Early Risers.

[TheQ]

2 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

A pleasant vista all the same

 

Ok if you had your fishing rods, not if you wanted a pint..

[Ozexpatriate]

8 minutes ago, PhilJ W said:

I have had to make some adaptations such as handrails as I live on my own and falls are one thing to be avoided.

Handrails are a very sensible precaution - for bathing/showers in particular.

 

Of course anything related to bathroom remodelling is expensive but here there is a lot of focus on low step / no step bathing (step-in tubs, or showers with seating and rails), and designs are such that they don't have the 'institutional' look of what was in the past designated as "accessible" or came from the creepy part of a full-service pharmacy supplying mobility aids.

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[AndrewC]

10 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

Do what I do  - spend time here for a nice soothing dose of schadenfraude... 

 

https://www.sorryantivaxxer.com/

 

Oh hell no. It is like the Darwin Awards meets Whackadoodles are us, and people of Walmart, all rolled into one big inbred mess. Half of me feels sorry they were gullible idiots & duped, half of me is happy they are out of the gene pool before they did any more damage. 

 

1 hour ago, Ozexpatriate said:

I profoundly despise doing consumer IT work. It really requires expertise which few possess.

 

I still get called upon when anyone in the family has issues. Most recently managed to restore MiLs broadband connection over a  Whatsapp call. I really do dread the "can you fix....." calls from others. Some of whom can only be arsed to contact me when they want something. 

 

For those of you with dinosaur mobile phones, I have bad news. They will be obsolete in the next few years. For starters the nice <cough> people at BT/EE are decommissioning their 2g and 3g services in the SE. Large swathes of Kent and the boring borough will have their gsm signals switched off in the coming months. Looks like the cost of maintaining all the extra and life expired equipment outweighs the ever shrinking number of customers still using ancient devices. 

 

Greetings from the boring borough. Nothing but the mundane banalities of life here so nothing else to say. 

Pumpkin spice latte at the ready and time for the first meeting of the day. 

 

Enjoy the day. 

[Winslow Boy]

29 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Printer still acting like a complete pile of wotsitdoodoos. PAH!

 

 

It is either a HP printer problem.. (built in obsolescence??)  or Bangalore Telecom..

 

 

Baz

 

Isn't that what they use to clear obstacles? Well its what they used in the Longest Day.

 

Or is that what you intend to do to the printer with some 'army surplus' ask no questions etc etc.

[Ozexpatriate]

2 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

... half of me is happy they are out of the gene pool before they did any more damage. 

Except of course, for most, their genes have been passed on. More seriously I'm not convinced that poor decision making is a genetic trait.

 

2 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

For starters the nice <cough> people at BT/EE are decommissioning their 2g and 3g services in the SE.

Once 5g infrastructure is at a critical mass, even my 4g 'phone won't function much longer, though service can be so poor it spends a lot of time in 3g mode. (At home I can't reliably make/receive calls without using WiFi calling and I am in the middle of the metro area.)

 

With greater distances to cover in the US, I suspect 3g will have a longer lifespan here than the providers would prefer.

 

[AndrewC]

1 minute ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Except of course, for most, their genes have been passed on. More seriously I'm not convinced that poor decision making is a genetic trait.

 

I'm thinking more of their continued existence as a plague rat and spreader of stupidity. We can hope their stupidity wasn't directly passed on to their offspring. Although a couple more generations of inbreeding and they won't be able to viably reproduce. 

 

[Ozexpatriate]

15 hours ago, Barry O said:

HP Printer... it is "no longer supported" and has now stopped working.. PAH!

14 hours ago, grandadbob said:

Although the Helpline assistant said it would my HP printer will not print from my laptop with only the black cartridge inserted but will work from iPhone and iPad so that gives me a temporary solution.  Just got to see if the new colour cartridge will work when it arrives,  if not the large hammer will be deployed.

50 minutes ago, Barry O said:

Printer still acting like a complete pile of wotsitdoodoos. PAH!

 

It is either a HP printer problem.. (built in obsolescence??)  or Bangalore Telecom..

Anyone familiar with the movie Office Space will know that baseball bats are the proper solution for recalcitrant printers.

 

You can find the relevant clip here. (Warning - NSFW lyrics.) It's actually much funnier in context in the movie, understanding what drives them to this point.

 

I imagine a Bangalore Torpedo would be effective.

 

Edited October 14, 2021 by Ozexpatriate

[Tony_S]

13 minutes ago, AndrewC said:

For starters the nice <cough> people at BT/EE are decommissioning their 2g and 3g services in the SE.

We had a communication from BT that they are planning to replace our phone line with “Digital Home”. The main landline phone will need be plugged into the router and any other landline phone or fax extensions plugged into a wireless adapter. Unlike the existing system the phone won’t work if there is a domestic power cut. Sounds fun.

[grandadbob]

5 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Anyone familiar with the movie Office Space will know that baseball bats are the proper solution for recalcitrant printers.

 

You can find the relevant clip here. (Warning - NSFW lyrics.) It's actually much funnier in context in the movie, understanding what drives them to this point.

 

 

Baseball bats?  Sorry old boy but this is England don't you know?   Would a cricket bat suffice?  

[Ozexpatriate]

1 minute ago, Tony_S said:

We had a communication from BT that they are planning to replace our phone line with “Digital Home”.

This was foisted on Australia under the guise of "the National Broadband Network" with uneven results. In the Australian implementation, all the telephone appliances were replaced with VOIP devices. I couldn't telephone my parents for weeks - and now my inbound calls are not identified by caller ID and they don't pick up thinking I'm a spammer with my "unknown" number.

 

Here I have fibre to the home with an IP-POTS converter for my "landline". It does work in a power outage for a while - until the batteries fail. VOIP devices will be totally power dependent.

[Ozexpatriate]

3 minutes ago, grandadbob said:

Would a cricket bat suffice?

Certainly, but preferably an old battered one that has been left outside in the rain at some point. As youngsters we had just the thing for our backyard (actually front yard) cricket.

[Ozexpatriate]

It's now long past my bedtime and I've bothered you all enough. I wish you all a good night / good day as the case may be.

[BSW01]

Good morning everyone 

 

The weather is pretty much the same as it was yesterday, dull, cloudy, the temperature is 11C and looks like it could p!ss it down any minute. 

 

Today will be another day of tidying and re-organising the shed and workshop, but only until dinner, as it’s Thursday, that means Charlie will be dropping in, I’m not sure if it’s to some model making or just a chat, we’ll know when he calls. 

 

Thoughts as ever with Simon and his family. 

 

Back later. 

 

Brian

[tigerburnie]

Morning a bit wild and windy but currently dry, SWMBO has a trip to the x-ray dept. this afternoon, I shall be the taxi driver again, other than that looks like a quiet one. On the subject of fitness, I find I really do have to make the effort, hill walking really does give me a lift, so lots of flatter miles are done to ensure I keep active, playing football with a seven year old is however, not compatible with worn out knees I have found lol.

[grandadbob]

Just had the good news  that Gemma's PCR test is negative so she's gone back to school and will be able to go to the university open day on Saturday.  

[AndrewC]

24 minutes ago, Tony_S said:

We had a communication from BT that they are planning to replace our phone line with “Digital Home”. The main landline phone will need be plugged into the router and any other landline phone or fax extensions plugged into a wireless adapter. Unlike the existing system the phone won’t work if there is a domestic power cut. Sounds fun.

We dumped our BT line a couple of years ago. £31 a month for nuisance calls. SWMBO now just uses Whatsapp to contact her parental units. MiL really prefers the video chat. I do have one ancient phone that I'd love to be able to integrate with the computer or wifi to be used as a traditional phone but at the moment nothing exists apart from the BT Digital Home option, which isn't available here yet, and no doubt will be costly and again filled with spam, scam, and crap calls. 

[Tony_S]

21 minutes ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Certainly, but preferably an old battered one that has been left outside in the rain at some point. As youngsters we had just the thing for our backyard (actually front yard) cricket.

The Dennis Lillee aluminium bat was originally intended as a backyard bat.

[Barry O]

I haver resorted to technological warfare.. Baz 1 Bangalore Telecom/Microsoft/HP 0.. see.. years of being an engineer meant I knew exactly where and how to hit it with a soft headed mallet.

 

Now fighting with the Sumup Card reader for our show.. PAH!  Why are these things so difficult to set up?? 

 

Next door knocking more holes in walls.. hopefully that side of our semi will fall down soon...

 

Baz

[simontaylor484]

Morning all

 

The sat nav update didnt complete downloading last night  I feel like re enacting the printer scene but using a pick axe handle.

 

The sorry antivaxxers list is just a litany of mind bending stupidity the more removed from the gene pool

 

 

[polybear]

14 hours ago, Gwiwer said:

So my employer, who is apparently so cash-strapped that they cannot consider any pay rises for at least three years, has paid me for 7 hours instead of the usual 4 in order to attend 95 minutes of "training" which could easily have been done within my normal 4-hour shift.  In fact it could easily have been done simply by reading the slides or even reading through the material in an email or print-out.  

 

 

Do your employer have their own trainers, or employ external companies to do the training?  If it's the latter then they should review who they are choosing.  Do you get a feedback form to say what you thought of the training?

 

5 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

Mike called about 7pm to update us. He'd spent his second day at court and has to go back today. The sparky and plumber are owed more than Mike so the total is of €20,000 plus costs and rising. The expat has been arrested and interviewed.   His passport has been confiscated and all his bank accounts and assets frozen. There is talk of the case eventually being completed at a higher court in Angouleme.  It looks as if Mike will get his money in the next couple of days.  All this averted by Mike alerting the bank and the bank moving very quickly. If they had been 90 minutes later at the Notaire's office the money would have gone to the UK.  

 

Certain stories can have a habit of making a Bear smile 

Now why is it that if a similar event occurred in the UK they would've got away with it?  (e.g. released pending further enquiries/not enough evidence to proceed/civil matter - so see a solicitor etc. etc.)

 

2 hours ago, AndrewC said:

I still get called upon when anyone in the family has issues. Most recently managed to restore MiLs broadband connection over a  Whatsapp call. I really do dread the "can you fix....." calls from others. Some of whom can only be arsed to contact me when they want something. 

 

 

Ah yes, now what's that saying....

"A friend in need is a friend indeed pain in the ass" 

 

In other news:

Bear delivered Grandpa Bear's Radiogram to the Museum yesterday

https://www.amberleymuseum.co.uk/

An excellent museum IIRC (and I'm told it's moved on a lot since then) - it must be 20+ years since I was last there; the Curator offered to show me round but sadly time was against me, so she very kindly said that if I contact her at a later date then she'll arrange a complimentary pass and show me round - and hopefully the Radiogram will be on display by then 

 

The M25 was it's usual bundle of joy  - and Bear copped a stone chip on the Bearmobile's windscreen in the process ; fortunately it's on the passenger side, high up and fixable - and also very close to the dashcam's suction mount so that will do a slight sideways shift by about half an inch to cover it.  Halfords have been booked to do a chip repair at home on Saturday for the grand sum of forty quid (Autoglass wanted £170-odd for the same thing ); since my insurance excess is £75 that made no sense either - and whilst it doesn't affect my no-claims bonus that doesn't mean it wouldn't affect next year's premium...

[grandadbob]

Pre-lunch tea break with pills!   

Sandpaper has been deployed both manually and attached to an electrical device.  Somebody (not too far away from me) wants decorating done but "without making a mess!"  Yet to find a way of sanding down paintwork without a certain amount of "mess."  Answers on a postcard please.

There is a lot more "mess" to come over the next few hours days weeks.  

[grandadbob]

10 minutes ago, polybear said:

 

In other news:

Bear delivered Grandpa Bear's Radiogram to the Museum yesterday

https://www.amberleymuseum.co.uk/

An excellent museum IIRC (and I'm told it's moved on a lot since then) - it must be 20+ years since I was last there; the Curator offered to show me round but sadly time was against me, so she very kindly said that if I contact her at a later date then she'll arrange a complimentary pass and show me round - and hopefully the Radiogram will be on display by then 

 

 

Well worth a visit, we went there about 8 years ago and had a very enjoyable day.

[iL Dottore]

2 hours ago, AndrewC said:

1) Oh hell no. It is like the Darwin Awards meets Whackadoodles are us, and people of Walmart, all rolled into one big inbred mess. Half of me feels sorry they were gullible idiots & duped, half of me is happy they are out of the gene pool before they did any more damage……

2) …For those of you with dinosaur mobile phones, I have bad news. They will be obsolete in the next few years. For starters the nice <cough> people at BT/EE are decommissioning their 2g and 3g services in the SE. ….

1) Every death is a tragedy to someone, yet in such cases you’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh. As wiser and more literary people have observed tragedy and comedy are but the same but in different lights.

What really gets me annoyed is that when a very rare condition occurs after a Covid 19 vaccination (such as cerebral venous sinus thromboses - and a rate that is less than that seen in the general population) the media just can’t shut up about it. But when people die of Covid-19 after refusing the vaccine (and at a rate far higher than any serious vaccine related adverse event) the media remain unusually quiet….

 

2) Oh dearie me. Oh dearie me. It looks like that some of our fellow ER posters will be forced to abandon pre-millennial and turn of the century technology (2G 1991, 3G 2001) and be dragged - probably kicking and screaming - into the wonderful world of 5G (2019). It might even mean - Gasp! Schock! Horror! - getting a smart phone - with loads of “fun” apps.

 

Dealing with modern technology requires a zen like approach: first master oneself then use the might of the opponent against them.

2 hours ago, Ozexpatriate said:

Except of course, for most, their genes have been passed on. More seriously I'm not convinced that poor decision making is a genetic trait.…

I think that you can argue that decision making has a significant genetic component inasmuch as decisions are made based on how well, fast and accurately you can process external stimuli (information). Decisions are also (partly?) based on experience in similar situations. So depending on how good your hearing/sense of smell/vision is and how well you can remember (and apply) your past experience you will make a decision that is good/indifferent/bad/appalling. The genetic component is, of course, that which defines the organs that will provide good vision, acute hearing, good memory , etc.

[woodenhead]

2 hours ago, Tony_S said:

We had a communication from BT that they are planning to replace our phone line with “Digital Home”. The main landline phone will need be plugged into the router and any other landline phone or fax extensions plugged into a wireless adapter. Unlike the existing system the phone won’t work if there is a domestic power cut. Sounds fun.

The only reason I still have a landline is for emergencies, we have an ancient phone up in the bedroom that doesn't have to be plugged to the mains or anything.  So it will soon be in the dustbin and one major powercut away from everybody realising just how that little copper wire could be a lifeline in a blackout.

[New Haven Neil]

A'noon.

 

First time we visited Amberley (for a miniature traction engine rally, admittedly a 'few' years ago) we looked in the communications museum and saw the mobile phone Debs had only recently at the time stopped using (Philips Diga) and both burst out laughing simultaneously.  It was a good phone in its day and worked in places others wouldn't.  The other thing about Amberley is they won't give us Polar Bear back, but they do bring her over to play at Groudle occasionally.