Test Equipment Anonymous (TEA) group therapy thread

[Mr. Scram]

Do you really want to ship them NOW? And probably spreading the virus?   

There still isn't tangible evidence the virus remains viable on packages that long. Better safe than sorry is a valid approach but "probably" doesn't reflect what we know.

[Cerebus]

Just heard the end of the news on the radio and there was something about London shops being shut down apart from chemists and food shops, so it looks my information does have some substance after all.

I don't think it does have any substance to it. Certainly nothing official has happened otherwise the news would be leading with it and, as of now, it isn't. I think you misheard, I'm sure a lot of shops are shut, but because they have decided that it's not worth the candle to open or they have so many staff who've stayed home and dropped the drawbridge that they can't open. All the local shops here (Stratford/West Ham) are open, even the local 2nd hand car dealer.

[Mr. Scram]

Back to spreading rumours.  If you can't spread the virus you can at least spread FUD, right? People should show some restraint.

[PA0PBZ]

Waiting on Ocado delivery. I think this might be the next shit show. It's due at 16:30-17:30 but there are some problems:

1. They took their web site down
2. They took their phone line down
3. They have stopped posting on twitter
4. They haven't taken any money yet from my account.

Site's half up now, saying:

Like all supermarkets, we are working round the clock to keep up with high demand and make sure all of our customers get what they need at this time – especially those more vulnerable and in isolation.
As a result, we have made a decision to temporarily suspend access to Ocado.com for a few days in order to make some changes to our service. This will allow us to better serve our customers, particularly the vulnerable and elderly.
We are fully booked and at full capacity, and will be delivering to over 170,000 households in the next four days. If you have a delivery booked for Thursday or Friday, cut-off times for editing these orders have already passed, but your driver will still arrive as expected.

So there's still hope for you!
(If it's true)

[Cerebus]

As a result, we have made a decision to temporarily suspend access to Ocado.com for a few days in order to make some changes to our service. This will allow us to better serve our customers, particularly the vulnerable and elderly.

Allow me to translate those two sentences for those, unlike me and bd, who have little experience with modern corporate IT.

"As a result, we have made a decision to temporarily suspend access to Ocado.com for a few days in order to make some changes to our service."
Oh shit! Our all singing, all dancing, cloud-based microservices architecture that all the bright young things told us would be infinitely scaleable, and would just need us to spin-up more cloud instances to increase capacity, doesn't in fact scale, not even to 200%. It's broken, bangaxed, fucked, and is now, like our head of IT, lying balled up in a corner crying.

"This will allow us to better serve our customers, particularly the vulnerable and elderly."
Oh god I hope we can fix this enough in the next few days so that we can get it back on its feet and get at least some new orders through the system. Because the system is so rogered we're hoping that forcing people to prove that they are old or disabled will slow the flood of new orders enough that the chewing gun, bailing twine and gaffa tape will hold.

[grizewald]

And so the volt nuttery continues...

I thought I'd treat myself to a little birthday present and amazingly, this took only five working days from the UK to Sweden, even though it was sent via Hermes UK.



It seems to be calibrated as well, at least on the 10V DC range. Now I just have to get that second KX reference boxed.

[med6753]

Well I sent the seller of the 8505A a msg this morning around 0530 hours and as of right now (1100 hours) I have not heard back. Nor has the shipping status changed. I'm going to give it another 24 hours and if no change I will take action.   

[Mr. Scram]

And so the volt nuttery continues...

I thought I'd treat myself to a little birthday present and amazingly, this took only five working days from the UK to Sweden, even though it was sent via Hermes UK.



It seems to be calibrated as well, at least on the 10V DC range. Now I just have to get that second KX reference boxed.

Was that one of the two for sale on here? They're great machines.

[PA0PBZ]

Allow me to translate those two sentences for those, unlike me and bd, who have little experience with modern corporate IT.

Sure, that's why I ended my post with "(If it's true)". I think it was too funny not to share!

[grizewald]

Was that one of the two for sale on here? They're great machines.

Yes, it is. When the price went down to £250, I couldn't resist any longer.

I thought of getting the HP branded one to start with but then realised that it was much more of a problem to fix the display on the older HP version and also thought it was a bit crazy that all of the input connectors are red, so I took the Agilent branded one instead.

[tggzzz]

China are up shit creek and full containment is a really bad outcome as well. The moment containment drops again there will be mass infection of those who are not immune. If it's anything like the 1918 Spanish Flu, wave two will be 3x as devastating as the first. People are hanging onto a reliable tested vaccination which is ~6 months off easily. Watch it over the next few months. We've got some of the best people in the world in the UK on this and as much as it's a Tory government, they are taking the right approach IMHO here which is controlled rates of infection, curve flattening and developing tests for asymptomatic cases to get more data.

https://www.imperial.ac.uk/media/imperial-college/medicine/sph/ide/gida-fellowships/Imperial-College-COVID19-NPI-modelling-16-03-2020.pdf?referringSource=articleShare
especially figures 3 and 4.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/world/corona-simulator/
especially the simulation above "Whoops" As health experts would expect..."

[Specmaster]

Back to spreading rumours.  If you can't spread the virus you can at least spread FUD, right? People should show some restraint.

What I heard was on a radio news program and The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has been interviewed about why has London not followed the other major cities in the world and it is something that is being considered because it is the Coronavirus capital of the UK at present with 953 confirmed cases of the virus.

I also mentioned  that schools were about to be closed, because Essex County Council decides to close all schools as of Friday afternoon following a confirmed case in my son's old infant school, a day later the Government announced the same thing on a national level so that verified what I had said was correct.

[Cerebus]

Back to spreading rumours.  If you can't spread the virus you can at least spread FUD, right? People should show some restraint.

What I heard was on a radio news program and The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has been interviewed about why has London not followed the other major cities in the world and it is something that is being considered because it is the Coronavirus capital of the UK at present with 953 confirmed cases of the virus.

I also mentioned  that schools were about to be closed, because Essex County Council decides to close all schools as of Friday afternoon following a confirmed case in my son's old infant school, a day later the Government announced the same thing on a national level so that verified what I had said was correct.

That is very different from what you said, which was:

Just heard the end of the news on the radio and there was something about London shops being shut down apart from chemists and food shops, so it looks my information does have some substance after all.

in the context of you saying this previously:

My son has just come from his shift in a large national chain store and says that there are rumours that shops could be closed as of Friday night apart from food shops and also that the army is due to be called in to enforce a lockdown. This has come from the store managers who have been briefed from H/Q who I assume have been having high level discussions with Westminster.

It's a far cry from "the mayor says it's being considered" to "London shops being shut down apart from chemists and food shops" as if it's a done deal and " the army is due to be called in to enforce a lockdown". That really is how rumours start and snowball into god knows what. If you've heard that the mayor has said that he is considering some action then report it as that, not as if it's a fait accompli.

Just asking for a bit more thought before, and slightly more judicial choice of words when you do, make a pronouncement.

[BU508A]

Please, do not start a fight about this. It's not worth it. 

[med6753]

Please, do not start a fight about this. It's not worth it. 

It's easy to avoid tensions and conflicts during these tough times by.......

report ONLY what you know first hand or via ACCEPTED news sources. Stay away from rumors or speculation.

[BU508A]

+++ Breaking News +++ Essity is buying Google! +++ Breaking News +++



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essity



 

[AVGresponding]

Well, just not-quite-maxed out on my PayPal credit...   

Sent an offer on a Fluke PM99B series II thinking it would be rejected, and it took less than a minute for it to be accepted.   

It's quite nice condition, with all the accessories and in its original case.

I sent the offer as I've been offered a BNIB PM97 for £200 + £10 shipping, and looking at the specs the 99 series 2 is way better.
I expect I should confess... it was £300 (free shipping). If I had a wife, she'd be beating me to death around about now...   

Hopefully the internet will break soon which will prevent me from spending any more money.   


@med, this would look good next to your 8505 (assuming your vendor gets on with it):

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/G166894-Rack-Mount-HP-3455A-Digital-Voltmeter/392731908711

 

[med6753]

Phil, some good news. Your HP probes showed up safe and sound. 

I'm going to re-package them for shipment to you and hit up the Post Office tomorrow morning. From this point we'll talk via PM for addresses, payment, etc.

[AVGresponding]

Phil, some good news. Your HP probes showed up safe and sound. 

I'm going to re-package them for shipment to you and hit up the Post Office tomorrow morning. From this point we'll talk via PM for addresses, payment, etc.

 

[Cerebus]

If I had a wife, she'd be beating me to death around about now...   

If you had a wife you'd have learned how to be more, erm, indirect about announcing your purchases where anybody can read it.  And would probably also have to have an account at the florists, a local posh chocolatiers, and a shoe shop.

[McBryce]

If I had a wife, she'd be beating me to death around about now...   

If you had a wife you'd have learned how to be more, erm, indirect about announcing your purchases where anybody can read it.  And would probably also have to have an account at the florists, a local posh chocolatiers, and a shoe shop.

You forgot the handbag shop.

McBryce.

[Cerebus]

+++ Breaking News +++ Essity is buying Google! +++ Breaking News +++



https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essity



 

"Google, soft, strong and twice as long."

[Cerebus]

If I had a wife, she'd be beating me to death around about now...   

If you had a wife you'd have learned how to be more, erm, indirect about announcing your purchases where anybody can read it.  And would probably also have to have an account at the florists, a local posh chocolatiers, and a shoe shop.

You forgot the handbag shop.

McBryce.

You are quite correct, I did.

[bd139]

Blimey. I'm not going to read up. Looks like it'll give me a headache and I've already got one. Cerebus nailed the Ocado problems perfectly. Alas it's actually my job to curl up in the corner and cry, albeit the layer just under the IT managed designed to pass the buck down one level and described by the crazy title that means nothing of "site reliability engineering"

Ocado arrived minus the fucking rich tea biscuits the bastards. Everything else good though. Panic over. Phew. Now what am I going to do with 500 pairs of underpants 

Quick comedy update



Looking for sexy things on ebay I can receive rather than transmit seeing as I'm a diseased bastard

[Specmaster]

If I had a wife, she'd be beating me to death around about now...   

If you had a wife you'd have learned how to be more, erm, indirect about announcing your purchases where anybody can read it.  And would probably also have to have an account at the florists, a local posh chocolatiers, and a shoe shop.

You forgot the handbag shop.

McBryce.

You are quite correct, I did.

Also you forgot the hairdressers, that is what a lot of wives would go for, ask bd.