I spent a lot more time at home over the holidays than I do normally, and so my trusty iBook has become less of a laptop and more of a desk ornament. After a few days of sitting there, plugged in permanently, it started giving me shocks via the metal components on the case. Nothing serious, just a small tingling, so I wired up my multi-meter and sure enough, there was a small current flowing whenever the machine was connected to the mains.
I guess I’d never noticed before because it spent most of the unplugged, and being curious more than worried I decided to give Apple a ring. Apple support is still some of the best in the industry and after a minimal amount of time on the phone, they said they’d contact me with a resolution. Well, true to form, they called back two days later with the following interesting snippet.
The power adaptor that Apple ships supported two methods of wall connection. There’s an AC power lead (e.g. a long cable with the plug in the end) as well as a wall plug that slips right onto the adaptor. Because my desk is well supplied with sockets, I’d just slipped the wall plug (the Apple support person called it a “docket” [sic]) onto the adaptor and into the wall. It transpires, however, that this plug is ungrounded.
Sceptical and surprised, I said I’d try it and sure enough, my laptop no longer shocks me when plugged in via the longer AC lead. Not being an electrician, I can’t say why they didn’t connect the ground for the small plug, but it certain seems to be the case. I’d also been experiencing trackpad problems (it was getting stuck in scroll mode), and these problems also went away when the unit was grounded. I understand the trackpads work on a capacitance difference between fingers and surface, so perhaps this also cured that problem (though this just speculation).
Anyway, issue resolved. Hopefully this information can filter through Google and save someone else a call to technical support.
Well, it transpires I’m terrible at keeping this thing up to date. All it takes is the equivalent of a full time job simultaneously with a full time degree course, social life and family ties to make me stop writing a weblog. Who’d have thought it?
I’m not going to subscribe to the cliché of posting any New Years Resolutions here; such an indulgence would be a waste of time for all concerned. However, in my original spirit of keeping only things people would actually be interested in, I shall reveal one: For several years now I’ve wanted to learn Latin, and now I actually intend to.
I did make a start a couple of years ago and progressed a little way, until the real life gremlins appeared to foil my attempt. This time, I’m resolved to make a better effort. Additionally, rather than signing onto a Latin course at university, I’ve decided to “go it alone”. Armed with suitable textbooks, dictionaries, audio guides and an inexhaustible well of new years resoluteness, I’m going to complete the equivalent of a high school Latin course. Oh, and I’m going to write about it here. Look forward to part one shortly, or unsubscribe now!
I don’t want to carry baggage into 2006 with me, so consider all currently unfinished article series dead – I suspect they were of little interest or value anyway. If anyone has any questions regarding anything that’s now hanging in literary limbo, just drop me an e-mail.
It’s come to my attention that my only real Decal plugin project, Magellan 2, is no longer working. This is no great surprise, as the changes implemented in Decal 3 have broken all plugins. Because of this, people have asked if it an d when it’s going to be fixed.
Unfortunately, the answer from me is “Probably never”. My reasons are…
- I no longer have an AC account, nor the will to pay for one.
- The changes needed to simply bludgeon the old version back to life would take a good few hours. If I were going to do anything, I’d rather fix things properly.
- I’m currently insanely busy.
- Decal 3 isn’t finished yet.
Whilst I’d like to fix it (it was an interesting little puzzle), these problems seem to indicate Magellan 2’s demise for the immediate future. The 3rd is also the reason my posting rate has fallen off again – I shall, however, try and correct that as soon as possible.
“Non omnis moriar” – Magellan 2 (2002-2005)
A recent spate of trackback and comment spam has lead me to install some anti-junk plugins on this site. Specifically, I’m now using Trackback validator to delete anything from people who leave a trackback, but haven’t actually linked to me.
Virtually all these spams are left by zombied Windows machines (another plus point for forcing an “Internet users licence”), with the recipient site being hosted in Russia. Much as it bothers me, my next step will be to block all comments with links to sites hosted in countries amiable to these criminal scum.
Update: All comments from people without an account are now subject to a “captcha” (yay, another awful “fun” acronym) to ensure they are not a bot.
Well, continuing comment spam has forced me to put all comments containing any form of link into a moderation queue. In case anyone wants to every post a comment, I will moderate the queue regularly.
The diverse range of comment spam source IPs makes me think this is done via zombie Windows PC’s, so I’ll be reporting the comment spam “beneficiary” from now on. Anyone who pays a company money to advertise their site via spamming needs a serious wake up call.
