Google Reader recommended this post on Gizmodo – it is the most incredible video of trampoline work I have ever seen
Archive for the 'Misc' Category
My keyboard at work has been getting too dirty, so I started thinking about how to clean it.
A colleague suggested that a dishwasher works fine, so I put it on the top shelf of the dishwasher with the plug wrapped in clingfilm and hit go on an “eco” wash which is slightly cooler.
I pulled it out before the trying was complete as I worried that the drying was warmer and might damage the plastic keyboard. It turns out that the dishwasher gave the keyboard a good soak, but still needed a good wipe with a cloth to actually get the dirt of the keys, so the dishwasher was not enough on it’s own.
As for drying – 2 days of drying left me with a keyboard that did not work. Dismantling and spreading out the layers of the membrane over an air vent for half a day did work, with the keyboard now working properly, and clean!
The keyboard rest did get a bit discoloured, so if you are cleaning your keyboard I suggest cleaning the keys by hand with a damp cloth (maybe with some washing up soap), and then popping off most of the keys to get in underneath them to get the dirt out from there.
The dishwasher didn’t really do much except add a long time to the drying stage
After moving into our new house, I contemplated running a pile of ethernet cables before we got the new carpets laid, as I have always had issues with wireless. In the end I didn’t find the time to rip up floorboards and skirting boards to lay the cables I wanted, and as it turns out the solid brick walls reduce the wireless networking strength down to almost useless (it sometimes connects upstairs, and sitting at the wrong side of the dining-room table loses the signal).
I decided that powerline networking might be a better solution. I looked at linksys’ range and decided on the PLK300 kit which is a 200mbpss kit with a 1-port adapter, and a 4-port adapter. I suspect that 200mbit means 100mbit/s in real terms as powerlines have only one pair of wires, so it is simples (as opposed to ethernet’s two pair that gives full duplex).
Getting the encryption was simple enough – press the right incantation of buttons, but I actually have no way of testing the encryption works. As for real-world speeds, I only get about 4-5Mb/s (32-40mbit/s) which is not as fast as I was hoping, but the wiring in my house is probably quite old and it is going from the downstairs power ring to the upstairs ring. I think it is probably fast enough, and as wireless is slower (and less reliable) the only other alternative is carving up the floor and walls to run cable – and I am too lazy…
Of course, as the devices are just ethernet bridges, it works seamlessly with linux and my existing network, and has almost no configuration. The power rating of these devices totals about 50W, but they seem to use less than that according to my Current Cost meter.
About a year ago I decided I should do some cycling again, having not really cycled for quite a few years.
We went and bought helmets (as mine no longer fitted – yes, that long ago) but then I decided my bike really needed a service. So I borrowed a pile of tools from my dad and started dismantling nearly every part of my bike to give it a full service. I regreased all the bearings, which probably needed it as they grease had completely dried up.
Yesterday I finally finished by putting back together the rear wheel (it turned out I had assembled the rear axle the wrong way round and it didn’t fit properly). We popped out for a short 30 minute ride around eastleigh park, which was great fun. It turns out I only have 2/3 of my gears as the front changer needs more adjusting (not sure how I didn’t notice that before setting out).
The only problem was that at the end of it, I had quite a sore backside from my rock-solid seat. We were planning on taking the bikes to the New Forest today, but it was just too sore (not to mention that a bike rack for the car is rather expensive, and the cheap rear-mounted ones require a numberplate and indicator light board on the back, which is a real pain).
Hopefully will find a way to fit them in the boot on another weekend and actually try out some of the many cycle trails around the New Forest
Having just moved house, I have loads of things to post (via snail mail). A large number of these are change of address details for way too many companies.
I couldn’t find anything on Royal Mail’s website, nor the Post Office’s, though there is a page to locate locate post office branches. Anyway, it turns out http://www.dracos.co.uk/play/locating-postboxes/ has a rather good list of post boxes, and ties into google maps so you can easily see where they are – Fantastic!
So having actually moved in to my new house at the beginning of the month, you would have thought I would be settled and have more time for blogging…
You would be wrong – We decided we wanted some new carpets upstairs, and before we did that we thought it would be a good idea to paint the walls (that way we can’t ruin nice new carpets with paint). It turns out painting takes longer than you might think, especially when you have things like work getting in the way.
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