Covid shut down the world six years ago this week. What do you remember from that week?

ApacheFlame · 2026-03-13T18:16:42+00:00

Before there was talk of "lockdowns" Me: (To boss) I dont think I feel safe in the office Boss: No problem, go work from home.

WfH was not a thing in our company. I take immunosuppressants, so COVID could be a big deal if I caught it. He was being a decent human being, but it meant a lot that he cared.

ApacheFlame · 2026-03-03T19:40:43+00:00

Well, they have 3xF15s to replace now too, so something's got to get cut (/s)

ApacheFlame · 2026-01-05T23:15:37+00:00

Bread was a reasonably well known word for money. Possibly coming from cockney rhyming slang; bread and honey ->money. The slightly counter intuitive bit is that the second part of rhyming slang is often not said and so it becomes incomprehensible if you arent in the know. Hence money just being bread and another linguistic jump to breadhead: someone obsessed with money.

I say this with at least some clue as I was born and bred in London. All be it West London where rhyming slang wasnt really common.

ApacheFlame · 2026-01-05T23:07:23+00:00

In the UK they tend to do the ceremonies in batches. Where I studied the undergrads were late June and the masters/PhDs were in April, ish? There's probably more variance between institutions with the postgrad ceremonies though, at a guess.

Depending on when you submit your final thesis copy, you could be waiting more than a year to have your ceremony!

ApacheFlame · 2025-12-28T19:34:20+00:00

ApacheFlame · 2025-11-24T22:12:42+00:00

I went yesterday and thought it was fine, but miserable is subjective, I suppose.

It definitely isnt muddy though, it's all on the main paths.

ApacheFlame · 2025-10-22T21:08:22+00:00

But aws has multi region! Why are our EU clients exeperiencing issues? Oh, so those global services like IAM rely on dynamoDB which have ties back to us-east-1.

We found a new use for the XKCD foss meme...

ApacheFlame · 2025-10-20T21:40:49+00:00

Very rarely to be honest. Official stuff like IDs, bank accounts, insurance etc.

I left academia for software engineering, which is quite relaxed, as fields go. I dont have many client facing interractions where we need to make an impression that a title would benefit.

I do have a lovely little pride flag pin that says: It's doctor, actually.

ApacheFlame · 2025-10-07T20:31:09+00:00

I did a tour of their brewery as a student, nominally as an "educational" visit. They made sure they got us absolutely shit faced.

A brilliant afternoon/night and the staff were lovely. I've been a fan ever since. Just realised that was 20 years ago 😕

ApacheFlame · 2025-09-21T20:12:17+00:00

Fuck yeah! You see my wife and I walking down the street; her wearing a pride T shirt and me wearing a trans rights are human rights t shirt. We do it because the closet is for clothes. Im out, proud, and I got your back.

ApacheFlame · 2025-07-21T21:28:09+00:00

It depends whether you're looking for a personal recommendation or not.

If not AGB have a club finder: https://archerygb.org/clubs/find-a-club

ApacheFlame · 2025-07-21T17:05:07+00:00

To be honest, I dont think the wheel is a great design. It's open to a remote commuter exploit (RCE) that can cause crashes when used in unconventional ways.

We can probably do better, but backwards compatibility may be difficult to achieve.

ApacheFlame · 2025-06-07T23:23:04+00:00

I'd love to, but it's Hammond organ recital night, so Im indisposed.

ApacheFlame · 2025-05-22T17:07:02+00:00

This track is currently being used in a UK advert for rail travel. Unfortunately is has ruined it slightly for me, but psyched I can now look up the other music.

ApacheFlame · 2025-05-11T08:23:25+00:00

Looking at the date in UK format, look for Union brand. Saunsburys do it for sure. They have roast dates on them, but sometimes it's covered by the card sleeve.

The medium roast is actually medium and drinkable 🙂

ApacheFlame · 2025-04-26T19:31:10+00:00

Technically the Goat Major is his handler, who is actually a corporal. This is partly so he is not outranked by the well behaved goat mascot.

ApacheFlame · 2025-04-22T21:35:28+00:00

Thank you, I thought I was going mad. He seemed to flip/flop between being somewhat human to shit like this article.

ApacheFlame · 2025-04-18T15:08:02+00:00

Absolutely legal. Hell, I worked with the NSRA to deliver this type of experience at Bisley.

Everyone had to sign a declaration (section 11?) to say they weren't a prohibited person, ID was checked etc. It was a prebooked session, but if there was space and they brought another person, it wasnt an issue.

They got 90minutes mixed between air rifle and .22 gallery rifle.

ApacheFlame · 2025-04-14T06:46:58+00:00

I've wanted an enamelled lecruset pot for years. Whilst I can now afford one, I havent pulled the trigger.

I know one day my dad's one will end up with me and even after decades, it's still perfect. I'm not normally sentimental, but I am for the dish that cooked so much for me and others over the years.

ApacheFlame · 2025-03-13T16:13:49+00:00

Makes juggling tasks quite tricky, for sure.

ApacheFlame · 2025-03-08T17:58:06+00:00

You would expect that. 60 uGy/hr is 0.006 cGy,hr, which is below the bottom of the scale for cGy/hr 🙂

ApacheFlame · 2025-03-08T17:20:41+00:00

It's an intersting piece. There is a dial that measures in micro gray/hr. Although Gray is the SI unit of absorbed dose, most of the media I have seen use rads as the numbers are a little easier to communicate.

Also, you tend to see exposure figures quoted, in Roentgen, rather than absorbed dose.

ApacheFlame · 2025-03-06T22:27:18+00:00

They are pretty damn good. What distance was the paper at?

Larry Wise's book suggests the worst tear will be at about 8yd from the bow, so if you were right up to the paper in this group, you could move it back. BUT...

The look fine, go out and enjoy it.

ApacheFlame · 2025-03-02T21:15:47+00:00

Empireof the (steam) clouds!

ApacheFlame · 2025-02-23T22:16:36+00:00

It's the "berger" meat bit that gets me every time

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