southhamster

I am concerned with the lack of resilience of DV so something like this phone is interesting. Battery backup phone with 4G backup. Shame it only appears to work with BT/EE as I think a lot of older folks (who me?) would be happy to use something like this, plus you can use it outside with the 4G. However we have poor to non existent mobile signal round here and frequent power cuts so I will have to buy a decent UPS and config. my backup 4G router with the 5m external aerial mast to get any mobile signal. This is all beyond our neighbours, most of whom have never even heard of the PSTN switchoff. As the lessons from the Lancaster and Yorks floods shows https://www.theblackoutreport.co.uk/2019/12/11/lancaster-floods-living-without-electricity/ - sobering reading, once the power is out and the mobile base stations/fibre cabinet UPS' die, FM radio is about the only thing left.

My TS- 453 Pro used to sometimes do this. Is it worth powering down, remove mains power, remove and reinsert drives and startup? That sometimes seemed to help. My issue seems to have gone away - I think a firmware change increased a timeout waiting for boot.

Another +1 for CPC, plus they have a good range - it's interesting the difference in capacity (mAh) between manufacturers. I have found that no-names sometimes leak and corrode, but it's amazing how long those little cells last. I replaced the one on our boiler programmer last year which was a Panasonic dated 2002!

After years of struggling with a too big rucksack or carry bag, I downsized to this; https://www.caselogic.com/en-gb/laptop-bags/laptop-backpacks/case-logic-14-laptop-backpack-_-caselogic_85854220408 Enough room for a 14" laptop and plenty of storage pockets for small tools and cables, but not too monstrous, and has stood up well. I also have a small hard plastic toolbox with the rest of the tools in which I bought around 1990 from Texas DIY store (only old people will remember them!) and is perfectly sized - it's even strong enough to stand on occasionally!

At my last school (medium primary), no office, just a couple of desks in the corner of the staffroom. That was good from the POV of having a view, drinks access and people being able to find us, but less good at breaks with everyone chatting and asking us questions, but it was usually quiet in between, until it was decided to have small groups of kids being taught in there in the mornings. Many of us thought that was really out of order as it left staff with nowhere to be in an adult only space if they needed to calm down or do quiet work.

I think it also makes a huge difference if you have a site manager who knows their onions and can stand their ground. My last school before retirement (standalone academy), had a qualified H&S building site manager who was unpopular sometimes but got all the unglamorous stuff that needed to be done (reroofing, cladding, drains etc), and was well able to make contractors do what they should as they couldn't pull the wool over his eyes. Sadly, seen plenty of other schools that didn't have anyone except for contract cleaners. I was working in one temporary classroom and warned not to lean on the wall as it was loose - you could see the gap in the corner of the building! One teacher confessed they were scared of being in there in a high wind.

Worth noting some companies are very aggressive about allowing 3rd party, or even "out of date-really?" ink cartridges to work. I'm reasonably happy with Epson WF series - network,USB,wifi,double sided printing/ADF scanning. Not the cheapest but ok for home and tend to last about 3-4 years before failing or getting broken. It gets used quite a lot as Mrs. SH uses it for printing her art (she also has an A2 Epson 3880 beast printer for bigger things). We use Epson ink although it's horribly expensive but the colours are good on the right paper and they don't fade too much.

Finally got round to watching this, I was a bit unsure as I thought the book was truly brilliant and sadly many TV series leach the the magic from the pages. Overall, I thought it was pretty well done. Some good acting (except for Mark Ruffalo's weird accent), maybe a little too cartoony and "busy" but they had to cram a lot of backstory into 4 episodes. If you enjoy this, you might find the series of Das Boot (sky/nowtv) even better. Much darker and more claustrophobic, better acting and script and plenty of onshore stories too. With subtitles it felt a bit more real to me. Certainly put me off going in a submarine!

Thanks Morphy. I'll suggest that but the interface may be a bit busy for Mrs SH. However at least it will be reliable!

Apple have managed to break the inbuilt Music Player app with version 17.0.1 update. it sometimes runs but then randomly crashes. Incredibly, it seems Apple may not fix it until the next update. The Apple Forums are not happy....e.g. https://discussions.apple.com/thread/255292851?sortBy=best Neither is Mrs. SH who uses it a lot. Can anyone recommend another simple music player app that would play her stored ipad music files offline, she is not a fan of youtube with constant adverts or streaming services like Spotify. The old Google Music app was like the kind of thing she's after. Thanks.

Duh, here's the link https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/nov/15/covid-flu-vaccine-same-time-study?CMP=Share_AndroidApp_Other

Interesting article which suggests that having covid and flu jabs together is beneficial. Being a Ancient One, I was offered both last month so had them at the same time. Usual 2 days of feeling a bit rubbish but no worse than the COVID booster on its own. Glad to know I am brimming over with antibodies!

Woburn to Bletchley certainly used to be very Wobbly! Ancient trains and terrible track. Hopefully it's a bit better now.

Yes, it looks like the Tapo P110 has some Home Assistant integration https://github.com/petretiandrea/home-assistant-tapo-p100 but there a few issues reported with it I have had one of the Kasa KP115 plugs for almost a year running perfectly in HA ; however a few times a months it loses the wifi and gets stuck with a red light - turning it off and on is the only way to reset it so ok but not perfect. A shame as it is pretty accurate and produces useful data. I've also tried Computime Salus SP600 and Aurora 50AU - zigbee based but less accurate and don't seem as well put together. There is also a new Tapo version P110M https://www.tp-link.com/uk/home-networking/smart-plug/tapo-p110m/v1/ using Matter protocol which is a bit beta ATM and fine if you like tinkering, I do so I may get one!

We are watching Das Boot season 4 on Now TV. Not as good as the first seasons, but plenty of plots and happenings on dry as well under the sea. Spoiler alert, the Allies won! I actually prefer the subtitles, it seems a bit more real compared to badly dubbed speech.

I recorded 953 mbar here but it was amazing quickly it fell yesterday. In spite of our amber alert that it wasn't that windy here, just thunderstorms and torrential rain.

This got me wondering what the best blood for cooling PC's might be. High boiling point, low viscosity and good thermal conductivity. Maybe something weird like hummingbird or sea urchin. Could be a good 6th form physics project [emoji16]

https://www.theguardian.com/education/2023/oct/20/oxford-university-online-admissions-tests-plagued-by-erratic-crashes It's made the papers!

At my last school the teaspoons did the disappearing thing but then sometimes we would have so many the kitchen would not have enough and they would stage a raid to take a load back. Mugs on the other hand seemed to multiply so much we had an annual cull. It's a mystery!

I find with my DeWalt just turning the whole drill by hand can loosen a stubborn screw as you can apply a lot of torque. May not with other makes as the DeWalt locks the chuck when unpowered.

Insight. Had good service from them.

I really like my kobo libre h20. The main thing is I can borrow library books through Overdrive. I'm a bit of a voracious reader so it saves a fortune and a godsend during lockdown. Decent battery life, nice backlight which gradually fades to a warm colour at night. Magnetic flip cover/stand is useful. Never poured beer/wine over it but good to know it "should" be waterproof.

Yes it was excellent. Lots of twists and turns. Makes you realise how poor so much other stuff is!

You might want to get the 18th edition onsite guide. A wealth of info clearly laid out. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Site-Guide-7671-Electrical-Regulations/dp/1839532270/ref=asc_df_1839532270/?tag=googshopuk-21&linkCode=df0&hvadid=570519535670&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=14806014928429470239&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9045203&hvtargid=pla-1606064598694&psc=1

We fitted vents top and bottom in the server cupboard, door but a couple of large case 12v. fans in the top vent to push hot air out into the main storeroom. Just remember to vac. the dust out now and then!