On 13 Nov 2000, at 13:16, Sletten Kenneth W KPWA wrote:

> developing FL fiasco hit the airwaves somebody interviewed
> somebody from the Cook County Dept. of Elections or etc.:
> They matter-of-factly noted that this year Cook County threw out
> about 120,000 ballots out of 2 million or so;  for "over voting",
> "under voting", etc;  i.e.:  SIX percent.....   which IMO is
> fairly astounding.

My observation of accuracy is that if any activity involving
humans on a significant scale reports an accuracy of better
than 95%, then the measurement system itself is suspect.
The cost of getting from 95% to 99% accuracy is often several
multiples of the cost to obtain 95%.  This has held true for me
both in large scale programming projects, and on MRP-II
certification projects.  Even if after much effort and expense
the target figure of 99% is actually attained, then it is only
briefly held.

The level of error reported in this election is not particularly
astounding to me.  Neither is the posturing of either candidate
over the effect of those errors.  The prize is very valuable and
the decision can go either way.  They and their parisians
would be more than human if they behaved much differently.

Comfort can be drawn from this situation in that in the end it,
whosoever wins, it will make negligible difference to the
country or to the vast majority of citizens.  A large number will
no doubt be briefly disappointed, but it isn't like there is going
to be a civil war or politically motivated violence on a
significant scale over who becomes president.  The country
will go on, and in large measure in the same manner, no
matter who is in the White House, or Ottawa.

Cheers,
Jim

Now, about HP3000's.  I have a service call on this matter but
I thought that I might obtain the benefit of the large pool of
practical experience represented here.  I have a HP3000-
918LX whose DDS2 tape drive is ejecting almost every tape
that is inserted, without reporting an error.  The tape drive
reports via indicator light that it is clean, or at least does not
require cleaning.

Since the problem developed last night we have conducted
repeated testing. We have observed that the unit has, on rare
occasions successfully loaded a tape cartridge. This is after
the same cartridge has been ejected many times previously.

The service organization had me shut down my HP3000 and
power off the unit prior to their arrival.  Supposedly this 'resets'
the tape unit.  Personally I have my doubts.  If true, this then
leads to the rather obvious question as to why the unit doesn't
have its own power switch that is readily available to the
average user.  It seems to me to be rather drastic to force a
complete system shutdown simply to reset a peripheral.

Comments please?

JBB

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James B. Byrne                Harte & Lyne Limited
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