Re: Their fault
Old Bob the lowliest shop should have his balls chewed off by the shop stock of piranha fish for his lack of knowledge of IT.
Bear in mind that he holds the award for the BIGGEST fish catch ever?
Posts by wardster
18 publicly visible posts • joined 21 Mar 2012
Angling (re)Direct: Criminals net website of Brit fishing tackle retailer, send users straight to smut site
Firewalls? Pfft – it's no match for my mighty spares-bin PC
Water treatment plant hacked, chemical mix changed for tap supplies
Thursday 24th March 2016 21:29 GMT
Yep - super chlorination, or shock dosing.
Anything above 0.5 ppm HClO will kill most bacteria, and your average swimming pool will be 1 to 3 ppm to ensure all those scutty people who don't shower before going for a swim doesn't bring in any nasties, and also to make sure if little Johnny curls off a floater, then it won't need the pool to be evacuated and drained!
Obviously you don't want to be drinking the contents of your local pool, but it won't kill you.
Hot spas and things like that can be maintained between 3 and 6 ppm, but as you aren't in for too long, it won't cause any problems.
Anything above 6ppm however is really not advised, as at this concentration, you will start to get bleaching, and sensitive skin can start getting rashes and irritation.
If you hit anywhere above 10 - 12 ppm, and you really really do have a problem. I can only assume that the STW recent problem had HClO levels way above 3 - 6 ppm.
(I recently did the STA water treatment course.....)
Anyone remember Milton Sterilising Tablets? Maybe someone bunged a few of these into the reservoir.......
Brit airline pilots warn of drone menace
Sunday 31st January 2016 21:22 GMT
Wouldn't it be possible for ATC to utilize a spectrum analyser on frequencies known to be used by drone operators? If all of a sudden the analyser picks up a signal source a "bit too strong to be of comfort within range of ATC", then alarms go off, and ground control staff have some nice sniffer devices to start a quick scoot around the perimeter. Accompanied of course by officers carrying BIG FUCKING GUNS.
It isn't exactly rocket science, and with a little bit of trig, then the offending operator would be soon be on their face, with a big hairy sweaty officer of the law pointing $weapon at their heads.
After of course, they have been asked politely to land said drone.
Electrician cuts wrong wire and downs 25,000 square foot data centre
Sysadmin's £100,000 revenge after sudden sacking
Saturday 5th December 2015 21:43 GMT
Treat those with great knowledge with respect!
Years ago was a IT Co-Ordinator for a manufacturing firm, had the priviledge of working with some good hardworking lads. Shame the management in later years couldnt run a piss up in a brewery and threw away people with years of experience just to "get their pals in a top job".
Said firm made furniture, but lots of competition meant the MD and his wife wanted to play a bit sneaky, which, fair enough, it happens.
Due to contract rules etc individual schools couldn't buy direct - they had to go through co-operatives (see ESPO for an example).
So, MD and wife and Sales Manager decide to conjour up a new company, no connection to the manufacturers, and lets base the company at a home address.
Said folk aren't exactly brightest buttons in the box though. Any berk can log into companies house to see that MD was MD of "We make chairs out of polypropylene and sell in bulk!" Ltd.
This new company can therefore sell to any buyer they want, with preferential prices as they can "buy direct" from the manufacturer.
MD and co ask me to design and dev up the new website, but it can't be "registered" under any official company address, so the old Financial Director, a fine pipe smoking fellow writes up a contract stating that I will do the work, I pay the hosting, and I own the website, all for a invoiceable amount each month that I was paid as a "bonus" into ones wages.
Nowhere in this contract states that if I leave said employment, I had to hand over ownership of the website to the employers.
Anyhoo, the old FD gets unceremoniously booted out for a new chap who would shiver with excitement at the mention of a pivot table, and life goes on.
After a while, I think time is enough, I'm off for pastures new, so new job starts and because said website is mine, after a couple of months where my invoices are ignored, and very pissy phone calls demanding hand over or else, I simply change index.html to "This Website is up for Sale! Contact me for details!"
MD and new FD turn into raging monsters, but I play cool. Previous FD took legal advice, and its my website alright, if they want it, they will have to cough up.
A few months later, negotiations etc and I'm back in the reception of the firm which USED to be a leading manufacturer of educational furniture signing a Nominet form handing it over and being handed a nice big fat cheque for my efforts.
Cheers :)
Coding with dad on the Dragon 32
Saturday 7th November 2015 21:59 GMT
Re: Ah... fond memories...
Cardboard box?
Tshh! Luxury!
We had t'live in hole in t'ground covered by a sheet of plastic with DELL written all over it.
Then when we got t'work, we had t'pay mill owner permission t'just LOOK at the abacus we had t'work on, all day long, week in, week out.
And when we got home, our Father would smack us over t'head with a broken router till we were dead.
And tell t'kids that these days?
It's alive! Farmer hides neglected, dust-clogged server between walls
Sunday 20th September 2015 21:32 GMT
Dust bunnies? Boring.
When I took over a IT management job for a furniture production company many years ago there was a PC running some custom software in a spray booth - this ran a zippy little motor system for spraying enamel paint onto steel frames for chairs. It was just a little old 386 happily singing away on its own, but as I had been informed that there was no backup, I thought, ok, lets get one sorted and clone the HDD.
I couldn't actually remove the case due to the amount of paint that had covered it over the years - and when I eventually managed to dremel the bloody thing apart, the entire mainboard was, well, covered in enamel paint about 3 mm thick. It was impossible to see any markings on ANYTHING whatsoever, and even the IDE cable was rigid due to the covering of minuscule paint particles over the years.
So, challenge accepted, I eventually managed to get the IDE off the HDD by liberal amounts of trichlorethylene. WIN!
And yes, I did get a backup, and yes, it carried on in service for another 4 years before the painting was outsourced.
Last flying Avro Vulcan, XH558, prepares for her swan song
Thursday 21st May 2015 21:49 GMT
Re: First flight today
Absolutely correct. Was in Scarborough today with wife and little lady (well, she is little and she was 1 a couple of days ago so she wanted pirate ships, chips and ice cream on the beach etc) and we were treated initially to the sight of the bloody thing doing a high level circuit over Scarborough. Next thing we know, the silence as everyone stops, looks up, and the pilot has decided its a lot more fun to do a LOW LEVEL RUN right across the bay! A nice bank across the bay, pull up for a bit of altitude and off he goes.
Unbelievable!
+1 to the pilot, he made a LOT of peoples day today :)
Icon because, well, "eat this" is probably what he was thinking when he roared across the sunny skies today :)
Google it onna Google phone onna GOOGLE NETWORK. MVNO plan imminent
Wednesday 22nd April 2015 19:48 GMT
Re: Do you really want....
Oh dear.
Remember when you bought your equipment?
Of course the MAC address will be known to the manufacturer, then there is traceability down to where the equipment was bought. Unless you wore a balaclava and a boiler suit when buying this equipment, and of course paying in cash, then your identity will be known.
Are you SURE that this information is NOT known to the Google family?
Unless you have NEVER used this equipment anywhere else EVER apart from on this pub's WIFI then it is more than likely that your identity will be known, and the happy Google family will be sending the black helicopters to your location soon :)
Hope the pub does a good pint :)
O2 network staggers across UK
Friday 12th October 2012 20:56 GMT
Re: Don't mean to be a bore..
Valve CB radio? You youngsters don't know you are born these days......
In my day, it was long bits of wire and spark gap transmitters, with the lectrickery being generated by a newly made redundant chimney sweep pedalling away on a bike with a dynamo attached.
Mmmmm... the smell of ozone in the morning...
View 21 IPTV Freeview+HD DVR review
Thursday 11th October 2012 00:02 GMT
WTF?
Depends on how much £££ you have to spend. You CAN pick up a HD modulator box that WILL take a source at HD resolution and pump it over coax to a TV with a HD tuner. Fairy snuff, these boxes will cost in the region of about £600 upwards, and are more designed for the hotel / non domestic environment, but you can get them.
So in reply to your argument, you can indeed pump a HD source into a box thingy that has a RF modulator and out pops a RF signal carrying the HD source for decoding by the recipient decoder.
HTH :)
Watchdog probes rules for naughty mobe fondling on flights
Tuesday 28th August 2012 19:23 GMT 
I have no problem in people using their gadgets on board as long as I can't hear them. Fairy snuff, I will admit to listening to tunes while flying around after the bong for "get your kit out" has been announced.
However, during landing, quite a few times where its been a bit bumpy I've had the, erm, dubious pleasure of watching people scrabble about desperately searching for their now numerous pieces of gadget that has flown out of their hands onto the floor.
Not that I've been ever been bonked on the head by an airborne laptop or piece of <insert part of mobile phone here>, but I can understand why things need to be stowed away.
Sharp to shunt two telly factories
Tuesday 21st August 2012 18:08 GMT
Re: Dull/Sharp??
Jospeh Lord...... What planet are you from? Please explain why CRT's are flickery / inefficient / full of nasty chemicals with phosphors that fade with usage?
I think these days I'd rather have a CRT. I've had 3, yes THREE, LCD TV's all give up the ghost in some form or the other over the last 5 years. The latest is the 40" Samsung thats bearly 3 years old, and has succumbed to the tab bonding problem. Will Samsung replace the screen under Sales of Goods act? Will they balls.
And oh look, my 21 year old Philips CRT is STILL running as strong as the day it was bought. And the screen definition / contrast / colour is still perfect.
I've never seen a CRT flicker (unless its a poorly setup computer monitor), the 40" Samsung TV consumes about 225 Watts in operation, but granted, farting about with the backlight and brightness controls will pull that figure down, albeit making the picture quality a bit, erm, shite on SD TV channels.
The only nasty chemicals that are present in a CRT but not a LCD is probably the lead in the CRT itself, and a tiny bit of cadmium in the phospor. But, then again, recycled properly, the lead is removed and reused. And your average AA battery has more cadmium in than a CRT.
Oh - have you ever seen a CRT muncher in operation? An awesome sight!
However, try scraping those lovely chemicals from the inside of the glass backlight tubes used in MOST LCD's. Or maybe don't. Mercury is NOT your friend here.
And the liquid crystal in your average LCD screen? Don't be licking your fingers after getting that shit on your hands.
And in regards to TV's phosphor fading with usage? Unless its about 40 years old, been used continuously for that sort of time, and your example is something built in the 70's when colour was becoming established in the UK, then I rest my case.
Shall we come back in 20 years time and see if your LCD telly is still working?
Biting the hand that feeds IT
