* Posts by Chloe Cresswell

976 publicly visible posts • joined 24 Aug 2007

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Blustering Blackbeard's PC was all at sea, sysadmin got him shipshape in seconds

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Had a client with a machine with out network access.

Refused to do what I asked, and I was heading south to a consultant doctor's appointment in London (this was in Lincolnshire).

Ended up swinging past the site, walking in, pushing the network cable back in, walking out, back in the car, heading to south to catch my train.

The next week I replaced the cable, due to the broken latch on the connector.

Call out fee for pushing a cable in and walking away.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Dell laptops and slipcase style cases was one of my client's loves.

Pulling the laptop out of the tight case moved the switch every time of course.

White House activates Yu-Gi-Oh's trap card by using anime clip for war comms

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

I read it as Staler and Waldorf.

Retro tech fan views LaserDisc movie data with a budget microscope

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Chips are cool, too

Shelby does get that energetic when he finds stuff on his live twitch streams.

That part of the youtube video is from the live stream.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

They made a TV programme on it, where kids had to work out things using the domesday system as their reference.

The only part I remember is them looking around a north sea oil rig on it.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Hah, Checked Shelby's video on the domesday duplicator, where he showed the discs. And sure enough, on the centre label is a clear "RLV" logo/note.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Shelby (techtangents) has some recordable laserdiscs.

They were used (in his examples) for the video in a motion simulator ride.

From the different types you listed, I think his are RLV.

And IIRC he said the drive to write them at the time was like, $50,000.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: laserdiscs

Shelby (TechTangents) actually has some recordable laserdiscs.

They were used for limited use things, like those motion simulator rides in the days of LaserDisc.

Issue was the cost of the equipment to record it. I think Shelby said it was like, $50,000 for the drive alone!

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Obviously magnetic media is a different ballgame.

Panasonic PD did it too. Read with laser, write by heating with laser, set magnetic flux with a 2nd magnetic head.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Disc

Yeap, CED the needle is just a guide for the heat, unlike a record, where the needle is the reading head.

I get to cheat with the video, in some shots you'll see Shelby's chat overlay to the left side. And sometimes you'll see my messages in there ;)

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Disc

Although Shelby got images from both a LaserDisc and a CED, the credits from True Grit are from the CED, not the laserdisc.

The laserdisc credits are from "The mind's eye" ;)

True Grit was found as a bare disk inside his player, and as it wasn't able to be removed normally as the caddy and tray were missing, Shelby was happy to look at that disc under the microscope as the damage to it means it will never be put into a player again.

Users fume at Outlook.com email 'carnage'

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Payslips

"would put you in hot water with local privacy laws" Really?

Because it's fully compliment with the provisions of both GDPR and DPA (2018)

"Sending a pay slip in a plain text" You're the one assuming plain text.

Please inform the class what part of "Attached is your payslip in an Adobe PDF document, You will need a copy of Acrobat or Acrobat Reader to open is" is in such a violation of the law that it needs to be called out?

That is the plain text you are so upset about.

The PDF itself is password protected.

Stop projecting how badly _you_ would do this onto other people.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Payslips

Also, it's a recruitment company.

They have 12 members of staff, and over 1000 people signed up to them looking for work.

Factory comes to them and wants 4 staff for 4 weeks, and the client is meant to provide them an email account to send their payslip to?

This week they will send 395 payslips for those staff.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

This is a recruitment firm. You think we set every single person they find a job for on a site a company email account with the client's company?

If someone comes to them for a cleaner's job in a factory for 4 weeks, you expect them to have a recuritment company's email account, or the factory's email account?

Or maybe, you know, the client sends the payslip to the _person_

On Wednesday they will send 395 emails for payslips.

They have 12 permanent staff members.

You think we should provide email to those 395 people? Setup their devices to access the client's email server?

Plus we'd have to lock down every account to prevent it being used to send email, after all, they'd all be sending from the company's mailserver, with a company email address, how more ligitimate looking can you get?

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Every few months a client of mine (a recruitment company) has their emails rejected like this for their payslips.

One response from was really helpful: the emails which are individually generated and sent need an unsubscribe option for the mailing list.

That's right, we need to fake an unsubscribe option for the mailing list they aren't on, to improve our reputation.

Burger King turns to AI to flame broil employees who aren't friendly enough

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Now I can't even buy it.

I can't use a cash machine, it doesn't matter now little they charge, they can't take signatures.

The banking hubs tell me "Cash? You need to use a cash machine. Oh? you can't? Go to the branch"

To get cash I need to:

Between the hours of 1000 and 1400 on a weekday: Drive 36 miles, including a trip across a toll bridge, park, go to the branch, get cash, drive home.

In my time/lost income, milage, 2x tolls, parking, it costs me £180. Plus what ever I'm taking out.

"I mainly use cash & it's no real hassle getting hold of it via ATMs"

I'm glad it's no hassle for you to get hold of cash via ATMs, BUT I CAN'T USE CASH MACHINES, THAT'S THE ENTIRE POINT.

"I have no issue with stairs, I don't get why people in wheelchairs have to have ramps"

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Now I can't even buy it.

> Have you a banking hub in a nearby town? - they are useful for stuff like that.

Banking hub: yes. Can do anything except cash, for that, they tell me to go to a branch.

> Do you not also have a PIN for chip and sign card?

Do you know what you call a chip and sign card with a PIN? A chip and PIN Card.

The entire point of Chip and Sign is for people, like me, who can't remember PINs

> We care for a disabled relative (who has chip & sign card - but her card also supports a pin number) - I know it works in *some* UK ATMs as I have done the button punching (including PIN) at an ATM while she sits in her wheelchair beside me.

If you add a PIN to a chip and sign card, when you put in into a PDQ it will match on PIN verification, and not move to Sign verification, rendering the card useless to me.

The way the authentication is determined is there is a list of authentication types on both the card and the PDQ.

The first they match on is the verification the PDQ will use.

The order is:

Online PIN

Offline PIN

Online Signature

Offline Signature

No verification

The best my bank can offer is a cash card. Which I would have to write the PIN down for.

But it doesn't matter, as that card only works in the bank's machines, and the nearest machine is a 36 mile drive, across a toll bridge.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Now I can't even buy it.

Where am I getting this cash from? Only places around me to get cash are: cash machines.

Cash machines can't use chip and sign cards.

Or do you assume I have an infinite supply of cash hidden under my bed or something?

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Now I can't even buy it.

2 issues: means going somewhere and buying something I don't really want.

2nd issue: Very few of them left.

Asda dropped cash back last year.

Tescos only do it at the customer service desk, you have to buy something there, not the main tills, and only at the larger stores, the locals/etc just tell you they have a cash machine outside.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Hi There!!!

It doesn't resemble meat.

"The words 'Share and Enjoy' were displayed in illuminated letters three miles high near the Sirius Cybernetics Complaints Division until their weight caused them to collapse through the underground offices of many young complaints executives. The upper half of the sign that now protrudes translates in the local tongue as 'Go stick your head in a pig,' and is lit up only for special celebrations. "

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Now I can't even buy it.

To get cash means doing a 36 mile drive in working hours across a toll bridge to the nearest branch of my bank.

I worked out it costs me £180 to get £40 out.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Chip and Sign was introduced with Chip and PIN in the EMV spec for debit and credit cards.

So weirdly, no.

When I typed "Chip and sign" I did not mean "Chip and PIN", I meant "Chip and Sign".

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Hi There!!!

Go stick your head in a pig?

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

"on all 3 occasions I ordered something they weren't serving at that time"

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

I used to like BK's stuff.

Now I can't even buy it.

(seriously, the kiosks reject my cards as they can't handle chip and sign, and tell me to go to the counter. The counter has no PDQ, so can't take cards...)

Engineer held hostage by client who asked for the wrong fix

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: idiots

But did you try to get the capacitor replaced under warranty after you smoked it?

If you went "my fault, arse, need a replacement part" you're not an idiot *nods*

If you say "it's the fault of the supplier, they owe me a new capacitor to replace the one I blew up", then yes, you'd be an idiot ;)

If you are an IT tech for a company, and don't know you need to power off the machine before installing expansion cards, I would still maintain you are an idiot.

If you then hook in a device using a cable that doesn't meet the spec, then I'd still say you're an idiot.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Did some work for APC (now part of FedEX UK).

Network wasn't working right.

Machine had been supplied with 10/100 10baseT networking.

Found fault PC with a 10baseT/2 PCI card installed, and a 20 cm cable looping it into the network (50cm is the minimum distance)

Examined the machine, the PCI card had been installed while the machine was running.

I got banned from the site as I told my boss not to honour the warranty as the machine was damaged by the client's IT staff being an idiot.

BOFH: Nobody would be stupid enough to go live with the mirror system, surely

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

A transfer of potential energy building at 9.8ms/2 into kinetic energy?

IBM stock dives after Anthropic points out AI can rewrite COBOL fast

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

IBM said this years ago?

So an "AI" company is repeating something another source already said?

How apt.

HMRC spares 661 from Making Tax Digital as rollout nears

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Naming of people.

That would still make us customers. We're not.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Naming of people.

"Thousands more customers are signing up every day and we urge customers to check out our guidance on GOV.UK to find out what they need to do."

We're not customers. We don't have a choice. We're users, people, companies, taxpayers, but we're not fucking _customers_

MoD ticks shopping list as PM considers weapons budget boost

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Beep...

"The system detects acoustic pressure waves from gunfire, mortars and explosions, allowing troops to pinpoint their resource"

First thought in my head: "Micro changes in air density, my ass."

Microsoft engineer speedruns Raspberry Pi magic smoke in five minutes

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: O tempora o mores

My classic was an eprom cartridge for the BBC Master (or electron, the slots are electrically identical).

I put a rom in backwards, and was greeted by it instantly becoming a light emitting rom.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Keying...

One went to a machine and found the 25 pin serial lead in the wrong way around.

We suspected they used a hammer.

Nitrogen ransomware is so broken even the crooks can't unlock your files

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: I doubt that will worry them.

Because if you know, say, due to this article, that you still won't get your files, why pay?

McDonald's is not lovin' your bigmac, happymeal, and mcnuggets passwords

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

I would never use bigmac as a password, or happymeal.

It would be like using realtek 8019 or 8139 as a password...

Tesla Full Self Driving subscription to rise alongside its capabilities

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Fine Shield for Drivers

Which is what happened: the registered keeper was Tesla Financial Services.

Ancient telnet bug happily hands out root to attackers

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Who still uses telnet?

"And the great unwashed..."

Please, we've had web design companies moan at us as we don't give them ftp access to their client's hosting packages, just sftp.

Kids learn computer theory with wood, cardboard, and hot glue

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Right on Commander!

MPs ask who's responsible when AI crashes the UK finance system

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: There must be clarity on who is responsible:

Pretty sure their view will be "the end user for not understanding the risks of using our AI systems"

CES 2026 worst in show: AI girlfriends, a fridge that won't open unless you talk to it, and more

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Yeah, the ones that last are just the ones that lasted.

My mum has a danish made chest freezer, it's 1 year older than I am.

It's from 1978.

Is it reliable? yes.

Is it well made? yes.

Has it lasted 49 years? yes.

Have I ever seen another one? No.

Is it therefore an example of how much better things were made? No, we just got lucky (esp as it hasn't leaked, given it's full of classic Ozone eating CFCs...)

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Will you have to think in Korean?

Help desk read irrelevant script, so techies found and fixed their own problem

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: KPIs, you get the service you pay for

"here's often no differentiation between "end user" and techie so those of us who are expert get the same 1st line script"

My normal comment is the knowledge level of a tech support call is a constant.

So $ENDUSER rings in, they get the expert.

We ring in, we get "it's my first day! script reader.

Recline of the machines: Terminator felled by dodgy battery

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: I used to like

Seen that exactly: Once.

Toshiba laptop.

Must be a different value of frequently to my experience.

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: I used to like

It wasn't that stupid really.

If set to halt on all errors, the press F1 was to indicate a keyboard was now attached and working.

My machines were normally defaulted to "halt on all errors except keyboard" from the makers (gigabyte 486/pentiums boards) and so would sail though regardless if you hadn't connected the keyboard.

Crypto wallet shop Ledger confirms customer data lifted in Global-e snafu

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

scam

...And suddenly the massive rash of "ledger" titled spam/scams hitting our systems recently makes sense.

Hong Kong’s newest anti-scam technology is over-the-counter banking

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Yep, the right step.

Still better then say, Barclays who have shut every branch in my areas as there is one "16.4 miles away" - if you swim 14 miles across an estury, as it's 33 miles by land bridge...

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: Yep, the right step.

"The UK's high streets have been virtually bank free for decades!"

Virgin Money (previously yorkshire and clydesdale) have reneged on their promise to not shut any branches where possible until 2026.. by upping that to 2030.

New York’s incoming mayor bans Raspberry Pi at his inauguration party

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Brands...

So a banana pi is fine, right?

Pizza restaurant signage caught serving raw Windows

Chloe Cresswell Silver badge

Re: I recently 'dined' at Luton Airport

"They only take cash (surely some tax dodge?)" a lot of places around me only take cash, because of the cost of taking cards.

One cafe that takes cards has a sign up which they update - it's how much the charges are for the current month for the card transactions they have taken.

It's normally around £350.

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