Category: Current
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Keeping Birds Off TV Aerials
Introduction In my previous post “Freeview Aerial Direction” you may have noticed something unusual about my Yagi TV antenna/aerial. Yes, amongst the array of directors in front of the dipole and on the reflector at the back there are some Zip Ties (Cable Ties – often used for anchoring a cable to something else). In this…
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Terrestrial Freeview TV Aerial Direction
Introduction In November 2012 I had my terrestrial TV aerial relocated to another corner of my chimney stack so that it doesn’t overhang my solar panels. Birds were perching on it and making a mess on them. Consequently I needed to check my TV aerial direction to be sure it points to the transmitter. The aerial engineer (Martin…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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.
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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…
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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,…
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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 _____________________________________________________________________…
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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:
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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…
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iPad Survives Undamaged After Extreme Fall
Introduction It’s becoming quite popular to send cameras up to the edge of space for one reason or another. This is one of the latest which an iPad survives undamaged. See How An iPad Survives Undamaged After An Extreme Fall. NOTE: The article quotes, “….with the blackness of space and the bright curve of Earth providing a…
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Changing A Watch Battery In A Sekonda Quartz Watch
Introduction My wife’s wrist watch stopped working a few days ago. The problem was, of course, a flat battery. This led me to write about changing a watch battery using my wife’s watch as an example. I began by popping onto the Internet and ordering four, from JewelleryForAll on the Amazon Marketplace, @ 45p each…
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Using The Character Map Application In Windows
Accessing The Character Map Application It reminds me of an unusual dice when I see this icon. It has a beauty about it. What is it? It’s the icon representing the Character Map application in Windows 7, found on the Start Menu under Accessories > Ease of Access > System Tools. The Character Map application is stored…
