The Grumble Thread - No energy for a full on rant.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I've just had my mail delivered all junk mail  >:(which weighed 8oz is this really necessary

Sounds unlucky.  I know someone who is a postman, he told me that when there is no regular post for a particular address, they usually don't bother to deliver junk mail as the time allowed for each round is very tight - I think he said 4h48mins for 500 addresses.

[Butterfly]

100?

Bloody hell, that is ridiculous. As someone who has always suffered from writer's cramp, I'd have just refused to do it.

My sister and I used to to half each, it was fun. No-one ever noticed, despite us writing with different hands and having pretty different writing!

[Vince]

I went for a walk at lunchtime. Down 3 floors to the security gate, back up 3 floors to get my pass back down three floors and start walking.
After 10 minutes it started to sleet. 10 seconds of this and I decided to turn up the collar of my jacket. Big Mistake! All the sleet that had stuck to the collar got shot down the back of my neck

[Kim]

100?

Bloody hell, that is ridiculous. As someone who has always suffered from writer's cramp, I'd have just refused to do it.

My sister and I used to to half each, it was fun. No-one ever noticed, despite us writing with different hands and having pretty different writing!

A particularly unintelligent teacher made barakta do lines once...


for (x = 1 to n) ...

[David Martin]

For more fun you would hardware hack a plotter and record the writing (probably use DC motors linked with rotary encoders so you can record and then replay many times.)
For the more advanced student, adding a bit of gaussian error onto the plotting function would add some variability.

[dasmoth]

Am I missing something, or are all the (increasingly common) video clips on the BBC News website... rather lacking in the "subtitles" department...?

[Andrij]

IT Security.  Today is 'new password day' for me - we need to change our login passwords every 70 days, with no repeat of previously used passwords (well, you can, but you have to use dozens before you can repeat).  As a result, I've spent all day either entering my old password or getting part-way through entering my old password then starting again with the new one.  This also means some other passwords are due to expire.  I understand the reasoning behind it all, but it's still a PITA.

[hellymedic]

IT Security.  Today is 'new password day' for me - we need to change our login passwords every 70 days, with no repeat of previously used passwords (well, you can, but you have to use dozens before you can repeat).  As a result, I've spent all day either entering my old password or getting part-way through entering my old password then starting again with the new one.  This also means some other passwords are due to expire.  I understand the reasoning behind it all, but it's still a PITA.

Being a bear of little brane, I have updated successive passwords sequentially.
Think of a word that includes the letters o or i.
Use, substituting numerics for those letters.
Increase to n+ 1 with every update...

[mrcharly-YHT]

Usually doesn't work anywhere that has serious password control. Any 'new' password that is too similar to previous one is rejected.

[dasmoth]

Usually doesn't work anywhere that has serious password control. Any 'new' password that is too similar to previous one is rejected.

That's slightly alarming.  Doesn't it imply storing old password in cleartext?  I suppose you could imagine spotting simple 1- char substitutions by brute-force testing against hashed old passwords, but anything much more than that seems unlikely.  And cleartext passwords anywhere worry me.

Another reason to grumble about restrictive password policies...

[Kim]

Am I missing something, or are all the (increasingly common) video clips on the BBC News website... rather lacking in the "subtitles" department...?

Yes.  They don't care, they don't have to, it's not broadcast television.

[barakta]

My son was given one hundred lines for forgetting his library card yesterday. This makes me cross for two reasons.
Lines were considered pointless forty years ago when I was at school - can't they come up with anything more imaginative? Secondly by the time he had written them, his disgraphia was causing him so much discomfort he couldn't do any of his set homework. Grrr.

I got given lines once.  I don't shouldn't handwrite for disability reasons so I used my Z88 ancient laptop thing and handed in however many copypasted lines printed out. The teacher winged so I told him he was welcome to talk to my parents and see if they would support a 2nd punishment when teacher was too stupid to remember I wasn't to be made to handwrite by a Statement of SEN (in the days they were a bit easier to get than now).   

Knowing full well my parents would think the punishment was pointless for a virtual non crime (I passed a pencil to someone and chucked it the 1m to their hand) and would laugh at the school    

Then again I was bolshy enough to refuse punishments which were either unjust or harmful to me.  I would be inclined to complain to the school about that as that's not really OK to do that to anyone with dysgraphia.

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

It's really annoying when you're having a really busy dream, running around trying to get lots of things done, and then you finally sit down and put your feet up - and the alarm goes off

[PaulF]

Manflu!!  We can put a man on the moon but we still have no cure!

Something must be done

[dasmoth]

Manflu!!  We can put a man on the moon but we still have no cure!

We could put a man on the moon.  Now there are just a few sad, unused, rocket stages littering America  .

[Andrij]

Manflu!!  We can put a man on the moon but we still have no cure!

We could put a man on the moon.  Now there are just a few sad, unused, rocket stages littering America  .

If they charged people to vote for which man to put on the moon (there's been no mention of bring the 'man' back) I bet they could easily fund the project.   

[PaulF]

Manflu!!  We can put a man on the moon but we still have no cure!

We could put a man on the moon.  Now there are just a few sad, unused, rocket stages littering America  .

If they charged people to vote for which man to put on the moon (there's been no mention of bring the 'man' back) I bet they could easily fund the project.   

But imagine what we could do if we put that money into a cure for manflu

[LindaG]

This headache is a real stinker 

[interzen]

Despite the fact that my desk is beside a radiator, and I'm wearing my woolly hiking socks, my feet are bloody freezing

Diabetes sucks ...

[Vince]

My son was given one hundred lines for forgetting his library card yesterday. This makes me cross for two reasons.
Lines were considered pointless forty years ago when I was at school - can't they come up with anything more imaginative? Secondly by the time he had written them, his disgraphia was causing him so much discomfort he couldn't do any of his set homework. Grrr.

I got given lines once.  I don't shouldn't handwrite for disability reasons so I used my Z88 ancient laptop thing and handed in however many copypasted lines printed out. The teacher winged so I told him he was welcome to talk to my parents and see if they would support a 2nd punishment when teacher was too stupid to remember I wasn't to be made to handwrite by a Statement of SEN (in the days they were a bit easier to get than now).   

Knowing full well my parents would think the punishment was pointless for a virtual non crime (I passed a pencil to someone and chucked it the 1m to their hand) and would laugh at the school    

Then again I was bolshy enough to refuse punishments which were either unjust or harmful to me.  I would be inclined to complain to the school about that as that's not really OK to do that to anyone with dysgraphia.

I have now spoken with the head of year and the teacher concerned. Head of year not impressed as she knew about the dysgraphia, teacher was not aware (so I'm not impressed). I have told them both that if anyone gives lines in future, the lad has my permission to do them in Word. Still grrr.

[barakta]

Good plan re giving kid permission to refuse harmful punishments.  I am lucky my mum would intervene where she felt the school was being harmful, especially with my sister's year who were crammed onto overfull buses and anyone who refused was threatened with punishment and shouted at. 

[Eccentrica Gallumbits]

Corporate Transport are now called Passenger Operations. I need to borrow the SHUVEL.

[andrewc]

Coughing, wheezing, cold & achey.... the manflu lark is no fun at all 

[Adam]

I've never had manflu.  Does this mean I'm not a real man?

[hellymedic]

The funeralothon is just about finishing; Dave Lewis nearly 2 weeks ago, Bob K today, John Snuggs today (sorry Janet, couldn't be in Hatch End and Sarf London simultaneously).
Now come the Bar Mitzvahs 

Can't stay in hotel closest to cousin in Manchester as they have no rooms with facilities for disabled people so have to stay in Premier Inn a mile up the road.