Posts by Kiwi

Re: Cheques still relevant... at leastt for someone

He keeps my 20yr+ old set while I get nice shiny new set in nice new box as well.

You are happy with a deal where he gets the good set and you get the inferior new set ?

Not at all. For a very long time I've only purchased the cheaper stuff. Anything worth keeping is worth keeping for my own exclusive use, and anything loaned has to be something I'm OK with losing. For me, that policy goes back a wee bit more than 20 years (though not much more, maybe 21 or 22...)

But I do agree, much of what we get today is far inferior to 20 years and further back. Even the lumber is inferior, I cannot get over how bloody hard it is to find a straight fence post these days! The expensive tools today are what we called "single use" and "cheap shit" not too long back. And for that matter, most of the price is the branding as they're little (if any) better than the cheaper tools, and often identical just different badging/packaging.

[El Reg, we need a "don't get me started! Back in my day..." icon!]

Re: Nice to read this

"Frankly I trusted the adding machines more"

The ones in the Belfast carbon dating lab were prone to jamming.

I think I'd love to have seen that. What sort of music did they play, and did they use any, let's just say "plant-based chemical enhancements"?

Yeah yeah I'm going.. Hairy Syphilis etc etc etc..

Re: move one probe to a different socket to measure current

When checking the lights on my wife's car she consented to come out and press the brake pedals. All the rest I could do myself. I have long limbs, but not that long.

I learnt a trick a while back that helps with that. Back up close enough to any building, you should be able to see. If you can get the back of your car pointing at any mirrored surface, you can see better if you have any doubts about your lights (say the prev test made you think one side wasn't working). A T intersection near a shopping area. or back into a car park in front of a glass-fronted building if there's anything suitable near by.

Re: a lot more work got done per cpu cycle in those days

I don't feel that there is orders of magnitude speed improvement.

There is.

The problem is, for every thousand IPS we improve in speed, our software needs 2,000 to run.

Not to many years back I could have the OS, a few videos, and a web browser with several tabs open inside of 300mb of ram. I don't think I can do the same with 8GB of RAM today. And when the RAM runs out, so does any hint of speed.

Sent a dozen emails (mail merge) with photographs of a project I've just completed. 12 emails, just over 2mb of images in the messages (going to people who requested updates). Oddly the "low disk space" warning came up during the sending, and I watched as the space rapidly dropped from a little over 2gb to just under 100MB before quickly climbing back as the outbox emptied.

Double the size of the pictures then double again - 8mb. Allow another 2mb for the text content (way over), that's 10mb total per message (at least 3 times the actual amount). 10 people would give 100mb, double that to 200mb and we're still only at 1/10th of the amount of disk space that was used. What the hell was using so much space?

So here's why we don't have much nicer things. A puny little job takes gigs of space and millions of CPU cycles where the same job used to take bytes of ram and a couple of dozen cycles...

Re: Oops

Extemporaneous arc welding is a pretty dramatic event. More drama than anyone actually needs in their life.

Depends.. You handling the probes? Yes, I agree. But when it's some muppet who you've just tried to point out a mistake too but they've shouted you down with "I know what I'm doing, I'm a fucking electrical engineer unlike you!" - that makes the experience a whole new level of "fun". Especially when it's something expensive that they have to replace :)

Re: Cheques still relevant... at leastt for someone

said friend is no longer allowed to borrow or use any of my stuff

I have a mate like that but a far more useful policy. When he borrows a tool, he leaves a cash deposit equal to the cost of replacing the tool with a brand new one (including travel BTW, if said tool is only available from somewhere outside of my normal travelling range). If the tool comes back damaged beyond a reasonable level (ie wear I can barely measure with a micrometer on a very cheap drill bit is fine, anything else....) he keeps it and I keep the cash and get a brand new one.

If he's late on the return, I also keep the cash. If he wants to use them at my home he still needs to prove he has the cash on hand. For a reduced fee he can pay ME to use my tools on his stuff, cash payment up front.

My tools strangely come back on time and in good condition. But then he knows that if he scratches the chuck on an old drill, it's his and the cash is mine. 2nd hand the old drill might be worth $5 if the buyer is blind but to replace worth $200. Or a damaged hinge for the case of an ancient Stanley socket set.. He keeps my 20yr+ old set while I get nice shiny new set in nice new box as well.

Re: Not just a wall socket

It ended with some woman who thinks she's in a Victoria Wood skit pretending to be the doctor.

What a terrible thing... I am glad I watched only a few of the episodes with the guy who followed Matt Smith before quitting and finding the old stuff from William Hartnell. I'd rather watch a re-creation episode with a few still pictures and poor audio with unreadable subtitles (several generations of VHS copies) than the more modern stuff. Then again, I am watching the Sylvestor McCoy/Mel episodes at present...

Re: Dynamo Dan, the Electric Man

One back at you by way of apology for stirring the memory. Have another in gratitude that you're here to remember :)

Oh cool, my stalky downvoter is back!

Hey Martin, use this as an excuse for another brew! Here, have this one, I'm off to get another for myself...

(And you two, KEEP PUMPING!)

Re: Knob and Tube

I was referring to the knife switches (WARNING : wikipedia link : reality may distort!), which while they may break the circuit they're not what we call 'circuit breakers' here (them being things that at least theoretically automatically turn the power off if a fault occurs).

But thanks for making me get off my butt and re-learn a term I should've known :)

Re: Dynamo Dan, the Electric Man

A pint for both of us coz i need it now remembering that

One back at you by way of apology for stirring the memory. Have another in gratitude that you're here to remember :)

I've deliberately touched electric fences and had dozens of accidental shocks. Tons of static shocks as well, almost none of which I can remember.

I can still remember, and somewhat feel, the pain of the worst mains shock I ever had. It was momentary and thankfully right hand down to knees or waist (I was either sitting or kneeling on the floor). I can barely begin to imagine what it'd feel like to be trapped like that, and I've heard many tales told!

Re: Not just a wall socket

"house, but a tennant must always"

David? Possibly enjoying an Extra?

The price of having been a Dr Who fan and him being one of the two better actors in the role. His name is of course allowed in my spell check, and "ten nant" is closer to how it's said in Noo Zeelundish than "ten ant" or "te nant" :)

(OOI, did the decline continue as it was during the end of the Matt Smith era/that other fella, or did it get even worse?)

Re: Not just a wall socket

(And if commentards know the rules that apply elsewhere, please feel free to educate us.)

My current understanding of NZ law is that it's perfectly legal for you to make changes to your house, but a tennant must always get permission from the landlord (even if they got the work done by a professional and certified). Some of the smart-meter installers could be in for headaches if anyone ever checked as it's likely the tennant requested the meter NOT the owner, and without the owner's consent.

However, if any mods you (or a tennant) make cause issues, your insurance is not required to pay out (having certification is another matter of course). And being the wonderful, helpful, always civicly(sp)-minded people insurers are, you also need to consider that any fires or other issues with your house may not get fair payment if the insurer has a chance of arguing it may've been caused by that or other bad wiring.

When buying a house, it's not unheard of for people to get a 'building report' done on the overall state of the structure, including electrical, plumbing and structural issues (and whether extensions/sheds/garages etc all have their proper council paperwork). Getting fairly common today even. Your mods may not be illegal, but they may hit you in the pocket significantly if it comes time to sell.

(Not a lawyer, RE agent, insurer or council employee, and never played on on TV either)

Re: Kzzzeerrrttt

2. The wrist strap "grounding" was specifically built for that purpose, so I believe it was designed to tackle those issues... tying it directly to a huge chunk of cooper sunk 10ft. on the ground was not what they had in mind.

Certainly hope so. I recently caught some lightning on film at night, and posed a question to those who viewed it : Consider how much ground area a 100W incandescent bulb lights up. Consider how much ground area is lit to near daylight levels by this one flash of lightning. Just using the visible area and not making assumptions about what is outside the view of the lens, calculate the amount of energy released.

Lightning comes in at high voltages and can find all sorts of interesting pathways to ground. Having an earth strap on your left wrist while working with/handling circuitry with your right hand (as I expect most people would use these things although office bureaucracy could dictate something different) during a storm is inviting disaster as you tend to provide a very convenient ground path.

Of course, if the strap is used to keep you at the same potential as a ground-isolated work area which provides no return path, you may be OK - so long as the isolation can survive unlikely and brief periods of megawatts of power :)

Re: The scariest word in IT....

The scariest word in IT....

is "Oops"...... followed by a scream.

I disagree. Followed by silence is scarier..

Followed by the emitter quietly starting to pack up their desk, not even a hint of bothering to try to cover their mistake or undo their error? Scarier still..

Re: A personal favourite: deleting from a database

Probably about the same decade that they fully support SQL-92 of course...

Microsoft believes in FULL support in ALL standards..

That is... You're a bloody FOOL if you believe half a word of it!

Re: Norton Utilities 2002

Is HiRen still producing his utility CD? That rocked too!

If anyone deserves fame and fortune... It's all the people who made the utils that go into those disks!

(And Hiren himself? He can get an extra portion of fame&fortune for bringing it all together!) (poetry by error, sorry)

Re: Windows 3.1

From memory and experience building PC's in a shop in the early nineties, Windows 3.1 was six floppies and Windows 3.11 for Workgroups was seven floppies.

That matches my recollection as well.

IIRC one of the W95 release candidates was >20 and maybe >40 disks. I took it as an omen when I tried to install it one day and found the first disk corrupted... :)

Re: Windows 3.1

from the discs I'd xcopied to the server.

Not too long back I realised with the Windows install (XP-7 at least) you could "interrupt" it at the 70th or 71st reboot (whatever # the last one was), clone the disk and then just copy that image to a machine. I used some very driver-laden images for that, though Snappy Driver Installer (and it's predecessors) worked wonders there.

I had a floppy "image" with a basic Dos (snaffled from HDD Regenerator IIRC), a pile of generic network drivers, and an old DOS-based Ghost. Boot the image from PXE (a small few seconds), clone the image across the network onto a new machine, reboot, fill in a few bits of data and deal with some nagging (windows really gets upset when it wakes up on new hardware!) and in sometimes as little as 10 minutes [1] you have a fresh install!

[1] We're talking Windows here. 10 minutes is exceptionally quick for an installation! Hell, 2 days can be quick to complete an installation when you include updates and the massive slowdown with 7's update process shortly after GWX!

Re: To be fair ...

Icon - Me getting me coat as I'll be gone by Feb end or sooner.

I hope your new job brings you great new opportunities and many new stories, most of which of amazingly brilliant managers and oddly competent CxOs etc. May all your tales of Incredibly Incompetent Imbeciles be only of people you met before today's date :)

Re: All These Cameras Photographing Cameras...

with one PNG file per attached monitor

I've quite liked the very basic tool that comes with Mate, but that's one thing I think I'd appreciate it having (and it probably has a setting there anyway that I've never bothered/thought to look for)

Re: Back up your data...

Oh, right, because it is so hard to install the Android SDK yourself.

So how does one install it? Instructions in terms a rather busy and not-computer-savvy vet could follow please.

Agree backing up is a very good practice, but not every one has the nous to work out how to do it.

Re: Well ...

This is why pen and paper is so good. I'd have had a portable printer pumping out mini vacc certificates.

When I was farming we had old-fashioned paper log books for the herd. For certain things, the cow's tag # was entered into the book. Somewhere else, there as a line pre-printed for each cow (again based on tag #) and as the vet did the job the appropriate item was marked in the book by the stupid kid roped in to follow the very around all day taking notes (not that I'd know who that kid was, no not me, honest! :) - though I got to spend some quality time with the vet learning a hell of a lot more about herd health then the farmer could ever teach me)

With some jobs, we actually just used a paint marker that'd wash/rub off in a few days/weeks. At the start of the mating season a marker that'd rub off was also used to tell us which ones the bull had met with.. If Mastitis or other issues were detected with the udder/teats (including cuts or other sores), a red marker was applied so her milk couldn't go with the normal lot until she was healed. Using the paint was quick and simple, and would last plenty long enough so if the vet lost the logs on the way back to their office or the office burnt down the following week etc, we still could just look and see which cow'd had what treatment.

Nice to see even today computer's aren't as reliable as a can of Dazzle :)

Re: Mercedes

"This Sorento has only 47,000 miles and comes with a license plate frame advertising our dealership!"

I've never understood people letting stealers advertise on their vehicles. Do they reduce the price or something for the priviledge of turning you and your wheels into a mobile billboard for them?

The few cars I've had have come direct from the previous owner (actually the same for all but one of my bikes, and that was a parts bike), but if I ever was to buy from a stealer one thing I'd be making quite certain of... Any thing with your name on it is advertising which you will pay me for. Each item is at cost per week while the car is 'road legal' - registration holders $50, number plate surrounds $100/ea, company logo on glass other than front/rear windows, $500/ea, emblazoned across the rear window $1000, and visible on or through the front windscreen $10,000/wk. Don't want to pay, make it go away.

Since I'm someone who likes few existing features in a car (preferring to bring my own stereo/speakers (last lot worth more than the car they're in) and I prefer to run my own circuits for 'extras' (rather than stuff hanging off inappropriate circuits in weird places), any car I buy is likely to be one they'd have a hard time moving anyway.

Icon coz it does kinda look like a car...

Re: Mercedes

Cops mostly deal with dumb people who are too stupid to avoid getting caught. They assume everyone is dumb.

Is that along the lines of "thieves assume every one else is a thief", "liars assume every one else is a liar", us queers "assume every one else is curious" etc etc?

Re: I don't get it...

Caffeinated chocolate is an idea, not an invention. Nothing that can be patented or protected.

Not looked around at patents much have you? There's lots of stuff that's just ideas. Also lots of patents on stuff that's both obvious and 'prior art'. People have tried to patent using lasers to entertain moggies (from what I see the person failed to pay filing fees thus the application was abandoned - see https://patents.google.com/patent/US5443036A/en). People have even tried to patent the stick! (https://www.cracked.com/article_15693_the-10-most-ridiculous-inventions-ever-patented.html

I’d say if there was money to be made, someone would have done it already. I conclude it’s not an idea that you can make money with.

I'm quite certain lots of firms do it, some without the chocolate (reminds me, need more Kopiko!). So much of it and for so long that even in the US I doubt one would get a patent for it.

Re: AKA Libertarians ... Crossrail variant

Not bad, raised a welcome early morning smile even.

But.... (no pun intended)...

I think you got the civil and mechanical engineers crossed. IME[1] it's the civil 'engineers' who hold the functional equivalent of an arts degree in preschool fingerpainting.

[1] Based very much on the stupidity that is going on in NZ

Re: AKA Libertarians

Who certified the first certifier?

It's a logic problem that takes some people a very long time to solve. I expect a 10yo is smart enough to solve it in under 2 minutes.

Re: @ Prst.V.Jeltz Re:software engineer

Because when you go through a proper engineering program, you are an engineer who specializes in Software or Computer engineering.

I believe that the issue today is that many of those who claim the title of "software engineer" today are at a skill level conversant with "sanitation engineer" or "poodle hair pattern engineer" etc. Or those people who run wires through houses who classify themselves as "electrical engineer" who have done a 3-week course.

There are those such as yourself who probably deserve to use the title, but there are many who don't. Unfortunately, they've so much degraded the name that it's almost a derogatory term in some circles (at least in places I've been).

You're done the work and deserve the title, protect it from those who don't deserve it.

[Icon coz I respect people who've done the work, and El Reg has no 'salute' icon]