Rant of the Day v2.

[OFSO]

When I was trained in maintenance ops. on telemtery equipment I was taught to chase a fault thru a logical path often starting at sensors and working back. The guys who have the concession for my central heating have no idea. Look at the digital display and say "it must be that". No ammeter or ohm meter, no applying a s/c to a sensor to see if that changes the problem.

I've noticed that it takes five goes on the reset button to fire up, with the temperature rising slightly each time until at 39° it continues to burn. I've also found that turning it on every four hours from the main thermostat for as little as five minutes causes it to run properly. is keeping the chamber warm. Suggests the sensor to me. New one ordered.

[Pontius Navigator]

OFSO, on our car forum this chap's car won't run. He has diagnosed the crankshaft sensor. That didn't work so he tried another. That didn't fix it either. Obviously spark plugs so he changed them. That didn't work so he's asked for advice.

Eventually he mentioned it hadn't been run for 4 months, the battery was flat and the alternator wasn't charging. He had only got it running briefly by jump starting.

"Throwing the parts catalogue at it in the hope something works."

[Hydromet]

In NSW, Australia, certain people are required to take rapid antigen covid tests. These people are those who have symptoms, are close contacts of positive cases, are going to events where there are lots of people ore visiting vulnerable people, or have returned from overseas.
I fall into the last category and am required to have this test within 24 hours of arrival, and another on day 6 after arrival. This sounds very sensible, except that there are no RATs available here for love nor money. There is a privately run drive through testing centre nearby, but they are only PCR testing people with symptoms or close contacts of positive cases, as they have been overwhelmed. Their staff have been flat out for months now, and their service has been exceptional.
I rang the office of my local state MP to find out where I could get a RAT. The staffer I spoke to said he thought the local public hospital did them, but would make a few phone calls to check, and get back to me. Taking a chance on it, I went to the hospital and was told that no, they only do tests for people with symptoms or close contacts of +ve cases. I suppose I could have lied and said I had a runny nose and a headache, in which case I would have been given a PCR test. The problem with that is that people have been complaining about the time it's taking to get results back from the hospital. While I was there I could hear someone complaining that he still hadn't received his results after 3 weeks, and I would have had to self-isolate until I received a negative result!
When I explained that I had rung my MP and what I had been told they found an excuse (my venerable age) to give me a test kit, but told me not to tell anyone. Happily for me, the result was -ve.

The staffer eventually got back to me and said that I could try the hospital, but not to get my hopes up. I pointed out to him the stupidity of making it a legal requirement to do something which is impossible, and asked him to apprise his employer, who is a minister in the government that created this requirement, of my feelings. I am sure they will change their policy as a result of my phone call.

[Pontius Navigator]

am sure they will change their policy as a result of my phone call

depending when the election is.

[1DC]

Sodding Yorkies, went into Hull city centre for the first time in four years to take Mrs 1DC's watch in to the jewellers for a service the other day. In the post today, got a nice picture of my car driving for about 40 yards down a bus lane after I came out of a car park. Cost of the privilege is £30 if I pay in 14 days or £60 if I want to wait 28 days. No indication to me that it was a bus lane and I didn't know that cars weren't allowed in bus lanes.You would have thought that people who live 50 odd miles away might have got a warning first. Anyway the place still looks like the sh1thole that it was before it became city of culture 3 years ago.
Otherwise it is a nice day on the Humber, the sun is shining brightly and the temperature is 10C.

[OFSO]

New flame sensor, an ionizer, not a thermocouple, fitted to Central Heating boiler. Just waiting to see if it makes a difference....

Nope. Three attempts to start, error light on, hit "reset" button and then it goes. As before my impression is it fires but does not stay lit until three failed starts have pushed the temperature to 40°. The subsequent restart and it goes.

[CharlieOneSix]

Why am I not surprised by the news today of the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) cock-up with underpayment of 134,000 women's state pensions going back to 1985! Mrs C16 always leaves everything to the last minute and this includes giving me all the information so I can do her Self Assessment Tax Return before the 31 January deadline. I filed it online a couple of weeks ago showing tax overpaid of £52 and included the £948 state pension received in two payments from DWP in the 9 weeks from her qualifying birthday to the end of the 2020-21 Tax Year. That amount matched the amounts shown in a letter to her - before commencement of her pension - from DWP for the 2020-21 tax year.

A letter arrived today from HMRC saying that according to their information she has misdeclared her state pension and the amount should be £1422.

Where do HMRC get their information? From DWP of course!

9 weeks state pension does indeed amount to £1422 but DWP rules state they pay the pension in arrears so only £948 was received in the relevant tax year. So we sent a letter to HMRC today - they won't let us phone about this, letters only - saying we are correct, they are wrong and go jump for the amount of tax they say is owing by 31 January. A copy of the DWP letter stating the amount of state pension to be paid in the 2020-21 tax year was attached. Numpties.

[PHXPhlyer]

For the third year in a row (at least they are consistent) the Social Security Administration (SSA) has screwed up the amount of my Medicare premiums, charging me ~ triple the base amount.
The last two times I was able to resolve the problem with a reasonably short phone call. Phoned in this time, after the usual press 1, press 2, etc. was informed that wait time ~15 minutes, doable. After 10-12 minutes hold music and messages sopped, silence. Hung up and tried again with same results. Third time got through only to be told that they couldn't rectify problem.
Only solution: download forms, fill out said forms, and mail them in. No provision for email. only mail or fax.
Wanking bureaucracies!

PP

[TheGreenGoblin]

For the third year in a row (at least they are consistent) the Social Security Administration (SSA) has screwed up the amount of my Medicare premiums, charging me ~ triple the base amount.
The last two times I was able to resolve the problem with a reasonably short phone call. Phoned in this time, after the usual press 1, press 2, etc. was informed that wait time ~15 minutes, doable. After 10-12 minutes hold music and messages sopped, silence. Hung up and tried again with same results. Third time got through only to be told that they couldn't rectify problem.
Only solution: download forms, fill out said forms, and mail them in. No provision for email. only mail or fax.
Wanking bureaucracies!

PP

Move to the UK, for even more frustration, and a beer with your friends here...

[llondel]

For the third year in a row (at least they are consistent) the Social Security Administration (SSA) has screwed up the amount of my Medicare premiums, charging me ~ triple the base amount.
The last two times I was able to resolve the problem with a reasonably short phone call. Phoned in this time, after the usual press 1, press 2, etc. was informed that wait time ~15 minutes, doable. After 10-12 minutes hold music and messages sopped, silence. Hung up and tried again with same results. Third time got through only to be told that they couldn't rectify problem.
Only solution: download forms, fill out said forms, and mail them in. No provision for email. only mail or fax.
Wanking bureaucracies!

PP

USPS will then proceed to transport then via donkey mail, and it's probably a drunk donkey too.

[jimtherev]

Had an 'O dear what can the matter be?" moment last Sunday week. At church. On a Tuesday. Luckily our cleaner was still around to let me out. Came in next day with tools at the ready, looked at it for 5 minutes and decided it was a locksmith job. Locksmith reported later that the 18-month old lock was worn out, but he'd never seen one like it before and he'd have to goodle for another. Go ahead sez I.
Long story short: he fitted the new one today and left me a bill: labour £50 - very reasonable; parts £150. WHAT!
The internal mechanism of this thing is full of cams and leavers and junk, and just about the smallest component - say 20 x 10 mm - is worn out, after 18 months of sporadic use.

Stiff letters are about to be written on cardboard, and meanwhile Jim is workshop-bound to fettle a new bit. We have four more of these silly locks in the building.

[Hydromet]

There must be a thing about locks.
About to leave on holidays for 3 weeks, I tried to deadlock the door, and the inside handle just rotated without doing anything. As the door was effectively deadlocked - couldn't be opened from the inside with or without a key - I left it till my return to fix it. The problem was a broken spring made from unobtanium, so I had to buy & install a new lock.
Of course, over the years a number of different locks have been fitted to this door, so some of the screw holes overlap. Had to drill larger holes, then cut and fit plugs.
...and a thing about springs.
Mrs. Hydro pulled the cord to lower the bedroom blind, it came down and wouldn't go up again. I took the blind down and the problem was that a small lug at the end of a spring had broken off. Again, impossible to get a replacement spring. Off to the place where I bought the blind in the hope of buying a replacement blind. Of course, they no longer stock that brand, so buy another brand. Of course, the fittings are different. The new fittings are meant to mount either inside the window frame or on the face of it. Just one problem. If they are mounted inside the frame, the blind is too lonng to fit. If they are mounted on the face, the blind is not long enough. After re-engineering one mount and attacking the blind with a hacksaw, it now fits inside the frame.
I feel this is a topic for the "What Einstein Designed This?" thread.

[G-CPTN]

I have ended up with a couple of 'power banks' with USB-C connections.

What options do I have to connect these to standard USB micro devices?

[Rwy in Sight]

G-CPTN, I am not sure if I see the problem but here is my take. Most powerbanks come with a cable that can be used to charge the powerbank by inserting the small plug in the powerbank and the large plug (USB) into a charger or into a computer.

This cable also serves to charge a device by reversing the connection: the USB size plug into the powerbank and the small plug (mainly/usually) a micro USB into the mobile/tablet/handset. So you can get a new cable with the non-USB plug to be mini USB or if the cable is attached on the powerbank you can get an adaptor from USB-C to micro USB.

All that provided the USB gives enough Volts or charging

[johngreen]

G-CPTN
Just google USB C adaptors and fleabay and others will provide you with numerous options...

[Boac]

Google input "UsbC to mini usb"

[PHXPhlyer]

Also check for "On The Go" connectors.

PP

[OFSO]

Every cable ending under the sun on sale here but you have to search the displays on the wall to get the correct one . I just bought a USB-C to a standard USB female so Mrs OFSO could plug a 64 GB pen drive in to her phone to use with her projector. (Then found it unnecessary).

[G-CPTN]

I guess that I will need a USB-C male to USB micro male

[Rwy in Sight]

I would search for adaptors mini usb to type c.

A bit like this - ignore the language - the title is readable in English