Don Thompson

Long career in telecoms, aerospace & IT. Adept at troubleshooting & problem resolution.
Fascinated by the milieu.
Pic: JFK 22L over the captain's shoulder.
(now primary fediverse acct, former instamce - QOTO has been a little unpredictable in service availability)

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Last Notes

2026-04-01 08:08:46 UTC

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‘SeaGen’ operated in the narrows between Strangford Lough and the Irish Sea. It was, apparently, a successful demonstration of the technology. No idea why it was never replaced. I suppose that’s a question I should find the answer to!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SeaGen

2026-03-09 09:21:43 UTC

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I have Phanpy set as a PWA on iOS (presently 26.3.1), its behaviour is inconsistent across various presentations of a post. If a post is in my t/l I must tap the post to focus on the post, then tap the URL when I’m presented with a menu of options including open externally/copy/etc. The OPs boosted post didn’t work as prev sentence descrbs

2026-01-17 19:03:05 UTC

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What encouragement would be necessary for, say, California to secede?

2025-10-18 07:30:50 UTC

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Prof Sal Mercogliano has been covering this on his YouTube channel, What’s Going On With Shipping. US has realised that it has no global shipping fleet & intends to rebuild one.
I’m just bewildered why they wouldn’t grasp that opportunity to build a fleet powered by the leanest energy technology.
I guess they just have an instinctive aversion to being bound by others in what they should do. 🤷🏻‍♂️

2025-09-15 08:42:10 UTC

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It certainly seems as if alternative sources to fossil fuel energy are being promoted based on their complexity & cost. So as to minimise the difference in cost of generation between ff based & renewables? Offshore wind is going further offshore, to deeper water sites where floating platforms are needed. The clamour about small &/or modular nuclear has yet to move from hype to reality & be proven to be cheaper and/or lower risk than existing scale nuclear generation.

2025-08-25 06:57:14 UTC

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So, is it the case where the operators of the websites, formerly getting click through, now not getting page impressions so Google avoids paying on ad revenue to those sites, their customers?

2025-08-24 18:46:51 UTC

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You’ll be familiar so 😂, maybe not Chris tho’.

2025-08-24 09:24:03 UTC

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Ever been to NI? Communities here do flegs with ‘aplomb’! Similar reasoning + territory marking.

2025-01-08 09:25:05 UTC

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Double take, not @radiofreetom.bsky.social?

2024-12-30 09:14:04 UTC

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Sure, but just as he bleats on about ‘benefits spongers’, his inate inability/unwillingness to take responsibility for his own health is consuming publicly funded health resources.

2024-12-30 07:56:07 UTC

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I am acquainted with an individual who eschews everything progressive such as H&S esp manual handling considerations. It’s as if he gets a weird ‘kick’ from lifting heavy kit.
He’s undergone two hernia ops in recent years but still at it.
Now suffers a range of other debilating health issues but simply won’t change lifestyle 🤷🏻‍♂️

2024-12-14 11:35:01 UTC

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“later than promised”
Spare a thought for folks waiting on goods, gifts, etc, due to cross one of the Irish Sea’s shortest and busiest ferrry routes. Holyhead port has been shutdown for a week since Storm Darragh passed through. Departing the port in the storm, an Irish Ferries vessel collided with a ‘dolphin’ that forms part of its docking infrastructure, collapsing the dolphin & rendering the port’s two connected ferry berths unusable.

2024-12-14 09:11:55 UTC

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The technique is used in commercial buildings, e.g bathroom modules produced off site for hotels. That radio programme highlighted a number of benefits including consistent quality, improved working conditions, reduction of weather impact. Scale is certainly necessary to maximise efficiencies.

2024-12-14 08:55:49 UTC

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Offsite production of houses could/would transform build rate, not to mention improve quality. Succinctly described here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p06w8yvf However, it appeared that companies discussed in the programme appeared to be concentrating on the ‘high end’ of the market where returns could be greater.
The UK undertook a house building programme before, post-WWII, why not again?

2024-11-24 19:54:34 UTC

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What did you think of the taste?
I think 0.0% Guinness is a reasonable facsimile of regular draught Guinness, a bit sweeter, for sure, & I’ve never consumed more than two pints (it is available on draught locally).

2024-11-14 07:25:08 UTC

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I don’t use the subscription tier of services from Apple but I do use other services to offload media from my iPhone. That works for me. I’ve tried to explain to other non-technical folk how they can offload/sync image media: typically, I might as well be explaining to a dolphin. It’s not that Apple is bad, the consumer options are fragmented: image media here, ‘files’ somewhere else, audio media (well, one just streams, innit?)

2024-10-25 20:02:20 UTC

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While UN resolution 181, UN Partition Plan for Palestine, granted legitimacy for the creation of the State of Israel.

2024-10-14 17:58:17 UTC

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Can’t help but draw comparison between IDF and Bosnian Serb military forces, under the command and control of Radovan KARADZIC and of Ratko MLADIC, that attacked the UN designated safe area of Srebrenica in July of 1995.

2024-10-13 08:19:40 UTC

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A late friend, a resident of California, often used the adage ‘coin operated’.
I thought that to be a succinct description.

2024-10-12 18:57:46 UTC

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Is ‘big data’ still a thing?

2024-10-07 09:43:49 UTC

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NS&I may be the place to administer the funds but perhaps more like a growth or income bond than PBs. High minimum investment, similar to deposit required for a BtL mortgage. Offer to transfer in exisiting assets with CGT discount?

2024-10-07 07:56:45 UTC

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For those people who want to invest ‘in property’, the ‘buy to let’ crowd - create a public fund in which they can invest. That fund builds & manages social housing. Take bank lending out of the loop.

2024-09-26 11:13:17 UTC

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Oh FFS, Navantia is 'is 100% owned by SEPI, the Spanish state-owned industrial holding group'

2024-09-26 11:12:00 UTC

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Oh wait... is this H&W situation to play out as the WrightBus administration followed by Bamford acquisition did in second half of 2019? Should one expect Navantia UK to be waiting before acquiring H&W for a song.

2024-09-26 09:22:45 UTC

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Ah, right, I had only the original H&W site in mind. Infrastrata always seems to be pushing ‘out there’ edge cases, the gas storage facility, etc. Perhaps a business based on income from public sector grants (the gas storage thing went somewhat quiet after Brexit reached ‘done’ status, it being part EU funded).

2024-09-25 23:10:29 UTC

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Not a lot of land left, that’s all gone for other uses. The two gantry cranes are protected structures. Two large holes in the ground (the dry docks) are about sum total.

2024-08-12 20:01:30 UTC

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Is it possible to try another, different, hardware platform?
I’ve just upgraded & ‘rebuilt’ my OpenWrt config (router + a separate AP). Testing along the way.
I have two router boxes, acquired off eBay that I chose for Gb WAN performance so have a fall back if there’s a snag in a given release (a Linksys WRT3200ACM & a Netgear R7800).
Allows me to put need for debug on the back burner.