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Domain Renewal Group – scammy smelling snailmail

November 28th, 2009 by pete 2 comments »

Another day, another letter from “Domain Renewal Group” sent to our house, warning that one of my domain names (my main work one) will expire on April 10th 2010.�� Apart from the fact that it’s a wee bit early to renew (I’d prefer to keep my cash in the bank as long as possible, TYVM), they charge an outrageous �20 for a single year.� One & One charge me �8.99, so we’re looking at a 122% increase, yet they don’t host the web site or email, they just redirect these to ones I supply myself.

A pretty poor offer, yet their modus operandi seems to be:

Do a whois lookup for the billing contact for a domain that will expire in the next N months (N seems to be getting larger)
Send a letter on good quality paper to this address, vague enough to confuse a non-technical person.
Take their ridiculous cut for not doing very much.
Profit!

There’s more information over here about their dodgy practices. People are even implying that they won’t provide the basic service they claim, but I can’t comment on that since I’ll never use their service.

Parasites.

2 comments »

Posted in scams, Work, WTF?

Tags: domain renewal group scam trading standards

Jim Harpur’s Active Service Unit Certificate

November 26th, 2009 by pete 5 comments »

Prompted by some comments on this entry, I took a photo of the certificate we have in the study, showing that my maternal grandfather Jim Harpur played his part in the HQ Active Service Unit during the Irish War of Independence.

Jim Harpur's ASU Certificate

There’s a high resolution version available here (opens a new window).

I believe the little crosses next to some of the names indicate that that person died in service, but I’m not 100% sure about that.� I hope it’s useful or interesting� to somebody

5 comments »

Posted in connolly, family, Free State, history, Ireland, Irish Civil War, photos

Tags: ASU Family History Harpur IRA Irish War of Independence

Very little work today.

July 17th, 2009 by pete No comments »

This arrived:

petes-defender-small

Obviously it needs a full check up and test.� It’s 28-29 years old and these things need to be handled very carefully.� It’s just a shame� that I can’t play as well as I could when I was 17.� Best start practicing!

Just for reference, here are a few Defender Settings, accessed using the three buttons inside the coin slot:

BOOKKEEPING AND EVALUATION TOTALS (Functions 1-7)

1. In game over mode, set switch to AUTO-UP and depress ADVANCE. The CRT indicates Function 1 and total left chute coins.
2. Record audit totals and depress ADVANCE for functions 1-7. To review a total that has been advanced past, set switch to MANUAL-DOWN and depress ADVANCE.� Functions are displayed one at a time as follows:-

Function� � Total� � Description
——————————–
1� � � � � 0� � � (Total) COINS LEFT
2� � � � � 0� � � (Total) COINS CENTER
3� � � � � 0� � � (Total) COINS RIGHT
4� � � � � 0� � � TOTAL PAID (Games)
5� � � � � 0� � � (Total Bonus) SHIPS WON
6� � � � � 0� � � TOTAL (Play) TIME (Minutes)
7� � � � � 0� � � TOTAL SHIPS (Played)

3. Operate ADVANCE to display Function 28, SPECIAL FUNCTION. From Function 28 you can return to game over or zero audit totals and return to game over.
4. With switch set to AUTO-UP, perform a. or b. as desired.

a. To return to game over depress ADVANCE.
b. To zero audit totals and return to game over, operate HIGH SCORE RESET to indicate “35″ on CRT Function 28 and then depress ADVANCE.

GAME ADJUSTMENTS (Functions 8-27)

In game over mode set switch to AUTO_UP and then depress ADVANCE. The CRTindicates Function 1 and total left chute coins.
To raise Function number on CRT, operate ADVANCE pushbutton with switch set to AUTO-UP. To lower Function number operate ADVANCE with it set to MANUAL-DOWN.
With desired Function indicated, raise adjustment value by operating HIGH SCORE RESET with switch set to AUTO-UP; lower value by operating HIGH SCORE RESET with it set to MANUAL-DOWN. Value left on CRT is new� setting.� For values, see below and, for pricing, Table 1.

Function� �Factory Setting� �Description
—————————————-
08� � � � � �10000� � � � BONUS SHIP LEVEL (0=No Bonus Ships)
09� � � � � � � �3� � � � SHIPS PER GAME
10� � � � � � � �3� � � � COINAGE SELECT
11� � � � � � � �1� � � � LEFT COIN MULT
12� � � � � � � �4� � � � CENTER COIN MULT
13� � � � � � � �1� � � � RIGHT COIN MULT
14� � � � � � � �1� � � � COINS FOR CREDIT
15� � � � � � � �0� � � � COINS FOR BONUS
16� � � � � � � �0� � � � MINIMUM COINS
17� � � � � � � �0� � � � FREE PLAY (Set to 1 for Free Play)
18� � � � � � � �0� � � � STARTING DIFFICULTY (0=LIB; 1=MOD; 2=CONS)
19� � � � � � � 10� � � � PROGRESSIVE WAVE DIFFICULTY LIMIT (4-25)� e.g. 5-LIB; 10=MOD; 15=CONS;
20� � � � � � � �1� � � � BACKGROUND SOUND (0=OFF; 1=ON)
21� � � � � � � �5� � � � PLANET RESTORE WAVE NUMBER
22� � � � � � � �0� � � � NOT USED
23� � � � � � � �0� � � � NOT USED
24� � � � � � � �0� � � � NOT USED
25� � � � � � � �0� � � � NOT USED
26� � � � � � � �0� � � � NOT USED
27� � � � � � � �0� � � � NOT USED

4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until all desired adjustments have been made.
5. Operate ADVANCE until 28 0 SPECIAL FUNCTION is indicated on CRT. From Function 28 you can return to game over or restore factory settings. Perform step 6 or 7 as desired.
6. To return to game over, depress ADVANCE with switch set to AUTO-UP.
7. To restore factory settings and zero audit totals:

a. Operate HIGH SCORE RESET in AUTO-UP to indicate “45″ on CRT Function 28.
b. Depress ADVANCE. The game returns to audit Function 1.
c. Set switch to MANUAL-DOWN and depress ADVANCE to indicate Function 28 on the CRT.
d. Set switch to AUTO-UP and depress ADVANCE.

No comments »

Posted in Arcade, defender, Stuff

Tags: defender games office Williams

5 questions to think about when you talk to someone with power.

June 9th, 2009 by pete 1 comment »

Or even, come to think of it, anyone in a position of power from a member of a school association to the head of a multinational corporation. You don’t have to directly ask the questions, just maybe think about the answers to yourself and determine how you’re going to deal with the person:

What power have you got?
Where did you get it from?
In whose interests do you use it?
To whom are you accountable?
How do we get rid of you?

Number 5 is most relevant to politics and elected positions but can be translated to work environments.

These are originally by the great parlamentarian Tony Benn

1 comment »

Posted in Stuff

Billy Britt – excellent pisstake.

May 28th, 2009 by pete No comments »

Tim over at bloggerheads gets some cracking ideas – usually about once a week.� This has to be one of his better ones.� Enjoy Billy Br*t (the racict sh*t)

All in protest of the BNPs current sad effort to promote themselves on the back of, well just about anything.� It seems they’ve got the bit between their teeth, the stock photos on hard disk and the leaflets bunged into� letterboxes all around the country.� Not here, yet, more’s the pity.� The last canvasser that called to the door of this house asked my 30-something year old wife (it was a few years ago!) “Hello dear,� are your parents in?”

She informed the octogenarian gent that she was the householder and was she brushed off with a friendly pat on the hand – ” Yes deary, I’m sure you are.� I’ll call back” .� He was Tory and a bit elderly so we let him off, but if anyone calls here fron the BNP they’ll get the full Dublin accent, a discussion regarding breeding and hopefully a Billy Br*t hand puppet waved at them (as soon as I find out where you can buy them)

The BNP are about as welcome as a fart in a space suit around here.� I’m hoping it’ll stay that way.