brexit I’ll miss EU. This morning I don’t know what is more on my mind. Five months to find a new job, or eleven to find a new home, if I can find any way to do it. I’m not sure if I’m more depressed
Why does the blog look different? I love consistency, I've always loved consistency. I'm also rather pedantic and known at work as the resident pedant (although there are now many more to take my place) Anyway, I use the excellent Ghost platform for this blog and - due to various
qlab On-Stage Telephone Ringing with QLab There is an excellent article in the QLab cookbook for how to simulate a ringing telephone in QLab - and it's far better than playing back a simple sound effect. However, sometimes you can't beat an actual phone. Indeed, even in TV and film,
Droning on... Forestry Commission Scotland Well done Forestry Commission Scotland Hot on the heels of the ridiculous attempt by Ashdown Forest to try and regulate airspace, Forestry Comission Scotland announced that drones were not permitted in their forests; Flying drones (unmanned aircraft) as an informal activity or hobby is
Paxton Net2 + Slack Hack (Updated) A couple of years ago I documented our hack that is used to get Paxton Net2 to send messages when doors are opened into Slack, recent changes to Net2 break this and require some changes; Changed endpoint The endpoint changes from http://ws.textanywhere.
rants Taxpayers are not paying for a wedding! Seen so many posts on Facebook, Twitter, etc about “the taxpayer paying for the royal wedding” 🙄 Ok, I’m not a 'royalist', but I am generally quite pragmatic, so firstly; No, we’re not. However, unlike all these ridiculous posts, I tend to like
eurovision Why do we keep paying for Eurovision when we will never win? This is the recurring sentiment by loads of posts I've seen on Facebook and twitter, and they're beginning to grate a little. Most of the time people make stupid outlandish claims like we pay for 1/5th of the cost of Eurovision wherever it's
aviation The most important main street in any town GA is thriving in many countries, but practically dying in the UK. The UK has a proud aviation history; these proposed changes to the NPPF are a good start to ensure it’s preserved and protected for future generations.
aviation Ashdown Forest and "Drones" Now, some might accuse me of droning on (sorry) but yes, I'm opinionated. I also fly light aircraft for fun, and also own a couple of SUAs or, as they tend to be known "drones" and fly legally and considerately. One thing
security "Pure Spam" - Or, a lesson in shared hosting and DNS. I maintain, or am associated with, a number of websites including some quite high profile and well respected ones. Imagine my shock when one of these disappeared from the Internet (well, Google anyway) entirely overnight. Logging into Google Webmaster Tools I could see this
sip SIP Rejection Testing Every now and then I throw together quick little one-off scripts for testing things that might benefit a wider audience. Sometimes it's handy to test how particular devices or platforms handle specific rejection codes, so I threw together this little tool in node. Basically,
rants Argos (again) The expression "too many cooks" comes to mind. Anywhere I've worked, people take ownership of a customer's case - irrespective of how it arrives. There's usually some sort of ticket which can be transferred between people, but it's not a rabble of
security Security Theatre and the Airport I've previously ranted about "security theatre" that we all suffer every time we fly anywhere so imagine my surprise that I write this airside at a major airport holding a bag that's not been X-rayed... how did I get here? That this
rants Argos... Update 6th November Knew it was too good to be true. Seems Jack completely lied about what they'd done, because apparently the order has been cancelled (again) and I've been refunded (I haven't)... so I now need to phone and re-order the same products
security HP Ink DRM I am never buying an @HP product ever again. This “Ink DRM” is a joke, I don’t even want a colour print but I can’t use this paperweight!
consumer rights aqva-usations Ok, so that pun didn't really work. I've already posted a lengthy rant about aqva bathrooms and their complete lack of customer service after supplying me with defective goods. Well, today, after sending them the recording of the call in which they told me
consumer rights aqva Bathrooms Another day, another customer service (or lack thereof) rant this time it's the turn of aqva Bathrooms. Turns out this company has directors in common with QS Supplies, a company that I've not dealt with since 2012 for similar reasons and - had I
security SaaS... Access Control? There's in increasing tend towards SaaS, and indeed at work we use it extensively with services like Zendesk, Xero, Statuspage.io etc.. I've done a lot (including custom development, and quick hacks like access control notifications in slack) with Paxton's Net2 access control and
rants Do Not Reply I am very sorry about our delay in getting back to you, only your message was sent to a 'do not reply' email address, which is not monitored closely. This is the message I got today from a (otherwise very helpful company) because I
consumer rights HIKvision Doesn't Want Your Business Ok, that seems like a bit of a sensational title, but it's not far from the truth and I'm not the only one to think so as the prominent HIKvision dealer Since 2013, Use-IP, have [issued a similar statement]((https://docs.google.com/document/
personal 10 Years of Facebook I avoided sharing the insipid auto-created video, but Facebook decided to tell me today that I joined Facebook TEN years ago today... So instead, here's an almost equally insipid post, cross-posted from Facebook :D It's an interesting landmark I suppose, so figured I'd post
roads Stopping Distances Following the recent tragic death of Kim Briggs, killed by cyclist Charlie Alliston riding an illegal bike with no front brakes, there's been lot of debate over whether or not he could stop even if the bike was legal. These people often cite the
security Bizzby Privacy Update 21st August Having spoken with Bizzby, I'm confident this is an isolated incident and that my concerns about how jobs are allocated to their service provider partners are unfounded. I expect a formal statement from Bizzby to be issued in due course. I
Web forms and 'an' or 'a' I'm a stickler for the little things. What's wrong with this drop down box? If you don't notice, then this article probably isn't for you. However the more pedantic audience members will note that "I am a Installer" is terrible English. This
javascript International number formatting on the web with JavaScript In the UK numbers are typically shown as follows; 07700 900 123 020 7946 0123 This is known as the "local" or "UK National" format When dialled from abroad, the leading 0 is replaced with +44 so the 07700 number
