Posts by Andus McCoatover 2969 publicly visible posts • joined 14 Nov 2007
<<The owner of the premises reserves the right to admission. Just like your local pub...>>
Yep, true.
Try and visit your local mosque, if you aren't a Mohammedan (I love that word). But, I prefer the pub. At least, you get to keep your shoes on. Until one gets legless, 'natch.
(Got me coat, Imam spotted the hip flask*...)
*"Always carry a flagon of whiskey in case of snake bite, and furthermore, always carry a small snake." W.C.Fields (Peace be unto him)
..Seems now the witch has much Toil and Trouble to organise the new venue.
(Yeah, the Scottish Play was obvious...)
PS, Hubble telescope recently was a lotta toil and trouble. Wonder if it'll eventually de-orbit on a heath, not the Pacific?
'Amstead 'eef, maybe? Glad I'm in Finland...
Yep, I was being (partially) ironic.
But a few years ago when there I was forbidden by some nice bloke in a fetching green uniform (with a matching tasteful green cap - didn't want to see the colour of his gun, or the bullet) taking a photo of...an ice cream stand in the F/C. Photo of Mao TseTung no sweat, get them from...the ice cream vendor.
Some things never change...
Another Keyboard Debt Club member, you B'stard ;-)
From Wikipedia..."pV = nRT (Easy way to remember: Penis goes in Vagina, No Rump Tucking)"
Sodding hell, it ain't Friday yet. Fortunately, only the pub K/B just went to trash...(Er, what's 'rump tucking'?)
Did notice the 'p' is small, and the 'V' is big..Implying like: "Waving a pencil in the Albert Hall" or what??
(Moderatrix - about that snorted keyboard icon. I can send you a few piccies to choose from. Actually, more than a few...)
I'd guess (tho' I'm not experienced in Rocket Science - except from lighting the blue paper on Nov. 5) that liquid hydrogen, being bloody cold boils off until the warmer tank itself gets cold. Probably a volume difference of 1000/1. So, the first bit has to be vented. Safely.
Remember the Hindenberg?
So, one might think, cool the tank first. IDEA! Let's use...liquid hydrogen...
I remember filling up superconducting magnets at Nicolet Instruments, outer core used liquid nitrogen. Vapour everywhere, but not particularly dangerous. Only then, when cold enough would we dare to put the liquid helium in. Property of gaseous helium is that it can pass through concrete - and asphyxiate everyone upstairs. BOFH...NOOOOO!!!
That the _whole_ piece of kit on the left of the shuttle piccie in the article (Like, that tower block) ROTATES onto the machine for loading payload (not that anyone's paying, but..) etc.
I thought the shuttle was a fantastic feat of engineering. I only realised it a couple of days ago, when I saw a very detailed piccie, and spotted the cutaway for the tail, the rounded top for the tank, and the 'white box' where Atlantis was loaded with kit for Hubble from.
I'm way, way more awestruck now.
RESPECT! God speed.
Consider:
I used to travel from Finland to Irving, TX regularly. Whenever I arrived at Dallas Fort Worth airport, my car was waiting. I'd ordered a "Compact" - whatever that means - and was told where to collect it.
I got in the car, switched it on, drove 20 miles to my hotel, went to bed.
Following morning, I started the car, drove to work. Did it for 5 days, then drove it back to the airport, and flew home. It did what I wanted. Nothing more.
NEVER opened the hood/bonnet, never felt an urge to decompile the engine. It did what I needed. Got me from a -->b.
I use linux, OK, 'cos as an unemployed bloke I can't afford or need Vista/XP/Windows-7, nor "Office 2007" or whatever. I don't play games, I don't watch pr0n, I just wanna e-mail, Skype my kids in UK, browse for a fuc*king job, and write some application letters. Openoffice.org does for me.
In short, couldn't give a flying fuc*k what's "under the hood" so long as it works for me.
Am I alone? Or am I in the presence of bearded, pizza-chomping, sandal-wearing Demi-Gods???
Toastan Buttar - "If your toast always falls butter-side down, simply butter the other side" (Little book of Wrong Shui)
Yep, for Mr. Average Farty, Windows is right. Just take it back to the shop if you don't get it. Or, call your mate. Or, put it back in the box, and use paper and pencil. And an abacus.
Then, try to stick a bit of new kit on it. Re-do the shop/mate cycle. Wash, rinse, repeat.
Ubuntu 9.04 just works with everything I have.*
That's not an 'interesting' time. God, my Granny could've done it. Sharp as a knife but she's been dead for 20 years, and we didn't have Ubuntu on my PDP-11/34.
*Well, my Canon MP510 doesn't put the colours in the right place - I need non-freeware Turboprint, but WTF?? Neither does my Tux Droid, but I'll work it out. When I'm sober. Next week. Maybe. (iced-tea? for wimps)
Er, it was Acer Aspire One that runs Linpus. Asus 701 runs Xandros.
Both do what they say on the tin, tho'. No less, no more.* Neither are bad. I carry my 701 everywhere. Lovely bit 'o' kit.
My Huawei 220 3Gmodem just _worked_ on my eee701 (same as on my G/F's machine. Wireless? Just worked. Out of the box)
My mate's Acer Aspire needed my help, 'cos the operator (DNA) swore blind that the modem they sold him (I think Huawei 192?) wouldn't work with Linux. WiFi did, no sweat, flick the switch on the front of the machine, but I only had to look up that DNA wanted the static APN name to be 'internet', and all was tickety-boo. For convenience I also plugged his SIM-card into a phone, and turned off the "PIN required" option - doddle.
He's as happy as a pig in shi*t now. Found a job using it.
*Friend of mine collected graveyard epitaphs. His fave:
"Here lies Lester Moore
Four slugs from a '44
No Les. No more"
Wow. Now that Asus has shot itself in the foot with "It's better with Windows", I think they're out of the growing netbook market. Yes, it's growing. Number of them (various manufacturers) I see flipped open in café's and bars, buses (In Oulu, some buses have free WiFi connection) mean it's a strong market.
What are Asus, who started the revolution with the eeepc701 gonna do now? Backtrack? Nah, they must've done a deal with Microsoft to ensure a very cheap deal. NDA, natch.
Neat of Shuttleworth not to diss them. FUD isn't a Linux command (Though it should be. Format c:/)
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.”
In other news-somewhat unrelated, but still.. checkout
http://www.businessoulu.com/index.php?id=349&news_id=419
That's what I call advanced! (NB, the cameras just register if someone's still using it, for power saving. Major screw-up, the cameras are too high. So if you're a deformed midget, forget it!)
..It was Tong (oops) in cheek. You're almost right - but can the service provider eavesdrop?
So, why would the - ok, "Rice-guzzlers" - insist on the A5/0 (practically unencrypted) algorithm in a GSM network? A BT exchange doesn't use this kind of algorithm. Nokia marketed the algorithm for the Chinese market. They'd have sold Jack Shitt if they hadn't.
Else, why, when I, as a BT engineer - I use the term loosely - had to check the orange alarms on a Strowger Switch* by plugging in a "butt"§ to check the line was in use, rather than someone knocked the bedroom phone handset off in a fit of passion? I heard conversations. Nice ones, sometimes...
(No disrespect to your "Her Indoors" intended, BTW).
* Strowger switch - also known as a "Monkey-on-a-pole"
§ Butt- small rubberised handset used for testing, in case the 'Merkans get hot under the collar.
<<"It's about a third of the cost of their competitors, who make theirs in China anyway.">>
When I worked at Nokia (networks) in Rusko, Oulu, Finland, one of the highlights for those customers waiting in reception was to look up and see basestations being manufactured - right in front of their eyes.. I'm seriously quite sure it gave a feeling of confidence. Actually, it made ME feel good to watch the SMD machines running during a coffee-break (OK, sad, or what but...)
Then, we dismantled the entire line, and shipped it to China. Now "Made in China" is normal.
@DGP <<If you're doing your communications securely you shouldn't have a problem. Chances are if the "Chinese" aren't listening to your traffic from a Red switch someone else anyway... so what's the bitch?>>
Nope, they are! The Rice-guzzlers won't permit the A5/1 (?) security algorithm to be used - they want to hear what you're saying. So, speak Finnish. Or Engrish, with a Brummie accent. And use the letter "R" a lot. That fuc*ks 'em.
I knew I could find it...
<<So this rabbit walks into a butcher’s shop and says to the butcher, ‘Got any carrots?’
The butcher says, ‘No, we have only meat here. It’s a butcher’s shop.’
The rabbit comes in the next day and says, ‘Got any carrots?’
The butcher says, ‘No, we sell only meat in this butcher’s shop.’
On the third day, the rabbit comes in and says, ‘Got any carrots?’
The butcher politely says, ‘We have only meat. Meat.’
The next day, the rabbit comes in and says, ‘Got any carrots?’
‘Listen,’ the butcher says, ‘we have only meat here. If you come in one more time and ask if we’ve got any carrots, I will nail your ears to the floor. You hear me?’
The next morning the rabbit comes back to the shop and sees the butcher. ‘Got any nails?’ he asks.
‘No,’ the butcher replies.
‘Wicked,’ says the rabbit. ‘Got any carrots?’>>
Old as the hills...
Bloody excellent idea, Haynes. One to remember. I'll buy.
Actually, another to remember is the day my mate and I were under his Morris Marina, whipping out the gearbox to change the synchro rings. Should've used 'precision' tools but we got by with a few spanners, etc. from Halfords. Thanks to Haynes, we did it! Ran for years after, but of course with a Morris Marina, you'd wish it didn't.
Nothing!
We've killer squirrels here in Finland.
(www.hs.fi) <<A squirrel scampered into the bicycle wheel of an unlucky Finnish opera singer, causing him to fall, knock himself out and break his nose just ahead of the world premiere of a new opera.
Esa Ruuttunen was pedalling his way to the Helsinki Opera House last month when the squirrel ran into his spokes.
The singer ended up concussed and in a local hospital, rather than at his rehearsals for the Finnish opera Kaarmeen hetki (Hour of the Serpent), which opens on September 15.
"He is not yet singing in rehearsals, but thinks he will be able to perform at the world premiere," Finnish National Opera spokeswoman Heidi Almi told Reuters.
The squirrel died in the accident.>>
(What that's got to do with Apollo-11 or IT beats the fuc*k outta me, but it probably won't get moderated until Friday, so that's OK.)
<<I figure if HBOS can justify charging me £70 to tell me I'm £10 overdrawn (one autogenerated letter costing £35 telling me I've gone overdrawn.......>>
Shite, it reallly is NuZimbabwe over there.
I was overdrawn (Nordea, Finland) about €50 for 3 days, realised, corrected the problem.
No letter.
Then, I see on my bank statement "Overdraft Fee. €0.50. Like, less than a quid!" FFS, why you folks continue to put up with this? G20 London demo's had a go with trashing a HBOS. Keep going!
(Q. What do you call 100 bankers found chained together at the bottom of the sea?
A. A good start....)
QUOTE. >>I noticed that in 2005 the bank issued a replacement card which didn't arrive at the claimant's address and was fraudulently used.>>
Did they just pop it in the post? (Larry Grayson's postman, "Pop-it-in-Pete" sprang to mind. "OOh, the things I've 'ad through my letterbox!")
Er, in Finland when I get a bank card, either I pick it up from the bank, using passport/photo driving licence as ID, OR I get a little slip in the post, telling me to pick it up from the local 'posti'. Again, same ID required. Signature, natch.
PLUS, all our ATM's have cameras just below the card slot. Can't see what you type, but attaches every transaction with a video. Sheesh, it ain't that difficult.
<<Getting hold of the PIN is the easy part: just hold a knife against someone's throat and they'll soon tell you it. Keep the knife in place whilst an accomplice makes a test purchase in a nearby store, and have them call you using a mobile phone that used to belong to the victim to confirm the success or otherwise.>>
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/crime/article6389171.ece
Not for the squeamish. Made me vomit.
There's a pub nearby, where we used "Chip 'n' pin" on our bank cards to pay for beer. In Finland, cash use is relatively - by UK standards - unusual.
Many of us regulars have been astounded that occasionally after a moderate session, €100-200 has vanished from our accounts. So, looking at the e-statement, I've apparently drunk 20+ beers a night, even without going there. Put €230 into my current account Monday (from my 'slush fund', where my dole goes), and it vanished in a couple of days. Nordea bank doesn't want to know. Pub sends me to Nordea, Nordea refers me to the pub. I think I'll refer myself to a lawyer, but it's hard to prove. Keep receipts? Doesn't prove anything, I could've thrown some away.
Changed card this week, cash only from now on. Same as my friends.
I'm sure it's gonna be moderated off Wikipedia, but, let's keep it for posterity.....
As Paul refers,
<wikipedia>"The cause of death was a ninja assasination in the middle of the night. Carradine was unable to fend off the attack because his buddy Chuck Norris was passed out drunk."
Paul has now been added to my Keyboard Debt club
Surely you mean "Glasshopper"?
Nope, to "Who" - he wasn't the blind dude. That was his Master. "Glasshopper - you have much to learn"
(@Hmmm) Forgive me, but this isn't the first famous death to occur by hanging -tadger-in-full-view in a wardrobe?*
72? Christ-on-a-bike, I have trouble getting it up at 52. Never thought of using a rope.
But then, you should see my missus. Best not. Curdle your milk.
*As a friend of mine asked "Have you ever been caught masturbating in a wardrobe" (me) "No!" (friend) "Great place to hide, ain't it?"
Cheap coffee-resistant keyboards at Tesco.
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