Posts by Chloe Cresswell

Divert the power to the shields. 'I'm givin' her all she's got, Captain!'

Reminds me of a tale on usenet years ago about a new hospital being build - the doctors had the say in what went first onto the battery system in case of power outages. Idea of course being vital equipment was on this, and everything else would be handled when the big generator powered up.

IT got power for the systems and yes, even AC was powered.

Testing the genset worked every time, till they got a real power outage.

Vital systems went onto UPS, and there was the sound of the genset firing into life.. for a few seconds, then it coughed and died.

Turns out what wasn't deemed "vital" was the lift pump for the main diesel tank - it was on the backup power system, but not the batteries.

So it fired up using the diesel in the pipes, and the pump would just come on and start to pump diesel up to the genny.. and it wouldn't get there before the poor thing died from fuel starvation.

IIRC the fix in the end was a new fuel pipe, which happened to be something like 10x the diameter needed.. and hold enough fuel for the genny to start and new fuel to be pumped up, as they weren't allowed a header tank - but a bigger fuel pipe wasn't a tank!

Army Watchkeeper drone flopped into tree because crew were gazing backwards

What's the normal comment? Engineers work to make things idiot proof, and nature works on better idiots?

My MacBook Woe: I got up close and personal with city's snatch'n'dash crooks (aka some bastard stole my laptop)

Every time they are made.

I disagree. It's a valid comment, but doesn't say the article shouldn't be written.

Equipment can always be replaced - it might be a PITA, it might cost. it might hurt, but at least it can be replaced.

It will never be safe to turn off your computer: Prankster harnesses the power of Windows 95 to torment fellow students

Re: W98 was OK, but W95 and USB ..

Or Shiva winsock. 3.11 had the option of the MS TCP stack (but you had to get a copy to install it).

Side-splitting bulging batts, borked Wi-Fi... So, how's that Surface slab working out for you?

"We've contacted Microsoft to learn more, but have yet to receive a response"

Maybe they haven't rolled back the driver yet and have no connectivity?

Re: 1 year warranty? I don't think so...

It's the Consumer Rights Act 2015, not the sale of goods act now.

BOFH: Oh, go on, let's flush all that legacy tech down the toilet

Re: "an ongoing revenue stream"

Don't worry, it'll be recycled soon... :)

Lyft pulls its e-bike fleet from San Francisco Bay Area after exploding batteries make them the hottest seat in town

Re: That's what you get

Safety goggles and an explosion containment pie dish?

Ouch. Reinstalling Windows 10 again? By 2020, a 'cloud download' may be all you need

Re: Um, just NO!

Having been at a hotel reinstalling a client's macbook air over (their choice of hotel's) wifi.. I'll take the preloaded usb stick too.

Dear hackers: If you try to pwn a website for phishing, make sure it's not the personal domain of a senior Akamai security researcher

Re: logs

You don't class reading El Reg as work related?

Re: Well... I was expecting something more

I miss the days of people like Afterburner, where not only did the account get deep fried, you got a witty response too!

Sleeping Tesla driver wonders why his car ploughed into 11 traffic cones on a motorway

Re: Incorrect

Do I really need to point out here that users don't read messages?

UK digital network Openreach takes 15 electric vans for a spin

Around here, if a terrace has a front garden, it's about 1-1.5 metres deep. And only the end terraces have access to their rears except for a <1m pathway. I'd love to put a car into my garden.. but I'd need a car no wider then 1.6 metres at one end, and 1 metre at the other. Anyone got an electric morgan 3 wheeler or something?

Re: Hmm..

Around here you just have to find a spot no one has parked in, there's no marked spaces or anything..

When I was young (in the 80s!) I got a weekly collectable magazine called Quest. And the swappable battery pack was listed in that as an idea.

Obviously some of us (the writers, you, me...) seem to have all agreed on one idea.. but the designers haven't caught up with that one yet...

(they didn't use a crane in their idea though - they thought it'd be done from underneath - drive over, stop, pack dropped down and the charged one lifted and secured, or as a module that could go in from the side, so you'd drive into a narrow bay, and a new pack would side into the car from one side, and the discharged one leave on the other...)

So only people who can afford a house with off road parking should have one?

Re: UK digital network Openreach engineers take 15 electric vans for a spin on their rounds

I think my local dairy has 4 left, out of a fleet of 30+ in the past. They have been upgraded to LED lighting, and other lower powered features, but are out numbered by the diesel floats in the yard...

I don't have to save my work, it's in The Cloud. But Microsoft really must fix this files issue

"meaning the user only has to know their own name"

Most of my clients use users name as username.

I get asked "What is my username" and "How do you spell my username" too much to even work out how often it is...

Take the bus... to get some new cables: Raspberry Pi 4s are a bit picky about USB-Cs

Re: At least the error in the USB-C circuitry results in no current rather than an over-current...

Jam?

Only one person would dare give me the Raspberry... ;)

A Register reader turns the computer room into a socialist paradise

Re: Socialism

a flattened fifth out of tune I take it?

BOFH: What's Near Field Implementation? Oh, you'll see. Turn left here

Re: BOFH really is becoming more userfriendly

The BOFH has always been userfriendly.

He's just picky about who his friends are... ;)

Having bank problems? I feel bad for you son: I've got 25 million problems, but a bulk upload ain't one

Naw, he admitted it. You wouldn't get that in the current climate.. ;)

Comms room, comms room, comms room is on fire – we don't need no water, let the engineer burn

Re: Great post

yeah. water + DC= hydrogen and oxygen from H2O splitting.

salt water + dc = splitting the salt too, leaving you lots of happy chlorine atoms, which tend to be gaseous in this outcome.

So you have a closed environment with chlorine gas.

When customers see red, sometimes the obvious solution will only fan the flames

Oh hell yes. We had a set of clients who liked the (then new) XPS 13. And liked slip cases for them. And the wifi switch was on one of the sides. Ever time they took the laptop out the case the tightness of the case pulled the switch to off...

We had a call out to a client's site due to the son of the MD being unable to send emails.

Arrived, were told he was emailing the person on the desk opposite him.

Looked at the screen... "you've spelt the company domain wrong" and walked out again.

If servers go down but no one hears them, did they really fail? Think about it over lunch

Re: Which is why most stuff has auto ranging power supplies now

We had a client who shipped a bunch of IBM InfoWindow terminals to use their mini with to the UK.

We were forced by them to supply a set of the yellow isolating transformers for them.

I got to check the terminals when they arrived - all fitted with autoranging PSUs...

(They also ordered a line to the US.. and were confused why they couldn't connect the BT kilostream 64K unit's X.25 interface to their mux's internal T1 DSU...)

Never let something so flimsy as a locked door to the computer room stand in the way of an auditor on the warpath

Re: PIN locks

Had a client move into a building for a temporary stay as they moved.

4 digit lock to enter. I asked the building managers to clean it.

"Why? It has lots of combinations"

I pointed out the marks showed that 4 digits were being used. 1 and 9 were among them. Guessing the number was a year, that gave security of 2 combinations.

They cleaned the lock surface after that.

Exclusive: Windows for Workgroups terror the Tartan Bandit confesses all to The Register

Re: I changed the start up & shut down sounds.

Mine were "Here we go again" from The Raccoons for start up, and "Just got to get, just got to get right out of here" by Queen for exiting....

If the thing you were doing earlier is 'drop table' commands, ctrl-c, ctrl-v is not your friend

When ever I have something powerful in my clipboard, when I've used it, I'll put it into a text file if I think I'll need it again.

Then I copy a single space to the clipboard.

I know how accident prone I am with mouse pasting, and if it's dangerous, I need to get it out of the clipboard before I fsck it up ;)

Out-of-office email ping-pong fills server after server over festive break

Re: Exchange?

"All software evolves till it can send email... except MS Exchange"

Canadian woman fined for not holding escalator handrail finally reaches the top after 10 years

Re: More handrails

A certain steel making company I work on site for a client has a "3 points of contact at all times" rule on the stairs. I can't reach both handrails at once as the stairs are too wide, so have hit the problem that the moment I start on the stairs it's against the rules for me to move my feet.

Makes it hard to climb them.

6 days to go, no sweat, just more than a million UK firms still to sign up to Making Tax Digital

You also have to "love" how with 6 days to go, the sign up still says:

"Terms of participation

By taking part in this trial..."

6 days and we're still a trial? This is MTD going live with beta software? Of course, it's a government IT project.... *shakes head sadly*

Brit broadband giants slammed as folk whinge about crap connections, underwhelming speeds

Re: Locked In

I can only talk for Zen Business services, but I do find they will hound OR to get faults fixed and actually let you know updates (even if it's just "waiting for OR to get back to us") compared to most other ISPs we use.

Brit Parliament online orifice overwhelmed by Brexit bashers

Only 16 so far that I have recorded.

Hah, another TITSUP expansion to add to my collection. I've had to start making a list of them all!

All good, leave it with you...? Chap is roped into tech support role for clueless customer

Columbo clients..

I name a few of my clients columbo clients, as there's always "just one more thing" - normally that takes more time than the issue I went to site for...

Secret mic in Nest gear wasn't supposed to be a secret, says Google, we just forgot to tell anyone

Re: Don't be........

Change to lead foil for gravity assist?

Only plebs use Office 2019 over Office 365, says Microsoft's weird new ad campaign

Re: Stability

Most common complaint I get from our clients who are on office 365 is "it updated and changed again" *nods*

OK, it's early 2019. Has Leeds Hospital finally managed to 'axe the fax'? Um, yes and no

Re: Onwards into the new(ish)

Friend of mine runs a small white goods shop, he says if he could get twin tubs today, he could sell (literally) tonnes of them.

Raspberry Pi Foundation says its final farewells to 40nm with release of Compute Module 3+

Re: Good & Bad news

..please enjoy your trip though this door.

RIP 2019-2019: The first plant to grow on the Moon? Yeah, it's dead already, Chinese admit

Re: Bad planning

I'd need evidence of "living" when it comes to the maybot.

Begone, Demon Internet: Vodafone to shutter old-school pioneer ISP

Migrate...

We had 2 clients still on Demon, had multiple emails from them telling us they were going to close the demon system, and offering us deals on FTTC packages.

Neither site is on an FTTC upgraded cab, and ended up with Voda telling us there's nothing we can do. Both sites are therefore on Zen now, who had no issues selling us an ADSL/ADSL2 based service.

What happens when a Royal Navy warship sees a NATO task force headed straight for it? A crash course in Morse

Re: Great article

Navy and Phillips have a different meaning to me...

...left hand down a bit.

Analogue radio is the tech that just won't die

Re: Mystified by the endless complaints about DAB

Both my cars have DAB+ headunits. One is an upgraded system (and so needed an extra aerial). Both of them have more dead sports and drop outs on my daily travels than I get on FM in the cars in months.

Nothing like driving upto traffic lights, the radio dying, and sat there waiting... and only when you move off and get though the junction does the radio come back to life.

Peers to HMRC: Digital tax reforms 3 days after Brexit? Hold your horses, how 'bout 3 years...

Yeah, to upgrade my version of sage to the one that can do MTD means having to move to a subscription: £850 a year to file VAT returns :(

Microsoft slips ads into Windows 10 Mail client – then U-turns so hard, it warps fabric of reality

Re: Windows Mail gets worse and worse

I also love that if you install office with outlook, and go to select outlook as your default email client, it protests that you'd be better off using windows mail.

UK.gov to roll out voter ID trials in 2019 local elections

Yeah, I wonder if any proposed new system will tell me the same as the last attempt - that I need 2 IDs.

Which scientist should be on the new £50 note? El Reg weighs in – and you should vote, too

Re: Hmm. Obviously Isaac Newton

Well, yes. gravity was just a discovery, they leave it on even on the weekends...