Things that annoy everyday people

Women bishops.

2009-03-19T08:44:00.001Z

This is the final and last work-in-progress note and in fact signals literally my last ever post.I fear to tread in an area that bares no relation on my life nor any member of my immediate family. Though in a way I suppose it does have as we have two children in a Catholic school. I am talking about religion.Religion is one of those areas where, I believe, one either 'believes' or one does not.

Why I don't play games.

2009-03-19T08:39:00.001Z

This is another work-in-progress note.Especially, online games. Less especially all and any type of game. I have never owned a console, unless one can include under that banner the Amiga CD32 in which case that is the only one I have ever owned and that was so long ago too. Never since that time, during the 1980's, have I bothered with any of the consoles since. Why? Simply put. I don't play

Openness.

2009-03-19T08:36:00.001Z

This is another work-in-progress note.The various governments of the so called Western world waffle on about openness.Some more than others but the general diatribe goes something like "One of the government's objectives is openness so that the people know what is going on and how we arrive at any given subject.". This means that what a given country's government do that directly or indirectly

Program comparisons.

2009-03-19T08:34:00.001Z

This is another of my work-in-progress notes.Being an old Amiga head who now uses a Linux based operating system I can directly compare programs that where available for that most excellent operating system Amiga OS/Workbench and what comparatively is available for a Linux based operating system.Sure, the Amiga OS programs would in most cases lack the sophistication of there Linux based

Windows V Linux

2009-03-19T08:26:00.001Z

As I am stopping doing this I have decided to publish some work-in-progress notes. This being one of them.I have seen Microsoft Windows 7, as it is currently dubbed, the other day as I installed in in a VM. What I saw did nothing for me that my operating system choice already does in a better way with less resources and has done for at least 2 years or more.The Linux based platform has come a

This happens in life.

2009-03-19T08:05:00.001Z

Bye bye.I have enjoyed the experience but I can no longer be bothered. Replies are all but none existent and the emails that where coming thick and fast have all but died off.This says to me that people are not interested in my ranting or observations so it seems the best thing to do is to go away and do something else which I surely will and am doing. I fully understand and have no animosity

It is getting worse.

2009-03-10T07:51:00.001Z

It is getting worse and with more and more MS Windows users taking up some flavour of a Linux distribution, usually one of the Ubuntu flavour, we are seeing more and more top posting in the Linux Usenet groups. If you are nterested in checking my statement then just take a look at the last few days in alt.os.linux.ubuntu (Google groups didn't used to take this particular group but I think

Debris in space.

2009-02-28T01:52:00.001Z

When reading this arstechnica article it came as no surprise to learn of the inherent dangers of space debris. Caused by mainly low orbital satellites, both some still in use and some no longer in use, but both types just floating free around our fragile Earth. NASA probably knows but your average Joe, of which I am one, probably does not, but the questions remain such as, what unknown damage is

Next working day?

2009-02-22T06:14:00.001Z

How often do you see "Next working day" when waiting for a parcel to be delivered? Let us consider those 3 words for a minute then let us consider what they mean in the modern 7 days a week commercial world.Back in the old days they meant exactly what they say. This being your parcel would arrive on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday or Friday but never on a Saturday or a Sunday because those

i cannot understand.

2009-02-04T07:45:00.001Z

The mentality behind such people as this jerk in a BBC report. The guy is 20p short of a pound if he thinks for one second that what he waffles on about is anything close to reality. Sure, there will be some in middle England that would go along with it but those on the various Council owned estates dotted around our cities won't give a hoot.Take this gem as an example of his bilge."And to my

The decline of "News" sites.

2009-01-27T06:14:00.001Z

Back when the Internet was but a fledgling mini beast waiting to explode on everyone the so called News web sites that have no dead tree parent soon became apparent in the eyes and minds of those with a technological bent.Some have long since disappeared but some of those that where at the begining or came along just after are still around. Some of those still around are the worse for wear while

Karoo WiFi.

2009-01-24T05:51:00.001Z

Is as much of a joke amongst local people as their ADSL2 offerings. Karoo WiFi is available as part of ones contact with them but what they don't tell you is where their access points are. They are in fact extremely limited as their access points are mainly only avaiable in Queens Gardens on the edge of the town shopping are. Queens Gardens itself covers some 1000 square yards of space but the

The Intenets hidden joke.

2009-01-21T07:01:00.001Z

If there is one single web site that causes none Microsoft laden administrators, and some hardened Microsoft administrators, to laugh out loud is is "Shields Up!" from grc.com.The sheer scale of hyperbole on there aimed not at seasoned professionals but at the all American everyday common and garden Microsoft Windows users is simply stunning. Every facet of that web site is designed and created

Karoo email.

2009-01-20T08:45:00.001Z

In an effort to stifle customers Karoo are now sending out the following email when a customer emails an individual within the organisation (all email addresses munged for obvious reasons)."Thank you for your email. So that we can ensure that your query is handled appropriately pleasedirect it to the relevant contact listed here. ***@***.com This email has not been read.

Do you use the BBC web site?

2009-01-18T06:07:00.001Z

I do. in fact I spend a lot of time on it visiting all the various bits dotted around it. Some hidden from immediate view while others are displayed in prominent and semi-prominent links.My reason for asking is that I feel that some of it could be vastly improved. Take something like this as an example. Am I the only one who dislikes how they display each entry backwards to how people normally

In living memory eh?

2009-01-18T05:12:00.001Z

In this BBC article we have the lib-dem leader saying "Today's school leavers could be the first generation in living memory "to end up worse off than their parents". No doubt it has been reported elsewhere but as the BBC is one of the most respected web site for news at all levels that is where I read it first.Now, being as I am 48 years old at this time in my short stay on this planet I can

Yet another Windows worm.

2009-01-17T06:13:00.001Z

As news spreads of yet another massively spreading Microsoft Windows worm infects every machine it comes into contact with via several different methods such as USB sticks is it not time that Microsoft realises it has lost this game of cat and mouse?As I am sure some of the more technological mined people know not all the blame can be laid at Microsoft's door but just as certainly some of it can.

Will they ever learn?

2009-01-16T07:36:00.001Z

With reports going around that the MOD's navy ships computers have been infected with a virus (or two or three) will these people ever learn? Our Royal Navy ships computers run Microsoft Windows. What flavour I do not know but in all probability it is either Windows XP or Windows Vista. Yes, I could research and find out but all we need to know is two words, Microsoft and Windows. Whether XP or

Living in a box.

2009-01-14T04:37:00.001Z

Living in a box, living in a cardboard box as the song goes. Well, more a case of living out of a box.After some 18 months at our new place we are still unpacking boxes which where filled at the old, much smaller, house we had. It simply amazes me how we fitted so much into that much smaller house. So much, it would seem, that we can't, or haven't yet, found the space to fit it all in at this new

The open world of yesterday.

2009-01-13T04:50:00.001Z

It is often said that todays world is a global one. From business to the internet it is all global in nature. Or rather that is the nature of the beast. So, when we read about all the various countries with all their various border controls where exactly does this global world fit in?We have seen many times where those from so called 'problematic' countries are denied access to some other country

Pain Management.

2009-01-12T09:05:00.001Z

This is not a moan. It is just a quick explanation of my personal health which goes someway to explaining why this blog is intermittent as I jump from mind state to mind state.Since the quacks at the Pain Clinic I am attached to decided to change my medication I have never been at such a high level of constant pain as I am currently. Being winter as it is here right now does not help matters

Child protection.

2009-01-12T05:37:00.001Z

No right minded thinking adult would ever consider hurting a child, much less their own child.With seemingly the front line people, who have an undertaking to first and foremost protect the nations children from harm, not only from those outside the family circle but also the child's own parents, being in total disarray following some high profile,and not so high profile, cases where said front

Karoo - A shot in the arm.

2009-01-09T02:44:00.001Z

A while ago I mentioned taking our fight with the incumbent broadband provider for our area to the E.U. This is gathering pace since I set things in motion.Of course, once I had blurted it out in an email to them they immediately cut off all level of contact. Total and utter silence is what is coming from their end. Even legal and proper questions to Customer Services go unanswered. Not

A nice, gentle walk.

2009-01-05T07:50:00.002Z

As Autumn has given away to winter the fields around here take on a very different look, not to mention smell as the various foliage gives off that winterly aroma. To my surprise Edward, my 12 year old son, asked if I would take a walk with him last night along the field trail we have walked many times since we moved here. The same trail we walk when we walk our dogs. A gentle walk on a cold and

Guilt by name association.

2009-01-05T07:37:00.001Z

Maybe not guilt as such but certainly touched. For an example of what I am writing about see this BBC article. Read what it is about then look at the name of the guy who purportedly wrote it.This sort of thing happens all the time, especially in the science world, but that does not make it any less annoying that it happens at all. Furtherance of ones own country, and by extension ones own

Oh stop it!

2009-01-04T09:24:00.001Z

Please. Stop it you are making me laugh so hard my sides are aching. What is it that is causing this? Climate Change. Global Warming. Call it whatever you like but please stop with the lies.It has been proven many times that a lot of the problems various plant life, both surface and seafaring, has nothing at all to do with climate change. climate change itself has been proven to be something of a

Privacy.

2009-01-02T11:50:00.001Z

Yours in particular.Have you noticed how much Government interference there is in your everyday life? They have cameras everywhere watching your every move. They are planning a huge database of every possible communication you can do. Email, telephone, mobile phones, web interaction all being stored so they know everything you do in your daily life. Combine the two together and you will get a

4 men rule the world.

2008-12-29T09:08:00.001Z

I have said it before and I will say it again and again. It has never been more clear that a very very small section of men rule the world. Financially as well as every other possible way. These 4 men pull the strings of governments the world over and it is these 4 men that have orchestrated the mess the world is in right now. It has never been more clear. Never.Take a look at the worlds

Social Services.

2008-12-28T06:26:00.001Z

What a mess they have created for themselves. In several high profile cases they have failed time and time again to put a child in danger before their own self interests. Of course, as always, there are some good people doing excellent work within a rotton to the core framework and sadly, again as always, these good ones get tarred with the same brush as the bad ones which thankfully are in the

Health risks

2008-12-27T10:21:00.001Z

And other associated crap proliferate at this time of the year. The question is why is that? My own answer is because at this time of the year people try and enjoy yhemselves so these killjoys try to damage that ideal as much as possible by spouting bullshit like this.More and more things are being classed as damaging to ones health. In the last decade it was eggs, chicken and a few other bits

KDE v Gnome2

2008-12-27T07:27:00.001Z

It is not often that I spout about something Gnu/Linux but here is my view of the neverending and utterly boring KDE versus GNOME2 debate. Along the way I will also be airing my views on the Linux based distribution I have used since 1993,With the KDE guys now stopping development of the 3.5.x branch working on the shiney new 4.x branch one has to wonder when the Slackware team are going to

Summer Football?

2008-12-18T06:32:00.001Z

Football, soccer to any U.S.A. readers, is traditionally a winter sport. Until the time, a few years ago, when television contracts dictated games were played on a Sunday or a Friday or even a Thursday evening most games were played on a Saturday afternoon. Sure, there were some midweek games (I am talking about league games not any cup games) especially at Easter and Christmas time, but, outside

Home Secretary.

2008-12-17T08:06:00.001Z

Our own Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is so out of touch with the public she is supposed to be serving she should be removed immediately.She comes across as a self serving individual who is so intent on getting her name in the history books that she has lost sight of what the public wants and worse still what the public needs and that is a free and open society. Not one that preys on public fears

Linux bashing.

2008-12-15T07:30:00.001Z

Over the last few days a few people on our closed news server have decided to have a go at Linux bashing. More accurately they have been having a go at me directly. As you know by now I am a staunch Linux advocate and live in a world of mostly illegally obtained MS Windows using people. Every now and again their ignorance of what Linux is shines through and they start taking potshots at me

Ubuntu users.

2008-12-14T07:55:00.001Z

As Linux gains ground on the desktop Ubuntu in particular is gaining in popularity. Partly because it has some ill-conceived helper programs. I say perceived because of they mentality they give to users. Users of the Ubuntu family of distributions are usually refugies from MS Windows so while the two may go together well, in reality those users are prone to giving out some outstandinly bad

Microsft versus Linux

2008-12-11T05:13:00.001Z

Or more correctly, a Linux based distribution.As Microsoft's stranglehold on both operating system installs and bundled installs falls we always see a rise in anti-Linux propaganda. This manifests itself across the full spectrum of user access which includes, Usenet, Web based forums and other media. It is tempting to think of these anti-Linux protagonists as simple Microsoft shills who are paid

Stupid council

2008-12-10T06:42:00.001Z

HullCC is amongst, at least amongst the places I have lived as well as from various friends in other council houses around the U.K., the most friendly towards most of the people who lived under its jurisdiction. Of course there are some who live in council houses who do all they can to get as much as possible with the minmum of effort out fof the council. Almost the entire Nottingham council

BBC commentators.

2008-12-10T04:02:00.001Z

I am surely not alone in seeing how ridiculous the commentators of various BBC appear to be. They harp on about the latest IWF versus WikiPedia mess without realising how stupid they appear to be.The BBC will regularly block a comment and yet in these comments the commentators berate the IWF and go on about freedom of expression being removed and other such nasties.Commentators to the BBC are

School punishment.

2008-12-09T08:16:00.001Z

School punishment which may include a cane, a belt, a leather strip or a sandshoe (a common footwear in the U.K. not completely unlike a trainer which where worn mainly while doing indoor sports), is in the news again via this report on the Daily Telegraph web site.I must admit I do not read that web site very often due in part to the fact it is a newspaper similar in style and reporting as many

Here we go.

2008-12-09T08:15:00.001Z

My telephone and ISP company, KCom and Karoo respectively, are one and the same company. That is Karoo is a Kcom spin off.In the last two days our telephone became dysfunctional for short spells. They have claimed that we have reached our 75GB download cap. What is interesting with that last claim is that just 23 hours earlier they sent us an email saying we were at 80% (56GB). Not having

1975 to present day.

2008-12-05T06:54:00.001Z

Is the length of time I have been working with computers. I present to you a potted history of my computer usage for no other reason than I want to.It all started for me one not so sunny September morning during 1975 when I was asked if I wanted to join the schools RADAR department. At the time I knew nothing whatsoever about computers and about the same for what the school was doing with a RADAR

Operating System market share?

2008-12-05T06:22:00.001Z

Does anyone really care about OS market share? We Linux based OS users are generally the more informed types. We know why we prefer to be rid of a closed source OS and we know why Microsoft are seen as the devils own company due to being more informed about OS's in general. So while the latest bilge from market research company Net Applications says that Microsoft has an install based of some

Karoo say "We don't care".

2008-12-05T03:53:00.001Z

No surprise there then.At what is quickly turning out to be our final words with Stvve (the middleman between KC and us) it can clearly be read how much they really "care" about their customers. The following excerpts are from an email that hit my in box a couple of days ago. Since then, not a word has been said on the various things we raised from the aforementioned email. All spelling errors

People in high places.

2008-12-04T07:41:00.001Z

People in high places, in this case Mr Ashley Highfield (okay, maybe not so high as in the publics view), should never offer up their views as there is always someone, somewhere who can spot bullshit when seen. And so it is with his BBC article on their blog, that isn't a blog, here. In that article he tries to compare Ubuntu and MS Windows XP. I say try because anyone who tries, or has tried, to

I wonder.

2008-12-03T08:59:00.001Z

How long it will be before my ISP makes up something so they can terminate my account? I am becoming a serious pain in their sides. Well, I am not trying to but from recent responds from various people there it would seem I am becoming one to them.I take no real joy from all this. Honest.They have made their beds and they can lay in it. All I am trying to do is get a better service level from

Usage caps.

2008-12-03T08:10:00.001Z

Usage caps on ADSL and other such services are fast becoming the norm all over the world. Our ISP Karoo, the only ISP in town that offers ADSL services, is one such company. However, we find that our caps are some of the lowest on offer. Our ISP offers a 3 teir service. Low, Mid and High. Low = 2GB, Mid = 10GB and High = 75GB. Not very good for the Internet as it stands right now with people

Education.

2008-12-01T06:37:00.001Z

While reading this BBC article I was reminded of my own school days which ended some 32 years ago. In particular this quote galvanised my attention."Ask anyone what were the biggest influences of school on their livesand they will not tell you about how many school meals they ate, howmany times they ran round the school field or how many sex educationlessons they sat through.No, they will tell

Swearing on the BBC.

2008-11-29T06:31:00.002Z

In every pub every night one can hear people of all ages engaging in what can only be termed mundane chatter. interspersed in this chatter is a smattering of swearwords. The vast majority of people accept this fact with nery a look away (or perhaps nery turning a deaf ear). And so it is with that image ingrained in your head we come to Aunty Beeb and her seeming obsession with good old Anglo

Wild conclusions.

2008-11-27T08:28:00.001Z

Is all that can be said about the comments made in this BBC article. The whys and wherefores of what makes a child later in life turn into a crminal, if indeed there is any link at all, are beyond me but that does not stop me from commenting on such things.The article contentiously links what happened to Baby P with what might have been once he had reached his teenage years. The claim that he

A defunct ISP.

2008-11-26T04:55:00.001Z

Is what Karoo is in all but name. Their share prices, due in part to the so called credit crunch and also in part to boardroom incompetence, are getting lower and lower with each passing day. They have a slow and aging network of twisted pair (telephone) cabling through which they are forcing ADSL2+. From the 3500+ people that have contacted me it can be clearly demonstrated that the ADSL2+

My ISP's lack of speed.

2008-11-25T08:17:00.001Z

This will probably not be the last blog i do about my ISP but even though it is about my ISP is does not sit comfortably in the 'My ISP and ASDL2+ (part X)' series so it has a different subject title.Recently, it became very clear that our ISP, Karoo, have no intentions of trying to improve sync and connection speeds on their ADSL2+ services. After several months of trying to get them to do

Rugby League World Cup.

2008-11-23T06:29:00.001Z

The 2008 Rugby League World Cup is now at an end. The winners, New Zealand, showed that the dominant Australians can be beat and what a show they put on whilst doing just that. In the final no doubt the Australian press will point to the awarded penalty try, to New Zealand, in the second half as being the moment New Zealand finally believed they could win, but it has to be said that on the day

More bilge on obesity.

2008-11-14T06:19:00.001Z

Mostly Government led but also medically led. It is very hard to take all this guff about obesity when they rely on a flawed metric like the BMI to determine what classification is given to each person. The BMI takes no account of muscle tone and that alone is vital in determining if someone is really in any way whatsoever overweight.I read this BBC article with my now usual distrust of anything

Stupid, inane and utterly purile.

2008-11-13T06:31:00.001Z

Is how I see articles such as this from the BBC. No-one can argue with the fact that the Microsoft family of operating systems dominate the desktop but do we really need the near on worshiping proffered in that article? The BBC, in that article, has clearly moved from a review to advertisment in clear breech of their own ethics standards. I make no bones about the fact that I pimp a Linux based

Football (soccer to U.S.A. folk) and footballers.

2008-11-13T05:58:00.001Z

It cannot have escaped your attention, here in the U.K. at least, that SportUK who do drug testing of sports people here in the U.K. has turned its attention to football players. Amid much hyperbole there are some issues in getting this turned from mere talk to reality. This blog post though has little to nothing to do with that. Instead I will recount what happened during my formative years.When

Kcom and Karoo.

2008-11-09T08:14:00.001Z

Kcom the incumbent telephone company here in Hull and its ISP spin off Karoo are technologically so far behind the other ISP's that proliferate around the U.K. they are fast becoming a bigger joke than they were last year.They use relatively new DSLAMS but their back end servers often fail and twisted pair cable runs are mostly 20 or more years old. If you are stupid enough to use their proxy

Really?

2008-11-07T09:13:00.001Z

According to this BBC article Jacqui Smith who has never ever been in sync with what the English rank and file people want has declared that the people "can't wait for ID cards". While her comment is not the first bullshit to come via government sources at any level it sure ranks right up there as the biggest lie to be uttered.I don't know every member of the English population obviously but of

Karoo customer services.

2008-10-31T08:45:00.001Z

Our incumbent ISP, Karoo, have what is possibly the worst customer services of any similar, and none similar, industry.They often proffer an email address to which one should sent customer related enquiries. That email address is in addition to their regular one. More often than not any email sent to either addresses is routinely ignored.As a test to make sure it was not just me that they ignore

Folly pure folly.

2008-10-30T06:35:00.001Z

As Man grapples with Natures natural climatic changes in an effort to slow down the obvious impact on Man itself one has to wonder what nature herself makes of it all.Species come and species go. That, by definition, is what Nature is all about. Nature can be brutal at times, mostly gentle at others but over the course of the last couple of years and no doubt in the future we are seeing her flex

Is it just me or?

2008-10-27T08:11:00.001Z

Is it just me or is the whole Web experience slowing down? Not by ISP's slowly but surely making connection speeds fall lower and lower through lack of anything approaching decent networks but by more and more usage of PHP and SQL?Have you noticed how several of the so called main stream web sites hit URL after URL in your browsers taskbar? This transversal of URL and after URL usually includes

Government Databases.

2008-10-25T05:39:00.001+01:00

I surely am not alone in being scared of our government, be they Labour, Conservative or any other political party, being ever more willing and in some cases already doing, huge one point databases am I?They either plan or have implemented all encompassing databases which will include every man, woman and child resident in this country, whether they be nationals (defined as born here irregardless

BBC.co.uk does it again.

2008-10-21T06:56:00.001+01:00

In this article on the bbc.co.uk web site we see once again the underlaying knowledge is sorely lacking. They lable the, by now ancient, Anarchists' Cookbook a 'terrorist manual'.At a risk of being tagged by the all seeing police state which Great Britain has become as a terrorist myself I put Anarchist Cookbook into google and once passed the obligatory adverts the first hit returned was on

My ISP and ADSL2+ (part 11)

2008-10-14T09:42:00.001+01:00

On each FORCED reconnection due to unsettled weather conditions our sync rate gets lower and lower.The only thing that is constant is the fact that the sync rate gets lower.ADSL2+ is a waste of time on the ancient copper network (from house to exchange) here.Karoo run fibre almost everywhere else so why can't they replace the aging copper that is left and give us users the at least the speeds

Huge monetary figures.

2008-10-13T06:38:00.001+01:00

I have long been amused when I read articles such as this one where they tout figures of $2 trillion and $5 trillion. If, like me, such figures make you gasp in amazement as much as the induce a thought of incredulity then they will also invoke thoughts of utter disbelief.It appears to me that people such as scientists, be they scientist of nature or scientists of medicine, in fact irellevant of

ISP speeds (a rant by any other name).

2008-10-11T08:07:00.001+01:00

Whether actual speeds or publicity speeds are getting ever faster. Except here in Hull where ADSL2+ is a mess of slow sync and throughput speeds for the vast majority of customers. Our incumbent ISP claims, but never gives out actual provable figures, that their home customers are happy with ADSL2+. They will not provide any figures to back up that claim though not even to us, us being those of

My ISP and ADSL2+ (part 10)

2008-10-11T07:03:00.001+01:00

With the local people here getting evermore annoyed at slow sync speeds I read this article with some alarm and amusement. If, as that article says, the main backbone trunks have capacity to spare and the usage of is getting cheaper by the hour and the so called 'last mile' is the only bottleneck to a good consumer experience then one really has to wonder why such as our incumbent ISP lacks the

My ISP and ADSL2+ (part 9)

2008-10-07T07:58:00.001+01:00

And so after many none replied to emails to 3 separate departments at our incumbent ISP I have renewed the E.U. complaint started a year or so ago.There is much interest in the U.K. ISP situation within the E.U. with none being more closely watched than our incumbent ISP. To renew the complaint all it took was an email to the E.U. department handling such things. Once that email was received and

Countries and banks.

2008-10-06T09:10:00.001+01:00

With ever more countries around the world,from the U.S.A. to little Denmark underwriting or buying out banks thereby nationalising them the world is heading for a socialist government.Previous to this banking nightmare the Western World was a free world. The U.S.A. was a free(ish) country. And yet, today we have many of the worlds biggest banks being bankrolled by various governments. This is the

My ISP and ADSL2+ (part 8)

2008-10-06T08:20:00.001+01:00

In this "My ISP and ADSL2+ (part X)" series I have tried to document what is going on here in Hull and what our incumbent ISP is doing, or rather trying to do (and ultimately failing to do) regarding ADSL2+. I have tried to do this without giving too much away as there are somethings they need to ensure are not mentioned due to business issues best left alone. For our part we have done this

My ISP and ADSL2+ (part 7)

2008-10-04T09:40:00.001+01:00

So, the war of attrition has begun. Totally out of our control the masses have taken it upon themselves to hit our ISP head-on in the war over ADSL2+. The fall-out is not going to be nice. Damage control is the best our ISP can do but will that be enough to stop ever more people joining the rank and file? I somehow doubt it.Once the cat is out of the bag that will be it. On and on it will go

My ISP and ADSL2+ (part 6)

2008-10-03T20:29:00.001+01:00

Now at the end of the week. Many emails have been sent to my ISP, some to the guy who we hold meetings with, some to a contact I have had there for years and a couple to their so called customer service email address. Every single one has gone without a reply. I get the feeling that just like several times before i am on some internal ignore list.What is all the more surprising is that the guy

The Internet experience.

2008-10-03T08:00:00.001+01:00

Or the Internet WEB experience as it stands today.Being a staunch advocate of free software tools (also known as FOSS) as I am I find it increasingly furstrating to see web pages the exclaim only Mircosoft 5.5 and above browsers can use this page and other such messages designed/created to help the user. Of course, that kind of help is no help and is simply caused because whoever created the

I had to smile.

2008-10-02T11:18:00.001+01:00

I read this article on the BBC web site with some amusement. Here in the KC catchment area they simply turn up and remove the telephone box. Totally unaware of any concerned the people local to that telephone box may have.This is yet another way our incumbent telco provider differs from BT.

My ISP and ADSL2+ (part 5)

2008-10-01T07:39:00.001+01:00

It has to be said. Here in Kingston-upon-Hull (Hull) ISP's are something of a rarity. Even more of a rarity is that we have one, ONE, ISP offering ADSL services. So, when I get emails from people outside of the ISP servicing area saying "Switch ISP's if your own is so bad" I have to question their knowledge of U.K. telecommunication history. Okay, not many are interested and even fewer even know

My ISP and ADSL2+ (part 4)

2008-09-30T11:07:00.001+01:00

It has grown increasingly clear that our ISP does not care for its userbase. They plan everything around those users who know nothing about how or why their connection works as long as it does. Us lot (power users they call us) that do know such things are increasingly ignored.This was never more clear than after the recent tests of ADSL2+ here.Since they started the tests it has become

My ISP and ADSL2+ (part 3)

2008-09-27T09:10:00.001+01:00

After a week of tests our sync rates are still pathetic. Sure, in BT land one can expect slow ADSL2+ sync and throughput speeds but here in Hull, via KC/Karoo, the situation is different. Different enough to not even bother comparing what those in BT land get on an ADSLL2+ enabled line.I will quallify that comment. The main difference is line length. In BT land the vast majority of people are a

My ISP and ADSL2+ (part 2)

2008-09-25T11:16:00.001+01:00

People here cannot grasp why their connections are slow. Sure, there are a few lucky ones with good sync speeds but the vast majority have seen their sync speeds slow down since the move to ADSL2+. In an effort to explain to them why this is I have been collecting data from all over the city. Some 1000 people have since provided me with the data I asked for. While I will not be giving that data

Hull CC Complaints unit.

2008-09-25T10:36:00.001+01:00

Our council here in Hull (Kingston-upon-Hull to give it its full and proper name) has a Complaints Unit. They can be contacted via any means possible except email. I find that in a world where email personifies communications the fact that the one, possibly the most used, area not available via email contact is complaints.That said, the available complaints procedures are limited in scope and

My ISP and ADSL2+

2008-09-23T11:42:00.001+01:00

My ISP, Karoo of Hull fame, or infamy, has recently changed over to ADSLL2+. Yay! I hear you shout but it is not as simple as that. In Hull, as in other parts of the U.K., the telephone wiring system here is old. Some has been replaced, most has not. Because of this ADSL2+ in the main for the vast majority of their customers sucks badly. So badly the majority have seen a drop in sync speeds.

Our ISP.

2008-09-16T08:57:00.001+01:00

By our I mean it in the sense that the ISP is in our city via our cities telephone system. We are somewhat unique in Kingston-upon-Hull in that we have our own telephone network totally separate from BT/Virgin etc from which the rest of the country benefits in a way we cannot. That benefit is if you hae problems with your current ISP you can simply jump ship and sign up elsewhere. You can do this

ADSL2+

2008-09-15T12:16:00.001+01:00

Our ISP has recently moved a lot of their customers from ADSL to ADSL2+ and surprise surprise everybody's line syncs have dropped.Why is this not a surprise to anyone except the ISP in question? Because, we users are used to be shafted by our ISP. Some are saying they have deliberately slowed people down to save on bandwidth costs. Others are saying they will use the Consumer Act against the ISP

Beat them if they won't comply.

2008-08-28T05:34:00.001+01:00

This article on the BBC website is all well and good but let us be sure this is what is really needed. Take this quote as an excellent example of what I am aiming at."The council's zero tolerance approach aims to reduce the feeling ofneglect and lack of respect within neighbourhoods and to help improvethe quality of people's lives and encourage civic pride."Read and digest that quote. Does it

More rubbish.

2008-08-27T12:26:00.001+01:00

More rubbish against eating foods. This article cannot really be called journalism. No matter what we eat it is bad for us these so called experts claim. Yet, our forefathers and generation after generation of families have lived and survived on the very foods they say are bad for us. The reason these people call foul on foodstuff is for the same reason others do it and that is to get more money

Utter rubbish.

2008-08-22T09:04:00.001+01:00

This is the biggest load of crap I have ever had the misfortune to read.While is may be desirable to change the will of children, as in bending their natural choice of words, in some instances I firmly believe that whoever wrote the above linked document has no idea whatsoever on how children interact.Children and plain speakers, as such it should be obvious to any person who has had children

Economic freefall.

2008-08-20T11:27:00.001+01:00

As the U.K. along with the rest of the world economy continues to free fall one has to ask the question as to why this is. As many millions in the U.K. drop further and further into poverty there are a few, an ever dwindling few, who are raking in millions and millions of UKP. As someone who has spent almost all of his near 50 years just above the poverty line it annoys me to see how much money

Directory versus folder

2008-08-20T11:14:00.001+01:00

It is directory. A folder is a directory. Always has been.While taking in my daily dose of Usenet, I came upon this quote."Unfortunately, Linux does have its share of obtuse terms that take ordinary terms and applies them in its own peculiar way to its system."Now, think about that for a second or two and cast your mind back a few years. Before MS rehashed everything standard names for files and

And what about those others?

2008-08-19T05:53:00.001+01:00

What about those other who have no interest in music? Or the deaf people who can't hear it? Does this make forcing them to pay a monthly royalty in anyway fair?I was reading this article on arstechnica when this snippet popped out."by paying an extra monthly fee to their ISPs, for instance) and wouldthen have access to all the music from all the labels that participatein the scheme."Other scary

Karoo Part 3?

2008-08-09T07:36:00.001+01:00

Now that the meetings with our ISP, Karoo, are back on again we are once again back in the loop, so to speak. They are giving us information that we can share with the general public as well as some information we cannot due to what they call 'company secrets'. That is a contentious issue in and of itself which I will touch on later.At this time KC, a telephone company that is also the Karoo

Not at all surprising.

2008-08-02T06:42:00.001+01:00

Many web sites offer the chance to email for more information. This is particularly true of many commercial and most of the bigger web sites. But is anyone in the slightest surprised when correspondence to these info@ email addresses go unanswered? I am not.The Hull County Council web site is one such web site that in my findings rarely answers emails send to their info@ email address. Not

Fibre in Hull (and elsewhere)

2008-08-01T08:00:00.001+01:00

It is fairly well known that countrywide there is lots of unused fibre in the ground. Every City, major and minor, every town, large and small, every village. They are all, just about, connected by fibre. So, who owns this fibre? Only a few companies. What are the chances of ne strands of fibre being laid, underground or overground? Small, very small. So, whoever builds a business based around

Overweight? Consider this.

2008-07-31T07:57:00.001+01:00

I have mentioned it before on this blog that if one takes a look at photographs from the late 1800's and early 1900's in Britain, America, Australia, Ireland etc you will see lots of 'plump' people, mostly women who at that time were considered beautiful if plump. Skinny women were scorned. Men, however, used to be the workers and if those workers worked in a factory or in a strenuous job then

The Cloud

2008-07-30T07:42:00.002+01:00

The Cloud is on-line software, otherwise known as SaaS (Software as a Service). Whatever your thoughts are on this subject mine are that it is the biggest pile of insecure twaddle ever to be invented.I personally would never trust any company with what could conceivably be personal and sensitive documents. On-line storage for data is all well and good but a quick looked at the news web sites

Distribution surfers.

2008-07-29T06:20:00.001+01:00

A distribution surfer is a person who flits from whatever he/she was using to the perceived latest and greatest distribution, usually a different one It has nothing to do with the merit of. It has nothing to do with anything really except the fact that the new is distribution is...well...new.We see it all to often in newsgroups and forums where a user has a problem with something not because

Kneejerk reactions.

2008-07-13T08:21:00.001+01:00

Is what the present government is all about. Just about every law they have dreamed up and implemented has resulted from kneeejerk reactions. And so the same can be said for the latest government reaction to the spate of knife related crime that has in recent times hit parts of this once proud and fine country.The government insist on closing the stable door after the horses have bolted. They do

Spead of 'news'.

2008-07-12T06:29:00.001+01:00

I have put the word news in quotes to highlight the fact the our newspapers, both on-line and paper type, often allow us to read things that are anything but news.In this report on the BBC web site one quote caught my eye and that was "News took longer to get into the public domain and tended to have different focus.". The reason it caught my eye was it is something my long since dead Nana used

KC talk to us again.

2008-07-01T10:28:00.001+01:00

As I mentioned a while ago KC are now talking to us again. The last meeting was last night during which most of what was spoken about can be revealed but some of it cannot.What annoys me most about all of this is those who claim HWWNBN (He Who Will Not Be Named) and I are somehow getting something extra out of it. That is simply not true on any level. Sure, at the meeting last night it was

Microsoft

2008-06-29T07:46:00.001+01:00

Am I the only person in the world that sees Bill Gates leaving Microsoft as a good thing?To read the Internet news sites one would think all he did was good. It wasn't. He stole to get his first leg up which got him on the road to making his fortune. He never innovated. Ever. Instead he bought everything then put it into his operating system called Windows.Every single part of Microsoft Windows,

Ofcom whitewash.

2008-06-20T08:01:00.001+01:00

In this article on the awful thisishull web site Ofcom once again say KC/Karoo are angels in the ISP business. It would not surprise me one bit if Ofcom are taking backhanders from KC/Karoo. I am not saying they do just that whenever things like this come up Ofcom always, and I mean always, comes down on the side of KC/Karoo.Neither care about customers who are locked into one broadband provider.

Thugs.

2008-06-15T07:42:00.001+01:00

Okay. This post could be awkward. But then I have never been one to shirk away from anything, some of it may be a tad blunt to some.Teenagers have always congregated in groups and crowds. If anyone older claiming to be an adult denies this they are quite simply lying. The slogan for the 12 to 20 age group should be Do not make the majority suffer due to the actions of the minorityI