* Posts by Ol'Peculier

603 publicly visible posts • joined 26 Nov 2009

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Out with the old, in with the new as 100 Starlink satellites take atmospheric exit

Ol'Peculier
Pint

Re: Disposible like BIC or Gillette razors

There are some places on earth that will never get a fibre link - such as the Galapagos Islands where the only way of getting decent internet access is via Starlink.

Which is why on Isabella Island, in a small bar in the middle of nowhere, I got 169 Mbps down and 9 up)

I'm no fan of Musk, but colour me impressed.

Because the bar also had it's own brewery, and it's Friday... --->

Zen Internet warns customers of an impending IP address change

Ol'Peculier
Mushroom

We've been with Zen for 15 years or so, but not had anything from them about this change.. Probably had the same IP address all this time too.

Be nice to at least have an idea of the time and date they are planning on doing this, if nothing else.

Post Office boss unable to say when biz knew Horizon could be remotely altered

Ol'Peculier

Tell me if I'm wrong but...

So the daily balance would double when the screen froze.

The subpostmaster would find money from their own pockets to send to the PO.

The post office now has money from transactions that didn't occur. These may be the same transactions twice but...

Say out of those transactions was £x of stamps x 2. Take that over a week and say x number of stamps have been sold. Reconcilliation would surely show that the number of stamps supplied to the PO was less than that?

Same as car tax, you don't pay your tax twice when renewing it at the PO. The same number plate appearing twice in the same days audit trail?

I'm just glad they are getting hauled over the coals, at last. There was a big article on the BBC site about it and it didn't mention the F word once.

BOFH: The Christmas party was so good, an independent inquiry is required

Ol'Peculier

Re: Plagiarism?

Oook!

Hershey phishes! Crooks snarf chocolate lovers' creds

Ol'Peculier

Remember when the comedian Dave Gorman did the thing where he did Google searches that returned zero results? Here's another one: "Hershey" "chocolate lovers".

Ukraine cyber spies claim Putin's planes are in peril as sanctions bite

Ol'Peculier
WTF?

A380?

This is puzzling me. AFAIK no Russian airline has flown a A380, so where have they come from?

(I suspect a typo or the original article got confused with Airbus' naming system.)

Your ex isn't the only one stalking your social media posts. The Feds are, too

Ol'Peculier

Isn't this just the latest version of ECHELON?

NASA celebrates 40 years of Discovery, the longest-serving Space Shuttle

Ol'Peculier

It's very grubby when you see it close up, but I guess I would be too if I'd been round the world that many times...

Wordpress sells 100-year domain, hosting plan for $38K

Ol'Peculier

Re: Remember That "Lifetime" Airline Pass

Here you go:

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2023/jun/25/new-jersey-man-lifetime-united-airlines-pass

The price of freedom turned out to be an afternoon of tech panic

Ol'Peculier

Not if I remember correctly, and if sales were down, the extra 20% will have covered any shortfall...

Ol'Peculier

Many years ago I managed to mess up the logic in processing discount codes on our site that for one bank holiday weekend* anybody using a one that had being promoted through social media etc. ended up paying 20% more, rather than less, for their order.

It was surprising how many people didn't notice...

The number’s up for 999. And 911. And 000. And 111

Ol'Peculier
Mushroom

Many years ago my local telephone exchange burnt down, and BT went on a big skip hunt finding old Strowger kit to install, rather than take the opportunity to update it to System X. Which took quite a while.

But anyway...

What we ended up with was police cars dotted all around the town, so if anybody had an emergency they could bolt down to the street corner and get help there.

The other alternative was for those with a mobile - which wasn't many - was to go to the large hill overlooking the bay and hope to connect to a mast that was wired to a different exchange.

Surprisingly, we all seemed to get through it.

Techie wasn't being paid, until he taught HR a lesson

Ol'Peculier
Pint

Many years ago a friend shared the same name as me. Very useful when I was overdrawn as I'd give the cheque (said it was a long time ago...) to him to cash for me, in return for a couple of pints.

Sadly he died, too young, and his obit was in the local rag. I had a client at the time had one of their members call to ask if they knew their web designer had died - to which the lass that was my main contact there replied "well, I hope not - I had a coffee with him this morning!"

We regret to inform you Earth will not be destroyed by an asteroid within 1,000 years

Ol'Peculier
Pint

They've got to get through all the clutter that's up there first though...

Three pints barman, and keep the change.

San Francisco fog defeats pack of Waymo robo-taxis

Ol'Peculier

Well, you can't blame them. It's not every day San Francisco is covered in thick fog...

(actually, I've been there twice and never experienced it :( )

Requiem for Google Reader, dead for a decade but not forgotten

Ol'Peculier
Pint

I was very disappointed, but not that surprised, when Google killed Reader. Fortunately, feedly.com came along, allowed you to import your feed list and has a pretty good interface on desktop and mobile.

RSS can be such a useful tool, but who wants things that are useful that you can't make buckets of £££ with?

My God, it's full of tabs: Vivaldi's coolest new features shine on phones and cars

Ol'Peculier

If it had some of the additional blocking tools Brave has, it would be my default browser...

Nice smart device – how long does it get software updates?

Ol'Peculier

The only consumer device bar the TV I've got connected to the internet is a heater in my living room that I can turn on if it's a bit cold about quarter of an hour before leaving the pub.

Just can't see the point in anything else, although I am slightly tempted with a cleaning robot...

Musk bans private-plane-tracking @Elonjet on Twitter, threatens legal action

Ol'Peculier

Time to register

iselonairbourne.com

eloninthesky.com

elonaway.com

tintube-elcon.com... et al...

and see how long the game lasts...

OK, we know iPhones are expensive but... $11 a month for Twitter Blue on iOS?

Ol'Peculier

Puzzled...

Am I totally missing the point here or what's stopping you registering on your desktop, then using the account on your iThingy?

Elon Musk issues ultimatum to Twitter staff: Go hardcore or go home

Ol'Peculier

Re: Waste El-Reg Space

There's the problem. The Yanks don't get sarcasm.

Nvidia, Lockheed team up to build digital twin of the Earth for climate researchers

Ol'Peculier

Missing some vital information.

Who designed the fjords?

Did they get an award for them?

Is anybody missing two pet mice?

Royal Mail customer data leak shutters online Click and Drop

Ol'Peculier

Re: Facts?

Correct. Our labels get squired out to a Zebra dedicated printer onto stickers provided by the Royal Mail.

Spooky Pillars of Creation snap reveals a dark side

Ol'Peculier

I'm considering getting on of those custom printed and putting it on the chimney breast at home, dont' think I'd ever get bored looking at it!

Data loss prevention emergency tactic: keep your finger on the power button for the foreseeable future

Ol'Peculier

Re: Another sign of the migration of El Reg Westwards?

Agreed.

Terribly worded phrase. It's the National Health Service. The way it's written makes it sound like it is there to cater for government staff only.

I'm starting to think I need to find other places to find my IT news'n'stuff that still stick to their roots.

Emissions-slashing hybrid trains to hit tracks in Europe

Ol'Peculier

When in a station, If they can switch to battery power (and possibly recharge at the same time) then this needs bringing over here now. The rumblings from the locos in my local station are a major noise nuisance, and caused a newly built multi-million-pound servicing depot to be effectively abandoned.

BOFH: It's Friday, it's time to RTFM

Ol'Peculier

Re: Intelligence?

Spend 5 minutes digging around the AWS menus and your head will be hurting...

BOFH: Who us? Sysadmins? Spend time with other departments?

Ol'Peculier

Re: An important role

A common mistake that people make when trying to design something completely foolproof is to underestimate the ingenuity of complete fools.

'Nuff said.

BOFH: Selling the boss on a crypto startup

Ol'Peculier
Pint

Seems a slight dig at the Reg's style guide now specifying US spelling.

Whatever, it made me snigger.

Everyone back to the office! Why? Because the decision has been made

Ol'Peculier

Without wanting to be pedantic, it's Peculier

</pedantic>

Tropical island paradise ponders tax-free 'Digital Nomad Visa'

Ol'Peculier
Pint

Ah, Bali. Basically Magaluf for Ozzies...

Ransomware plows through farm machinery giant AGCO

Ol'Peculier

Well, that's what happens when you start searching for tractor porn...

Do you know what TikTok is? Then you might make a good magistrate, says Ministry of Justice

Ol'Peculier

When I did jury service at Crown Court about 8 years ago, the judge solemnly looked at us all and told us that we must not talk about the case with family or friends, or post about it on MySpace...

Malaysia tweaks copyright law to hit streamers of copyright-infringing content

Ol'Peculier

Just to clarify, I've never tried to take drugs into Malaysia, nor anywhere else for that matter. I've visited a few times, and have friends there, and it's just one of those little cabin announcements that makes me smile.

But going back to the original subject, there's a big street market somewhere in the centre of KL where you can get knock off Rolexes, western football tops, that kind of thing. Right bang centre of this hive of illegal activity is a police station. Go figure...

Ol'Peculier

So what happens if you visit the country with material already loaded onto a tablet or suchlike?

Asking for a friend, obviously...

(it always amuses me that, just as you start your descent into KLIA, they choose to announce possession of illegal drugs carries a mandatory death sentence. Could they not say that before you get on the plane?)

BOFH: What if International Bad Actors designed the vaccine to make us watch more Steven Seagal movies?

Ol'Peculier

And don't blink...

A lightbulb moment comes too late to save a mainframe engineer's blushes

Ol'Peculier

Hotblack Desiato

Hotblack Desiato Will wasn't

He wasn't an estate agent? Well, that comes as a relief...

(and I know DNA asked them first, which I seem to think is even mentioned on their website)

Google's Pixel 6 fingerprint reader is rubbish because of 'enhanced security algorithms'

Ol'Peculier

Re: Hmmm

I've just tried putting mine in Aircraft mode and it unlocked, so it's not phoning home.

Ol'Peculier

I've had a Pixel 6 Pro for just under a week, and have no problems with the fingerprint sensor.

I must admit, I preferred the one on the back of the Pixel 3, but all I do is keep my phone pressed to the screen for a gnats whisker of a second for it to register. Seems to be a lack of patience on the couple of people that have Tweeted about it...

What a clock up: Brit TV-broadband giant Sky fails to pick up weekend's timezone change, fix due by Friday

Ol'Peculier

Re: By the time I noticed it, it was too late to return.

A few years ago I drove US Route 50 from coast to coast, so every now and again we'd pass into a different time zone. What we learnt was to look at the clocks on the big displays outside banks to decide when to change, as some places right next to the time zone may choose which side of the line they wanted to be on.

Was odd driving along and changing the clock on the car in the middle of the afternoon...

Sharing is caring, except when it's your internet connection

Ol'Peculier
Pint

Reminds me of a holiday (remember them?) to Sri Lanka about 5 years ago, the Wifi was working at first hotel I stayed at, but there was no on-going connection. So, out of curiosity I logged into the hub - as it was still using the manufacturers default password - reset it and bingo, back up again.

I'd say 3 of the 5 places I stayed at hadn't changed the router password, but it's too nice a country to explore, than spend time trying to explain internet security to the staff on the front desk.

---> because it's Friday and it was surprisingly difficult to find in a couple of smaller towns...

Apple's Safari browser runs the risk of becoming the new Internet Explorer – holding the web back for everyone

Ol'Peculier

Case in point when I was reviewing our sites in Web Vitals was support for .webp - Safari is the only browser that doesn't support it.

Pathetic.

Google Pixel 6, 6 Pro Android 12 smartphone launch marred by shopping cart crashes

Ol'Peculier

Re: Pixel Pha

I had a Pixel 1 and currently use a Pixel 3XL running the Android 12 beta at the moment.

Seems to be coping very well, despite being dropped into a mud volcano once...

Weeks after Red Bee Media's broadcast centre fell over, Channel 4 is still struggling with subtitles

Ol'Peculier

Meanwhile, here in the darkest North, thousands still don't have *any* TV or *not much* radio because of the Bilsdale mast fire...

Heart FM's borkfast show – a fine way to start your day

Ol'Peculier

Re: For those outside the UK

Greatest Hits Radio?

Bought out lots of local radio stations, sacked all the staff, closed the offices down (well, the one just up the road from the office closed last month) and produce the minimum content to satisfy OFCOM about regional programming.

EasyJet flight loadsheet snafu caused by software 'code errors' says UK safety agency

Ol'Peculier
Mushroom

Or "Engines Turn or Passengers Swim"

Macintosh Classic II and triceratops skull on auction: One's a dinosaur, the other has three horns on its face

Ol'Peculier

Many many years ago I worked on a project that needed a good high resolution image of the earth. So, bizarrely, we wrote to NASA and they sent back a load of slides and prints that we could use, FOC: including the untethered spacewalk shot.

Is it a bridge? Is it a ferry? No, it's the Newport Transporter

Ol'Peculier

I've actually got a bit of a soft spot for the place, did two terms of a Computer Science degree up there and the night life, as long as you didn't stray "over the borders" was pretty decent.

Ol'Peculier

I wasn't sure where that was going, but I'd consider it a good option than getting off at the northern side, which - at least when I did it - was a tad depressing, to say the least.

'Extraordinary' pigs step in to protect Schiphol airport from marauding geese

Ol'Peculier

Re: Pigs on the Wing

They are. Ask the ATC that were working in 1977 at Heathrow.

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