Earthling

23% Northern, somewhere around London. Somewhere about right.

Ours can't even understand the phrase, 'We don't provide BYOD facilities here'. On a more serious note, my immediate first answer would be, 'Why do you want to know all of this?' Then I'd discuss with their course teacher just how much of this information should be given to them. Questions 2 and 4 would only get answered in the broadest terms, with Q4 possibly not being answered at all. Question 9 would be filed under 'That's Classified'. Then I'd tell them what I think they should know.

I think I might have a similar problem. I'm trying to access a secure portal on hertsdirect.org. I cannot get to it at all using the Smoothwall as the proxy. I can get to practically every other site on the internet, but not this one. I've taken some Wireshark captures using the Smoothwall and one of the Herts Grid upstream proxies, and the traffic is radically different. The captures using the upstream proxy show the TLS client/server 'Hello's, but in the captures from the Smoothwall, these packets are just not there. I assume they're either not being sent/rec'd or are being corrupted somehow. I have a call logged on the Help Desk for this, #00047573, and I have a down-and-dirty workaround for the only user to access this portal, so it's not mega-urgent, but the problem is nagging at the back of my mind and I'd like to understand it and solve it, if possible. The other problem I'd like to understand is, 'Why is there always one user on every network who wants to do something different to all the others?', but I guess that's for a different thread and a different time

The problem is that the prime objective of any government is to get re-elected. If a government can 'Do Some Good' along the way, fine. If not, well, that was never the objective, anyway.

It's the same the whole world over, It's the poor that get the blame, It's the rich that get the pleasure, Ain't it all a bloody shame. That's it. That's all it is. No political system, flavour or -ism will ever change it. It's been happening for millenia, I'm sure the Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt (for example) weren't particularly keen on 'distribution of wealth', and I'm positive the old Soviet Politburo didn't eat beetroot soup all the time just to show solidarity with the 'Comrades'. Occasionally, you get the odd enterprising soul who manages to make a million.....but, pragmatically, what's a million these days? When the median starting price of a three-bedroom house in some Shire Counties towns is over half a million, the answer is 'Not much, really', even though I wouldn't turn my nose up at a million quid. That's how I see it, anyway. Better luck next lifetime, I guess

The thing is, I quite like 'High Street' shopping. I like to go 'touchy-feeley' when I want to buy something, and I'm buying a lot of stuff since I moved house in August. I wanted a new kitchen knife-set to go in my new kitchen, saw one I liked online. I went to Stevenage, Hatfield, Luton, Welwyn Garden City (awful for shopping, just awful), and eventually gave up searching for it in a shop and ordered it online, Thursday evening. Royal Mail delivered it last Saturday lunchtime (!) which amazed me for a start. Red Voodoo II Knife Block - New Edition This one, if anyone's interested. I have a selection of photos to stick on it in times of stress.

I was browsing eBuyer last night, about 21.45 and I noticed their little advert saying '44 minutes left for next day free delivery'.So I ordered an illuminated keyboard. Next day free delivery. £8 inc. vat.It was delivered at 11.13, while I was out for a smoke.Online Purchasing 1 High Street 0

Teachers here all have laptops, along with TA's and Cover Supervisors. No wi-fi, but ethernet in every room. The teachers connect their laptops to Smartboards and projectors. We have a three/four year rolling replacement plan and most of the laptops are well used but well looked after, apart from one instance three years ago. Having just spent a shedload of money virtualising the back-end, I'm not sure when the remainder of the original five year old Toshiba A200's will be replaced. Current models are Dell E6520 and E6530's. Problems arise when we have supply teachers (and we have a lot of supply teachers) who are only here for a day or two or a week or two. We don't have any 'teacher' pc's in the classrooms, they weren't being 'looked after', to coin a phrase.

I'd kill for a Skeletool, they look really cool. I've got a Sidekick, it has a very sharp blade. In fact, I cut myself on it first day I had it. Same as @Oaktech, it's either on my belt or in my hand, no one has ever complained about it, and I find it invaluable at least three times a week. Every Tech should have one.

And the First Prize of Almost Undying Gratitude goes to @Poults. Second Prize of Undying Gratitude yet tbd. Can't believe all my searches of the Play Store didn't turn that up.......and I did a few.

Morning all, A while ago someone posted details of an app that beeps as it detects the proximity of a wi-fi signal. I tried it, loved it, then, foolishly, I uninstalled it when I thought I didn't need it anymore. You can all guess what's coming next, can't you? I've searched all the possible terms I can think of, but can't find the post/thread. If anyone remembers what I'm talking about, please post a link or just the name of the app, top earn my (almost) undying gratitude. Thanks in (sweaty) anticipation.

I know what I'm going to have an hour of this evening. Sid Meier's Pirates!

Bit of a mixture between The Catch-22 and The Re-Tred here. Not moving on to any more exciting role, nor giving it up to become a Botanist. Going to see through our back-end replacement/virtualisation/migration to 2012 and accompanying Office and Exchange versions, then take early retirement, if the redundancy doesn't get me first. Which I hope it does, as I then qualify for full pension and get to bow out early. Apart from the back-end replacement, which has to happen whatever, we're drinking in the proverbial Last Chance Saloon here, with August 23rd possibly becoming Year Zero. Hope that's not too cryptic for anyone, and if it is, ask someone who's good at crosswords what I mean by it all.

Turned 60 end of last October. Like @witch said (about being 40), I suddenly felt really quite liberated, and still do. As it happens, I'm having a bit of a laugh at all this 'Just got to 23/34/28/30 next month and feel my age' stuff. I can remember thinking the same thing. I can remember sitting in pubs with friends and we were all giving it, 'No, man, I ain't gonna live til I'm 50. Live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse'......and then all of a sudden, I was 50. Something else @witch wrote too.........you still feel young inside. I still feel in my prime inside, even though my hair's thinning, my beard now grows grey and I've lost some teeth. In fact, I feel more capable of dealing with things now, because I've seen most of it happen before. The only thing I lament is that time passes too quickly when you have children. You get caught up in working, providing for a family, 'growing pains', school consultations etc., and then when they're all growed-up and you don't have those worries anymore, you realise that it all went too quickly and you want it back again. I sometimes feel like I was so busy working away from home, doing four-hour daily commutes and so on, that I missed my youngest daughter's childhood completely.

I had a Frank Zappa moustache, without the beardy bit on the chin for just over 35 years, before I shaved it off just last Easter holiday. Now I'm clean-shaven every other day. When I turned 30, I bought a cut-throat razor off a stall in Camden Passage Market (which is the one used to be in Islington, just for the easily-confused). I used it twice before I lost my bottle and put it away in my Stuff Box.

I always choose the option that says 'Press n if you're thinking of leaving us blah blah whatever'. Works for me.

What am I reading? Situations Vacant.

"Mass Unemployment for School IT Staff" ? Oh, I wish. Every morning I wake up hoping the Redundancy Fairy has been to visit.

Seeing as how most of the technical stuff has been covered already..... Never, ever, run out of Valium. Find a favourite mantra and recite it. Frequently. Mine is 'In with anger, out with love', but you may prefer a more classical one. Find somewhere to secret yourself away when you need to get on with stuff, a workshop or some such. Learn to say 'No' and to be rude about it, when necessary. I know it's not pleasant to be rude, but, believe me, you will have to be sooner or later.

Have a Good One, Matt.

I've been trying hard to resist having my say about the game on Saturday, but I can't resist anymore. Blame the English rugby media. Everything I heard and read gave the impression that all England had to do was turn-up, pick up the 6N Trophy, complete a Grand Slam and go home again, job done. What on earth made you all think you were going to come to the Millenium and walk away with a Grand Slam? Wales had one bad half against Ireland, then three AWAY wins. How easily everyone forgot, that but for a moment of tackling madness, Wales would have been in the World Cup final last time round. As for refereeing decisions, the scrum is a dangerous part of the game. Players have suffered broken collar-bones, broken necks, paralysing injuries and some have even died. Brian Moore's lucky, it never happened to him. That's how he's able to sit in a commentary box, deriding referees who have a responsibility and a duty of care to the players to ensure the scrums are set properly and contested fairly. As @garethedmondson said 'Get over it'. Go and listen to Ian Robinson's 'Johnny Wilkinson drops for World Cup glory' radio clip for a couple of hours. You'll be fine. THE NEWSDESK: Spot the brutal and intimidating Welshmen - and one happy pundit (From South Wales Argus)

Whichever path 'They' choose, and for sure, I'll have zero input into that, will be long, hard, stressful, possibly rewarding but only in the very loosest sense of the word, and if I'm honest-to-god truthful about it, a path that is not one that I want to tread. I'm looking for the path down to the beach and the cold-box.

'.......creaking a little back then'? I guess you can imagine how I feel, three years on.

Out of date? Do me a favour.......I'm running Exchange 2003. Which is why I want my back-end updated. Oooo-err, missus, I believe is the phrase.

Hey all, To give a bit more weight to my case for updating our server room, would those of us who use Exchange please post which version you're using, please. No names, no pack drill, I can just quote the area you're located in. Thanks to all who respond, and I'll check in this evening or tomorrow. Got gob-loads of work on here so I won't be able to dwell on here the way I have been. Thanks once again.