Vague – where should it go? – Fooyah

May 9 2024

Portal Gateway

This communication should come after the next one as I have some writing to do about my new toy. I bought a PlayStation Portal and have been using it to play from somewhere that isn’t my lounge. I was quite worried when I tried to connect to a hotspot from my phone because the Portal refused to connect. What would be the point of having a Portal if I can’t connect wherever I get mobile service?

I spent some time googling and there were many pages saying that “nope, it’s an iPhone thing” and also that the wrong type of NAT is supported or something like that. So, I started looking into a wifi device just for the Portal to use when I am not in wifi range.

Then . . . . . today I stumbled onto a Reddit post that listed the manual wifi settings to connect to an iPhone hotspot. I tested it and I am very happy to announce that it worked, so I am now able to connect and play via my iPhone hotspot. I have decided to write the settings here, mainly as a reminder for me in case the Portal resets itself or something. Also, maybe other people will find these settings if they need them.

SSID – whatever your iPhone is called
Password – WPA2, and the password is whatever your iPhone says in the “allow other devices” section.
IP – 172.20.10.10 [the last number you can change from 02 to 15.
Subnet Mask – 255.255.255.0
Default Gateway – 172.20.10.1
DNS – 8.8.8.8

October 1 2023

Aviation Collection Three

This is, I think, the collection I am proudest of. I have some AviationTags which are actual parts of aircraft skin that have been cut up to look pretty and be luggage tags so you can spot your suitcase on the carousel. I’m not going to use these as tags. They are going to stay in the display cabinet because I think they are pretty and I don’t want them ruined.

The first tag I got was the P180. They used to fly over my house a lot pre-Brexit. There were people who would fly from Biggin Hill to Frankfurt and the gorgeous sound of these planes would draw me out of the house or workplace. They are very good looking planes. The aircraft registration of this one was D-IZZY and I have sat in their sister D-IPPY. The next skin I bought was the Super Guppy, such an iconic aircraft. Then came my fafourite:

The SU35S. This is part of a Russian plane that was shot down over Ukraine as part of the war there. A company in Kiev managed to get some of the skin and create these tags. While it was expensive it was worth every penny as the profits have been used to help fund the land war. It’s pretty cool to own part of a Sukhoi.

The last piece of skin I purchased was the A320. I bought this at Hannover airport as part of the return journey from the M’era Luna festival of 2023. The aircraft that flew me out and returned was an A320 so it seemed appropriate.

September 29 2023

Aviation Collection Two

These two gorgeous little things are compressor blades from a Rolls Royce RB199 engine. These engines powered the Panavia Tornado and it’s an iconic aircraft still currently in use with two air forces around the world, but not the RAF. The large blade is the first of the compressors and it is wood mounted. The little blade is slightly further along towards the combustion end of the engine and has a little hole as it’s a keyring. Do NOT put the little blade in your pocket. It is sharp and will ruin any clothes that you have.

September 24 2023

Aviation Collection One

I think the first part of getting this collection was having the chair and seeing someone else hang their aircraft things on their own chair. It seemed a good place for them. So, I have the following on my Secret Lab chair and I think they look rather smart. No, I don’t care what you think.

June 3 2023June 8 2023

Cobbles, Company, and Cocktails

I recently had a lovely weekend with friends of over thirty years in the Belgium city of Leuven. It was a celebration of getting old for one of us and we got together for probably the first time in twelve years. We live in different ends of the country and in different countries now so getting together is just a little bit harder than meeting up at the Star Of India or King Willy IV. It’s odd but when comparing technology from now to then and the ease of keeping in touch I feel it’s amazing we ever did anything. Imagine having to phone call people and organise things “live”.

So, trains, cars and cars on trains meant that we had a weekend in Leuven. It’s a very pretty town and had a lovely atmosphere, probably aided by the fact it’s a university town. On the Saturday we just met up, found our lodgings and drank and ate. On the Sunday we ate, drank, ate and drank and somewhere in the middle of that there was a visit to a little brewery on the edge of town. It definitely was not Stella Artois which has it’s home at Leuven.

Leuven has a large pedestrian area, although there were many bicycles on the loose! The roads were nicely wide and there were statues here and there. Effectively within the main ring-road the place is safe, quiet and impressive.

At night the town is gorgeous. It’s well lit and oozes sophistication – apart from that one little street which has a McDonalds – the rest of it is lovely.

This past week I also spend some time in the UK equivalent town of history and cobbles. I went to Canterbury. The streets are thinner but just as full of tourists as Leuven. There were many eateries but not so many bars which is a shame I guess. Canterbury is a university town and also the home of christianity in the UK – not that that fact is a draw on me going there. I’ve been in the cathedral and so am not that fussed about getting inside there again.

You can see from the picture above that Canterbury does pretty well in the “cobbled streets and old buildings look” category. Maybe Leuven is a bit better as they rebuilt the whole town after the first world war and made it look like it did before!

December 19 2022December 19 2022

This Is The End

I think I am coming to the conclusion of this website experiment. Current feelings are that I will end this site. I will cancel my hosting service. It is reasonably likely I will also delete my twitter account. I think it’s time.

November 27 2022November 27 2022

Rule 134 – This Makes Sense

I’ve had occasion recently to look at things within the Highway Code. I know that they change it year on year and I try to keep aware of these things, but somethings have happened recently to change my mind about road behaviour and so I wanted to know the actual rules.

Maidstone is a somewhat special town with all its traffic glory. There are plenty of places within the town where there seem to be “local rules” and I often describe it as driving in London. You need to know what lane to be in for a junction one mile up the road otherwise it all gets a bit shitty. There are roadworks currently at a junction I use a lot. Two of the lanes now drop down to one lane to give the workers room to work and to be safe. Many, many people try to get into the open lane as soon as they see the signs and this leaves the lane that is closing empty of traffic. This might seem sensible but then I saw an image on [twitter I think] social media that made traffic queuing sense. Both lanes were full and then you merge in turn where the lane actually closes.

This makes sense. It shortens the length of the queuing traffic on the road and makes it more fair by insisting that people take it in turns to merge. THIS IS THE MOST SENSIBLE FOR QUEUING TRAFFIC. This is so sensible that there is a rule about it in the Highway Code and that is Rule 134.

Rule 134

You should follow the signs and road markings and get into the lane as directed. In congested road conditions do not change lanes unnecessarily. Merging in turn is recommended but only if safe and appropriate when vehicles are travelling at a very low speed, e.g. when approaching road works or a road traffic incident. It is not recommended at high speed.
HighwayCode

The problem with this rule is that people think they need to move over straight away and then they get annoyed at someone “cutting the line” and doing the correct thing which is to use the closing lane until the last moment. I’ve even seem people gatekeep the road by making sure no one can get along the closing lane. These people are wrong and also utter wankers. To be honest I looked this rule up because I want the defence when I get someone complaining about me driving up the empty lane and then merging in turn. Also, I don’t understand why merging in turn isn’t a bigger thing over here. People seem to be right assholes about it all.

Rule 134

UK Tory Government

UK Shadow Cabinet