Rick's b.log - entry 2011/04/24

Illness

To put it into a nutshell, mom thinks it may have been the Norovirus. As I sit here writing this, I have eaten nothing today. Next to nothing yesterday, never mind the day before...
Not that I remember much of yesterday. I'm a bit perkier today, though a little light-headed due to a mixture of lack of sleep, lack of nutrition, and... Let's just say this isn't quite how I planned my Easter to be.

For those who can't be bothered to read the Wiki article - you know those news stories where in a matter of days an entire cruise ship, or a school, has been laid out with a horrible stomach bug, and the weaker ones get airlifted to hospital? That's Noro. Question is, where the hell did I get it from?!?

PS: Thank you to all who sent me messages. :-)

Amazon publishing dates?

Monetise this, sucker!

Now I know hand on heart that I did not permit this option because I do not agree with the rampant "monetisation" (the number of sh!tty low-brow adverts on the Android platform is quite unsettling, not to mention the equally rampant pilfering of a variety of personal data held on the handset (phone ID, user ID, and geolocation being the most common)). I think generic advertising in moderation is a necessary evil. I will tolerate advertising of products I'll never buy (on principle) in Google search results as it helps pay for the StreetView I use. But in these recent years, "monetisation" has become the keyword of Internet players, who somehow fail to realise that their Linux machines don't boot up displaying adverts, who fail to realise that apache doesn't serve web pages with auto-inserted adverts afterwards. This is, to me, a sort of disgusting get-rich-quick crowd jumping on a bandwagon built by people far more altruistic.
Therefore, I would get a weird sort of pleasure out of smacking anybody who uses the word "monetise" around me in a sense other than ironic. Maybe if I had something to sell, I might look to "monetise" it. But I don't plan to be somebody else's pimp.
Given that, there is absolutely no way I would have left this set to "yay, fill my content with adverts".

If you have YouTube content and you aren't trying to pull in a few rusty pennies, it might do to look and see if you have this option in your account options, and if so, let Google know your thoughts by hitting the "Do not allow" option.

At least they were nice enough to notice my language preferences and not spell that word with a 'z'.

JTAG interface, rough

[click for a larger version, 1111×643, 27KiB]

• You can also download the schematic, 13KiB
  (requires the (free) ExpressPCB package to be installed)

I have only been able to track this part down in Farnell. I would imagine RS/Electrospares would have it too, what I mean is the hobby retailers (Maplins - fast doing a Tandy on us, Conrad, etc) don't have it. I think I need an account to get free regular delivery postage, as opposed to something like €15, which is - either way - a bit OTT for a forty-two centime piece!

Therefore, given I know my RiscPC's parallel port outputs 4V, I might see how I get on using a regular logic chip run off 3.3V with some resistance in the way. This, of course, would be the incorrect way. ☺
I might even find a suitable part in some old hardware I ought to be looking to chuck out. Speaking of which...

Mom'll be pleased

On radio equipment near my body

He's right. I did.

I make two exceptions and one partial exception. The two exceptions are WiFi and Bluetooth. These are based upon the fact that they are fairly low power, short range, transmissions.

The partial exception is listening to Kawaii-Radio on my phone at a certain location (that I shaln't go into too much detail over). I really don't trust GSM transmissions as they are longer range, and - unlike a laptop - tend to be in very close proximity to your body. You can say there is something of a difference in radiated power between a device that can manage around ten mentres, against a device that manages six kilometres.
However in this specific location, the cell tower is, like, 100 metres away, so I trust my phone won't be eating up battery by blasting a big signal to cover a distance I could probably match with a decent crossbow...

A sudden change because my phone is cool and can "do stuff"? Not entirely. And, note, I only do this for like an hour or so, and not every day. Any other time or place, if my phone is turned on, it isn't that close to me.

No, it is more as realisation that I'm fast approaching 40. I've tried to eat fairly well. I favour non-genetically modified food and, when I am certain something is GM, I do not buy it. This is for ethical reasons as well as health. Likewise, when the difference in price isn't silly, I buy organic. Yes, I eat at McDonald's. I'm not perfect. But I do that a lot less often, since I happen to know what a brocolli looks like, and rather enjoy the taste of them. My like of cooking is tempered by my often not being bothered. I hope to persuade mom to let me get a small freezer so I can make a large amount of something in one go, freeze it, and use as I wish. It seems so much more logical to overcook and partition, than to go through all the dull boring bits each time.
I have, at least, made some attempt to look after myself. And my choices, while you might argue, do have some sort of logic running though.

Yet, still, I find myself coughing gently as the disinfectant catches the back of my throat. Every working day a use of chemical agents with "CORROSIVE" marked on the container. Okay, in our usual dilutions (2%), it is just a nasty irritant, but that doesn't make it that much better.

So I find myself sitting wondering why I'm bothering? I'm getting older. My skin is getting saggier. My hair is going greyer. I don't trust a mobile phone to blast its signal through me for long durations, however a nearby tower and an hour or so? Sod it, I'll let that slide. Risk to health? Probably less than the crap I breathe in at work...

Vince Hudd

Anyway, Vince has a blog. It's a little hard to move around in (a calendar or somesuch would be a nice addition!) but what is missing in navigation is certainly made up for by some fairly hard reportage. Take a look. Pick your jaw up off the floor.

I have only one question - why isn't this guy an investigative journalist for something like TheRegister?

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anon, 25th April 2011, 18:45

Got a schematic file instead of those pictures?

Rob, 25th April 2011, 23:55

Glad you're feeling a bit better...   Hmm; must check my YouTube settings..  There's a bod selling 74LCX244 on eBay for a reasonable amount..

Rick, 26th April 2011, 16:10

@ anon : done. The ExpressSch file may be found just under the schematic image.

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