Dead Horse Theory

[KBs PensNmore]

The tribal wisdom of the Dakota Indians, passed on from generation to generation, says that,
"When you discover that you are riding a dead horse, the best strategy is to dismount."
However, in modern business, education and government, a whole range of far more advanced strategies are often employed, such as,
1. Buying a stronger whip,
2. Changing riders,
3. Threatening horse with termination,
4. Appointing a committee to study the horse,
5. Arrange a visit to other countries to see how others ride dead horses,
6. Lowering the standards so that dead horses can be included,
7. Re classifying the horse as "Living impaired",
8. Hiring outside contractors to ride the dead horse,
9. Harnessing several dead horses together to increase the spead,
10. Provide additional funding and/or training to increase the dead horse's performance,
11. Doing a productivity study to see if lighter riders would improve the dead horse's performance,
12. Declaring that as the dead horse does not have to be fed, it is less costly, carries lower overhead, and therefore contributes substantially more to the bottom line of the economy than do some other horses,
13. Re-writing the expected performance requirements for all horses,
14, Promoting the dead horse to a supervisory position of hiring another horse.

[A Duke]

Hi,
Thought I was going to get a story about a dead horse Sheila.

[Mr Brush]

6+13 (above) = "If you completely ignore the rules people will, half the time, quietly rewrite them so that they don't apply to you" - Terry Pratchett

[rrich]

6+13 (above) = "If you completely ignore the rules people will, half the time, quietly rewrite them so that they don't apply to you" - Terry Pratchett

Oh goodness! I have seen that happen too many times.

[Mr Brush]

It seems to be the mantra for politicians everywhere.....especially that orange chap you have running your place right now

[Rodgera]

It is exactly like the NSW Education Department.
Stuff the caller, we suit ourselves!!

[doug3030]

Exactly what happens when process takes precedence over results

[rrich]

It seems to be the mantra for politicians everywhere.....especially that orange chap you have running your place right now

He can't even do that correctly.

There is a little known philosophy that if repeated often enough it becomes fact. However it takes years for hearsay to become fact. In the office I would say:
"In the Los Angeles area the rainy season is about from Black Friday (Day after Thanksgiving or last Friday in November) to about Tax Day (or April 15)."

I haven't been in the office since May 2003. I have heard the expression several times and most recently from a TV weather man. The timing of our rainy season is about that but it has no basis in fact.

[rustynail]

But is the horse Officially Dead?
Who signed off, on who signed off, on the horse signing off?

[damian]

Originally Posted by Mr Brush
6+13 (above) = "If you completely ignore the rules people will, half the time, quietly rewrite them so that they don't apply to you" - Terry Pratchett

Oh goodness! I have seen that happen too many times.

It may have happened but I was busy ignoring it so I don't know.

[damian]

I have never seen a more complete disconnect between authority and responsibility than in Queensland Rail. It was truly astounding. Someone would decree something and it would be adhered to for decades despite being logically flawed and having no basis in fact. Meanwhile the problems it caused would be blamed on someone entirely different.

I raised this issue in one of the many staff surveys. I explained the problem completely and clearly, and management listened. Down from above came the decree that all staff must take more responsibility for decisions. Sigh. Like banging two rocks together.

The train doors in brisbane require passenger intervention by a lever or button to open at stations. The reason given by head of air conditioning was that it would not cope if all the doors opened at every station. When it was pointed out that the greatest heat load was when the train was full in peak hour, and that in those circumstances every door on every carriage was opened anyway this was expertly ignored. Queensland trains continue to have manually triggered doors to this day.

[ian]

I have never seen a more complete disconnect between authority and responsibility than in Queensland Rail.

The train doors in brisbane require passenger intervention by a lever or button to open at stations. The reason given by head of air conditioning was that it would not cope if all the doors opened at every station. When it was pointed out that the greatest heat load was when the train was full in peak hour, and that in those circumstances every door on every carriage was opened anyway this was expertly ignored. Queensland trains continue to have manually triggered doors to this day.

being serious for a moment -- I know it is a forum for jokes, but ...
I'm not sure that the head of air conditioning is "wrong". Without installing monitoring units in every carriage, it could be that the heat load doesn't vary all hat much between an empty train -- almost all doors closed at a station -- and a fully loaded train -- all the doors on one side open at every station.
I used to think a bit like you -- maximum heat load is when the train is full -- but now I'm not so sure. The metal tube -- which is the train -- spends a lot of time running around in the sun, with the tube getting very hot. It's quite possible that the additional heat represented by the passengers is not that significant till after every seat is occupied.
(in respect to the new Metro services, 100% occupancy is represented by every seat and grab handle being utilised -- a Metro service is not over 100% till you start getting 2nd and 3rd hands on the grab handles)

On Sydney trains, the doors don't open till they are activated by the guard. And apart from the very busiest stations the doors are only open for about 20 seconds.

[damian]

I am not clear on what point you are making above ?

He claimed opening the doors at every station would overload the air conditioning.

When the train is full all the doors are opened at every station. You have both maximum heat ingress due to convection and maximum internal heat generation. The only thing that isn't maximised is heat ingress due to sun on carriage skin which is generally at about 2pm. The roofs in particular are quite reflective but I don't have data on heat transfer into the carriage. What I do know is humans are tremendous heat radiators. All large warm blooded animals are. It is why we need so many calories. We dissipate about 1500 calories a day just living and about another 700 for all our daily activities. At full load there are about 150+ people per carriage.

Also Sydney, for example, actually gets hotter than brisbane in summer. It is cooler in winter and spring/autumn are about on par. The big issue in brisbane is humidity. It is suffocating.

Anyway...

[rrich]

Something along the lines of:

But we've always done it that way.