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grumblepeet

Re:What's in a PowerPoint File? on Sunday August 23, 2026 @02:26AM (#49406469)
Don’t know if anyone else here has mentioned it, but there is a JavaScript object model that you can call against https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/office/dev/add-ins/powerpo... And a reference for that https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/javascript/api/powerpoint?... I was involved in a project where we were trying to use all of this to build PowerPoints and Word documents programmatically and in the end we moved to a simpler approach (this was before LLM times). But knowing how the PPTX is constructed is a useful starting point for anyone.
Re:Health benefits of Tai Chi on Sunday August 16, 2026 @04:19AM (#49318001)
Well it had to happen sometime. Im in this video.

Fajin or the explosive use of power is practiced (after a few years of training the moves slowly) and is necessary from time to time to help remind the body the actual speed of the martial application as well as to test that you are standing right, not overreaching etc. It is very easy if you do the moves for a one time slowly to get into bad habits very gradually and have poor posture, resetting with the faster moves helps to expose those weaknesses. We always warm up a lot before doing those moves or you can hurt yourself.

Should also look up the spear form, which is also done quite quickly.

Re:What was your "Oh Shit" moment with GenAI? on Saturday June 06, 2026 @02:58AM (#48422177)
My bath hot tap suddenly broke apart and was spilling hot water into the bath. I photographed everything and ChatGPT told me step by step what bits to get to fix it, and how to reassemble it.

A few weeks later some kids in the area were bending the wiper arms in cars in my terraced street, including my car. I thought, I wonder if ChatGPT can help? It explained to me where to get the parts online, an indication of a decent price, and how to fit the replacement parts.

In work we had struggled with filling out the myriad of forms that we need to do to get enrolled on a government framework to apply for contracts. Not only did it do that and explained what we needed to say, but it also told us in detail the steps we needed to follow to get the certification that was a prerequisite. It has genuinely transformed our business as a result.

Re:Apple Just Lost Me on Wednesday March 25, 2026 @12:04PM (#47519256)
They have just done the same to me. I spent nearly two hours on the phone with Apple support before I find they will not accept a UK passport as valid ID. They will only accept the national ID card that I also don’t have. I don’t have or want a credit card. I’m 65 so me being now unable to verify my age is embarrassing and insulting. And the way Apple messed me about earlier has put me off them now. I won’t buy another product or service from them ever again.
Re:Training Center for Maneuvering on Manned Model Ships on Sunday March 22, 2026 @03:14AM (#47475197)
Tom Scott visited a similar facility in Poland, Port Iława, where he got to pilot one of the scale models there under the guidance of the instructor. https://youtu.be/jplrbxI5GN8
I would love a full sized keyboard made with those keys.

That aside, I will probably buy one of these. It is the ultimate nerd fiddle toy. Brilliantly done.

Re:Dear Time Lords: Freeze Computers in 1993 on Friday February 27, 2026 @03:13AM (#47177959)
Two years before I moved across into IT. This was when I was a graphic designer making magazines and nursing journals using tools like Aldus PageMaker and QuarkXpress. Those were fantastic times. It felt like we could do anything with computers.

I was eyeing a career in IT and moved across soon after, and was dumped into Novell Netware 3.12 land which was an eye opener (Fire Phasers anyone?).

Re:Find a pub that needs you on Wednesday January 14, 2026 @02:58PM (#46622039)
I live in south Bristol where the “Bristol stool scale” and the “pubs that need your help” overlap distressingly.
Re:Show HN: HN Wrapped 2025 - an LLM reviews your year on HN on Sunday December 21, 2025 @04:56AM (#46343635)
That was hilarious, the XKCD-esque comic was funny however it did me with a beard (im a woman) but I did belly laugh at the jokes.
Re:Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (December 2025) on Sunday December 14, 2025 @05:17PM (#46267660)
Building an app that scans file systems prior to being migrated into M365. Looks for common governance issues and file and folder trees that won’t play nice in SharePoint. Not a migration tool as such, just something to scratch a consultancy itch. Python and Tkinter for now until I hit something that requires more complexity. Also a command line version that I’ll use more often. This probably could have been a PowerShell script but this is more fun.
I did despite being quite resistant to the idea at first. Eventually I didn't have a choice, as many things I wanted to read were suddenly hidden. I am paranoid however and worry that the VPN maker is tracking me, but there is only so much I can be paranoid about in the day.
Re:Apple AI chief John Giannandrea is retiring in spring 2026 on Tuesday December 02, 2025 @01:03AM (#46118113)
‘Siri turn on torch’. Used to work, now all I get is “sorry, Torch isn’t available right now” this is at night when it is plugged in and I need to work as a nightlight to go open the bedroom door to let the dog in or out without blasting myself awake with the main phaser array next to my bed.
Re:Lateralized sleeping positions in domestic cats on Thursday June 26, 2025 @04:26PM (#44390967)
Ahh thanks. I see it in the article now. This why I’m not a scientist!
Re:Lateralized sleeping positions in domestic cats on Thursday June 26, 2025 @03:00PM (#44390279)
I came here to say the same thing. I’ve seen this multiple times today in several places and thought exactly that. Maybe they should have said clockwise (starting at the head) or counterclockwise?
I wonder what will break as a result of this?

Will it be possible I wonder to have a M365 that doesn’t have annoying CoPilot forced down our necks in every app and screen?

And interested to see how the licences and costs pan out.

Re:The History and Legacy of Visual Basic on Sunday May 11, 2025 @04:43AM (#43952370)
I totally agree with this. When I worked at a University (mumbles) years ago I wrote a build system for rebuilding the OS and apps on student lab PC's and I used VB6 as the front end. It seemed in those days we could do anything, and nobody told us we couldnt do it.

I also made a simple two button menu app for use on repurposed 386's that we were using as thin client pc's. Years later I went back to see they had been replaced with tiny HP thin client devices but my menu was still being used!

Re:The second birth of JMW Turner on Sunday May 11, 2025 @04:33AM (#43952333)
As an artist Turner has inspired me not just with his use of colour, which was masterful, but with his readiness to break normal painting rules. We would scratch at his paintings with a specially long fingernail, stab at them with brushes, use watercolour almost like oils, do anything to get the image that he needed. We get most of this from looking at the paintings and from anecdotal evidence because as the article says he painted in secrecy behind closed doors.

His later works are truly amazing, given the time in which they were made. Many of the later images we know him for were from sketchbooks and studies, and not necessarily for sale or to be seen by others (code snippets?) but are impressionist years before that became a thing.

You can go to the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford and go to the Print Room (you have to book) and ask to see some. I'm told by a friend I've not done that.

Some of those drawings are copies of Edward Lear illustrations. I recognised the style. I didnt see that mentioned in the article although I might have missed it. I like the little drawings though very cute.
Re:I Ditched the Algorithm for RSS–and You Should Too on Friday January 17, 2025 @02:22AM (#42734939)
Ha! I had forgotten that message.Thank you for reminding me. I used to read comp.lang.lisp for the extensive and increasingly bizarre flame wars and for the wider philosophical discussions. Eventually I got to the point where I thought "OK I'm done now" and left and never went back.
Re:How Britain got its first internet connection (2018) on Thursday January 09, 2025 @04:30PM (#42649976)
Until relatively recently I worked with JANET (or Janet - lower case - as it is now) as part of Jisc, the UK's NREN. I also worked with the wider European org, GEANT, that runs the academic networks across Europe. We were (and still are ) very proud of Janet.
Re:Merry Christmas Everyone on Wednesday December 25, 2024 @02:45AM (#42507535)
The few golden years when the kids were little, we’d all sit around the TV and play console games and when a hard bit came along, like a puzzle or a jump or a big boss with loads of guns, I’d be handed the controls to do the difficult bits. I got to be the family hero. We had great fun. A few years later, they all had way faster reaction times, and their own PC’s and games, and played them in their rooms. But for a few glorious Christmas’ we all came together and it was great. I miss those times, but on the other hand I helped them build their own PC systems, and set them off on the own paths. I helped them grow.
I worked in Nuremberg for a while and was kindly invited along to the English Stammtisch which at the time was in different bars on a few nights throughout the month. Lots of English people but also lots of German folk who wanted to work on their English language skills. I made some good friends on those boozy nights and tons of fascinating conversations were had.
I used to walk my dog there occasionally and he hates it and was always edgy. I took my cue from him and we go elsewhere now.
Re:The Big Baltic Bomb Cleanup on Thursday September 12, 2024 @02:23AM (#41518107)
Yes my bad. It was nitroglycerin.
Re:Iron Gall Ink on Thursday September 12, 2024 @02:21AM (#41518099)
You only choose the galls with the hole in the bottom that indicates that the wasp has eaten its way out and gone. It is pretty obvious which ones still have a wasp in them.
Re:The Big Baltic Bomb Cleanup on Wednesday September 11, 2024 @06:01PM (#41515699)
My father was involved in this, he didn’t have a choice and it was dangerous work as even then most of the munitions were unstable. Shells etc sweated tnt which got absorbed into their skin. He hated it. They also had to contend with the rolling North Sea whilst dumping live ammunition overboard.
Sadly didnt run for me on Windows on this Arm laptop although in mitigation I didnt try that hard & was in a hurry. I might have another look at it later. Uninstalled for now.
After reading about this and the methodologies many years ago I implemented many of the precepts into my practice at the time (visual programming using a variety of workflow tools) and it really helped to prevent sprawl that is common with drag and drop workflow interfaces. It helps to enforce that discipline of not straying too far away from the desired path and handling exceptions. If it strays too far to the right then you know you need to look at things again and refactor. Worth reading.
Re:Azure Portal Is Down on Tuesday July 30, 2024 @07:59AM (#41108221)
I’ve noticed that the Microsoft Azure portal is down effectively preventing us from running admin tasks.

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