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General

These are a few general observations that might be of interest to some people.

The secret documents at Mar-a-Largo
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The secret documents at Mar-a-Largo

I have just been listening to Mr Trump and his supporters explaining the situation concerning all those crates of secret documents that the FBI found in is house at Mar-a Largo. Apparently, the documents were all planted at Mar-a-Lardo by the FBI, they were not at all important, and Mr Trump had declassified them all…

Brexiteers’ irrational aversion to the Metric System
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Brexiteers’ irrational aversion to the Metric System

Puzzles me why Brexiteers still conflate use of International System of Units (SI) with the EU? Or why these people still think that the metric system is some how “not British” and kid themselves that they are being “patriotic” by refusing to use it?  British Engineers and scientists have been pleading with various British governments…

All your base
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All your base

Today we take a little trip back in time to one of the internet’s oldest and most famous memes: “All Your Base”. AKA “All your base are belong to us“, this internet meme was based on a badly translated phrase from the opening scene of a video game called  “Zero Wing“. The phrase first appeared…

craiyon.com 2022-07-08 17:54:15 Boris Johnson spaffing up the wall photorealistic
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Bye Bye Boris

I have been a tad distracted by some rather serious political events that have taken place here in Old Blighty during the last few days. Basically our Prime Minister has decided to “do a Trump” and stay in power even though over fifty members of his government have now resigned in protest over his various…

Stainless steel router rack
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A fully loaded miniature stainless steel router rack

A few folks have asked me what I use to keep our various networking and internet connectivity kit neat and tidy, yet reasonably service friendly. Well, I have to admit that it was rather a muddle for a many years. That was until I decided to make a simple multistorey stainless steel router rack. Moreover,…

Hey, Hey, Rise-Up
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Hey, Hey, Rise-Up

“Hey, Hey, Rise-Up!” released on 2022-04-08, is Pink Floyd’s first new song since 1994. It will be used to raise funds for humanitarian causes associated with the warin Ukraine. It samples Andriy Khlyvnyuk, a member of one of Ukraine’s biggest bands, BoomBox, singing in Sofiyskaya Square in Kyiv, in a video clip that went viral….

Facebook’s fortunes on the turn…
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Facebook’s fortunes on the turn…

Social networking platforms come and go. Does anyone remember Myspace? or Bebo? Granted, Facebook has enjoyed a longer run than most. But today saw parent company Meta’s shares plummet by a staggering $226 billion. That’s the biggest one-day loss for any US company, ever. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/feb/03/facebook-stock-shares-meta-mark-zuckerberg This comes on top of news last month that a…

Installing our weather station
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Installing our weather station

Here are a few snaps taken as we installed Weather Station Aercus Weathersleuth WH24 External Sensor Cluster. It really needed to be up as high as possible, yet reasonably easy to maintain. It also needed to be clear of obstructions. Well, as clear as our postage-stamp sized backyard will allow. The only viable place was…

Sliderule – the eco-friendly computer from days of old
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Sliderule – the eco-friendly computer from days of old

Some of my favourite computers require no PSU, no batteries, no RAM, no disks, no upgrades and they are 100% resistant to all known malware. No, I’m not talking about some newfangled Linux. I’m talking about good old fashioned sliderules. 🙂 Sliderules top to bottom… Top: Darmstadt 304. Despite its German-sounding name, this sliderule was…

Shattaf – a healthy solution to the toilet roll shortage
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Shattaf – a healthy solution to the toilet roll shortage

Left: complete installation including toilet, cistern, isolating valve hose, mounting bracket and the shattaf itself.  Right: Close-up of shattaf. It is quite small, measuring approximately 11 cm long and about 6 cm front-to-back. As the coronavirus crisis deepens, seems we also have the deeply undignified spectacle of fully grown adults publicly fighting each other as…