What would Bill Gates say?

How to get Windows Photo Viewer to work with Windows 10.
An easy fix:

Sounds ridiculously simple, but after trying to get Windows Photo Viewer to work on Windows 10 unsuccessfully for ages, I gave up. I much prefer the old Viewer than the newer Photos app.

Then I suddenly had a brainwave. If the Viewer currently only appears when viewing Tiff files ( you can't make a shortcut...well easily anyway), I thought why not make a simple placement tiff file that can be dropped into folders with images. Clicking this will open the Viewer and it's business as usual.
For now anyway until Windows ditched the Viewer completely.

Anyway, if you want to give it a go, just grab the image above and try it.

What would Alexander Graham Bell say?

My letter to Vodafone:

I have been a Vodafone UK PAYG customer for years and years.
Only recently I was told that the way vouchers worked was changing, at the end of a month the voucher would expire and I would need a new one.
As I use my phone only for emergencies I decided to shop around for something cheaper, finding GiffGaff who would do a rolling monthly deal for £5 a month.
So far so good.

19-9-13 8.10am
I go to Vodafone live chat and ask for a PAC code and help to unlock my phone for use with GiffGaff.
 The helpful customer service lady gives me the PAC code straight away, then rings me to take my Visa details to charge me £20 for the unlocking.
Again, so far so good.

Yesterday on the 23rd, 4 days later,  I receive an e-mail, Vodafone have no record of my account and cannot proceed with the unlock???
So, I ring Vodafone and speak to Cambel.
No, he cannot help me, he has no record of my account, I have done everything wrong, this is all my fault, the best he can do is give me £10 refund, no - I cannot speak to a manager, no - he does not know the ombudsman number, the best I can have is a ring back.
So, I explain, check your records, when I contacted Vodafone, no one explained I could not do what I am trying to do...after all, I just want the phone unlocked and I have been charged for it, if you cannot accomplish this service refund me the money and I will go elsewhere.
No, he will not do this, I should have known I cannot do this, it is my mistake. (I seriously think you shouold listen to the call which I am told was recorded!)

So, I get a call back from Gillian the Manager.
No, they cannot help me. She has looked at me account...but hang on, Cambel told me I had no account, that no details of my contact with Vodafone were there...but Gillian tells me she can read them on the screen as well as the conversation I had on the 19th!
So, unlock the phone or give me my money back. No, they cannot do either!!! WHAT!

I've paid for a service, Vodafone can't accomplish this, and won't refund the money!
So I ask them to contact my nearest store, just ring them, tell them to unlock it, I've paid, job sorted...No, we cannot do that.
This is all for £20. Really! You cannot refund £20. Is this a joke?

By now I am very angry. Is this nothing short of ridiculous and unacceptable?
The best Gillian can offer is I go out and buy another sim and then she will refund the money?
Why do I have to go through the hassle of all this for what is not my fault.
Cambel told me I should have known better, but as I explained, I am not familiar with how phone companies work, I thought you were and I would have been told.
Apparently this is all my fault, my mistake, and Vodafone, this huge company are completely unable to do a simple unlock on my phone or refund me money without me having yet another sim from Vodafone.

 I am used to giving praise where it is due, as well as telling people when I run up against sheer blind,  bureaucracy.
I have never come up against such a ridiculous system and unhelpful people calling themselves 'customer service'.
I will be very happy to tell everyone I know, blogs and facebook just how I have been treated.
Just to have a simple unlock performed that I could have gone into town and had done for a fraction of the cost you are charging, but I foolishly thought I should ask Vodafone.

It's only an old Sony Ericsson, I could have bought a 2nd hand unlocked phone on eBay for less than £20
Please thank your staff for such a horrible ordeal that has left me very, very angry and to date, still with an unlocked phone and £20 out of pocket.

What would the camera repairman say?

I've just had a terrible time. I tried cleaning dust of my D300 camera sensor and ended up scratching it to pieces!
I looked at the Nikon site to find an approved repair center and ended up sending it to a place listed on there site in Glasgow. When they saw it they were quite impressed how badly I had damaged the sensor...and the repair bill was £570+VAT. I can pick up a mint used one for £399 from Mifsuds, so that was out of the question.
However, there is a solution, so if you have done the same, read this:
http://www.protechrepairs.co.uk/
This company specializes in IR camera conversions.
Now, the important thing to realize is that there is nothing actually wrong with the sensor! It's actually the filter in front of it, also called the 'hot mirror'.
The place in Glasgow charged so much because this mirror isn't supplied as a replacement on it's own, it's supplied as a whole sensor unit...hence the steep price.
An IR company takes that filter off the camera and replaces it with an IR one...which means:
1: They have spares
2: They can convert to IR to fix it.

http://www.protechrepairs.co.uk/ Charge about £100 to replace the mirror/filter, but you will want to make sure they have your make. They charge £250 for a full conversion.

What would Morse Coaches say?

Hey! On the way to Manchester on the weekend we passed a convoy of coaches with Morse on! A.C. Morse they said, which is my sisters initials (or were).
They actually come from York, here: http://www.morse-coaches.com/
Nice to see the name around, us Morses have to stick together.

What would Tom Clancy say?

I've just bought a kindle. 
I wanted to get the Tom Clancy novels about John Clarke & Jack Ryan.
Why is it, that I have just discovered that nearly all the Tom Clancy books are unavailable on UK Amazon.
Except the newer novels, and a couple of the older books that are being sold in German language.
However. 
The German Amazon has all the books for Kindle.
In English.
????????
I have had to learn the Kindle change address trick to start getting them, but does this make any sense to anyone?

What would Jerry Maguire say?

From my last post you may surmise I am moving house. It's supposed to be one of the most stressful things you can do in life. Things like this story make it so.... We travelled 600 miles to see some houses. Liked one, spoke to the owner and told her we would make an offer of £X amount, to which she agreed and said 'when I say I am accepting that offer I stick to my word'.
It did remind me of that scene in Jerry Maguire (remember the Dad, pictured above? 'My word is my bond')
So, we get the letter from her estate agents saying the offer has been accepted, and I get my solicitors on the case.
Next day, we get an e-mail from the estate agents, apparently the ladies son thinks we should pay another 2K !!!
So I ring the estate agents and ask if there is a daughter who is going to ask for a bit more too, or maybe a neighbour? I thought we had made an agreement that had been accepted...hadn't they just sent us the acceptance letter?
So yesterday I get home and there is a message on the phone, the seller is now adamant that we must pay the extra 2K.
Forget that, I'm not buying.
To me it's like being in the supermarket, having your shopping totted up at the till and someone behind you in the queue saying to the cashier she should charge me a bit more. What's it to do with him? But then, the cashier does start adding more on because the bloke behind me is a relative of hers.

Man, just like that scene from Jerry.
I hope I'm not bitter, but I hope the house doesn't sell now and they have to offer it for about 20K less...then I may, just may consider it again.

What would a bald person say? (No hair to pull out!)

I've been trying to get the telephone number of my local HSBC so I can go in and talk about my mortgage.
Simple huh?
I typed in the branch on Google and got the telephone number, but when I rang it, it asked to input my account details and sort code. I didn't have them on me so just left that, after all, all I want to do is arrange a visit.
I finally got through to an Indian call center where the operator literally spoke like an automated message.
I said what I wanted, but he wanted me to answer lots of questions first about accounts etc.
I said all I want to do is arrange a visit to my local branch.
I was then put on hold for ages.
Then a Scottish man came on the phone, so I went through it all again saying  all I want to do is arrange a visit to my local branch.
He said I should use the special phone service for mortgage related enquiries.
So I asked, don't you like people going into the local branch?
He said it takes 2 weeks to arrange an appointment.
So, the next day i use the mortgage hotline.
I get through to someone who wants all my account info, this time I am prepared. But then he asks for monthly payment amounts and original loan amounts. This is after answering all my name/address/account number/second account holder questions.
I don't have that on my. So I give him the figure for my current balance...but that isn't good enough and he informs me I've answered something incorrectly and now my account has been locked. I will need to visit my local branch to unlock it.
AGGHHHHHH
I explain all I wanted to do is arrange a visit to my local branch.
I am now booked in for Saturday, what a pain in the neck!!!!!

What would Lord Lichfield say?

7 Cameras of History

I've been thinking back to the very first camera I ever had, and then I started trying to piece the journey together of the line of cameras that led me to where I am now. I know I say 7 cameras, but there are 9 listed here (I don't really count the pocket cameras).

Here we go.

Christmas 1978, so I would have been 10. Like a lot of kids in the 70's I got this camera, or a similar Kodak as a present. It took a small cartridge film that slotted in the back. We took pictures of our pets, our bedrooms, our toys and our families. Maybe we got to use it for 3 or 4 films before it was broken or lost, after all, we were kids and it was seen as a bit of a toy that after our parents stopped paying for the film to be developed lost it's interest rapidly.

Flash forward to 1987. I'm almost done with school, thank goodness, and looking to go to art college. My Mum decides to buy me a camera from the local second hand shop in Newport, South Wales. A photography boffin/friend accompanies us into the shop and we walk out with the Petri GX-1 for £50. The boffin tells me it's a beauty and I treasure it for a long time. It's an absolute joy to use and I wish slightly I still had it. I only had the one lens (50mm) but that was enough. I later purchased a Gnome projector from a college girl and turned my bedroom into a dark room.

Suddenly all my money was going on paper, chemical, film canisters. Everything was black and white, and it looked amazing.

I wish I'd kept the Petri but I somehow managed to get some money together and bought my first Nikon, the EM. I still only had the 50mm lens, but I entered a world of a popular camera that my friends had, so I borrowed their lenses, discovered Cokin filters and was hooked by Nikon.

My next camera story is a bit disappointing. I was given a present of a Nikon F501, and 2 lenses. I couldn't believe it. I still had my EM, but this was autofocus! I shouldn't have got too excited as I had no autofocus lenses! Still I thought the camera was superb and spent a lot of my time courting in 1989/1990 walking the hills with my girlfriend taking pictures. The disappointment came about a year later when I was asked for the camera back! I didn't think I could say no, so it went back to the generous person.

I should just mention here that I have also owned 2 pocket camera's as an adult. The first I found in a camera shop in basildon, Essex for about £20. The Olympus XA1. A beauty of a camera. It had a built in light meter that basically gave a small green or red indicator come up in the viewfinder if the exposure wasn't right. I have no idea how it worked as there were no batteries! It also had some connections on the side to add a flash, but I never found that. As a compact camera it was the best I had ever seen.

I now jump ahead to 2001. I still am using the Olympus and Nikon EM but digital is becoming more and more talked about, and cheap enough for the likes of me. A friend at work where I am now in merthyr Tydfil, South Wales is selling his Sony DSC F505V. It's a strange looking thing this digital camera, but works very well. It's 3.34MP (wow!) swivels around so you can take high or low shots easily. Has a cracking lens (Carl Zeiss) and I have this for quite a while. I also sell all my old film cameras at this point as I can't see it surviving the digital onslaught.

I eventually replace this camera in 2003 with another fixed lens camera, the Olympus C8080WZ. Proper DSLR cameras are still above most amateur budgets. The C8080WZ is 8MP, a big step up and a very capable camera. You can still buy these on Amazon for around $100. I have this camera for about 4 - 5 years.

In 2007 I was there as my Mum passed away. We are not a rich family, and my Mum left me a little inheritance. Nothing to retire on, but enough for me to do something I think she would have approved of. Because she bought me my first camera, it seems fitting I use the money to buy a good camera, one that will last a long time. I spend a long time getting advice on this. It seems the most important purchase I will make. With very good advice on camera's and lenses I buy the Nikon D300. The best camera I've ever owned or used. I'm now in my 6th year of using this camera. I have no plan to 'upgrade' as I don't see any real advantage over this camera. If anything, I think one day I may buy a second body as a spare.

My final entry, I decided I needed another pocket camera to carry around when I don't want to take the D300 or it's not practical. I bought the Nikon S3100, about the size of the old Olympus. A simple point and shoot. Not the best in low light, but great for most things that a camera of this size/style is expected to handle.

What would Capt. Mainwaring say?

Five times this has happened now. mostly from Amazon, but now also from Alibris.
Amazon.co.uk and Alibris.co.uk, both UK sites. Both I presumed foolishly selling me English language books. But, when they arrive the language is German! Sometimes after receiving the book I have gone back and found in small print in the description it has said German language (not in the title mind you) but the last book I bought there was no mention at all. And it was expensive! Absolute Watchmen. It really is a pain in the neck.

What would Blockbuster say?

What's happened to Blockbuster in store?
They used to be brilliant for used DVD's, you could get an armload of discs for a tenner!
Now I have a quick look round then go to Asda's to get it cheaper.
Case in point, this weekend I saw Hanna in Blockbuster X-rental DVD for £6. Asda's were selling it brand new for £3!
Blockbuster had MI4: Ghost Protocol X-Rental for £9. Asda's for £7 new.
Again and again I found it cheaper to buy a brand new disc from Asda's than a used copy from Blockbuster.
How long will these guys keep going like this?

What would Lord Snowdon say?

I joined ViewBug recently and this is the cool little badge I got:

What would John Logie Baird say?

I was watching Stargate last night on DVD when I get a knock at the door.
A man flashed me a very official looking 2 part card in a flashy wallet and said he was TV Licensing.
(I have never had TV, a License, I don't even have an aerial and have no intention of ever getting one.)
I continually get letters asking why I don't have a license, over the years they just go straight in the bin unopened. Occasionally I've had inspectors turn up wanting to view the property, in the past I have let them in to verify I am telling the truth...but no more.
I am so fed up of this badgering persistence to buy a product I don't want. How many other sales people come round your house, send letters monthly asking why you don't own there product? You don't have Microsoft coming round your house do you asking if they can come in to see if you have an XBox? or Black & Decker sending mail asking why you haven't bought an electric drill do you?
Let's be straight, TV Licensing is NOT a Govt. organisation, they pretend to be one, but they are in fact a branch of the BBC.
So, last night when he asked to come in I said NO!
He was a bit taken aback, wanted to verify what I was saying.
I confirmed I had a screen, that it wasn't for TV and that NO, I was not letting him in.
he left crestfallen.
They have no right to enter YOUR property without a court order, they cannot get a court order without proof of a misdemeanor, and if there vans are as good as they advertise they know there is no signal being watched from my house so don't have anything to go on.
I wonder if I can claim for harassment?

What would the Solar Power man say?

I just finished my first year of Solar Power. How did I do? Here is the letter I wrote to the company i purchased them from:

Dear Sir,

I e-mailed 6 months into my contract to voice concerns that my system wasn't producing anywhere near the figures quoted me. At that time I had a reply requesting that I wait for the first year to complete and then come back to you.

I just filled in my 4th quarterly FiT figure, thus making 1 complete year.

When I signed the contract a few things were explained to me.

First that it was a contract, legally binding for both parties and that if the figures didn't meet the analysis (though this was practically impossible) you would make up the difference.

Secondly, it was drummed into me over and over that the figures were so conservative, due to being based on sunlight rather than daylight hours that I would have my loan paid off realistically in 5-7 years rather than the 10 on the contract.

As said, I have just filled out my 4th FiT figure which came to 2705 KW Hours.

With the reimbursement figures of 43p & .03p this is what I calculate:

2705 x .43p = £1163.15  

2705 / 2 = 1352.5 x .03 = £40.575

£1163.15 + £40.575 = £1203.725

The 'extremely conservative' figures stated on my analysis are: 4197, over by 1492

My payments this year on the loan are £185.38 x 12 = £2224.56

So I am currently out by £1020.835

My monthly Electricity payments are £41 per month 12 x £41 = £492

So, even if the solar panels managed to wipe out all my electricity usage (which of course it hasn't) I would still be under by £528

So, the big question is what is wrong? Why is it under producing to not even meet the 'extremely conservative' figures on my analysis?

What happens now? Do I expect a payment from you to cover the shortfall?

If this is showing a shortfall in the first year, which is supposed to be the optimal time for the panels, what happens for the remainder of their lifetime?

I look forward to hearing from you with a realistic solution.

I waited a week, got no reply and started to get the details of my local Citizens Advice Bureau. That same day I had a reply with a final settlement from the company giving me a cheque of just over £2700 to take my loan period down. To my estimation this amount will roughly pay for 4 years under production, or to look at it another way, just over 1 year full payment of my loan. The amount on the cheque was apparently worked out in co-operation with thr Micro-regeneration programme and a regulatory body called REAL.

Am I satisfied?

I was surprised at the no quibble payment given me. It means I payed about 11K for a 2.88KhW 16 Bosch panel system. I still have the prospect of 8 years payments left that won't be met fully by the Feed in Tarrif reimbursement but remember there is another 16 years after that where it's all profit.

I was not impressed with the sales tactics, and the overemphasis on paying my loan off early. The sales guys for the company I was with are apparently the technical bods too who work out the solar hours from your local weather station rather than the generalised government figures.

If you too are finding the same thing with the figures not matching up I would send a message. Keep track of all the figures in a spreadsheet, when you go to them be armed with accurate figures.

What would Davy McDougall say?

I must say first, I am not a fan at all of the BlueBirds, I just looked this up on the net.


It's on the news today that Cardiff City have been made an offer:

The club's Malaysian owners have proposed investing £100m on the team, a new training ground and increasing the stadium's capacity.

But it would come on condition the home kit changes from blue to red, with a dragon instead of a bluebird crest.

News Link HERE

So, apparently the fans are up in arms at the thought of losing their history. However, when I asked some of the fans at work what that history was they just looked blank at me.

So I did some Googling:

The name Blu Birds:

Cardif City are named the Bluebirds because of the play named 'The Bluebird' that was shown in Cardiff in 1908. Cardiff was chosen to host the play over many different cities and so CCFC decided to cahnge their kit clour to blue and use the plays name as there own nickname. Web Link HERE

So I thought the play must have been written by a famous Welsh Playright!?

Yes?

No.

The Blue Bird (French: L'Oiseau bleu) is a 1908 play by Belgian author Maurice Maeterlinck.

Web Link HERE

So, apparently, if you are against the name change it is because you are supporting a Belgian play!

p.s.: Davy McDougall Web Link HERE

What would Neil Kinnock say?

Working in a Graphics dept. I get asked for lots of favours. Business cards/ letterheads/ posters/ photo retouching etc etc.

I have just been asked to produce a poster for a Labour Concillor showing (if he wins) that 'He Lives Here!', 'You Voted For Him!' sort of thing.

Thing is, the guy who asked me to do this is the father of the candidate, and I know him and his son a little, as you do when you've worked with someone for 10+ years.

Now on the one hand I wish the guy luck.
On the other hand it worries me that Labour are backing this guy, and that he could win and be representing a whole community.
Why does it worry me?
Because this guy has never done a day's work in his life. His dad has paid his way through life, and still does. How can a guy like that have any real handle on life and what it means to struggle in the real world?

I wonder how many more like that are out there?
I fear too many.

What would John Merrick say?

It's still very cold here in Merthyr.

Over the winter period and still now, I'm dressing in cold weather gear while I cycle.

Respect the weather.

But, it doesn't seem to matter if it's a 'hoody', a 'beanie' or even my Peter Storm fleece hat, after a while of cycling I suddenly feel a freezing blast going in my right ear. 

Why?

Because my hat has started to move over to the other side of my head.

I'm forever adjusting it, pulling it back down over my ears to keep them warm.

What's going on! Am I alone in the hat moving phenomenon?

I know that no one has a symmetrical head, and I'm guessing that subtle movements of blinking and head turning are slowly causing my hat to move off to the side of my head.

Makes me wonder how John Merrick would have got on!

What would Freud say?

I do have some strange dreams.
The most bizarre I think was when I was having a dream in which I died. I woke up quite shocked, to find I had fallen asleep on the sofa watching TV next to my wife at my parents house. As I woke and started talking I gradually started to get the feeling something wasn't quite right. After a while I realised they weren't calling me by my proper name, and then I panicked big time as I realised something was seriously wrong with everything.
And then I woke up again, in my own bed at home, next to my wife who wondered what the matter was. My first question to her was asking her what my name was. Fortunately my wife decided not to try and be funny and make a name up and told me straight. I think I would have gone mad if she had made something up.

Anyway, this was just a preamble. The dream that has got me puzzled at the moment is one I had this week. I dreamt I went into the living room to find someone or something had moved all my stereo equipment on end so it was facing the window. As I puzzled over this I noticed my PS3 was also like it, and then slowly realised everything in the room had been turned to face the window.

What the eck is all that about!?

What would Doctor Who say?

I was looking at some funny Doctor Who pics. Here are, what I thought, were the cream of the crop.
4 & 5 are gif's, click to see animation.

What would Philo Beddoe say?

I've liked Country music ever since I saw the Any Which Way movies, way back in the late 70's.

I owned the soundtracks on vinyl, they are still unavailable on CD, but that didn't stop me transferring them to my PC as MP3 format.

I liked the music so much because it was very much a story based medium. I love a good story, and I like a story in a song. I get very tired of a lot of the modern music that seems to be around these days that just repeat a few lines over and over again and again to a mind numbing beat.

I feel quite smug at the moment, my tastes in Country prevail. Groups like The Dixie Chicks, Lady Antebellum and my favourite Rascal Flatts, as well as artists like Reba McEntyre, Tim McGraw, and Kenny Chesney, just to name a smattering are constantly on my iPod, and it was my expectation that I would not be alone for long in liking this music. I figured it wouldn't be long before other people started appreciating this quality, lyric based, real music.

I feel smug because this week I've heard a lot of Country music on the radio, quite a few duets as stars and established musicians seek out the 'real' sound coming from Nashville, the home of Country, and an upcoming interview with Reba McEntyre.

Quality is rising.

And for any doubters, have a listen to this old classic from that first Every Which Way album…

What would Steven Seagal say?

Possibly the funniest review I ever read on amazon for the Steven Seagal series Lawman:

I got pulled over by Seagal ..., March 13, 2010

By 

Tim - See all my reviews

This review is from: Steven Seagal Lawman: The Complete Season One (DVD)

I'm not sure what I was doing to set off his Zen psychic powers, but I got pulled over by Officer Seagal once. I was coming back from Hong Kong market on the westbank with several small Banh-Mi sandwiches and groceries and some Asian sweets. Running toward the car with what appeared to be a severe purpose, he started yelling "Yo! Yo! Yo! Yo! STEP OUT OF THE CAR, YO?!" and things like that. So I get out, and before my heel can even touch the ground I find myself in an ankle lock with him screaming at me about compliance. Several excruciating moments later, he gets this thousand yard stare looking at my car and sniffing the car uncontrollably as he pat me down. He put his hands together and bowed the way Japanese do in more formal moments, and said "Yo, Im' gonna hafta search the car, yo?" I had six Peking ducks in the backseat, and he said I was "way over the limit" as he started chowing down on my chicken liver Banh-mi. He gave one of the ducks to Colonel Fortunato who proceeded to swallow it whole, feet first. For the next half hour they just kept eating all my food and high fiving each other, right there on Gen. Degaulle Dr! Then he turned to me, jiggling his cheeks as he shook his head and said "mmmpph well das enoughmpph you kin gompph" I went home with a car full of crumbs but I swear to God, I'm lucky to be alive!