I’ve finally started cabling my house (by alaric)

In our house, the telephone sockets are downstairs, at one end of the building, while my office (where my office telephone and computers sit) is upstairs and at the opposite end of the building.

So to get working quickly amongst the hubbub of moving in, I ran Ethernet and telephone cables from the phone sockets (the ADSL router that provides our Internet connection sits rights by the phone sockets, since the DSL signal quality is so bad anyway I wanted to maximise signal strength by not putting the ADSL router on the end of a cheap telephone extension cable) up to the office. The longest Ethernet cables I had were ten metres long, so I put the core router in the airing cupboard, more or less exactly between the phone sockets and my desk, and also conveniently having a power outlet to run it - then ran a ten-metre cable to it from the ADSL router and another one from my desk.

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Back to the Pain Clinic (by sarah)

Today found me at Stroud Hospital again this time to see a pain consultant like the people I was seeeing pre-Jean at Chelsea and Westmister. I am getting a new tens machine and some acupuncture (after alot of rechecking that I wasnt still on blood thinners - not sure where they got that idea from) and my pain monitored by someone at Gloucester, there are alos more meds I can try but due to stomache issues etc... we decided to try non-drug method but it is good to know there are still more options open to me including a chilli cream and an medication usually used for epileptics (alters nural activity which can be useful in getting rid of pain as well as controlling epilepsy - they had to do the whole be laboured - we are not saying you are epileptic thing incase I was stupid wwhich to be far I was doing a good impression of being stupid as I found I couldn't remeber what I had been prescribed in the past for my back :/).

The anti-inflamitry I had been using is not ok to use long term even with the stomach liner and would make me sick. I am again on daily paracetamol though - they say as long as I stick to the max dosage or below I should be fine.

Again the death knell - they can not do anything about the 'crepitous' and I am stuck with these injuries for the rest of my life but they can alliviate the pain and reduce the muscle tension which is actually cuasing most of the pain.

My pelvis was examined too which including squuzing my hips together - this has since caused a reassurgance of the clicking and I thought my right leg was going to explode from the pain about 20 minutes after the examination. This is apparently my hormones fualt and how they are settiling down 🙁

My wrist, stomache and other sundry things are being considered low priority as I am mostly looking after Jean and we are not dependent on money I earn. Again concerns where voiced about going to London on a regular basis for my MRes so I explained that a)it would be part time and b)I can do alot of it via distance learning. Apparently they can't inject the shoulder as its not the actual ball joint thats affected but rather underneith the shoulder blade (as I have been saying for years) - the lack of injection makes me sad though as that worked so well on my upper spine and after being told they would not opperate was my one big hope.

I really really hope this acupuncture works but have to confess that I'm a bit scared as I think of it as lots of needles being stuck into the skin - I have no idea if this is actually the case and even if it is I shall give it ago.

In the mean time I am to carry on managing things as I have been ie my physio excersises and hot baths and pillows in odd places to help me sleep.

More on n2n (by alaric)

I've been discussing n2n with my friends, and one of them raised an interesting point.

He pointed out that since n2n offers access control only at the network level - you need to know the network key to join a network - it works like the Internet of old: once you're in, you're in and fully trusted, and people can't get rid of you; they can just ignore you.

If that's a problem, then you have to do what the Internet had to do - set up local firewalling and access control.

This struck me as an interesting point about the trust model you're using.

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Keysigning party – South Kensington, London, 2nd of June 2008 (by alaric)

I now have a venue for the keysigning party...

If you're interested in building a web of cryptographic trust (or just want to meet some interesting people), come along to Da Vinci's Cafe Bar, Imperial College Union, Beit Quad, Prince Consort Road, South Kensington, London. More detailled directions are available on the web site

Turn up around 7pm - but be there before 8pm, since that's when we'll actually authenticate ourselves to each other and swap key data.

Then an evening of socialising!

They say these things come in Threes! (by sarah)

They say bad things come in threes - well here's todays three:

Number one - we where moving the fridge freezer in from the little garage and due to dad accidently ending up taking all the load there is now a little set of half moon scuff marks where the bracket on the bottom of the appliance cut into the lino 🙁 My poor new floor :'( Poor dad was mortified and thought he'd ruined my entire life - I am currently trying to work out if I can fix this disastor.

Number Two - once the fridge freezer was in place we begain to assemble the Ladder racks unit that we had there pre-flood - it has little adjustible feet - bad was trying to get the thing to stand level when my mum phoned with some suggestions on what to do with the lino - Dad accidently snaped the foot off of the ladder racks - but as loads of rust poured out of the thing this was hardly suprising. To say he was unhappy at this point would be putting it lightly.

Number three - in going to to see how dad was as he'd slunk off to make a replacement foot out of some off cuts of wood - obviously not adjustible, I managed to step on a thin metal tac which went right through the sole of my trainer and into the sole of my foot when the next second I trod on a small stone that forced it up into the rubber sole making it impossible to remove. Foot hurting and a pair of shoes rendured useless - you could say we are having a good day here today.