Early Risers.

[Coombe Barton]

Missed loads, so anniversary congratulations, "ouch" sympathy and recovery congratulations as appropriate.

 

Not wishing to make anyone jealous, but here is the view from the caravan awning a couple of minutes ago.

 

[iL Dottore]

50 minutes ago, Dave Hunt said:

..."It says do not respond to criminal scumbags who call you pretending to be from Microsoft." There was a pause before he started yelling and threatening me with all sorts of vitriolic abuse so I hung up and left him to it after having taken up a good ten minutes of his time. Cheap shot I know but it gave me some inner satisfaction....

Actually, Dave, that’s not a “cheap shot“ at all. In fact, I would even go as far as to say that you are doing others a great service. Let me explain: for every minute you keep them stringing along online, it costs them money; additionally, by keeping them tied up, you prevent them from contacting someone who would be vulnerable, for whatever reason, to the scam.

 

A few days ago, I had a very persistent scammer who called my number three times and got very shirty indeed before they gave up.  Afterwards I went online to my Swisscom account, logged in and set up a blocking program. It won’t catch absolutely everything, but it will certainly reduce the number of these calls.

 

Another thing I’ve started doing is to answer my landline using my company’s name. A “ Impressively Large Megacorporation. Can I help you?“ down the line is usually enough to deter most scam callers. Sometimes however, they are made of sterner stuff, at which point - depending on whether or not I want to string them along - I either ask them to tell me all about it or I say “thank you for this important information, Let me connect you to my company’s Internet security department” that gets them off the line (only once did this not work at which point I put them on hold and went off to do other things. 15 minutes later I hung up the phone, noting they had already hung up, how long they were on the phone I have no idea, but I hope it was an expensively long time).

Given that Farcebook and Twitface seem to know everything about US, surely it is not beyond the realms of possibility for them to assist the authorities in closing down these scam call centres. Unless, of course, it is in their financial interest to let the scams continue. I have been invited for dinner with friends tonight and I have been volunteered to make desert, so a coconut crème brûlée is currently cooling before putting in the fridge to set.

 

Have a splendid Saturday!

Cheers

iD

[Tony_S]

3 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

to make desert

The only desert dish I know is Gobi Aloo but unfortunately it isn’t a pudding. 

[Simon G]

39 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

Morning all.

As it is now the 1st of August shielding for those like me on immunosuppressive medication has ended. The powers that be now say I can go to work and just follow general social distancing rules. Just as people are flocking to our local seaside town and the number of Covid cases locally is increasing again. Fortunately I don’t work so can carry on as I have been.

 

 

Like you I am now no longer officially shielding, but have absolutely no plans to do much more than we already have been recently.  I guess that we will start shopping again, so Mrs G is currently sewing up some masks for us both.

 

Looks like a pleasant and partly sunny day here so far, so we might get out for a walk later.  I have been doing a little of the layout today, to enable me to fit my recently purchased Gaugemaster panel mount controller.  Currently waiting for the glue to dry, then the controller can be fitted.

[BokStein]

 

26 minutes ago, iL Dottore said:

I have been invited for dinner with friends tonight and I have been volunteered to make desert, so a coconut crème brûlée is currently cooling before putting in the fridge to set.

 

22 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The only desert dish I know is Gobi Aloo but unfortunately it isn’t a pudding. 

 

Hope the coconut crème brûlée desSert is not as gritty / sandy as it has been portrayed!

Edited August 1, 2020 by BokStein

[PhilJ W]

Morning all from Estuary-Land. I have had a continuous stream of scam e-mails about my Amazon or Lidl accounts which I do not have. I have disposed of them in the same way as Q but not before blocking their e-mail address. All of them seem to have come from Eastern Europe. One thing that really bugs me about these scams is the use of premium charge numbers. These numbers must have been provided by a telecommunications company so surely they should check that its for a legitimate purpose? If I had my way if a premium number was used in a scam the company providing that number should be required to refund any losses due to that number being used in a scam. Best wishes to Pete, at least the injuries are not serious and you now have a legitimate excuse to get out of doing the washing up.

Edited August 1, 2020 by PhilJ W

[iL Dottore]

23 minutes ago, BokStein said:

....Hope the coconut crème brûlée desSert is not as gritty / sandy as it has been portrayed!

Nothing to do with me Squire. It’s the bloody AutoCorrect on the iPad. For some obscure reason, when you dictate something into an iPad, it first records what you have said exactly as stated, but then decides to change it to what it thinks you should have said

Apparently, the consensus amongst the online Apple community is that Steve Jobs and friends really dropped the ball on their voice recognition and AutoCorrect software... Whereas my experience with the Android voice recognition and AutoCorrect software (on one of my older smart phones) is that the Android version really outstrips and outclasses the Apple product by any yardstick.

[AndyB]

53 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

The only desert dish I know is Gobi Aloo but unfortunately it isn’t a pudding. 

 

Would an Arctic roll count? 

[Tony_S]

1 hour ago, Coombe Barton said:

Missed loads, so anniversary congratulations, "ouch" sympathy and recovery congratulations as appropriate.

 

Not wishing to make anyone jealous, but here is the view from the caravan awning a couple of minutes ago.

 

View from my bedroom window. 

[simontaylor484]

Happy Yorkshire day one and all 

 

 

[BSW01]

Good afternoon everyone 

 

A bit late on parade today, but the weather has definitely changed and it's been raining a little too! A late breakfast has meant that I was late leaving for the workshop. So far I've tested a couple of the circuit boards and all have worked well. So I'll carry on with the building of some more.

 

Stay safe, stay sane, enjoy whatever you have planned for the day, back later. 

[simontaylor484]

Sat here watching Sharpe for the 50th time self shielding ended for me too today but it wont make any difference yet im staying in.  Ventured into garden this morning our citronella candles have melted in yesterdays heat. Arm still throbbing after yesterdays blood test. 

 

Hope every one ok and those sick and injured are feeling better 

 

[BokStein]

 

1 hour ago, iL Dottore said:

Nothing to do with me Squire. It’s the bloody AutoCorrect on the iPad. For some obscure reason, when you dictate something into an iPad, it first records what you have said exactly as stated, but then decides to change it to what it thinks you should have said

 

 

Sir, may I respect to quote the ancient adage that a bad workman blames his tools?

 

[AndyB]

I tend to use my mobile phone to write posts and the screen size and autocorrect can sometimes conspire to give unwanted results. Especially if I'm tired.

 

Recently I was writing in my layout thread and describing how I'd tackled a scenic element using cheap blue kitchen clothes*. Except after posting, inspite of what I believed to be a thorough proof read, the editor inserted the name of a religion into the sentence. 

 

* you can probably figure out the generic term for these and what the editor changed it to!

 

I was completly mortified when I spotted the error and frantically did the fastest edit I possibly could, hoping above all things that no-one had read it! 

[tigerburnie]

We too have been shielding, however the next person that tells me "we have GOT to go out and start living and mixing with people" might just meet with a sticky and untimely end.

[Tony_S]

I find it strange that spell checkers/auto correct change correct spellings to some random letters. Aditi never has spellcheck or autocorrect turned on for any of her devices. Probably from when WordPerfect insisted on correcting her name to “Idiot”. Our neighbour’s phone keeps changing Aditi to Edith. Though another former neighbour thought Aditi was an Edith and assumed she was French and that was how French people pronounced Edith. He had asked her to  phone a French garage to  obtain some documents. She did but then asked how he knew she spoke French and got the explanation that he thought she was French. 
Tony

[chrisf]

3 hours ago, iL Dottore said:

 For some obscure reason, when you dictate something into an iPad, it first records what you have said exactly as stated, but then decides to change it to what it thinks you should have said

 

Oh yes, I'm the Great Dictator ...

 

Chris

[TheQ]

Afternoon awl, 

I'm all sweated out,  cooler today?  Not here on the coast,  very who-mid 

 

On removing the remains of the eaves boards of the mobile home ,  I found the construction was not as I thought,  it had been built in a highly labour intensive way,  60 odd years ago . Lots of small bit and pieces screwed and nailed together under the skin,  It was also noticeably not square,  there are several small wedges I've found used to adjust the position of some sections. 

 

After much thought, sitting in the shade,  I worked out a new design,  so now one section of 8ft has now been boxed in, I will do the next 8ft tomorrow . After that I have to visit and orange shed again for more insulation. 

 

I note BQ have switched from Celotex to Recticel for PIR insulation,  not a surprise,  since the incorrect installation of celotex,  is implicated in the Grenfell fire. I think the reputation of celotex will take a hammering,  as it plods through the courts and inquires. 

 

 

 

 

[simontaylor484]

Been in garden and performed the Yorkshire Haka to the amusement of the polish neighbours. 

[roundhouse]

Afternoon

My brothers think this is a huge improvement

[iL Dottore]

3 hours ago, BokStein said:

Sir, may I respect to quote the ancient adage that a bad workman blames his tools?

 

Sir! Your insinuation is that flawed as it is baseless. I was not blaming my tools, simply reporting a fact that is well known and is known to occur on a regular basis with the iPad and iPhone voice recognition and AutoCorrect software. I even did a side-by-side comparison, dictating the same sentence into my old android powered smart phone and again, the same sentence, into the iPhone. Guess which smart phone got it correct? (p.s. and it wasn’t one of Steve Jobs’ creations)

[simontaylor484]

3 hours ago, AndyB said:

I tend to use my mobile phone to write posts and the screen size and autocorrect can sometimes conspire to give unwanted results. Especially if I'm tired.

 

Recently I was writing in my layout thread and describing how I'd tackled a scenic element using cheap blue kitchen clothes*. Except after posting, inspite of what I believed to be a thorough proof read, the editor inserted the name of a religion into the sentence. 

 

* you can probably figure out the generic term for these and what the editor changed it to!

 

I was completly mortified when I spotted the error and frantically did the fastest edit I possibly could, hoping above all things that no-one had read it! 

Not the world renowned Rastifarian cloths

[polybear]

5 hours ago, Tony_S said:

View from my bedroom window. 

 

The view from my toilet seat:

 

 

 

[polybear]

The Cup Final is on telly (boy, I must be B-O-R-E-D....)

The singer at the start was on the roof of the stadium.  I suspect she's taking social distancing a bit too seriously.....

 

Mediumly (is that a word?  If not Bear just invented it) productive morning, followed by a pointless waste of an afternoon.  Is it me, or does anyone else have that problem?  Must start getting my furry ar5e in gear more often.

[Gwiwer]

5 hours ago, BokStein said:

 

 

Sir, may I respect to quote the ancient adage that a bad workman blames his tools?

 

Autocorrupt is disambiguated on this phoneme.