The grumpy thread

[Cord Fourteener]

13 minutes ago, cobblers said:

Fucking shitty mobile phones! They're so wank! 

We've got 5G now, moving to 6g soon supposedly. This thing in my hand is about £1200 worth of the BEST TECHNOLOGY MONEY CAN BUY. Sure, I can reliably get a 60mbit internet connection in a field in the middle of the peak district, I can tether a laptop to this and stream 4K UHD VR BBW MILF porno, season 1 of Fargo on Netflix, and a youtube makeup tutorial  at the same time. I can climb up onto kinder scout or bleaklowe and still have a better internet connection than most homes.

 

But can it make or receive a reliable audible telephone call in my suburban house, or perhaps at work in a fairly big down? Of course not! 

Before we start installing more Gs, perhaps we should just get the existing ones to work properly?

True. 

[New POD]

7 hours ago, PhilA said:

Ugh. Central air system quit tonight. Thermostat was telling system to run, but the compressor was off.

Went outside, pulled the side panel off, nothing looked amiss; the trip hadn't triggered and pushing the contactor in caused it to start up.

After a minute bugger all was happening in terms of heat pump activity so I pulled the contactor off and heard what I didn't want to hear...

Hissssssssssssss

 

Buggeration. Looked about and saw an oily mark by the pressure shutoff switch; the thing has been replaced in the past and technician X has ziptied the wires to the main compressor pipe.

Pulled the wires away and got a blast of refrigerant. Ugh.

The live feed to the compressor has buzzed through the insulation and holed the main copper pressure pipe coming out of the compressor, shutting the system down on low pressure.

I need to look further in the morning but it may have chattered through the insulation and burned through because there's a pock in the pipe and some dirty marks on the wire- it was still aggressively hissing when I put the side back on (midnight). I don't know if that refrigerant is flammable, but if it is, that could have been bad.

I'll look better in the morning, but I'm hoping that can be brazed up and refilled. I really don't want to have to fork out for a replacement compressor right now.

All shut down at the main isolator for now.

 

Don't ziptie things to pipes, kids!

 

Phil

I worked in a factory in Runcorn, where the electrician was called Terry.

Tie Wrap Terry.  

Every installation was temporary and used cable ties.  I saw him use conduit once, but he cut it the wrong length twice, before he completed the task. 

[wuvvum]

3 hours ago, cobblers said:

Fucking shitty mobile phones! They're so wank! 

We've got 5G now, moving to 6g soon supposedly. This thing in my hand is about £1200 worth of the BEST TECHNOLOGY MONEY CAN BUY. Sure, I can reliably get a 60mbit internet connection in a field in the middle of the peak district, I can tether a laptop to this and stream 4K UHD VR BBW MILF porno, season 1 of Fargo on Netflix, and a youtube makeup tutorial  at the same time. I can climb up onto kinder scout or bleaklowe and still have a better internet connection than most homes.

 

But can it make or receive a reliable audible telephone call in my suburban house, or perhaps at work in a fairly big town? Of course not! 

Before we start installing more Gs, perhaps we should just get the existing ones to work properly?

I quite often find I can get a decent 4G signal when the actual phone signal is wank.  I suppose in that situation you can always call via Whatsapp or whatever.

My new phone has 5G capability, but I have no idea when we're going to get 5G here in the arse end of Norfolk.

[Lord Sterling]

You wanna see my mobile phone. It makes a receives calls just fine. Links to the 'net just fine but the back screen is smashed to pieces and the battery life is dire, very dire. I've had it on 'battery saving' mode for yonks and even that no longer cuts it now. Another few months and it'll go down like seconds. I might repair it. But then I've said that about my Rovers for years....

[yes oui si]

1 hour ago, wuvvum said:

I quite often find I can get a decent 4G signal when the actual phone signal is wank.  I suppose in that situation you can always call via Whatsapp or whatever.

My new phone has 5G capability, but I have no idea when we're going to get 5G here in the arse end of Norfolk.

You'll need to wait for the Covid vaccine. That'll give you 5g.

[myglaren]

My router tells me I have 5G on this ancient laptop.  Only connected device that is, despite my grandson's room full of the latest tech.

[BorniteIdentity]

9 hours ago, myglaren said:

My router tells me I have 5G on this ancient laptop.  Only connected device that is, despite my grandson's room full of the latest tech.

Confusingly, that’s actually 5GHz Wi-Fi. It’s a different part of the radio spectrum but achieving the same thing your regular Wi-Fi does. It’s just to help reduce traffic really. You’ll usually find 5gig slightly quicker but with less range. 

[myglaren]

46 minutes ago, BorniteIdentity said:

Confusingly, that’s actually 5GHz Wi-Fi. It’s a different part of the radio spectrum but achieving the same thing your regular Wi-Fi does. It’s just to help reduce traffic really. You’ll usually find 5gig slightly quicker but with less range. 

Most of the time I use it plugged in to the Ethernet.

Had a couple of letters from the NHS, one berating me for not having a 'flu jab (never have) and the other describing the wonderful world of digital communications and that I have to show a q-code to my phone's camera to become part of the hive mind.  Doesn't work with my phone/camera :).

Very little does though.

[twosmoke300]

20mph my arse

[reb]

Volvo battery replaced and it fired up absolutely no problem! The grump? ABS light is now on and didn't clear driving it home. Just what I need.

[captain_70s]

6 hours ago, twosmoke300 said:

20mph my arse

I reckon that's probably what the Beemer driver said shortly before winding it up to 90 and smearing his car into the scenery.

[Agila]

22 minutes ago, Rovorsche said:

The first gurgling breath of Skynet has been drawn.
Amazon are enabling a Mesh network so all their devices can start to buddy up and become resilient...
Its the rise of the machines

The hardware has been shipped for a while, they are just going to turn it on, you have to opt out.

"For customers with existing devices that are Sidewalk capable, an over-the-air (OTA) update will connect them to the network — no action is needed."
"Amazon Echoes, Ring Floodlight Cams, and Ring Spotlight Cams will be the first Sidewalk bridging devices as well as Sidewalk endpoints. The internet giant hopes to encourage third-party manufacturers to produce equipment that is also Sidewalk compatible, extending meshes everywhere."

I'm dangerously low on Bacofoil and this is going to need a MUCH bigger hat.

Imagine the havoc this hardware could cause if it was taken over by a foriegn power, one Amazon device could trigger an attack using every broadband link in a 500m radius with a smart home device.
Your echo dot, in your house can talk to all your neighours houses which can talk to all their neighbours (repeat until nearest device is more than 500m away.
If I had any active Amazon devices I would need enough Bacofoil to wrap the house.

https://www.theregister.com/2020/11/24/amazon_sidewalk_opt_out/

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55059696

 

 

 

Er...this guy just moved in across the street at number 28 last week.

Should I be worried?

[Agila]

Terminator 2 1991. 

The lad who played his little son is 37 and Edward Furlong is 43.

Feel old.

Picture of Miles Dyson skynet creator.

[New POD]

5 hours ago, Agila said:

Er...this guy just moved in across the street at number 28 last week.

Should I be worried?

The fact that he's smiling is a worry.  Suggests he's enjoying life.  Find out what he's doing that's making him.happy and get the council to.stop it. 

[Agila]

20 minutes ago, New POD said:

The fact that he's smiling is a worry.  Suggests he's enjoying life.  Find out what he's doing that's making him.happy and get the council to.stop it. 

Hang on Sarah Connor has just turned up in a van. It's a sophisticated machine sent back through time...oh no wait it's a Ford Transit.

[iainrcz]

Currently I've got a splitting headache because silly bollocks decided she'd clean the oven.

Following the instructions she got the oven "warm"

In actual fact she'd put the fucker on at 250 for 20 minutes and as soon as she applied the cleaner it boiled straight off releasing its odour.

I've just been and reapplied it for her. Pointing out that now the oven is warm and not red hot it's now actually a foam, rather than just a foul stenching, hissing mist.

 

She does the same with food "do not boil" becomes "boil its fucking head off so it cooks quicker, sod the taste"

[iainrcz]

Me again.

At the start of this year we had meetings about "new pay grading". Basically under the guise of "streamlining the pay structure" they're trying to fuck us over.

 

It means a lower base rate, and then add ons that bump it up. So a shift bonus and a grade bonus. So if we miss any hours of our shifts for example if we go home ill we'll be on about £3 an hour less than we currently are because we'll lose the bonuses. Basically it's a knee jerk reaction to some taking the piss and either not turning up or going home all the time.

So now those of us who have shown commitment to the place (I've done nearly 15 years) are being screwed over. Hi I'm Iain, I'm 40 and work weekend nights for £9/hr. Makes me sound like real fucking winner doesn't it.

 

Now fast forward a few months and the mad woman in charge of HR leaves. We all assume all the silly plans would now go in the bin.

No.

I got an email saying it will start in January 2021.

 

Thing is, based on their projections of my current standing within the hierarchy (I'm basically on a made up pay grade currently, as I'm the highest trained operator and assistant team leader on my shift. So a prime target for the streamlining) I will be down circa £1k a year.

And that is based on not missing a single shift to collect all the shift bonuses.

 

Obviously, I'm not going to accept this.

 

[sheffcortinacentre]

Cyberdyne systems the builders of terminaters have been in business for years gulp!

[Vince70]

I took the yellow peril mini over to a garage last week for its MOT and have left the car with them and it’s quite far away and told the guys I’m not in a hurry for it back so they’re going to fit it in next week and have my lovely BMW compact to use so I wasn’t in a hurry to get it back.

I’ve not driven since I popped it over as I been feeling a little rough for the last few days as I came down with Shingles this week so today I thought I would get the BMW compact out of the drive and realised the key for the gate padlock was with the mini lol.
 

Oh well I guess that keeps the mileage down and I don’t get the car back for another Week or so lol

 

[iainrcz]

Phonecall at 8am this morning
"Emmajane (my Mrs), John (her uncle) is in Hull hospital, he's been knocked off his bike by an hgv on the way to work"

For fuck's sake.
Anyone want to send us any more bullshit to deal with?

Looks like he's going to have to have a portion of his right leg amputated as it's proving difficult to "fix"
Bit of a bugger..

[beko1987]

I'm sure my cars taking a few extra cranks to start atm... Very tempted to sling the battery on charge over the weekend, because I can't see myself doing more than about 50 miles for the rest of the year... 

Can I leave the car connected to the battery or is it safer to disconnect the car and only connect the charger? 

I don't think it's a shit battery, indeed I could probably find the fitted date if I could be arsed to trawl the paperwork so it'd be a shame to kill it by only driving 3.3 miles every few days with the heaters wipers and radio on... A good charge may just keep it fit whilst it sits... 

Writing this post reminds me I don't think I've ever charged a battery before... Jump start yes, change dead ones yes. charge... No. I'm 33 ffs

[iainrcz]

I leave mine on the car and connected, but I only use an Optimate conditioner/trickle charger whatsit.

Which I'm guessing is fine as I've used it on two Peugeots, which will usually shit the bed if you even think of opening the bonnet.

[cobblers]

If the charger is a modern one that's not big and heavy, then you can leave the battery connected to the car no worries. If it's a massive heavy old charger that makes a loud humming noise, it's probably good practice to disconnect the battery. But you'll probably be ok.

[beko1987]

10 hours ago, cobblers said:

If the charger is a modern one that's not big and heavy, then you can leave the battery connected to the car no worries. If it's a massive heavy old charger that makes a loud humming noise, it's probably good practice to disconnect the battery. But you'll probably be ok.

Fairly modern, some Halford 12/24 simple job. Haven't dug it out yet... 

[beko1987]

10 hours ago, Rovorsche said:

The deal breaker being "Do you have the radio code handy....?"

Its not got the original radio in which means no code but the one thats in would require setting up, which I've got down to about 25 seconds now... And the car clock isn't correct anyway so that's no issue

[Vince70]

12 hours ago, beko1987 said:

I'm sure my cars taking a few extra cranks to start atm... Very tempted to sling the battery on charge over the weekend, because I can't see myself doing more than about 50 miles for the rest of the year... 

Can I leave the car connected to the battery or is it safer to disconnect the car and only connect the charger? 

I don't think it's a shit battery, indeed I could probably find the fitted date if I could be arsed to trawl the paperwork so it'd be a shame to kill it by only driving 3.3 miles every few days with the heaters wipers and radio on... A good charge may just keep it fit whilst it sits... 

Writing this post reminds me I don't think I've ever charged a battery before... Jump start yes, change dead ones yes. charge... No. I'm 33 ffs

Since losing my job because of the kungflu I’m forever letting the battery go flat these days on my cars even though I keep telling myself I should go outside and leave them running for about 20 minutes  or so to get up to temperature.

I just put my trusty old Halfords charger on the terminals without removing them off the battery for about a few hours and I think it says on the side of my charger that it’s only made for cars up to 1800cc although the old BMWs are bigger than that.
 

Ive never had a problem charging them that way and I also do the same on my old Mini which is Canbus so I would of thought if any cars would develop any problems that one would.

 

[sierraman]

On 11/25/2020 at 10:26 PM, iainrcz said:

Me again.

At the start of this year we had meetings about "new pay grading". Basically under the guise of "streamlining the pay structure" they're trying to fuck us over.

 

It means a lower base rate, and then add ons that bump it up. So a shift bonus and a grade bonus. So if we miss any hours of our shifts for example if we go home ill we'll be on about £3 an hour less than we currently are because we'll lose the bonuses. Basically it's a knee jerk reaction to some taking the piss and either not turning up or going home all the time.

So now those of us who have shown commitment to the place (I've done nearly 15 years) are being screwed over. Hi I'm Iain, I'm 40 and work weekend nights for £9/hr. Makes me sound like real fucking winner doesn't it.

 

Now fast forward a few months and the mad woman in charge of HR leaves. We all assume all the silly plans would now go in the bin.

No.

I got an email saying it will start in January 2021.

 

Thing is, based on their projections of my current standing within the hierarchy (I'm basically on a made up pay grade currently, as I'm the highest trained operator and assistant team leader on my shift. So a prime target for the streamlining) I will be down circa £1k a year.

And that is based on not missing a single shift to collect all the shift bonuses.

 

Obviously, I'm not going to accept this.

 

Employers are realising now they can skank their employees over as they’ve no chance finding a job elsewhere at the moment. 

[Wack]

On 11/25/2020 at 12:18 PM, iainrcz said:

Currently I've got a splitting headache because silly bollocks decided she'd clean the oven.

Following the instructions she got the oven "warm"

In actual fact she'd put the fucker on at 250 for 20 minutes and as soon as she applied the cleaner it boiled straight off releasing its odour.

I've just been and reapplied it for her. Pointing out that now the oven is warm and not red hot it's now actually a foam, rather than just a foul stenching, hissing mist.

 

She does the same with food "do not boil" becomes "boil its fucking head off so it cooks quicker, sod the taste"

My Mrs must be a relation

The ceramic hob goes up to 14. It's rare it's on anything less than 14 except bizarrely if she's cooking a steak, when you'd actually want it on 14 she sort of boils it until it's like the sole of a shoe then complains it' s tough 

We've got a convection / microwave , I came in once , she'd put a chicken in it in a stainless dish but had selected microwave then left the kitchen

Luckily I heard it creating a replica of a lightning storm before it exploded.

[Wack]

What a bunch of cunts , I can only hope their stupidity in broadcasting the filming gets them arrested 

https://www.facebook.com/ItsGoneViralOfficial/videos/1057135961388837/

[beko1987]

Popped to the car to get a few quid out to lend to a mate for some beers as his missus has gone out and he doesn't get paid until Monday and... Someone's been in my car and taken the few quid I had in the ashtray... 

Nothing else taken, I guess it's why I keep it unlocked as I didn't loose a window for it but keep your ashtrays closed folks! (unless their full of fags). 

Its locked now, I'll go check on it again later. Nothing else taken, so I'm trying not to be too grumpy