corrupt system32

Posted on 7th Dec 2009 by essiep

<7°C, & falling under clear starry skies.

Poorly computer (again gasp): On Windows 2000, the System32system file is corrupt, meaning no bootup. I don’t know how this happens, but last night Kaspersky raised the alarm and offered to delete some infected files. It will be a few days until I can SFC file checker from the boot-up floppy discs. Last time I tried that technique, however, it failed- no repair worked.
What a pain, it’s all the time setting up the OS that’s at risk, no important files are in danger though. Just time- a precious commodity at this end of term.

Why this one?

Posted on 5th Dec 2009 by essiep

9°C, bad of rain tonight, dry until now

Why is this a news story? : Knox-Kercher murder case. Why, of all the murder trials going on in the world has this one floated to the top of the popularity ratings of the media.

A vague guess: it’s a story starring pretty people. Some papers are discussing their ‘surprise’ that this crime was committed by people who are not the archetypal evil criminal.Maybe it is a surprise if you take the hollywood-shallow notion that criminals are possessed by some evil force, in the christian understanding of the word.

Holly recommends Mike Leigh’s "HAPPY GO LUCKY" (2008) on Channel 4 tomorrow. Take note.

horizontally going down

Posted on 3rd Dec 2009 by essiep

<3°C, dropping, but dry now.

Strange sleep routine: bed early, too tired to notice the others arriving home at mid-night. Then waker at 3 unable to get any more sleep. Camomile tea fixed it so that I nearly slept through the alarm. It is not supposed to work like this.

Ilych

Posted on 2nd Dec 2009 by essiep

7°C, distinctly warm compared to yesterday. Dry, SE wind, light

Entrance exam again.: Had a good group today, it all went well. I couldn’t help noticing a minor irony- 24 kids sitting a test to win a place in a selective grammar school, the whole time, overlooked by a statue of Lenin in the corner. Yes it was a History room, but he did look earnest.

This one tastes of Christmas

Posted on 30th Nov 2009 by essiep

5°C, northerly, clear

Here is a fine chocolate, there is as much variety in the taste of plain chocolate as there is in Whisky. This one is certainly a single malt: however the Bournville I had in work today wasn’t even an unbranded blend; not sure that stuff even deserves the name ‘chocolate’ to be blunt.
This bar came as a surprise when driving home yesterday- it tastes of Christmas. Each block leaves a cherry-rich soft night-time after-taste. This is the peaty island malt of the chocolate world. Divine and Green & Blacks, you are up against some competition here. I bet many overlook this princely prize with its own-brand name and low price; don’t make that mistake- there are treasures of some depth to experience in this bar.

Now, steal yourself; off you to go the local Co-op to buy some.

Cwm Cau

Posted on 29th Nov 2009 by essiep

6°C, miserable here, better in Powys

On the South face of Cadair Idris, the lake Llyn Cau. Yesterday. The snow started at about 1,000ft, it formed a decent ground-cover a few hundred metres higher here at this lake Llyn Cau. We had intended to go to the beach but the mountains called with their bright white peaks in the patches of sunshine.

Ultrasonic

Posted on 26th Nov 2009 by essiep

9°C, has the battery failed in the thermometer? It’s colder than this. 6° probably

That SW wind blows strongly some more.
Mosquito is a siren (in the UK anyway) that is meant to repel teenagers. Shops and cafes use them to repel loiterers and they are becoming quite commonplace. The claim is that they can’t be heard by older people and selectively annoy ‘youth’ who then go away.
Explain why I can hear them then! I am 45 years old (as of yesterday).
The device makes a sound rather like the sonar effect you hear on tacky WWII submarine films, only the pitch is octaves higher, as high as the sound bats make I’d say.
I ponder…
Had no luck yet finding the frequency that these things peak at, but Pipistrelle bats begin at 15 and range up to 45KHz. Not sure of the physics at play here, but wouldn’t there be harmonics at an octave above and and another below?
None in my tutor group have ever heard a bat- they said today. I had to ask.

Shot in south Wales.

45 plus one

Posted on 25th Nov 2009 by essiep

9°C, that some wind, the same temperature but coldness looms

Look, I have even more chocolate, the sort that keeps me awake at night. Better deploy the self-discipline.

Another birthday

Posted on 24th Nov 2009 by essiep

9°C, more SW winds

This wind has been blowing for two weeks. It’s warm, and riding home is fast & effortless. Bet it changes soon.
Birthday outing soon, pinning hopes that it lightens after a bad day at work. At the time of writing, I have cider in my veins.
I can be confident that it really is my birthday- it has been raining.
This evening, I find I have more Dark Chocolate Halva than in the morning. That’s the way it should go.

Make a survey for up to at least 15 people

Posted on 23rd Nov 2009 by essiep

9°C, showers, clammy

You can work out what’s wrong with the title.
Fine morning to unblock a stinking drain. The overspill left a layer of slimy mud below the window which must have been teeming with life. My guess is there were algae living in it along with the inevitable fungi. Further along the food chain were a growing family of slugs, looking like miniature gherkins. They were so happy. The fungi spent their time making the rotten newspaper smell, and the jelly-like clear slimes- what were they. Or maybe not; times like this I need an expert in microscopic-smelly-lifeforms.
All wet and shiny clean now.

A day to be confused by stuff that people write. Go away, sit in a quiet dark room and and think really hard.

Micycle

Mike thinks b/hikes

Author Archives: essiep