humour Archives | Ecotech Services

Life and death

Alan Liefting

11 January 2023

These patients are waiting patiently to be triaged.

When we receive our patients they all go through a thorough and careful process, and we are usually able to give them a longer, healthier life.

Sometimes the sheer numbers overload our facilities and so we firstly carry out a quick triage of all the incoming patients. Some of the better Windows 7 and 8 machines go straight to the operating theatre for a Windows 10 upgrade to give them a new lease of life. Core 2 Duo patients are deemed to need palliative care but we euthanise them with the dismantling process. There is rarely a need to keep doner parts from them for other sick PCs. Some of the Windows XP patients are still quite healthy after quite a long life and a few humans like and need their company. We give them a new lease of life with a wipe, an operating system reload, and sometimes a little cosmetic surgery.

During the triage we find that some patients are DOA, in some cases it is because they have been butchered for parts.

We euthanised this patient.

It is disappointing that we get some patients who have led an unhealthy life. They quite obviously have been cooped up in a dusty environment and kept working all day and all night. This leads to overheating and possibly to a premature death.

We do the best we can with all our patients by reviving them and ensuring that they can be a healthy part of the home and the workplace. However, it is quite depressing to see that some of them will never again be gainfully employed. A very satisfying part of our job, on the other hand, is to take some of the geriatric computers into our care. We know full well that they will never be employed again but being so interesting we keep them ourselves for the good company they provide, or we pass them on to those who will lavish them with love and care and attention.

humour, recycling
Market report: Paint pails

Alan Liefting

12 August 2022

After a decade of slow demand the market for second hand paint pails has strengthened. Market analysts working in the second hand paint pail market have seen a supply side issue. This appears to be largely due to a shortage of plasterboard in the construction sector leading to a lower demand for paint. It was announced that there could be 100 shipping containers of plasterboard arriving to cover the shortfall in local production.

The supply of the pails is now sporadic. Creative Junk are experiencing high demand with them “flying out the door”. Retail prices are either $2 or $4 on Facebook and are not readily available on the Trade Me auction site.

Alan Liefting the Paint Pail Purchasing Manager at Ecotech Services, has been watching the paint pail market for some time. “We have been using the pails for storing all manner of itmes from our recycling operation for a long time,” said Mr Liefting. “They were easy to get. People were glad to get rid of them. Now we have to pay for them!”

The reputable paint supply merchants rarely have empty paint pails and the ones withat have paint residue are sent away for recycling. There is speculation that there is stockpiling of paint pails to reduce the supply and attempt to manipulate the market but wthere is no concrete proof of this.

(Whilst this is my attempt at humour it is largely based on facts – except my company role!)

humour, recycling, reuse
Handy reference chart for plug pinouts

Alan Liefting

6 January 2021

<humour>

This is a reference chart for plug pinouts.

Save this image for future reference.
Image: xkcd

We can rely on xkcd to give us some good, reliable information.

</humour>

electronics, humour
Moore’s Law for corporate computer repair

Alan Liefting

18 March 2017

xkcd tells it like it is.

Given the amount of stuff coming through for recycling from our corporate clients this pretty much sums it up.

Save

cartoons, e-waste, humour
Patently obvious

Alan Liefting

17 October 2015

I was doing some searching on the internet for images of microwave oven parts when good old Google offered up this patent in amongst the search results. It was a patent for a method of wiring up microwave ovens filed in 1998 by Samsung Electronics.

It is for something that is, well, patently obvious. Take a look at these images from the patent:

Yeah, I agree. They want to patent that? A really simple wiring change? It is like patenting a paper clip. Ah… I see that it has a patent. From way back in 1897. Come to think of it didn’t I hear about some sort of simple clicking on a web page that is covered by a patent?

The good news about the microwave wiring patent is that in 2000 someone had the good sense to throw the patent application out. I now know that I can sleep soundly after rewiring microwave ovens safe in the knowledge that I did not illegally flout someones patent.

humour, microwaves, odd
I’ve done a lot of screwing

Alan Liefting

3 October 2015

I’ll probably get in trouble with everyone about the title of this post but at least it got your attention.

Anyway, as a technician I do a lot of screwing (we are only talking about screwdrivers here ok) so having good screwdrivers is a good thing. Have a look at this CK HD Classic range screwdriver that I bought way back in the mid 1990s.

It is a Number 2 Philips head screwdriver so it has done a lot of work. Look at the tip. Apart from the anti-cam out coating being worn off it is still in good condition. The rough patches on the shaft is where I had a toolmaker mate of mine try and put some knurling on it. The steel is so well tempered and of such a good quality that even the tough knurling tool had trouble with biting into it. I reckon having knurling on a long shaft screwdriver like this one is a good idea. It would be way of getting screws out quickly.

What prompted me to talk about screwdrivers is that I decided I needed a set for Torx headed screws. I am seeing more and more products that use them. The sole Torx screwdriver that I had (a security Torx brand Number 20 specifically for the now old school IBM 8512 computer monitors) and the good old screwdriver bit sets are now not really cutting it.

So I got hold of Ron Enright Tools in Auckland, which is where I got all of my CK screwdrivers, to see if I can get some for Torx screws. I was recommended the PB Swiss range of screwdrivers by David. He reckons they are the bees knees. Maybe even the PBs knees (sorry, that was lame). He gave me a good deal on the colour coded set you can see in the picture. They turned up yesterday and they look beautiful! Mmmmm…. Nice handles (although I think square is my preference), good looking (but functionality is more important of course), and all with individual serial numbers, something I have not seen on other screwdrivers. It looks like I will get a lifetimes worth of use out of these things.

That is enough talk about screwdrivers. Time to do some screwing.

humour, screws, tools
Plastics and change

Alan Liefting

13 August 2015

Thanks to Lawrey and Lole, creators of The Little Things, for the use of this cartoon. Visit littlethings.co.nz for more information about their cartoons

And boy, just how things have changed!

Like a lot of good cartoons this one speaks volumes. It highlights societal change over generations. It shows the increasing environmental awareness amongst the younger generation. It shows the cycle from new product to the discovery of a problematic issue with it and then the need to address that issue. This is a cycle that is all too commonly seen by environmentalists.

cartoons, humour, plastics
Exposure of pregnant women

Alan Liefting

30 July 2015

The title will probably raise another “what on earth has this got to do with Ecotech Services” question so let me explain.

I was doing a bit of research on manganese dioxide, one of the materials in alkaline batteries, when I came across this datasheet from that most august of organisations, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

And look at what they are suggesting we do with pregnant women:

I have absolutely no intention of exposing pregnant women. It is up to them as to how much they show of themselves! And besides, I don’t have any pregnant women that I can expose.

Yeah, I know. It is just a bit of bad grammar. But it made me laugh.

batteries, humour
E-waste and volcanoes

Alan Liefting

29 July 2015

Here is another cartoon from Alex Hallatt’s Arctic Circle that is related to the work we do.

cartoons, e-waste, humour
More spam for a scam

Alan Liefting

11 June 2015
This scam arrived in my inbox:
(spam links removed)
```
Hi My name is Prof. Dr. Richard Goran,

"Gentlemen, finance me and help me improve this and all the planet 
will afford energy".

Here’s what 71 year old Dustin Grey from Atlanta says:
"I’ve never built anything in my entire life... yet this was so 
easy, I assembled it with my grandkids. Now we get almost free 
electricity 24/7".

That will reduce your electricity bill starting today by at least 
80% ... now is the perfect time.

Here's how to get "Power Innovator Device":
I'll let you have Power Innovator Vidoes PLUS a surprise bonus, 
PLUS the List of tools and supplies

----------->Here is Your Video
(If the above doesn't work,click not spam for you to see the video.)
 
Your Success,
E-Saver Inventor
```
I followed the link to the video and was redirected to a website with a sort of “but wait there’s more”, hard sell, scammy video. I wasted about 20 minutes of my life watching that damned video but I am always curious about this sort of rubbish. If you are interested in watching the video cut and paste http://nicolatesla.info/PowerIP/ into your browser.

The email was obviously a scam and I did not need my ISP to mark it as such in the subject line. When there are outrageously bold claims and a request for money it is obvious that it is a scam.

The number of scams relating to technology has prompted me a start a list of these sort of scams.
humour, scams, spam

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