Today's Whiskey Tango Foxtrot

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#3074059 8-May-2023 21:06

PolicyGuy:

Ah yes ... cleaning the magnetic oxide dust off the read/write heads and out of the vacuum channels with a cotton bud soaked in isopropyl alcohol. You had to buy it in a 100ml bottle with a company purchase order from a pharmacy who wouldn't sell it without the P/O. You could get a little bit drunk just on the fumes after cleaning two or three drives.

The Good Old Days ... I think!

Wow, I thought being looked at funny for getting 5-6l of the stuff at bunnings was bad enough, thats just crazy.

Richard rich.ms

neb

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#3074067 8-May-2023 21:36

richms:
Wow, I thought being looked at funny for getting 5-6l of the stuff at bunnings was bad enough, thats just crazy.

It's common enough now, but back then the only significant use I can remember was with medical equipment, so mostly hospitals and the like. For some reason I ended up with some once, used it like it was free (which it had been), and when I needed to replace it found it was a major headache to get.

frankv

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#3074101 9-May-2023 08:38

PolicyGuy:

Ah yes ... cleaning the magnetic oxide dust off the read/write heads and out of the vacuum channels with a cotton bud soaked in isopropyl alcohol. You had to buy it in a 100ml bottle with a company purchase order from a pharmacy who wouldn't sell it without the P/O. You could get a little bit drunk just on the fumes after cleaning two or three drives.

Interesting... not so long ago, I bought 20L of IPA off TradeMe.

Incidentally, I also worked briefly at the Wanganui Computer Centre in the early 80s. Was there at the only time it shut down, when they blew the battery-charging device(s). Power for the Univac was 230VAC -> battery chargers -> batteries -> inverters -> 110VAC IIRC.

PolicyGuy

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#3074171 9-May-2023 11:12

frankv:

PolicyGuy:

Ah yes ... cleaning the magnetic oxide dust off the read/write heads and out of the vacuum channels with a cotton bud soaked in isopropyl alcohol. You had to buy it in a 100ml bottle with a company purchase order from a pharmacy who wouldn't sell it without the P/O. You could get a little bit drunk just on the fumes after cleaning two or three drives.

Interesting... not so long ago, I bought 20L of IPA off TradeMe.

Incidentally, I also worked briefly at the Wanganui Computer Centre in the early 80s. Was there at the only time it shut down, when they blew the battery-charging device(s). Power for the Univac was 230VAC -> battery chargers -> batteries -> inverters -> 110VAC IIRC.

The actual power setup was
For the time - designed in the mid-1970s - it was a very high security data centre setup. All the comms circuits had duplicate runs out of the front and back of the building and the Post Office (ah, the Good Old Days again!) assured us that there was geographic diversity to all the main centres.

I was there from 1975-1977 and 1984-89

SomeoneSomewhere

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#3074320 9-May-2023 18:42

For the power presumably involved, I imagine there was 400V 3~ into the battery chargers. Three phase rectifies much more nicely, which was especially important in the days before switching PFC.

kiwiharry

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#3074388 10-May-2023 06:59

Hmmmm.... Google Maps setting me up for road rage or a collision

If you can't laugh at yourself then you probably shouldn't laugh at others.

PeterReader

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#3074518 10-May-2023 11:48

Getting this when I tried to reply on Geekzone. I am a robot, you don't need to check.

I am the Geekzone Robot and I am here to help. I am from the Internet. I do not interact. Do not expect other replies from me.

These links are referral codes: Sharesies | Mighty Ape

Bung

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#3074522 10-May-2023 12:08

Acquisition of a sense of humour is a dangerous sign in a robot.

RunningMan

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#3074572 10-May-2023 14:56

OMG Chat GPT is actually GeekzonePTreader.

freitasm

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#3074595 10-May-2023 17:04

Not a joke. I toyed with replacing some of PeterReader's original code with chatGPT calls.

That would be a W.T.F.

My technology disclosure

floydbloke

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#3075594 12-May-2023 20:01

Councils and their contractors. For ratepayers' sake I hope the council make the contractor pay to get it remedied.

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/489784/mow-way-auckland-park-ploughed-after-contractor-mows-sodden-turf

Devonport-Takapuna Local Board chairperson Toni van Tonder said the contractor had displayed poor judgement in deciding to mow the “sodden” grass.

Ngataringa Park in Devonport is in a sorry state after the grass was mown two days after Auckland was hit by torrential rain.

Roses are red, that much is true, but violets are purple, not ****ing blue!

Tinkerisk

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#3075939 14-May-2023 02:44

I wanted to buy more dried juniper berries today, but I couldn't find them straight away. The young lady then seriously but kindly brought me blueberries, which I had to decline with thanks. Without wanting to offend her, the dumbing down of general knowledge has progressed faster than I previously thought.

edit: I see the mower has turned the golf course into a soybean field ... another way to attract attention.

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k1w1k1d

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#3075963 14-May-2023 09:18

Looks like the mower man was employed for his good looks, charm, and personality - not his intelligence.

Eva888

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#3075987 14-May-2023 11:38

k1w1k1d:
Looks like the mower man was employed for his good looks, charm, and personality - not his intelligence.

He was given a job to do and he did it, mow the grass. 'Yea, she'll be right mate,' and off he went to implement that exact task.

neb

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#3076066 14-May-2023 14:15

Eva888: He was given a job to do and he did it, mow the grass. 'Yea, she'll be right mate,' and off he went to implement that exact task.

It seems to be a trait of a lot of people in the landscaping business that they are, as a UK friend of mine put it, "a bit wide". Tree in the way? No problem, we've got a digger, soon have that sorted and then we can do the work on the job sheet.

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