Kitz Forum
Chat => Introductions => Topic started by: guest on October 15, 2007, 04:53:28 PM
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rizla - no its not fag papers. Its from a Robert Rankin book :P Edit - and as an aside one of the funniest things I ever heard was Jonathon Ross trying to say Robert Rankin - I know I shouldn't mock people with a speech impediment but think about it ;D
Did the original How ADSL works guide for adslguide. Spent years trying to get either my name removed or the guide updated ;D Oddly I now find myself posting there again. Quite how that happened I really don't know ;D
Used Plusnet in the 1990s (FRIACO days) - they bolloxed up billing and eventually I told them to go forth and multiply. Used them again (unwillingly) when they bought Metronet 8 days after I migrated to Metronet from Zen. What a "doh!" moment that was - I woke up, got tea, checked email and sat there in stunned amazement. My initial thought was that it was a friend spoofing me - sadly it wasn't ;D
Now on Be but waiting for migration to UKOnline. An "interesting experience" doesn't quite cover it - a tip for anyone thinking of Be is NEVER select "Express Cancellation" and "I want a MAC" at the same time because you will have to work VERY hard to persuade Be that you don't want your service ceased in 10 days. Mentioning the small claims track, GC22, Ofcom and the OFT seems to have worked for me but who knows?
Done various things re work. Most too mind-numbingly boring to recount. Missiles were quite fun (provided I was watching from a couple of hundred metres away when they launched); computer security is dreadful; encryption is a young person's game (I'm about to turn 40 soon) as you need brutal maths skills.
There. Is that enough? :P
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Nice to meet you Rizla, you seem to be at home already :D
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Ah kitz and I sort of know each other - we've never met though.
IMHO she's a nice lady who deserves a far better hand than life has dealt her so far. Kitz being kitz would no doubt disagree ;)
There, that's enough sucking up to the site owner :P ;D
PS - kitz I'd be quite happy to contribute financially for the site (its damn useful - even for me*) but Paypal is a nono for me.
*couldn't remember VPI/VCI today - how sad is that ;D
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>> IMHO she's a nice lady who deserves a far better hand than life has dealt her so far.
You're spot on there my friend, and welcome to the forum.
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Can't argue with that!
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Welcome to the forum.
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Welcome rizla :)
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Howdo Rizla - nice to see you around :) Hope you're well!
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I'm better than I have been for a while mr_chris - thanks for asking.
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OMG - rizla!
For those that dont know - he is indeed one of the early pioneers into the world of adsl and has a wealth of knowledge on the subject. Honoured for you to be here rizla :)
>> Oddly I now find myself posting there again. Quite how that happened I really don't know.
Didnt know that you'd gone back.
That is so ironic.. funny enough at what have been about the time you made your post I was having a conversation with someone about how some of the "old hands from AG" and what happened to them and yours was one of the names that cropped up! lol I bet your ears were burning :D
>> There, that's enough sucking up to the site owner
Blah - when have you ever sucked up to me? Please dont do so now or I may get to like it and expect it as the norm :lol:
We have certainly had some interesting discussions about adsl, and even just life in general.
>> couldn't remember VPI/VCI today
whats that?
(jk) - must be an age thing.
Hope everything is well with you and the family.. and welcome aboard.
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I find myself exchanging PMs with seb these days for gods sakes! Right enough he has turned into Mr Corporate now - very smooth indeed. Ah well I can't moan because he listened to me and did a damn good article on Be/O2 and the IWF. I did have to deal with the ultimate horror though - a PM from Martin (Icarus) before he died to do with him banning me prematurely for calling someone on the Plusnet (adslguide) board a fanboy (footies I think?). Talk about stupid pointless arguments or what? I never even knew he was ill :(
Ego and men - its a cr*p combination, it really is.
I seriously couldn't remember VPI/VCI mate - no clue at all and since UKOnline are using Parcelforce then their router isn't going to arrive in time for migration so I have to blow the firmware in the Bebox (Speedtouch 780WL) which is currently set for a standard Be profile. A standard Be profile enables three LAN ports on the back (the fourth is reserved as a video bridge - don't ask as nobody knows), sets the box to RoutedEthoA, opens several daemons on the WAN side (google it) and is in general a mess unless you use the CLI via telnet.
You are still OK yes?
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>> I find myself exchanging PMs with seb these days for gods sakes!
lol - last time I remember one of your convos was about you requesting your name to be taken off the how adsl works in TTS. Must admit I dont go there often these days, hence why I hadnt realised you were "back".
>> a PM from Martin (Icarus).. /snip/ I never even knew he was ill
Hardly anyone did, I knew he'd been poorly - but only cause I was nosey and had asked questions during a period when he went awol. Didnt realise how bad though - he never said and it was a great shock to me too.
>> Ego and men - its a cr*p combination, it really is
Totally agree :P
The world of computing/IT seems to magnify that too. ;D
/me hides
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Hi Rizla,All I can say is Welcome. :)
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>> The world of computing/IT seems to magnify that too.
By an order of magnitude many many times greater than other industries, it seems, too!
Anyway, glad you're well mate :)
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I'm not sure about "well" really. Better is ermm a better word. If that confuses you then ask kitz - she'll tell you I'm as sane as she is :P
Best not tell my wife IT is that bad - she's made her way as a contractor for 15 years+
If you fly on any Airbus aircraft (yes even the A380); or the Dreamliner (when it flies) or a host of smaller corporate jets, your engine management system will be running on code she wrote. So when you go on hols think of rizla's wife for she did a lot of the dev/QA/fixing on Airbus craft.
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lol @ sane - no comment :P
>> Best not tell my wife IT is that bad - she's made her way as a contractor for 15 years
All credit to her for doing so in a Mans world.. :thumbs:
but some of the IT guys that Ive come across are pretty egotistical and very good at doing the BS or at least they seem to be around this area. Know too many that claim theyre capable of stuff but its all bluff and its a very competitive world where too often it seems to be those that can blag it do better than those that actually can :(
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She doesn't get the jobs she should (IMHO) because her CV is truthful. Its the only truthful CV I have ever seen in IT - most have at least 50% of the info "enhanced" shall we say ;)
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If you fly on any Airbus aircraft (yes even the A380); or the Dreamliner (when it flies) or a host of smaller corporate jets, your engine management system will be running on code she wrote. So when you go on hols think of rizla's wife for she did a lot of the dev/QA/fixing on Airbus craft.
Oh and I'm flying by Airbus tomorrow :swoon: :swoon:
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Heh think yourself lucky you don't have to sit next to her. Every expression on her face that isn't quite normal - especially if she's looking at the window - and what do you think that does to me? :D
Seriously though on one occasion coming back from hols she said "Why's he doing that?" to which I said "What?" and she said "He's cut the engines back to below minimum" which freaked me out. About 5 mins later it was announced we were diverting to Birmingham to refuel (there was pretty much a tropical downpour at East Mids so no landings - August 2005 I think?). Scary or what :D
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What you don't know cannot bother you..... :-\
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Where you off to this time Ralph - another train involved somewhere? :D
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No just a few days, sun, sun and more sun... :sun: :sun: :sun:
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Heh think yourself lucky you don't have to sit next to her. Every expression on her face that isn't quite normal - especially if she's looking at the window - and what do you think that does to me? :D
Seriously though on one occasion coming back from hols she said "Why's he doing that?" to which I said "What?" and she said "He's cut the engines back to below minimum" which freaked me out. About 5 mins later it was announced we were diverting to Birmingham to refuel (there was pretty much a tropical downpour at East Mids so no landings - August 2005 I think?). Scary or what :D
Good job she wasnt on the Excalibur Airways flight from Manchester to Orlando that I was on in May <-> Jun 96.
Im not an expert on planes , but I'd flown enough times to be concerned at the "noises" that were coming from "some-where" down near the floor vent and reported it to the cabin crew as I was concerned, but my complaint was dismissed as normal.
The plane was supposed to be a "new" DC-10 as we'd been told by the travel agent - lol that was a joke
New to Excalibur perhaps - it was a reburb job - very badly done at that. It was very alarming when on approach to Orlando, a large part of the interior ceiling came crashing down, you know above the luggage stores - so all the cables and stuff were dangling down.
One week into our hols just outside of the everglades or gulf coast some remotish area, we were waiting for the post-office to open and we met up with a UK couple and started chatting and mentioned the flight, and they said that had we not heard the news that the next flight in had also had problems.
(The airline did the man-orlando once a week iirc)
Our flight back home, was not without event and we sat on the tarmac for a few hours whilst there was some problem with the doors, which had to be fixed. I cant recall exactly but I'm sure it was that the doors wouldnt close properly.
We got home ok, but the next week, the next flight after ours, hit the national and international news and some passengers simply refused to fly on the plane... This time because of an aborted take off due to smoke... and then the passengers couldnt get out due to the emergency doors being stuck.
Ironically that was the same year that the Valuejet flight went down in the everglades (http://www.cnn.com/US/9606/05/valujet.panel/index.html).. and Whilst travelling through the Everglades "Tamiami Trail" (not the main H75?), we saw lots of emergency vehicles and TV trucks and wondered at the time what that was all about too.
It wasnt until we got back home and caught up on the news properly that I can understand why those that refused to board the Excalibur one had the wind put up them big time.
I believe the company went out of business just a couple of weeks later after a couple of scares with their aircraft. Cant really find much info (http://www.ukbusinesspark.co.uk/exs77454.htm) about it (http://www.pprune.org/forums/archive/index.php/t-56794.html) now.
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Don't know if you remember when we used to run the "Hamsterservers" kitz? Well one of the people involved in that (Tricky - rich_b or something like that on TBB) got married during all that nonsense. He and his wife went off to the US on honeymoon (IIRC). All was fine until the return when something went wrong with refuelling the plane and aviation fuel (avgas - which makes petrol look like its inert :P) was sprayed all over the plane and tarmac. The ground crew understandably legged it, leaving 300 or so passengers and flight crew sitting in a plane covered in avgas in 38C temps.
I think that's an OMG moment :)
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>> Tricky - rich_b
Would that be rick (trickster)?
OMG - scary indeed :(
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Kitz,
What were you worried about? Faulty door? Not a problem: :no:
Mrs. Dunwoody: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what investigations the Civil Aviation Authority has undertaken into allegations of unsafe operations during flights operated by Excalibur Airways.[35977]
10 Jul 1996 : Column: 193
Mr. Norris: The CAA advises me that all but one of the complaints it received concerning flights operated by Excalibur were related to contractual and commercial arrangements between the airline and its customers. The single safety complaint concerned a faulty door. An inspection for the aircraft confirmed that, although the normal electrical method of opening one of the aircraft doors had an intermittent fault, it could still be operated both manually and pneumatically. The CAA does not consider that passenger safety was compromised.
The CAA said it was OK, just needed a good old kick to open it. That is normal ! :lol:
It wouldn't be a GOOD charter flight without problems. You would only have the holiday to complain about. ;D
Rizla,
Regarding your comments about Avgas (Aviation Gasolene). It is actually only 100 octane petrol but with almost no lead content, about 6 star on the old star rating. 4 star was 98 octane.
Any aircraft capable of carrying about 300 passengers would have been an AVTUR (Aviation Turbine Fuel) fuelled aircraft with either turbo prop or pure jet engines.
AVTUR is a kerosene that is not very flammable at ambient temperatures. It needs to be atomized and ignited to burn so a fuel spillage of that fuel is not very nice but is not a real risk of fire unless you have a blow torch aimed at it to ignite it.
Had a few spills when aircraft tank filling valves failed to shut automatically when the tank was full. No matter how on-the-ball you are and even with the emergency shut off button in your hand it will spew out at least fifty gallons on the stuff onto the tarmac. The ground crew hated it because they then had to put a tow arm on and tow their aircraft to another part of the apron whilst we got the fire crew to come and swill it down the special drains and get some detergent onto the surface.
Memories.
dave
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>> The CAA said it was OK, just needed a good old kick to open it. That is normal ! laugh
/me rolls eyes
lol - well I can honestly say it wasn't the most pleasant of flights I'd been on. I dont think the guy whose head the "ceiling" panel fell down on wouldn't have been be too chuffed either.
When we booked the flight the TA told us it was a "new one" so it was a bit of a shock to see really tatty seats and an obviously old plane. :-X
hmmm obviously it was a long time ago - but Im pretty sure I can remember the stewardess struggling to close it and calling for assistance.. and they then had to call in maintenance.
I think I found it ironic that our flight was delayed because they couldnt close the door - yet the next flight was the one where in an emergency situation people couldn't get out. ???
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Would I be able to claim Compo, since that flight has now given me a phobia of landing in Airplanes. I am fine with take-off, calm as a.. calm thing during flying, but as soon as it comes to landing I turn into a wreck, and refuse to take my eyes off the ceiling, fearing I'm gonna end up squashed beneath a luggage rack. It is a very real fear. Ask anyone who has flown with me since. (My Father, My ex, and the poor lady I was sat next to on my flight to Toronto)
Ma, the hissing from down by the seat was on the way home. It was by my seat, and my mother kept demanding to know if I had spilt a can of pop down there!
Wait... what?! There was a plane crash whilst we were in the Everglades?! I love how that wasn't mentioned to me!
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>> Ma, the hissing from down by the seat was on the way home
The complaint I made to the cabin crew about strange noises was definitely on the way out (we were on the RH side of the plane and I had the window seat) You probably wasnt aware of that at the time as we didnt want to alarm you.
You couldnt help but notice a large portion of the ceiling panel fall off though. :o
On the way back we were on the LH side of the plane and a few seats back from the door that wouldnt close.
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Well there was a hissing on the way home too, as I remember being sat in the window on the left hand side of the plane on the way home, and you scolding me for dropping a can of pop!
..that's rather scary, actually.
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I was on an internal flight in Peru a few years back, Lima to Cusco with Lanair. Cusco is at about 12,000 in the Andes and the plane made a very fast and heavy landing, hitting the runway with an almighty bang, at least half a dozen oxygen masks fell from the overhead compartments. :o :o The runway is along the valley and can only be used in the one direction as at the end is the town up the side of the mountain. No run off area.
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>> Tricky - rich_b
Would that be rick (trickster)?
OMG - scary indeed :(
No I don't think so. rich_b (IIRC) is what he posted as on adslguide but everywhere else I've seen him he posts (and plays/played) as TrickyUK.
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I'm rather glad to say that the only foreign country I'm likely to visit these days is France, and I can get there without leaving the ground. :)