The Two Fingered WIFI salute

I was very amused to read on BBC News Online this afternoon an article about 'aggressive passive WIFI naming'. It turns out people have been naming their WIFI networks to give messages to neighbours and others who stumble across them. Some of the names include 'keep_your_cats_off_my_lawn' and 'stop_moving_furniture_at_night'. Others have referred to neighbours noisy sex sessions.
In addition to thinly veiled rants, some names warn would be WIFI hijackers to steer clear and not to even attempt connecting.
How wonderful it is to read of a very clever modern day equivalent of sticking a sign up outside your house to dissuade any unruly neighbour or would be thief. I do like this :-)

(Moodscope rating today is 24%... getting better)

Happy Days

Oh Happy Days...

Playground Butterfly

Something different. Collecting my Son from school this afternoon, I almost trod on a rather nice looking butterfly having a rest on the playground in the brief sunshine. Just managed to get a snap before it flew off...

Praise for the 111 Service

At 1am last night, I found myself dialling 111 for my wife who had taken ill with severe abdominal pains. Ironically, I had earlier watched Channel 4's '999 - What's Your Emergency'. I was immediately put in touch with a trained and professional operative who talked me through basic checks. They dispatched a Paramedic who arrived in a few minutes preceded by a First Response unit from our local town of Long Sutton. The response was nothing short of instant and the care we received was simply first class.
It was decided that my wife should attend hospital and an ambulance was requested by the Paramedic, but she was told there would have been a wait for one to become available. Instead of waiting, the Paramedic drove my wife to QE II Hospital, King's Lynn where she was treated.
Although the exact cause for the pain hasn't been established, my wife does have pain reducing medication and antibiotics. These are helping though we will need reassess her condition at the weekend.
We live in what I would consider to be a fairly remote location on the edge of the Wash. Despite this, we were attended to within minutes by well-equipped and highly professional personnel.
A huge thanks to the emergency response teams of Long Sutton and Moulton Chapel! I appreciate it.

CBT No More!

I've been attending CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) sessions for the last three months and I was due to have my 6th session of the allocated 8 during the last week. I normally receive an SMS message to remind me of my appointment time but I didn't receive one. I rely on SMS reminders all the time and find it a great way of keeping me in check with my Google Calendar.
I called this morning hoping I could find out the time of my next appointment and I was told that I had been discharged (or struck-off) as I had missed my last appointment. I did stress that I hadn't received a text message but I was told I would have to now re-apply and join the (8 month) waiting list for therapy.
I'm a little angered that their reminder service has failed, but at the same time relieved that I no longer have the stress and anxiety of making sure I've completed the homework. To be honest, I really hated it and I do not believe it has done anything to help my depression. Depression cannot be controlled by CBT as I'm convinced that it is not caused by the way I think or analyse a problem.
I'm pretty glad to be shot of it. It wasn't working and it was doing me more harm than good. That's not to say it won't work for anyone - it will benefit someone - but not me.
So thanks all at NHS Riverside, Spalding. Your CBT therapy didn't work and neither did your reminder service.

An Amazing Feat

Like many, I watched yesterday dumbstruck and in awe as Felix Baumgartner literally sat on the edge of space and prepared to free fall back to earth 28 miles below. The experience of watching this man prepare for one of the most daring feats in modern times must have been similar to the experiences of countless millions all those years ago when man first set foot on the Moon.

Modern technology allowed us all to literally see what Felix was seeing including the stunning views of Earth way below and the free fall through the stratosphere at incredible speeds.
I understand that much has been learnt from this and science has benefited by better understanding the effects on the human body and the possibility of escape from the International Space Station or future shuttle craft. This is of course a good thing and proves that it is possible, given the right equipment, to survive a fall back to Earth. Certainly worthy of an entry in the record books and our annuls of history.

A Bit of Jiggery Pokery (with photos)

This is a bit nerdy but may appeal to some. I have for the last few years been using electronic cigarettes as a healthy alternative to satisfying my nicotine addiction. For me, they work very well and I regard them as one of the greatest inventions of our time. I'm quite a heavy user and I am practically attached to my e-cig at all times. Indeed I panic if my e-cig is out of sight, or worse, I lose it.
The parts to an e-cig are quite simple. The main components are the battery and the atomiser. The battery heats the atomiser which in turn causes the liquid nicotine to form a vapour. This looks very similar to smoke, but it is simply steam. This is inhaled in the same way a smoker would and the effect is very similar. The e-cig can be filled with liquid nicotine, enough for many hours and the battery typically lasts 2-3 hours of constant use.
Being a heavy computer user, I normally vape as I type. The batteries will eventually run flat and so require recharging. I normally try to keep one recharging at all times. As an alternative to batteries, I have been using a USB powered device that allows the e-cig to run off the 5v USB power supply. This does require being connected to the computer or laptop, but does enable me to vape without affecting battery usage. It's actually a very good idea. A 3.7v battery inside the device gets charged between vapes and provides 'backup' should I move from the computer.

I have found that the power being supplied to the e-cig has become less and less over time, and the battery has failed to hold a full charge, running down very quickly. I decided to open up the device to find out how it all worked. The e-cig part itself was very difficult to disassemble being of a solid moulded design. I decided therefore to get rid of this and detached it from the device. I noticed that the battery box could be opened. This contained a small amount of circuitry which controls the recharging and power supply from the USB input to the e-cig. I could see that it could be possible to jumper the circuitry and in effect bypass it allowing the full 5v supply to be fed directly to the e-cig's atomiser. Using a multimeter I tested this theory and it showed to be the case. So I set about bypassing the circuitry with two short lengths of wire, soldered to the positive and negative in and out terminals. It's all a bit Heath Robinson, but it does work very well indeed.

I do need to tidy up the device to make it more consumer friendly and I also want to add an on/off switch mid way along the wire to the e-cig. At the moment, I have to operate it by pushing the positive wire into the base of the atomiser, the negative wire being soldered in place. It's a bit fiddly, but it does work providing a strong satisfying vape every time. My only concern is that the slightly higher unregulated voltage will reduce the life of the atomiser, but time will tell.