[Dave Rice]

You really do make the strangest links and spin out all sorts of things from a simple statement.  Just saying well they’re not all perfect would have me agreeing with you but you just had to go down the extreme routes of Trump and Venezuela. You really are impossible to just have a general chit chat with. I think as a matter of principal you’re going to gainsay anything that comes from me.

Well the Speaker certainly chucked a spanner in TMs works this afternoon didn’t he?

[Dave Rice]

Yes it’s been nice here too. A quick shower or two at the end but too late to spoil things.

The wind was biting though. B-I-L didn’t take the top down on his mid life crisis motor (08 Boxster with only 6k on the clock).

[Dave Rice]

All this hair splitting on precise meanings of words and phrases again. You really do need to turn the serious level down from 11.

Federalisation seems to work for those countries that have it is all I’m saying. In general they seem happy with it as a system. There will of course be those groups that don’t.

As Ed says, the USA has an electoral college for the President. AFAIK the other nations that use Federalisation don’t, it doesn’t seem to be compulsory.

Lighten up, you’ll be out of the hated EU in a couple of weeks.

[Dave Rice]

Ho hum, I’m still being told what I think.

I’m fully aware that there are lots of forms of Federalisation and that the EU is currently not like that. Where and when did I say it was? All I said was it seems to work for the countries who are based on Federalism.

It is totally impossible to say anything here without reams and reams of backup information to be picked apart and subject to an interpretation never intended. FFS it’s just a general discussion not a master plan for world domination! There isn’t and never will be a perfect political system that is all things to all men. Personally I quite like the direction Federalisation moves in but I’m not going to defend it to the death!

You don’t like the EU, we get it. We also get that you don’t believe they can be anything else. Chill out a bit before you blow a gasket ?

[Dave Rice]

You had me at IPA ?

F-I-L still has an ancient white Compaq mech keyboard. It’s that old it’s got an orange USB plug as it matched the PS2 colour we were used to. I’ve since learned that may indicate Logitech made them. Anyway I dare not take it away from him.

[Dave Rice]

Westminster is too remote to sort things out then what hope has a collective of vastly different nations got ?

That’s where Federalisation comes in.

[Dave Rice]

I don’t think that’s a secret. It was mentioned here way back when.

A Federal Europe makes a lot of sense to me. We would certainly have much more local government and accountability than we do now under Westminster. It works for the USA, Canada, Brazil, India, Australia, Mexico, Germany, Switzerland, Austria etc.

[Dave Rice]

WTF! Unbelievable. Just as well I’m not drinking today.

[Dave Rice]

Blimey it’s just turned around to Scotland scoring a point a minute plus! Only 7 in it.

[Dave Rice]

44 dot matrix parallel printers at Printerland starting at £170. Brings back memories of working in Management Accounts. In the reports week we’d have 4 going full tilt all day all week with triple copy paper. Even in hush hoods they were noisy and the PCs couldn’t be used for anything else. This was DOS 3.3 days.

Make sure the papers folding properly before you walk away. Spend days separating the copies and putting them in hanging folders or sorting into piles to go to relevant managers.

[Dave Rice]

Nah, it’s averaging a point a minute at the moment.

[Dave Rice]

Going back to the statistics poster, this is what happens when you have referendums in a representative democracy. Square peg, round hole. The only “will of the people” is what parliament decides it is and why referendums aren’t legally binding. It’s why a second referendum will be just as bad as the first no matter the result as it’s not a binary issue. The only thing in my mind that could work is a General Election with Leave (or not) Plans clearly defined.

First past the post emboldens MPs in safe seats to do what they want, which is why I keep listing the Brexiteer MPs in Remain constituencies when the opposite is touted as being hypocrisy. My MP is an ERG member but he has changed his voting habits since becoming a minister. He turns up to local running events, which is great, but he never actually applies like the public does (my wife is on the Sole Sisters 10k committee, it sells out in 48 hours) he just rocks up on the day. But he defended the cancellation of the Park Run at Little Stoke in Parliament. The local councillors involved are very influential in the local Conservative Association. Probably tells you all you need to know.

The same sort of thing is happening all over the country in every party. I even know the Liberals can get quite nasty at times ?

It will always be thus unless we change the constitution but Westminster turkeys don’t vote for Christmas. That’s also why we won’t get a GE and people like the DUP can be bribed with a billion that didn’t exist for education, etc.

Politics is the only game where you are actively campaigning to put other members of your organisation out of a job and remain in yours as long as possible.

[Dave Rice]

Yes a fantastic 6 Nations all round, but especially for Wales.

The World Cup should be interesting ?

[Dave Rice]

Deliberately leave a back front door for smuggling open then blame the people affected when they complain. Nice.

We have already signalled we are willing to break WTO rules on the very first day!

Then there’s Article 62. WTF? How will that ever apply?

Walk away without paying your debts if you don’t get what you want.

Who the hell is going to want to deal with us when we behave in such a way? How can we be trusted to keep our word?

We are turning into a laughing stock, Trump must be thinking how easy it’s going to be to do us over.

[Dave Rice]

Well finished it all off today, the biggest problem was the JVC TV that would only attach via WPS. Very naughty indeed. A £15 TP-Link TL-WA850RE N300 Universal Range Extender sorted that out (Ethernet cable to TV) with the advantage of getting a stronger signal outside to the Arlo Pro camera. BTW I set it up via Ethernet as Windows kept deciding to go to another WiFi SSID all on it’s own mid setup and the TPL Tether app couldn’t find it (may have been the same issue with Android WiFi).

Apple and Android, PCs, cameras and TVs all working a treat. 40mbps down and 10 up, right next to the device (Huawei E5573bs-322 4G ) which upstairs in the back bedroom (new build 3 bed link terrace). About 60% of that down by the TV but still way more than enough for Netfix and the Arlo Pro. They are happy and I am amazed as just how good this service is.

[Dave Rice]

Well everything and anything is still a possibility.

(I think) I said I thought we would end up with her deal as TM’s only weapon was scaring the ERG / DUP into voting for it when the can got kicked as far as it would go and the moderates finally got fed up and found some balls.

We seem to be moving in that direction but the votes are either so extreme either way i.e. a drubbing or fag paper close, that I’m sticking with the prediction anything is still possible, especially now the moderates are revolting (a bit) and you can see the DUP sphincters wobbling. If they crumble the ERG will follow, their ladder to climb down will have appeared.

I was at a Hikvision roadshow today and Brexit got mentioned with regards deal or no deal. Nothing about costs as it’s still all up in the air, it was lead times. They’re already subject to a weeks delay as their ships (from China) are queuing up waiting to get into port, IIRC that’s Rotterdam for them. But if extra paperwork is required they expect the same sort of delay now being caused by stock piling preparing for no deal.

No panic, but if anyone needs large numbers of run items or special order kit, give them lots of notice. I wonder how much has been spent on surplus kit, the warehouse space for it and the wages of everyone involved? Ignore any biased figures, common sense tells us it’s a lot.

So there is a cost attached to No Deal even though it hasn’t happened and a cost to Brexit even though it hasn’t happened either. No predictions required but of course we can all argue as to precisely how much.

[Dave Rice]

I have only ever seen USB PC to parallel printer. I don’t think they exist.

Have a look here https://www.tripplite.com/products/cable-finder The only pairing of a DB25 male is to a Centronics or DB9.

[Dave Rice]

I can’t wait!

[Dave Rice]

I found I was using the phone camera more and more because it was in my pocket, the spontaneity thing. But I won’t spend a lot of money on a phone purely to get a better camera. It doesn’t make sense financially nor for all the things you talked about. In the days of my SLR I learned what I could do with depth of field, shutter and aperture priority etc. Also there’s tricky lighting situations.

That’s why I decided I had to get a truly pocketable camera and The Lumix always came out top in the price range I can afford. Also I still wanted a tradition viewfinder as sometimes the screens aren’t appropriate. I knew I was sacrificing the flash but I did do some wedding photos for s-i-l’s second wedding and they are very happy with them.

[Dave Rice]

Yes that’s Weston Pier and Royal Portbury / Avonmouth dock. Apart from the viewfinder the handling looks identical to mine.

Here’s a small panorama I took in the Austrian Alps at Graz

and a larger one

No idea who the people in the shots are.

[Author]

Posts