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This is my favorite example of insane requirements: He devoted an entire session to the French Railroad payroll program. The French Railroad had gone on an eco
by viburnum 6y ago
This is my favorite example of insane requirements:
He devoted an entire session to the French Railroad payroll program. The French Railroad had gone on an economy program and reduced their number of employees from 540000 to 360000. So that was the size of the payroll that was run on the computer in Paris. That payroll must be the most difficult payroll in the world to run. The size of the payroll is only the tip of the iceberg. An Engineers' (i. e. A train driver) salary is a function of the amount of power that he uses. So if he is on an uphill run, he makes more money than on a downhill run.
The employees live in government housing and their rent is deducted from their pay. People with a lot of dependents get more money than people with a few dependents. A veteran gets more money for each medal that he won in the war. The amount of money depends on the medal. A Purple Heart is worth more than a Sharpshooters medal.
- C1sc0cat 6y agoMakes me smile - a few years ago I was working for British Telecom and had to look something up on the internal system that had all the procedures and standards. I miskeyed the search and ended up on a TI (technical Instruction) from I think the 1940's which describe how to calculate pension entitlements taking account for war service - that was based in part on which medals you had.
- yjftsjthsd-h 6y ago> An Engineers' (i. e. A train driver) salary is a function of the amount of power that he uses. So if he is on an uphill run, he makes more money than on a downhill run. ...what? Why? I get the rest of the quirks listed (rewarding service, supporting families, fine), but what possible reason would they have for rewarding energy used? Is it just a bad proxy for distance?
- pinewurst 6y agoI'm guessing that having to use more power is a bad proxy for perceived difficulty of engineer work.
- Zardoz84 6y agoPerhaps it's something that comes of the times of steam machines? Think that on steam machines, the engineering need to put carbon more frequently if you need more energy.