FlyingVizsla

I did the uninstall yesterday, and guess what, KB3035583 reinstalled itself this morning. I guess, instead of automatic updates, I will have to select what I want every day, or put up with Win 10 trying (and failing) to upload each day - slowly eating into my data allocation and slowing my internet to a stop for part of the morning. Sue

I am holding off until I know vendors have written drivers for all my peripherals and software. The migration to Win 7 left me with a laser printer, modem etc unable to work - I am annoyed that companies like Canon leave it to 3rd parties to write the drivers and post for free in support of their product and customers - so far no one has produced one, resulting in good equipment sitting idle. In that move I also lost a number of software packages and had to "upgrade" in one case, my accounting software, over $600 to get the same version but with the clap trap that magically made it compatible. I lost the full functioning of another database product where the vendor had no plans to support his product under Win 7. Then I lost DAYS trying to get things working again, mostly without internet access (the modem doesn't work with Win 7). Somehow Windows has been trying to download Win10 to my laptop, every day since 8 Aug 2015. I have been off the net due to a fault for nearly a fortnight, just got back to an incredibly slow to no connection as Win 7 downloaded updates over 2 days and in the background Win 10 tried (and failed) to upload. Not sure if this was automatic - but I remember my husband asking if I wanted Win 10, to which I said NO! Maybe he said yes? Or this is Win 10 by stealth? Sue

To answer some of Andy's questions ... My background is in Civil Engineering of town water treatment plants. Some of these modules were developed for arid areas where it doesn't rain much, and the water is either trucked / pumped in, or is harvested from a nearby river when it reaches certain height and velocity (under an EPA permit). Once you've got it you want to keep as much as possible; evaporation costing real money. Protecting from sunlight means less algae & plant growth, particularly the types detrimental to human health, cooler, less attractive to wildlife (cattle that muddy the edges, roos, birds etc), less evaporation (a product of heat, dry air and wind on exposed water). Dust (and bird poo) mainly settles on the modules - which Rio Tinto reps suggested could be washed or dusted off when you pulled them out of the water for inspection, which I though too expensive, let the wind blow it off. As for "protecting from rain" I'm with you :see no evil:it sounds ridiculous, but possible with issues of turbidity, acid rain or aqueous solutions that shouldn't be diluted. All the modules I looked at were designed to have rain run off into the water underneath. Like these modules, the balls are likely to have holes in the underside to let water in. At 36 cents each, no one is filling and capping (I hope!) mnewbery - "caffiene, anti-biotics, birth control hormones and street drugs, plastic like BPA in the water ... " town water comes from the river, which is pure, uncontaminated etc, just downstream from the next town's sewerage treatment plant:oh yeah:

I looked at a similar dam protection device, not spherical, but pancake shaped and a bit "hexagonal" like, plastic construction. They had been developed by a mining company with research assistance by an Australian University - when I remember the name and find their site, I'll link it. The pancakes floated on the water surface and were shaped to slide off each other, so in very windy conditions where they might be blown up one end, they soon rearranged themselves to recover the dam. Was to save on water evaporation which can be massive over large shallow dams resulting in increasingly saline water. The other bonus is reducing floating and perching bird life in the dam, although the effects of that are usually rounded up at the treatment plant through disinfection and flocculation. They are not new, just expensive. EDIT - was Rio Tinto - google Rio Tinto dam evaporation prevention. Sue

Lyle, how confident are you that Canon, Brother, HP and Belkin will have Win 10 drivers by July? My Win 7 (64) experience left me with no printers, scanner or modem. I don't want to be buying new peripherals, if I can avoid it. Sue

I got the offer on my toolbar too. Yesterday, clicking on "Learn more on Windows.com" took me to a Page Not Found. Now, my biggest question, one that they can't (or won't) answer is what software & drivers are available for Win 10 and what backward functionality does it have. When I upgraded to Win7 I had to ditch my Canon laser printer (a $2,500 investment) and my modem because no drivers have been written for Win7, not even by a 3rd party. Also to go the way of the dinosaur were several programs from smaller software houses that couldn't or wouldn't keep up with development to the next iteration of Windoze. Notice that MS have skipped Win 9 and gone straight to 10. The offer is also to users with pirated versions of Win7 to get them back into the fold officially. I won't upgrade until I know I won't lose my critical programs and peripherals. Sue

Not being shaped - we are with TPG over Telstra landline on a 512/60GB plan with laptop via ethernet cable from modem. Three weeks into the billing cycle and we have used 4.3% of that and the previous month we used 2,257MB (3.8%). Modem is less than 12 months old. I have the WiFi set up for my husband to get annoying adverts on his iPad while he is playing free card games (that's all he uses it for) which wouldn't account for many Gigs. So, I put it down to a substandard rural copper wire service. Our phone audio quality is scratchy, so can't expect much from broadband. Within 1km of the exchange too. Perhaps we should stretch the string between the cans a bit tighter?

Our internet has been woeful and getting worse, even in town. So frustrated I just thought I would tell someone who cared. I have been playing 2 rounds of cards waiting for a page, even the speed test took several goes to get loaded. We were supposed to be on the NBN by now, but that was shelved after the change of policy. Test run on 29/09/2014 @ 03:16 PM Mirror: TPG Data: 130 KB Test Time: 10.11 secs Your line speed is 106 kbps (0.11 Mbps). Your download speed is 13 KB/s (0.01 MB/s). Sue

I use Google Sketch-Up - $free for private use, although you can pay extra to access enhanced features or for commercial use. 3D and access to libraries and drawings by other users (some pretty awful), but you can usually find something to get started or add in - eg furniture, gears. It integrates to Google Maps so you can acquire a building or terrain and work with it. Has a some similarities to Autocad and I found the transition fairly easy. It can convert Autocad files. I don't use it often, and have no need to output to 3D printer or CNC, so can't comment on its ability there. Good value for the price - $Free - supported by a community of enthusiasts. Sue

In Springsure on ADSL Test run on 11/08/2014 @ 10:56 PM Mirror: TPG Data: 530 KB Test Time: 10.01 secs Your line speed is 434 kbps (0.43 Mbps). Your download speed is 54 KB/s (0.05 MB/s). On the Farm where I have been for the last month (using TPG's speed test & Telstra Mobile B'Band) supposedly in an area of Good reception both inside & outside The download = best 0.27 Mbps down to "timed out error", average 0.05Mbps Upload almost always timed out. The only test that fully completed = Down 0.48Mbps / Up 0.17Mbps latency 80ms Jitter 20ms. That's why I have been quiet on the Event listing - I had trouble getting enough signal to Google Map things. Springsure was to get wireless NBN by now - the tower site had been approved, public meetings held etc. However things have now 'changed' to prefer areas of higher population and the NBN website now has us as 'no construction planned'. Satellite NBN is active in the rural areas but they are complaining it is as bad as the old satellite system; slow, unusable in certain weather, not the communication revolution that was promised. Sue

Google the phone number; usually reverse or who called me will list name and address (some sites require facebook log in to get address); if so try white pages on line for name, for that number. Google maps for the address (street view to see the house). Use address to check electorate; Court house (not sure what that is in Sydney) to look at the electoral roll (a public document), no need to tell them why.

Looks like the object is to multiply the bottom line numbers to make the next line etc Working from the top, as you correctly stated 168 = 12 x 14 Line 3 then, 12 must be ? x 2 and 14 = 2 x ? (answers 6 & 7) Line 4 ..... 6=? x 2 (answer 3), 2=2 x ? (answer 1), 7=1 x ? (answer 7) 168 12 14 6 2 7 3 2 1 7

FD, The el-chepo pH test kit will cost you a red cabbage. See http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Homemade-pH-Paper-Test-Strips For battery acid there is a correlation between acidity and specific gravity (density) - the hydrometer measures SG and the reading is calculated in pH. Just saw your last post - so we are talking about a fish tank? I don't keep fish, but I do know that salinity is an issue for them (osmosis). When I was on a rural property I had a windmill & derelict tank. The lads next door caught an eel and put it in there in the bore water. Months later, with it drying out they decided to clean out the tank, fix it and refill it, so they filled my bath tub with rain water and put the eel in there for the day. It died. The hardness of water indicates the minerals dissolved in it. Quick check; have a shower, does the soap go bubbly easily (it is soft), or not at all and your skin feels 'greasy' and your taps have a white crust (it is hard - dissolved minerals). I assume you are using town water. If you are using water processed by your Council or Water Board, then a quick call to them for a copy of their testing results (which they have to do on a regular basis) will give you pH, levels of sodium, boron, arsenic, copper, fluoride, heavy metals, hardness, free chlorine, turbidity, E.Coli etc. Lots of these are naturally occurring and add to our (and fish) health. pH of drinking water does vary a lot from the pure 6.8 pH. My town's bore supply was nearly 9. I used to work in Council water / waste water (among other things). Are we answering your question? Sue

FD is looking for something that will measure small amounts of (presumably fluid) at 7 pH reliably. Pure water is close to 7 pH; it is 6.8 pH, 7 is regarded as 'neutral' on the pH scale. I suggested Litmus paper, but it isn't a very accurate measure of hydrogen ions, it gives you a broad indication of acid or base (alkaline). There are test strips you can buy that have several chemicals impregnated with better accuracy at certain points of the scale - they change colours. You then compare them to the multi colour chart to determine the pH. The garden soil kit has the two chemicals (which you can buy separately) and the colour chart. The added advantage is being able to test a wider range of material & fluids, and when finished you can give it to any gardener. Another option is the Pool shop as they sell pH kits for swimming pools. Water suppliers (Councils, Water Boards) may provide testing for the public, they use lab equipment that gives an instant answer. Sue

FD You are thinking of a hydrometer - looks like a turkey baster with a rubber bulb on the top, a tube with graduations and a floating weight, a skinny short hose at the bottom. Put the bottom hose into the battery acid, squeeze the bulb to suck up fluid and take the reading from where the weight is suspended. Only works on the specific gravity of sulphuric acid at a set temperature. They have been superseded by the electronic version and difficult to find now. If you just want the pH of a fluid you can use Litmus strips or try a garden shop for a soil pH tester - it will have the basic chemicals and the colour chart to read the result. Sue

From one flying dog to another ... I've been in some horrible places too. Been pigeon-holed by others, and myself too, thought the worst, didn't understand what was happening, etc. There comes a time when self preservation is more important than anything else. I measured myself against others and found myself wanting, but only learnt later that it isn't a true measure. I took some life changing decisions which seemed silly at the time, and maybe they were, but I stopped drowning long enough to get a different perspective on life. PM me if you want to talk confidentially. We do care. Sue

I don't have NY resolutions - just an on-going project list. 1. Sort out & stow his junk so I can find the house 2. Repair the house before it falls down 3. Get a hangar closer to home 4. Finish the refurbishment of my plane - so we can fly it 5. Re-rig his little plane - so we can fly it 6. Fly something rather than just work on it 7. Actually FLY to a fly-in (we had to drive the last 5 years) 8. Reduce the To Do list to less than 8 pages 9. Find some time to relax 10. Lose some weight so we can carry more fuel Happy New Year to my fellow Forumites. Sue