When the bug in the system is actually a person

A rookie programmer's purchasing order system works perfectly -- until the new corporate managers start laying off employees

An IT recruiter came to one of my classes when I was a junior in college, and about 30 of us turned over our resumes. As a barely employable computer science student, I jumped at the chance to get hands-on experience and income while completing my studies, as well as work toward a programming job that could offer full-time employment after I graduated.
One of two companies called back for a second interview. I somehow beat out the competition, although I had to bluff my way through trivia concerning the adventures of a fellow called Link and his girlfriend Zelda.

At my new job, I had some free time between configuring new equipment and resetting passwords. In order to fill the hours between schoolwork and to gear myself up for the coming "real job," I worked on developing a purchasing system my boss could use to help him with the process of ordering equipment. It would keep track of what he ordered, who approved it, when the order was filled, and a lot of other business logic. The old Lotus Notes system his group was still updating with this information had a variety of problems, so the team was subject to a lot of manual input and searching that ate up precious time.

The system I was building had to send emails automatically to alert people in the approval chain. At one point during development it accidentally emailed the vice president about a multi-million-dollar order, but he was pleased to see things were proceeding well. There was a buzz around the office in anticipation of my slick, new system.
Around the time I had it demo ready (and was about to graduate), the worst happened. The project I was supposed to work on full-time after getting my degree was canceled, and dozens of people were deserting the company like rats on a sinking ship. I guess a couple of the developers couldn't get jobs, so management proposed that they "help" with my little project. Since I was completely inexperienced, I thought this was a great idea.
After several weeks of endlessly refining the requirements for a system that was all but completed, graduation day was almost upon us, and one of the execs had found work for me elsewhere in the company in another part of town. The clock was ticking, and I wanted to deliver a working system to my old boss before I left.


I told the senior developers that I didn't have time to continue with all the edits they wanted on the requirements document because I had to fix the last few bugs before I left. One of them was furious and screamed at me in an open cubicle farm about how I was to do what he said. I never spoke with him again after that, but I did finish developing my system and put it into use. It worked as expected, and my boss was pleased.
A couple of months later, while neck-deep in the debugger on my new project, I got a call from my old boss. Something was wrong with my purchasing system. Purchase orders weren't getting filled, and he figured my system had a bug. It was a disaster. Would I come take a look?
I really liked him (and it was my first "baby"), so I drove out. After some digging, I found that there were no technical problems -- none. The system worked perfectly. I started to walk around to people's offices and asked what had happened. Everything was working as it should.
Finally, I got to the liaison who was supposed to actually place the order with the vendor. Had she gotten the email from my system? Yes. Did she write the check to the vendor so that the order could be placed? No.
We'd recently been bought by a larger company, and in the ensuing chaos corporate shenanigans had triumphed once again. The new corporate managers were downsizing people like this liasion so that they could "consolidate resources," and they told her not to fill any purchase orders "the old way." She was clearly disgruntled and checked out since she knew she was on her way out the door. To her, not doing things "the old way" meant not doing them at all. Why should she care?
I'd found the "bug" and explained to my old boss what had happened.
I lost touch with my old boss and don't know what happened with the system I developed under the new corporate managers. But one thing this experience taught me was that no matter how excellent the software might be and how perfectly it solves the problem, it might end up as shelfware due to forces outside of your control. Whenever this happens, I learned from this incident that it's best to just shrug and move on.

What does the BBC think of Radio 4's 10m loyal listeners? Too many are white, Southern and elderly

You might assume that being declared a ‘national treasure’ and boasting 10million listeners a week means Radio 4 is doing ­everything right. 

Yet the station’s output is still not good enough for the BBC Trust.

In a performance review, it has ruled Radio 4 needs more northern presenters, a younger audience and to improve its appeal to ethnic minorities.

Stalwarts: The Today programme's John Humphrys and Desert Island Discs host Kirsty Young attract thousands of listeners to Radio 4, but the BBC Trust says the BBC Trust says the station should appeal to a younger, more diverse audience

the BBC Trust says the station should appeal to a younger, more diverse audience

But the verdict prompted a fury yesterday from listeners, broadcasters and ­politicians, who branded the Trust’s ­findings ‘ludicrous’ and ‘patronising’.

More...

• QUENTIN LETTS: Oh no! Don't let the dumb-down brigade ruin Radio 4. It's the last bastion of civilised, aspirational broadcasting
• After tipping the scales at 19 stone, Woman's Hour's Jenni Murray finally took drastic action and lost three stone in three months

Today presenter John Humphrys said: ‘Radio 4 is not too white, too middle class or too old. You would have to be daft not to think about how to bring in the next generation of audiences, but it should be done through quality.

‘Our listeners come to us as they mature, but also because of the content. If I am doing an interview I don’t think about how to make it appeal to a 16-year-old or a 95-year-old – I think about doing the best job.’

What the listeners say...

 ‘Leave it alone for goodness sake. Don’t put regional accents on because it is PC. Put the best reporters on there.’
Cerys Matthews
‘Radio 4 is a perennial treasure. Young people grow older.’
Stephen Hough
‘The point of listening to Radio 4 is to mature you. Don’t dilute the formula.’
George Cole
‘What is wrong with the white “middle classes” having their own station with intelligent drama and documentaries and accurate unbiased journalism? I mean everyone else has their own station.’
‘Mirror Mirror’
‘Why does Radio 4 need to find younger listeners? Why not wait for them to grow up and change.’
Ivan Clark
‘Radio 4 is excellent precisely because it doesn’t pander to youth audiences. The station should be something you step up to, not one that bends over backwards to accommodate the demographic obsessions of BBC managerialists.’
‘Android’
‘It is illogical. If it was possible to have one radio station service the entire population, there would be only one station.’
Paul Thorgan
‘I live up North and don’t think it’s too London-centric! That’s where all the Government news comes from anyway.’
Alice Jones
‘It is the one thing I can listen to on the radio without hearing a bunch of morons moaning and groaning to the masses.’
Lucy Plant

Today is just one of the stalwart programmes on which Radio 4 has built its reputation. Others include The Archers, From Our Own ­Correspondent and Desert Island Discs, hosted by Kirsty Young.

The BBC Trust - the corporation’s governing body - is estimated to have spent £10,000 on a consultation with 16,795 licence fee ­payers on the quality, distinctiveness and value for money of Radios 4, 3 and digital station 7, which is to be rebranded Radio 4 Extra.

The report, by BBC trustee David Liddiment, acknowledged Radio 4 sets ‘a high standard for speech radio’ and is seen by many as a ‘national treasure’ – but claimed it still needed to change.

The station should find ‘ways to build loyalty amongst younger, lighter listeners’, and needs to be promoted ‘among minority ethnic opinion formers through special content and marketing events’.

It should also ‘give greater exposure to presenters from the North’. 

The report suggested ‘taking Radio 4 programmes to high-profile northern events and venues, such as Gardeners’ Question Time at Harlow Carr [gardens]’.

The Trust said there had been a decline in younger listeners – the so-called replenisher audience that will become its core audience in the future.

Five years ago more than 30 per cent of those aged 35 to 54 tuned in to the station, but that figure is now 26.6 per cent. 

Mr Liddiment, from Yorkshire, told Today: ‘The public reaction has been phenomenal. They love the station. There are two buts. The station as a whole has a huge skew to the South-East of England, people in the North do not listen anywhere near as much.
‘The replenisher audience are not listening as much as they were.’

But his verdict prompted wide-ranging anger. Former MP Ann Widdecombe said: ‘Radio 4 is ­probably the only thing that caters for middle-class, middle-aged audiences. There is precious little for us on television.’ 

And former Today presenter Jennie Bond, 60, said: ‘What on earth is wrong with being middle class? A lot of people are middle class.’

Conservative MP Philip Davies said: ‘This is ludicrous. The idea that people in the North will only listen if there are presenters that sound like them is patronising.’ 

It is not the first time the BBC has tried to force Radio 4 to ‘broaden its appeal’. In 1994, a ‘light’ afternoon talk show with Northern Irish presenter Gerry Anderson lasted less than a year after attracting thousands of complaints. 

Tim Davie, the BBC’s director of audio and music, said yesterday: ‘We welcome the Trust’s recommendation that we continue to build the appeal of Radio 3 and Radio 4 amongst potential new listeners.’

Call this justice?

Teen thug who threw brick into a talented young athlete's face, leaving her with a fractured skull, is fined just £200

• She suffered fractured skull, fractured eye socket and broken nose 
• Her 17th birthday was spent in 10-hour surgery marathon
• Victim's father slams 'appalling' verdict and 'badly handled case'

A teenage yob who scarred a promising young athlete for life when he threw a brick through a car window into her face has been fined just £200.

Heptathlete Samantha Sadler, 17, was returning home from training in the back seat of the Nissan Micra when the thug launched the missile from close range.

Blinded by pain as blood poured from her face, Samantha's only thought was that her dreams of competing for England lay in shreds.




Blinded: The blow left Miss Sadler with a fractured skull, broken nose and fractured eye socket - and she still has double vision eight months on

The blow left Samantha, who was also a model until the attack, with a fractured skull, broken nose and fractured eye socket - and she still has double vision eight months on.
More...
Axe-wielding farmer who chased ketchup-soaked fiancée in prank to scare teens walks free
Her family has reacted with fury after the 14-year-old boy, who cannot be named for legal reasons, was handed a 12-month referral order and fined £200 by magistrates, in Runcorn, Cheshire, after admitting assault.

Samantha's father Phillip, 49, said: 'It's no deterrent. He has got away with it. We are both appalled by the outcome. We think the case was poorly handled.



Scarred: Samantha's face still bares testament to the unprovoked attack, left. She hasn't modelled since, right
'The police worked extremely hard. We would have preferred the Crown Court and a jury to decide but the charges were reduced so he would plead guilty. This boy intimidated my daughter, causing terrible injuries. She has been scarred for life. '
Samantha, from Runcorn, underwent extensive surgery for serious facial injuries, spent four weeks in hospital and had a ten-hour operation on her 17th birthday.

The A-level student relived the terrible moment her short athletics career flashed before her eyes, saying: 'I was petrified. My eyes shut straightaway. All I could see was blood. I thought I'd never be able to do my heptathlon again.
'I was screaming. All I could see was blood. I thought I'd never be able to do my heptathlon again.'
Samantha Sadler

'I was screaming. It was very painful. I thought I was going to be blind. It was a centimetre away from killing me.'
Samantha was smothered in blood and shattered glass in the attack which happened outside a McDonald's, in nearby Widnes, at 9.30pm last June.She added: 'I was in hospital for four weeks and missed a month of school and loads of important athletic competitions.'I had a 10-hour operation the day before my 17th birthday. The surgeons have been amazing.
'I still have double vision and have to have another operation on my nose.'
Keen sportswoman Samantha represented Cheshire in athletics and was tipped to join the England squad. Yet, despite her injuries, she is running again.



Scene: Samantha was in the back seat when the 14-year-old boy hurled a brick through the window outside McDonald's in Widnes, Cheshire, pictured

She said: 'Because of my eyesight, I can't do hurdles but I'm back to full fitness. I've been training since October. I've come back better than ever.'I value life a lot more and am more determined to be successful. 'My family and friends and my boyfriend have been supporting me.'My scars are physically noticeable but I have been lucky.'

Does Fest combines fun with eco-awareness

Amidst the art installations and handicraft stalls that have been crowd pullers at the ongoing Kala Ghoda Festival, there’s an effort towards creating environmental awareness. Over the last four days, a significant number of visitors have been buying sparrow shelters, DVDs on wildlife and even books in Indian animals and birds at the stall set up by the Bombay Natural History Society (BNHS).



“In a cultural festival like this, BNHS has successfully spread the conservation message to the masses. Ours is the only environment non-government organisation to put set up a stall,” said Atul Sathe, BNHS spokesperson adding that more than 20,000 people have visited the stall.


“We have been successful in bringing the issue of conservation in an interesting manner in the mainstream events of the cultural life of Mumbai city,” he added.


Besides buying products such as t-shirts with wildlife images, caps, mugs and even wall clocks with bird calls, there have been enquiries on procedures for membership at BNHS.


“Our nature camps, nature trails and workshops have been key drivers in getting people associated with BNHS,” said Sathe.

Mother leaves £486,000 fortune to animal charities

Mother leaves all her £486,000 fortune to animal charities after row with daughter about the name of her grandchild

By JOHN STEVENS

Heather Ilott, pictured, is challenging her mother Melita Jackson's £486,000 will, which was left to animal charities

A motherleft everything she had to animal charities after falling out with her only daughter over the naming of her child, a court heard.

Melita Jackson decided to write her daughter out of her £486,000 will after she called her fifth child Ellen – the name of a sister-in-law Mrs Jackson did not like.

Heather Ilott, 50, who says her mother did not even support the charities, is challenging the will in the Court of Appeal.

John Collins, representing Mrs Ilott, said: ‘It is a picture of irrationality. It was not because she supported the charities, but simply out of spite.’

Mrs Ilott first fell out with her mother in the late 1970s after leaving the family home in the middle of the night to live with her boyfriend and his parents when she was only 17.

Her mother disapproved of the boyfriend – and the mother and daughter became completely separated – Mrs Ilott’s mother was not even invited to the couple’s wedding in 1983. Apart from brief reconciliations, they barely spoke again before the widow died at 70.

The most recent reconciliation came after a chance meeting at a dentist’s surgery in 1999. Mrs Ilott apologised to her mother, but they fell out again as the mother was upset over the child’s name. Mrs Jackson had asked her daughter to choose another name.

In 2002, the mother made her last will, with a letter to explain why she had disinherited her only daughter, referring to the fact that she had walked out of her home in 1978.

And in 2004, Mrs Jackson died, leaving all her money to The Blue Cross, RSPB and the RSPCA.

Her daughter, of Great Munden, Hertfordshire, first challenged the will under the Inheritance Act. A district judge found it did not make reasonable provision for her and ordered that she should have £50,000 from the estate.

Mrs Ilott, who is unemployed, asked the High Court to increase the sum, but the charities challenged the appeal, leaving her with nothing.

Mrs Jackson, who died in 2004, left all her money to organisations such as the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

Yesterday the appeal judges heard how Mrs Ilott, whose children are aged 14 to 27, needed money and had no earning capacity and no pension. She was unable to make any provision for her future, Mr Collins said.

‘The whole purpose of the Inheritance Act was to safeguard close members of the family against unreasonable provision from the deceased’s estate.’

He argued that it was ‘unreasonable’ for Mrs Jackson to have left her daughter, who depended on a family income of £14,000 in 2007, out of her will when she is in such financial need.

But lawyers for the three charities say Mrs Ilott and her husband made ‘lifestyle choices’ – including having five children – which left them in financial difficulty.

Arguing that the appeal should be dismissed, they said Mrs Ilott had managed to live independently of her mother for 26 years and could not now expect maintenance.

Outside court, James Aspden, representing the charities, said: ‘The charities involved are very grateful to Mrs Jackson for choosing to remember the needs of animals and wild birds in her will. On legal advice, they are continuing to support her wishes.’

The judges reserved their ruling to a later date.

A Girl with an Addiction | A Shocking Story:addicted to eating soap

'I'm addicted to eating soap': The 19-year-old girl with a dangerous compulsion doctors say could kill her

t's the toxic compulsion that doctors claim could kill her.

But this 19-year-old girl claims she is hopelessly addicted... to eating soap. 

A rare medical condition has left Tempestt Henderson, from Florida, eating up to five bars of soap a week - and washing powder too. 

My bizarre compulsion: Tempestt Henderson, 19, says she is addicted to eating soap - and can go through five bars a week

'It tasted so sweet, and salty': Tempestt claims that the first time she ate washing powder, it just felt right

'I remember the first time I dipped my fingers into the washing powder,' she said.

'I dabbed the powder onto my tongue and it tasted so sweet, and salty…it just felt so right. I was hooked straight away.'

The nursing student says she knew eating soap was dangerous, but ignored the warning labels on the box in favour of licking the deadly powder daily, from the minute she woke up in the morning. 

Soon she had moved onto licking the bubbles of soap in the shower, too, a habit that was getting her through up to five bars of soap a week.

'In the shower, I like to lather up a green bar of soap, and lick the bubbles. And as the soap disintegrates, I pop a tiny amount of the soap into my mouth and suck it. It’s heavenly.

When you can't stop: Doctors have diagnosed Tempestt with a rare disorder called PICA, characterised by an appetite for substances that are non-nutritive

'I love the clean feeling it gives me. Eating soap feels so much cleaner than just washing with it.'

After six months of eating soap, unhappy Tempestt decided to be brave and seek medical advice. She was diagnosed with a rare disorder called PICA, which doctors told her is characterised by an appetite for substances that are largely non-nutritive. 

Sufferers have been known to compulsively eat metal, coins, chalk, batteries and even toothbrushes. It can often be caused by a mineral deficiency, which explains why pregnant women often crave eating coal when needing iron. 

But in Tempestt’s case doctors believed the condition was bought on by stress.

'Things got really stressful for me when my boyfriend, Jason, split up with me and left for college,' she admitted.

'He told me he was going to college in Kansas to study business. I begged him to give the long distance relationship a go, but he told me it was over. I was devastated.'

NOT a balanced meal: Doctors say if Tempestt doesn't kick her habit - which they blame on PICA, caused by stress - it could kill her

When Tempestt herself had to leave for college, hundreds of miles away from her family home in Florida, things took a turn for the worse. 

'College was five hours away from my family, and the stress got bigger. With no boyfriend and my family miles away, I got lonely, sad and depressed. I turned to bath soap and laundry detergent and my problem got increasingly worse.'

Dr Barton Blinder, the world’s authority on PICA, says that eating soap in these quantities could seriously affect Tempestt’s health:.

'With soap, the worry is the problems associated with ingesting toxic chemicals, which are typically alkaline but there are other toxic substances in soap.

'These can damage someone's metabolism and cause digestive problems. With soap, you're also concerned about the acid-base balance of the blood.'

But for Tempestt, therapy got to the bottom of her addiction to soap, and the cause of her PICA. 

'I always knew I loved the smell of washing detergent,' she explained.

At least it's not drugs: Tempestt poses with her mother, who was so worried about her habit that she pulled her out of college

'I remember the brand my Mum always used to use - I remember the smell vividly, it was the smell of her cardigan when she hugged me, and the smell of my bed sheets as a child. 

'I used to love smelling the powder, but when life got so stressful I found only eating the soap would help.

'It is an addiction, I can’t stop, and I have sought the help of a doctor who specialises in addiction. The doctor told me I must empty my house of all washing detergent and soap, anything that triggers my addiction.'

Psychologists have said that Tempestt most likely turned to soap eating as a comforting coping mechanism when she found herself away from her family. 

'We use liquid at home now,' she said, 'and for some reason I’ve got no need to eat that.'

Before it all began: Tempestt as a young girl in an undated family photo

The doctor gave Tempestt intensive Cognitive-behavioral therapy, or CBT, to give her replacement thoughts that will prevent her from compulsively reaching for soap. 

'I’m learning to think about positive things when I feel I need to eat soap,' she said.

She has also been encouraged to go for long walks, avoiding places where soap is present, like bathrooms and laundrettes. 

She added: 'Doctors have encouraged me to talk about my issues, because they think my addiction is caused by me bottling things up.'

And for the teenager who used to take not one, not two, but three bottles of soap into the shower, she hasn’t eaten soap since September 2010.

When her mother found out about her daughter’s addiction, she ordered Tempestt to return home from college. It may have been a smart move as Tempette admitted: 'I just couldn’t face being back there, alone, with a campus full of soap.'

Today, she faces a long road of recovery, but says she hopes she’ll never have to eat soap ever again. 

'I suppose my Mum is secretly relieved that I was addicted to soap,' she admited, 'and not dangerous drugs or something.'