS is a navigational nightmare. Why is Travelocity so easy? DoD Emall is not user friendly, yet Uncle Sam wants us to purchase items there. GSA Advantage "is" user friendly, but we are not encouraged to shop there. It is frustrating trying to do your job with all the IT failures, system lags and outdated software and websites. Come on Sam, get with the program. From Julianna
On More agencies use cookies to track Web use
Why does everyone think it's okay for the current administration to have more of their personal information? With all the examples of "Chicago Tactics" practiced by this administration I think people would be very wary of giving up any of their private information. Why should the Government need to know what websites their citizens like to visit - unless they plan to use it against them in some way. From Allan
If cookies are use to track individuals seeing government sites I don't see nothing wrong. The government should know who is visiting government web pages. If on the other hand cookies are use to track individuals whereabouts in the web, I hope they have a good reason or a warrant From Rod
On Audit blames OMB's lack of guidance for shoddy contracting data
The auditors are completely correct. The data at USAspending comes from, among other sources, FPDS-NG. Filling out the FPDS data form is harder than completing an IRS tax form, and contracting offices have to do it for every award made. Yet there has never been an instruction manual. And so it is left to the office to interpret what is meant, for example, among options like "not competed" vs "not available for competition" and different offices interpret this differently. Why was the developer of FPDS so lazy as not to come out with a coding manual (subject to OMB guidance on the proper way to report data, of course)? And contracting offices put in reporting data for each award. There is no way to ensure that OMB has used the data correctly. I am glad the auditors have put the emphasis where it belongs, rather than simply blaming the reporting offices, which is the place that OMB has placed blame in the past. From Jim Moran
On TSA seeks auto-detection for controversial body scanners
Autoscanning has been a dream in the non-destructive inspection world or in medicine for decades. Just a dream ! The error rates made by computer algorithms could not be made low enough to be tolerable. Now the TSA will throw more money at the companies who failed in the simpler challenges, where either a simpler shape or only a partial body image was being analyzed?
Pure theater ! From z0rr0
Tipping is NOT ALLOWED at the Seattle VA where valet parking has been in place for over a year. Unfortunately the valet parking people close up shop and go home at 5pm so if you are at the hospital for longer than that you have to wait around for the VA police to show up and give you back your car keys so you can go home ... From FedUp Fed
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