We Saw a Chicken …

Author: scruss

  • Heartlands

    Heartlands; a fine British romantic comedy, in that it’s neither particularly romantic, nor particularly funny. It’s a meandering vision-quest on a Honda C50 by a lovelorn darts-obsessed newsagent. But it’s got music by Kate Rusby, and Royd Moor wind farm makes a guest appearance, so it’s okay by me.

  • hung up, hanging on the line

    On hold with Bell Mobility technical support regarding cell modem connectivity problems. Just as the tech person gets through, we get hung up on. I’m not going on hold again.

  • BCG, RIP

    The scourge of British school life is going away: the BCG injection is being dropped. Thisteen year olds from the 1930s have sported suppurating left shoulders because of this. It was a favourite target of school bullies, being whacked on the tender injection site. My BCG scar, 23 years on, is greatly faded, but still there

    So goodbye, Bacillus Calmette-Guérin; we hardly knew you … ow, my BCG!

  • 45 hours, you’re spammed!

    I placed a new and valid e-mail address on my blog on Friday, July 1st, 02005 at 13:55:59. On Sunday, July 3rd, 02005 at 11:03:43, I received a spam e-mail from MiddleEastTenders@tender234.com, subject Qatar Tenders. That’s a few hours shy of two days, from post to spam.

    Those spammers certainly don’t hang around. I wasn’t expecting it to be that quick. Conclusion of this story? Don’t ever let anyone publish your e-mail address on the web, ever.

  • epia = teh h0sed

    I tried to replace the noisy fansink on the old Via EPIA 800 yesterday. Seems that the hints at the mini-itx.com project page. My board didn’t have the fansink attached with thermal grease, it used some kind of very sticky pad.

    So, in (gently) wrenching the fansink off the board, the board now won’t boot. It feeps loudly every few seconds, but there’s no video output. Feh. At least I dodn’t pay anything for it, but I hope that the RAM’s not broken, as I have plans for a small, quiet SMB/print server.

  • experiment

    I’ll explain later…

    olaf@scruss.com

  • it lives … IT LIVES!!!

    So my mini-ITX box arrived yesterday. Catherine was out this evening, so I set to building it. Can’t be too hard, I thought …

    That was at about 19:30. You wouldn’t believe how hard it is to fit all the gubbins a computer needs into a box about half the size of a shoebox. It didn’t help that the Travla C138‘s case fan cable is too short to reach the SP 13000‘s fan connector. It also didn’t help that the DVD adaptor’s audio cable doesn’t look like anything I’ve seen (or have to hand). And it really, really doesn’t help that the volume of internal cables in the box is only very slightly less than the total volume of the case itself; judicious squtcha, squtcha‘ing on the ATA cables was required to get everything in. I can tell you, there’s not an earthly chance of getting a PCI card in there, unless it’s a very tiny one that doesn’t mind getting bent out of shape.

    With much apprehension, I turned the system on, and stuck the Ubuntu liveCD in. Wouldn’t you know, it all booted fine:

    ubuntu liveCD running on my new Mini-ITX

    Sure, the resolution wasn’t great, and the timezone’s wrong, but I was expecting horrible POST feeping at best. All the hardware was found correctly, and the screenshot was transferred by USB key, which automounted to the desktop. Phew!

    Thanks to Davey Laporte for the Ubuntu CD. It certainly saved my soy-bacon.

  • £2100 … for a two-speed?

    I really think that Moulton have lost all sense of proportion. They’ve released a limited edition AM2 (with two-speed coaster brake hub) for a mere £2100 — that’s nearly $4700! Who needs a titanium-railed saddle on a roadster bike?

  • there is no nuclear revival

    Nuclear Power’s Scorned Small-Scale Competitors Are Walloping It in the Marketplace (PDF-100k)
    Lovins Debunks the Notion That Nuclear Energy is the Best Investment Against Carbon Dioxide Emissions and Global Climate Change

    Snowmass, Colorado, June 20, 2005 — Rocky Mountain Institute researchers today doused the hype about “nuclear revival” in an icy bath of real-world data. They documented that worldwide, the decentralized, low- or no-carbon sources of electricity — cogeneration and renewables, all claimed by nuclear advocates to be too small and too slow to help much with climate change — are already bigger than nuclear power and are quickly leaving it in the dust.

  • Hovis Presley, 1960 – 2005

    I rely on you

    I rely on you
    like a Skoda needs suspension
    like the aged need a pension
    like a trampoline needs tension
    like a bungee jump needs apprehension

    I rely on you
    like a camera needs a shutter
    like a gambler needs a flutter
    like a golfer needs a putter
    like a buttered scone involves some butter

    I rely on you
    like an acrobat needs ice cool nerve
    like a hairpin needs a drastic curve
    like an HGV needs endless derv
    like an outside left needs a body swerve

    I rely on you
    like a handyman needs pliers
    like an auctioneer needs buyers
    like a laundromat needs driers
    like The Good Life needed Richard Briers

    I rely on you
    like a water vole needs water
    like a brick outhouse needs mortar
    like a lemming to the slaughter
    Ryan’s just Ryan without his daughter
    I rely on you

    © H Presley 1994

  • phones in receivership

    Plaintive GO Train phone

    GO Transit —FYI
    Pay phones on trains are out of service
    We have just been notified that the company which provides the pay phones on board our trains has gone into receivership.
    These phones are now out of service until further notice.
    We regret the inconvenience.
    June 24, 2005

    So I guess nobody called after all.

  • back to school

    Staples have all their Back To School! stationery stuff. I always hated being reminded of this just before school was even out for summer. Yuck.

  • more cheapeats joy

    Looks like I’ve won a copy of the new edition of Cheapeats Toronto, thanks to publisher Alexandra Clark. Seems my re-recommendation of the Detroit got into the draw for a free copy. All your cheap eats are belong to me!

  • not 2.6

    Had to revert to 2.4 again, as the suspend-to-RAM only worked for a short while, becoming a suspend-to-RAM-and-sit-there-and-do-nothing. Gr.

  • 2.6

    I finally got my IBM T21 usable under 2.6. I’m stuck using plain ol’ APM instead of ACPI, but it’ll now sleep when I want it to. Which was nice.

  • very small PC

    Okay, so only after months of humming and hawing, I’ve finally ordered a VIA SP 13000 Mini-ITX system from Koonline.

  • the glasgow taxi outings

    The Glasgow taxi Troon trip is 60 today. I remember we used to get let out of Mearns Primary School to wave to the taxis as they’d head up the A77 in convoy. That would have been 30 years ago, oh my.

  • danger sign

    Danger: Fast Food Kills; made with St Claire Inc Sign Builder

    I’d hate to be the webmaster at St Claire, Inc this morning. Seems that dweebs like me have discovered Sign Builder 2.0, and are hitting it hard.

  • Is today the happiest day?

    According to Chris Arnall, today might be teh happiest day of the year. I mean, I know you’re all hyper ‘cos it’s my birthday and all, but you know, it’s not that big a deal …

  • teddybeardog

    a 3 month old St Bernard puppy at the vet next door