Year: 2012

  • IE9 Zero Day Vulnerability Fixed

    For a week now it has been known that there is an IE9 Zero Day Vulnerability. Get This Zero Day Vulnerability Fixed Now Microsoft have published a fix which came to me today in the form of an update as follows (for Windows 7): Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer 9 for Windows 7 for x64-based Systems (KB2744842)…

  • I Held a Young Goldfinch Today. It Was Stunning.

    I Held a Young Goldfinch Today. It Was Stunning.

    Introduction What a wonderful experience. I wish I had taken a photo. I looked out of my lounge window and a young goldfinch was resting on my patio within 0.5m of the window. It didn’t attempt to fly off so I went outside. I knelt down on the ground and got within 0.5m of it. It…

  • Visual Basic .NET Radio Buttons get auto-clicked

    I was up until 01:20 this morning debugging code in VB.NET 2010. For hours I thought there was something amiss with my math or logic when a calculation in a secondary window which was affected by Radio Buttons kept giving an erroneous result. The Problem – Visual Basic .NET Radio Buttons At first I thought…

  • Removing A Bra Wire From A Washing Machine

    Removing A Bra Wire From A Washing Machine

    Preface This post describes: removing a Bra Wire from a washing machine when it has come out of a bra and penetrated the inner drum of a front loader. These wires tend to come out of badly maintained bras while being washed. They don’t necessarily damage the machine immediately but always have the potential to…

  • Phishing Email NOT From TESCO Bank

    Where Does This Email Pretend To Come From? This phishing email pretends to come from: Tesco Personal Finance customerservice@consumercardservicing.tescofinance.com. As you can see from the image of the email content below if you were to click on the link: http://www.tescobank.co.uk/1/2/TESCOCAM10;&user=% colin.ride@btinternet.com %  . . . you will not go to a Tesco website. Look carefully…

  • I’ve Spilt Paint On My Patio Slabs. What Will I Do?

    I’ve Spilt Paint On My Patio Slabs. What Will I Do?

    Introduction “Oh dear! The spilt paint on my patio slabs created a 20cm dia. puddle when my tin of mahogany paint blew over. It was tipped up by a gust of wind which lifted the cardboard it was resting on.” “There would have been photos but I had to swear first and then get on…

  • Dining On A Steam Train At The Great Central Railway

    Dining On A Steam Train At The Great Central Railway

    Introduction This time we (my wife and I) enjoyed a day on the trains at the Great Central Railway based at Loughborough Station. We went dining on a steam train at the Great Central Railway on 26th May 2012. This pleasure was a Christmas gift from our son. We had 1st class tickets to travel up and down…

  • Netricity Ethernet Bridge Adapter Failed After 13 Months

    Netricity Ethernet Bridge Adapter Failed After 13 Months

    Introduction Panic set in last night when I couldn’t access the Internet. Eventually I tried my laptop after checking the lights on my Home Hub and reset it a few times. That worked O.K. and in the end I deduced my power-line network had failed. It turned out that a Netricity Powerline 500M Ethernet Bridge Adapter…

  • Malware Discovered In Google Marketplace Apps

    Malware discovered in Google Marketplace Apps by Symantec is designed to make premium rate calls from your mobile. So check your bills. See the detail here.

  • My Excel Jump List stopped adding Recent Files

    My Excel Jump List stopped adding Recent Files

    My Problem I had a problem where I had MS 2010 Excel pinned to the Task Bar but the Excel Jump List stopped adding Recent Files. The Jump List is the one you see when you right click on an icon of an application pinned to the task-bar. Some programs (not all) show recently used files…

  • One Mouse And Keyboard Can Control 1-4 Computers

    One Mouse And Keyboard Can Control 1-4 Computers

    Introduction Back in June 2012 I found this amazing software, Mouse without Borders from Microsoft Garage. It allows me to control 1-4 computers. Usually that is my desktop PC and my notebook with my desktop mouse and keyboard. I can move my pointer off the right-hand edge of my desktop screen and onto the left-hand…

  • Euro Banknote Issuing Country Codes

    Euro Banknote Issuing Country Codes

    Introduction The Euro crisis has caused some people to be concerned as to who is the Euro Banknote Issuing Country for the banknotes that they hold. The concept being that if a country in the Euro-zone goes belly up its notes will lose considerable value while the notes of the other Euro-zone countries will maintain their value. This situation…

  • My New Bird Bath

    My New Bird Bath

    My Old Bird Bath For some while I have been using a white rectangular butcher’s meat tray as a bird bath during freezing winter months and dry summer months when birds need access to fresh water. It has rested either on the ground, or on a garden seat, or on top of a large Victorian…

  • Northumberland Wildlife – Red Squirrel Included

    Northumberland Wildlife – Red Squirrel Included

    Introduction There was plenty of Northumberland wildlife – Red Squirrel included – near Doxford Cottages this May (2012). I have seen the following within 6m of my living room: Brown Rat, Red Squirrel, male & female Great Spotted Woodpecker, male & female Chaffinch, male Robin, Blue tit, Coal Tit, Great Tit, Green-finch, Nuthatch, Wood Pigeon, Crow, Rook,…

  • Durham Cathedral Bungee Jumping

    Durham Cathedral Bungee Jumping

    Introduction It was the second day of our vist to the Durham area. It was a damp morning with missle in the air but we enjoyed our walk along the Wear river bank opposite the castle and cathedral. We crossed the Wear and went to the cathedral where the vaulted ceiling amazed us. Apparently it is the…

  • Street Photography in Kabul, Afghanistan

    Street Photography in Kabul, Afghanistan

    Would You Believe There’s Street Photography In Kabul, Afghanistan I just watched the video presented here which has impressed me as a technologist and photographer. It’s all about Street Photography in Kabul the capital city of Afghanistan, i.e. taking very primitive instant photographs in the streets of Kabul. If you are a technologist or photographer you…

  • Dinner At Finbarrs Restaurant In Durham

    Dinner At Finbarrs Restaurant In Durham

    Preface This post discusses dinner at Finbarrs Restaurant. In reality Finbarr’s has an apostrophe before the “s“, but in order to make this post stand out in search engines I have had to make all references to Finbarr’s Restaurant look like this: Finbarrs Restaurant without the apostrophe. Durham In Durham there are lots of narrow…

  • Google’s Employment Applicant’s Hourglass Problem

    Google’s Employment Applicant’s Hourglass Problem

    Ref: March 2012 issue of Wired magazine. It seems the Google job interview process requires a problem to be solved. I’ll take this hourglass problem, “Using only a four-minute hourglass and a seven-minute hourglass, measure exactly nine minutes.” Solution Principle: Use one hourglass to measure out a smaller amount of time on the other hourglass. Repeat until…

  • Rolling Resistance of Bicycle Tyres

    For those who ride bicycles to work, the rolling resistance of bicycle tyres may be of interest. So check out Terry Morse’s web page.

  • Flipping Heck It’s A SmartInversion

    Flipping Heck It’s A SmartInversion

    Revised On 24 December 2021 Introduction It’s an unusual flying object – this SmartInversion – that propels itself by flipping inside out. Created by engineers at Festo in Esslingen, Germany. It was originally reported in a New Scientist blog in April 2012 which is no longer online. I decided to investigate it further and found…

  • Should You Worry About Your Bath Overflowing?

    Should You Worry About Your Bath Overflowing?

    Introduction Bragging bath owner, “Me, worry about my bath overflowing? It’s got an overflow pipe. I shan’t worry.” Plumber, “Oh! Has it? Well I would still worry.” Why you DO NEED to worry about your bath overflowing? I know someone who has had a bad experience with a bath overflowing, but it wasn’t their bath…

  • Goldfinches Feeding In My Garden

    Goldfinches Feeding In My Garden

    Introduction I can’t tell you how pleased I am to have goldfinches feeding in my garden regularly now I have erected a nyjer seed feeder. See this one in my feature image. A friend across the road has goldfinches feeding regularly but I never have. Why? They never had anything to feed on in my garden. So I…

  • ns&i index linked bonds

    I have seen a reference on citywire money to ns&i index linked bonds. One person – nodrog60 – has an issue with advice he was given over the phone by ns&i. As a result he thinks the interest on his investment will be a pittance. Amongst many others one person – ND – has been very…

  • The Caernarfon Swing Bridge Across The Seiont

    The Caernarfon Swing Bridge Across The Seiont

    Introduction The Caernarfon Swing Bridge is found crossing the River Seiont adjacent to Caernarfon Castle. The town of Caernarfon is a beautiful clean Royal Town in the summer sun, sitting on the northwest coast of Wales just south of Anglesey. Unfortunately tidal rivers rarely look nice especially when the low tide exposes the mud. If you look carefully…

  • Changing A Mains Isolation Switch Neon Indicator

    Changing A Mains Isolation Switch Neon Indicator

    Intoduction You may notice how the indicator light in your mains sockets and switches dims with time and wonder why. These lights are usually small neon bulbs which glow when a small alternating current of 1 or 2mA passes through them. These bulbs are filled with neon gas which glows red when a current passes through…

  • Visiting Market Bosworth

    Visiting Market Bosworth

    Introduction Most of the pictures here were taken on our first visit to Market Bosworth in 2012. We have retuned several times since and will continue to do so because it is such a charming English town in the county of Leicestershire. You can see its relative location on the maps below, surrounded by Loughborough,…

  • PHISHING SPAM ALERT! Purporting to come from Amazon. BEWARE!

    Further to my tweets this is the detail of spam I received today. I have unlinked the links (and coloured them orange) so you can’t get caught out: Your order has been successfully canceled. For your reference, here’s a summary of your order: You just canceled order #132-138566-4336469 placed on February 3, 2012. Status: CANCELED _____________________________________________________________________…

  • Winter Steam Gala 2012 At The Great Central Railway

    Winter Steam Gala 2012 At The Great Central Railway

    Introduction It was a cold but brilliant sunny afternoon at the GCR Winter Steam Gala 2012 (on 28th Jan). I took lots of photos and videos. The event ran all day but I only arrived in the afternoon and here’s my platform ticket:

  • Venus Transiting the Sun on 5th-6th June 2012

    Venus Transiting the Sun on 5th-6th June 2012

    In the feature image you can see Venus transiting the sun on 8th June 2004 – the first transit since 1882. Venus Transiting the Sun on 5th-6th June 2012 won’t happen again until 2117. Remember not to look directly at the sun and focus the sun onto a white card with a telescope/lens. Unfortunately for us…

  • The Faster-Than-Fast Fourier Transform

    The Faster-Than-Fast Fourier Transform

    Improving The Fast Fourier Transform To Make It Faster-Than-Fast The Faster-Than-Fast Fourier Transform can replace the Fast Fourier Transform to save processing time when digitising an analogue signal. For a large range of practically useful cases, MIT researchers find a way to increase the speed of one of the most important algorithms in the information…