Be Excellent To Each Other

4 weeks of home working and I've finally realised that using a laptop and sitting on a kitchen chair isn't the best thing I could do for my posture. Dug out an old monitor and found a straight-backed dining chair and feeling far more comfortable. Next stage will be ordering a proper office chair.

Except I’ve just had an email saying they’re returning it as no fault found. From Sunday to Wednesday the bloody thing wouldn’t switch on, so buggered if I know what’s happened there.

Updated: turns out it means it was a software, rather than hardware, fault, fixed with a full restore. I'm pretty sure I couldn't have done that myself, given it wouldn't even turn on, so I don't feel too silly for sending it for repair. (And to me, "could not duplicate fault" usually implies it was fine when the technicians received it, rather than after they'd done a full restore on it, so I don't feel too silly for questioning that, either.)

Meanwhile, it turns out you shouldn't plug a third party Switch controller into a MacBook Pro charger, unless you like the smell of burning hardware, and the opportunity to spend more money.

And the brand new sixty bastard quid replacement Pro Controller has a drifting left stick. Can't things just work?

Nintendo have responded to my issue with an email telling me to call their tech support line. The line is suspended due to coronavirus, and tells me to use the online live chat at https://store.nintendo.co.uk/help-centre.list - but that says "Unavailable". Sent them a message on Facebook, and that says:

I understand it's a difficult time, but bloody hell Nintendo - please get your left hand and right hand to talk to each other!

I seem to remember having hassle last time I had a problem with a Nintendo controller. At that time, their excuse was "there's a delay dealing with customer enquiries because Mario Kart 8 has just been released". Fucking piss poor.

Against my better judgement (because it's fucking new and I should be able to return it for immediate replacement, as it's not fit for sale, rather than book it in for a bloody repair), I filled in the form at https://nintendoservicecentre.co.uk

They've sent me an email telling me to take it to the post office.

I'm remaining indoors as I have type 1 diabetes, so am at increased vulnerability to coronavirus, so no, I will not be going to the post office, thanks.

Looked for someone to talk to about the whole sorry process (or lack thereof) and found that https://store.nintendo.co.uk/contact-us.info has:


Except you can't let them know a fucking thing through that address because it buggering bounces:


If anyone has a means of getting in touch with Nintendo, I'd be eternally grateful.

Who did you buy the controller from?

Nintendo (UK).

https://store.nintendo.co.uk/articles/t ... tions.list

Cancellation form and email address to send it to, to get a return code is on that page, under right to cancellation.

Thank you.

However, while Googling to try and see how others had dealt with a similar situation, it was brought to my attention that there is a calibration option on the system settings menu. I didn't know this, probably because I'd never needed it. As you can probably guess, it has fixed my issue. Arguably, it would have been good if when I'd contacted Nintendo, they'd pointed me towards the calibration option, but never mind. Meanwhile, they sent me a very nice and apologetic email saying they'd arrange for a collection of the controller, for a refund or replacement. So now I feel a bit guilty for slagging them off.

This was slightly overshadowed by my new AV receiver arriving, and immediately exhibiting the same issue as my old one, i.e. the HDMI audio return channel not working. This led me to suspect it was the tv rather than the amplifier that was at fault. This suspicion was confirmed when I did what I should have done on Wednesday, i.e. connected the receiver to a different tv and tried that. So I sheepishly put the new receiver back in its box, and started plugging the old one back in, with a view to giving the tv a chance to behave itself before I contemplated how the fuck I'd get a warranty repair done on a 65" tv in the current situation, and indeed if I really wanted to part with it for weeks on end (as happened when Zelda hearts got burned into the screen). I got as far as plugging in the power and the tv HDMI cable, and tried turning the tv on. Imagine my surprise when the amplifier turned on too, audio return channel and all. Baffled (wondering if it could be to do with things being switched off/disconnected for a bit) but pleased, I set about reconnecting all the speakers and HDMI cables. That took a while, but no matter, I switched the tv on, full of hope. Hope was dashed, as the amp (just realised I've been using "amplifier" and "receiver" interchangeably; deal with it) remained silent. This could only mean one of two things: either an intermittent problem (which would be a nightmare) or something plugged in via HDMI was playing silly buggers with the HDMI CEC signalling. Praying for the latter, I began unplugging things. I have a lot of HDMI stuff - all eight inputs on the amp (and all four on the tv) are in use. Inevitably, when I unplugged the last thing (plugged into the front socket on the amp), the ARC and CEC started working. That last thing being... a Facebook Portal TV. The very thing that I bigged up on these very pages, just the other week. Well NOT ANYBLOODYMORE, MARK SO-CALLED ZUCKERBERG! But of course I was being hasty, it must be the HDMI cable? No, same with a different cable. How about plugging into the tv, rather than the amp? No, same issue. Just to confirm, I unplugged the power on the Portal, and after a few seconds, the HDMI audio/controls started working again. But then I plugged it back in, and it continued working. Basically, I spent £700 on a new amplifier, and came scarily close to waving goodbye to my tv for weeks, because the bastard twatting Portal had crashed! I have a good mind to take the fucking thing and stick it up Zuckerberg's arse, sideways.

So now, I have to apologise to both Nintendo (and refuse their kind offer of a return) and Richer Sounds (and ask them for one). My amplifier, controller and watch have all turned out to be fine.

Morale of the story: if in doubt, it's probably a software issue.

My wife is watching Cheers on DVD while I work.

She is skipping the opening titles.

While you work, you say?


Maybe you should take a break?


From all your worries?


That sure would help a lot.

But I can't get away!
And if I did, nobody will be glad I came and would want to report my name.

The blue bar at the top of Word is now so jammed pack full of shit that I can't select an empty space in order to move the window around/make it snap to the side of my screen.

And they call this progress.

Bring back Mr Paperclip.

All the Power BI visualisation icons changed this week too:


Nothing really wrong with them - but there was nothing wrong with the previous set either. These are just a bit more blue.

I watched a documentary about Blackpool the other night, from about 10 years ago. It had all the greats, Jimmy Cricket, Cannon and Ball, Little and Large, Roy Chubby Brown etc...
It was really interesting to see what they thought about the place, and to see them all as old men and footage of them back in their prime, and how much of a bubble they have lived in their whole lives around blackpool and that style of entertainment.
They seem to genuinely think that Blackpool was and still is amazing, and playing there was the epitome of success.

They're not for me either but I suppose that playing five nights a week year in year out for entire seasons making a room full of hundreds of people laugh could be considered some measure of success for a comedian. Probably better than 99.9% of them do.

The little drop down to the left of the document title looks like it will let you turn some of the stuff off

Whaddaya know, that worked. I've turned off Undo, Redo and Autosave, Findus Wordbar Fact Fans.

Cheers!

Chuffed to have been able to make a difference

Hold down the Windows key and use left or right arrows to pin things to the side of the screen. Up maximises and down minimises, too.
Also, don't forget Windows and tab to open up some more desktops, and CTRL+Windows+Left/Right to move between them.

is the pro way

I do use that desktop shortcut, makes it much easier to keep work and personal stuff separated. It's nifty.

I do that by having two separate computers and two keyboards and mice on my desk. Number of times I've nearly posted some bollocks or other meant for here into a meeting chat.

MarkG prepares for work

https://twitter.com/StateOfLinkedIn/sta ... 9979463680

#Day1

Starting with a favourite by all!

Alexa 🤩 pic.twitter.com/ThqLo898nu

— The State of LinkedIn (@StateOfLinkedIn) December 1, 2019

That is incredible.

Amazing. He's a real go getter isn't he.

24 screens! Why?

Yes, if his wife and kids are asleep, who's made the coffee ?

He's a lying bastard.

His housekeeper, obv. Or the nanny. Who may or may not be the same person

Because the au pair doesn't get up before noon?

I'd imagine he has an Alexa-compatible Teasmade.

And his password is "Password123"

Windows+left/right straight into Windows+up/down gets a combo bonus.

Judging by @findus Fop's title bar I don't think that'll be all too useful though.

This didn’t quite do what I wanted to do (different backgrounds, more customisation etc) but I found an app free for personal use that did: http://www.dexpot.de

I have discovered mousetrap YouTube and it's equal parts fascinating and morally troubling.

Because the kids have been using my computer during lockdown, every time I come to it, the Caps lock is on.

Annoying.

Bet they leave Num Lock off too.

Plenty of apps to disable it. Mine is mapped to backspace.

My Lego Xenomorph was delivered to my office

Oh no! Is there anyone going in who might be able to send it on to you?

It's probably not quite worth it

Excel always puts the pivot table sheet to the left of the data sheet, when it makes far more sense for it to be on the right. Grrr...

Drop a line to Bill Gates about it.

When I got home from work today Mrs W said she couldn't login on her Chromebook, that it was saying her password was wrong. I tried my login, and got a 2FA message on my phone asking if it was me logging in. When I confirmed it was, the Chromebook started to log me in, then came up with a message that my password couldn't be verified.

I logged into my Google account with no problems on my other devices and my wife can log in to her account, and she can use the Guest browser on her Chromebook and log into her mail account.

Although it's quite an old machine, its still due to get auto updates until September 2021.

As usual, checking out Google Help or Community doesn't give a solution to this scenario. They provide several standard suggesrions, e.g. checking Caps Lock isn't on, that you have the English KB selected,that you have a good internet connection, resetting your passwords, etc, but doesn't offer any suggestions as to what to do if you've tried all those things but the problem isn't resolved. It certainly isn't the passwords that are wrong as they work on other devices. The only other thing I haven't tried is a factory reset, which I'm relucant to do, although I don't think there's much data on it that we can't afford to lose.

Wild stab in the dark: is the date and time set right?

I'm 99% sure that I checked that because I know it can screw things up unexpectedly, but I'll double check when I get home.

I've got an iPod classic that my daughter bought me years ago. It's one of the presents I found I use most often and particularly now while I'm on the road so much I of the time. I've always managed it manually, rather than just letting it sync itself, because I'll sometimes detele music files from my MacBook to save space (after I've backed up, of course). I've always used iTunes, particularly to make playlists, but now that Apple have replaced it I find that the Music app doesn't allow anything except drag and drop of music onto the iPod. I know Apple would like me to buy a new device, but the classic is working perfectly well, so they can sod off for now. I know from browsing through various forums that I'm not the only one pissed off with this, but I doubt that Apple will consider adding facilities to Music to placate the angry mob.

I tried dowloading iTunes again, but as expected, it won't work with the current OS. I've been looking for alternative apps that will solve this problem and found that it's possible to do some copying tasks in Finder, but not create or edit playlists.

I think I may try iMazing as it looks like it has what I need, but it still riles me that Apple so carelessly abandons Classic users.

You've probably done all the comparison you need to, but Waltr is meant to be v.g. for just this, and presumably cheaper (it pops up in bundles from time to time - I picked it up a couple of months ago for $5) because it does less.

https://softorino.com/waltr/