Posts by Peter Gant

Glasgow unbans Life of Brian

Happy Memories

When this was released in Manchester all of the churches had people with placards marching up and down outside the Odeon cinema and included in their number were my Mum and Dad. So, there I was in the queue to get in and see the movie and I couldn't help saying hello to them. The rest of the people in the queue had a right giggle on that one.

RIP Personal Computer World

Thanks

Thanks to PCW I changed career from banking to computer engineering. I've never looked back.

Love on the buses: The S-100 and me

Memory Lane

Back when these systems were current technology there was a store close to the Royal Exchange in the centre of Manchester. They had all sorts of S-100 systems and since the world wasn't so market driven in those days they didn't mind a kid playing around with them. There was also the Tandy Computer place around the corner and a shop that sold all sorts of Commodore kit on Deansgate.

Happy memories.

Ganty

Pork industry in 'swine flu' tag beef

OK, No Problem

Cheap pork bangers for tea tonight then.

Swiss woman rolled over Facebook

Migraine

As a migraine sufferer I think this woman was trying to pull a fast one. In the middle of an attack there's no way I could read the screen on an iPhone (or any other screen for that matter) as I'm almost totally blind. The thermonuclear class headache and the sensitivity to light and sound only add to the discomfort.

Ganty

Supersonic stealth jumpjet passes hover thrust test

Short Sighted Thinking

Typical of the British government, short sighted thinking. We buy the jets without the landing hooks and the carriers are not fitted with arrestor wires or catapults. From this future point ONLY VTOL aircraft and helicopters will be able to use the carriers.

Ganty

Discovery docks with ISS

Damn Square Brackets

OK, a question for our Colonial cousins, what is it with you lot and square brackets in the middle of sentences? "provides support to the [Kennedy Space] center" reads just as well as "provides support to the Kennedy Space Center" because there aren't so many space centres (sorry, centers) around.

Can [someone] skilled in American English let us [all in] on the secret?

Ethernet — a networking protocol name for the ages

DIX

"Shortly thereafter, Metcalfe ran into an Intel engineer looking for new things he could build with the company's new PMOS manufacturing process. Naturally, Metcalfe suggested an Ethernet chip. "Next thing you know, I had DEC, Xerox, and Intel in the same room."

For a long time the network connector on the box was a 15-pin D Type known as a DIX connector (Digital Intel, Xerox). A transceiver module then plugged into this for whatever network medium you had, Twinax etc. Say what you like about the old stuff but those connectors never broke, unlike the plastic RJ45 connectors today.

Mine's the one with the coax stripper in the pocket.

Shake-up shenanigans at Sony

Arranging Deckchairs on the Titanic

Sony and their executives can shuffle chairs around for as long as they like, I'll still never buy another Sony product.

Shuttleworth gets cloudy with Ubuntu 9.10

Daft

They're not doing themselves any favors here with the daft version names. If I told a client that I was installing Karmic Koala on their machine I'd be out the door a bit sharpish. At least the Apple version names for OS X look reasonable.

NASA talks little green men with Vatican

Alien Life Where?

"chat about the possibility of life on other plants."

Just what I need, aliens living on my roses.

Pilots boycott gov ID cards

No Card Needed

As I understand it an aircrew normally stick together as a unit and they all know each other, plus there can't be THAT many pilots in an airline even if they are the size of BA. So, if a total stranger decides to sit down at the pointy end and try to take off I'd expect the rest of the crew to kick up a fuss.

No card required.