Posts by Pedigree-Pete

Home taping revisited: A mic in each hand, pointing at speakers

Re: C30 C60 C90 Go!

Sounds like they borrowed Adam Ants drummers too.......

It's been 50 years since those damn dirty apes took the planet by storm

Bugs Bunny girl...

@Santitz. No, but Jessica Rabbit is another story entirely. PP

Basket case lawsuit: Fancy fruit florists flail Google over rotten ads, demand $200m damages

Re: Yellow Pages

@ Alistair. Some thing similar going on with Aardvark too. PP

>> Nearly beer o'clock.

Dori-no! PepsiCo boss says biz is planning to sell lady crisps

Re: Never mind eating the crumbly parts

@Earl Grey. Oh dear, OCD, it is only me then who opens the crisp packet fully via the seams so the inside of the bag becomes a flavour coated silver "plate". Getting the flavour then simply involves a slightly wet finger and no corners to lose flavour bombs in. Ah well wanders off muttering.....PP

A tiny Ohio village turned itself into a $3m speed-cam trap. Now it has to pay back the fines

UK roads reclassified from "National" to "limited".

Note the change crossing from Berkshire to Surrey. Perfectly safe dual carriageway in Berkshire pulled back to 50mph on the Surrey side. National (= 60 mph or 70 for dual carriageway). Go figure (and note the appearance of speed cameras). Coincidence? PP

Morrisons launches bizarre Yorkshire Pudding pizza thing

Take 2 for a round of..............

Frizbie Golf.

http://bdga.org.uk/

Then you can eat one whilst you're playing. PP

Oh! and one of these to wash it all down.

Thar she blows: Strava heat map shows folk on shipwreck packed with 1,500 tonnes of bombs

Canadian ship borne explosions.

I know I'd heard of an ship carrying ordinance going bang in Canada. A little searching turned up this.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

I hear rumors the anchor was found miles away but the article doesn't specify other than "scattered fragments of Mont-Blanc for kilometres".

In memory of those affected. PP

It knows where the gravel pits and power lines are. So, Ordnance Survey, where should UK's driverless cars go?

OS Maps vs Google or anything else.

I'm wondering why anyone would use an OS map in a car except for off roading. I've only ever used OS maps on foot, usually miles from the nearest road. In a car I use a Road map, as current as I can find. PP

'There was no monetary incentive for this' = not what you want to hear about your tattoo

I hear they make a tasty lunch.

@Alan Brown. WOW! You have a dog that cooks.. I'm coming round for dinner with a camera. PP

'The capacitors exploded, showering the lab in flaming confetti'

Exploding electrolytics.

As a new junior tech in a UK radio manufacturers test dept at the end of the production line, I had the job of turning things on for the very 1st time and running through a test document the QA Dept gave us for each product. This one was a portable HF amp, AC powered.

The end of this box nearest the AC was a BIG (think baked bean can sized) electrolytic, a transformer and another BIG (bean can) electrolytic on the more interesting, almost DC bit of the device (smoothing I think).

Visual check, red wires going to +ve, black wires going to -ve. Connect up meters at the proscribed test points and turn on.

Meters rapidly shot to the far right (in some cases so violently the needles came back looking like false eyelashes.

ENORMOUS bang and a veritable mushroom cloud of paper and green gunk.

Most of the test bench including me was also covered in green gunk and a nice post apocalyptic shower of shredded foiled paper shards descended.

Cause. The lower rated bean can that should have been on the DC side was on the AC side of the transformer and vice versa. That box went to the ladies wot fix things once the techs have decided what's faulty. It was still there 3 years later when I left.

But the incident did create 2 new procedures.

Check the right components are in the right place, especially large ones that could go bang.

Don't connect anything to the kit until you're sure somethings not going to go BANG! PP

Re: Improbable

Hmmm. I thought there was a problem with this.

"In a DC circuit, the power consumed is simply the product of the DC voltage times the DC current, given in watts. However, for AC circuits with reactance we have to calculate the power consumed differently."

The example given finds 240v x 5 amps = 205 ish watts so there is a BIG difference.

https://www.electronics-tutorials.ws/accircuits/power-in-ac-circuits.html

Phew, it's a long time since I did this stuff and I still prefer DC.

PP

The one with the MRGC in the pocket.

Switch mode PSUs or not.

Puts me in mind of the unfortunate young techie who was filling in for me when our stateside supplier sent a demo unit (in a PC) for an upcoming exhibition here in Blighty.

No one told him he'd have to flip the switch from 110v to 220-240v.

Flew across the lab he did.

I think we were all young techies when we learnt those kinds of lessons. PP

China's first space station to – ahem – de-orbit in late March

Re: Well done China......

and without them poor old Mark Watney would be Martian dust now......oh, it wasn't a documentary. PP

>>because, Friday.

Re: per the piccy it seems to coast over Spain

Genuine question. Shirly they'd still have some fuel on board to adjust it's de-orbit and ultimate landing zone. They did that with SkyLab didn't they??PP

France to lend Brexit Britain sore souvenir of Norman yoke – the Bayeux Tapestry

Re: We've already got one

Have an upvote AT and one of these. Everyone else, come an see.

PP

Disclosure: Berkshire but not born. Nice place, even some bits of Reading.

Facebook, Twitter supremos ditch Disney as biz steps on their turf

Gender pay gap anyone....

"Sandberg received a total financial compensation of $374,106 in fiscal 2017, while Dorsey pulled in £305,274." PP

Self-driving cars still do not exist even if we think they do

Firefox...

.....but don't you have to think in Russian or something? PP

Transport pundit Christian Wolmar on why the driverless car is on a 'road to nowhere'

UK Motorail.

@Seanmon. I've did it many times back in the 80s-90s. Great way to travel and you get you, your car and all your kit in the heart of another city just in time for tea and bickies in bed. Shame they canned it. (you can blame Two-Jags for that) PP

Re: Driverless trucks though....

Blimey MGL, you've got something there. May I add you wouldn't even need to charge the batteries in them as you could run wires over the top of the two metal strips! PP

Heart of darkness: Inside the Osówka underground city

Italians and concrete.

beware, esp if they are Americal Italians. PP

Intel, Microsoft confess: Meltdown, Spectre may slow your servers

I know what most business leaders will choose.

There you have it: security or performance. Choose one. Performance, thereby revenue and RoI. PP

Military alliance NATO adopts official hymn

Dambusters... Ooops.

Inappropriate...tho' I did find this looking for The Dambusters.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFRDyHXCIdg

Same problem I guess. PP

>ICON. One for "the chaps"

Jocks in shock as Irn-Bru set to slash sugar and girder content

England supporters who have just endured another thrashing at Murrayfield.

@macjules. Oooooh! fighting talk. Let's see. The Six Nations is coming up.

Actually, Scotland are in great shape and I'm always torn when the Calcutta Cup kicks off. English born, some residency and education in Dumblane and Leith. PP

PS: Post WW2 England won 47 ish Scotland 16. 8 Drawn.

Brazil says it has bagged Royal Navy flagship HMS Ocean for £84m

What's a boat called....

May I refer you to the post of our esteemed colleague Tigra07. Repetition may attract downvotes. PP

That was fast... unlike old iPhones: Apple sued for slowing down mobes

Re: Rewind to 2001

I played games and media on my Blackberry. Never a charging issue. Move up a few years, company replaces Blackberrys with iPhones. Now I can't reliably play Golf on it even plugged in! (OK, the Golf is a more labour intensive game but still). Waterproofing, tish. I've NEVER dropped any company phone in water or dropped an cracked a screen. Perhaps it's because it doesn't belong to me but I like to think that's not the case. PP

How's this for a stocking filler next year? El Reg catches up with Gemini

Organiser anyone?

@ RockBurner. Totally sympathise. Anyone else have Thredz Organiser? PP

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwib5rnjhq_YAhXJoqQKHWmaCSIQFgheMAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fen.wikipedia.org%2Fwiki%2FIBM_Lotus_Organizer&usg=AOvVaw0xO16wTRdKVCAZArUnwLNK

Magic Leap blows our mind with its incredible technology... that still doesn't f**king exist

Re: Hyperbole aplenty

@ JohnFen. Any tech demo that isn't faked is called an installation. PP

Australia's future technology headlines … for 2019!

Re: Albanese

@ GrumpyOldBloke. ..and I was planning my 1st visit to the Antipodes in 2019. Looks like I'll stay home and bask in the perfect democratic systems we have up here. /sarc. PP

Icon> HNY.

Irony's lost on old Pope Francis: Pontiff decrees fake news a 'serious sin'

Re: Wonderful stuff

@nick_rampart. Say "Bible" with a Rowen Atkinson "Blackadder" accent and see if it sounds better. PP

Fibble.

HMS Queen Elizabeth has sprung a leak and everyone's all a-tizzy

Re: a leak?!

Great story AC. Have one of these for entertainment value. PP

Re: Dry Dock

@Steve the Cynic.

"They continued operations and got it fixed afterwards."

C'est la guerre! PP

Telly boffin Professor Heinz Wolff has died

Proff Heinz and others.

Magnus Pyke anyone? Both influencal in my journey into my corner of engineering. PP

Ey-up, mardy Rochdale council has dropped plans for ban on swearing. Thank f$ck!

Re: The response to this is well known

@Christoph. That would be some kind on Cock…ney Rhyming slang then. PP

At Christmas, do you give peas a chance? Go cold turkey? What is the perfect festive feast?

Pigs in blankets

I've said it before but it clearly bears repeating. Kilted Sausages! PP

go for a drive around for an hour

Naaah. Get out of the way and go to your local PUB! PP

Better, if your son has just passed his test (in UK) get him to drive.

Re: Goose

Rack of Venison anyone? Yorkshire Puds. Love them, always make my/our own. Sunday Roast YES. Christmas Dinner. NO.

NASA says New Horizons' next stop might have a moon

..too excited.

@Anonymous Git. Calm down. It's not due to get there for another year and a bit. :) PP

Icon> One for the Boffins

Shady US sigint base upgrade marred by stolen photograph

Re: snookered!

@Pete2. I believe there's a spare "white" Golf ball available for sale near Kinross, Scotland if you have a spare mil£. PP

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/local-news/iconic-golf-ball-kinross-shire-8278076

HMS Queen Lizzie formally joins the Royal Navy

re: vessel named after such a Lady.

"As a Yank" you may not know but according to this fine body we refer to as The Commentariat, active warships are not named after current monarchs. This one is named for Queen Elisabeth 1st. /pedant. PP

>>Icon: Friday Eve.

Opportunity rover survives Martian winter for eighth time

Re: Martian Winter

Snow and sausage rolls... Nope, just potatoes.

Scotland, now is your time… to launch Brexit Britain into SPAAAACE!

Re: Not sure what the buckfast could be used for.

to pacify the occupants.! PP

Re: @GBE They're going to move it.

@iron. Have an upvote. One of the few occations I had to wear a kilt was a wedding in Southport, Lancs in the summer. It was very far from cool. PP

Russian rocket snafu may have just violently dismantled 19 satellites

Safely into the sea.

"debris falling safely into the sea, we're told."

Not safe if you happen to be a resident of said sea... PP

Watney...

"It is a mistake to think you can solve any major problems just with potatoes."

Oh I don't know, Mark seemed to do alright. PP

Pastry in a manger: We're soz, Greggs man said

Re: Tres pasties pour deux? Marvelleaux!

@AC. Thanks, now I have Plastic Bertrand stuck in my head until something else comes along. Actually not so bad really. PP

Jamless Donughts...

abomination. Where's the custard doughnuts please. PP

>Icon. Something to wash it all down with and ...well Friday.

You know what's coming next: FBI is upset it can't get into Texas church gunman's smartphone

Re: @John Smith 19

@Nick Kew. Probably more CPL Maxwell Q Klinger (and it didn't work fo him either). PP

$10,000-a-dram whisky 'wasn't even a malt'

Mixers....

@Aaiieeee

Apoplectic I'd guess...unless he/she was Scots in which case a drop of lemonade or Irn Bru is often the perfered additive. PP

Official Secrets Act alert went off after embassy hired local tech support

Re: Some people.

Time to employ the loosely latched full height 2/3rd story window then and/or spade, lime and rug. :) PP

Birds are pecking apart Australia's national broadband network

On Call?

and BOFH. PP