Rural Geek
January 19, 2022

The Airbus A380 – Bigger Must Not Have Been Better

I read in the news recently that Airbus officially ended production of its massive Airbus A380 wide body jet airliner with the delivery of its last aircraft to Emirates in December of 2021. It reminded me of when I posted in 2007 of my encounter with an A380 at work when it was first entering service. My Brush With a News Item Wed, 28 Nov 2007 [I talked to the Airbus Industries A380 today while at work as an air traffic controller. We don’t normally generate paper flight progress strips on aircraft anymore at high altitudes since URET was installed...

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January 17, 2022

OMG I’ve Been HACKED!! (Or Not)

I had to laugh when I got this email posted to the “postmaster@” address of this domain. For those unfamiliar, the “postmaster@<domain>” address is required by an Internet standards for SMTP mail domains. Every domain that supports the SMTP protocol for electronic mail is required by RFC 5321 and, as early as 1982, by RFC 822, to have the postmaster address. So the “postmaster@<domain>” is the email for the administrator of the domain. Note that the Postmaster (computing) Wikipedia entry also adds, “Since most domains have a postmaster address, it is commonly targeted by spamming operations.” As this is the...

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January 1, 2022

Looking for a New Shared Web Host and the SSL Trap

I use shared web hosting services for several of my personal websites. None of them get much traffic and they’re not critical (except maybe to me) so I can’t justify the cost of expensive web hosts for them. So I’m a budget hosting buyer. That said I’m always on the lookout for a good web hosting deal. Last year my domain hosting service, Namecheap, had a special on shared web hosting so I thought I’d give them a try as I’ve always been satisfied with the domain hosting services they provide. Last year their “Stellar Plus” plan was offered for...

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August 28, 2014

Brother HL-2270DW Toner Reset

If you get a toner LED on your Brother HL-2270DW but know you still have usable toner left, do this to reset the toner timer: Please do the following steps to reset the toner sensor. 1.  Open the front cover and leave open while completing the following steps. 2.  Turn the printer off. 3.  Hold the ‘go’ button while turning the printer on. All lights should be on. 4.  Release the ‘go’ button (or “start’ button). 5. Press the ‘go’ button (or “start’ button) 2 times. 6.  Pause. All panel lights should be on. 7.  Press the ‘go’ button (or...

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June 12, 2012

A Search for a Faucet Ceramic Cartridge

We recently discovered that our kitchen sink faucet was leaking. When I disassembled the faucet, I found that the outside housing of the ceramic cartridge that controls and mixes the water flow in the faucet was broken in several places, causing the leak. Removing the cartridge was quick and easy.  It involved first removing the little hot/cold indicator button on the handle (prying it out with a small knife blade), revealing the hole to the handle set screw.  After loosening the set screw the handle can be removed. Next, the rounded top collar can be unscrewed (in my case I...

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September 28, 2011

Setting up a Static Subnet with PPPoe

I recently changed from a copper wired telephone service and DSL line to a fiber optic connection. When I lost my DSL, I also lost the five fixed IPs that I was using to host some devices I was using (including webcams) With my DSL I had five IPs that I could access from the Internet.  But technically speaking I had five IPs on a static subnet my ISP had set up. It’s not my intent to get into the details of subnetting itself.  Suffice to say that subnets are a way for ISPs to have more IPs for its...

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October 15, 2009

Davis Vantage Pro2 Weather Station Arrives

My new Davis Vantage Pro2 weather station arrived last Friday. The unit was packed very carefully into its box and as I was taking it out the first thing that struck me was how big it was (at least compared to my Oregon Scientific WMR-968 weather station). Davis calls its integrated sensor assembly the “Integrated Sensor Suite (ISS)”.  The design of the ISS is relatively compact with the big black plastic rain gauge housing dominating the assembly.  The rain gauge sits on top of the temperature sensor radiation shield, and the electronics and transmitter package with its small solar panel...

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August 14, 2008

Tag Heuer Link Bracelet Adjustment

My wife got me a Tag Heuer Link watch for our wedding anniversary. Of course the metal bracelet/band needed adjustment for my chicken wrist.  I thought of taking it to a jeweler but decided I could probably save myself the time and do it myself.  I like being independent and not counting on others for jobs/tasks I can do myself.  Additionally it gave me the opportunity to examine how the bracelet was put together. I’ve previously adjusted watch bracelets on my Seiko and Movado ESQ watches.  I’ve also replaced the batteries in many different watches so I’m not a novice...

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