🆎

Solar, infosec, maker stuff, unlicensed pilot, avians, photography, science, ham radio M1AJB. In a personal capacity. GM at A&A | NED at LINX

Public Key

npub17p20xjvx8r67tyex2e3n4ll9r24ygqasmx5vgucfa49lhr0thaasghmtnu

NIP-05 Address

bloor_at_bloor.tw@mostr.pub

Profile Code

nprofile1qqs0q48nfxrr3a09jvn9vce6llj342jyqwcdn2xywvy76jlm3h4m77cdc0vj5

Author Public Key

npub17p20xjvx8r67tyex2e3n4ll9r24ygqasmx5vgucfa49lhr0thaasghmtnu

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Last Notes

2024-09-13 14:14:50

Just had to use wireshark for the first time in like 5 years. DAMMNNN it is powerful now. But I've totally forgotten how to use it. I'm sure it was Ethereal too, at some point when I used it.
Like when I try and configure Apache and can't make head-nor-tail of it, and get cross with it, I realise that I really am not a capable techie/ops/sysadmin really any more. But that is only because I've done other things with my professional and personal time... some of them technical, but most - not.

2024-08-12 07:23:29

Had a new bed base delivered yesterday.
The firm who delivered it is called Bedex. And, yes, they had the logo parodied perfectly. 😂

2024-08-10 11:48:00

Sanity check? This card, designed to help you pass your life in the UK test, is confusing to the point of being “incorrect”?
It says the answer is B, but then says it could be A or B????
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/937/561/679/343/194/original/b2381d37eafc71bc.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/937/561/906/510/937/original/b045eb646578d623.jpg

2024-08-05 13:53:31

Once again, another fucking "no PO no pay" piss poor bad faith load of bollocks. I can NOT overstate how angry this shit makes me.
It is bad faith.
I absolutely *DESPISE* it.
1/2
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/909/744/941/700/719/original/05030c35b0d97eb5.png

2024-08-03 17:28:03

So far, I am mostly impressed with some ReoLink gear I have got. It's not being used in anger yet. But my expectations of it based on reading about it and believing manufacturer's blurb.
It did have an annoying thing of not really telling you that HTTTPS isn't turned on until you turn it on via their own PC app. Annoying and seemingly not mentioned anywhere. But once done, all good.

2024-07-30 10:34:29

New home network who dis?
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/874/987/699/981/984/original/58e7af15e3ce50ee.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/874/987/939/591/123/original/33404eb086097309.jpg

2024-07-23 12:21:56

It hate to be this twat but here goes...
Plug printer into Windows PC. Doesn't see it.
Reboot printer.
PC doesn't see it.
Change USB port.
PC still doesn't see it.
<give up>
Plug printer into Linux Mint PC.
Instantly sees it, configures it, now I've printed something.
Where the fuck did this situation go so so badly wrong? (or right, depending on perspective)

2024-07-13 21:05:50

TIL that in the UK political system the two following statements are both true :
1) in order to vote for a candidate in a general election, you must provide photo ID.
2) in order to stand as a candidate in a constituency, to hopefully receive votes cast by those people mentioned in #1, you are *not* required to provide any photo ID.
The UK is insane.

2024-07-11 13:32:51

And another thing. Why the fuck are tyre sizes measured in a mixture of metric and imperial?
And how the fuck did we let that become standard? And who came up with it in the first place?

2024-06-29 12:28:39

I have just watched a group of eight people, who’d split themselves across two square tables, all get up, combine the two square tables into one rectangular table, and then wonder aloud why they no longer all have places.

2024-06-28 16:03:46

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@npub198t…hasj having posted the above, I have realised the touch screen isn’t working at all but I kind of hate touch screens so hadn’t realised as I’d not even tried it… something to be googling !

2024-06-28 15:58:35

Woot. Mint works very well on my cheap-o Surface Pro. Totally zapped windows because it couldn’t go above W10. So this is now Linux only. So far so good.
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/695/058/960/562/393/original/d0f2ca1573636371.jpg

2024-06-24 15:09:15

Well this is new.
An organisation is refusing to pay its statutory late payment penalty charges, because they have a policy of "no PO number, no payment" and the penalty charge invoice (obviously) doesn't have a PO number.
Stern email dispatched.

2024-06-19 19:52:49

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@npub198t…hasj serious point; it’s quite a good place isn’t it. Impressed. Weirdly reminds me a bit of Cliveden in a good way.

2024-06-19 19:47:03

Me, earlier, at Osborne House, IoW. Looking out of an upstairs window back towards the north.
“Oh that’s great, Queen Victoria would have had an amazing view of the Spinnaker Tower!”

2024-06-14 10:12:34

This is crazy.
https://www.pecplc.com/index.php/articles/the-liverpool-cross

2024-06-12 12:58:36

Sunak's £2000 lie...
They should name it the Sunak Cost Fallacy.

2024-06-12 12:15:32

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@npub198t…hasj Kinda why we don't do the ISPAs.

2024-06-06 15:09:07

"Amazon Warehouse"
An item I have been looking at on Amazon for a while now a few days ago had 1 unit available "used" "good condition" at a 13% discount. Not enough to tempt me. Yesterday I spotted they suddenly had 5 at a 20% discount. Googling around, some were speculating that these might be simply "overstock" items being sold off as "used" to mask the overstock. I took the plunge.
I am /reasonably/ sure that this is what the item is. It seems in perfect condition. Nothing missing.

2024-06-02 21:21:27

Literally can not believe McDonalds used to sell root beer in the UK. I mean I can, because I remember them selling it. But it is still really weird in retrospect.

2024-05-29 06:02:12

Thanks to everyone on here who voted for me.
I will be remaining on the Board of LINX for another 3 years.

2024-05-25 22:03:58

“Speed limit for air quality”
60mph on the M4.
Why are EVs not exempted?

2024-05-23 22:44:39

It me.
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/492/819/645/983/991/original/970fc718282ada5a.png

2024-05-12 21:56:26

The problem with modern TV consumption in two sentences :
Today we started watching season three of Clarkson’s Farm.
Today we finished watching season three of Clarkson’s Farm.

2024-05-01 12:38:35

Got the battery replaced in my iPhone 13 mini, official part done by Apple in store.
Good points: they did it free, phone just under 2y old, and had lost 19% battery health. Well done.
Bad points: somehow someone else’s name got attached to my email and phone number, and nobody could really say why. And weirdly I overheard a conversation where exactly the same had happened to another customer; wrong name, right contact details. Very weird.
Nice to have my 13 mini back at 100% bat health!

2024-04-30 11:54:25

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@npub198t…hasj depends if you see it as a toy, or as a tool, doesn't it?

2024-04-29 20:46:54

Tesla: Riveting stuff.

2024-04-25 19:51:16

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@npub198t…hasj good choice. Amazing for fifty.
Almost everyone has one but paid more like 90 - your challenge is really exponentially harder due to the budget

2024-04-25 19:42:05

OSINT challenge
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/333/558/481/657/516/original/bf45fcd38e2cb239.jpg

2024-04-25 19:37:00

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@npub198t…hasj what did you get?

2024-04-20 09:37:48

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@npub1jtm…rxtn if you are willing to DM me the machine and it isn’t firewalled I’m happy to see if I can get it to respond on ssh, from the UK

2024-04-11 13:03:05

It me.
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/252/716/815/453/589/original/9e4bbe186e28d593.png

2024-04-09 15:11:20

I cannot overstate how angry it makes me when customers attempt to implement "Supplier Terms" onto their suppliers long after a contract has been formed, or try to implement new policy that never existed before like "no PO, no pay". Or require a "supplier questionnaire" to be completed.
If you're a supplier, push back.
Tell them there are admin charges for completing a questionnaire, or tell them you can't agree to their "supplier terms".
It's always an attempt to gain advantage unfairly.

2024-04-03 11:43:18

Definitely what Jesus would have wanted.
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/207/107/248/347/114/original/bd545bb4724a3e07.jpg

2024-04-02 10:27:03

I knew I was having a delivery of something to home today. It is something vaguely expensive, and somewhat hard to get at the moment.
My wife made the courier WAIT a moment whilst she opened the outer packaging in front of him, to make sure what was inside really was what it was supposed to be, and had not been substituted in transit.
... And i don't think I could love her any more right now.

2024-03-29 15:29:08

I am not the most culturally aware person out there. But. I am relatively confident that India is not a big consumer of steak.
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/179/680/848/930/265/original/127ef9cc6f90e99f.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/179/681/060/692/569/original/74cf363659fd7c0d.jpg

2024-03-21 15:54:29

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@npub17lg…9uux what monitor are you using for that? and are you happy with it?

2024-03-21 10:36:34

Virtualisation on Apple Silicon question :
I know there was a developer preview release of VirtualBox some time ago (about a year?) so people could fire up virtualbox VMs on their M1/M2 chip based Macs. But looking at virtualbox.org today, this seems gone/discontinued?
Also I note VMWare does exist for Apple Silicon but it's not really free (there's a "personal use" edition, I think which is FOC but not quite "free").
Is there a Free vm hypervisor for Apple Silicon?

2024-03-20 20:46:14

My wife has joined a Facebook group, specifically for people all pretending to be ants. What a weird, but utterly harmless, corner of the internet.
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/129/966/520/457/566/original/ff697c32246b07c8.jpeg
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/129/966/589/567/095/original/7d60059efb55e49c.jpeg

2024-03-19 14:55:29

This is a picture of the actual horn button on a new vehicle by Grenadier.
Not even joking!
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/122/927/682/431/300/original/b0baa2fb14d93cdf.png

2024-03-19 00:20:08

Can anybody think of a way of using multiple Ikea Symfonisk (I think Ikea did these in collab with Sonos) wifi speakers as a kind of PA system to stream a live, or nearly live, announcement?
I’m thinking one in the corner of each room in a building. And then maybe you dial a SIP extension and it plays your live audio to all Symfonisk speakers in parallel and in realtime.
“Cleanup in aisle nine”
That sort of thing… any ideas?

2024-03-15 19:17:30

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@npub16ju…y8u7 I think it’s not an over generalisation to think that any random sample person, sample their money amount age 3 then sample it again age 40 and the latter amount will be higher.

2024-03-15 13:26:21

Being old :
Love:
* the money
Hate:
* the need for the money

2024-03-13 13:46:39

Remembering that time in very early 2020 when a colleague asked me if we could buy a company blowtorch, and I smartly replied "sure, write a business plan".
... and he did.
It's 2024 and we still don't have a blowtorch.
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/112/088/675/358/801/140/original/d751959e0b33eaa5.png

2024-03-11 09:35:18

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... Or bell, sensors, etc that can just join to HA, but maybe has some kind of subsystem specifically for it in HA?

2024-03-11 09:30:32

I have recently been very impressed with Home Assistant. In particular its ability to "drive IoT stuff locally" (i.e. not via some awful API out there in the cloud).
I like this because cloud stuff can go away, or magically become monthly-chargeable.
Is there a commercial alarm system (w/ panel, sensors, bell box etc) that is "IoT-ish but has local interfaces for joining to HA?

2024-03-06 14:44:40

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@npub198t…hasj the monkey that fell out of his bunk? And slid down the elephant’s trunk? That one?

2024-03-04 20:36:14

Personally I’m not sorry Trump will be on the ballot. In this manner that fucking twat can stand and LOSE, rather being disqualified but then crap on about it forever. Much better outcome.

2024-02-29 08:53:25

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@npub198t…hasj over all I wayyyyyyyyyyyyyy prefer mastodon / fedi to twitter now. And actually use it far more.

2024-02-29 08:50:00

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@npub198t…hasj and as has been pointed out the blocking is very easy and can even be “whole server” :)

2024-02-29 08:46:31

Sigh, have the twats now arrived on mastodon? You know the kind; the kind who makes an irrelevant comment, then defends it, then accuses you of changing your point (which you did not) then finally with nothing else to really do, revert to spurious and (also incorrect) picky points about specific words you used?
Is this mastodon now?

2024-02-28 22:57:04

The existence of profiteroles implies the existence of losseroles.

2024-02-28 20:29:47

A law that should be made:
If you email a customer a set of terms via a docusign-type link, then it should be legally required that a copy of the signed set of terms is emailed to the customer, from the same email address, on the same date, with the same subject.
Not from a different email address, with a different subject, on a different date. And not "not at all".

2024-02-28 20:27:51

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@npub198t…hasj Kinda feels like a "making an example" kind of situation?

2024-02-22 19:01:49

I wonder exactly what it is about this chicken meat that makes it need labelling “Not for EU”.
Should I worry? Or is it more likely to be administrative than technical?
#brexit #brexshit
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/976/669/967/352/089/original/5e51a9fd0ec71f28.jpg
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/976/670/103/501/259/original/a06a0d4a1a20b910.jpg

2024-02-22 18:41:42

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@npub16ju…y8u7 @npub1n3a…sdgs @npub1afx…r76s @npub1e7n…nhyu I think we would need to have submitted a proposal by now, tbh. So may have missed the boat.
Of course we could update the one we did at Bsides, so it would be a slightly different talk, even.

2024-02-21 16:38:59

It me.
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/970/453/098/484/422/original/81d55e66507dcac4.jpeg

2024-02-20 11:01:10

I could imagine this being a story in the Bible Belt of America.
It is dismaying and surprising in the extreme to learn it is a story here in the UK.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-68305991

2024-02-15 23:57:40

Me: (goes to bed early)
Police helicopter: “hahaha don’t think so!”
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/938/205/027/478/556/original/ded9143373e38466.jpeg

2024-02-14 12:55:40

Interesting to see how many people slagging off Musk for threatening the MuskJet guy are now tacitly supportive of Taylor Swift threating the same guy for doing the exact same thing.
ADSB IS PUBLIC.
Musk was wrong.
Swift is wrong.
I'm not really a Musk fan, whereas I am a bit of a Swift fan. Nonetheless, I think she's wrong about this just as Musk was.
* unless I've missed some detail and the situations are different in some important way.

2024-02-13 22:42:38

I wouldn’t dream of actively having an actual argument with the people who came up with this idea; to each their own, etc. I don’t care enough to piss anyone off directly.
But… really? ? ?
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/926/579/516/142/305/original/1dc3bd0ad61f2a37.png

2024-02-13 12:59:11

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@npub1vu7…nmuv My plan was to use it to hoist the top end of a vertical long wire antenna = science :-)

2024-02-13 11:16:22

Amazon sells foil inflatable numbers.
The idea is you fill them with helium, and (let's say) someone is 41 years old, you simply buy a 4 and a 1 and fill them both with helium, and they say 41.
They also do letters of the alphabet (shown in the picture).
Here's the question:
Which letter or number is it safe to assume has the largest *internal volume* for helium?
In other words, which single letter or number would I pick if I wanted maximum "floatyness"?
It's not as obvious as it looks.
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/923/878/744/045/360/original/1a5e0765e75ef0c0.png

2024-02-08 18:35:07

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@npub1ysu…2jyl @npub1vu7…nmuv @npub15em…dw2p @npub1l8h…k958 @npub198t…hasj @npub1h8j…m0fw sorry but I don’t regard content filtering as a firewall. I would make a fairly crowbar separation there.

2024-02-05 15:10:17

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@npub198t…hasj I did see MKBHD saying that he always felt self conscious when on a plane and editing a video ... of himself ... his thesis was seemingly that he'd feel a lot less self conscious using Mac screen mode in the Vision Pro (the mac laptop screen then goes black).
Try as I might I cannot imagine feeling LESS self conscious whilst wearing that massive thing...

2024-02-04 18:25:09

Normalise referring to it as the “Cyberfuck”.

2024-02-01 16:02:16

Why do all annoying drone operators call their Youtube channels something ending with "Audits".
Audit suggests they are being hired by someone to do a survey. But they never are. All they do is go and bait the security people, often not very diplomatically, get people who haven't read up on the situation to mis-state the law, then criticise them for it.
In no way is it an "audit" in any sense.

2024-02-01 09:33:05

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@npub1vu7…nmuv
(sorry)
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/855/531/806/304/222/original/ee0a9ee9d74ccc24.png

2024-01-19 11:04:18

FFS, accidentally ordered a Lennonovo
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/782/280/183/165/632/original/2c0d374315746e2c.png

2024-01-18 17:54:59

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@npub16ju…y8u7 it wasn’t

2024-01-18 10:47:20

Another day, another person emailing us at our Escalations alias because they had a car breakdown and were unhappy with the response.

2024-01-03 09:31:54

The more elaborate the spice rack, the blander the meal.

2023-12-31 18:56:24

Sometimes, fakes on Twitter are easier to spot than usual.
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/676/551/753/112/853/original/5b8353b7942dc090.jpeg

2023-12-31 14:22:37

DinoBloor
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/675/475/569/001/251/original/730a43e5c23b10de.jpeg

2023-12-26 11:52:50

YOINKKKKKK
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/646/576/279/046/944/original/a2441a596af17cb9.jpg

2023-12-26 08:18:37

Whilst putting my phone, watch, tablet and powerbank on charge yesterday evening, I glanced outside at my car, still charging, having been slowly pulling 8A for ~14 hours.
Between 150 and 20 years ago, there was some amazing future-looking fiction written, accurately predicting all sorts of stuff; handheld computers, smart watches, the Internet, satellites, electric cars even.
But I never read anything about how much of our lives would revolve around charging batteries in almost every device.

2023-12-22 18:11:37

Happy 75th birthday to Noel Edmonds...
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/625/415/970/005/247/original/ce07380d8ef7d056.png

2023-12-22 18:10:26

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@npub198t…hasj I am not sure.
I do post stuff intended to be amusing here. But, it was a simple shitpost. And simple shitposting somehow doesn't work as well here. Doesn't feel *as* appropriate?
Does that make sense? My IMMEDIATE THOUGHT upon seeing it was Edmonds' birthday was "haha i'll post a different person's photo, omg kenny everett"
Seems less "right" here?

2023-12-22 18:07:36

See now this is a classic example of the difference between Mastodon and Twitter.
Over on twitter, I posted "Happy 75th birthday Noel Edmonds" alongside a photograph, not of Noel, but of Kenny Everett.
A shitpost. Pure and simple.
Though I do post stuff intended to be funny here on Mastodon, I don't think I'd post... that... for some reason.

2023-12-15 22:59:37

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@npub17lg…9uux they are also the most unpleasant and arrogant company I have ever had the misfortune to deal with, ever. And I deal with telcos and datacentres.

2023-11-29 21:19:10

Introducing my new baroque acid jazz band, “Sunak’s Hammer”

2023-11-24 15:53:15

Quick someone get Rishi to visit a factory where they use soldering irons.

2023-11-21 22:37:28

ARE YOU READY TO LAUGH?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=etat9V6wW1s

2023-11-20 13:01:37

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@npub16ju…y8u7 is this with a mouse scroll wheel?

2023-11-20 12:55:14

Can people try something for me, in Google Chrome?
Visit
https://www.captureone.com/
Does scrolling work OK for you?
I'm running :
Version 119.0.6045.160 (Official Build) (64-bit)
on Windows 10 Pro.

2023-11-07 18:46:28

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@npub16ju…y8u7
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B0BZGPTLPG/

2023-11-01 19:14:05

I wear Ice Breaker socks almost entirely. I have also got a pair of DarnTough. They are both by a long long way the best socks I have ever owned. I walk a few miles pretty much every day, and they basically mean I do not get sore feet. They’ve also not worn out much. But some are just starting to go through after probably several hundred miles walked. They were quite expensive as socks go.
I keep seeing “Danish Endurance” promoted as a competitor. Are they really? Are they as good but cheaper?

2023-10-26 17:48:34

Ahhh there’s nothing quite like the sound of children laughing…
… in the pub where you’re trying to have a quiet drink in peace.

2023-10-26 15:49:40

We live in a world where the two parallel edges of a cuboid cardboard box, nonetheless, appear to taper inwards as they travel away from you.
And this is NORMAL.
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/302/106/734/632/379/original/c1f51bcf1f254b7d.png

2023-10-23 19:25:16

Christ! Please don’t try and explain something if you really don’t know what it is.
Observe: the person who doesn’t really properly visualise…anything… trying to explain sidebands.
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/285/965/104/903/319/original/36dcd1b5b1dd00c1.jpeg

2023-10-22 14:29:12

It offends my eye, more than it really should, when I see people on Facebook use "no" when they mean "know". It's such a trivial thing, and I know it's pedantic. But I really judge.

2023-10-21 20:37:53

Anyone want to buy my folding bike? It’s a Tern. Hardly used, though a couple of years old. Stored inside in the warm the whole time though. Maybe 50 miles on it. Can post a photo if anyone’s vaguely interested.

2023-10-20 15:08:48

Does anyone I know really know/understand OpenEnergyMonitor/EmonPi/EmonTX/EmonCMS?
My install is fucked, for no good reason (nothing I did), the documentation which I've pored over at length, and the forums are not helping at all. And I'm at a point of chucking the whole lot out and replacing it with something simpler.

2023-10-19 10:52:32

The tory party is dying. It's like a sort of "death by a thousand cuts", except if I misspelled the last word.

2023-10-18 06:23:53

I have difficulty believing this.
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/254/580/720/350/621/original/3c516de84898c82b.png

2023-10-12 07:06:31

A few, when I’ve gently uttered my concerns about smart meters (that it is problematic that they all contain a remotely operable contactor that the supplier can shut off without a site visit) who’ve said “yeah but they would never do that”. I’ve had a pro smart meter campaign organisation say effectively the same. And an energy supplier.
TIL in Octopus’s Ts & Cs, they explicitly say they reserve the right to remotely cut you off. If there is no intent to ever do it, why put it in the Ts and Cs?

2023-10-11 16:53:16

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@npub16ju…y8u7 There used to be multiport ONTs. I think those are gone now, though.

2023-10-11 13:22:12

Remember copper pair theft?
Remember how we were pleased it would go away with fibre?
We have now seen a fibre tail from a pole to a property get stolen to provision a new FTTP service. Great.

2023-10-02 17:42:34

“Idea for a Placebo covers band….. “
… “Band name: ‘Homoeopathy’”
https://cdn.masto.host/bloortw/media_attachments/files/111/166/652/058/416/260/original/05f3bd8e412b7724.jpeg

2023-10-02 00:32:47

It has dawned on me that, surely, so called “gender reveal” parties are actually not gender reveal parties at all. Because the parents won’t know, yet, what gender (if any) their kid feels itself to be?
In fact, couldn’t it almost be said to be an early pre-birth attempt to *impose* a gender identity based merely on biological sex?
Also aircraft towing banners, fireworks leading to forest fires, gratuitous and wretched displays of excess etc etc is all just fucking gross shite.