The grumpy thread

[twosmoke300]

 

[jakebullet]

Kinky girl is on warfarin. Last test 3 weeks ago shows INR dropping like a rock, but thanks to covid / crapmass they sent her an appointment for late January. Er, no. She phoned her vet, and last Friday went in for a blood test to see what's going on. Phoned for results today, to find somebody cocked up slightly* and they've done every blood test possible apart from INR.

For bonus fun one of the wrong tests was complete blood count, and she got abnormal results. Er, what do you mean by abnormal? You'll have to discuss it with a doc, I can do you a phone call on the 29th??

So something to worry about for yonks, and a bonus visit again to vets tomorrow in the hope they will do the correct test this time.

[eddyramrod]

As has become usual, I'm typing this on the wife's tablet.  Why?  Well my 2008 laptop barely runs these days, it fires up awfully slowly and after a while just seizes, refusing to accept any instruction from me.  So ok, go upstairs and use the 2009  newly-refurbed -in -Cyprus desktop pc, which has been my main computer since I bought it.  Except... now if I can get it to connect to the web it just drops the connection almost immediately.  I suspect the dongle, as I know it's at least 9years old and they do break down eventually.  So today I went to PC World and asked a relatively sensible -looking middle -aged bloke, who showed me what passes for a dongle these days.  I duly bought it, got it home and set about installing it.  Or trying to!  After several abortive attempts I read the small print on the box: it works with Windows as far back as W7, but both my puters are running on XP.  Which of course is no longer supported in any way.  Back to PCW then, where at least I was able to get a refund.  Then I had to prowl round town looking for a supplier who could help me.  There's a one -man stall in the indoor market, and after a chat about the issues he lent me a pair of gadgets that are supposed to establish an Ethernet version of the Wi-Fi I'm already paying Plusnet for.  And guess what, I'm not managing to install that either!  Fuck it, I'll have another go tomorrow.  In between walking the dog, getting the shopping and going to a writer's meeting............

Why the fuck can't stuff just WORK like it's supposed to?  Literally nothing ever does!

[High Jetter]

Not like the good ole days of Win3.1 or 95, is it?

[GrumpiusMaximus]

20 minutes ago, eddyramrod said:

As has become usual, I'm typing this on the wife's tablet.  Why?  Well my 2008 laptop barely runs these days, it fires up awfully slowly and after a while just seizes, refusing to accept any instruction from me.  So ok, go upstairs and use the 2009  newly-refurbed -in -Cyprus desktop pc, which has been my main computer since I bought it.  Except... now if I can get it to connect to the web it just drops the connection almost immediately.  I suspect the dongle, as I know it's at least 9years old and they do break down eventually.  So today I went to PC World and asked a relatively sensible -looking middle -aged bloke, who showed me what passes for a dongle these days.  I duly bought it, got it home and set about installing it.  Or trying to!  After several abortive attempts I read the small print on the box: it works with Windows as far back as W7, but both my puters are running on XP.  Which of course is no longer supported in any way.  Back to PCW then, where at least I was able to get a refund.  Then I had to prowl round town looking for a supplier who could help me.  There's a one -man stall in the indoor market, and after a chat about the issues he lent me a pair of gadgets that are supposed to establish an Ethernet version of the Wi-Fi I'm already paying Plusnet for.  And guess what, I'm not managing to install that either!  Fuck it, I'll have another go tomorrow.  In between walking the dog, getting the shopping and going to a writer's meeting............

Why the fuck can't stuff just WORK like it's supposed to?  Literally nothing ever does!

I'm going to be honest here Eddy.  I really hope you don't do anything like online banking on Windows XP.  Connecting it to the Internet is bad enough.  It's been out for 19 years and could currently be doing the second year of a degree by now.  It hasn't received any regular security updates since 2014.  Windows 7 had its support ended last year and that was released in 2009.

The reason nothing bloody works with it is because it is horrendously outdated and a huge, huge liability.  Nobody should be using it in 2020.

Sorry if that sounds harsh.  It's not meant to be - it's just that it's a bad, bad idea.

[eddyramrod]

Just now, GrumpiusMaximus said:

I'm going to be honest here Eddy.  I really hope you don't do anything like online banking on Windows XP.  It's been out for 19 years and could currently be doing the second year of a degree by now.  It hasn't received any security updates since 2014 (save for one critical update in 2017).  Windows 7 stopped support last year and that was released in 2009.

The reason nothing bloody works with it is because it is horrendously outdated and a huge, huge liability.  Nobody should be using it in 2020.

No, I don't bank online, don't worry!

However I have to take issue with your principle as stated.  I drive a 25year old car and a 47year old car.  Today fighting my way round town I was wearing a coat I've had 12years.  By your principle I should have binned all the above and replaced them with brand new.  I don't and won't, for two very good reasons.  One, why throw stuff away just because some distant corporation says so?  And two, I don't have the money to keep changing everything!  

The PC works, the dongle is the problem.  (As far as I can tell anyway).

This failure to support earlier versions of tech is nothing more than a blatant conspiracy to make me (or indeed anyone) spend money we haven't got on a regular basis on stuff we don't actually need and certainly don't want.  NB, here I should mention that when I had my Scarlet Skateboard in... was it 2014 or 2015? ...I bought a lovely brand new laptop to replace the old one mentioned above.  It was running W10 and was virtually unusable.  I couldn't find stuff I needed to use, and if I did, the display would randomly resize itself with no warning whatsoever, making it impossible to use.  It also fell apart physically so I retired it and eventually took it to the tip.

So you see what I meant about nothing working!  The so-called improved stuff is at least as bad as what I already have.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

I'm sorry Eddy, I've got to disagree.

I like fixing things and I've got laptops running that go back over a decade and are still usable - but they're running different operating systems to what they originally had installed. 

It's not analagous to a car at all.  A car does one job.  It goes from one place to another.  A computer does thousands of different jobs and what it does changes with time, as do the security threats.  Windows XP is inherently insecure. It is badly designed and by default gives a user administrator privileges.  So if a malicious actor were to gain access to your computer (which is absolutely trivial in XP compared to more modern systems) they can install whatever they like.  Those spam emails that get sent?  They're all from compromised machines organised into 'botnets' and have fun when your personal information is on sale to criminals because it's not an 'if', it's a 'when' when you're running XP.

With technology, time marches on and so do the security threats.  Cars are very slow to change but technology is not.  Fortunately, it's not actually that quick and my full-time personal machine is seven years old.  I just keep it updated and make sure that I use it sensibly.  I have two laptops at home that I picked up for free that are around five years old and more than capable for most peoples' daily use too and these are both up-to-date and secure.

You had one bad W10 experience.  Ok.  It takes a while to get used to for some people and you had a bad time.  That doesn't mean W10 is in and of itself bad.  At work I'm part of a team that supports over 2,000 staff and several thousand machines all running Windows 10.  It has its foibles but it is a stable, mature and secure operating system that gets regular updates and doesn't cost the Earth.  In fact, it's quite cheap.  If you really are worried about corporate obsolescence, go and run a free, open-source package like Ubuntu or Mint, which is also regularly updated and free.

XP is a fundamentally broken operating system.  It was when it launched and it is even more so now.

 

[loserone]

46 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

Connecting it to the Internet is like driving past a school at half three, with no brakes. 

Plenty of cheap and cheerful computers available which are usable and secure, if XP "works" then a Chromebook is probably ideal.

[GrumpiusMaximus]

Just now, loserone said:

Plenty of cheap and cheerful computers available which are usable and secure, if XP "works" then a Chromebook is probably ideal.

I'll correct myself.  Connecting it to the Internet is like driving past a school at half three, with no brakes, drunk, whilst also on fire.

+1 on the Chromebook.  Lady Grumpius had one issued from work recently and I'm quite impressed by it.

[PhilA]

I must've been dreaming about work or something because I was grinding my teeth in my sleep.

I've chipped one of my lower front teeth in two places and it hurts, and it's making me into a grumpy asshole.

 

That and it's cold and because Christmas repairs to the car gotta wait.

Humbug.

 

 

[eddyramrod]

Recommendations duly filed for further consideration, and thank you.

[wuvvum]

44 minutes ago, GrumpiusMaximus said:

XP is a fundamentally broken operating system.  It was when it launched and it is even more so now.

And then they went and replaced it with Vista...

[GrumpiusMaximus]

3 minutes ago, wuvvum said:

And then they went and replaced it with Vista...

We don't mention the 'V' word here.  Dirty.  Unclean.

[Rod/b]

On 12/11/2020 at 3:18 AM, rusty_vw_man said:

First (non-Boris) MOT on the modern Shit-tron C3. Moved house so new garage and tester. Checked over well, gave it a wash and clean and in it went. But what’s this I spy:

the near side wiper (only 3 months old) had a little piece of leaf stuck under it, so it smeared a little line over the screen. Major defect? Really? Then to make it worse when I got there he’d fitted a new wiper, rather than just removing the leaf. And he’d ‘disposed’ of the old one. And managed to add 50,000 miles to the test certificate. And had made zero concession to COVID, had to squeeze into his tiny unventilated office to pay....

The quest for a decent local tester continues - the vans in Tuesday to another promising looking place. 

 

Why did you have a test if it passed in June? 

[taranaki]

Well, that's the last Friday before Christmas done and f@ck them all, the f@cking F@CKFACED F@CKHEADS.

We make longrun steel roofing. The factory is 40m long the machine is 12m long.  We can make any one of up to 100 different products at a time, at a rate that would blow your mind. We can make it up to 18m long, anything longer will expand and contact according to the weather and tear itself off the roof. We can make enough custom product cut to length to build up to 15 different houses every day. We can make roofs faster than our roofer clients can fit them.

Back to Friday afternoons. Friday afternoons, we get an endless stream of DIY idiots. Their 25 year old roof  within sight of the sea in '90's fashionable Kermit Green has started leaking. They need a piece 2 meters long and 12  1990's-style roofing nails to fix it with. Why does our colour sample not match the sun-bleached , rust flecked sliver of paint that they have brought in to match? Why can we not drag a sheet of the shit out of the back of a dusty shed somewhere and just give it to them? How are they supposed to hammer in self-tapping high tensile roofing screws? Why does the roofer insist on putting up scaffolding?

We're ripping you off here the  18 year old shelf filler at  [-equivalent to B &Q-] said it would be easy.

 

[Borsuq]

I'm finding having time off work more stressful than just going to work. The situation is dire due to another wave of COVID hitting our hospital and I have to solve the same problems as if I was working, except now I have to do it from home and without proper tools (as I'm not allowed remote access to my work computer). I fucking hate it.

[rusty_vw_man]

3 hours ago, Rod/b said:

Why did you have a test if it passed in June? 

That wasn’t a proper pass, it was a Boris pass, so only valid for 6 months. 

[Rod/b]

Oh right, i didn’t know they had done that. 

[rusty_vw_man]

41 minutes ago, Rod/b said:

Oh right, i didn’t know they had done that. 

If you had a valid MOT the date got shunted on 6 months - this one didn’t have an mot as less than three years old, hence a pass was registered as there was no extension to grant. The fascinating* world of the DVLA!!

[BorniteIdentity]

Managed to get an Xbox Series S on Amazon. 

Well, I managed to get one into my basket. In the intervening 25 seconds to check out - they sold out. 

I thought all retailers gave you a grace period in which to pay? 

Anyway, I hope it went to a little boy who deserves it more than me. More likely than not it’ll end up on Gumtree with a fat old mark up. 
 

[Remspoor]

17 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

No, I don't bank online, don't worry!

However I have to take issue with your principle as stated.  I drive a 25year old car and a 47year old car.  Today fighting my way round town I was wearing a coat I've had 12years.  By your principle I should have binned all the above and replaced them with brand new.  I don't and won't, for two very good reasons.  One, why throw stuff away just because some distant corporation says so?  And two, I don't have the money to keep changing everything!  

The PC works, the dongle is the problem.  (As far as I can tell anyway).

This failure to support earlier versions of tech is nothing more than a blatant conspiracy to make me (or indeed anyone) spend money we haven't got on a regular basis on stuff we don't actually need and certainly don't want.  NB, here I should mention that when I had my Scarlet Skateboard in... was it 2014 or 2015? ...I bought a lovely brand new laptop to replace the old one mentioned above.  It was running W10 and was virtually unusable.  I couldn't find stuff I needed to use, and if I did, the display would randomly resize itself with no warning whatsoever, making it impossible to use.  It also fell apart physically so I retired it and eventually took it to the tip.

So you see what I meant about nothing working!  The so-called improved stuff is at least as bad as what I already have.

I suppose you also use pound shillings and pence.

Not all old cars have freely available spare parts not even second hand ones then you may well have to scrap the car.

[eddyramrod]

Just now, Remspoor said:

Not all old cars have freely available spare parts not even second hand ones then you may well have to scrap the car.

Are you kidding?  Have you seen what my "old" car actually is?  All the freely available spare parts are 4000 miles away!  Well most of them.  Fortunately what it has needed, I've been able to get from Bradford, somewhat closer.  I've scrapped too many cars to let this one slip away easily...

[Tamworthbay]

22 hours ago, eddyramrod said:

No, I don't bank online, don't worry!

However I have to take issue with your principle as stated.  I drive a 25year old car and a 47year old car.  Today fighting my way round town I was wearing a coat I've had 12years.  By your principle I should have binned all the above and replaced them with brand new.  I don't and won't, for two very good reasons.  One, why throw stuff away just because some distant corporation says so?  And two, I don't have the money to keep changing everything!  

The PC works, the dongle is the problem.  (As far as I can tell anyway).

This failure to support earlier versions of tech is nothing more than a blatant conspiracy to make me (or indeed anyone) spend money we haven't got on a regular basis on stuff we don't actually need and certainly don't want.  NB, here I should mention that when I had my Scarlet Skateboard in... was it 2014 or 2015? ...I bought a lovely brand new laptop to replace the old one mentioned above.  It was running W10 and was virtually unusable.  I couldn't find stuff I needed to use, and if I did, the display would randomly resize itself with no warning whatsoever, making it impossible to use.  It also fell apart physically so I retired it and eventually took it to the tip.

So you see what I meant about nothing working!  The so-called improved stuff is at least as bad as what I already have.

It is built in obsolescence, the modern world demands that we consume whether we want to or not. So products have a limited lifespan and the landfills get another load. On a planet with finite resources it’s fucking ridiculous but will it be too late before a majority of people realise this? My 23 year old volvo, 30 year old pug and 37 year old ford may not be the cleanest but the main part of their emissions occurred when they were created, the next worst part will be when (IF, I hope) they are destroyed.

[Aston Martin]

Every radio station is playing the same fucking 10 songs, 24 hours a day. Apart from Mark Goodier who gives us a 12 second snippet.

[MikeR]

not unless you have a shitspade full of music on your phone to play back , no adverts and no xmas songs or DJ warbling

Spoiler

 

 

[Aston Martin]

8 minutes ago, MikeR said:

not unless you have a shitspade full of music on your phone to play back , no adverts and no xmas songs or DJ warbling

  Hide contents

 

 

 

I've listened to every song on Spotify today.

[MikeR]

thats the soooutthh gone tits up , how long till the lurgy  spreads northwards ?

[hairnet]

all you cocknee twats (kidding) and you @RobT

hopefully you have some time to yourself after what boris just did

which shoulda happened a month ago ffs

even the posh bits further north got shouted at

 

[RobT]

I'm an anti-social bastard who doesn't like mixing anyway, so makes no difference.  A Christmas at home with the cars, perfect!

[loserone]

21 hours ago, Tamworthbay said:

It is built in obsolescence, the modern world demands that we consume whether we want to or not.

I really don't think it is.  As soon as computers can connect to each other via the internet or otherwise, it is a constant effort to find new ways to compromise and new and better ways of avoiding it.  Want to play an offline games console like a Megadrive or NES? Fill your boots and have fun.

But if you want to connect it to a network with the rest of the world also connected to it, you now should have a responsibility to not allow it to be vulnerable, to detect compromise or infection, and not to allow it to be used maliciously against others.  And if you don't take basic steps to do that, I'd 100% support your ISP disconnecting you.

Sadly there have been manufacturers who haven't taken this seriously, but Microsoft can be admired for managing to provide support and updates for operating systems for a remarkable length of time.  Windows XP has NO SUPPORTED BROWSER.  There is literally no safe way to connect it to the internet.  Want to play Doom? Fine.  But keep it off any networks.