jthompson

Using a maintenance plan in SQL Server might be another way to achieve that, if you weren't needing it to specifically be a scheduled script.

I think it was more a case of they announced that they would be extending it until January 2022. Can't recall when that was, but earlier this year, at least.

I'd recommend arming yourself with whatever installation guides Capita/ESS have available on the support portal, along with installation media (An ISO each for SIMS and SOLUS3, iirc). If you're thinking of migrating the SOLUS3 stuff, rather than starting over, you'd probably need to keep stuff like the server name the same as much as you can. When I did our SIMS migration recently, I started over with the SOLUS3 part as it was for a new domain, so I was needing to redeploy the agents anyway. The Capita knowledge pages should provide some answers: SOLUS 3 - Is it possible to migrate SOLUS 3 to a new SQL Server? Manually migrating SIMS and FMS The relevant PDF guides should be available as attahments to articles here https://support.capitasoftware.com/csm?id=kb_article_view&sysparm_article=KB0036895&sys_kb_id=cba2eee51b473854c723edb2b24bcbcd&spa=1. I'd recommend getting those as they'll includes details of things like Windows Firewall rules, Group Policy settings, etc. (maybe this one for SIMS and this one for SOLUS3).

They're too sexy.

I heard an interview on the radio this morning - can't remember which football club it was - saying that they were asking fans to pre-register before turning up at the stadium, and then they were just going to do spot-checks rather than exhaustively check every individual on the way in.

I can't say that I've ever noticed that. He seems like a remarkably grounded guy, to me, given his lofty status. I suspect many sports would kill to have a Lewis Hamilton figure in their ranks.

I'm trying to move on, I am, but I just can't stop thinking about Lewis and how he's stuck on being only a seven-time world champion multi-millionaire battle-hardened racing driver. How will he cope?

That one did even up of its own accord, though.

Schumacher taking the chequered flag in the pitlane, on his way to serve a stop/go penalty 20 yards after the end of the race. That one was a doozy. I think that's when post-race time penalties were brought in.

I think this thread is in danger of going around in circles. The question is, is that behind the safety car or not?

This article from Andrew Benson for the BBC gives some wider context. https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/formula1/59643988 It's patently obvious to me that the normal safety car procedure was discarded, and discarded purely because the prospect of finishing a title decider under yellow was so unpalatable.

I don't share your view that Mercedes have only themselves to blame. When it comes to tyres and strategy, I think I prefer endurance racing. Audi won Le Mans one year by quintuple stinting their final set of tyres. Now that's a gutsy call from the pitwall.

Yes, they would have lost track position. That was the point I made, but saying that it was the wrong call with only 5 laps to go is not fair, imho. Staying out for the ealier VSC looked like an okay call, since as it transpired, Verstappen wouldn't have traversed the gap under green running. It's true that Mercedes have been undone by bad calls of this kind in the past, though. Yesterday, not such a clear one.

I'm hoping that Ferrari will stop being so crap. I'm not an admirer of theirs, particularly, but Sainz and Leclerc are being wasted at that team at the moment, and whilst Ferrari aren't in a silly 'superstar plus support driver' state of mind, it'd be good to see them challenging for poles and wins. Hoping that Norris, Russell, Sainz and Leclerc all get to make a step forwards next year and get in the mix a bit more.

This reminds of a Moto GP race yonks ago (2004?), when Valentino Rosso muscled past Sete Gibernau on the final corner to take the win, with Gibernau run on to the gravel. Rossi's response after the race? " ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ We race bikes".

Yeah, I think this is it. Keeping track position is more of a concern for Hamilton than for Verstappen, given that Verstappen had the countback in his back pocket. Not suggesting Verstappen is liekly to pull a Schumacher, but it'd be a factor. Verstappen having enough buffer to 3rd place at either the VSC or SC, when Hamilton doesn't have the same over 2nd, gives Red Bull the initiative over Mercedes, and they played it as they should in order to be in a position to capitalise on any late opportunity to pounce. I don't think Mercedes can really be criticised for that. The SC was 5 laps from the end, and Red Bull will just do the opposite pit call to Mercedes (who have to call it first). 4 laps is pretty tight to get back to green, so the odds [normally] are that it'd be SC running to the end. Not a normal race, and I guess there was a particularly strong desire to have the season end under green.

Daniel Ricciardo: Why only those 5 cars allowed to unlap themselves? Why not other lapped cars between lead lap runners? Do Sainz and the rest not deserve a fair crack at improving their position also? Those claiming that Mercedes threw it away by not stopping, I'm not sure that that's fair. They based their decision in part on rules that weren't properly followed, as well as on the basis of not wanting to cede track position during a safety car 5 laps from the end. Like, who'd do that and then run round to finish 2nd behind a safety car? If they're expected to factor in an unpredictable departure from the rulebook and base their decision on that, what kind of bizarre competition is that??

Were those 5 cars the only ones between lead lap runners, do we know? If they were released because they were the only ones between 1st and 2nd, rather than the only ones amongst lead lap runners, then I doubt that that's the proper procedure at all.

I gave up being a fan of one driver arbitrarily over another years ago. You end up being annoyed for no reason, and losing out on being able to properly appreciate the skills displayed by other drivers. I was a Damon Hill fan, and so wasn't able to enjoy Schumacher's greatness. More often than not, I was disappointed by the outcome of races and would spend the end of the races willing Schumacher to break down or spin off into the gravel, which was rarely satisfying. RE: Max vs Lewis and their various collisions this year, I think one of things that's made this year such a classic is that they haven't taken one another off as much as they might have done. Stick Vettel in either Verstappen or Hamilton's place, for instance, and I think you'd have seen more silly bumping together. They've been exploring the outer edge of the boundaries all year long with exceptional skill (when is an aggressive pass too aggressive?), but without taking one another off that much.

Just working up to switching our EduLink One communicator service over to GOV.UK Notify, but when selecting the "Gov Notify" option in EduLink, it shows a notice that it can't send email attachments via that service [yet]. Is that what others see? That's a bit of a deal-breaker for us as I know quite a few things here get sent with attachments.

Reminder from Google regarding the end of the Meet recording freebie. The freebie ends on 10th January. Worth bearing in mind given the current prospects for COVID impacting in the new year (again).

Booked my booster as soon as I was able, and the earliest I could get it done was NYE (6 months after 2nd dose, or whatever it was). Hours after, eligibility rules were changed to allow for earlier boosters. Am going to see if I can amend my booking to bring it forward at all.

But then they're open to accusations of making a red flag decision for showbiz effect, rather than for any safety reason. In that scenario, one might imagine Red Bull [legitimately] taking it to protest after the race if Max finishes second. Red flags are for when an extended period of time is needed to rebuild a crash barrier, or there's been a track invasion, or something. Basically, to avoid cars running round under safety car and wasting 30 laps. That's fine at Le Mans, because the race has to finish at the 24-hour mark regardless, but a GP can be put on hold if needed. It was right to deploy the safety car, Mercedes couldn't realistically afford to stop, Red Bull had a free stop, but then the rules rather went out of the window, because showbiz. Showbiz trumped the rules. Great. As with Allegra Stratton wondering "What's the answer?!", the answer is... stick to the rules.

I hope they don't win in court either, since Verstappen is a totally worthy winner and not deserving of having any cloud over his success. I guess Mercedes have obligations to pursue it, though. After all, you don't get to be in their lofty position without pursuing every angle. A champion who wins through their ability to make passes and their ability to take their car to another level, without mucking it up 50% of the time, that's what we have ultimately. That there are two of them going head-to-head is a rare treat.

I agree that the race directory/team chatter that's been featured in broadcasts more and more this year is quite annoying. Reminds of football teams' habitual intimidation/questioning of referees, although geerally more passive aggressive than outright aggressive. It's a kind of meta-game I'm not interested in. The Saudi Arabia race was a good example of what not to do: ad-hoc arrangements about the restart order. A safety car deployment 5 laps from the end of a tied-championship, with the contenders running 1st and 2nd, with 1st place needing to avoid any opportunity of getting Schumachered out: kind of a perfect storm. I don't think Mercedes made the wrong decision when staying out. There was no guarantee that there was going to be an racing laps, and if there were, Hamilton would have to get past Verstappen without getting turned into or run off the road. If neither finishes, Verstappen wins, so I get why they wouldn't risk making that stop.