Journal Entries
A good old Wiggle test
Posted Jan 1, 2015
No, not an audition for some new dance craze. Nor is it a competition to see if women versus men have the best wiggle either.
This is more mundane. Its actually a diagnostic technique used to trace dodgy wiring connections as used by many a technician in the field of electrics and electronics.
So what is this about where I'm concerned? Well, yesterday I turned on my home built pc, (referred to as the Beast by family members) only to be met with a dry click and nothing. No power light, no fans starting, no led's lighting up, nuffink, zilch, not a peep! 
I 
I merely fire up the 2nd HP pc and load all the appropriate stuff for mod duties etc and then I set about looking at the Beast.
I note the led on the power unit is on so power is ok to there so we're now going to be looking at something internal from that unit to the on/off button to motherboard connections.
First up, remove both side panels and carry out visual inspection.(puts glasses on at this stage)
No obvious signs of wires off, no sign of any burning/scorching. There is a 3 amp fuse to the side of the mains multi-plug on the motherboard so I test this to make sure it hasn't blown. Seems ok.
Now, this is where the Wiggle test comes in. I start from the power unit and work my way through the maze of wires just 'wiggling' and gently pulling said wires near to where they connect at the various points across the whole motherboard. Lo and behold, the low voltage lead from the power button to the board, although looked in place wasn't actually connected. The tiny square block the cable is in is just sitting atop the connector pin rather than actually pushed on. I push this firmly into place and press on/off switch and hey presto, the whole thing burst's into life. 
So there we have it, the good old Wiggle test has found the problem and said problem easily resolved. It does beg the question though, how or why did that cable become detached that way? There was plenty of slack, it runs no where near any moving parts so couldn't get snagged that way so why? Just another of those little mysteries where I'll probably never know the real answer. Suffice to say, while I'd got the side panels off, I went through and checked all similar connections. I did discover the retaining clip on the Solid State Drive multi plug hadn't fully engaged so there was another potential problem resolved before it started.
So there we have it, the Beast is up and running, all systems go, I ran my usual diagnostic tools and utilities to check software and drives, all is 
and system working well.
On that cheerful note, I'd like to wish everyone a very Happy New Year and hope you all stay fit and well throughout 2015.
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Latest reply: Jan 1, 2015
Confused? You will be.
Posted Dec 7, 2014
During the recent najopomo epic I wrote about being totally confused about advice re diets and what 'safe' weight I needed to be. Things haven't got any better really though I have actually lost 4lb over the month.
Today I see the media is fuelling that confusion. There's one mega headline where a church leader says the govt should pay more attention to the UK hungry and support food banks.
Then, lo and behold, in another paper the headline screams, 'gastric bands fitted to kids as young as 13 to combat obesity'. 
You don't have to be Einstein to spot where these two opposing headlines just don't gel.
Now the question remains, who do we believe? If there's an obesity epidemic then where does the 'hungry UK' fit in this? Surely there would be an epidemic of underweight people and all the potential health risks that entails?
If there's an epidemic of obesity then isn't pushing more food onto people sending the wrong message and thus costing millions in health issues as a result?
Where's the middle ground in this debate? Where is the sound, solid, medically proven, fully independent evidence and advice on what is or isn't a good diet? Why do we only ever get the extremes presented as being the only facts when clearly the evidence doesn't actually bear this out?
Oh, a footnote to my weight issue. After yet another telephone consultation with my new GP its been decided I need to lose another stone but that the limit set by previous advice, that is, get down to 7 to 8 stone is no longer valid or deemed safe. It seems now 8 and 1/2 to 9 and 1/2 stone is the best weight range for me hence still need to lose a stone as I'm currently 10st. It seems my cardiologist has also backed this so between now and next May, (next cardiac clinic check up)I will endeavour to lose this stone.
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Latest reply: Dec 7, 2014
Nov.30
Posted Nov 30, 2014
So as najo draws to a close for another year time to take stock. Most of my contributions have been about playing with technology, in particular beta testing the upcoming new windows operating system, win 10. A new preview build was released on the 26th and they do appear to have sorted a lot of gremlins and issues, still a long way to go yet though. It seems they are going to keep the new look Skype for desktop, they've just made some minor tweaks to the new look. Its a look I'm not keen on but there's still time for them to change their minds and do something different if enough people are still giving negative feedback. They've sorted the dual monitor issue, I couldn't use it across 2 monitors prior to this release and also appear to have sorted the wifi though sometimes you still have to manually connect. The next beta release is January so I'll probably do a few more journals about this as and when.
Overall, on a scale of 1 to 10, I'm giving it 7 out of 10, hopefully that score will increase as they improve and sort glitches etc.
That's it then for November. Congratulations to everyone who took part, I've done more reading than commenting this time round but I've enjoyed reading the journals which seem to have covered a vast multitude of topics. Well done to all.
Have a good evening, ttfn. 
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Latest reply: Nov 30, 2014
Nov.29
Posted Nov 29, 2014
So, we're into the final furlong of najopomo. Well done to all who have kept up to the end. There's been the usual mix of laughs, tall stories, fact and fiction. Its what makes the whole exercise worth it. Even if you can't comment on everyone it leaves plenty to read and catch up with at later dates.
I've spent the day today sorting photo's. I seem to have them saved across a wide spectrum of media, CD's, DVD's and online across 3 different web storage sites. I decided it was time to put them all in one place with just a back-up on DVD. That way if the cloud storage failed for whatever reason I won't lose the lot. I still don't trust USB memory sticks. I had one with about 4gb's worth of photo's and data and when I plugged it in this afternoon it had failed. The pc just wouldn't read it. I've tried it across both pc's using win 7, 8 and vista(vista on laptop) and no joy. Its not the first time I've had a USB stick fail like this.
I'll stick to good ole fashioned discs from now on. I've just got the picassa web albums to do now though looks like a lot in there have been duplicated. I'll tackle that lot tomorrow. 
Have a good evening folks, off for some fodder now. ttfn.
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Latest reply: Nov 29, 2014
Nov.28
Posted Nov 28, 2014
So, today is called Black Friday is it? I think a more appropriate name would be Red Friday judging by the number of people who will go into the red snapping up so called bargains. What is it with people who appear normal in every respect then suddenly, it gets near Christmas and they have their brains removed to such an extent they end up with a very lonely brain cell.
I watched some shoppers being interviewed amongst the scrum outside a store and a student was asked why he was there so early. His reply summed it up for me. He was there because, quote:- "I have so much debt as a student this is the one way I can hopefully get presents for my family" unquote. He's obviously not studying economics or 'how to maintain a household budget' (if he is, he's just failed the basic test) A sad reflection on a 'must have' society that's lost all sense of proportion and grip with reality. This not helped by the stores themselves. Simple question, if they can afford to slash prices like this today and again on Boxing Day, then why the hell can't they keep these prices all year round? Its a con people, wake up fer bobs sake!!
It goes without saying, I won't be taking part in any spending spree, I've done my normal shop and that's it. What I ain't got, I go without. Seemples
Right, that's got that off me chest, back to earth and more mundane matters. I have a laptop to update with the latest win 10 build so time to re-fresh me 
and set to on that.
Have a good day folks, ttfn.
Discuss this Journal entry [9]
Latest reply: Nov 28, 2014
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