powdarrmonkey

I'd rather have friends on their own terms than because they think I might be useful.

PCI-E 2's two extra pins are an additional 12v rail to provide a maximum 150W power, instead of the original PCI-E specification of 75W.

Hmm, interesting enough, but it doesn't explain why things are how they are (like, why should I use a SATA connector over an IDE?). It's not really classroom material IMO.

I don't remember seeing it before, but as someone who goes out of his way *not* to be like that, I'm frankly offended.

It's ok, the BBC are here to save the day again! Here's their helpful guide to naming the bit of you that aches most: http://newsimg.bbc.co.uk/media/images/46090000/gif/_46090294_swine_flu_body226.gif (context: BBC NEWS | Health | Pandemic flu service to go live)

Saw it, made my boss chuckle when I sent it to him

Not usually, though they get unhappy if you take them literally. My favourite at the moment is O2's Simplicity SIMs - one-month rolling contract and free bolt-on that can include unlimited web.

To clarify: by 'no dealings', I meant no license auditing arrangement, not no reseller relationship. I didn't make that very clear, my apologies. Martin: thanks for your attention. I'll try and remember to contact you in confidence on Monday.

That's unforgivable..

Clearly!

wtf?

Yep. My suspicion was well-founded. Liars

I just had a very odd call from them, saying that Microsoft had passed on a list of schools that take part in the Schools Agreement licensing and that they were doing a compliance check, but they guy was a little evasive about what was really going on (first question: do we take part in the schools agreement - which surely he should know!) I think it was a consultancy sales call thing, so I'm treating it with suspicion. Ever heard of them? Edit: I just phone Microsoft, who confirmed that they have no dealings with Softcat and if there ever were any compliance problems or audits, would contact licensees directly.

You're going to make Simon deeply jealous now you know...

His servers are all Gentoo, which is why it's in *nix If you've got SMART enabled, messages normally go to syslog if it's been set up. Same applies to RAID (do you use mdadm?). If it wasn't set up though, it's like saying 'who deleted this file' after the event, so your luck probably varies.

No. In Newtonian physics, gravity acts exactly the same on each body WRT acceleration; the difference is air resistance (drop a hammer and a feather on the moon, and they land at the same time - no air). I propose that if you tied buttered toast to a cat, all you'll get is an angry feline.

Have you exported the private key portion of the certificate as well?

Roland's TD series are just gorgeous, although I've played the TD12s not TD3s. You'll find cheaper kits are just hit or not; TD12s have a variable response depending how hard you hit them and where (rims etc) and the cymbals even respond to grabs

Hmm, I've never heard this term 'technical clothing' before?

For this, it's probably a nice-to-have. It'd be a good one for you to learn on, before it matters much more.

Kapersky are this desperate??

It won't make any performance difference at all. The only reason for wiping a drive in this manner is privacy.

True; my second example wasn't a very good one. (ooo, semi-colon ) The annoying thing, I think, isn't the 'we' implication, but the simultaneous attempt by managements to appear to be part of a workforce and enjoy the perks that come with being above it. 'We'-ism is particularly bad here, and it's almost certainly by example - the Head and DHs use it, and gradually everybody else also seems to be doing so, except me. I agree management jargon is a specialist language of its own, but it's very different to the scientific basis of medical jargon - it seems to come and go in fads of phrases like 'going forwards', 'touching base', 'from the get-go', etc. They don't actually mean anything, otherwise they'd last longer - it's just that all the cool kids are saying them. Most of it's just plain patronising, including a lot of uses of we-ism. (I feel much better now )

Check that the bit that's on all the time isn't a fused spur with a blown fuse: if it's at the top of the tank, it's probably got a thermostat in it to boost the water temperature as you use it, wheras the economy 7 bit heats the water during the night when it's cheaper. edit: I don't know why I said top. It could be anywhere.

I do: it's when people say 'we' when they mean 'you': "Can we make sure the hall is set up ten minutes ago?" "Is it going to work or will we need to find a better solution?" etc (usually ad nauseum).