by GothNinja | Feb 25, 2011 | Technology, Family
Does anyone remember the old TV series (Or the book it was based on) called “Logan’s Run?” You know the one set in the future where every person has a small jewel in the palm of their hands that starts flashing when they reach a set age. I think we need something similar today, not to “put to sleep” those who reach thirty, but have a cut off age when people are no longer allowed to get new technology.
Let me tell you know why I have decided that this is the course we should follow. This morning before going to work, I popped over to see my parents as I’m looking after their dog for the weekend. Now my Mother has just got herself a new mobile phone, and decided to go for a “smart phone“. So just as I was leaving she asks me “I’ve got a weird shape thing on my phone, what’s it mean?“, I enquire to what it looks like “its a sort of thing, with a bit, and another thing” *turns phone at different angle* “It kinda looks like old video tapes”
I took the phone off her to check and informed her she had a voicemail, and if she clicked on it she could hear the message. So she clicked on it and started listening to the first time use recording, you know the one that tells you how to set a pin, and use the voicemail system. Only my mother removed the phone from her ear as the recording explained what to do “There’s a woman talking about pin’s and hash and stuff, I don’t know what she’s on about”
I sighed and explained you had to listen to the whole message to understand what she was saying, but not to worry as I’ll set it all up later for her. It was then that the voicemail started playing. I know this from my Mothers half of the conversation. “Oh HI, I was just going to call you.” “hello?”, “oh, you’ll be arriving then, do you need a lift” I interjected here “Its a voicemail” I was shusshed with “The woman said I had a message“. “right see you there then“. For my sanity I tried again “Its a voicemail, a recording!”
I then left the house laughing my head off as my mother was saying goodbye to the recording. Old people should not be allowed technology!
Click Image to enbiggen (Or see in full size).
http://xkcd.com/627/
by GothNinja | Feb 22, 2011 | Friends
The other night a group of us were discussing where and when we first started drinking, who was involved, and trading stories. Its amazing how the practically harmless under-age drinking that happened when we were young, has been replaced with the more serious situation it is today. I wonder if the youth of today got to drink responsibly at a young age, we would have less binge drinking cases as they get older? “Sorry, off on a tangent there! Normal service will now resume“.
During the conversation I was reminded of the first time I was kicked out of a drinking establishment. I’ve not done bad really, just Three times in total. Once for under-age drinking, once for making a mess in an almost derelict pub, and one other. I thought I would share the story with you dear reader, so sit back, grab a pint and begin.
I was about fifteen years old (possibly sixteen, but I think it was fifteen) and I had been taken to the Wheelwrights Arms in Pen-y-Cae by my sisters boyfriend & friends (It was handy having a much older sister). Now in those days as long as you sat quietly out the way, and made no trouble you tended to get away with drinking as long as no one pointed it out. Unfortunately this day one of the people I was with had recently annoyed the Barmaid (which is never a good idea people, for they supply the holy nectar of booze). So there I was minding my own business when she came over to our group, and informed me I had to finish my drink and leave as I was under-age. Now this was not a problem since I had prepared for this eventuality by calculating a date of birth that made me eighteen (Legal age then).
Me: “What you mean? I’m eighteen!”
Barmaid: “No your not! what’s your birthdate?”
Me: *gave valid birthdate*
Barmaid: “HA! your wrong, that makes you seventeen. You said your birthday was November, its only March so your not eighteen yet! try better next time”
Me: *sigh* “I know my birthdays not til November, at which time I will be nineteen.”
I then made her count up from the year I had given till she got to the current year to prove I was eighteen as i claimed.
Barmaid: “Oh. Sorry, I was sure that was a made up date of birth”
She then walked away. Now all would have been well if she had made it to the bar and got distracted by peoples orders. Only she never made it that far.
Barmaid: *one step* *two steps* *three steps* *pause* *turns angrily* “OI! your fifteen! get out of here now.”
Me: “Come on we’ve already done this”
Barmaid: “Wayne! Your my brothers best friend, your in his class in school, Hell you were at my house watching films with him last night, tell me your eighteen” *there then followed a stream of very interesting language*
And that’s how I first got kicked out of a drinking establishment, and learnt the important lesson that if you wish to drink while under the legal age then pick a pub where the staff do not know you.
by CodeNinja | Feb 15, 2011 | Technology
So Yesterday I noticed my Windows machine was misbehaving a “tad bit” and as such could no longer collect or send emails, or properly access webpages. Now this is not a major problem as my primary machine is Linux, and I keep the windows one for testing & game playing reasons. So I decided to reboot the machine since it had been up and running solidly for a month or so. As I selected reboot, I was asked did I mind it doing some updates? “Whats the worst that can happen?” I thought, and agreed.
Updating 1 of 67
OK. Maybe I should update the machine more often? Ah well, what can you do? What I did was read for the hour it took for the full 67 updates to be applied and the machine to reboot. Upon rebooting I attempted to log in, only for windows to hang at the “loading your preferences” screen. I tried multiple reboots, multiple accounts to try and access the machine every attempted failed. I then had to spend four hours bouncing in and out of safe mode trying to find the actual error, and repair it.
Now my machine is back up and running, I have decided NEVER AGAIN! no more updates for me, its not worth the hassle!
by CodeNinja | Feb 11, 2011 | Technology
Recently we have been noticing the ADSL router at the Ninja Temple has needed rebooting on a more regular bases. At first we thought nothing much of this since its often needed rebooting in the past. The full nature of the reboots were not realised until the several people who have been rebooting/reconnecting the gateway to the Interwebs got together and mentioned they had been doing it more often. At this point it was realised that something was not right.
Now the Insane Asylum provides the ADSL connection to the Ninja Temple, so I logged into the console and checked our connections. And according to the logs we were having a maximum uptime of five minutes, and a average uptime of fifty seconds. With this info to hand, a fault check request was sent in. and this reply was received.
BTW cannot progress this fault as the root cause is the PSTN failure. Please report to your Copper Line Service Provider.ff
KBD test completed, expires at 12:10
The Copper Line test has failed (LN). Openreach network fault found.
OK. So its a BT fault, not a problem as we also have a partners console with them. Fault logged with BT on the business line. The waiting game then began. Twenty Four hours later and we are up to the point where “An engineer is needed to check local network, we’ll let you know when we have an estimated date” So Our best guess is Interweb Services from the Ninja Towers will resume at some point this year.
Watch This Space.
by GothNinja | Feb 10, 2011 | Spods, Talkers
I often refer to myself as a SPOD. due to my years Spodding on different telnet talkers and the like, Unfortunately I now often get asked “What is a Spod?” from the uninitiated youngsters that litter the Interwebs these days. So since its a semi-FAQ I hunted out the old description of Spod from the help files on some Talkers that are still floating about if you know where to look.
Spod (n)
– A person who is nearly always found slumped over a keyboard, usually from the minute they awaken (if they even slept at all) to the minute they pass-out on their keyboard.
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