What annoyed you today?

[anglefire]

Government waste is indeed massive - if only through supplier agreements that are allowed to put markup on 3rd party contracts who do not have direct access to the the contracts. Seems to result in a doubling of the cost to the taxpayer. Ad then they keep changing the specification during the projects, so the contractors make sure they hit them with big bills.

[Reinardina]

I used to cruise (in the days this was still a sea voyage, rather than a stay at floating holiday resort), my husband was in the merchant navy, a friend sails, both in Northern European waters and the Med, I live in a port where a good slice of the population is involved with maritime things, and these RNLI guys are proper heroes, who risk their lives to save others. And yes, no meddling in politics, so they are top of my list.

I didn't read the book recommended by Howard, but I agree that charity should begin at home. If the overseas budget was spent wisely on domestic 'aid,' we might soon be in a position to offer better advice and help to countries that need it. But how to make sure, it was spent wisely?

[Hinfrance]

But how to make sure, it was spent wisely?

That is the $64,000 question addressed by Easterly and Dambisa Moyo* in her book 'Dead Aid'. I haven't read the latter yet, but it is on my wish list.

* a remarkable woman. Her other books will be worth reading too. But probably only if you 'get' economics as a subject.

[spinner]

Thought I'd brought home a portable HD with my photos I took while in Florida. Apparently not

[anglefire]

Actually yesterday - got notice from the tax man that I'd underpaid. 

[David Blandford]

Typical bank holiday weather today overcast, wet and windy! Why is it when I am at work the sun shines but if I get a day off the weather turns crap?   

[Reinardina]

"Typical Bank Holiday weather," says it all. There's something seriously wrong, if the sun is out all through a Bank Holiday weekend.
This is England, after all.

If it is at all possible, you should work through a Bank Holiday weekend, and use the days you 'save,' to create your own 'Bank Holiday weekend,' at a different time.

[donoreo]

This has annoyed my for a few days.  We got home from Mexico Friday afternoon.  A few hours later my throat was sore.  I was so sick by Monday I had to call into work.  I only feel slightly better now. 

On the upside, I was in Mexico for two weeks. 

[spinner]

Murphy's law of computers. Finally got the new memory for my Mac. Easy peasy install all the YouTube videos said. 10 min job blah blah. So I open up the little door on the bottom and go to remove old memory. Won't come out, won't even budge. So I go to review the video on the Win10 computer I also have. Won't boot past the little Windows logo. Try a few more times and eventually get "Memory Management" error, with instructions to Google. How do you Google if your machine won't boot?

I did get my iMac upgraded by reviewing the video on my iPad. Still wasn't as easy peasy as they claimed. Their ideas of a 'gentle tug' on the plastic tab was a lot harder for me, arthritic hands. Now two projects. Figure out why the Win machine won't boot  and try the Elements Organizer again with the extra memory.

[spinner]

Looks like this 'Memory Management' error is another one of the famous Windows catchall error messages. Did a Google as suggested and found it covers a whole range of issues, non of which are specific to my problem. Looks like it's either memory or the GPU. running Memtest now. Hopefully it's not GPU related as that is integrated and the motherboard is Mini its with not a lot of room for another Video card.

[spinner]

After fiddling around with the computer, I tracked the problem to a bad HDMI cable. Don't know anything about HDMI cables or ports but I'm a bit confused as to why, what is essentially a passive piece of equipment would go bad over a year. And not a gradual degradation just up and quit over night.

[donoreo]

Murphy's law of computers. Finally got the new memory for my Mac. Easy peasy install all the YouTube videos said. 10 min job blah blah. So I open up the little door on the bottom and go to remove old memory. Won't come out, won't even budge. So I go to review the video on the Win10 computer I also have. Won't boot past the little Windows logo. Try a few more times and eventually get "Memory Management" error, with instructions to Google. How do you Google if your machine won't boot?

I did get my iMac upgraded by reviewing the video on my iPad. Still wasn't as easy peasy as they claimed. Their ideas of a 'gentle tug' on the plastic tab was a lot harder for me, arthritic hands. Now two projects. Figure out why the Win machine won't boot  and try the Elements Organizer again with the extra memory.

I had bad memory on my Mac as well, a Mini. This memory had been in there for two years with no problem.  I had to run the Apple Hardware Test from the firmware to test it in all combinations.  One stick bad and the other sometimes bad. 

On the upside, I had had problems when using two monitors of crashing.  Since the video memory is shared the problem with my memory had been going on a lot longer than I thought.  I had stopped using dual monitors months ago but now since replacing the memory I have not had a problem. 

[hssutton]

My MT-24EX Twin Lite macro flash is faulty. It's less than 2 years since I sent it to Canon for repair. It took them 3 months and cost £250. I only use this speedlight for a few weeks in the summer to photograph bees and hawk moths in flight. End of July 2015 I removed the batteries and put it away. Being a little bored (old age and arthritis) plus a little memory loss I decided to relearn how to use the speedlight only to find the same same problem that was supposedly repaired by Canon. I've now sent it back to Canon explaining the problem and suggesting they have a moral duty to repair the speedlight without any further charge. Mind you I don't expect a favourable reply.

Harry

[anglefire]

I've always had good service from Elstry - the repaired my flash when I dropped it for £120 fixed price - looks like a lot of it was replaced. I'm a member of CPS which does speed things along (Though not sure for how much longer as my Mk3 and 5D are now longer qualifying bodies, only my 1Dx is and you need 2 bodies to be a member)

[hssutton]

Mark I don't qualify to be a member. I guess the twin lite macro flash is a little more complicated than the normal speedlight. Actually I didn't send it to Canon, Originally I sent it to Lehmanns who probably did not know what to do with it so they forwarded it to Canon. When I contacted Lehmanns earlier this week they suggested I send it to Canon, but I refused saying they had sent it to Canon and that I had no details of what the repair was or which Canon repair centre they used. When pushed they agreed that they had some responibility and would arrange the transfer to Canon. Will just have to keep my fingers crossed.

Harry