Yep, my home page. Just a collection of bits and pieces.
Links
Latest talks
- Home networkingIn this talk, we look at home networking. We’ll cover broadband, Wi-Fi, standards, speeds, firewalls, in-bound connections plus some additional options. The presentation is : The talk was previously recorded on U3AComminities :
- Real Time Bidding (how targeted ads work)In this talk we look at the Real Time Bidding (RTB) system – this is the mechanism that provides targeted ads to your web pages and devices. We’ll cover the basic mechanism, what data is held, how do they know it’s you, main companies involved, pros & cons and what can be done. The presentation… Read more: Real Time Bidding (how targeted ads work)
- Installing GNU/LinuxIn this talk we look at why you might want to migrate from Windows to Linux, a demo of actually doing the migration and finish with some special cases. The presentation is : ( use https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1w7C1EPCxPOL9T_AdQCl-IHhIII7GTqkhV_IPAoV9LT4/edit?usp=sharing to add comments )
Latest blog
- RSS linksFriendica supports Fediverse, Bluesky and RSS feeds … but, unfortunately, not all sites offers one of these. One option is to expose web pages to RSS via tools like https://fetchrss.com. This is my list. Festival related Name Original link RSS / ATOM Comments ALSO on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/AlsoFestival/ https://fetchrss.com/rss/63dd0762901e8031ae55b02268235c32a6a5051b94051442.atom Also https://medium.com/@ALSO_Festival EveryBody on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/ThisIsEveryBody https://fetchrss.com/rss/63dd0762901e8031ae55b02268236725f52a107ac7015bd2.atom… Read more: RSS links
- u3a.social updateOverview In February 2025, I started presented my talk Is it time to move to the Fediverse ? to on-line and local u3a groups. Whilst the main goal of the talk was to describe how the Fediverse worked from a technical point of view, I added the question … Should we, u3a worldwide, create a… Read more: u3a.social update
- Home electricity – 1 year update
A year or so ago I presented How to reduce your electricity bill to zero talk (initially over on u3acommunities.org computing group) – it’s now been running for a year, so time to check progress. General approach After getting my solar + house battery installed, I’ve tried to reduce my electricity (£ and carbon footprint)… Read more: Home electricity – 1 year update - Getting RSS feeds into your Fediverse accountHere are some ideas to get RSS feeds into your Fediverse account. Sites that provide RSS Many sites already provide an RSS feed … look for the RSS symbol. Use your browsers Copy Link facility to get the link. Finally, in your Fediverse account, do a private mention of @birb with the link you’ve copied.… Read more: Getting RSS feeds into your Fediverse account
- ISP’sThis is my recent experience with ISP’s. VirginMedia over cable Link broadbands over CityFibre 4th Utility over CityFibre Toob Research For 900Mbit/sec to 1,000Mbit/sec. CityFibre require 2 weeks to switch. Name Link Price / month Public IP Comment Link Broadbands https://linkbroadbands.com/ £30, 1 month contract free Very slow in evening 4th Utility https://the4thutility.co.uk/ £25 (black… Read more: ISP’s
Daily power use

Yesterdays electricity grid consumption was 44.2kWh, costing £3.45 + standing charge £0.44.
Yesterdays solar generation was 2.5kWh.
Yesterdays export was approx 4.7kWh earning £0.70.
Total electric £3.19.
Local air quality

Data is from a SEN5x module.
- PM 2.5 unhealthy above 35.5 μg/m3
- VOC and NOx index max in 500
Broadband speed


Recent fediverse posts
- 18th November @ 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm This month we are fortunate that Professor Winfried Hensinger, from Sussex University, […] Nov 6
- Had an immensely scary moment today. My laptop’s SSD failed outright. Totally gone. No reads whatsoever, ddrescue can’t scrape it. The data partition is unreadable. I don’t have local backups for this machine. Panicking, I’m thinking I’ve lost 8 months worth of history and trying to frantically reme Nov 4
- DRAM Costs Surge Past Gold as AI Demand Strains Supply it.slashdot.org/story/25/11/05… DRAM Costs Surge Past Gold as AI Demand Strains Supply – SlashdotDRAM contract prices surged 171.8% year-over-year as of the third quarter of 2025. The increase now exceeds the rate at which gold prices have cli Nov 3
- Happy Halloween to all those who celebrate, but especially to my fellow statisticians #Halloween #Statistics A graph with 2 panels. In the upper panel is a normal distribution probability density curve, with “Normal Distribution” written underneath it. In the lower panel there is another curve, a b Fri 31, 14:04
- theguardian.com/environment/20… *Wood burners linked to 2,500 deaths a year in the UK, analysis finds.* Using a wood-burning stove is not a wise idea. Wood burners linked to 2,500 deaths a year in the UK, analysis findsUse of wood-burning stoves and fires in homes is mostly unnecessary and their t Fri 31, 06:18
- Huge news has hit HowTheLightGetsIn 2026! First speakers have officially landed! 🚀 An unmissable lineup is in the making, with firebrand philosophers, political heavyweights, and radical cultural… HowTheLightGetsIn Festivalwww.facebook.com Oct 30
- The latest FindOutNow poll has the Green Party in second place. Yes, “it’s just one poll”, but I’ve heard people say that about half a dozen polls over the past week showing the Greens at record levels. Voting intention If a general election was called tomorrow, how would you vote? Reform Oct 30
- RSS links https://plord.co.uk/b/G3h #festivals #u3a Friendica supports Fediverse, Bluesky and RSS feeds … but, unfortunately, not all sites offers one […] Oct 30
- RSS links plord.co.uk/b/G3h #festivals #u3a Friendica supports Fediverse, Bluesky and RSS feeds … but, unfortunately, not all sites offers one of these. One option is to expose web pages to RSS via tools like fetchrss.com. This is my list. Festival relatedNameOriginal linkRSS / ATOMCommentsALSO o Oct 30
- Thousands of users unable affected by Microsoft Azure outage https://news.sky.com/story/thousands-of-users-unable-affected-by-microsoft-azure-outage-13460125?utm_source=flipboard&utm_medium=activitypub Posted into Latest @latest-SkyNewsUK Thousands of users unable affected by Microsoft Azure outageA Oct 29



